I am doing some work on my old Buick these days, I figure it's time to get a build thread going for documentation. While it will mostly be HAMB friendly, I do have some things planned that are not, and it's a four-door. Not super traditional in that sense. The story of this car started for me in 2020. My wife and I started looking for a fun classic car that was drivable with minimal work, but still a project. Her criteria were it had to be a four door as our kiddos were still young-ish and went everywhere with us. A bonus would be if the car was eligible for Back to the 50's, as we have attended regularly as spectators. She showed me a Hudson Hornet for sale online. At that point I figured I would find one of my bucket list cars: the 1950 Buick. Ever since Rad Rides did Bumongous, I've wanted one. That grille scraping the ground made an impression: I got the green light to go take a look. The car ran, drove, and stopped, so a deal was made and the Buford was ours. This is the day I brought it home: In the paperwork I discovered that the car was rescued from a salvage yard a few years prior and put on the road. Pretty much all stock (barring repair parts) at this point, but I had my 50. For a couple of years I drove it like that, repairing things as needed (rebuilt the fuel pump, changed the clutch, refreshed the brakes, welded the exhaust manifold cracks, etc.). The 248/3 speed operated just fine, and I was able to drive it quite a bit while grabbing bits and pieces from swap meets for future use. Early summer on 23 I decided to replace the decades-old bias ply tires. Ordered up some Auburn premium wide whites. The stance was not going to cut it, so I ordered some 79 El Camino springs for the rear, and took 1-1/2 coils out of the fronts. This is the result of the traditional lowering: Buick Sombreros, and I used Acetone to strip the rattle can silver from the grille teeth and park lamp nacelles. This was much more better. I did have to cut the front bump stops in half so I had some suspension, but dang it if it didn't look cool. This was my theme song for the rest of the year: I would bet that some of you guys know where this is headed. While riding on the bump stops may look cool, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of ride quality. The result of this is me not wanting to drive it as much. It was also a pain to get onto our trailer for BTT50s that year. Spring 2024 I decide to stop being cheap and ordered up a set of 2" drop springs from Eaton. The cut originals lowered the car around 3-3/4" from where it was. The new ones put me in a place that is still low, but rode so much better. I didn't like the taildragger look with the Elco springs out back, so I tossed the stockers back in and was content with this stance: Drove it occasionally last year, but there were still enough issues to make it not quite ready for prime time. One being popping a fuse occasionally using the left turn signal. This in itself may not be so bad, I can hand signal, but the brake lights are on the same fuse. The other main issue was the car has developed a shake between 50 and 60 mph. I can drive to work on all 30mph roads, but would like to take it farther than a few miles at a time. So, a re-wire and other investigations are on the docket currently. While doing research into the wiring thing, I stumbled across this video: I was considering purchasing an aftermarket harness from one of the many vendors, but Matt made some good points in the video regarding being able to customize and wiring exactly what I need. Additionally, the 6V battery was failing, and I was planning a 12V conversion in addition to the re-wire. That takes us all the way up to last weekend. Finally caught up with side work and other projects, I rolled Buford into the shop to begin the re-wire and other repairs. You know, 2 weeks until BTT50s is a great time to gut pile your car! Let's get that old battery out of there! The PO had a lawnmower 12V battery in the car for the starter, everything else was on 6. A couple of years back I put a 12V automotive battery in the trunk for starting and charged it manually on occasion. Battery tray area underhood For as long as I have been considering a rewire, I have wondered what the two wires going into the fresh air tube were all about. (Seen above) Well, I never expected the fan for the defroster to be in there. I also found the cause f my turn signal short in the C pillar: Convenient access panel in the firewall exposes the fuse panel and the gauge wiring: This is the hole where the generator used to be. Note the ball of wires on the left for the horn relay and voltage regulator. Those are gone now too. Most of the wiring is out: To be continued later.
I decided to go with a 3-wire 10si alternator from reading the electrical tech articles on M.A.D. electrical. There is plenty of current there for my needs, and I bought into the remote sensing vs a 1-wire setup. I am not a fan of the generator-alternator adapter kits. They seem expensive for what you get, and they move the centerline of the pulley so that you need a new belt. I decided to simply modify the generator bracket to keep the pulley near the same place as with the generator. First I determined where the alternator needed to be fore-aft so the pulley lined up with the belt. Found that if I mounted it with the narrow ear in front of the bracket as shown, the pulley is right where I need it to be. That ear is 3/4" thick, and the fan side is on the same plane as the wide mounting ear on the other side of the alternator. I determined that if I removed equal tips from both ends of the original genny mount, I could apply some angle iron and make something work. I cleaned the mount in the parts washer, and blasted to fresh metal. While I was blasting it, I got to thinking that this is why I have accumulated all of these tools for the last 20 years. It's great to be able to clean up parts, modify as needed, and finish without leaving the confines of my shop. Regardless, I cut one of the "tabs" from the generator bracket, and used it to guide the cut on the other side. Using a piece of angle iron, I welded those tabs on and got the "adapter" in place. I did need to clearance the angle slightly on the inside, as well as grind a bit from the plate that the lower mount is bolted to to allow the alternator to swing in where I needed it. I still need to grab a 1/2" thick spacer for the bottom bolt (The setup that was there used a bunch of washers, not on my watch). Also note that I wasn't necessarily looking for a chrome alternator, but this one was cheap at a swap meet. Reading the MAD articles mentioned above led me to want a distribution lug under hood. This will supply power to the dash, battery, and horn/headlamp relays. There is a pretty good spot on the firewall near the access panel, between the throttle linkage and firewall. I didn't really want to disturb the insulation in the cabin, so I installed a rivnut in the proper location, then installed the distribution block. The lugs at the bottom are both fused with fuses under the cover. Since they appeared to be in very good shape, I decided to re-use the column wiring for the signal switch. Since my old eyes aren't the best at identifying the marking on these, I verified function with the DMM and labeled the wires. The shrink tubing printer is outstanding for this sort of work. I also got the headlamp/horn relay box mounted in place of the voltage regulator.
The last piece of hardware to mount is the actual fuse panel. I am OK with the original location as it is plenty accessible from under dash for fuse replacement as well as thru the access panel for wiring. Original next to new: The new panel is bussed internally. F1-F10 are on one bus, and 11-20 are on the other. This allows me to wire one side with switched power and the other with constant. I'll relay the switched power to keep full current out of my ignition switch. Made a plate to mount this panel to with 3/16 steel I had around. I squared up the outside on a belt sander, cut the middle with cutoff wheels and hacksaws, and final fit with a file. The three extra holes are for ground studs. The original fuse panel was grounded via it's mount, I am using the same location for this panel. This will also provide a good ground location for future use (radio, A/C, etc.). Grabbed some 2 x 1/8 for the mounting "arm" and bent it with the age old "hammer and vice" method. This looks like it could work: Excuse the weld. I am just learning how to TiG. With the panel mounted: Painted and in place: That is where I am at as of today. Tonight I will continue to pull and terminate wires. Note: You really don't realize just how many light bulbs are in a car until you need to replace them all at once.
T minus 6 days until BTT50s. Had a bit of time after work and errands, so I decided to get the headlights and park lamps wired to their connectors. Non-tradional: H4 conversion lamps and metri-pack connectors. The H4 connectors won't fit thru the headlight bucket, so when I pull the fenders for paint, I need to be able to disconnect the wiring. I also needed to extend the wiring that came with the plugs. Waterproof crimps are fine for me here. Get it protected and apply the metri-pack. Wait a second. The metri-pack won't fit thru the bucket hole, either. I guess those depinning tools I picked up will come in handy! Much better. Did both headlamps and both front park/turn signals everything was similar. I have the next week off, I should be able to get through this. Thank you, but I assure you that the pictures are better than reality. I am taking my time with this as I don't want to do this stuff again later.
T minus 4 days. Yesterday's progress yielded most of the wiring in front of the firewall completed. Tidied up. The dimmer switch screws were siezed, but the switch is rock solid. I ended up cuttin the heads off, and grabbing the bolts on the back side with a pliers to thread them out. Chased the threads and replaced the bolts. Here's a tip. If you have multiple labels to print, think ahead a bit and print a few at once. This is more efficient with the shrink tube as you don' have the long lead and tail on every one. I am using braided, non-split loom. It requires a bit of thought when running wires especially when you are feeding from both ends. At the beginning. Pulling thru: Much better: Need to run for some more terminals, then keep going.
Under hood and trunk wiring are complete. I am currently populating the fuse panel with wires and finishing connections. T-minus 2 days, and I still have to replace the window run channels, etc. I should be able to drive it sometime tomorrow.
The valve cover gasket was failing, so I took the opportunity this week to change it and take care of a pet peeve. When we got this car, the valve cover was painted the wrong color with some shoddy stencil work. A couple of years back a carb backfire blew the old air cleaner housing out, so I removed the bracket for that as well. For the record, a small Buick straight 8 valve cover just fits inside a HF blast cabinet. I used a stripping wheel on a grinder to clean up the ends. This was after liberal application of marginal modern paint stripper. Sprayed with the proper Buick turquoise, applied the correct decal, and reinstalled. Much better. I'll grab a chrome breather sometime this weekend. Hot rod stuff is coming, I promise.
Thought I should grab light pics after the re-wire. LEDs for tail/turn/park. Added the third brake light for safety. (www.brakelighter.com) Just tails Brakes: Hella H4 conversion. Did not modify anything outside of the wiring on the car. Those are low beams. Way more light than the stockers on 6v. The only thing I don't like about the headlamps is that they are flatter than seaed beams. They look fine from the front, I just wish they had a little more dome. The Octanes we put in my son's Catalina are domed like sealed beams.
It’s a pretty solid looking car isn’t it. I agree with you about the flat looking headlights I had some H4 conversions on an MG and they didn’t look quite right. Bit of inspiration; mate of mine spotted this the other day
It's reasonably solid and straight. There are a few holes in the floor that a PO "repaired with thiing galvanized and pop rivets. I'll deal with that when I am getting it ready for paint. Hoping to get there this winter.
Had some vibration at 55-ish, seemed to be coming from the front. Did a bit of inspecting, and had 1/4"+ of play in the front wheels. Not wheel bearings, but my kingpin bushings were shot. Got the parts, swapped the bushings and discovered that they needed to be reamed to fit. No big deal. I found a retired local guy that could help me out in lieu of buying a Chinese tool that I would use once. When I got there, I had the shop manual and mentioned that Buick specced .0005-.0025 for clearance. When he told me that he usually goes .003-.004 otherwise you'll never get grease in there, I knew I had found my guy. Picked them up the next day. $40 for the job. Installed that weekend, and no play. My vibration is mostly gone. I have to check a few other things before I get the tires checked. (Trans mount bolts have come loose in the past, could be the same issue) Looking to get started on a way OT radio install soon. Pics will be incoming there.
The Jalopy Journal
