OK, maybe I'll get this post in the right Forum yet!! I've recently acquired a 1950 Buick model 43 4 door sedanette. Initially I picked up the car because it seemed cheap and I just wanted an old toy. Now I'm starting to think that, even though it's a 4 door, it might be cool to turn this into a more modern driver. I love the lines and would really like to keep it looking stock for the most part, but bad underneath. I'll have a spare LS6 soon, so maybe I should do something with that. Anyway, since this would be my first rodding experience, I thought I'd try to get some feed back, suggestions, etc. Any ideas? Thanks! Gary
Nothing wrong with a 4 door. Dropping an LS-6 seems like a waste of an engine though. The car will never be really fast, and the straight 8 is smooth as gl***. Clean it up, nose it, deck it, shave it, slam it...done. Take car of a few small things to make it a relaible driver, but don't get carried away. 4 doors don't hold value as well as 2 doors, so there will be a point where the car just won't be worth any more money. Reminds me of a local guy who desecrated a '59 Coupe deVille with a turbo LS1. He bragged to me how the car could go 15.0 in the 1/4 mile. I responded by reminding him that a Civic Si would chump his *** and that he ****d the soul out of an American icon. Don't be that guy. Run the straight 8 and be happy that your car is cooler then everyhting else on the road, even if it can't win a race.
i would keep it stock basically and use it as a daily driver, beats the hell out of any new model car, and its a 4 door, and a care free kinda car, thats what imma do with my more door
lower it and drive it........ i had 2 dr sedanette and i miss that thing. anyone know of a clean '50 buick sedanette 2dr for sale ? (46 or 56).........
Is it a dynaflow? The straight Eight as so much that can be done with it. I have a 50 as well its dropped with skirts a dual intake and dual exhaust on the straight eight. I've seen them with small block in there and they are such a big heavy car that the v8 is really not impressive. Save the straight build it up. As for the body clean it up mildly customize it and drive the **** out of it. on the sedanettes /jetbacks i have seen so many people try and chop them and just screw the hell out of them. There are a few of us here that live in breath buick bombsites.
I think if I wanted to ditch the straight 8 I'd put a later buick in it like a 400, 455 or a nailhead. Keep the Buick Buick. I bet you could sell the LS6 for enough to buy a bunch of stuff for the Buick
Any suggestions on suspension changes? I'd really like to be able to make a turn without feeling like I'm turning a whale. Chevy's have tons of after market suspension stuff. Doesn't look like too many aftermarket people care about old Buicks, at least in my searchs. Thanks! Gary
As far as as buick suspension upgrades **** like that is next to non existant. Heres some buick supplyers www.oldbuickparts.com www.cl***icbuicks.com buickfarm.com bobs automobilia has **** google that one. Your not gonna make a sports car out of it it is what it is a slead for cruzin. Its gonna cost some money but looks like a very clean car good luck and have fun. I always wanted one of those to my buick collection but I will do no less than a 2 dr sedanette.
get that buick closer to the ground and rebuild the front end and she'll steer much better. Fatman also makes drop spindels for them.
Wow...Another '50 Buick here... You're a**** many, as I'm sure you'll see. Mine is a 2-door Super Sedanette. It's close to ready to paint. 32K original miles, so it's quite clean. I got all the stock chrome redipped, and eliminated the factory license plate bolts on the front left corner. It wasn't cheap but it looks amazing. I acquired a complete set of 6 side trim pieces for a '53 model Buick (Sweepspears) that will be mounted for best appearance to the '50 bodylines. You could do something similar with '53 4-door side trim, which is usually cheaper than the 2-door stuff but would really make the car flow. I found fender skirts online, and had a nice set until the a-hole who was supposed to be painting the car "couldn't find them" before I had to load it up and relocate cross-country. Enough of that drama. Skirts are available in 'gl*** or steel, and really help the look of the car. Suspension-wise- There are some answers and some questions yet to be answered, but here's the latest: RB's obsolete has 2-inch dropped spindles, but no one has a disc brake upgrade kit that works with either the stock spindle or the dropped spindle (which is odd, since kits exist for most other cars of this era). Apparently, the demand doesn't exist to make one. But... I've heard from Master Power that they are capable. I've heard from another HAMB'er who called JAMCO that they too would be willing to check into it. But, nothing further. However, on a better note... If you want to keep your Straight 8 (and if you are a real man, you will....if you are an EXCEPTIONAL man you will build up your Straight 8 to make it a more capable powerplant...which is getting easier). IF you want to keep your Straight 8, you can swap any late-model GM trans behind it with an adapter from Bendtsen's at www.transmissionadapters.com. This will require you to ditch the torque tube rear suspension and put a new rear axle in. While there's no readily-available kit to do this, a '48 Buick was done over at www.hotrodsbyglen.com and he found that a post-'83 GM F-body rear axle has coil spring pads that line up. So, you'll still have to adapt the 3-link rear suspension to the Buick ch***is, but it's outlined very well at Glen's site. The width of the F-body axle (which is readily available cheap at junkyards everywhere) is also right on. So, the suspension/brake stuff is almost figured out. Lots of builders have swapped in front clips, too. Camaro, Mustang II, etc. have all been done. '50s look bad *** really low. The grille looks like it's about to take a bite out of the pavement. The lower, the better I think. There's been some awesome chops and some horrid chops. Since you've got a 4-door, the convertible idea would be a fun way to go versus doing all the homework on a 4-door chop. They are worth the effort, certainly, but it's a ton of work. The 50-era Straight 8s were 248 or 263ci. Bigger is better, of course. All the rebuilder stuff is at Egge Machine, and others have it too. I've overbored my 263 to 283, and have ported the head and added hi-flow valves. I have had custom pistons made (which means anyone can get them with my part number) at Ross, which are designed to take the stock rod, and bump compression up from 7:1 factory to 9:1. They are a modern design with 3 modern rings, versus the heavy stock piston's fat 4-ring setup. I've got a custom cam coming from Neilsen with a bot more lift and duration. I've not determined final specs yet. I'm planning on seeing about double the factory hp of 128. I figure it'll make 250 or so from 283ci. Not bad. I'm having a custom intake made up (not hard on a S-8 with only 4 intake ports, all in a straight line) and I've just contracted to have a flange made. The flange will include all intake and exhaust ports, so I'll build my exhaust off the same piece like the factory did. I'll have slip joints to make it easy to dis***emble. I'm using 2 Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle carbs on mine (275cfm each) and will mount them centered between the fwd. and rear pairs of intake ports. Lots of Harley linkages exist, and the carbs came with manifolds that can be adapted to the intake. I'll adapt a Pertronix kit to the stock (rebuilt) distributor and convert to 12V. I'm powdercoating the valve cover black, and will be painting the rest of the engien a period color. The factory "FIREBALL" decals will look just fine along side the twin carbs, which will have S&S Super teardrop-shaped air filter housings on them. The plug wires will be fabric-covered. It should have a '55-era hot rodded look to it. That's the idea anyway. So, the power bump will be enough to keep up with modern traffic. I've chosen to use a 700R-4 O/D trans and with the additional torque I'll have, I think it'll knock down decent mileage on the freeway. I've chosen 16-inch steelies and radial wide whites for mine...everyone's tastes vary. I'm routing the exhaust out of the reverse light housings on either side of the license plate. I intend this car to be low, and i dont' want the exhaust hanging out under the bumper. The light housings offer a cool place to do it and can be opened up to take a 2.5-inch chrome tip p***ing through. Just some ideas on mine. Others will chime in, I'm sure... Scotch~!
Scotch: Sounds like you've got a lot of stuff figured out!!! I'm really impressed with the straight 8 work. I've been in love with '50 Buicks forever. How can you not love that grill. How expensive are they to re-chrome? I have a dent or two in a couple of teeth, other wise the bumpers are in good shape. They just need to shine. The 4 door thing bugs me, but I really don't see any on the road. That'll have to be my excuse for spending some money. By the way, I'm leaking all over. Can you ever stop the straight 8's from leaking? My trans leaks too. I have a 3 on the tree. Sounds like you've figured out a way to match a new trans fairly easily. A new trans would be a very welcome addition. 1st gear is good for about 20 feet! Thanks for the info. Great ideas. Gary
Cool web article on hopping up straight eight. http://gamma.nic.fi/~marlin/Rmaster.htm Here is tech article on air bagging and 4 link suspension. From www.webrodder.com article part 1 http://www.webrodder.com/article.php?AID=207&SID=1 article part 2 http://www.webrodder.com/article.php?AID=209&SID=1
I've read that you can't convert the Buick three on the tree to a floor shift because of the way the linkages are set up. Has anyone tried it, or does anyone know any more about it?
Hi Gary! Nice to see another 1950 Buick enthusiast on the board. I just acquired one back in October that needs a LOT of work. I believe the model # is a 56R (2 door Super, Riviera). Since she didn't come with a motor or trans, we found a 455 & T400... I have the motor torn apart & ready to be rebuilt. Seems that finding the correct disc brake conversion kit is next to impossible. I made a lot of phone calls, posted here. So far no such luck (Scotch is much better at articulating this than I am). We're leaning towards a chasis swap at this point. I'd love to see some pics of your '50 if you have them. Keri
Don't make the same mistake THOUSANDS of new rodders make...take the thing apart with great intentions but never finish the job. Then they sell the remains to guys like me who re-sell the stuff for a nice profit! DRIVE THE CAR AS IS for awhile...enjoy it! Then do little things.....nose it, deck it, stuff like that ALL THE TIME DRIVING THE CAR! Keep it roadworthy so you keep up your enthusiasm up rather than looking at a pile of parts in your garage day after day. Find locals who have the time and ability to help with your project...you'll need lots of tools and equipment AND a place to work on it. \ Those old Buicks are super cool...the straight eight is a great engine...enjoy it for what it is...don't try to make it something it will never be.
Like Scotch i am also building up a hot rod straight 8, I recently picked up a stock 41 buick intake setup. Its fun to listen to guys brag about how they chose the run a flathead ford or a chevy 6 over a SBC in their hot rod. If only they knew!
Gary...Fatman 2 1/2" dropped spindles go for $380.00 a pair. A guy named Mike Pemberton makes a disc brake conversion using big GM stuff...his # is 510-501-6299. Lotsa info on the modified Buick forum @ www.buick.net. This would be lots easier and cheaper than a ch***is swap...and you can drive your car sooner. Good luck.
Shifters for "selector-style shifters" show up on ebay once in a while..this topic has been covered before on this forum..use the search feature for more info.
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