A lot of you guys saw and follwed my thread when I got my great-grandfathers car from my grandfather. Well I drove it for the first time Saturday and drove it to a local car show/ fiddlers festival. It was a blast to drive and everyone loved it. Everyone could not believe it was it's first outing since 1958. The only thing I have done to the car is Fuel tank and pump, plugs and full service on everything. Repainted/Striped Wheels, Firestone 4" WW Then I lowered it to nice ride height via fatman fab dropped uprights and springs and installed a scarebird front disc brake conversion just for driving insurance. Drove it 17 miles to the show then back without problems, radiator is not flowing like it should had it flushed vatted and cleaned but still not flowing great...started kreeping up in temp after driving that far guess im going to need to get a new core put in. Other wise it was awesome ride and cant wait to take it to some more shows.
It's really nice to see that you went to the trouble to re-stripe the wheels. Thats a real nice touch. The stance looks great, too. You said that the dropped uprights came from Fatman. Did they supply the rear springs, too?
Yes, I remember your earlier post. A wonderful car. I have long admired '41 Buick Sedanets and have owned a few. Love what you have done with yours. "re the overheating....may not be the radiator. You may want to consider removing the block core plugs (aka "freeze plugs") and clean out the block water jackets. Don't be afraid to 'power wash' the jackets and probe around in them with a stiff wire on small diameter rod. You'll be amazed at the sediment and "****" in there that impedes cooling. great looking car..............but maybe I am just biased about Buicks of that era! Ray
I went with my own combo of springs that just happen to work out, I had some brand new front drop springs for a 69 chevrolet pickup for the front and i put factory 79 el camino springs on the rear that i read about somewhere on here.....it may have been you.......anyway it all worked out and rides and sits just like i wanted it to.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=619552 That's the thread I started when I got the car I anyone wanted to see the history
That stance looks great! I was looking at the Fatman uprights on ebay and was wondering if you had to heat and bend the stock steering arms?
Outstanding. I'm going to have my Fleetline back on the road this coming summer. hope to see that Buick somewhere.
You might look at your water pump as part of your overheating problem. My 40 Packard had same problem.
I have had 2 '50 Buicks that had sat a looooong time without being started. Both had oiling issues in the valve train. The dried oil stopped up the oil p***ages in the rocker arms. I PULLED THE OIL PAN ON 1 OF THEM AND THE OIL WAS SLUDGE. Water condensation had eaten up the bottom of the oil pan. The pic that I posted is what most oil pans look like after oil has sat and not been circulating. This would be a MAJOR concern if this were my car. Great story and one GREAT looking car. Good luck!!!
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