Projects Buick number 3

Motor and trans are married. Dropped in for hopefully the final time.



Test fitting exhaust manifolds.



Trans fits great!



And a few money shots....

 

I think someone cheated you, that’s not a Buick engine.

 

Its been a little bit. So here are a few updates. I was able to retain the stock clutch and modify the linkage to the SBC and T5 fork. Took a bit of figuring and what not. Also found a good spot but had to make a hell of a bracket to fit the new master cylinder in place. All in all, I have retained the factory pedals and pivots.



Before I loaded her up to do all the bottom work at my buddies shop. Surprised myself with some of my welding lately. Really think this Lincoln welder and I are finally learning eachother.



These are my shock mounts to bolt to the bottom of the truck arms.


Here she is in her sleepover state.

 

Shes a Beauty!!!!

 

Very Kool !, admire your skills, my wife picked out a beautiful 51 Buick RoadMaster at Iola, we had it for 4/5 years, it was her hobby car, cruises/shows. I daydreamed what a RestoMod it would be doing what you're doing, hers was a restored Texas car, Very Nice car. But I was Leary of taking on a project of that size as age and health was catching up to me/us, I will follow along, my hats off to you Sir. A pic of her 51 and my 51, had fun together as team 51.

 

I’d drive it

 

Love it. What pinion angle in degrees did you wind up with?

 

4 degrees is what the engine and trans hit at, So the pinion is 4 up at ride height.

Thanks wicarnut...
Beautiful cars man, that roadmaster was slick.... I have owned a few buicks now, I always was so torn on really jumping off the deep end, but this one's motor made the decision for me. Yeah, the older we get the easier it was.[/QUOTE]

 

^^^^ Thanks for the reply. I was curious since I am also using the truck arms with a similar front attachment but still using the rear coils. The truck arms will have an 8 degree down slope with the transmission down 3 degrees. Since the truck arms have a 14 degree kick up at the rear, I am calculating the pinion up 6 degrees.

 

Now, cut off the roof, put a dip in the doors and make a 53 Skylark

 

Well, it's been a minute. Had a buddy do all the brake lines at his shop on the lift. Handled a few other things while it was there... But all in all, its coming along. Here are some update pics in no real order...

 

Few update pics.

 

Got some shop help here and there. So figured let’s find the blue.


And made a shifter extension. 5th gear says “bye Felicia”. Yeah it’s for now for fun.

 

Hello,

We come from a long time line up of old Buicks. Our dad’s first Buick was a 1941 Buick fastback. Dark grey in color and a nice standard looking one when we were first in Long Beach.
1946-1949
Then our dad had this idea of a new car every 4 years and so, in 1949, he started his 4 year program and bought a new 4 door Roadmaster.

This large sedan took us all over So Cal and the California coastline, as well as the dry desert inland roads. Our dad like going places, especially, places to fish for trout.

But, again, in 4 years, up rolls a two tone 4 door 53 Buick Sedan in our driveway.

This 4 door sedan took us camping South of the border along the barren coastal camping areas in the quiet bays and coves for surf fishing. It was the only Buick that our family got stuck in a drainage culvert along a steep dirt road heading for a beach campground in the dark.

Our mom saw the moon shining on the beach cove and shouted out, “ Look, the beach…” and it surprised our dad, who promptly jerked the steering wheel to drop us into the deep culvert. The whole right front end was hanging down and we were stuck in the early morning drive.


So the last two Buick sedans were cl***ics and we now were taken places in a two door sedan models, a blue 57 Buick Roadmaster and dark green, 1963 Buick Riviera. The last one was the ultimate cruiser.
Yes, he waited a couple extra years as his friend in the automotive business told him a "new" style Buick was coming soon.

This was Buick #5. There were two more Buick Sedans beyond, (another newer, larger Riviera and a two door sporty Wildcat) but they were beyond the 65 cutoff time line for HAMB.

Jnaki

But, in recent times, my wife was the first one to spot a lowered, custom purple toned Buick sitting on the street we were driving on to get to our beach destination, nearby. It was a bright color, stuck out a**** the newer cars and so low. It was amazing how it got over the two dips in the road a block away.

So, after a few photos, it appeared in a different state weeks later. YRMV

Have fun with your Buick Sedan build…

Note:

I was the first person to film the original Tommy Ivo single engine (+ progression) and twin engine Buick powered FED in the USA, actually, the West coast first.


The complete twin films were taken by me standing on the sidelines fence during those early 50s-60s days.


Then, there is an actual Tommy Ivo twin sound film at Lion’s Dragstrip. I have the only film produced by me:


If one sees any single engine or twin films in any other You Tube videos, please report it to the You Tube officials or make a comment about the illegalities of using my films without permission. YRMV

 

Man. What a fun story. Thanks for sharing. They really are such a fine car.

 

Working on getting rid of the antenna. Was frozen in place.
well. We got a working battery and electricity system. I was originally planning on putting the bat in the trunk. But I don’t want to deal with venting and plus trying to keep things clean.



Got the fan clutch installed. Working on radiator hoses and fuel lines.

 

Well. Cam is officially broken in. Has a working on board nitrogen tank now. So next step is the exhaust shop.

 

Little progress. Driveshaft tunnel done. Removable bag hatches made.

 

you know the rules-have to roll a bead (s) into the hatch covers

 

Meeting expectations.

 

Man this is a super cool build and car! Had missed it until now, wont be missing future installments!

 

haha. If I had the tooling I would, but I figure 18 gauge steel is strong enough....

 

Thanks. Just trying to make a good freeway flier for road trips.

 

So chopped a little of the back seat frames up. Got em to fit. I’m not an interior guy. But doing this should help keep costs down when time comes to have them covered.

 

What can you tell me about the bolt-on mount? Did you fabricate this or is it available to purchase somewhere?

About 10 years ago, I came across a very solid set of truck arms and the beefy truck crossmember where they mount, all clean and powder coated for around $200. I intended to use them on my '53 Buick Special project some day. I always wondered what kind of modifications were going to have to be made to the X member of the Buick frame to get the truck crossmember to fit. The project car is pictured.

Long story short, it needed EVERYTHING, which we all know equals a substantial combination of time and money. So when this running, driving, stopping car came available locally for a great price, we bought it. Logically, made sense, saving 3 times the money and 5 or 6 years of work. But I still want to make it 'my own'. First things first is to get the suspension fixed and properly lowered. Here she is ... sits kind of in the nosebleed area. Whoever built it converted to rear leaf springs that hang down way too low. There are 4 inch lowering blocks in back and the car still has a rake to it. Lower shock mount is below the scrub line. NOT good. Sold the old project car but I did keep those nice truck arms and mount. I'll use them on the purple car. The front suspension is a whole 'nother can of worms. I've got a plan for that and the info you posted about Down Right Fab is helpful.

For my taste, your car sits just right in the pics of it on the trailer when you picked it up from the shop. That is what I am aiming for.

 

good looking Buick for sure.
I fabricated the mount myself. Yeah it’s about the best way to eliminate the torque tube. I know some people did a 4 link rear suspension and it works out fine as well.
Yeah leafs are down there for sure. And yeah she needs to come down. I’d do the dropped uprights up front and do some fab work out back to get it lower. These cars will go almost 3” off the ground bottomed out in the rear. So you can get em low.

let me know if ya have any questions.

 

So. I’m not an upholstery guy. But I wanted to get proof of concept and have a seat till I get ready for interior.

also did some noise barrier.

 

@54delray, so I don't hijack this thread, I will PM you some ideas on the truck arms.

 

Looking back over your thread I had hoped that you had used a different clutch pressure equalization bar (Z bar that isn’t a Z) . I have misplaced mine and had hoped that you had gone a different route and had tossed the original one to the side. Darn the luck. Also it’s not for the blue one I posted a pic here recently, but my ‘52 that I originally bought the ‘53 as a parts car for. It’s only been on mothballs for about 15 years.