Diving Off the Deep End: My 1956 Buick Project

I tired messing with the bleeder screw and it didn't change anything. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

The bleeder screw's look like this: http://www.lrseries.com/resources/u...9e852465c6593/556508-CYLINDER-BLEED-SCREW.jpg
Should I use them or the old ones?

Still looking for ideas about the tight fit. Should I try calling CARS.inc?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

This may sound stupid, are you sure they sold you the correct shoes? Hold an old one against the new one and check the size, length, arc. or if the old ones are gone, take one side back off, and set them inside the drum to check the fit.

 

Use the bleeder screws that came with the cylinders. (Shouldn't really matter but they are knew, and old ones are a b!&@h when they break off.)

 

The shoes are correct, the old ones match up. I am thinking about making new, shorter, "arms" for the wheel cylinder, do you think that would help?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

There is an old time buick junk yard here in sacramento called Buick Bonery. They guy ships and does ebay aucitons, he has a whole field of buick cars and parts. His prices are reasonable and he seams to know his shit.
The owners name is Mike Hogan
# 916-599-3934
buickbonery@hotmail.com

 

Do the parking brake cables move freely by hand? The diagram in my manual make it appear the parking brake is partially engaged. Could just be an illusion.

 

Shorten the arms If the tops of the shoes are being held away from the anchor pin. If the shoes are already tight against the anchor, not much to gain.

 

Not sure about yours but some front shoes will look almost the same as the rears but the fronts will be a little wider (outside to inside depth) Your drum might even turn with the front ones on the back until you tighten the lugnuts on your wheel, pushing the hub back against the edges of the shoes wedging the shoes between the hub and backing plate,locking the wheel from turning.
In short make sure your shoes are the same depth/width as your old ones

 

Also, make sure the parking brake cable is slacked off at the adjuster. Someone could have tigthened the cable to make the parking break hold with the worn down shoes.

 

No luck yet? If you are positive that you have the right parts, try this.... Put the drum back,you said that you got it on earlier,right? UNSCREW the adjuster at the bottom a few turns. Smack the drum around the outside of the drum wth a bf hammer while you are doing this and also keep trying to turn the drum. I think the problem to this puzzle is that you have the adjuster bottomed out. Put the wheel on even, to maybe take out the slack. If you still can't figure it out,it may be time for a professional. If so, don't feel bad, just watch and ask questions. We all hve to learn ..... Good Luck!!!

 

Anybody local to swing by and help him out?

 

Hi

remember there is different wheel sylinders front and back, and you might need to push the pistons in by hand when you open the bleeder, it looks like the push rod might bind a little? il get my new shoes next week i think, pm me if you dont get it fixed by then, and i can take som mesurment for you if you need.

 

lov those wagons.........you'll find out who your friends are now.
stay with it & good luck .

 

Well, it has been a few weeks since an update.... and school is out for the summer. So is he:
1) off having too much fun to work on the Buick,
2) off having too much fun working on the Buick to bother posting,
or 3) trapped under a Buick that fell off the blocks?

Hope all is well.

 

Hey sorry, actually I have two weeks left in school so all my teachers are cramming in all the assignments they forgot to do earlier in the year.

I got the rear brakes all buttoned up, they just took some finessing from someone who actually knew what they were doing (HAMBer Ragnar2xx2).

I started on the front, got the passengers side apart and tried to get the driver's side off and the freaking lug bolts are stuck. Lots of PB, wrenches, ratchets, breaker bars, and hammers couldn't get them unstuck. Today I went to horror freight and bought my self a impact wrench for $14, hopefully that will get 'em.

I also ordered the rest of what I need to finish the breaks (hopefully), such as hard lines and fittings. I also got new front wheel cylinders. I have tomorrow until 5pm and Tuesday until 6pm so hopefully I will make some more headway then.

Sorry for not updating,
Ryland

 

I just finished the front brakes, I also cleaned and re-packed the bearings.

What is the best way to attach the brake line clips to the frame? Rivet? Weld? Sheet metal screws?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

Screws.

Nice work, you got the front end done quick.

 

I'm trying to figure out how I am going to set up the brake pedal and M/C turns out I can't do it how I originally wanted to. I am still thinking about frame mounting it.

Here is a little diagram of what I'm thinking:


(Click for a larger image)

The black thing is the brake pedal, the red line is the push rod (dotted where it goes under or through something) and the gray box is the master. I don't have enough room to put the pedal in the same place as the master and if I put the master behind the pedal the reservoir will be covered by the engine. This set up seems kind of ridiculous to me but what do you guys think? Would it work (better or at all) if I put some sort of support after it turns back to being parallel to the frame? Any other ideas on how I could set it up?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

3Spd,

I don't have an answer for you about your brake pedal set up, but I wanted to say that I love your Buick and I admire you for taking on this project. You are making great head way and it seems like you are learning a lot from this project. You will thank yourself for doing it later down the road when you have an awesome old Buick to drive and you know a lot about rebuilding and working on old cars. That said, keep up the great job and don't get discouraged. I wish a lot more young guys your age would get involved in rebuilding old hot rods and old cars. My son just got in trouble and played stupid video games all of the time.... Keep it up, you will get it done!!!

 

I did some messing around and it looks like I'll be able to get the master up on the firewall very close to where the stock one went but there is still a problem. Because of how low on the firewall it is in order to get past the steering column and shift linkage I don't have room to run a very long pedal, does pedal length matter as long as I keep the ratio the same? The stock pedal ratio was something like 1.5:1

Thanks,
Ryland

 

Any thoughts on pedal length?

Thanks,
Ryland

 

If you ended up using the 17/32nds master cylinder you should keep the pedal ratio the same as original. If you ended up using a one inch master [approximately twice as big as the original] then you should double the ratio.
Now I see why your brake pedal is so damn small......it only had to push a 17/32nds master cylinder...that's really teeny compared to more modern cars..
BTW, I read all 9 pages of your thread...forgot if you ended up using an original master cyl.
Not so sure if you said the donated master cylinder[or both of them] were usable.

 

Rocky: The '56 Buick masters I got looked to be in good shape but I decided to not use them because I don't know when they were (if ever) re-built and I don't want to rely on a possibly 54 year old seal to stop my car. Also if it did ever need to be rebuilt I would have to fork over $300... if anyone was still willing to rebuild it. A standard 6:1 pedal ratio with a 1" master cylinder should work because the wheel cylinders are standard size.

I'll play around tomorrow seeing how long of a brake pedal I can use.

Thanks,
Ryland

 

I did some more poking around today and have decided what I am going to do for the brake pedal. I am going to mount the pedal and master cylinder on the frame but because the master will be right below the engine I ordered a remote M/C off Speedway. I now own 6 master cylinders... I think its time I got rid of some. I think this will be the easiest and strongest way to do this.

Ryland

 

In general, use the clutch pedal length and pivot point as a starting point since they need to travel in a similar plane and arc, and usually come thru the floorboard inline. If the m/c is aft of the pedal, leave extra length below the pivot point. Make sure the m/c bottoms out just before the pedal hits the floor, then add a fudge factor to allow for floor mats or carpeting and any slack in the linkage that will come with wear.

 

Ryland,

I think you will find this vid very useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6n44Z4zw0o

Brake conversion is the second half. They took pictures of the entire procedure, more or less.

 

Need an update man!

 

I painted the new engine, painted the engine bay, mounted a wilwood remote master cylinder, ran new brake lines, mated the manual transmission to the block that originally had a dynaflow on it by taking the bushing off the old, manual crank and pressing it into "new" crank. Made a quick set of temporary exhaust pipes running straight out the bottom of the car and dropped the engine in. Put on a new coil, added a pertronix igniter, 4bbl intake, rebuilt carb, and ran a wires and a fuel line. And tried to start it, no spark, re-wired it and got a spark. Then no fuel. Fuel pump wasn't working. Put a gas tank on the roof, nothing. Sprayed some carb started down it and got a real loud backfire. Attempted to check the timing with but it was getting late. I went inside, laid down with my girlfriend and fell asleep. Got up at 8am the next morning and drove to Arizona. I wont get a chance to work on the car until I get back in December. Ill post some pictures in a bit.

When I get home I'm putting on a new fuel pump, new spark wires, setting the timing, and hopefully it will start.

Ryland

 

I also mounted a 90's GM alternator, it was a really smooth swap. The pulley switched over no problem and all I had to do was weld a tab on to the original mount to bolt it to.

Ryland