finally getting started on the buick

The car did sit out side. But the Co-op tires held air for the last forty years and the frame didn't sit on the ground. It has surface rust but the floor, fenders, and sills are not rusted. The only cancer is under the winshield frame where the water rain down the door and sat. It is small enough that we will be able to patch it.
I have looked at Kanter's site and ordered a catalog. Now that I see how affordable a front end rebuild will be I will probably be leaving the frame alone. I will still be trying for disk brakes and power steering and a rear end that will work with open drive and a modern transmission. Does anyone have anyideas? My father suggests a Ford nine inch.
The biggest part of this, aside from the paint, will probably end up being the engine rebuild. Although something bigger than 264 would be pretty nice.

nocoastsaint

 

Well, it would seem that you can all rest assured that the buick will not be clipped. Thanks to my recent discovery of drop spindles by FatManFab. Have any of you had any experiance with the products of FatMan? I have read about them in various places and they seem to have a good rep.
Also, I have seen several power brake boosters available that would let me keep the through floor pedal and not clutter up the engine compartment.
Thoughts?
I would also like to extend the rear fenders a few inches and use later model deville tail lights. I really like the look of these lens and have never been crazy about the factory lamps. I will try framing the extensions out with some small rod and then weld and fill over that. Is that how this should be done?

Thanks,
nocoastsaint

 

Those old "Bufords" are real sweet! I agree with a few others on this post; If your current chassis is OK, don't change it! Or, stated another way, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Good Luck on whatever you decide to do!

 

Absolutely no reason to front clip that Buford. That car will drive fine and steer nice with factory components. Remember: all these cars were daily drivers when they were new. So by that rational, properly functioning factory components will be more than suitable. That may mean cutting the drums and installing new wheel cylinders, rebuilding the front end...all considerably less work then front clipping the car.

However, I can't say i completely disagreee with getting rid of the torquetube rear. There are several ways to do this. You could rear clip the car with leafs. You could also install a 4 link setup. A good friend of mine runs ladder bars in a 56 Roadmaster daily driver, and has had problems with the ladder bar setup. A Jag rear is also an option, and there was a great thread on here a while back on how to install it in a 50's buick (they did it on a 57).

Other than that, convert that thing to 12 V and have at it. sounds like a fun project on a deserving car

 

For the rear end I think I will be using some offering of Ford. Either a nine inch or, if the hub-to-hub distance is close, one out of an 86 Lincoln, and use the Buick's orginal suspension. My uncle runs a rather passive salvage from the family farm and he has all manner of vehicles for me to pillage.
Speaking of which. Anyone need anything of the late forties/early fifties GMC varity? Anything of the seventies era GM or Ford fullsize car varity? Or just something random you can't locate? We might have it. Especially International parts. Not that many of you are near western Kansas.
I need seats for my Buick. The rear seat frame is what I need the most, the front can pretty much be anything comfortable that I can come up with. But that rear seat frame would be nice. That and one porthole for the drivers side.

Thanks,
nocoastsaint.

 

Due to various issues that one will face in day to day life, a short time away from the Buick turned into Nigh On Five Years! But that is the way to go sometimes. But now, with a shop of my own and some motovation to start getting things done we are back on task. I have decided(much to the pain of some I imagine) to go with a 402 Chevy and a 700R4. For the rear end a 56 Olds axle on chevy truck style ladders will be installed. The baby nailhead will live on though, my brother wants to build a roadster pick-up and that little nailhead will be right at home. My computer is acting up as of late and will not let me log into things such as Ebay, Facebook, Gmail, and Photobucket. So I have not been able how to figure out how to get some photos up here. I am not 'great at computers'. But bear with me and I'll get some up here for you to browse through.

 

I transplanted a rear end and springs out of a79 Olds Cutlass into my 53 Buick, smae rear end as your Buick. The Cutlass springs did an nice conservative lowering job, drives great dropped about 3-4 inches too. Also used the spring trick on a friends 56 Roadmaster convertible as well. Same rear and springs from 1978-1987. Monte , Cutlass, Regal, Malibu etc.....

 

I guess your "finally" getting started on the Buick. Got some pictures

 

Yeah, long time in the making.

 

I do have pictures, I need to bum some computer time from someone and get them up.

 

Greetings to all! In no way shape or form should you use the S-10 clip, it is 6-8" too narrow at approximately 53" wide hub-face to hub-face, a much better choice would be Nova/Camero at 61-62" wide, or if you want to run those big-pattern Buick chrome wheels you should use the front suspension from a late-model Caprice (hint, look for a cop car as many had posi rear ends, the winter 1993 issue of Custom Rodder ran an article in adapting a four-link rear end to a '55 Buick). Those who wave the originality flag either have a pristine stocker or money to burn, a delux front-end rebuild kit from Kanter is almost 500 big ones and doesn't include inner tie rods, the drag link or idler arms, a disk-brake kit from Mike's is 200 bucks but requires almost 600 dollars (his estimate) in additional parts to complete the swap. If you add to the burn pile a locked-up motor, a bad trans, and a torque-tube rear end that will undoubtedly require rebuilding the only economical choice is to replace the entire drivetrain with easier to find and cheaper to rebuild late-model components. Good Luck and happy cutting!

 

Figured out how to get some images up here. I will get more when I can.

 

The picture with the lady was taken by Emily Dodge-Enigma Imagery. Look her up if you are interested.

 

Seems like a lot of work to put into a four door. I understand the family history and all, but...still a four door.

 

Oh please let's not start down this road! It's not a lot of work for a 4 or 2 door. It's all preference.. he's got the car... enough with the 4 door crap! Some of us love both 2 and 4...

 

When the mid 50's Buicks were used cars the reverse band would break in the Dynaflow all the time. The transmission shops could get a kit to fix the broken band by just removing the trans pan and installing the kit. It took about half an hour to do and you didn't need to remove the transmission. Someone must still sell the kits or know where to get one. I had a 54 Special convert that I just cut one coil off the front springs and rebuilt the front end. It drove great. Replace the bushings in the panard bar on the rear end. Almost all of them are bad, makes a huge difference by keeping it in a straight line when going over bumps.

 

Very interesting post, sounds like some good advice on leaving the suspension as is with some updates on it. The car looks real nice and the number of doors is a moot point. These cruzer hunks are great and the girls that want a ride can just get in quicker. Pocket's ride is "hot-as-hell", love it, and hey man its not leaking oil, it's just marking its spot. One of my dream cars, I wrecked my Dad's 51 Riv at 15 yrs old and have felt guilty about it since. Enjoy those super rides dudes. ~Sololobo~

 

If you look at the pictures of the front end, you can see where the drivers headlight trim is broken. Need to find one of those and the turn signal lens for the other side. My mother was helping me move the car and didn't quite grasp the concept of 'I'll be your brakes' and hit the brakes and I drifted my Buick into the back of My Blazer. In retrospect it is pretty funny.

Haven't quite decided on what cam to go with in my 402BBC. The engine was built in the late 80's for a street fighter Camaro. 11:1 compression and a Fireball II cam. The man with the Camaro never paid for the engine and my father ended up with it in one of his pickups. I have relieved the pickup of the 402(we replaced it with a 6.0LS truck engine) and am going through it for the Buick. The pistons and rods are at the machine shop being honed but the block only needs cleaned up and a light cylinder honing. I can't decide if I want to try and live with that big of a camshaft. But that engine did sound amazing.

 

And with the underseat heaters they will get too warm for the sweaters