Thought I would start a thread. I picked up this 56 buick (4 door hard top) about 2 years ago. I didnt mean to, as I was in the middle of another project, but I came accross it on cragslist and watched the price keep dropping until I finally had to buy it. Now I have pretty much finished up my other project (still a couple bugs to work out, but pretty much done), and I couldnt pass up the opportunity presented by my wife nad kid going on a trip for a week (meaning I was free to spend all of my free time doing stupid guy things without interuption for a whole week!). So I pulled the car over tot he garage form where I had it stashed, and started tearing things apart. When I first got it, I had toyed with the idea of keeping the stock 322ci nailhead, but the more thought about it, I have decided to go a different direction. Not so much the engines fault, but I need disc brakes, and power steering and A/C (this is Arizona) and the since I am doing all that, I might as well not hassle with a 55 yr old engine when there are much easier, more powerful options out there. So, here is the plan, I have a donor 1995 Buick Roadmaster with a 5.7liter LT1 engine and a 4l60E tranny as a power plant. (the whole roadmaster is just sitting in the back yard waiting to sacrifice itself). So out comes the nailhead. So the fun began. I had already removed the bumpers and seats and stuff before I stashed the car, so that was already done. So on the day I moved it to the garage, I started by removing the front end so I could get the engine out. And while waiting for a buddy to arrive to help me lift the front clip off, I got bored and started sanding. Arizona is a magical place... things dont rust. We get on average 7" of rain a year, and it usually comes in just a couple rainy days a year. Most of the time you have relative humidity of about 7%. This results in 55 yr old cars with essentially no rust. All this sunshine has other effects though, it destroys anythign made of rubber, plastic or fabric. And it bakes paint until it turns to a fine chalky poweder that is remarkably easy to remove! So a good day with a sander and a stack of 80 grit and I had this....
now in those photos, you will notice some of the stuborn stainless side trim, a few emblems and the rear door windows are still in. I did evnetually get them out. The rear door windows were the worst, I still dont quite know how they work or are asupposet to go together. I will have a booger of a time putting them back in when the time comes. So with all the trim off I got hte exterior to bare metal. I left the rockers alone for now, as they are kind of dented up and will require more work later. So then I primed that sucker up. The body is very very straight, a few door dings here and there, one crease int he lower drivers door and a similar one in the passenger door, but nothing bad.
So now I am getting to the meaty part. The engine. I have the nailhead gone, and am in the process of removing my donor engine. Then I will have to do some measuring to see if I am going to graft the 95 roadmaster frame to the this frame (as roadmasters dont use a subframe), or if I am going to purchase a camaro subframe and graft that in. That should take care of my disc brakes, power steering requirements. I would value any input from those with experience of any pros-cons of each approach. I would like to use as much of the roadmaster as I can, and if I take the whole front end, I get the ABS system too, so that would be nice. Another questions, as you can see in this picture, I have those vents through the firewall. Those will be going away. That is easy enough, but the top part above the vent where the windshield drains down, that is a big spot that I woudl like to mount a brake booster too. How have others addressed that drain area? One more question, I have removed the wiper arms, removed the round trim nut, but cant seem to get hte square eshund off so I cant remove the chrome screen peice along the fornt windshield. Any ideas?
Lookin good so far. I'm afraid I can't help with the firewall questions as I kept my master cylinder under the floor. Since yer in AZ could you help me with my bumper search?
well, I got about 4 hours of work on the donor car today, just enough time to turn it from a nice looking complete car, to a total wreck looking thing. But all the stuff is out of hte way now, and if I get similar time tomorrow I will disassemble the dash and all the wiring so the engine is completely ready to come out. I probably wont get it pulled out of the car until next weekend though. I have to say that workingon a 95 car is a treat compared to the tired old things I am used to. All the bolts came right out without penetrating oil and breaking half the bolts, electricals all had plugs to disconnect them... ahhh....
Nailheadroadster, I will keep my eye out for a rear bumper for you. There is a nice wrecking yard down in Casa Grande (about 50 miles form here), if you want I will give them a call and see if they have one for you. Brian
Also, for anyone reading, I could use a line on a good replacement front windshield. Mine is delaminating and looks pretty sick. If I am going to spend $100 on a new gasket to set the windshield, I would just as soon not put it around a ugly peice of glass. Anyone know where to find one?
Hey Brian, Thanks for keepin an eye out for me. If you do happen to go by that yard, I would like a decent 55 Special or Century front bumper and the upper parts above the grill too. For new glass you may wanna give Bob's Classic Auto Glass a call. Here's the link. http://app.vendio.com/storefront?mode=1&view=HOME&sfUrl=bobsclassicautoglass&foo=0.7976409720358448
I'm reframing my '55 Special at this time, possibly I can give you some help. I'm using a '78 LeSabre that we have stretched. So far, interference at the rear "kick up" above the rear end, mainly because of the '55 floor pan narrows at the top because the engineers at that time did not mount tube shocks at the frame, lever shocks were still used at the rear of '55's. We cut the floor pan, will box it in after the final body mounting is configured. Some cutting of the front skirts was also necessary. The vent "blisters" are going to take some doing and engineering. As I am mounting a booster/master cylinder on the firewall, at least the left blister will be going away. It will be necessary to leave a small gap at the bottom when I panel over it to allow any water to drain off. Possibly will have to modify the cowl in the vent area, but until I acquire a pedal/booster/master assembly, well will deal with that then. I looked at subframing my frame. I ruled it out for several reasons. One, the "easiest" would be to use a Fatman subframe. At a quick estimate of over 3k, I can't justify that kind of money. Retirement is too close away, trying to get debt down to a minimum and I refuse to finance "toys". Camaro subframe available, but also looked at chopping the LeSabre and grafting it's front frame section. The other issue with the original frame was that it was accident damaged before I got the car and was poorly fixed. I found out when we lifted the body that the left rear rail was kinked and bent in. Not to mention the rear crossmember should have been replaced, instead the damage was masked with undercoating about a half inch thick. And to fabricate a four link in the back, well was more than I wanted to tackle. ANd the addition of rear leaf springs would have been the alternative, but due to the design of the rear frame rails it would have not been real easy to do. If you have any questions, private mail me.
nice buick! those rear door windows are a bitch to get working right, it takes alot of time and patience. i got mine working perfect.
Cool project man. If that nailhead needs a good home let me know. I'm right down the road in Tucson. Good looking truck, too.
52pickup, the nailhead found a home up in the northern part of the state. Thanks for the compliment on the truck, it was quite a learning experience, but having been through it makes this one much easier (so far). You can see more if it here... http://forum.ih8mud.com/fj45-owners-club/248725-november-rotm.html
Thanks, I'm not sure how much lower it is, the original builder put a mid-70's GM chassis under it, i love the stance too, sometime its a little too low though, lol. there are some more photos in my profile album.
I had a nice '56 Special, wish I still had it. I added AC to it, otherwise left it stock. Nailhead ran great, plenty of power. I liked that gas pedal start feature, worked perfectly! If I remember right, there were 2 kinds of wipers on those. Mine were basic, others had some kind of cam action deal and were not interchangeable......
I love to see those Buicks! I'm not crazy about the late-model powerplant, but it'll still be a hoot to drive.
I completely understand that the late model engine is not to everyones taste. I hope I dont offend too many people with my choice. But it is largely a cost thing. The old nailhead needed a rebuild, adn I wanted an auto transmission, and I want disc brakes and power steering and AC. So for $890 I picked up the roadmaster, and I will use the engine, tranny, AC if I can fit it which it looks like I can, PS, brake booster, steering column, pedal assembly, the entire rear end assembly, the wiring harness, and maybe the radiator and stuff too if I can make them fit. Plus, I have already sold some of the unused parts so my cost keeps dropping closer to the magical free catagory. And having put the LS1 in my truck, I love the Horse power, the smoothness and fuel efficiency of the fuel injection. The programability of shift points int eh 4l60e transmission. And the modern engine can handle ethenol enriched fuel (not to mention just unleaded fuel), without slowly damaging the engine. I respect purists and love to look at their stuff, but I like the 56 for the asthetic beauty of the body mostly (although I think it needs to sit a touch lower), so adding confort, efficiency, and safety through modern upgrades seems like a logical approach.
Hey man, Awesome car. I am doing a similar thing. I have a 55 special. I grafted a rear end out of a 90 caprice (similar to the roadmaster) into the rear frame. Used the spring housing and relocated the control arm mounts onto the old frame. I also subframed the car with the caprice front end. Mine was a police car with the bigger brakes and 3:42 pos rear. I originally was going to use the engine and wiring (TBI), but I recently purchased a 472 cadillac and 400 turbo transmission. I too am needing a windshield, but am currently unable to purchase one. They are $525 installed plus $150 for the gasket. I will be locating the booster on the firewall as well. I will probably have to section the drain for the booster. It's not just a drain, it's the fresh air intake for the heater too. I figure it doens't really need all that air after I install the ac. Anyway, i will send you some pics soon too. It's cool we are both kind of doing the same thing. I understand about the engine man. You got to use what you can. I would rather see your buick on the road than in a junkyard. Best of luck.
Thanks Clarky, I cant wait to see some pics of yours. Would really like to see some detail of what you did with the rear end.
Any progress? Just checking in. I have mine on the frame, after it has been subframed and sectioned the rear end out of the caprice in. I now have the brake lines plumbed and column and booster set up. Set the engine in it last night and will start building floors tonight. I will post some pics soon.
more updates coming soon. I have been ignoring it while it was hot here in AZ, but it looks like I am moving to Seattle, and have a pretty limited amount of timeto turn this back into one car rather than large piles of seperate cars... so I got to work over the last couple weekends (even though it is hovering near 110 here) and chopped the frame and have the new frame (78 camaro) all prepped to go in. By buddy Tim is coming over saturday to weld it in for me. Here is its current state...
okay, another 110 day here in Phoenix... sounds like welding weather! My friend Tim was gratious enough to come do the welding, because he knows I suck at it. So we got hte subframe welded in, then he hit the road and I got the engine set in place. Next up is to get the front sheet metal rehung, and get some 15" wheels with the right bolt pattern, so I can pack this project up and load it on a truck to Seattle.
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