The 53 body is resting comfortly tonight on the 73 Riv frame. They are a beautiful couple and the 455 heart transplant with the 400 tb ......well, lets just say I'm a little excited at this point. This is the 2nd 53 I have built and the first was a basket case so not having any rust or body damage to deal with is just amazing. Of all the old cars I have had I never had an original body like this. Saturday I will be making a few body mount adjustments before the two are separated again.
After looking things over it appears that I have about 4" to play with from top of drive shaft to floor board. Since the body bushings are going to take up a good two inches I am considering cutting the 73 perimeter frame and splicing in the original frame side rails. It Looks like i could drop the center frame section and gain at least a 2 3/4 lower stance. I'll probably add another brace from the mid section of firewall to the front section of the frame on each side for a little extra strenth since the frame might be a little weaker than original.
I found some skirts wrapped up in the boxes of parts that came with the car while I was moving stuff around so I had to dress her and take a snap shot. My wife wonders why I keep going to the garage door and looking in the garage as if something is going to change. Im sure you guys understand. Right now Im waiting on some supplies to get here and then I will go back to work on the frame rails....Hey, i think i hear the UPS truck!http://
After two days with the flu I decided to ease out in the garage and fire up the 455 before I take it off the frame. Since I didnt have a harness yet I figured Id just power up the starter, add 12 volts through the coil to the distributor. To my suprise I have two wires coming from the electronic module in the distributor... I took a stab at it and powered up one of the wires and checked the other with a test light. It was hot. I turned the engine over several times but do not have fire. Suggestions? Am I missing something here?
After a nightmare with the no fire situation the heart is beaten and daddy is happy! Replaced trigger module in distributor with points and condenser. Started right up. Runs great. Now its time to take everything off the frame and get it ready to blast. Take the heads off and work them over. Swap cam kit and intake. Finish body. YEAH! No sleep tonight for the dreamer.
I know you guys know what Im feeling! The wife is out of town tonight with her mom so why not sleep with the metal babe with Bigheart in garage. OF COURSE Im talking about the 53 buick. Yeah! Dang i need a wood stove out here....
Saturday I got a good start on the body by stripping the drivers side and trunk area down to the metal. Tonight after everyone goes to bed I plan on starting on the Passenger side. I found a weak spot in the rocker panel that will require about a 1" square patch. Other than that she's solid and straight on the drivers side. I tried the Purple Power Rust Killer on some minor pitting and it seemed to do a good job. Then new Dewalt electric orbital sander with the catch bag did a pretty good job cutting the pain and centralizing the mess. I think it was $70 bucks well spent. The new bearing system was pretty easy on the hands in regard to vibration. I don't think I like it better than the DA sander but all in all its a good addition to the tool box. Shockingly there wasn't a gallon of epoxy primer to be found in the local supply stores this weekend.
What did you ever decide about fitting the frame to the body ? Also wondering how well the Riv steering box and column line up with the buick parts.
Last night I put the car up on stands so I could crawl around under the car with the body resting on frame. What I found was the rear seam on the inner fender well was making contact with the frame on both sides. As a result the body is setting on the front frame mount, at the second mount there is .3/4 inch from body to frame, and at third mount there is 1 1/2 between body mount and frame. I'm going to shave the seam on the inner finder well .3.8 inch. With the bushings everthing will be ok. When I compared the original frame rail height to the 73 frame rail height I realized I would actually loose ground clearance and have more visible frame if I grafted in the 53 rials to the 73 frame. Everything really lines up nicely as with the exception of the body support over the hump in the frame. Looks like I'll have to build support bracket to extend from the frame to that point. Something else I am considering is notching and boxing at body mount points on the frame then welding in original 53 frame mounts so that the round busings will fit perfectly. By doing this this distance from the bottom of rocker pannel to the bottom of frame will be less than 2 inches. the original frame was 3 inches below rocker panel.
I have a buddy who put a 59 Buick on a 75 Cadillac frame and he encountered the a lot of the same issues... but has since worked them out and the car is shaping up nicely. I remember one of the main issues in his conversion was with the steering lining up properly between the two. Good luck with your build...should be interesting to see how it develops.
No doubt this is like the old grab bag gift; you just don't know what you're going to run into until you open the bag.
I just put the factory Riv steering column in the 53 and other than a lenght problem with the column it lines up perfectly. Im not sure If I'll shorten the slip shaft on the steering box and move the mounting pad on the column or just buy an aftermarket column that has has a short shaft below the firewall mounting bracket. I think I will mount my seat and see if the overall lenght is comfortable. I'm trying to use all doner stuff without buying a bunch of aftermarket parts and it's going pretty good so far.
With a little help from the wife we managed to turn the Buick around so I can remove the engine and trans and then finish fabing the original fender, and bumper supports to the new Riv frame. As we pulled it up the drive way I said, "Just pull me around the block." Sure was nice to get the garage cleaned up while the car was outside. Now its time to mess it up again as I can't wait to finish the frame. Jumping back and forth from body to frame has proved to be encouraging and benificial as I take my time and consider each modification to the frame. Its really going better than I expected.
Only had a few hours to work on the Bu today but got the bumper supports fabed to the new frame. At this point I can definately say it has been easier using the whole Riviera frame verses using the camaro subrame under the 53 Buick body. Here's a pic with the Bu smiling.
What a pain in the butt when you have to do things the hard way. Today I finished fabing all the body mounts (2 had to be changed), tacked in place and then removed the body from the frame. If you've done this without a body hoist you know what I went through today. At least I got to see it with everthing lined up for a day or so. I must have looked at it a hundred times. Oh well, everthing I was really concerned about is now in the past. Now its just a matter of finish welding everything, and blasting it all. When I put it back together for the third time it will be much easier as the frame will be completely disassembled. Here is what she looks like now.
Making a little progress and saving a lot of money! I wanted to have the frame sandblasted but after getting a quote I decided to see what I could do with a few wire wheels and a side grinder. It took about 10 hours so I figure my time was worth about $60.00 an hour. Since I'm on a very tight budget that works for me and I must say I am very pleased with the outcome; all except for the gazillion little wires that found there way through most of my clothing. The undercarriage is coming along nicely as well. Its a nasty job but it sure is nice to see it's in such good shape.
FYI....I tired the Ace Hardware oil based paint on the back side of my rocker panels after stripping and preping. To my supprise it laid down smooth as glass and set up rock hard. After the paint dried I wanted to see how well it bonded to the bare metal prep after 36 hours so I tired to scrape a section off where I got some on the floor board. That stuff is tuff and hard as a rock. Hard to scratch and extremly hard to scrape off. I'm satisfied.
Got a lot done on the 53 in the last few days. Used a friends small sandblaster today and sandblasted the control arms and a few other items, and then sprayed the frame. Frame turned out ok for a driver. I do like the 73 Riv parameter/perimeter frame though; worked out nicely with only a few mods. Sure was a lot of work prepping the frame but I saved a lot of cash. Altered my control arms with the help from a friend with amachine shop. Real pleased with them.
I'ii be watching this one, I love 53 Buicks. Had one about 6 years ago and like the idiot I am I sold it before it was finished. I have kicked myself way too many times for doing that. Good luck!
Thanks for keeping us up to date on the proress. You'll have a lot of sweat equity in this when your done but the satisfaction doing it yourself will be worth it. Frank
No doubt. There's just something special about building your own car. A few of the nicer cars that I have had were either all original or built by someone who spent so much money they couldn't afford to keep it. In any case I have learned that if I did not build it I didn't really enjoy or appreciate it. My favorites have been the ones that challenged my abilities and imagination.
The Jalopy Journal
