My 55 Buick Project

Picked up a pretty rusted but complete Century.




At first I was like:




Some pics and updates so far.













From this


To this


Pulled motor


Now I am trying to decide the suspension and transmission choices for this car. I want it to be a daily driver capable of highway driving so a modern chevy 5 speed with a adapter kit for the 322 is most likely the solution. Doing this I doubt I will be able to use the original shifter on the tree. Right?

 

This is the end result of my first time soda blasting, one 50lbs bag and only cleared 20 percent of the fender. I personally now either sand or wirewheel the car, and would only use soda blasting for the hard to get to spots.



Doing the blasting



Then the motor got nakkid



Just guessing but this cylinder might have been running lean.



rusted thermo



So now I just want to check the motor and the clearances, clean up the coolant tunnels and get this baby together. Body will be epoxy primer since a paint job will cost 9-12k with a 9 month wait at most local body shops.

This is my progress so far. Sometimes feels like im in too deep. Keep an eye out for these cars on craigslist.... lol

Then I polished




Lifted!









This does not look like the factory master clutch to me.

 

Doing a great job there mate.
Looking forward to seeing more progress pics.

 

Sweet score man, Congrats! Love these cool rides, man that engine turned dash stuff is knock out. You are really going after this baby, good luck with the build. ~sololobo~

 

Looks good so far, you're putting in good work. What is the plan for the finished car?

 

engine turned dash? I dont understand.

Going to get the brakes from the red car onto the rust free blue shell. Then air blast the lines and get the brakes to work. Rebuild drums if needed or use ones from the other car. Then swap over the powersteering into the blue car. Cut the springs for a lower ride.

Getting motor back in a month or so from the rebuilder. Gonna take off the body from frame, put in motor and get it driving. Will worry about paint later.

 

He's talking about the finish on the dash. All the little swirls.

 

Oh, ya thats hours with a wire brush and sanding disks. It looks much better now since I put in a few more hours. I am thinking just clear coating it for now lol.

 

I did/am doing a very similar thing with my pair of '57s. It sounds like it's going to be a fun little car to beat around in.

 

Good, because its stock.

 

Either car is loads better than my rust pile '54, so good score!

If you plan to unload parts from either body, I sure would like to get my hands on the rear door vent windows. Mine are both jacked up and the '55 parts will fit. Come to think of it, most of my car is jacked up.

Good luck!

 

I only have one set of glass, so I will be reusing that. I will figure out a for sale list some time later in the build.

 

I had a chance to look at your build thread, I gotta say it was very interesting and very similar to my own build.

I have not had much time to upload pictures from my camera and phone but I have been working steadily on the car. I finally pulled the power steering from the rusted car, got the brake pedal assembly mounted, and started to prep the body for paint.

Saving precious storage room I ended up putting my Sparco race seats from my Lexus into the buick. I get made fun of by all my friends cause they think Im actually gonna leave them there...

Sometimes it feels like im in over my head, but I am heading forward each day.

 

wheres the rust you lucky sumbitch? lol. looks great dude, cant wait for the finished product

 

That looks great man its comming along nice. The brake system is the same as Oldsmobile. It was a very complicated system that is one of the reasons I sold my 56 Oldsmobile. I love the Buick nailhead motors I want one

 

Love the thread. Your making some great progress keep it up!

 

Thanks for the support guys!

 

All the brake lines I took off


Painted the MC/BB


Pulled the harness, it looks pretty good, but there were extra wires added by the previous owner to the rear taillights and to the fuel pump. Going to have to go over the whole thing and maybe rewire it.


Cracked the windshield while I was removing it. It had a big white spot on the passenger side between the two layers of glass and I was planning on getting a new one anyway. But I am damn pissed I broke it, I had removed two rear windows with no problems!


Looked inside the rear, looks clean.


I am getting ready to pull the body from the frame, then scrapping the body. If any of you guys need something from this body let me know. I am also stripping all the suspension bits from the frame, so there will be some parts going for sale.

I will keep updating when I can. Oh, and please excuse my OT daily driver in the background!!!

 

So last night I finally got the body off the frame, sorry no pics. Now its time to do some serious thinking. Either putting in jaguar suspension(front and rear) or using a 61+ buick rear end to get an open driveline. This car is going to get a modern 5 speed one way or another. I have my heart set on running the original 322 motor, but with a modern cooling system. As I have no plans on selling the car, I have decided to make it into a reliable daily driver in which I can haul my parents and my dog around on weekends. Any suggestions for overhauling the suspension are welcome.

 

finally cut the frame up and got rid of it. time to get on with stage two, putting the actual car together...

Picked up an old sear craftsman 3/8 hp 2 speed 8 inch sander/polisher for 20 bucks at a yard sale. Should help me with prepping the body for paint.

Pics to come.

So far the plan is to convert to open drive line with chevy truck arms, a never chevy 5 speed with od bolted up through an adapter to the 322. If I get some some money I will add an efi kit to the 322 carb. Plan is to lower the car about 2 inches all around. Finally got rid of the parts car so its time to start plotting the build up of the actual daily driver.

 

Start of the day


And then


Ended up with this


Cut off the bracket for the old skinny tubes, to be replaced with some truck trailing arms in the future.

Front from the donor car.



Next step is to convert the rear to open driveline. Then starting putting stuff together.

Picked up a pair of chevy truck trailing arms on ebay for 133 bucks shipped. Looks like its slowly coming together.

 

So, I have been a while. My daily driver/track is300 blew the motor, so I traded that for a 240sx with sr20det. So I sold that car. Bought a 92 sonoma with a 350 chevy and 350 turbo tranny... along with a 10 bolt positrak that was in the bed of the truck. This is all going to go into the Buick... no haters please. lol.

Now I am ready to finally start the transplant surgery on the Buick. Wish me luck

 

Engine fitment test stage 0.5

 

Motor and transmission is fitted in. And has now been taken back out for a slight rebuild.

 

Started to start mocking up the rear end suspension. Let me know what you think, keep in mind I dont really know what Im doing. I am planning to run the factory springs, and the factory pan handle bar.