Love this project and all the attention to detail, you are givin' the ole' girl. This air-bag business, is no joke. Allot of work goes into doing it properly. Also quite jealous of your shop. Very sano operation, you are running. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, in my book. Pops was a Buick man before and after WWII, so they are in my blood. But, will someone please tell me what the design staff was smoking, when they drew up this front end??? Thanks so much for taking time to do a step by step of the whole enchilada. Subscribed. Can only dream of bagging my '64 Olds 98. Still trying to get engine back in the car, with the TH400 conversion. Inside of that oil pan looked gnarly!!! JT
Thanks Jake, I learned a lot from the forums so hopefully this thread will help somebody with their ride. Plus, it helps keep the build on track.
Had to get my dad involved to help me bend the steering arms, he heated em up and I made the bends I wrapped them in foil to slow the cooling as much as possible to prevent cracking. Ready to be blasted and painted!
I rewired the instrument lights from the old 6 volt system to the new 12 volt harness. I have to admit the gauges look kinda creepy at night. The speedometer looks like it was stolen from the Titanic. I think I love the interior of this car just as much as the exterior. The disc brake kit is going on this weekend and hopefully she'll be driving to the alignment shop next week! Here's a pic to hold yall over.
I put this master (a 5/8ths bore version) in my '56 Buick to try and match the ridiculous stock bore/pedal ratio for manual brakes in '56 but I found out it won't work as I planned. The cylinders are side by side so it essentially doubles the area you are pushing on so you need twice the pedal ratio you would need if it was a single 5/8 bore master. If you want I can go over the math with you... Other than that its a nice unit. Ryland
Ryland, thank you for pointing that out. I overlooked that. If you don't mind I would appreciate the help figuring out what master cylinder I need for my Buick. I'd actually like to adjust the pedal because where it sits now it's pretty uncomfortable. I'm a tall guy (6'3"), and even with the seat back my knee was in the dash when I'd go to brake. I went with the wilwood kit. I found it $50 cheaper at JEGS with free shipping.
Nice build! Are you happy with the tire size you went with? I'm building a '49 Pontiac and plan on bagging it well and was going to run that same size tire. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
"Ryland, thank you for pointing that out. I overlooked that. If you don't mind I would appreciate the help figuring out what master cylinder I need for my Buick. I'd actually like to adjust the pedal because where it sits now it's pretty uncomfortable. I'm a tall guy (6'3"), and even with the seat back my knee was in the dash when I'd go to brake" Ok, you need to do what I did. Remove the seats, get 2 pieces of 1/4" x 3 or 4" (I forget) flat bar and make you some adapters to move your seat back a couple of inches. It's not rocket science. You drill a set of holes to screw the adapter to the original hole and you drill and tap a second set of hole 2" back. Now, you have legroom.
BTW, I ended up lengthening the secondary lever of my pedal by an inch to get less leverage and more stroke on my setup which was installed before I bought it. It's a Bendix MC from a thunderbird I think with power booster. Check my thread.
Thanks man, I love that 51 special you built. That driveline is exactly how I want to set mine up..... Eventually......
Well I've got some good news and some bad news... Good news is I put the wheels on and tested the air ride, everything seems to work just fine! And this is as low as she'll go without diggin a hole. Bad news is she's not firing. First it kept blowing the coil fuse when the ignition was turned on. I tested the coil and the coil was bad. Since I was in the area I replaced the leaky pushrod cover gasket. I also replaced the coil, points, cap, plugs and wires. She fired up once after the points, coil, and cap were on before I changed the plugs. After I changed the plugs, nothin. No spark at the coil. Not a big deal (I think) but it's getting irritating trying to figure out why this is happening. Once I get her running again I'll finish the brakes and off we go. And if you're wondering about clearance... 3/4"
Stock rear drums and the wildwood disk brake kit up front. I had to bolt on a 1" spacer to get the wheels to clear the tie rod ends (I'm using aftermarket wheels). Other than that the fit was perfect. I'm going with a 3/4" & 7/8" dual master into a JEGS distribution block.
U found that cool stance on those "B O B's" & we are waiting for an outside sidewiev shot! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Why the odd bore sizes? Your car came stock with a 1" bore master which equates to a the stock pedal ratio being in the ballpark of 6:1 so you should be able to use a 1" bore disc/drum master with your stock pedal (not quite sure where it mounts on a '50, on the frame?) If the pedal height is what you want to adjust then you should be able to change the length of the push rod to adjust the height. Ryland
I figured it would work since the rear drum brakes don't require as large of a bore while the front disc has a lot more piston area and would need a larger bore. With the distribution block the rear would be supplied by the 3/4 bore and the front by the 7/8. The way this ridiculous brake pedal is set up I'm not sure how to measure it and calculate the pedal ratio. The master cyl mounts to a bracket on the frame below the steering box and this cnc master lines right up to the existing bracket bolt holes like it was meant to be.
Check these out: Its the most comprehensive write up on brake component sizing I have found: http://dev.stoptech.com/docs/media-center-documents/pedalsetup-dualmaster-guide This is a good read too: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/1328/13895?sequence=2 I think for you what you need is to focus on master cylinder bore and pedal ratio to get the right line pressure - about 800 psi at 85lb of pedal force. Based on my current understanding is you will need smaller master cylinder bores for they setup you are proposing, like 5/8" on both sides. That being said; I have been doing a lot of reading and am starting to confuse myself. I will call willwood tomorrow and see if they can't set me straight. Ryland
Good info Ryland. I called wilwood to get some advice. They suggested their 7/8 tandem master pn 260-9439, a distribution block (which I have), and a 10 psi residual pressure valve for the rear line. I'm looking at the specifications on their website and I'll definitely have to build a mounting bracket to use this master cylinder. I remember seeing a very similar setup on a '49... I think it was in ausbuick's build thread.
That is one sweet sedanette you have there.. Nice work and interesting thread. Anybody know where there is another decent 50 sedanette for sale by any chance?
They are the experts, I'd go with what they said. For my '56 the next thing I am going to try is a pair of their compact masters and running a bell crank system so I can mount them on the frame. That will make them the 4th and 5th master I have installed in that thing... Love your build. I'll keep watching.
I do more lurking and learning than posting but this is beautiful work. I love the blend of old and new. My only input is on your air ride fittings. With 2 daily driven bagged rides, I would change out the compression fittings (or that's what they look like on this iPhone) for push to connect DOT fittings. Compression fittings can spilt the airline hose.
Built a mount for the master cylinder and removed all of the old brake lines. In other news, there's a new leak! I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the torque tube when I first started working on this thing. Out of nowhere trans fluid has been pouring out of that small hole. I suspect the spline seal or rubber tourque ball to torque tube seal. Guess I have to pull all that apart again. I also removed the dif cover and I'm not quite sure what to think about the wear on the gears. The gear fluid was extremely low and about half of that was trans fluid which can't be good. Take a look I have to admit the idea of an open driveline and 700r4 is sounding better and better. Anyone done this before?
My dad and his friend both used 200r4 trans. My dad put it in a 48 Pontiac coupe and his friend in a 53 buick special with a swaped in nail head and a adapter plate. On the 53 he had a adapter made to convert the rear over to open and installed a 4 bar setup. The trans fits the X frame nice and is a universal bell so all gm motors bolt to it. I am getting ready to do the same to my 53 buick special sedan. My plan is keep the strait 8 get the adapter run the 200r4 and convert the stock rear like dad's friend did. Then I'm planning on running trailing arms like the Oldsmobiles had in the late 40s to locate the rear axle.
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