Projects Scored a '49 Buick Sedanette

Thanks, 31Vicky! Rotten Leonard is shipping me a drill guide this week. With a little luck from FedEx, I should be able to re drill them this weekend.

 

Good deal, you'll probably need new studs, I'd order those now cuz my parts house never has them. I'd ask Lenard for a scan of the requirements, but I think they drill to a 0.625 diameter stud size and you'll need to figure out shoulder height, length, and thread. Summit had a good search feature for that and Dorman part #s. parts house can get a 10 pack and save you a few bucks.

 

I love my 48 best street rod Ive ever owned. They are made for the road,very comfortable too cruise in.Buick Rod And Custom Assocation national meet Jun.5 - Jun.7th Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park.
Have put 50K on mine in 5 years. I trashed my 17 and 20 inch wheels
for 15 inch steel wheels, what a difference in the ride. Good luck with your great find.

 

How many cars usually attend?

 

Id take older imperfect paint over primer any day....change the wheels...drop her some...and drive the hell out of it...bitchin car...

 

Well, I have cleaned up some of the wiring problems, installed a tach and some gauges that I can believe and got my front sway bar mounts welded on. The chassis engineering sway bar was a bit too wide for the stock mounts. Everything works fine now.

Since my drill fixture hasn't arrived from rottenleonard yet, I decided to replace the crumbling, rotten foam rubber in the front seat bottom. That job went easier than I thought it might, including reinstalling the buttons. So, now it's way more comfortable to sit in.

Monday, I am going to attempt to fix a mysterious, intermittent coolant leak. Damned thing only leaks when it is cooling down, apparently. Also, the leak is around the water neck. Any ideas ?

 

Does it have a recovery bottle (hose leak)? Bad radiator cap seal?

 

It does have a recovery bottle. A repurposed anti freeze bottle zip tied behind the grill.

This leak is coming from around the water neck. I'm going to replace it and the hose. Remember, this is a 455, not a Straight 8.

Thanks.

 

Well, the drill guide from Rotten Leonard arrived and it is slick. Slick as snot on a door knob! Just take your time, use plenty of cutting oil and drill them out. Rather than beat out the old studs and risk bearing damage, I just cut them off and ground the flat to the surface of the flange. You can do this job in about 2-3 hours, 4 Max.

Www.rottenleonard.com

 

Next item on my punch list is to fix an exhaust manifold leak. I soaked em for several days and got out the torch tonight. The first one came out easy but nothing doing on the second one. I have no room to work on this if it breaks, so I'm taking the top end off. sigh.

 

Ended up having to pull the heads. It's a good thing I did. I found a bent pushrod with no indications of anything else wrong, so I will fix two things while I am at it.

I heated the bejesus out of the bolts and finally got them all out. Unfortunately, the DS exhaust manifold is eroded and no longer worth screwing with. I have one on the way from the eBay.

While I had it down, I broke down the heads, cleaned the and lapped the valves to make sure all was ok. The heads are back on, so I should ride next weekend sans exhaust leak, if all goes well. Wish me luck.

 

Good luck mate....


Check out my 49 Buick sedanette build

 

Well, I got sidetracked a little. I had foot surgery on 4/22 and all was going well until 5/7 when a badass infection got into my incision. Fortunately, it wasn't MRSA but the doc made me sweat until the lab results came back. Anyway, I lost some time but I hope I'm on the road to recovery now.

I got a new exhaust manifold installed, got the engine all put back together and the darn thing still didn't run right. After checking compression, I assured myself that the long block was right. So, I went to work on the ignition. It has an HEI distributor that wasn't working right, so I educated myself.

I found out that the center plate was installed upside down and the centrifugal weights were worn out (pivot holes elongated), so I lucked out and had some extras and replaced them. After all was replaced, I ended up with about 15 degrees of mechanical advance with the full centrifugal set at 30 degrees. When I connected the vacuum advance, I had way too much.

So, I did some research and stole an idea from the Chevelle forum, I think. I installed a Crane adjustable stop but instead of installing it the way that they describe it, I tapped a 8-32 hole in the vacuum advance and installed it as an adjustable stop. Works slick as snot on a doorknob! I now have 14-15 degrees of vacuum advance, so I'm about 30 degrees BTDC at idle (full vacuum) and at wide open throttle. The throttle response is great and it seems to run very well at cruising throttle, which can be as high as 45 degrees.

I also cleaned up the engine a little. I bead blasted the intake and air cleaner and coated them with high temp satin clear. I sprayed the valve covers with black wrinkle finish and installed new hardware. I also pressure washed untold years of grime off the engine and front suspension. So, at least I can work on it without getting nasty as hell now.

Also, I set the toe in. It was about 1/2" toed in. I swapped that for 1/8" and it drives better. Still have some suspension issues to sort out but that's for this coming weekend.

I'm ready to go to a cruise in!

 

Rock,
Keep all the accessories on the car....(IE spotlight, visor, prism viewer on the dash, etc.) These are all period correct and soon to become irreplaceable. The '49 will be gorgeous when you are done.

 

I have it sitting a lot better now. Check out my suspension thread. I chopped one round off the front coils and bent the steering arms. She drives and rides pretty darn good now.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/49-buick-rear-suspension-upgrade.930112/