My Limited Four Door Project

[58limited]

Wow! That looks great. Almost makes one afraid to actually start it up and risk getting it dirty.

[Smartin]

I haven't had much time to work on the car lately...those 60+ hour weeks are not conducive to progress here. Over the last couple days, I've done a few things...

I pulled out the chrome dash control cluster to see if it would clean up without having a rechrome. I believe I succeeded. This piece looks good enough without $$$ in rechroming. I had to disassemble those parts with the plastic inserts so I could clean up and polish the plastic. There was a lot of dust and old chrome polish in the cracks of these dealies. Same story with the A/C control.










I've had the gas tank sitting in the back of my Yukon for 2 weeks in an attempt to get it to the blaster, and finally got it there on Saturday. I picked it back up this afternoon and cleaned it out, and mounted it. Turned out nice. Pictures don't do it justice.

[Smartin]

The exhaust system came on Thursday. I bolted up the head pipes and mufflers and cobbled up some wiring to try and start it.

Literally as soon as the fuel hit the filter, it fired up and idled like a dream. Of course, there is some timing and carb adjustment issues, but I couldn't let it run for more than 10 seconds or so. Shot a quick video, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrtiESd9Mk8

I really needed to know if the engine would run before I started assembling everything else around it, just in case something went terribly wrong.

[bhclark]

Great to hear.

Let us know how that Kepich system fits.....I'm going to need a few soon.

[Smartin]

So far, the Kepich system has bolted right in. I am in search of the rear hangers, since I seem to have misplaced the old ones. They aren't generic, either.

I have the head pipes and mufflers bolted in, and the tailpipes loosely fit into place. I don't have enough hands to hold the stuff there while I tighten bolts, so I'll be waiting to install the rest of it.

[dvonk]

kickass. awesome to see the old Nailhead come to life once again!

[Smartin]

I tackled the booster/master cylinder today. All went well. Interesting series of seals and other "stuff" on that beastie!

[Smartin]

I finally cleaned up all the AC lines and mufflers and that big ugly valve on top of the compressor today.

The radiator is being recored in the next week or so, and I found that the heater core I got out of the parts car Super I bought is basically new...so that was nice to know.

I installed the parking brake pedal assembly...although it seems that I can't get the pedal to come back up all the way by itself when I release it. I played with the brake adjustments and the spring at the rear end, but eventually gave up on it to look at it another day. I don't need it right now, anyway

[Smartin]

Heater box is installed...with a shiny new heater core.





Shiny new radiator ready for install! I got the core support blasted today. It was a mess. I have a little bit of metal work to do at the bottom of it, but it's not a real important area.

[Smartin]

I decided to try to resurrect the splash pan from the dead this evening...I think I succeeded. Tomorrow is the bottom mounting area of the core support. I just want to get the radiator mounted so I can get the car started!!

[Smartin]

I had all this stuff done before the weekend started, but ran out of time to update.

Here is the finished splash pan. I thought about smoothing the pits out, but it's a freakin splash pan, and it will never be seen. I have enough time in reconstructing it, anyway. Good enough!




Here is the finished core support...the bottom flange with the 3 holes is where the splash pan mounts, so it was almost completely gone... that was a fun fix.




I'm currently working on the other side of the front wheel house. I repaired the other one almost 3 years ago:laugh: but left this one for a later time...I have the triangle part welded in, but had to walk away from it when I got to the contoured part. I'll hit it again sometime in the near future...I have a 2-day golf tournament out of town this weekend, so no more progress for a couple weeks.

[Smartin]

I started it up again, this time with coolant and all the other necessary fluids to run it for an extended period so I could tune it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBkTKWTXFwk

[Smartin]

No need for the heater today...it was nearly 60 degrees outside!

I started stripping the body shell this week, and today was able to get the majority of the passenger side done. I have some spots to touch up, but this is good enough to move on to the top tomorrow.




I realized that I never posted the underside of the car before it was put back on the chassis...so, here ya go.

[dvonk]

this is going to be a b-e-a-utiful Buick when you are done!

[Smartin]

The body shell is stripped and nearly ready for primer. Some small corners and edges I'll need to do by hand. Then seam sealer and primer!