Don't give him any ideas......last time he had too much egg nog, the Buicamino was created!:Brow: :TU:
I have patience, but man! I'm sending my car to your side of the state, Duane.ou: I've been spinning my wheels trying to butt weld patches into my inner wheelhouses. Were you good at puzzles when you were little? :TU: I was planning on looking at the western car for sale here locally, but it's been snowing off and on all day. Maybe this Sunday.
"Were you good at puzzles when you were little?" Well if you ask George N. I'm still little.:rant: :laugh: , anyway yes I have always been good with shapes/sizes. Years ago the problem with the Buicks was that not much was reproduced, so if you needed a part you were often reduced to making it, or repairing it. When I did my first 70 Stage 1 4-speed it didn't come with any of the reverse lockout pieces. I ended up cutting a bunch of old brackets up and welding them together to make what I needed. Did the same with inner fenders etc. Once finished you could not tell the originals from my pieces. Of course this is the hard way to do it, but before the internet even my "network" could not come up with some pieces. So the choice was either go without, and bitch about not getting the car done, or figure out how to make the pieces with what you got. Sometimes I get bull-headed and just refuse to let cars die. Oh well. Duane
Just wanted to give you guys an update. I removed an entire trunk floor from a fairly solid Virginia car I parted a couple of years ago. The floor itself was swiss cheese in spots, but thanks to Pat Harmon, I have a one piece trunk floor to replace it. The frame and gas tank supports are in good shape. I cut the trunk in my GS completely out from directly above the rear axle all the way back to the tailpanel. I cut the virginia car in roughly the same area. Then, I drilled the spotwelds out that attach the inner wheelhouses to the trunk floor. I used sections of the wheelhouses (about 1 1/2" up from the trunk and all the way to above the axle). I buttwelded the sections of wheelhouses in and ground them smooth. Next, with the passenger side quarter removed, I rolled the trunk floor under the car, got it lined up to the floor above the axle, and tackwelded it.
After I tacked the front of the trunkfloor, I dropped the body back onto the frame and tightened the body bolts. The trunk floor lined up almost perfect to the tailpanel where the factory welds the 2 pieces together. Next was to replace the tailpanel (or most of it). I cut a pice of 1/2" pipe and tackwelded it to the tops of the quarters to keep them the correct distance apart. I cut most of the tailpanel completely out, except for a couple of inches on both sides. I cut the clean piece down to size and started welding it into place. I didn't get any step by step pics, but this is how it looks now.
yeah, Rick, it sure is. i'm a little bored with the turbo cars right now, so i'm finally getting started on it. how's your car coming along?
I haven't done too much since mid July.... I went balls to the wall from April until July 4th then got burned out. I did manage to finish the core support (with the Garrison kit) and paint it. In the process right now of getting the 455 put together. Unfortunately, the machine shop (a very reputable one at that) installed the TA cam bearings incorrectly and I noticed last night that 3 of the pistons were pressed on the rods backwards. ou: I'm hoping to have it on the road by the end of the summer.... The BPG event in Columbus would be nice, but I somehow don't see it happening.
