jamie starts engine project!aka..buick humor,free admission!

Nice. Unique and powerful. git 'er dunnnnnn!

 

brakes from hell!!!

well,i figured "while im at it",i would disassemble/clean/flush the wheel cylinders out in case they had the "goo"in em.im glad i did :shock: the car came with a "new complete" brake job uzzled: complete with primary & secondary pads reversed ,no lube on backing plate/shoe contact & bent backing plate on the left,neither drum had been turned(the shoes dragged like crazy),but hey,the right side had a new/rebuilt wheel cylinder...and a crushed & torn new bearing seal :rant: did i mention ALL 20 lug-nuts were on BACKWARDS...like flat side against the wheel!! :spank:actually,that was the first thing that caught my eye when Rick H. backed it off the trailer.so,i decided to do the aluminum front drum conversion now instead of down the road sometime.changed backing plates,assembled shoes correctlly,rebuilt 2 original cylinders(finally found the kits),cleaned all the front lines,all back together except bearing pack & i need someone open to turn the drums.stupid holiday weekends :af:

 

Bummer about the brakes,I'm glad that you are forging ahead and I can't wait to see the finished product :TU: .Keep up the good work!

 

just another step in the process

hey,im buried to deep to give up & thats not my style :laugh: i cant wait to see the finished product either p i am certainly getting an education on the 69,s.learn something new everyday from this board,like the stripes on rockers! hmmm...

 

it f*&@ing runs!!!

on a quiet,nice,sunny sunday morning,still giddy from being on here(& a pot of coffee),the quiet farm country that surrounds me was SHATTERED by the beutifull noise of my motor starting! :eek2: fired right up after some distributer adjustments,25 psi oil pressure :TU: fast idle for 20 minuites for cam/lifter brake-in & rev er up a bit! no,more :TU: ok,a little more! :grin: ahh,sounds great :bglasses:the m/t headers 3 1/2" into 3" reducers with 3" dynomax's & no pipes,sounds street worthy!! :3gears: well to me anyways. John osbornes carb has NO hesitation or lag whatsoever!immediate response.and ive still only timed it by ear :spank: then i notice some wet stuff in drops hitting my windshield(last place i was paying attention to)jump out & the damn water pump is leaking out of the small hole under the shaft my fault for using one that came with the mess of parts.shoulda used the one with bad bearing,bet it doesnt leak p so some minor work & itl be ready (engine-wise)for spring.

 

i love sanding!

since the nearest partshouse thats open on sunday is 50+ miles away,i went back to my favorite chore...bodywork uzzled: just need to block the fenders & shoot some color on them(hoods done)& start the assembly of the front clip :TU:

 

i wanna be sedated??

ok,in 68 they had an option for a rocker stipe...should i or not? yall know the story,69 cali(455 little bit modded,im going to try hard to put a white vinyl top on(all by my little ou: self :TU: granted,im gonna do what i want but,i dont want to be to obnoxious... :grin:
stripe pic to follow... o No:

 

Hey, Jamie.

An update coming soon? A bit overdue, eh? p

 

yes,its cold here ,not gonna do it till im ready :grin: my dad has to be put in a home(alzhiemers)& that has my attention right now uzzled: i'm so confused, you guys dont have a clue,unless youve delt with it :rant: sucks ,man :Smarty:

 

please take my explanation sincerouslly :laugh: im' trying too find humour right now o No:

 

I took it completely seriously and although my dad (hopefully) still have many years left before I need to worry about him I can very much relate to what you're feeling as his health always hasn't been that great.

Focus on your dad and get back to the car when you have the strength. It might be a Buick but it's still just a car.

 

working on it :TU: the oil gauge i hooked up at the back cam bearing was leaking(learned what a/n fittings are,not the same as npt)ou: must split the motor/trans & try to replace the fitting with my big fat hand in-between,without undoing the headers.all the bolts are loose on the bellhousing,just need to get my son(yes the one flippin me off)to help unbolt the converter.in other words,im on it again:TU: thanks for not giving up on me,im still motivated!!!! winters suck!!!ou:

 

well,i ended up pulling the motor to fix the above problem.its back in waiting for header gaskets(special order for buick parts around here) so i decided to tackle the rear suspension issues ive been planning.boxed control arms w/new bushings,swaybar & control arm braces:TU: so i unwraped the used arms i bought last year & started the dreaded job of gettin the old bushings out.being the lazy bastard i am,i actually found a VERY easy way to do this.:TU: play along with me,wont you?:Brow: in the first pic we have the cracked original rubber bushing,(reminds me of a bunghole)p second pic,i had a 25mm diameter deep holesaw laying on my bench,grabbed it and it fit around the metal sleeve in the bushing quite nice.so i drilled untill it bottomed out,flipped the arm over,drilled the other side & the sleeve fell on the ground!!!i lubed the saw bit with pb blaster once in a while.third pic,is the first cut,you can see how much rubber it removed:TU: fourth pic,pry whats left out with a hefty screwdriver.fifth pic,the old bushing out,look how clean the bore of the arm is!!that doesnt happen when you burn 'em out with a torch.fifth pic is my setup...1/2 in impact wrench,connected to a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter,connected to a 7/16 impact socket that fits the hole saw bit.i dont have a 1/2 inch 6 point deep 7/16 socket,or i could have skipped the adapter.then i used a sawzall to cut the sleeve & it comes out with a whack from a punch/chisel.so,to review...15-20 min figuring out the "tool",5 min or less(once i got the hang of what i was doing)per bushing removal...no smoking burning rubber,just a pile of rubber dust on the floor:TU: i am a frikin(lazy) genius:laugh: :Brow:

 

Wow,has it really been a year since i did anything productive on this poor car?Well for unknown reasons yesterday the motivation fairy visited me,and kicked me in the ass...HARD!.i spent most of the day tieing up the loose ends on all the minor things to get it running again.All i have left is to install my starter(yeah i'm nuts):laugh:,double check all the nuts & bolts and i'm ready to bolt on the core support & start on installing the front clip.:beer After being totally not into working on it,something just slapped me in the face.I would have been working on it 'till dark if my darn back wasnt sore:rant: The last few months i've had no fun in life,looks like thats fadded away finally.Feels good to get back to doing what i enjoy!!!:3gears: P.S I primed it for 10 min yesterday with NO LEAKS!!!:Brow:

 

Finally got some time,additude & perfect weather to bolt all the sheetmetal back on.Still have some adjustments to the fender gaps & hood alignment,but i dont have to tie the blue tarp to my motor everytime it rains now.Or chase it accross the yard in a windy downpourou:

Sanding the other 2/3rds of the car starts tomorrow:beer

Primer/paint before winter?....hmmm...primer at least i hope:TU: