hey all zack here from buffalo. got this 72 skylark last week for $3000. it runs and drives but the brakes need bleeding and eventually, disc conversions. it is a half finished project that has been sitting behind a barn for a year and a half and needs a bit of cleaning up. When i got it it had no headlights and no door panels, but everything else was sitting in the car, along with a brand new set of carpet, a holley 4 barrel carb and a matching buick intake manifold which are now on my shelf. there were a couple boxes of assorted trim and such, as well as 3 extra 14" rims from a pontiac GTO that Dave, the seller threw in as he had no need for them. i had the car towed to my driveway and drove it into the garage. i then pulled all the crap that came with it out of the inside, as well as the bench seat and the rear, as well as the rear sill and kick panels, and really cleaned up everything inside and out. the car has two small holes in the floorpan, both right under the rear windows next to the wheel well, but other than that it is in great shape, only a bit of surface pitting inside and some surface rust under. trunk pan has a couple little holes but nothing too bad, and i have no qualms about replacing it. with all the crap pulled out I have since wiped down and vacuumed the whole interior, and screwed in a fresh set of halogens in the front. I also ordered a 72 buick chassis manual, and a drivers side sport mirror from ebay (wtf 120 dollars :af as mine was missing. far as i can tell all i need to do to drive this car is maybe sand down the minor floor pan rust and seal it with some kind of solvent, bleed the brakes and then throw the carpet seats and inside trim back, and get the wiring done. only one of my brake lights work, and there seems to be no wires from the firewall to the headlights (i bought a headlight harness on ebay too) my gas tank gauge and reverse light work, but my shifter display (P, R, D, 1, 2), turn signals, radio, speedo, tach and wipers do not appear to be hooked up. there is a bundle of wires as you can see in pics but none are labeled. what would you all recommend? should also mention that the car has a push button starter in the dash, i have never seen one of these. also the car has had trouble starting on the first attempt, but usually fires up in a couple tries. was described as a "cold hearted s.o.b" by the seller. my dad says t his is normal for a carbed vehicle espescially in cold weather and that it could be fixed by tuning the carb. weather is getting warmer and i just wanna drive the thing until it gets snowy again, then get into the real guts of the restoration. appreciate any and all tips and i will keep adding updates and pictures. Zack
more pics showing the progression of when i got the car, to now. any oil you see underneath the car is from me spraying pcb blaster on the bleeder valves, not leaks.
more pics...car is still pretty muddy underneath, havent had a chance to wash it due to my hose being frozen solid...grr buffalo weather
what do you all think? good buy for three grand? the thing looks good to me, less rust than my 98 taurus or my dad's 05 grand prix. our 95 explorer is in far, far worse shape. granted all three are year round cars.
I'd have to agree. Looks pretty solid for a northern car. Make it safe and then drive it. The wiring harness to the back of the car looks like a mess. Did you take the wires out of the plastic housing or was it like that? Be careful with that and have fun with her.Scott
yes the wiring is definately a mess nothing is labeled. some of the wires were in the plastic housing and some were not, the carpet was not in when i got it. debating whether it is wise to try and finish off what few things are wired, or to start fresh with new wiring front to back although a Painless kit runs about $400. another question I have is the rectangular black insulation-type pads on my floor pan...what are they? are they sound, or heat insulation? more importantly can I take them out to get at any rust underneath? i am concerned because there was a bit of water on the floor of the car from snow getting in on the trailer ride home, I dried it out but i think some moisture might be under there. some of the black pads seem to be stuck to the floor pan pretty good, but a couple have peeled off easily in the corners. if i were to remove them are there any cheaper, safe alternatives to the expensive Dynamat type insulations? I am more concerned about heat than sound, dont really care about noise but I don't need a fire. i have a brand new set of carpet for the car that will be going in. is good old steel wool and a coat of spray paint sufficient to keep the rust from coming back, if the interior never gets moist again? the rust seems mostly very superficial. again, I do not need show room type quality, just want to stop what rust there is from eating the car any further, and althought I will be doing the bulk of the work this winter I can't see any wisdom in putting the carpet back in over a rusty floor. thanks, Zack edit - btw, all evidence so far points to it being a southern car. there were a couple of "salem university" community college stickers on the rear windows that I scraped off, google told me that this college is in West Virginia. i got the car from a seller in NYS near the PA border, but he had got it from someone who was halfway through restoring it and got in financial trouble, so it is possible that he picked it up or brought it up from the South. have not run the vin info or anything as of yet so not confirmed.
Looks like you bought it for a very fair price. I would fix and treat the rust in the floor pans before installing the carpet.
Hi there, some advice: Remove everything you have to in order to get the interior dry. Buy some POR 15 and paint it on any surface rust, it will keep the rust at bay. Google "fat matt" sound deadening material, it works great and it is lower cost than other brands. I added 25 pounds of this stuff to my Skylark and it is well worth the added weight due to the sound and head insulation. Buy the painless wiring harness and re-do the whole car. I know it is a pain but having a fire because of a bad wiring job is worse than paying for new wiring.
Looks like a good start for the $'s. Warmer weather is just a few weeks away. It looks like you could get it driving with a little work, although I hate wiring. YUK! Plenty of help around here if you run into a problem and these guys have parts if you need them. Good luck!
so I have been busy with work and school but progress is coming. got a new battery and changed oil, filter, plugs, wires and air filter, as well as both power steering and fan belt. all the old heat shielding is removed from the floor pans and like I feared, they were hiding moisture and a bit of rust pitting. I ground out basically everything and will be treating, and sealing it shortly. problem is we are getting typical Buffalo spring weather....nothing above 40 deg fahrenheit and rain, and my paint products all require warmer weather to cure. i fiberlass patched the 3 holes inside and they are ready for paint. wish my garage was heated..just waiting on a warm day to button it all up. once the primer and paint are down, it will be a layer of Lowes Reflectix foil and then carpet. after that all that is needed is brakes and wiring. my front suspension, and tie rod bushings are looking a bit worse for wear too and that will need addressing. still not sure what is up with the brakes, though. my dad and I bled them, and I thought we did it properly, but still almost no stopping power..found this out the hard way the other day when attempting to take the lark for a little plateless cruise down the road. started it up, put it in reverse and began to back out of the garage while turning the wheel to clear the house, and quickly felt the brake pedal go almost to the floor. not stopping is a scary feeling. i immediately power shifted into neutral, just in time for the front pass. side bumper to clip the side of the garage door. garage was fine..knocked a stud off the platform, but I now have a nice big quarter panel dent to look at. oh well, at least it is just superficial and didn't hit the door or the front grille, and I am glad I found out the brakes suck in the backyard instead of while testing out the 350's get up.
there were holes on either side, right under the rear windows at the base of the wheel wells. there was also a hole behind the driver's side rear seatbelt attachment, and the bolt was frozen in place. the steel reinforcing piece that the torx bolt attached to had actually broken free, and turning the frozen bolt only rotated the entire piece of metal plate. judicious application of a sawsall helped me remove it, and the holes are all fiberglass patched for now. i realize this is a temporary solution, and in the winter when the car is off the road, i will have the holes welded, but this will keep water out for now.
Hey,Buddy you have made a great improvement in the car but my wish is that when you will totally complete the work on the car I want to see the car live so would it be possible?Do reply.
lots and lots of progress. finished the floor off with fiber glass patching on the rust holes, and several coats of heavy duty bedliner paint. then proceeded to do a thorough Lowes reflectix floor insulation job....
after the floor was done, i set about covering up my door panels, and rear package tray - decided to custom make them from 1/8" particle board, with 1/4" foam glued on, finally covered by vinyl. went with black vinyl for the doors to match the interior, and burgandy vinyl for the package tray for a nice contrast. better than paying $400 a pop for repro door panels. also widened the holes in my package tray to fit a pair of 6x9 speakers which i dropped in place. i really like how simple the design of this car is, lots of flat metal spaces, easy for someone like me to really customize.
