The grand adventures of a trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!

Yeah, no I'm not going to comment further because I don't have enough facts. I just hope that Ed gets his family heirloom back soon and it gives him years of trouble free service. Good luck Ed.


Derek

 

Re: Quick replies before the storm. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

You might try a double layer of header wrap and some sound deadener like dynamat or the like. I put that in my skylark and it made it much quieter.

Also, looking at the shavings in the oil pan, it looks like actual strands of copper/brass. shavings and glitter are one thing, but the strands can only be created a couple of ways. If it was rod bearing material it would indicate a wicked case of detonation or a hydra-lock situation- the bearings being smashed out, curling out around the rod itself and falling out. A bad thrust bearing or overloaded thrust bearing would also do it- perhaps an aggressive lockup in the transmission or a improper torque converter depth??

Or maybe too much spring pressure wiping out the cam bearings??

Being there was no loss of oil pressure, I'd say a wiped thrust bearing or the cam bearings are more likely. this is pure speculation of course, but I can't think of what else would cause strands like that.

I think its too early to point fingers at anyone. Time will tell when TA gets it apart.

 

Storm prep before wagon (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear fans of a certain trusty wagon,

I need to create something of a "report" to help you'all understand my overall thinking about this project. I'm realizing that I've left you all in the dark about the raison d'etre of all effort: the payload to be towed. Without some understand of the trailer end of things, the problem isn't clear.

Alas, I just cannot take this on right now. By tonight a "once in a decade" storm is going to make landfall in Northern California. Here is the current National Weather Service warnings for my area:



I know lots of you guys deal with severe weather all the time, but this is "Sunny California" remember. Neither the people or the plants are used to this sort of thing, and after the long drought, there are going to be downed branches and probably lots of power outages.

So I'm running around like crazy to make sure - everything - I can do to prepare for this storm. I haven't read any posting on this thread since my last post and I won't until I feel safe.

Stay tuned . . .

Cheers, Edouard

 

Word from Mike: crankshaft bearing. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear fans of my poor snake-bite wagon,

I got a call from Mike Tomaszewski of TA-Performance. They hadn't planned to start tearing down the engine for my trusty wagon, but another project they were doing got stalled and they had some time to start the tear-down. According to Mike, it is the rear thrust bearing of crankshaft that failed. He reports that there was an excessive force pushing from the back of the engine and broke the bearing and damaged the crankshaft as well. He wasn't certain at the time, but was concerned that the crankshaft would have to be replaced.

The nature of the failure sheds suspicion on the 200-4R transmission I bought from CK-Performance. That wouldn't be a happy situation either since I went with CK-Performance because Chris was so highly recommended by the follows on this board. Unfortunately, the car is in my garage, so there is nothing that can be done for now. However, when the car is taken back to put the engine in, the transmission will have to come out and get a check-up. This transmission has had other problems already. The mechanism for the speedometer cable has been leaking the Orinda Motors tried twice to fix that without success. Also, this was an early version of the 200-4R and the lock-up torque converter is of a one wire design. That unfortunately makes it incompatible with the lock-up converter controller kits on the market.

TA-Performance will take a holiday break starting next week until the start of the new year. So there won't be anything new until then.

I'm sorry, I still haven't had the time to look up the load data on vintage Airstream trailers, so that promised information is still pending. However, I can now see that I never communicated to Jim what I really had in mind with this wagon. I was hoping to duplicate what Arthur Throckmorton had done with his 1965 Buick Special wagon:

https://gmcguy.shutterfly.com/pictures/622

Jim never did ask me exactly how much I wanted to tow and then - as now - I'm still not entirely sure. However, I was aware of Arthur's seemingly miraculous towing of a 6000 pound payload 3700 miles. I figured if his wagon could do that, mine ought to be just as capable. However, I'm very concerned that the engine needed for this sort of duty is very different from the engine Jim built. As Randal pointed out in a PM, it might be okay to 4000 pounds, but that might not be enough.

I fear the real problem in this whole project stems from that lack of communications.

Oh well, . . . .

Edouard

 

My truck and trailer, towing the Estate wagon, weigh over 15,000 lbs. The truck has a mostly stock 455 in it with an old 118 cam, B4B intake, and headers. I've gone to the GS nats 5 years in a row so far with this setup. I don't think the engine you have will be a problem.

You will probably be able to make a pass down the track with your trailer in tow and still beat a lot of street cars! :grin:

 

It seems to me that your engine design would be ideal for towing a trailer. You'll get all this sorted out, hopefully through somebodies warranty, and be on the road with a really good story.

Hang in there! :TU:

 

Re: Word from Mike: crankshaft bearing. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

I think you mis-interpreted what I meant. I said my Skylark was over 4,000lbs rolling down the road, and with an RV type cam, flat tappet even, I was getting 23mpg, with 3.23 gears and over drive. Which my intent was to say you should be able to get your wagon, when not towing, above 20mpg, and looking at the engine spec the engine should have the ability too. I wasn't intending that statement to be related to towing. My opinion on towing weight is you are far more limited by the towing vehicle weight (the wagon) and it's braking capability than by the power plant. My opinion is still that cam should meet your purposes, but my opinion also is that you wouldn't loose much or anything in the towing or mpg department with a slightly milder cam.

Very weak engines tow plenty of weight, just slowly. The engine should have pulled any hill while towing a standard air stream, even with 2.73 gears.


As for the thrust bearing. Have the shop check the driveshaft length. Too long of a drive shaft can take out a thrust bearing (and isn't healthy for the transmission either). Just one of several things too look for.

 

Re: Word from Mike: crankshaft bearing. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Well the good news with the motor is it should be a relatively cheap fix. A crank kit and a good washing is all that it needs. You shouldn't need to replace anything else besides gaskets- which sounds like you were going to do anyway..

 

Sad way for a Buick to pass her 50th birthday. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear fans of a particular trusty "billy-goat" wagon,

According to the builders plate, Biquette rolled off the Fremont, CA assembly line the first week of May 1965. The first work-week of May 1965 ran from May 3-7. So somewhere between today and Thursday, Biquette will be 50 years ago. Alas, this is what she looks like and will remain this week.





There is hope. TA-Performance is in the process of reassembling the engine and hopefully it will be headed back for installation by June or so. Still as the months went by, I could see that Biquettes 50th birthday was going to end up like this. Yup, it really bites . . . .

Edouard

 

Re: Quick replies before the storm. (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

I found the Yelp reviews interesting ...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/orinda-motors-orinda-3

I wish you the best of luck with the car and these guys

 

Internesting times (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear Mapearso and V-8 Buick online review assessors,

As you may have noticed, a review often reveals as much about the reviewer as the business reviewed. However, if you plow through those reviews, you'll find one of my own and it will have the same character as all of my writings.

As to Orinda Motors I have every confidence. As to getting my trusty wagon where she ultimately belongs, this is require something more than mere luck, but in this, I ultimately have even more confidence.

Edouard

 

Re: Internesting times (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

I guess I should have been clearer. From the yelp reviews, it looks like the shop does not specialize and will work on anything -- and clearly not everyone walks away happy.

I can't believe you haven't been able to find another competent and reasonable shop in the East Bay area, and I am glad you have every confidence in them. But... from the little I've read online about Orinda, I'm not sure I share your opinion. I try and do as much of my own work as I can, but when I don't have the tools / time / know-how to tackle something myself, I make sure I take it to the local specialist that I know and trust.

For some reason when I read your post, there are two cliches that come to mind regarding Orinda --

1) Jack of all trades, master of none
2) Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me

Again, I wish you the best and I truly hope I'm wrong here and that this story does have a happy ending.

Good luck and good road

 

The journey back begins . . . (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear V-8 Buick subscribers to my trusty wagon’s “mellardrama” . . . . .

Last May we last saw our 4-wheeled heroine marooned without an engine on her 50th birthday. Adding to the injury was a slow but steady transmission leak which left the garage slab looking like it was a harboring depth-charged U-Boat full of diesel oil.

However as the summer progressed, Mike Tomaszewski and his TA-Performance team slowly made progress on getting the engine for my trusty wagon back into an operable state and this is the long and tangled tale of my wagon’s return to health.

First a quick catch-up. After only 3-months of operation, a lot of shards of non-ferrous metal were found in the old pan. A bearing had given up but which one? In December 2014 Mike finally was able to dismantle the engine and determine it was the thrust bearing that had failed, damaging the crankshaft in the process.

It might have been possible to repair the crankshaft, but I opted for another one just to be safe. Mike encouraged me to switch to an OEM Buick flexplate because he was having problems getting the correct weight distribution.

In the meantime, Mike and his guys ported the Stage-2 heads once more. These heads must be among the best breathing Stage-2 heads around. Still there was the issue of . . . da’ cam.

I know that there was no reason to suspect the original cam to have been the cause on my unhappiness with the way this engine performed, but I just wasn’t willing to take any chances. After a number of phone calls and getting Mike to scratch his head a lot, Mike put his engine simulation software to work trying out various cam profiles. With that software, he was able to explore how small changes in the profile effected the low-end torque. Mike really went all out to find a cam profile that would please me. He went as far as to call a former GM engineer to get some advice on this cam!

The cam couldn’t be changed much for the engine to work. However, Mike did tweak it in a few directions that should have made it more like the cams Buick used in their full-sized passenger cars. It still had to be a relative of the Stage-1 cam, but it was different.

Mike opted for a narrower lube separation than the original cam. This was based on the observation that nailhead cams are extremely narrow and those engines produce a lot of low-end torque. As Mike explored the cam options, moving toward milder cams increased the risk of premature detonation. To avoid this, Mike when with a thicker head gasket. As a result, the engine lost 3 inches of displacement and went from 448 cid to 445 cid. The compression ratio was lowered from 10.2:1 to 9.65:1. Here are the cam specifications from the TA-Performance booklet for Biquette’s engine for all you cam connoisseurs . . .

http://www.canebas.org/Automotive/V8_Buick/Biquette TA Engine/Biquette's TA cam specifications.pdf

In the meantime, I had some work to do on the parts which had stayed with me. For starters, the coolant leaks had eroded the ceramic coatings on the headers:



Since the headers had already been “dinged” to fit Biquette’s engine bay, I was extremely anxious to find someone local do redo the ceramic coating. The risk of being damaged in transport seemed too high. Lucky for me there was a company doing this sort of coating work on the San Francisco bay peninsula with the unexpected name of Accessories, plus:

http://www.turbo4wd.com/Turbo4WD/accplus/accessoriesplus.htm

Since I got the choice of color, I went with their silver metallic that was something in between chrome plating and polished metal:



They looked so nice that I couldn’t bring myself to remove the headers from the bags - just to be sure they remained undamaged! I had the power steering pulley done in the same silver metallic, so it would now match the chrome alternator and A/C compressor pulleys.

In addition, I went through all the parts which stayed with Biquette and did whatever maintenance seemed appropriate. For example many parts had paint damage from installation. For example the water pump pulley and this bracket:



Since I suspected such damage may have been caused by installing the parts before giving the paint the full week needed to cure, I painted these well in advance so the paint would be as tough as possible:





They ran into another unexpected problem. As before, the engine was supposed to be painted nailhead green with clear aluminum valve covers. Well, when the guys cleaned the heads before assembly, all the paint washed off! Mike was concerned any attempt to repaint them could still fail in the same way after the engine was installed, so it was time to try another engine bay decorator style. Mike removed the paint on the aluminum timing cover and decided instead to paint the valve covers nailhead green. He then machined off the Buick and TA-Performance lettering. This created a very striking look. Want to see it? Well you’ll just have to wait for the next installment in this darn “mellardrama” . . .

Cheers, Edouard

 

The engine returns to life! (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear V-8 Buick subscribers to my trusty wagons mellardrama . . . . .

We last left our story trying to get my trusty wagons engine past the engine bay fashion police. There was one more accessory that would need to be added for that to happen. Mike suggested that I upgrade to the TA-Performance Stage-2 wire looms and I wholeheartedly agreed. Nonetheless, this would lead to another twist in the plot later on.

Now that the engine was suitably accessorized, it seemed like a good idea to actually run the engine and see how it performed. Mike did this and his son even took a short film clip of the engine purring along on the test stand:

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vv5v1z7YzFs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

The video was originally posted on Instagram:

https://instagram.com/p/4nJEIygumC/

I got permission from Mike to post a copy on You-Tube because . . . I knew you guys would be too lazy to click on a link! . . .

By now it was August and the perennial September Orinda classic car show was looming. TA-Performance shipped the engine at the engine of August and it arrived the first week of September at Orinda Motors. It came in a very sturdy wooden box:



Why am I showing you just a big wooden box? Be patient, it turns out to play an important part in this story. Okay, Ive teased enough, here is what is inside the box!



. . . Aint it all purdy!! . . .

Yes, there are a few more photos. The passenger side:



The drivers side:



Finally here is what the back of the engine looks like:



So with the show so near, what to do? I lobbied for simply displaying the engine as had happened in 2012. My argument was further strengthened by Orinda Motors having quite a number of classic cars in the shop needing a lot of luv in order to be show ready.

What happened was much simpler - nothing. Greg was swapped with all those other cars and the engine sat until 2 days before the show. Then, . . . . it happened!!



Yes, youall are correct, two days is plenty of time to install an engine. Moreover things arent quite what they seem, but Ill save that for later.

Here are a few more views of the installation. Here is the passenger side view:



Here is the in-between passenger side view:



Here is the Drivers side view:



Of course those of you familiar with the engine bay fashion police code of law might suspect there is a fix-it ticket looming in this scene, but be patient, good things some to those who wait . . .

Finally, the corresponding in-between view:



These photos were taken the Friday before the Orinda Classic Car show which is a few hours on Saturday. Thus, Biquette was able to return to her favorite (and only) classic car show after a one year hiatus:



What all her adoring fans didnt know was that instead of a transmission supporting the back of the engine there was a . . . 2x4!!

. . Tune into the next action-packed episode to find out . . . . what happened to the transmission!! . .

Cheers, Edouard

P.S. Can't wait to get to the next episode click here!

 

I'm glad to hear there is forward progress again. Yep, that should definitely still be a peach of a cam and meet your goals.


You may need to revisit the muffler selection to fully achieve your sound goals. A friend of mine got some super long mid-80's van mufflers for his really loud car and it did wonders in muting the engine's bark. iirc, you have a Pype's muffler on there, which is likely designed to be a bit louder than stock. My Skylark has a single cross flow Pype's muffler and it works well, but certainly isn't OE quiet. Going from 232 duration to 218 duration in my engine quieted it up significantly. Definitely no barking at idle any more, even with my compression up around 10.6:1, which lowering the compression on yours will also make it idle/run quieter.

 

Oh, you posted more while I was writing! That is looking gorgeous!!

 

Where's da' tranny? (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear V-8 Buick subscribers to my trusty wagons mellardrama . . . . .

In our last episode, our very Lady-like heroine found herself potentially being asked a much more embarrassing question than: wheres the beef? The problem in this case was - wheres the transmission?

Leave us turn back the clock when the messy situation started. Back in April 2014, it was clear that the engine needed to make an emergency visit to TA-Performance. However, at the time, it wasnt clear that it would have been a very good idea to remove the transmission so it also could be checked. Since not surprisingly, I dont have a lot of experience with engines that have a rear crankshaft bearing fail, I didnt think to plan ahead to deal with the possibility that the transmission was at fault.

Once my poor wagon was marooned back in her stall of the garage, it was more than I could do to remove the transmission. As the only person in the house without some serious mobility problems, it was hard enough to push my wagon out of the garage to do any sort of work at all. So the transmission fell off the priority queue. Somehow I hoped that a local transmission place could go through this 200-4R and figure out if it had any role in the bearing failure.

Returning to September 2015, I found myself worrying about this transmission for most of the summer. Now that the engine was back, something had to be done about the transmission and it turned out the only realistic option was to send the transmission back to CK-Performance. This would be a costly matter that would most likely take months.

Adding to the weight on my mind was the fact that I ordered Biquettes 200-4R in May 2011, before I had a very clear understanding of the trade-offs. At the time, I spoke with Art Carr who was adamant against lock-up torque converters. At the time I really wanted a lock-up torque converter, but since Ive learned they are of limited advantage. Worse still, a reasonably well-designed automatic controller doesnt exist for our older cars. So this setup was starting to look like a white elephant.

There was another matter factoring into this situation. When I started Biquettes resto-mod, my friend with a 1956 Buick Super took notice. In an act of flattery, about a year later he purchased a 1971 Chevelle Malibu which he had restored as a sleeper. How sleepy was it? How about a Chevy ZZ383 crate engine and an Art Carr 200-4R!

. . . Drool all ya want! Im not posting any pictures of the Chevelle! This is Biquettes story, and besides, this is a Buick forum! . .

. . . So what is an up and coming Buick resto-mod supposed to do? After all, a Buick always has to keep up with the Chevelles! . .

Seriously, my friend has been very happy with the Art Carr transmission in his Chevelle. No leaks and very good performance. So it wasnt very hard for Greg at Orinda Motors to convince me to switch to an Art Carr transmission. Especially, since they could deliver in transmission in just 2 weeks instead of months. The gentle readers will note that the 2 weeks in question would have been sometime in mid-September, but thats getting ahead of our story!

The Orinda classic car show came and went and another 2 weeks went by. Wheres the transmission? A call to Art Carr and . . . . well, . . We are behind on our orders. It will be another 2 weeks before your transmission is ready. *SIGH*

Okay, so to own a classic car requires a lot of patience . .

Eventually, my patience was rewarded! Fed Ex finally delivered this to Orinda Motors!



All seems well in this picture, but the attentive reader should be aware of some oddities. For starters, Fed Ex is hardly the most obvious shipper for a heavy item like a transmission. However, the major omission is in plain site. The engine had come in a sturdy wooden box remember? The 200-4R was literally strapped to the wood platform you see in the photo. Why does this matter you ask?

Does THIS answer your question!!



Alas, there was a large crack in the transmission case at the base of the bell. Greg was wondering if the guys at California Performance Transmission simply had overtightened the straps and stressed the case to the point it cracked.

So a month later and still - no transmission!

. . . Tune into our next dramatic episode where we find out - will my trusty wagon ever get a working transmission? . . . .

Cheers, Edouard

P.S. desperate to get to that next episode? Click here!

 

I clearly have no patience......

I'm not even sure how something like that happens. That doesn't look like a break from a drop or hit, nor can I understand how a strap would be capable of doing that. Yet, there lies an obvious fracture.

 

Da' engine lives but stumbles . . . (Re: Trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!)

Dear V-8 Buick subscribers to my trusty wagons mellardrama . . . . .

In our last episode, my trusty wagon was facing a situation almost as bad as a cracked block: a cracked transmission!

Fortunately, Art Carr was quick to put together a replacement transmission. This time it truly came in a week. One does hope that they dont need to replace transmissions with cracked cases very often.

Once more Fed Ex brought the 200-4R strapped on the platform as before:



Surely now it will be clear sailing - right? . . . . .

Considering how this story has thus-far progressed - fat chance!

Okay, it takes Greg a little over a day to get the transmission installed and work out the final details such as reprogramming the EZ-EFI fuel injection system. At last it is time to fire up the engine!

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kX6NRubcziw" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

As this video shows there was good news and bad news. Overall, the engine was running great! It was idling very nicely and it was very quiet. Yet, as Gregs probing was showing, there is a puzzling stumble when you first nudge the throttle.

In addition, some, but not all, of the spark plugs were fouling. Here is a view of the drivers side plugs (the front of the engine is to the right: )



Here are the passenger side plugs (the front of the engine is once more to the right: )



While Greg was puzzling out what could be going on, I called Mike Tomaszewski at TA-Performance and first thanked him because the engine sounded so good and then mentioned the few minor issues. . . . Sufferin succotash! I almost gave Mike a heart-attack!

Once he recovered, he looked at the video and clearly the engine was doing something that it wasnt doing when Mike ran it at TA-Performance. Since the only change was that Mike used a carburetor and Biquette has the EZ-EFI fuel injection, that would appear to be the problem - right?

Oh great!

Once more snap decisions made in April 2014 crowded into my mind. I could have sent Mike the entire EZ-EFI system so that Mike would have made the test run under exactly the same conditions. However, some components were mounted on the engine bay, so that wasnt the easiest. Mike suggested that I get in touch with his to go guy when it comes to EFI: Bob Ream of Imagine Injection in Glendale, AZ

http://imagineinjection.com/

TA-Performance even has a product listing for sequential fuel injection that is actually performed by Imagine Injection on a Buick intake manifold. I had even tossed around the idea of asking Mike to send Biquettes engine over to Imagine Injection to have her fitted with sequential fuel injection because that is obviously mor bettr. However, considering how late this project was . . . .

Greg then added insult to injury by pointing out that Orinda Motors had just converted a red 1966 Ford Mustang to EZ-EFI sequential fuel injection and it was working just great.

. . . Stop Drooling!! Yes I took photos of the Mustang convertible - but they dont belong in this thread either!! . .

Worse still, Bob Ream is a specialist at getting other intake manifolds to work with the EZ-EFi sequential system - like say Buick intake manifolds . . . So this was looking like another decision I was going to regret. . . .

Greg got in touch with Bob Ream and they tossed the problem back and forth on a few phone calls. However, something just didnt add up. The EZ-EFI system controls the fuel supply only. It has no effect on ignition. As such, why were some of the plugs fouling and not the rest?

Leave it to Greg to solve this mystery. On the Friday of that week, he came in with one of his Holley carburetors from his massive collection of junk! (err, I mean his carefully store collection of gently used auto parts at his residence . . . ).

I fear that how Greg managed to bypass the EFI system to use a carb when Biquette has an EFI fuel pump in the gas tank, is one of those stories like: Those who love sausages should never see how they are really made! Nonetheless, Greg was able to show that the engine was exhibiting the same stumble without the EFI. Moreover he double-checked all the other possible components that could be at fault. He replaced the plugs, confirmed that the plug wire had the a reasonable impedance, he even swapped the starter coil - the stumble remained. Therefore, there was only one possible culprit: the MSD distributor. Yes, but that distributor worked fine for Mike. Yeah, but that was already 2 months ago and given how this project has been victimized by Murphys law . . . . need I say more!

So this story is clearly not over. Stay tuned for the next action packed episode where perhaps, the big-block Buick engine finally makes some tires really squeal!!

Cheers, Edouard

P.S. Can't wait to see how the story finally turns out? Click here!

 

4-7 cam swap issue??

**(though I just went back and looked, the plug wires were on the engine in the crate from TA....)