In life, we all make mistakes. In 2011, I sold my Skylark and embarked on a quest to find my perfect muscle car. Little did I know that my journey would lead me right back to where I started. While owning a few different cars and looking at many others I realized that, for me, nothing was better than a 70-72 Buick Skylark/GS. So, I went out and got me another one. The car is a 72 Skylark with a strong 455 that I got from a board member in New Hampshire. Its a rust free well taken care of car that rides and drives great. The paint and interior arent perfect, but they are good enough that I dont need to mess with them immediately. Its going to be a great canvas to start with. The Stage6 Plan: The car is going to get the Stage1 treatment and a 6 speed manual. In an effort to be as efficient as possible, I have broken the build into 6 stages. My goal is to build a driver that incorporates all the options that I have always liked on these cars. Stuff like.. Ram Air hood, Hood Tach, N25, Front Spoiler, and Rally Gauges. Stage1- 6 Speed Conversion The Tremec 6 Speed kit is ordered from Hurst-Drivelines. I am going to attempt to use mechanical linkage, just because I like the look under the hood. I am going to leave the bench seat in it. I am on the lookout for a deluxe bench with the arm rest but either way its staying bench. First order of business is pulling the motor. I just couldnt stand the thought of bolting the new transmission to the motor without detailing it first. While it is out, we will go ahead and clean and detail the rest of the engine compartment. Its not bad in there, but we might as well while its out. Here is how the car currently sits:
Got Several Parts on the way... PartsPlace Hood Tach w/ dimmer and vent kit Pedals Ball Stud Kit OPGI GS Front Grill Emblem GS Decklid Emblem Pedal Pads Fire wall Clutch Boot and Retainer Clutch Spring Set Bellcrank Frame Bracket Frame Bracket Bolts Bumper Emblem Gs Rocker Moldings Black Tri Sheild Floor Mats TA Performance GS Fender Emblems Stage1 Fender Emblems Rear Main Seal
This weekend I got the core support out as well as the headers. Hopefully I'll have the motor out tomorrow evening. I had a little free time tonight so the dash bezel came out tonight. I removed the In dash tach and original speedo. Replaced it with a 4 speed speedometer and removed the woodgrain inserts for black ones. Nice upgrade to reduce the cars milage by 73283 in an evenings work. Now I have to find a nice clock or go with the clock delete panel. I really like the way the black inserts look.
No pictures, but good progress this past week. Got the week off work with the arrival of our baby girl. That gave me some time to get in the shop while mama and baby were asleep. Got the seats and carpet out of the interior. Pulled Both fenders. Degreased the frame. My gasket set froM ta performance came in. So I replaced the rear main seal, Front seal, oil pan and timing cover gaskets. I hope to have the block and frame ready to paint by the weekend. Once both are painted and I can start fitting the t56.
It's been stupid hot here in GA lately but I've been working all along in the evenings. I got the firewall and front end sanded down and painted. Looks about as good as I could hope for with out pulling everything off piece by piece and painting individually. Need to finish prep on the engine and get it painted. Before the weekend. Stage 1 valve covers on the way from TA. Hope to mate trans to motor this weekend and see where I'm going to need to cut the tunnel. Glad I'm close to the end of the destruction phase.
So.... Slow progress on the skylark, but for good reason. Sold the 72' Vette to add another Buick to the Family. A car that we actually found on the board. 1970 GS 455 Now a 4 sp car. Its now our focus we will be pushing to get it on the road first while just doing little projects on the Skylark until the GS is back on the road. Going to try to do a better job of posting progress pictures of both. Here is how the GS sits now....
So the '70 GS has been sitting for 8 years. I put some oil in the cylinders turned it over by hand. Primed the oil pump and fired it up. It sounded and idled great. Original plan was to build the motor but we may pull it,detail it and the firewall, change the clutch and put it back together. I got the t56 mocked up in the Skylark and got the driveshaft measurement.
You are going to need a 3.55 to 4:10? rear gear ratio for the car with the Tremac. I suspect you know there are gear shift lever re-locator kits produced. Have you determined where your shift lever will be located.
I am torn on the rear end ratio, leaning 4.10. The T56 i got has the .63 final gear. So if I go with a 4.10 That'll put me at 2400 rpm at 75mph 4.56 would put me at 2678 at 75. I want to make sure that the 6th gear is usable on the interstate. Hurst makes a drop in shifter that puts the lever in the factory spot, a difference of about 2". I am going to mock it up with the stock shifter to see if I like the location. If not I'll put it in the factory spot.
I saw a Vette at the TRR using the same trans that used another company to build an adapter to put the shifter exactly where he wanted. I think he said he used American Powertrain here: http://americanpowertrain.com/p-29461-shifters.html With that calculation on the RPMs, I would consider 3.73 to 3.90 on the rear.
Thanks for the recommendation. I want to go as tall as I can while having 6th gear useable at highway speeds. I am going to get it running with the 3.42, get a feel for it, then decide where to go from there.
at that gear you can do 100mph and be AT 2000 RPM'S This is a great thread, You do nice work too !!! I myself are going KO 600 5 speed should be a nice upgrade from a super T10....:TU::TU::TU:
Thanks. I think the '70 will eventually get a 5 speed to replace the T10 it currently has too. The goal is to get these two cars to the point we can take them out on road trips together. I'd love to get them up to BG this year.
