Living in Northern Wisconsin, theres two seasons; winter and other. "Other" means cruising the Bad Lad, usually working on (a continuing restoration) on my 36 foot Roamer boat, and a spin around town on the antique (1978) H-D. Today is 40, windy and raining, so I am getting things (eggs) in the basket for the winter season... so much for the lead in story! My new to me, one year now, GSX clone (original GS350, now a 455/400) needs a ton of stuff done that I am looking forward to doing. Nice big heated shop, with lotsa lights, Miller Mig and a South Bend lathe to name some of the extra goodies. The Buick needs some bottom front fender work, and some door corners which will probably be patch panels. I have a flanging tool (air) and make my own stuff so that's not a biggy. The tough stuff is a few things that Ive never attempted, and am now here to ask some questions: please bear with me. I need suggestions on the best places to get stuff like a weather stripping kit. One that will fit without undo cussing (LOL). I also need the window "squeegees" that clear the outside glass and overlap onto the door skin. Can these be changed without pulling the glass out? Interior panels will be out. I am also in the market for 1972 panels (nice driver cond, any color) with the wood grain inserts. Mine are good, but being a clone are base model panels. While in there Im gonna go through the worn out door handles (buttons stick in and need a karate chop to pop out), and install the correct sport mirrors I got from a forum pal. Mine are wrong year style, BUT are GM. The biggest is gonna be installing new seat covers. Having a hard time finding 1972 design jobs. HAAALP!!! The right front fender is coming off for some extensive AC repairs (evaporator cleaning and blower work etc) and remove, clean and tap header bolts with new gaskets. Just impossible to get to. Should the hood come off and go onto the roof? While right there the door hinges are getting R&R as well with rebuilt spares Ive got. When done, the bottom from the shopping cart guards down are getting painted with some nice snow white polyurethane. The rest of the car was "misted" with white pearl which I don't want to get into painting the whole car. Not just yet anyway. Its a driver and by no means a show car. I know this is long winded, but if you've been there, Id appreciate some ideas. Im a story teller with lotsa pics, always, and will check in here often. Thanks in advance! Bill in Two Rivers, Wi.
83 views and no suggestions? All Ive found is that the $69 door panels stamped in china can be found at Browns of Two rivers (body parts only) for $50 made in USA, but alas, no inner support braces, as of yet anyways. Thanks for the input... ws in TR http://www.cooltruckparts.com/pc_style_detail.asp?key=29DC5A8FF7194792A9658E54EF02085B
I bought my weatherstrip kit and window felts off of eBay and was pleased with them all. You don't have to pull the glass to get them on, but you may have to lower the bottom stop to get the glass down low enough. I haven't bought seat covers in years so I am no help there. I would take hood off before pulling fender. Get it out of the way.
Interior Panel pieces watch for a set in for sale and post a need in the wanted forum. Check out Legendary Auto Interiors. November will have the best deals on pricing and shipping.
Thanks guys! Dummy me, I didn't proof read my own stuff this morning, those were supposed to be lower front fender and door bottom patch panels from Browns... Pretty decent sized distributor in these parts. Im glad the glass doesn't need to come outa the doors, WHEW... got bad luck with that stuff, but the doors are coming off to get massaged with rebuilt hinges. The passenger rear window doesn't seal against the front door window; hope that's some shrunk rubber. It always seems like they tack welded razor blades inside doors and such to get back at the fat guys LOL! I agree with pulling the hood. Ive got some decent sized foam rubber blocks to set it on the roof with. Being retired gives me the home court advantage as I can work on it pretty regularly. Today I just finished winterizing the boat and will shrink wrap it this week, weather permitting, then power shift into second and start on the Buick. That has to be finished by about April! Will look into Legendary Interiors for seat skins. Thanks in advance! Bill in TR
Bill: I don't remember seeing this thread when you started it. I never bought patch panels, so I can't help there. I know there are some weatherstriping sets that just don't fit or look right. I believe I've heard Sealsoft (?) touted here. Legendary it the best for seat covers. They aren't cheap but are the best. It was my experience that it does take a while to receive the product after ordering though. Boat looks great - looking forward to seeing it in person some day. Just keep plugging away at the GS and I know you'll get there. UticaGeoff
Thanks Geoff... been meaning to swing by (virtually) and say howdy. looking forward to getting those GD mirrors put on with everything else that goes UNDERNEATH them!! Happy end of summer to ya!!! Bill in TR
I got a complete set of NON CONCOURSE weatherstrip for a same year CHEVELLE from NPD, and they fit very well; all of the screw holes lined up, and it only needed a VERY minor tweeking in the rear glass curve. The NON concourse set fit my bill, as it was for a run of the mill Skylark project car; I imagine that the TRUE concourse set would be better, but don't know. Instead of having the 'correct' style of round chrome bead, it was 'flat' chrome. I was going within 5 miles of the NPD in Charlotte NC for a club function, so...
I have to ask, who/what is NPD? I sure don't mind shopping electronically as long as theres good feedback. Is that flat style really noticeable? I am "Far from concoures" state. Ill have to do something when doing some paint work as all the originals are cracked/missing chunks etc and are as hard as a rock! Hope it shows in the pic. TIA! Bill in TR
NPD= National Parts Depot. The bead is only about 1/8 inch at best; Stand next to your car with the door open, take a look at your factory weatherstrip, and tell me if you can tell if that chrome is round or semi-flat. Yeah thought so. I had everything and power blinked...
Thanks for getting back to me... That was a long blink; almost qualifies as a nap LOL!. I ended up ordering a set of door seals off edog and the total for the foam seal kit was about $79. Now I am gonna look at NPD etc for the "fuzzies" Ive talked to a few guys that say the difference altho negligible, is noticeable and the OEM ones on the door panels are pretty decent (round type). Its really about a $20 difference. Still not looking forward to adjusting the window stops to gain access, but worse jobs can be had. Today I need to change a starter and getting on the floor with 2 new knees is gonna be a picnic. The door seal kit came from A.P. ADEALS in MD. off edog and appear OK so far, altho the package says made in Thailand, the brand is made up of Metro & Precision brand items. The stuff feels good compared to 42 year old foam anyway... We'll see how it fits. Bill in TR
I have a black prior used bucket/rear seat covers, They were used and changed because the owner wanted white so while they were used they are fairly new 300.00 and I have a extra new rear seat cover 100.00 plus actual shipping. I have boxes for these PM me a email addy if you want pics
I know its all part of the "big" plan, but sometimes I feel like writing a sequel to mein kampf. I had been planning on changing a starter motor with a new cable to boot, but its kaput so both are getting pulled today as I still need to move the car around hither and yon... I picked up a decent "used" cable that came off a 1970 RIV... That model has the battery on the drivers side with a 2nd bracket to route the cable molded on. No one here wanted the bracket, so I sliced it with a hacksaw blade and removed it. Even tho it looked pretty new, the cable work hardened from vibration but I managed to massage it kinda straight. Really looking forward to mounting the starter, wire and conduit alongside the block (gonna tap the holes again first) and make any solenoid wire repairs (fusible links etc) while in there. Me thinkst whilst in there, Im gonna pull the rocker and wheel moldings off in prep for some brush blasting to see what the actual condition of the sub metal is in. I sure as hell hope it doesn't open a can of worms. The front fenders are gonna come off too for cleaning and bottom painting along with AC work and engine detailing among 500 other little jobs in there... So much for Cozumel this winter LOL... ws So now that I have "someone's"undivided attention, I need to change out (for cosmetics!) the vacuum booster and leaking master cylinder. The PO installed a factory set of disc brakes (had drums) but didn't change the master out and didn't install a proportioning valve. Brakes seem absolutely normal under all conditions, wet, dry, icy... it don't matter. So whats the master cyl. difference? EXSPURTS??? Are any replacements any better than the next? I mean as far as cad plating etc. I don't mind doing it but I really only wanna do it once. IDEAS?? So we are still on the fence about the window fuzzies... Mine are the round ones. The inside pcs. look usable but the outside is junk. Anyone have a decent pic of the "REPOP" stuff that's flat?? Hate to order on a "lark" LOL... Wood grain door panels should be here later this week too. Once I start, Im committed (or should be!), I wanna be done by around May 1st.
Well, the chickens been doing what they get paid for LOL...makin' eggs. Converting over to the wood grain panels on the doors and a different set of black seat covers, Im getting ready to pull the front fenders and doors for some lower side water/sand blasting. At any rate, the old bozoputer crashed about 2 days ago and finally finished sexing the gerbils that power it... I AM NO TECHNO-GEEK!! So now, on the "BENCH" section of V-8, I posed a question with no replies. I am gonna C&P it here again and maybe one of the constituents will get me an answer. Any help out there???? Bill in TR So I have a question for anybody here... When I first came onto the forum last year, I found a thred pointing to a guy that had a "blog" kinda thing dealing with weird points on GS/Skylark restorations. Specifically, I remember a point about laying out the position and a long dialogue about positioning and restoration of sport mirrors. Can anyone direct me to that? I had it saved and the bozoputer crashed and I lost a lot of that stuff. I am in the process of mounting some new mirrors and don't want to make swiss cheese outa the door skin! There were also many fine points about door handle replacements, hinge rebushing and dash work as well. Thanks...
Bill: I just sent you an email with the link. Here it is too: http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/HowToInstallSportMirrors.htm UticaGeoff
Thanks Pal !! That is EXACTLY what I was looking for; can you tell Ive been looking here frequently??? ws
