Hey everyone, just an update here as I have some time to kill. My car is now resting comfortably in it's new home, but as you can see in the picture below, it is now a catch all for boxes and items that I have been sorting through in the garage. I have the left side done, but the right side has still not been gone through yet. My next project is to fix the transmission lines at the radiator as one of those is still leaking. I think I may go ahead and put new stubs on as the old ones cannot be made to turn freely and I think that is part of the problem. I'll post again when I get that fixed.
So is the transmission cooler lines 5/16 or 3/8? I need to make replacements to use on the radiator about a foot out to the old lines. I'm using brass compression fittings to connect to the old lines.
I just went out and rechecked my estimate of the length of these transmission line stubs and they are much closer than I remembered. Only about 3 inches from the radiator fitting to the compression filling. Do they make a short high pressure hose that I could make work? Something with a flare fitting on the radiator end and compression fitting on the other end. Seems like I've run into something like this in the past, but now I can't really remember.
Finally got around to fixing the transmission line today. Went to Autozone and bought a foot of 3/8' tubing with flared fittings on each end. Cut it to fit, problem solved. I think I'm gonna install the new carb I bought for it a long time back, the one which is on there now leaks a lot and the choke rod is broke. Having some difficulties with my insurance company(Shelter). They originally told me I could put classic car insurance on it for $46/6 months, but then I got a letter from the main office saying the policy had been cancelled b/c the car doesn't meet their qualifications as a classic car. Called my agent and she said she could only insure it as normal car for $119/6 months. Told her I would get back to her. Then I went online and got a quote from Hagerty for $106/year. I went ahead and sent in my application and I'm just waiting to fax them the declarations page of my current car insurance. Hopefully that will go well and I can start driving it more this summer. EDIT: The price went down $6, so I only had to pay $100 a year. Nice.
Today I went to Advance Auto parts and ordered a new heater core. No, not one for a '61 Buick, but one for a '62 Olds. I learned about this on a thread for the '60 Buick that these cores look to be an exact fit. Here is the link for it: http://bit.ly/JnAXe9 It is supposed to be here in a week and I will let you all know then if it works or not. This core will get the potential leak threat from the heater valve attached to the core from inside the car to under the hood where it belongs. Of course it will require an inline valve and longer control cable, but I think it will be worth it. EDIT: Core came in today and did a quick test fit. Looks to be a perfect match. Inlet and outlet are the same size as the Buick core as well, so all in all this looks to be a perfect solution for those looking for a replacement which offers no more messy/leaky heater valve inside the car. Just need to find an inline heater valve for 3/4 inch hoses and a proper control cable and I'll be all set!
Been hard at work on the car this week. Put the new rebuilt carb on, pumped up flat tire, cleaned all the boxes off the trunk, topped off the coolant and charged up the battery. Previous carb leaked fuel from the bowl so each time you went to start it when it was cold it would either require pouring gas down the carb or cranking until the fuel pump filled up the bowl again. My fuel pump also takes awhile to do this as well, but I decided to try the new one. Went ahead and poured gas in the carb several times and it would run until the fuel was gone each time. Pulled the fuel line from the pump to the carb and it sprayed out gas from the pressure backed up. So there must be a problem with the new carb I thought. Took it off the manifold and sat down with it at my kitchen table. As soon as I took the top off I could see the problem. The float was stuck down low as it would go. No wonder no gas was getting in. But why? Removed the brass inlet fitting which holds the needle valve and discovered part of the problem. When I had put the new carb on I found the fuel line fitting was too big for the brass fitting on the new carb. No problem, just use the old one. When I switched that, thought might as well use the new needle valve as well. In my haste, I stuck it in backwards! Dumb-ass me. So I put it all back together with the old needle valve inserted correctly this time. Still wasn't happy with the limited travel so I adjusted that as well. I now comes up where it is supposed to. Put the carb back on and hooked everything back up. Fired up on the second crank with no gas poured in to prime it. YAY! Choke needs to be set as it was causing the car to load up rather quickly, even set off my carbon monoxide detector all over the house. Guess I'll lean out the choke and pull it outside in the morning to do some more adjustments.
It's been a few months shy of a year since I've posted to this thread, but that is not to say I have not done any work to my car. Since the last time I have replaced the fuel pump, found the fuel gauge sending unit in the tank to be bad, fixed the wiper motor, pulled the speedometer to clean and repair faded idiot light filters, pulled the dash pad, as well as carpet from the front and removed the rear seats. The hole in my floor on the passenger side front was much worse than I first thought, so I have been working on that in preparation for a new floor pan. I have also removed the glass and regulator, etc. from both front doors to fix those as they would not roll up and down smoothly, turns out the problem was the frame which holds the glass and attaches to the regulator arms was rusted out. Still trying to save up money for those parts as well as the gas gauge sending unit. My brother-in-law came up from KY and welded a new piece in where the leaking heater core had rotted it out, Thanks Jim! He also has a spare radiator hold down I bought to fix it so it fits the new radiator. (Old one was rounded on top, but new one is squared off.) I still need to replace the oil and filter as the level is higher than it should be so I believe the old fuel pump was leaking fuel into the crankcase. Even though it's not as cold as it is outside, my garage is not totally heated, but that doesn't bother me as much as how difficult it is to get under the car without pushing it back some, so that is the delay there. I also replaced the coolant temperature sending unit as it was bad on the cold side. Now the green cold light on the dash works. I've taken it about as far as I can without spending a lot of money, so when I get some parts in, the work will continue.
I guess it's time for another update. I finally got the oil and filter changed and charged up the battery for a start attempt. I did get it running, but only after I added a little fuel directly into the carb. I'm sure it would have pumped up on it's own, but I'm not one for grinding away on the starter when adding some gas in the carb will do the job much more quickly. It ran a little rough at the beginning, but it smoothed right out and was idling in no time. The carb needs to be adjusted and the idle speed set as it is way too low as it is now. I put the shift selector in reverse and backed it up a bit. That worked well so hopefully not much fluid leaked out. I hope to get it out of the garage and warmed up sufficiently to adjust the carb before I remove the front seat to work on the floor. I did get a new right front floorboard sheet metal piece to replace it with and I have the special spot weld cutter bit for my drill. Hope to get going on that soon. I have my front side window setting channels now, but still need the felt runners for both sides before I can put the windows back in. I still have the instrument cluster out and I need to find a brighter bulb for the right side turn indicator light. There is an extra crook in the light tunnel for that side and the indicator does not shine as brightly. I noticed they have different wattages for those small indicator lights so I need to track down one which will make both sides equally bright. Anyone have any ideas on this? I've been rather lethargic lately and haven't done much to the car. I have basically wasted all summer by just sitting here at my computer desk most of the day. I've had a hard time adjusting to retirement in that I don't seem to want to do anything. I watch a lot of YouTube videos of others working on their cars and that at least inspired me enough to get out finally and work on mine a bit. Hope I can continue the trend! ou:
Glad to see you back at it ! Once you get it streetable, you can do that other stuff. Then you can take it cruising every so often.
Is this the part you're after? Mine was also beyond repair. I got a new one from oldbuickparts.com. The part #BS619 is NOT listed online but well worth giving them a call to see if its still available. The bearing #DSB611 is sold separately, you would need both.
I did need one a good long time ago, but I found one at the place you mentioned (CARS) and found the bearing also. I replaced it when I was doing the brakes and getting the car drivable. Works fine now. Thanks! ---------- Post added at 06:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ---------- It is pretty much at that point now James, in fact, I got it out today and drove it around for awhile (felt good). I did adjust the choke a bit before I started it and it's very close to where it should be now. I just need to adjust the idle mixture screws and then the idle speed next time I have it warmed up good. Even though it idles at a very low speed, it doesn't die, so I'm pretty sure the carb is close on the mixture. Part of the reason I hadn't worked on it up until now is b/c I had it loaded down with boxes and stuff I needed to store in the garage. Every time I thought about doing something with it, I took one look at all the clutter and decided against it. I plan to keep it cleaned off in the future.
It was good to read about your '61. Mine is a work in progress, but now that the brakes are complete, the trans doesn't leak, and the windows all crank up, and down, I am much happier, and it will be taking over my driving duties for those not so good days to ride my Motorcycle. (Like all winter) I am now going to look for some sport rims for it, and some new tires. The bias-ply just don't cut it!!! -------Metalguy (Bob)
Sounds good Bob, I would have replied sooner but I've been down in Kentucky visiting family. Wish I could have driven the '61, but with no front side windows I might have gotten wet! Plus I've never driven it that far before, I only drive it close to home until I know I can trust it. I get a lot of looks from people when I do drive it though. Good times...:bglasses:
It had been about a week since I started the car and decided to do a cold start video. I've always wanted to do one of these with 2 cameras, one in the front and one in the back. Apologies for the knocking sound on the front view, I had the camera on a tripod sitting on the fender. I'll have to remember not to do this next time. :kodak: Here is the link if anyone wants to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QqiVYaIYBI&feature=youtu.be Any comments about the video, or the sound of the engine, etc. are welcome and appreciated. I would like to do more videos like this in the future of things I do to my car.
Good to hear you are working on her. I am about to take a plunge on some radials for mine, and I am sure it will make it a better car. Bias-ply recaps are what is on there now, and ...ugh. Planning on looking this afternoon, and seeing what is available out there. Perhaps with some nice, quiet tires, I can hear what else is wrong with my car.:grin: Bob
My brother-in-law is retired and scraps cars to make a little extra money. He gave me a set of pretty good used radials and that is what I have on mine right now. Once, if ever, I get the car in good shape I will buy new ones, but these do me just fine for now. I just got back from a test drive after doing a bunch of adjustment for the idle speed. Finally got it set good by ear, but I will hook up the dwell/tach to set it to the correct setting. I ruined the idle set screw that was on the rebuilt carb as I could not get it to adjust at all. Replaced it with the one from the carb which was on the car when I got it. Works very good now. Too warm today to mess with the idle mixture, will do that next time. Besides I have a cookout to go to at my daughter's after a bit. Don't want to miss that! :beer
I found an interesting thing out about my car this week, well, actually a few! I noticed that it has a light that comes on when the engine is cold that says COLD. It is green, and on the left of the instrument cluster. Had no clue it was there. And it goes out after it warms up. I also noticed that the words above the controls light up red when the headlights are turned on. In daylight, they look chrome. I am sure there will be other "discoveries".... I have looked for a light for the emergency brake, but can't find it. Any idea what it looks like??--------Bob
My 66 Chev had that "cold" light in green. I remember the "bright" , "cold", "hot" , "oil" , "brake" indicators were completely invisible , until lit. Perhaps the "brake" indicator bulb is burned out The parking brake indicator on my Roadmaster works only intermittantly
Mine doesn't have one, must of been an option, but I would think your Electra should have one. I believe it should be in the center of the dash, but I can't be certain as mine is not present. The service manual is a little unclear about the location. Here is what it says on the subject: c. Parking Brake Warning Light The parking brake warning light will show a red warning "BRAKE" signal light in the instrument cluster whenever the ignition switch is turned on while the parking brake i s applied. See Figure 10-82. The signal lamp is con- trolled by a switch mounted in position to be operated by the parking brake lever. The cir- cuit is protected bythe 5ampere "BK.& BZ." fuse on the fuse block under cowl. When brake lever is in fully released po- sition, the signal switch plunger must be de- pressed 3/16" to open the circuit. Adjustment is made by loosening the mounting screw and shifting the switch as permitted by the. slotted screw hole. To replace bulb it is necessary to reach under instrument panel and pull light socket assembly from cluster. I have included the pertinent part of figure 10-82 below: EDIT: I just remembered the BK & BZ fuse on mine is present, but one end of the fuse just came off when I removed it to check it. I will have to replace the fuse and then see if it works.
