Shocks and Rear Springs. For the rear I decided to use the air shocks off the parts car. Like so many other items from this car these look almost just out of the box new. Yea they're probably 30 some odd years old but they are still tight with great rebound. I also thought it would be nice to use 'em when I fill the trunk with stuff for a road trip ( yes there's gonna be one of those comin' up!) and not have the rear "tail draggin'". The plastic air lines were junk. NAPA had an exact replacement line and fitting kit for 10 bucks. The only other problem was the lower shock mounts on both cars were just bolts run through the rubber bushing with a really lousy loose fit. I had some shock mounts from an unknown source that fit the shocks perfectly. The stud side that went into the axle were a size bigger than original. This was perfect since the original holes were buggered up from the old loose shock bolts oblonging the holes. I just drilled out the axle housing holes to match the new studs. Installed the shocks and air lines. Done with the rear. New front shocks are almost non existant for a '60 Buick. Kanter has 'em but they are pricey at $170 a pair. The front shocks sure did look alot like the ones on my '70 GS 455 so just for a try I bought a pair from NAPA to have a look. They are exactly the same in every way...... housing size, diameter and length. Rod travel, diameter and thread depth. The only difference is the bar that mounts the shock to the lower control arm on the '60 is wider. I thought about changing these out with my old ones but in the end I found there was just no way to cleanly swap out the bars without screwing up the bushings in the new NAPA shocks. I decided to just bite the bullet and pony up for Kanter shocks. I ordered them in the HD version with 5/8" shafts. As heavy as this old Buick is I thought this would be a wise improvement. They bolted right on, no fuss. A perfect fit like the other Kanter stuff purchased so far. I used the rear springs from the Invicta as well. The original LeSabre springs were really sacked out and car sat very low in the rear compared to the front. Side by side the wire diameter is the same but the free height of the Invicta springs is a good 1 1/2" taller. With the car on the ground I can say I think the stance is perfect. I don't care for that on the ground look many people go for on these cars. A typical slightly higher in the rear rake is what I like. The true test will be on the road. The look and ride height can be fine and still drive lousy if the springs are shot. We'll soon see.............. The car is on the ground and rolling! Only one thing left to actually drive the car for the first time.... Steve weim55 Colorado
Gas Tank. The Invicta tank proved to be OK when I drove the car before I pulled the engine. I ran about a half tank of gas through it. No leaks, the fuel was clean in the see through filter and the gas guage worked. Well kind of anyway....... Driving the Invicta up the road to my house it ran out of fuel and the gauge still showed a 1/4 tank of fuel. I put 10 gallons in the tank some weeks before the day I purchased her and the gauge moved up to 3/4 tank showing it was at least working. When I took the tank out of the Invicta it was indeed bone dry from the last drive. The LeSabre gas gauge also showed a 1/4 tank of fuel before I pulled the tank. The LeSabre tank was also bone dry when took it out of car. The tank was pin holed under the tank straps from rust. That's why it was empty. I pulled the sending units from both tanks to test 'em. The service manual does not show what the specs should be for the proper resistance for certain tank levels. All I could really do was check them both and compare. The ohm readings were exactly the same for both senders. Hmmmmmm... When I connected the sending unit to the car the gauge in the car would only read full regardless of the sender float position. I'm quite sure I connected the terminal properly and grounded the sender body to the chassis. Finally I just installed the tank and hooked the sender up again. Still the same problem. In the end I just left as is. Gauge stuck on full . I'll just have to chase this problem down later. Ah but we do have a good clean non leaking fuel tank in the car! That's it! Let's pour some fuel in this thing and take her for a drive!........ Steve weim55 Colorado
1st Drive! Finally! Kenny helped me toss the front seat back in the car. The rest of the interior has been completely removed for the floor pan replacement so it's going to be a little loud and rattlely for the first drive. Tending to all the little stuff paid off pretty well for the first drive. The 401 runs super. Between a good tune up and the stick shift it runs much stronger in the LeSabre. The transmission and drivetrain couldn't be better. There is zero throttle on throttle off driveline slop. Zero gear whine of any kind in top gear. Transmission shifts great! I'll put some miles under it and report a full shake down soon. Still much to do but it runs and drives under it's own power for the first time in 35 years! You all know the smile that was on my face the first time through the gears! That's a pic after the first drive parked next to my son Kevins '60 Chevy. The other is of the completed engine shot the same day. Steve weim55 Colorado
Steve, Glad you are at the gas sender ! Mine (60 Electra) was inoperative, showing full at all times. So I took the tank out. What a pain doing it alone, especially putting it back. Lesson learned: try doing it with less gas as possible in the tank !! It turns out it had been repaired before but broke at one of the welds. I re-welded it and made sure no welds were stressed. I tested it as well as a spare I have and they both tested the same (dont remember the values). I remounted the sender and tank and insured the ground was perfect and it shows a 1/4 full when empty and regularly shoots up to full when its not "happy". I went through all the circuit and everything is fine. I thought maybe the dash gauge was at fault ? But if we have both the same issue then I look forward to your expert help
Boy howdy, Steve! That engine looks great. Power steering too - I forgot that you were adding that! What a great moment that must have been when you drive the car, Steve. I completely understand/identify. I'm not planning on pulling my engine from the car. I just have so little free time and so many other things to do. But I do intend to clean up and do some painting. When I do the water pump, I intend to do the chain and gears, and that's when I will do it. Needs valve cover gaskets as well so what better time? Of course, it's not gonna look like that - that's beautiful work and can probably only be done that nicely with the engine out. That was a great tip on the wheel cylinders - I will definitely remember that when I do my brakes. Good luck chasing that gas gauge gremlin. BTW, I read a post somewhere rom a '60 owner that insisted that he ordered and used '61 front shocks on his '60 with no issues. He said they were a perfect fit. I intend to give it a shot.
Anytime the fuel gauge pegs full that's a sure sign the sending wire, sender itself or gauge cluster is shorting to ground somehow. I'm wondering if I moved that sending wire just enough when I had it apart to touch ground somewhere. Maybe that sending wire got pinched in the trunk by heavy cargo or something. It's gonna be awhile (probably spring time) before I can dig in on the '60 again. I have too much on my plate for the rest of winter. I am getting close though......... I think one more month of work should have her safely on the road. Steve weim55 Colorado
Steve- the 1st pic in this post is the lower mounts for the 2 front shocks, correct? What is the 3rd pic- the rear shocks? Who was the manufacturer of the newer shocks? Did you consider if there was room to fab a plate> bolt the plate to the control arm, bolt the shock to the plate inboard of the 1st pair of bolts? May not be enough of a difference. Curious as to options here beyond Kanter (I have a '59).
This shock, Monroe #5759, is listed as being the correct shock for the '61-'64 Invicta. It looks right to me as far as I can tell. I plan to try a pair.
WQ59B, The 1st and 2nd pic are of the original '60 front shock next to the new '70 GS shock. The 3rd and 4th pic are of the original front shock next to the new Kanter replacement. I thought about trying to make the GS shock work in a similar way that you described. In the end I decided against it since that shock mount takes such beating. Afraid of damaging the control arm should it come loose. The new Kanter shocks do not have a brand name on them and the box had no labels either. Steve weim55 Colorado
Bob- hopefully you'll update WRT fitment in this thread when you try the Monroes. I wish there was a good gas shock available. Steve- thanks for the clarification WRT the pics. I would think a steel ring could take the punishment, esp if it was a seriously heavy gauge... but not sure there's room to make it work. Not at all saying you went the wrong route, you understand, just thinking the scenario out. In my experience, Kanter does the 'conspicuously-unlabeled' things on more than just their shocks. I bought wheel bearings from them some years ago, they came in sealed, unlabeled 'tuna fish cans'- never saw anything like that before or since. I personally got a funny vibe from them- ended up buying NORS bearings for use instead.
Also, I have to echo Steve's high regard for the Mity-Vac brake bleeding tool. While I have one of their less expensive plastic-bodied models, with proper care it has served me well for many years. I would not bleed brakes without it.
Mark, Your idea is a good one. If I would have known the differences in shocks when I had the front end apart it would have been a great time to modify the control arms to fit the GS shocks. I'd have to say the main motivater for the Kanter choice was time. I just had to get this thing done and out of the garage and driveway for the winter. Steve weim55 Colorado
It was really bothering me that the left turn signal on my LeSabre lit up white, while the right lit up green. I assumed that the color filter had fallen into the cluster. Imagine my surprise when, upon opening the cluster, I discovered that the lens itself WAS the color filter. Apparently the sun had faded the left signal/COLD lens, while sparing the right. Repeating a trick I had performed with a CD changer control some years back, I decided to create my own color filter by running a simple green transparency off on a color laser printer. These puppies are created under 300 degree heat; I knew that the transparency would withstand the heat of the little bulb shining through it from six inches away. Here's some pics. I simply trimmed two blanks from the sheet, and sandwiched the original filter between the two blanks. It came out great and looks terrific installed.
I took a run up to CARS today and bought everything I needed for the torque ball seal job. I hope. The kit includes the torque ball retainer, a set of gaskets and shims, and the propeller shaft seal. I bought the torque ball-to-tube gasket (paper) and the O-rings for the inner and outer retainers separately. All of this was about $70. Quite reasonable. I picked up a couple of repro stickers to replace ones missing on the car, just for fun. The retainer has a rubber bonded ring that forms the seal between the torque ball and itself. This particular point caused me a lot of confusion as I read up on the procedure and researched the parts. Here's why: The '60 Chassis Manual is a bit misleading on the exact nature of the seal. It states: "The torque ball has a bonded rubber compression ring which acts as a rubber cushion and seal between the ball and the outer retainer" (page 4-11). and elsewhere (page 4-15): "The torque ball has a bonded rubber contact ring on the outer ball face which is compressed between the inner and outer retainers". I believe that these statements were true for earlier iterations of the ball, but the setup was revised for the '57 model year and later repair kits retrofitted the new design, which places the rubber ring on the retainer instead. The troubleshooting matrix for "Transmission Lubricant Loss at Torque Ball" on page 4-14 gets it right: (5) Worn or damaged rubber contact ring on torque ball outer retainer". The cross-sectional view in the book (page 4-15) also shows the correct '60 setup with the ring bonded to the retainer. Saturday afternoon or Sunday, the car goes up on ramps (front) and jackstands (rear) and out comes the torque tube.
In these pics, you can see the unique "drum" speedometer that allows the "needle" to resemble a thermometer as the speed increases. This cluster is one of the most amazing designs ever. For those unfamiliar with it, the "Mirro-Magic" cluster is, in fact, located in the lower portion of the dash. What the driver sees is a reflection of the cluster's face through an adjustable mirror. As far as I know, this is a design completely unique to the '60 Buick.
And now for something completely different: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Buic...temZ170567220568QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks#v4-37 This is a car I did not know existed. It's a 2-door hardtop LeSabre with a manual transmission (when it had one, that is). Wow!
I just went through cleaning and repainting mine.... here are a few pics.. Pretty straight forward. I repainted both the back casing and the dash top. I still have to paint the entire dash top (which goes over the instrument cluster) but that has to match my (red) interior color, which by the way does not match the worn out seat color or the dried out vinyl dash padding. Not sure how to repair the vinyl dash padding (cracked, uneven). If anyone has cheap ideas ?
