Soo... Our little son Maxim Erik was born to this world on May 27th. My wife and I are very happy. I didn't meet my goal to get him home from hospital in the buick. But I managed to find some time to work on the car. So hopefully I can cruise with my son this summer. I will post pictures of the progress this week. Car is back on its wheels by now. Have to fix some small issues but meanwhile I am searching for technical specs of the car for swiss tech inspection.
Congratulations on your son! I'm sure he'll love riding around in the Buick and it will make for some great memories for him (and you). Hutch
BennyBennyBennyBenny and the jetttsssssss... A late CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR WIFE for your Son, a GEMINI! Cool. I am May 30th! I am impressed with your ability and patience to locate and purchase parts from across the 'big pond' for all the work you are performing! Looking good! It appears you already have your car back together 'interior wise'... and thats too bad cuz I have an original factory in dash GUAGE PACK... I COULD pack and ship it along with your wiper arm?? :Brow: Wheelz, Tampa Bay Florida USA
Thanks for the congratulations. It's been a while since I posted on this thread and my son is the very reason for it haha... But still I was able to work on the car and of course I took some pics of the work. Let's start with the grille. After painting it silver I had to do some masking work....what a pain.... Ready for the charcoal paint: again some masking for the final coat of black: and here after I removed all the masking tape...it's a pain too...but much more satisfying than masking :TU: I am quite happy with the result
YEssssssssssss! You nailed it BennyBennyBennyBenny and the jettssss! ...and You earned that right to be proud!!
Well another big story was the rear axle... Except for the axle shafts I replaced every part. Amongst other guys I really like to thank MONZAZ here for the awesome support on building the axle and set it up right. He answered lots of emails from me with pictures of the gear patterns and backlash readings Got all the parts from monzaz as well. Including a brand new eaton posi and used chevy 3.31 gears (stock Chevelle SS ratio). The axle is very quiet...only at 50 mp/h I get a slight whine under acceleration...but it only lasts until 53mp/h so I can live with it...coast side is dead quiet. Had to go with 0.012 Backlash but I do not get any load change noises. Axle is in the car but here are some pics of it ready to install. Did bend the brake lines myself and used the factory "spring" shroud that goes on the brake lines. Brakes were ok so I left them.
Another nasty thing I did not like....rust free california car it was advertised....well...I had those bubbles in the vinyl roof on the rear edges..... Decided to pull up the vinyl...look for yourself (notice the drainage holes): Since this car is a driver (for now) I went ahead and cleaned that spot from all the rust...put on some rust blocker and anti-rust primer then applied some filler. Sanded the whole section and put the vinyl edges back on....forgot to take pics of the whole process... No more bubbles: I yet have to paint the center section of the roof trim.
Hey Dave thanks...compliments appreciated! well I stopped counting...worst part really was the masking off of the silver parts...took me two evenings.... Thanks for helping me out with the grille studs!!! I yet have to do the hood inserts...they are still covered in an ugly silver shade...
Well... Some may have seen other threads from me. There are still a lot of things to do on the car but I managed to have the car inspected and after the second try they gave me approval. I had to hammer in a VIN onto the frame, put a weird Manufacturers Plate inside the engine bay (required by swiss law) and had to give them maximum allowed weight of the car.... Without the help of a lot of board members on here it would have been much more frustrating to get the car ready for the last summer months! I especially want to thank BrunoD and Daves69 for help with the grille studs wich are really hard to come by... Monzaz for the great support with the axle and MrOlds69 and George Nenadovich (GStage1) for getting me some small parts. Here is the most recent picture of the car with my swiss number plate on it. The car got veteran status wich means I only have to have it inspected every 7 years (standard all 2 years).: And here is my little son Maxim riding along with me and my wife (on the backseat haha). Good that I have the shoulder belt as well, so he is secured pretty well He's only 2 months old but really is relaxed in this car... notice the middle finger :
Very cool... Only thing I see a problem is the child is in the front seat. The dash is NOT your friend in a OLD CAR. Your child will get crushed from that item in a old car. BACK SEAT safest spot for him. We did the Blue Suede Cruise with our kids the one year - one in a child seat one in a booster. Wife in the passenger seat. FAmily drag race 14.29 in the 1/4 mile - Kids were laughing the whole way down the track...NOT what I expected.... Anyway if you keep going on this path you could end up like i did...... now they are in Jr Dragsters and tearing up the track 7.90 and 8.90 in the 1/8th 14 year old and 10 year old 85+ mph and 75+mph respectively - I do not know where will go after this as it is really getting expensive. THEY will need to get jobs to support there speed habits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkDB2ppC_YY&feature=autoshare Link to Sarahs 7.90 84mph pass running at Thompson raceway kind of gives you an idea of the launch which is 1.60 60 foot times 4.9 330 foots etc. these things launch at 4000-5500 stall speeds jim JD
Amazing haha...saw such dragsters at Nitrolympix in Hockenheim Germany (one of the biggest events in Europe)! Regarding the front seat...I rather have him secured properly with the lap/shoulder belt than with the worst of all kind lap belt in the back seat. There are practically no child seats certified for a lap belt. Not long ago here there was a head-on crash between an old caprice and a rather new jaguar XJ...caprice guy ate pizza and swerved onto the other lane....jaguar guy was killed and the caprice guy stepped out of the car... But I am looking into making ISO-FIX braces to fit a child seat in the back of the buick...he sure needs a bigger seat next year
I saw an old Jaguar last night. I almost didn't recognize it without the tow trunk in front of it :grin: Bittersweet Mist! such a nice color
some of you might take a look at this thread as I am having idle troubles... http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?298472-Idle-mixture-in-CO-HC
HERE IS ANOTHER THOUGHT TO ADD TO THE CHILD RESTRAINT... We all are still here and never even required a child safety seat ...let alone a seat belt. I remember vacations in the station wagon playing board games with the seat totally flat... The whole trip... I am not saying the safety seats are not a GOOD THING... But it just amazes me how much stuff is jammed down on the public for common sense stuff that is NOW A LAW. You have a great time with your car and family... and please do not think in anyway I am trying to bring you down. As stated I took my whole family down the track full steam ahead. I am not reckless by any means, BUT IT WAS COOL! Take care, Jim J D
Jim, I didn't get your message wrong. In fact any thoughts and suggestions are always welcome I have memories like those as well...my dad used to have a 79 cutlass and we always tucked away the rear lap belts so noone could see them. Then on long trips I used to sleep on the rear bench with my head on my mothers lap Or I was sitting in the front between my parents on the bench...no child restraint system as well haha...
