Thanks, Antney! But I have 2 weeks to work on her and I expect to have the seats and carpet out by this Wednesday. If there is any rust on the floor I'll grind it and hit it with POR15. I should also have the door panels and dash scrubbed down. I should also have the seats scrubbed and protected as well. When Ken arrives on Friday night I HOPE all we have to do is lay the carpet and bolt the seats back in. I forgot how rewarding bringing a car back from the dead can be. I did this to my Riv many years ago and the initial burst of energy proves to provide the greatest amount of improvement.
Yardley comes through in true Northeast GS/GN club fashion!!! :TU: Great Job Jeff!! :beer Can't wait to see it at The Village Cruise Ken!!! :bglasses:
That is too cool, this is a great thread. Yardley you da man! :TU: :bglasses: Now you got me pulling my 6-way power bench out of the Electra just to clean. :laugh:
So the party starts when? Friday? :grin: :beer Jeff, Carb sounds like a Rochester 4-jet. The manifold will accept a Carter ABF as well. I'n unsure if the linkage is the same, tho. I bought carb kits for a Carter AFB....better check if they have them for the 4 -jet United Discount Auto parts 315 W County Line Road 215-672-2151 Owner is John Rose, a drag racer! Car Quest 475 E County Line road, Hatboro.... across from Rosemore shopping center. 215-672-4950 And I do have a 2x4 setup, and a NO2 setup too!.....got Ballons? :eek2: :grin:
Walt, I've purchased a LOT of stuff from United Discount. John even lent me a drill and bit last year so I could drill out the hole in the center of the K&N air cleaner lid I bought from him. I'll check both places to see if they have a 4-Jet rebuild kit. YES! Friday night I'll be primping the place and preparing for the party as well as working on the 'Cat. Stop over any time Friday eve! I could use the help primping and for sure on the 'Cat!
Cool! Ken, welcome to the Wildcat clan! get rid of the 4 squirter and put a 425 Q-jet intake and q-jet on it, you'll be much happier, the 4-squirter is a POS, and chokes never work, etc. I have some extra '66 wildkitty parts too, so let me know if you need anything I don't need for mine. Yardley you are so cool for doing this, get some Bounce to put in the car for Ken's ride home, cause you will never get that "new car" smell out of it if the mouses have been laying rest or doing their thing in there for a while!
Cool ride Ken - Jeff! :TU: Whats the history on the car? What's it been doing for 40 years with only 27K miles???? Wish I could come and see it! - Bill
We'll see what Ken's budget holds in store. But you may just have a good idea with swapping the manifold all together. I'm gutting the interior this week and disinfecting it. The only thing we'll have left untouched is the headliner. New carpet goes in as soon as Ken arrives for the picnic, and I should have the door panels and seats scrubbed and cleaned up so no odor is left in there.
Tony- You are absolutely right! Jeff is one of a kind. We like to bust his chops (and he busts 'em in return), but it's all in fun. The guy has a heart of gold! He has gone so far above and beyond. Yes, Dave, he has gone above and beyond in NE Buick fashion. I've only been hanging around the northeast guys for a few years, I wish I had found them sooner!!! The Village cruise??? Not familiar with that one? I was thinking Heavenly Donut, maybe the Greek's (if they still cruise there), anything ever doing at Chick's? Roberta, I have found myself perusing the Nailhead forum for the first time since I've been on this forum (as well as Ebay for all things nailhead/Wildcat)! It's a cool engine! Is this the manifold that's correct for the q-jet? Is this price too much? Should I just try to get the 4-jet going and save my beans for a 2x4?? Obviously, the cool factor weighs heavy for the 2x4! Alan, I may try to work something out to have a trailer available. I really want to drive it home, but I don't want to be in a bad situation if something on this 40 year old car isn't right. That would not be worth it for me or the car. Walt, you thinking of swinging by Friday night? Let's start the party early! :3gears:
Ken, That stock manifold is sweeeeet. All ready for primer and paint! I'm sure we can track down a Q-jet and all the hardware. I'll bet Walt already has it all. And John Osborne could rebuild it sooooo nicely. I have to have a look at the rear on the 'Cat. I'm surprised it never occurred to me to do so. I'm not sure which rear it has. I kinda doubt it is the Riviera rear. Let me get a look at it. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be a Skylark-type rear. Posi and gears are easy to come by there. If you want to trailer it home, OK, but I am pretty confident it will be road worthy as soon as the carb issue is all squared away. Of course, there are the basics yet... full tune-up, thermostat, belts and hoses. The front brake lines look OK. Power steering is excellent. Your call. Either way you'll be taking home one nice ride that just needs some TLC.
Driving it back home Ken - see my post about the '67 I just bought. Having a back up plan is a good idea for the drive home. Driving it home is really cool and fun IF IT MAKES IT...but a pain if it doesn't. If it breaks down you have to have the time to spend an extra day in route or a dolly/truck/trailer lined up enroute - if so give it a shot. You also have lots of friends along the way and a GREAT crew preping the car so your odds are much better then mine were! Either way - great ride! Also, I believe the manifold will take a Carter AFB which means it should take a new Edelbrock carb (same design)....just a thought! - Bill
Point well taken, Bill. I do plan to drive it home, but I'm working on a back-up plan that will hopefully have a trailer available while doing another club member a favor. Edelbrock carb? Does that mean I can put one of Jeff's cast-offs on it? :laugh: And you're right, there will be a great crew working on it, or at least wandering over to give sage advice! :TU:
I sent the seller a question about that ebay ad for the posi...maybe it's the wrong photo for this auction (shows a ten bolt carrier), but the 9-3/8" should be a 12 bolt carrier with a 10 bolt cover. I also mentioned that it's a '66 only animal (or at the most '65-'66). We'll see what response I get. Devon
Devon- I was reading the sticky last night on big car rears. It seems like there isn't much cross application/year opportunities. Thanks for following up. Tony- I'm pretty confident based on what Yardley is saying and doing, but if I can have a trailer there anyway to caravan with on the way home without putting anyone out, why not? Right? Another question- what trans is in this car? It's a three speed, but Yardley says he doesn't think the pan looks like a 400. A 300 switch pitch maybe? Also, this is the list of stuff I'm thinking of bringing: Upper Radiator hose Lower Radiator hose Rotor Cap Wires Points Condenser Plugs Alternator Belt PS Belt Thermostat/gasket Hose Clamps Radiator flush wiper blades halogen headlights wheel cylinders wheel bearings grease radiator cap brake fluid Anything I should know about any of the 'Cat specific stuff? Any parts counter choices I need to check out in advance? Mid year changes or such? Thanks!
No problem...I almost bought a '66 carrier for my '67, glad I didn't have to find out the hard way about the mismatch. The '66 automatic in the Wildcat should be the ST400, variable pitch...unless the car was changed sometime during its lifetime. Pan should look like the one seen here: http://www.buickperformance.com/switchpitch.htm Devon
Ken, do you belong to a motorist club such as AAA? It's cheap insurance for those of us that drive old cars. Road service and towing is often covered up to a specific # of miles. Nailhead concerns....I've come across a few with corroded coolant passages in the front cover. It could leak externally, or even internally into the timing chain area...and the oil pan. Maybe a cooling system pressure test, and carefull attention to the oil level would indicate problems. And I hate to say.....any old car sitting thru Northeast winters could have a cracked block due to inadequate coolant. I've also had a few rusted freeze plugs, that started leaking thru rusted pinholes. Don't wanna scare you, but these are some items that should be checked! I'll give Yards a call, and we'll come up with a plan! Or....maybe we should call 'Overhaulin' to do it up!.....or maybe 'Pimp my Ride'! p :grin:
Ken I may trailer my car down. So if yours screws up on the way home we'll just swap them on the trailer. :TU:
