Hey all, It's been quite some time since I've posted on V8 Buick. My name is Mike, and I'm a 22 year old, about to graduate from UConn this may with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Three years ago, I bought a 1965 Buick Wildcat 2-Door Deluxe Coupe with a 401 nailhead in it, with the intention of resto-modding it. First up was the engine, of course. I pulled the original motor, and my machine shop found a decent sized crack in the block, after I sent it to them to get cleaned up and bored out. It didn't take long to find a second block, and I was off and running. I got it bored 0.060" over, and got a custom Schneider cam ground for me by a shop in california. The car is set up with dual exhaust and a TH-350, but eventually I'm looking to go to full equal-length headers (which I will make, why not?) and a 2x4 intake. The crappy part is that the car and engine has sat for nearly 2 years now. The heads are assembled, and ready to go on the block, and all I need is an oil pump, and I should be able to put the thing back together! I recently bought a fuel pump blockoff plate, so that I can use an electric fuel pump, too. I'm moving out to Washington, D.C., after graduation, and I'll have about a 2-week period to get the car back together and running. My goal is to drive it down there. To do that, I'll need to Install heads install oil pump and pan install painted intake manifold paint block, heads, etc install electric fuel pump replace all brake cylinders and master install engine and transmission (sadly, I'm staying with the AT and not going with a TKO-500 like I had originally intended... money money) Wire engine and transmission (original harness is still there) Check all lights, etc Buy new tires for my buick mags Somewhere in the future, there is plenty more to do to this car BODY WORK! Look at that terrible fender Remove vinyl top Paint the car (prooobably blue) Reinstall A/C hardware and charge system Front disc brake conversion TKO-500 conversion with hydraulic clutch stereo install (nothing terribly flashy, just some tunes) glasspack or similar exhaust with electric cutouts for scaring the children and ricers This thread will serve as a status report for my project, but I'd love to hear any support or tips you guys may have. (I'm not sure whether or not I should tell you all this, but the reason I haven't touched my buick in the past year is that I bought a corvair when gas prices spiked... I needed fuel economy! College is expensive! ...and my 8mpg '66 DeVille was NOT helping). My other two:
your wildcat looks solid and has a good stance..... it would be sharp with the 1/4 repaired and new blue paint :TU:
You have excellent taste in autos there Mr Saturn! I think we have communicated a little on the TKO conversion, I've got mine in but not running yet. For Oil Pump- I highly recommend Carmen's bluprinted pump, he's in Buffalo (716 693 4090) and probably has one in stock. The heart of the engine, it will make it live well. I've had corvairs and currently have a 66 Fleetwood Brougham. Ted
Can you give me a link or contact number to call Carmen about the oil pump? (edit: oh wait, you did) And I do seem to remember talking to you about the TKO conversion. I fear that it's just too costly for me to do at this point.
I just called carmen about the oil pump. He sells a stock type for $159 shipped, and a high pressure one for $169. Seems a bit high priced to me, but if he's as good as you made him sound, I suppose the money will be worth it (for the high pressure one).
I randomly opened this thread while browsing the forum, and just thought I'd mention that I'm a UConn senior here. I also used to go to school in DC, as a matter of fact. I didn't realize the Corvair and DeVille were owned by the same person. As stated above, great taste. It's nice to see them parked at or around my dorm (Alumni). Breaks up the typical Honda Civic, Toyota Corrolla-esque scenery. I have a '67 Special (obviously) that I am trying to get up and running for summer, but it's definitely not in as solid shape as your Wildcat. This weekend I probably have one of the members of the UConn Car Club coming over to help me, because knowledge of older motors is very limited. He says he has a lot of experience with Buicks, so I'm optimistic. Sorry for the divergence in your thread, but I thought it was cool to see another Buick / classic car fan up here at UConn. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this project turns out for you.
fyi - old hot rod magazie "street freak" article had a pic of a corvair with a nailhead in the backseat - just food for thought for ya' !! del
HOLY COW I'm back. I've graduated school, I'm a year older, and not much further along on this project. I now live in Charlotte, NC, but the car is still in CT. At present, the motor is out of the car, but the heads are done and attached, as well as the timing gears and chain. I'm going to take a week off from work in July and spend it trying to get that car moving. Thankfully my financial situation is relatively comfortable at this point, so I'm going the manual transmission route. I've decided that a t-56 should be able to hold up to the torque I'm going to put out (they do use them on z06 corvettes and aston martins, for crying out loud!) I do, however, have a bunch of questions. First off, I'd like to go with a hydraulic clutch. What are my options for master/slave cylinders, and how to mount them? How about pedals? I've got a spare pedal set from my pile of corvair parts that I'm hoping I can use in some way. I also want to convert the car to a dual chamber master cylinder. What MC's are compatible with my car? I've got a long standing list of parts I'm going to be purchasing in the next few days. Please have a look, and chime in if you see something wrong. Deluxe front end rebuild kit from Kanter (http://www.kanter.com/p58-fkd.html#Buick) Bellhousing, clutch, flywheel, fork, etc from Bendtsen's (http://www.transmissionadapters.com/Buick Bellhousing.htm) Pertronix Ignitor III, coil, and wires from Jeg's Tremec t-56 sourced from craigslist out of a chevy of some sort Clutch master/slave cylinders (NO IDEA what to get here) Motor mounts from autozone Painless wire harness Driveshaft Shocks/springs Exhaust headers from TA Performance (looks like only the shorty headers will work?) (http://www.taperformance.com/products.asp?cat=386) Wheel Brake cylinders or rebuild kits from autozone. I'm sure I'm missing a whole heap of other things, but this is where I'm starting. I can feel my wallet getting thinner!
Cool, good to see you are still at it! Charlotte is full of car people... the GSCA has a great group down there in the Carolinas Chapter. For master/slave check with Doug Cook here (dCook) he has a working 4-speed with hydraulic clutch. I think the 67 power brake dual master cyl will work - I may have a used one here I can sell. :TU:
Excellent! Thanks so much for the response. I sent Doug (who is d7Cook and not dCook) a PM, hopefully I'll hear back from him soon. What do you think about pedals? Where'd you source your setup?
65 Impala, had to fabricate a substitute for the welded on bits but they are perfect length and look. The bolt at the top of the pix is where the stock auto brake pedal pivots. The Impala pedals rotate around a different point... had to drill, make these blocks to make them work.
All of the wiring in the car is a mess, more or less. I was going to do the whole shebang, for the sake of cleanliness. Any reason I shouldn't?
I'm ordering parts like a maniac! Getting really excited to get this build going. I scored a set of clutch/brake pedals on ebay last week that are identical to SpecialWagon65's. Man this is going to be fun, I hope I can make decent progress in a week! I'm still looking for which master/slave cylinders I can use for my clutch (as well as bracketry needed). Any suggestions for all this? How about reputable sources for a t-56?
I just found this website, which seems to be complete hydraulic conversions for the clutch. They have an application that will fit Impalas/B Bodies of that year. What do you guys think? http://www.hotrodhydraulics.com/GM-Product.htm
Any chance you can post more pictures of this? I'm scratching my head trying to figure out exactly what you did, and what I'll need to do.
Update! (crossposted from another forum, so verb tense may not make sense everywhere) WHOAS Woes I've already run into a crapload of problems. First of all, I purchased a bell housing adapter that was SUPPOSED to mate my Nailhead to any chevy manual transmission bolt pattern. I had bought a t-56 from a 2004 GTO for the lovely sum of $600, which is pretty awesomely cheap, figuring the 6 speed would give me excellent highway mileage. WELL when I opened up the box that was supposed to have my transmission adapter, it had some wierd adapter plate setup for an automatic transmission. That wasn't what I wanted -- I called the company and was put on the phone with a kind gentleman who was very quick to alleviate the issue, but he told me straight up that the t-56 has a different bolt pattern than most transmissions (it fits LSX engines only, or some such), so it wouldn't work with his kit. So! Out goes the t-56. Having only owned it for a few weeks, I am selling it at a profit. The bad news is that the only suitable replacement will be a Tremec TKO600 transmission, which, while it is built to handle 600+ lb-ft of torque, is sold ONLY in the aftermarket. This means I'll be buying a $2000 transmission instead of a $600 one. Next! I got a clutch master cylinder from rockauto which did not come with a reservoir, like in the pictures on the website. Not sure what i'm gonna do about that. I did manage to hit a HUGE stroke of luck and find a set of pedals from a 1965 impala with a 4MT which will swap almost perfectly into my car. To give you an idea, I've owned the car for 3+ years, and literally have NEVER seen the pedal setup for sale before. I scooped them up off of ebay on sight, and I probably would have paid far more for them. $184 was a bargain. PICTURES SATURDAY NIGHT Boxes and boxes o parts waiting for me when I got home for vacation 1965 Buick Wildcat Shop Manual SUNDAY The engine on the stand as it was when I got home, with the oil pump installed. My dad's the man, and has been cleaning parts and doing some assembly for me while I'm away in the south. The engine on the stand On the stand s'mo. Blurry. It's so pretttty. So fresh and so clean. The car waiting for me in its hibernation tent. It's been like that for several years! The beast growls awake from its slumber, ready to come out of it's domicile. GROWL Oh that's nasty. Years of dust! It's like a time capsule. My dad going at it with the pressure washer. Getting better! Ahhh squeaky dirty-as-heck still. Once nightfall hit, I switched my attention to the engine itself. Lifters! For those of you who haven't dealt with hydraulic lifters before, you have to prime them with oil before installing them. This involves putting them in a bath of fresh oil, and pumping the pushrod into the back end of each one until it gets rock hard. This is very annoying to do 16 times by hand.
