Old member, feeling brand new...

Hey all,

I used to be an active member here years ago. I used to have a 1976 Electra Limited that I had grand plans for. I was a young college student, with no means ($$) of fulfilling those dreams. I had to get rid of the car...it was my grandfathers. He gave it to me as my first car.

Fast forward. As of today, I am again a Buick Electra owner. Today, I just purchased a 1976 Electra 225. It is in much better shape than the one I previously owned. It has 55K miles on the odometer. I am anxiously looking forward to having this car as my new project/hobby.

Years back, I had plans of an extensive engine rebuild. I collected a bunch of parts and ended up selling it all. This time around, my plans are more tame. I am hoping to do Aluminum cylinder heads, shorty headers, and a good tune on the carb & timing. A bit more realistic, and aligned for my intended use (just cruising).

Looking forward to a good time. Feels good to be back in the buick community.

Attached are some pics. I flew up to Boston today to check it out & test drive it. I am currently working out transport details to bring it home to Maryland.








It needs some TLC, but its all mine!!!

 

Welcome back !! Great story - enjoy that 225. :beer :TU:

 

Check the fluids and drive her back to MD. It looks nice. Good luck with her.

 

It's funny...my first car was a 67 Lesabre. 340/4 T 400. Ran like a top in 1976. My mom sold it to me for 300.00 and I paid her 15.00 every week from my P/T job as a sacker at A&P.

Fast forward to 1996 and I got back into Buicks. Still here today.

Congrats!

 

Thanks all.

I was thinking about doing that, driving it back. It would be cheaper for sure...

 

Plus you could probably do it on 1 tank of gas. And it would make it a Great Adventure. Picked my Riv up from 300 miles away. Checked the fluids ,adjusted the carb and drove it home. Only had 1 flat but Luckily there was a spare.

 

Car arrives on Thursday.

Already got my list of parts started for this winter's upgrades.

-Aluminum cylinder heads
-Ported exhaust manifolds (hope to be able to find some for sale)
-refurbished qjet
-Possibly a cam (TA 112).

The dealer also purchased a replacement bumper to put on the car, as the current one has rust. They will be shipping that bumper along with the car.

Looking forward to this.

 

Nice car .. good to see you back in the Buick fold

just curious why you seem intent on the aluminum heads ?

 

Thanks!

Well the goal is to wake the car up a bit and have more horsepower than the 205. It's definitely gonna be a cruiser (not planning on swaping out the rear end or stall converter). I just want more oomph for the barge. That being said, my proposed budget kinda allows for it so I figured "why not?" The other viable option that I had in mind was to find early 70's heads and have them reconditioned and assembled at the machine shop. If I can find some when I'm ready to get the work done (Jan/Feb), then that may very well be an equally suitable (and more economical) option.

 

Reason I asked was .. everything in an engine build works together as a package. Having one part hugely overdone in comparison to the rest of the parts can have little to no improvement and sometimes even take away performance (like a cam or carb way to big). Good flowing heads are the foundation of any performance buildup - BUT - by themself on a relatively stock motor, will return very little for a big investment.

What I'm saying is - if you are looking for, lets say, 350-400hp and have a medium budget, it would not make sense to spend the money on a set of Alum. heads (which is a big chunk of $$) when you could take that and put it towards a great exhaust, carb rebuild, Distrib. rework, new torque converter, and a posi rear.

If your heads are the original '76 heads you do definately want to get them off though for a set of early 70's heads

Now, if you were shooting for 500hp I would start to think differently

 

Alan,

Thanks for the advice...I really appreciate the guidance and experience as I look to go in to this project.

How much of a hassle is it to swap out the torque converter and rear end for a posi traction unit? These are items that I see mentioned all the time here, but I always tend to overlook them.

I do agree on the other points you've mentioned (carb, exhaust, timing)...they are also in my current plan of attack.

Thanks again,

Langston

 

In 2010 I pulled my Riv out of a 20+ year hibernation in a old guys garage in Chicago and drove it back to Florida. She ran great all the way back!

 

I am searching the board and finding quite a bit of good information and answers to my own questions.

 

Yeah, I shoulda drove it back home. It arrives tomorrow!

 

In 1998 I flew out to Denver .. bought a one owner 68 SportWagon 400 that had 93,xxx miles from the 91 yr old original owner (not the one I now have). Next day drove about 30 miles outside Denver to some sleepy town where I pulled into a repair station and told the owner I wanted to rent his lift and tools for the day .. he asked why, and I said because tomorrow I'm taking this wagon on a 2000 mile RoadTrip to Long Island NY. I had brought some parts with me and stopped on the way for some others .. and I went to work going over it from stem to stern. He even helped at times .. and at 5pm closing I still had some things to do so I offered to buy pizza and beer for him and his worker. We finished at around 9:30pm and I slept in the back of the Sporty in his yard for about 5 hrs and hit the road running ...

:3gears:

Once you get your ride, post some pics and we'll all get to see what you have to work with.

... Im no expert, just a computer nerd with a lousy set of tools who's been playing with these cars for a quite a few years so don't depend on me too deeply .. Others here will know a lot more about your specific car than me .. we're all here to help. I have gone through a few 455 motor builds/upgrades though so I do have some sense of where not to make mistakes - that's why I was wondering about the heads. They're a terrific upgrade from the originals and if you have the wallet for it AND whatever else you'll need then more power to you (literally :TU

First things first though, is you need what I call the Buick Bible for your car - the Chassis Service Manual



Here's a listing on Ebay for the above picture which includes an advanced service manual (never heard of that before) AND the Fisher Body service manual .. cant beat that package for the asking price :Brow:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-BUICK-...anuals_Literature&hash=item35de3975dd&vxp=mtr

 

Cool story, and thanks for the kinds words Alan.

I ordered those service manuals just yesterday on eBay. When I had my Limited, they were indeed my bible. Too bad I got rid of them (along with a good set of 72 heads when I got rid of the car)

I will be sure to post pics. I know for a fact the heads need to be pulled because there is a small leak near cylinder #8 that I noticed when I checked the car out. I have a set of '72 heads on my radar. Hopefully they'll still be available when I'm ready to purchase them. I'll probably try to solicit local help when it comes time for the wrench turning. I'm not a stranger to turning a wrench, but I would feel comfortable if I could do so under the guidance on an experienced 455 guy.

 

She arrived today. I was at work waiting for the call, and finally its all mine. I already purchased some 3M rubbing compound to tackle some areas of oxidation. Worked like a charm. I also got some chrome polish to begin working on the bumper. The engine purrs like a kitten. Slight leak near cylinder number 8...99% sure its the valve cover gasket. Exhaust sounds like it has a leak on the driver's side, possibly near the bottom of the manifold where it connects to the downpipe. It also could definitely used a new set of shocks.

I have some dye en route for the vinyl top (found it by searching this forum). I am gonna clean it, then dye it white next week to spruce it up. Next week I will begin to detail the car with a good ole clay bar, followed by polish and wax.

Fun times.












Oxidation Before & After:

 

Lookin Good :TU:

Buffed out nicely - be careful and go slow .. I'd start with the least abrasive polish possible and if that doesn't do it move up slowly from there. Believe it or not, that cheap Nu-Finish stuff in the orange bottle works decently on removing oxidation with little to no abrasive properties

 

Got the car registered with historic tags on Friday. Took the car for the first cruise yesterday. What a fun beast to drive. Turned a few heads and garnered a few comments. More importantly, my father was absolutely shocked when he saw the car. He had no idea that I was buying this car.

This week I'll begin detailing it. I'll probably start with some rehab on the vinyl top.

 

Tlc...