Starting the build/mods

Discussion in 'Small Block Tech' started by Extended Power, Nov 4, 2015.

  1. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Thought I would start our own thread instead of chasing all sorts of different threads, looking for answers.
    My sons 72 Buick GS was bought at the end of March of this year, and has cost a fortune so far, just to get it half assed road worthy.

    First, some back ground information:

    After the previous owner delivered it....which was a 6 hour drive for him, I was starting to get a little nervous about my sons purchase. (Like, why was this guy willing to deliver the car? 6 hours away...):puzzled:

    But, I could see it wouldn't matter what I said this time around...he wanted this car...bad.
    My son was very disappointed when I said we would have to go through everything before he got it insured, and started to drive it on the streets.

    So, after a couple days of the car sitting on the driveway, pointing towards the house, I said to him, why not fire it up, and turn it around, so the front of the car points towards the street?
    He was so excited...he ran to his room to get his keys, and hurried back to finally, drive his car. Even if it was just to turn it around.

    He was all smiles for a couple days after that...which just threw more fuel on the fire to wanting to drive it on the streets.

    But, the car had different ideas.
    I'm not sure what happened before we took delivery of the car, but I do remember the car trailer the previous owner used, was covered in fresh, dust covered oil...and now, after my son changed the cars position, and running it through reverse, and forward...the car decided to finally mark its territory on my driveway, with a tranny oil spill, just shy of half the size of the car itself.:mad:

    I myself, was livid. I had been extremely proud of the fact that I own a Ford diesel, my wife drove a GMC before her Evoque, and my daughter drove a little GMC Sonoma, before her Ford Explorer....and not one of these previous vehicles had ever had the nerve to mark their territory...for any reason.
    But this Buick....this Buick comes along, and the first damn thing it does, is destroy my perfect concrete driveway.....Strike one.

    After my son and I went through a bag of floor dry, and 3 or 4 cans of Brakleen, the enemy remains. (Que the scene from Independance Day, when they tried to nuke the aliens to no avail.)

    I'm not a transmission guy, or a bodywork guy...so the decision was made by my wife and I, that we would pay for the car to be flat decked to a transmission shop, and have the transmission rebuilt for his birthday present, and flat decked back home.

    It was a week that I enjoyed not having to jockey for position of the driveway...just to get my truck back into the garage all the time.
    Going into the shop to pay the bill was an eye opener for me...as I do all my own repairs on my engines. I'm not a transmission guy though...and obviously, the shop picked up on that...as the repair bill, was just over $2K. Yes, it got all new internals, and a shift kit, and new 2200 stall...but jeezus...$2K for a silly little turbo 350?
    Whatever.....moving forward...Happy Birthday son.

    We are now that much closer to getting him driving his car on the street.

    Other little things that were show stoppers before passing the inspection:

    -missing internals on the steering wheel column. (No horn, signal cancel cam, cover, etc)
    -no park brake hangers to hold the park brake lines up under the car.
    -rotted out exhaust from transmission back.
    -missing overflow tank
    -no heater core
    -rotted front brake lines
    -blown rear brake cylinder

    So we made a couple orders to get the missing parts replaced, and with the help of a fellow member here, Harry, we were able to finally get my sons car inspected, passed, and insured to drive on the streets.
     
  2. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Sorry for the long winded post. I'll try to break them up a bit.

    Moving forward to today, my son drives his car almost every day.
    There are issues that have to be addressed now, and I have come here to inquire about them.

    After the transmission was rebuilt, the shop said that we were missing a bracket that holds the transmission cable to the carb.:Do No:
    I have no idea what it would even look like, so I took pictures last night.
    Also, a few weeks ago, we picked up a 350/350 combo, but the engine is only a two barrel, but it came with a bracket that I think is for the throttle cable, and the transmission cable would have attached to it. Please have a look:

    This is the engine, carb, and transmission cable we have:
    [​IMG]
     
  3. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Yeah, that's a rude introduction for the car to do to you! Look forward to following the progress though, sounds like a cool father/son project and its always great to hear the next generation is taking an interest in classics, especially Buicks!
     
  4. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    This is the engine and transmission setup on the combo we picked up:
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    This is another picture of the combo with the transmission cable in the bracket:
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member


    Thank you.
    Yes, I'm looking forward to teaching him what I know, and hope he progresses from it, and picks up even more information from here.
    Having forums like this one is a huge benefit.
     
  7. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Something else I noticed last night, while peeking under the car, was that the deep aluminum transmission pan, is right against the cross member.
    No gap at all.
    I don't think it's right, and am thinking that the rebuilt engine the previous owner installed was set in too far back.
    Is that possible?
    I mean, a 1/4" would be great to have...but right now, the pan it tight up against the cross member.

    The reason I peeked under the car, was that my son said the car was raving really high before it shifts now...and I thought that maybe the vacuum line was off the transmission.
     
  8. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Next up, we noticed that the engine combo we picked up, had the correct upper rad hose for his car, so we started to remove the hose from his car, and noticed it had a 195* thermostat in it.:shock:
    Pulled the thermostat from the combo, and it's a 160*...so that's what going back in it. (The 160*)

    The old thermostat housing on my sons car was also some cheap tin model, that had a smaller inlet size than the radiator hose...but the previous owner would not be beat....he used a shwack of silicone to make up the difference in size.:rolleyes:

    Really second guessing everything the previous owner ever said about this poor car.
     
  9. techg8

    techg8 The BS GS

    The72 Skylark detent cable from The transmission th350 should route thru the firewall and to the top of the gas pedal.

    The cable you have in the pic with th the 4 barrel quadrajet is the kind of cable that goes to the throttle arm. Not able to be used with your quadrajet throttle arm.

    The cable in the bracket shown in the pic with the two barrel carb is the correct th350 cable for your Skylark. It even has the correct spring clip. Install this cable on your transmission and route it through the firewall to the top of the gas pedal. The spring clip adjusts to the correct position where you floor it WOT the first time. This setup needs no additional bracket to hold the transmissiondetent cable.

    ...and the bracket holding the transmission cable on the two barrel setup is actually a correct two barrel throttle cable bracket.
     
  10. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Excellent!
    So we have to remove the detention cable from the 2 barrel setup, and route it to the gas pedal of our setup.
    The little clip at the end of the cable...how does that attach to the pedal?

    And I was wondering why the cable on the 2 barrel combo had that big grommet on it.

    Thank you for your help!:beer
     
  11. techg8

    techg8 The BS GS

    Yes transfer the cable from 2 barrel to your car. Route from transmission , through square hole in firewall.

    then the foam disc/grommet slips over the end of the cable housing inside the passenger compartment.

    from there the straight end of the cable goes through the top of the gas pedal arm

    Then the spring clip goes on that straight end of the cable. Set the clip tight to the gas pedal arm, then floor the gas pedal to WOT once and the clip will adjust to the correct position.
     
  12. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member


    The cable slips through a hole at the top of the gas pedal. The clip sides on the rod to adjust. Here is a good picture,

    [​IMG][/QUOTE]


    The picture in the chassis manual, http://www.v8buick.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=196817&d=1095722932
     
  13. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Wow...what a PITA to get at the one that's on the car/transmission.
    Thats gonna wait till we take it back to the transmission shop for a check up. (I'll get them to install it.)

    A lift would make working on these car a lot easier. (I'm used to being able to slide a 5 gallon pail under my truck, and not hit anything...and it's not lifted at all.


    Today, I took the old double core radiator over to the local shop, and have a 4-core, dimple row HE radiator made.

    Gonna lose the stock 4 blade mechanical fan, and install my other Mark VIII electric fan when the radiator comes back on Monday.

    Pictures to follow on arrival.
     
  14. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    Ordered a MSD 8548 Pro-Billet distributer today.
    Gonna run a MSD 6 Digital plus box, and Blaster HVC-2 coil, along with their 8.5mm Superconductor wires.

    Pretty much had enough of the points setup.....

    Can't buy it all at once...too much money at one time...gonna spread it out.
     
  15. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    That's normal, the front of the trans pan is REALLY close to the crossmember, it shouldn't touch, but you can not get a socket on the front bolts for the pan unless the crossmember is moved forward (pain in the ass, but........)
     
  16. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    The stamped steel thermostat housing is original, yes they're junk.
    Most parts stores carry the cast iron replacement.
     
  17. 300sbb_overkill

    300sbb_overkill WWG1WGA. MAGA


    Why would you run a 160* thermostat? The factory put in a 195* thermostat originally and unless the engine was rebuilt with much more compression you should probably go with at least a 180* thermostat, if your engine is less than 9:1 the 195* would be fine.




    Derek
     
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  18. Extended Power

    Extended Power Well-Known Member

    As of right now, this is a rebuilt engine out of a hearse. (So the previous owner says)
    I bought a compression tester the other day, as I couldn't find my old one.:mad:
    The new engine will have more compression, and way more cam. (My son wants a lumpy idle)
    The heater core wasn't even hooked up, so I suspect it's bitched as well.
    I only wanna do this once, so the radiator is going to be as good as we can get...hopefully, no chance of ever overheating the engine.
    I thought I read on here that dropping the thermostat temp will help from pre-igniting, and just plain run better?
     
  19. 300sbb_overkill

    300sbb_overkill WWG1WGA. MAGA


    Well if you have more than 10:1 compression and you can't get gas with enough octane, then yes. But with a low compression engine running it hotter will help the fuel vaporize easier for a more complete burn. If the car doesn't pre-ignite @ 210* then that would be a better temp to run it at where the General originally set the temp to be using a 195* thermostat.

    Running at a higher temp there will be less emissions and you'll get better fuel economy because of the more complete burn. If the engine was rebuilt with higher compression to run more RPM than it would of from the factory, then that's when the cooler thermostat will help.



    Derek
     
  20. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    I like my engines to run about 180*. IMO, that is the perfect compromise. The engine will only run as cool as the thermostat will let it. The rating on a thermostat is the point when it first opens. The stat will not be fully open until 20* beyond that temperature. A 195* thermostat will not be fully open until 215*. A 180, at 200*. Depending on how good your radiator is, the stat will open to varying degrees trying to maintain the temperature rating. Once it is fully open, it loses control of the system. If you are looking at high performance and running on the edge, cooler is better to a certain point. Running too cool can cost you efficiency, and cause engine wear. Running too hot can boil fuel right out of the carburetor especially with the cat piss they call gasoline today:grin:
     

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