1971 Buick Electra 225 Limited -freshening up

Wait. You think that doesn't sound good? -.-

Late viewer on this thread. Loved every word! How many mpgs you getting on that beast?!

 

Spent part of my Saturday installing the rebuilt sending unit and then installing the tank back in the Electra. When I dropped the fuel tank I noticed the rubber lines that run from the fuel tank to the hard lines above the rear axle were already stiff and dry rotting. I went ahead and ordered two rolls of Gates Barricade fuel line, 3/8 and 5/16 sizes. This should hold up much better. I also went ahead and replaced the rubber sections of vent lines that run to and from the tank. Moving onto the hardware portion of the fuel tank, the straps and bolts were okay but the extruded u-nuts were broken off their mountings. I spent quite a bit of time tracking down fuel tank hardware with no luck. Goodmark, OPG, Jegs, Summit etc had nothing that would work. I ended up buying a box of extruded u-nuts from McMaster Carr. They are made by Au-ve-co, #10054. 3/8-16 thread and are 3/4 hole center to edge measurement, exactly like the originals. They worked fantastic, If you need a few I will gladly throw some in an envelope. I also installed the forward lamp harness with the exception of a few wiring harness clips I need to track down.

Kaivan, the exhaust does sound okay but I'm just not a fan of loud exhaust. There are also a number of issues with the exhaust that is on the car, tailpipes are within 1/4" of the fuel tank, muffler outlets are 2.5, tailpipe is 2.25. The previous owner booger-ed up the difference with lots of weld. I can't wait to install a new system from manifolds back. I'm also looking into using modern exhaust hangers to reduce transfer of vibrations and increase the ease of serviceability.

 

Broke down and bought the transmission pan I've been wanting for awhile now. The original trans pan leaked badly, I never could get the gasket surface on the pan's rails straight enough. Below is a Mag-Hytec T-400 transmission pan. It includes a new filter, gasket, hardware and filter tube extension. It also is prepped for a trans temp sensor or other hookup. It should hold about 2.5 quarts over a stock pan. I didn't buy it for the capacity or for cooling. I bought it because all the other pans were either flimsy or chrome or just not to my liking. If this pan would have come in a stock depth I would have purchased it. This pand one is 4.25" deep. I can't wait to degrease the transmission case and put this on.

Also scored a NOS Automatic Climate Control head for $45. I'm slowly gathering the A/C parts to get that system up and running.

 

Installed the new transmission pan last Saturday. Added some additional parts to the trunk.

Got home from Iowa and a much anticipated box from M&H Electrical Fabricators arrived. I had shipped them my original engine harness, positive battery cable and both cornering lamp harnesses so the parts could be reproduced. I am VERY happy with their work. I thought the front lamp harness is awesome, but this last batch of parts blows my mind. The quality, attention to detail is top-notch. I haven't removed them from the packages yet. They were able to build a complete positive battery cable from my old one, including feeding it through the original wiring harness "block" near the oil pan, covered a portion of it in the correct "sheathing", installing the correct side post end and the starter connection is bent to where it will fit like a glove. The engine wiring harness is awesome and it appears they had all the correct connectors including the ACC connector. Cornering lamp harnesses look great too! (Part #42802)

I also went out and purchased some brake components. My Electra has 11"x2" brakes in the rear. I bought everything; shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware, parking brake cables front to rear. I'm excited to install all these new parts.

I'm hoping to get the car over to my friend's house in the next couple weeks so he can begin work on the engine and the quarter panel. Gotta block off a few days in August next year for BPG.

 

Keep up the good work, Rob :TU:

I also have plans to visit the BPG next year, so you can have the drinks I owe you for your great help with the "Preoria Park Avenue".

(I prefer Coke, but you can have whatever you want)

 

Truly an inspiration, the amount of work you've done.

 

I started on the rear brakes Saturday. I inspected the brakes a few weeks ago and determined that it would need brakes in the very near future. Managed to find Wagner brake parts that are made in the USA. Ended up replacing the wheel cylinders, shoes, hardware and parking brake cables for both sides. The brakes appeared to be original, and I found some interesting marking on the driver's side axle. The passenger side drum is still wearing the majority of its original paint and has an assembly sticker on it. The rear brake lines took some finesse to come loose from the wheel cylinder. I don't like how the passenger side line cam apart so I removed both lines from the hose/splitter and will bend up some new lines. Only one of the parking brake cables was frozen, the driver's side was free but while I was in there I wanted to replace it. It turns out that the driver's side cable was harder to remove from the the frame bracket than the passenger side. The rear brakes were in poor shape, glad they are getting replaced.

Last weekend I installed the new engine wiring harness and turned the key....after many months of sitting idle it fired right up! I am pleased. However the "brake" light was on and the pedal was very soft. Air got into the brake system, a sign that I need to exercise the Electra more often.

I still have to bring the drums in to have them cut, replace the frozen adjusters and bend new lines. Also need to replace the front brake hoses and the front parking brake cable from the pedal assembly.

Just a note, Electra/Centurion/LeSabre will have wheel cylinders with 15/16" bore, the Estate Wagon will have wheel cylinders with 1" bore. I took a picture of the wheel cylinders. The Estate Wagon is on the far left, followed by the new Electra, and then original Electra wheel cylinder.

The passenger side brake drum has a white sticker that reads "Q3" in red/pink ink. The driver's side axle had a small portion painted white, green and yellow.

Thanks Trevor! Thanks Erik!

 

After getting used to the simplicity of my Lincoln's rear wheel discs, it was always annoying going back to the Electra's rear drums. I had to replace the drums once after rayworstos shoes fell apart leaving the rivit to score the lining of the drum. Ended up just replacing both since they were old. Had the same situation happen with their pads as well...twice.

The front hoses can be a bear to remove especially if the flared side nut is rusted on. I was able to get mine off, but line wrenches etc did no good. Had to use heat.

 

Saturday I towed the car to a friend's house to finish pulling the quarter panel out and pulling the engine for some work. I started to drill out the spot welds on the donor quarter panel, got about halfway done. Removed the trim from the quarter panel and taillamp. Started to evaluate how the quarter panel needs to be pulled before it is replaced. Still have to locate a suitable donor trunk brace for the driver's side portion of the trunk pan. It looks like the same brace was used between all the GM fullsize cars.

I did manage to bend new brake lines for the rear, just need to install and bleed. The plan is to work on the car a little each weeknight, we'll see how that works.

 

Keep us posted, Rob :TU:

 

she is looking nice!!!! Great work!

 

Pulled the motor this morning. Disassembled it this afternoon. Plan is to pull each piston and hone the cylinders one at a time. Removing the hogged out '73 heads, replacing them with the stock heads. However, I'm transferring the Stage 1 valves and hardware over to the '71 heads. Then I need to un-shroud the '71 heads and do a little clean up/gasket match. I'll lose some hp but gain a little bit of driveability. I'm looking forward to having a functional exhaust crossover passage for the choke. The water pump will be replaced. The front main seal and oil pan gasket is seeping.

I also will be replacing the motor mounts. Upon close inspection, the driver's side mount is from a Skylark. The motor looked level from above, but the transmission showed that it was not actually level.

Also took a step back before going further with the quarter panel replacement. The 2 dr Electra panel has a different body line than the 4 dr Electra. You would never know it even if you were to park the cars side by side. But when you have two quarter panels next to each other, you can see it. The 2 dr body line drops faster. Currently its about 1/4" off. Also need to locate a suitable body mount brace replacement for the driver's side of the car.

 

Engine has been honed. The rear main seal was not leaking, it appears to be the oil pan. But, further inspect reveals that the pan could not contact the block. The rear main seal is holding the pan up, preventing it from making good contact with the block.

Removed and replaced the evaporator core and housing. This wasn't very difficult. Just had to take my time. The original evaporator case had a giant hole in it, presumably from when the previous owner installed headers....the evaporator core was punctured as well. There is loads of room in an Electra (Riviera has more) so I have zero clue why it was cut. I did have to remove the hood hinge, but there was no need to remove the passenger wheelhouse. The old evap was full of mold, good to get rid of that and close the passenger compartment up from fumes.

Interesting, there was three different markings on the firewall covered by the evap case. "226", "633", and some other symbol.

 

Can't believe its been over a month. Time sure does fly!

Dropped the 462 back in the Electra this afternoon. A slightly different combo, stock appearing combination.

 

Finally more progress!!! Got the engine together and its sweeter than ever.

462 -Forged pistons with valve reliefs
Stock cylinder heads opened up to receive Stage 1 valves, unshrouded around valves, gasket matched and cleaned up the runners, viton rubber valve seals on all valves.
Stock intake manifold, gasket matched
Crane XR-i electronic ignition
6qt oil pan
Custom grind "replica" of the Stage 1 cam: .459 Intake, .463 Exhaust. Duration is 256/272 on a 110* center.

Engine runs super sweet. Unbelievable how smooth and QUIET it runs! Just unreal. No smoke, no noises, and no leaks! This car is ready to be dialed in! It would have been done earlier this week but the brand new orange crush head gaskets were leaking before I got a chance to fire it up. Had to disassemble the motor in the car and replace both head gaskets. It is not easy to swing the cylinder head and exhaust manifold over the fender. Fired the motor up this afternoon and it is just sweet as can be. :TU: I wish my phone had better audio because this engine sounds sweet, revs up super quick too! Finally got the carb dialed in with the help of my friend Pete. Carb has a simple rebuild on it with one exception; Edelbrock accelerator pump #1982. Also replaced the choke pull-off.

I have a few little things to finish to "tidy" up the engine bay. Then the quarter needs to be finished, new exhaust at some point, replace the seals inside the TH400 and replace the hardtop weatherstripping.

I've always had plenty of room to pull the motor out with the hood on, just have to remove the radiator unlike I did in the picture above!

 

wow... that motor looks sweet.....Nice :TU: work !!

 

That's looking great, Rob :TU:
How is the search for the rear wing going ?

 

Will the Electra be ready for the 2013 BPG Nats? Really want to have a closer look.
Nice work on the brace :TU:

---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 AM ----------

There are several NOS rear quarters on the www (CL; in the same ad for a NOS 68 Wildcat fender and AACA forums), but they're all fenders for 2 dr (71-72) Electras.
Maybe a thread on the AACA forums in the 'parts wanted' section might help?