57 Special Engine removal

Anybody have any tips on what to watch out for when I take the Nailhead out of a 57 Special? Like writeups and such.

I did a Frameoff in 2006 on my Chevy C10 but I had more room to work.

We are going to be taking the engine out with the tranny because it will need new seals too and we can clean the car underneath with all that gone.

Thanks in advance

Here is what it looked like as of yesterday:

 

Ganz einfach... The motor will come out quite easily, just be sure you put a cup over the tailshaft of the transmission because it'll leak fluid once you separate the driveshaft. Unlike you Chevy that car has a one-piece driveshaft/rear axle known as a torque tube. You will have to separate the driveshaft after what's called the torque ball, and since you're pulling the engine you may not have to pull out the rear axle to separate the two. Putting it back in may be a problem as you'll have to line things up exactly.

Best thing to do is buy a service manual for that particular type of car. I'm working off my 1959 copy.

 

Hi Marc,

Danke fr die Antwort. It was quite einfach.

We got everything, almost everything, off the top of the engine and went down underneath. (Almost ripped off the oil pressure line & we had to take the exhaust manifolds off.)
This was the first time I really looked it over underneath. Kind of scared me when I seen that tube.

The guy that owns the car, (He works in a bank and knows how to open and tighten screws. He also knows the difference between 1/2 and 9/16 :Smarty told me he heard if you want to remove the transmission you either have to take the engine out or the rear end.

Well, I decided to get the engine out and leave the tranny in. We will get her out later.

If I would have known that the rubber on the motor mounts were ripped I wouldnt have fought with the screws. But I got them out too.

Tomorrow I am going to get all the codes off the engine and try to find out what engine he has and if it matches the car.

We have a 1957 BUICK BODY SERVICE MANUAL and a 1957 BUICK CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL on DVD. I was surprised when he told me he had them.
Couldnt find anything in there what you have to do to get the motor out but it sure goes into detail on how to rebuild it.

Here is what it looked like tonight when we finally went home:

 

Today we finally got the engine on the engine stand and scraped a little goop off the engine. We checked the Numbers on the front of the block and what do you know? Matching numbers!

I dont think anything has been done to the inside of that engine for a long time. He was told that it was restored in the late 80s but the way it looks they just painted the car. The color code sais that it was white. Somebody put the green on it later.

I dont know how thick the rubber was on the original motormounts but it would have been long til they started grinding metal to metal.

What was funny, I told him that the mounts were broke and told him he was lucky his engine didnt do a 360 or more. He asked what kept it from turning and I told him the exhaust held it. Then I started laughing and told him that it is 99% impossible that the engine will rollover where it sits. Dang banker, he believes anything I tell him.

Tomorrow we will start taking the engine apart and see what kind of parts we will need. Right now we have the complete gasket kit and some spare parts like a tranny and a couple carbs.
We will be needing a left exhaust manifold, motor mounts, maybe an adapter for the oil filter if we cant find the original for the canister, and a different oil line for the oil pressure guage.

He also told me he wants to get it back on the road by may. :laugh:

I guess we will see.

Later, Sean

 

*Update*

We got the engine back from Sandblasting last week. We got that done before we took it apart.

I got her open yesterday and it looks great. I think the engine was opened and redone not too long ago. The cylinder walls look great too and the Hydro Lifters move freely. No dents on the cam side either. We decided we are just going to clean her and not take the crank and pistons out. Just new Gaskets and seals and maybe get the valves reseated.

We found the numbers on the engine and the one matches the car but I cant decode the other one.
Can anybody decode it? The engine is supposed to be a 364.

Car VIN is: 4D8009197
Engine is: 4D8009197
Engine Code: I08476 (see picture)

 

Haven't worked on a '57 since the '60s, but here's a few things I remember. Yes, it's a 364. Two things happened to torque tube Buicks with broken mounts: On acceleration, engine could torque over far enough to bind carb linkage. Only way to stop car...turn off key. Thrust mount is critical because that's where rear wheel driving force is transferred to car. When it fails, rear wheels can push fan into radiator. Both these things happened to me while working at a Buick dealer.:eek2:

As for removing trans, we used a modified bumper jack to push rear end back far enough for driveshaft splines to clear torque ball. Drop rear slightly, short chain around torque tube at radius rods, jack between frame x-member and chain.

The 57 had two weaknesses; small engine compartment caused overheating, and that was first year for two-piece torque tube with CV joint. CV joint failed with lack of lubrication.

Good luck with your project!

 

4 = your car's body style

D = 1957 year model

8 = Arlington Texas plant of manufacture

009197 = individual vehicle numerical sequence number

 

Thanks for the luck and for the tips with that Torque tube.
We are going to get the engine done and then decide if we are going to take the transmission out. I told him we should take it out right now and check the seals. Since we have the engine out it wouldnt be too hard right now.

@ flynbuick - Thanks for decoding the VIN but we arlready know that one.
What we cant decode is the other one.

Here is a picture of the shop and the top of the engine.

 

The second number is the production code number:

http://www.teambuick.com/forums/view.php?pg=indent_engine_where

Later nailheads (1959 and newer) used a 2-digit production code followed by a 3-digit date code. These pages list some of the 2-digit production codes for the later engines and the serial number ranges for the earlier ones:

http://www.teambuick.com/forums/view.php?pg=indent_engine_53-58
http://www.teambuick.com/forums/view.php?pg=indent_engine_59-62
http://www.teambuick.com/forums/view.php?pg=indent_engine_63-75

For 1957, I have never been able to find out how to decode the meaning of the production code number. It is mentioned in the factory service manual and this page mentions it, but not how to decode it:

http://www.teambuick.com/reference/years/57/57_vin.html

It says "Toward the right side of this same surface will appear the production code number, (stamped upside down from the front of the engine) this number, along with the vehicle identification number (car serial number) will be used to identify the engine on product reports etc. The production code number does not constitute a legal engine number for registrations, titles, etc. A stamped 1/4" long dash directly following the production code number indicates a production engine with .010" O.S. pistons (US production only)."

My guess is that the engine factory used the production code to track the engine before it was placed into a car and that it was stamped with the VIN once it was in the car.

Another good page if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.teambuick.com/reference/years/57.shtml

 

Thanks for the information Sean.
I guess if I dont find anything else, I will have to go there and join another forum. I cant look at all the pages you sent witout being a member.

If I find out anything else I will post it here.
I thought decoding was going to be easy like the chevys.

Greets from Germany
Sean Thomas

 

I agree. If you need/want to do anything to the trans...now is the time.

 

I got the Harmonic Balancer off pretty easy with the puller I had bought for my 327 Chevy.
I tried my installer too but it wont fit the buick.
Any body know where I can get one of those?

We will start getting the engine painted this weekend and take a couple valves out and check the seats and guides.

Sean

 

very nice build

 

*Update*

The way it looks the engine was redone not too long ago.
I got the engine turned over and the inside looks great.
The undersides of the pistons are still shiny aluminum and the crank doesnt look too old either.

Because I dont have precision measuring equipment I am stuck with the gut feeling. I tried to move the crank back and forth and it only moved a little so I think it is alright. Another good sign was that there were no hammer dents on the harmonic balancer.

We got the engine painted this weekend and it looks great.
I showed the owner of the car how to refit the valves today with my sanding paste and told him to have fun.
The valve guides had some play in them and my gut feeling was to have him get new guides and valves but I think it isnt that bad yet.
I told him we will wait and see how it runs and then we can still take the heads off and get that done later.

We are sending the Motor and Transmission Mounts off this week to the states to get re vulkinized or whatever they call it. Stupid me, being over her 20 years I start forgetting how to spell stuff. Sure hope that doesnt take too long for them to get that done.

I started a little diary (blog) with just pictures here: http://www.v8brothers.de/buickengine.htm

Ill Be Back

 

*Update*

It´s been a while since I was here. Have been taking on too many projects.
We finally got the engine rebuilt and got all the parts we needed from bobs.

We did take the tranny out and decided to put the rebuilt one in that the owner bought. I didn´t know he had it. We will take the old one apart and rebuild it as soon as we get the buick back on the road.

Instead of putting the tranny in first and then the engine we put them together outside of the car and put them in at once. We were 4 people putting the engine in. I don´t think we could have put it in just the 2 of us.
2 did the shoving and pushing and the other 2 did the technical stuff like making sure the drive line lines up and that the motor mounts hit the right spots.

Now we get to do the trimmings and try to get her running soon.
I also updated the picture page if anyone wants to look.

 

A lot of mechanics here used to pull the diff/torque tube assembly back toward the rear of the car with a ''come along''.... makes it easier.

 

I know one thing, if we ever have to take the transmission out again we will be moving the torque tube back.

Do you have to loosen any thing up in the back or can you just pull it enough to get the transmission out? I havent even looked under the back of the car yet and have no idea how all the suspension looks. Maybe I will take a little time and check it out today after work.

 

Man, it has been many years since I watched that done,,,, I wasnt doing the job at the time , the car was in my buddys shop and I was watching them do it... but basicly they unbolted the shocks and the panhard bar enough that they could pull it back toward the rear bumper with a cable type come-a-long....those old dynos and the torque tube set up is so tough that you seldom see one of them tore down,,,, except at a wrecking yard....