Dear mid-60s Buick fans especially those with a soft-spot for “longroofs,”
My trusty wagon has peaked on this board every now and then, but until recently, she has been suffering from a rather serious deficiency: no engine.
The story starts back in April 2014 when after only 3-months of operation, a lot of shards of non-ferrous metal were found in the old pan - at least one bearing had failed. At this point I was definitely feeling without any friends in the Buick world. In desperation, I asked Mike Tomaszewski and TA-Performance if he would be willing to take on this patient. Thankfully, he consented and thus started the long and twisted path that led to my wagon’s return to health.
By December 2014 Mike finally was able to dismantle the engine and determine it was the rear main crankshaft bearing that had failed, damaging the crankshaft in the process. Unfortunately, TA-Performance had a large backlog of engine orders based on their aluminum big-block, so my wagon just had to wait her turn.
In the meantime, I had some work to do on the parts which had stayed with me. For starters, the coolant leaks had eroded the ceramic coatings on the headers:
Lucky for me there was a company doing this sort of coating work on the San Francisco bay peninsula. Since I got the choice of color, I went with their silver metallic that was something in between chrome plating and polished metal:
They looked so nice that I couldn’t bring myself to remove the headers from the bags - just to be sure they remained undamaged!
I was concerned about how rough the engine had been previously. So just to be safe, I asked Mike to grind a milder cam. This in turn forced Mike to lower the compression ratio. The engine was based on a 430 block stroked out to 448 cid. As a result of Mike’s modifications, the engine lost 3 inches of displacement and became a 445 cid displacement. The compression ratio was lowered from 10.2:1 to 9.65:1.
Eventually, Mike and his machine shop crew came around to assembling Biquette’s engine. However, they ran into another unexpected problem. The engine was supposed to be painted nailhead green with clear aluminum valve covers. Well, when the guys cleaned the heads before assembly, all the paint washed off! Mike was concerned any attempt to repaint them could still fail in the same way after the engine was installed, so it was time to try another engine bay decorator style. Mike removed the paint on the aluminum timing cover and decided instead to paint the valve covers nailhead green. He then machined off the Buick and TA-Performance lettering. This created a very striking look. Here are some of the photos of the installed engine:
Here is the passenger side view:
Here is the “in-between” view:
Here is the front view:
Here is the driver’s side “in-between” view:
Finally, here is the driver’s side view:
Before sending the engine back to me TA-Performance gave it a test run. You can see it running on this Video on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/p/4nJEIygumC/If you have trouble viewing it there, I got permission to post a copy on You-Tube:
https://youtu.be/vv5v1z7YzFsThe engine arrived back in Orinda Motors where it would be installed just a few days before the annual Orinda classic car show in mid-September. It was a race, but the guys managed to get the engine installed so that my trusty wagon could once more participate in the show:
However, there was a bit of chicanery in this display. Instead of the transmission holding up the back of the engine there was a 2”x4”!!
The reason was that the original 200-4R overdrive transmission was considered a suspect in having caused the rear main bearing to fail. In addition it was leaking profusely. Rather than taking a chance with it, I decided to go with a new 200-4R from Art Carr. One reason for this choice was that Art Carr promised me a transmission in 2-weeks. Getting the old transmission repaired would have meant sending it back to the builder in New York. That likely would have taken many months.
Well, two weeks came and . . . where’s the transmission? Art Carr was backlogged and 2 weeks became a month. Okay, if you own a classic you’ve got to be patient. Sure enough a 200-4R was finally delivered but it had . . . . a surprise!
Yup, that’s a nasty crack in the case at the base of the bell. Art Carr is now shipping transmission by strapping them down to a wooden platform. It appears that they might have overtightened this transmission and stressed the case to the point it cracked.
At least Art Carr quickly responded and rushed another 200-4R in a week. Soon the transmission was fitted and at last my wagon was able to run her engine for the first time in 18 months. Here is a video of one of the first runs:
https://youtu.be/GY1RfXjlFywMostly the news is all good. The engine starts very nicely and idles smoothly. However, it was also stumbling when you first nudge the accelerator. Even stranger, 3 of the spark-plugs were getting fouled. The engine wasn’t doing this at TA-Performance. At first, attention was focused on the EZ-EFI fuel injection system as it was the only component that was new. However, that really didn’t make any sense because the EZ-EFI doesn’t control the ignition at all, it is basically just a “digital-carburetor.” Eventually, by eliminating all the other possibilities it became clear that MSD distributor had failed in between the run at TA-Performance and the engine installation.
With that problem solved it was time to see what this car could do. How’s this as a first example!
https://youtu.be/V7q01MnNOQAAs the Orinda Motors classic car guru says in the video and that’s only 1/4 throttle!
Here is another run at about the same time:
https://youtu.be/78k1iZRJkF4The rough idle is actually part of the EZ-EFI self-tuning process. It determines how to get a smooth idle by seeing how low it can go and then correcting for that.
I was able to bring my wagon home last Thursday and I’m tickled pink! The engine was performing very poorly before. It was extremely noisy and sluggish. Now it is extremely responsive and it has more power than I think I really want!
Better still, the engine is much quieter with all the changes I’ve made, my wagon is much more pleasant to drive. On the freeway the noise level is quiet enough to hear the stereo or have a conversation. Even the Vintage Air air conditioner works extremely well.
This whole project really goes back to the 1980s when my Dad and I daydreamed of modernizing our then 20 year old station wagon. Many of things we talked about, like an overdrive transmission, seemed impossible then. My Dad died of a brain tumor in 2000. But before he died he asked that we take car of
“da’ trusty wagon.” It has been an awful long struggle, but I think he would have been really pleased to see how she has turned out!
I really need to thank Mike and Sherri Tomaszewski and the whole TA-Performance team for helping me out in this period of crisis. This situation had really split the Buick community and Mike was taking a chance. However, he took the time to listen and understand. I’ll never know if all the decisions I made were necessary, but I’m really happy with what Mike pulled together for me.
I need to thank all of you as well. We all need a sympathetic group now and then, you guys have been that for me - THANKS!
Cheers, Edouard
