Da' further adventures of da' trusty billy-goat wagon!

[cwmcobra]

Lots of test fitting for sure!  And the vents fit better before the ducts were installed behind them.  Very stiff and influence the seating of the ball vent housing.  Touch up required!!

A great weekend to all.  Snow or not!!

 

Chuck

[yachtsmanbill]

Nice job Ed, but now my feelings are hurt Ive always like that wagon, and over the course of the last few years, I never realized it was repowered with a 430. Hmmm. So now I get to pick on you haha. What did you do for YOUR radiator, especially since its a BBB AND air conditioning?  I am gonna be replacing my lower Core Support frame with a unit from a '65 4 row radiator. Well thats what it looks like. The pads are about one row wider looking than the top plate I got from Chuck.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and Ive never hit a stumbling block like this. I really kinda know what to do, but like a ship in a narrow channel, I am constrained by my draft. The draft in this case being my budget. I cant afford any mistakes, financially. As it stands right now in MU mode, the unit I need is gonna be about a 26"W x 18"T 4 row cross flow. The new CS lower facilitates the BBB plumbing (big hoses) much better than the V6 positioning. I am going to make a bracket to keep the upper hose out of the fan. Speaking of which, what fan did you choose for this? Right now I am down to the OEM 4 blade V6 fan and "maybe" a modified shroud.

Pointers? Suggestions??  I sat in front and scrutinized the affair for an hour today and can visualize whats what and how to do it now. I just dont wanna bite the bullet without some confirmation.   Bill

[elagache]

Dear Chuck, Bill, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Lots of test fitting for sure!  And the vents fit better before the ducts were installed behind them.  Very stiff and influence the seating of the ball vent housing.  Touch up required!!

Biquette has an aftermarket Vintage Air A/C system, so the ducting wasn't as stiff as it was back in the day.  However, if you were going to try to retrofit the original Buick system into a car that didn't come with A/C - that indeed would make it that much more challenging.

Nice job Ed, but now my feelings are hurt Ive always like that wagon, and over the course of the last few years, I never realized it was repowered with a 430.

Actually, there is quite a tale to Biquette's engine.  It is 445 cid stroker on a 430 block.  It produces over 530 foot•pounds of torque and around 500 horsepower.  My dream is to pull a vintage travel trailer of decent size.  This whole scheme got started when I learned that Arthur Throckmorton had managed to tow his 1968 GS using a 1965 Buick Special wagon to the 2005 Grand Nationals.  The consist was over 10,000 pounds and the round trip was over 3000 miles!  Here is a photo galley with the whole story:

https://gmcguy.shutterfly.com/pictures/622

Once I learned about this I thought - "maybe my wagon can pull a vintage trailer after all!"  If you take the time to go through the photos, you'll learn that Author had a horrible time with overheating.  So my choice in radiator was with extreme heavy-duty service in mind!

Hmmm. So now I get to pick on you haha. What did you do for YOUR radiator, especially since its a BBB AND air conditioning?  I am gonna be replacing my lower Core Support frame with a unit from a '65 4 row radiator. Well thats what it looks like. The pads are about one row wider looking than the top plate I got from Chuck.

Biquette has the TA-Performance aluminum radiator designed for the 1964-67 Buicks (TA 2055B).  However, it only fits the 1965 and later cross-flow spaces.  That radiator is probably overkill for your application anyway, but if Biquette is going to be lugging a trailer on route 66 - it isn't a luxury!

Necessity is the mother of invention, and Ive never hit a stumbling block like this. I really kinda know what to do, but like a ship in a narrow channel, I am constrained by my draft. The draft in this case being my budget. I cant afford any mistakes, financially. As it stands right now in MU mode, the unit I need is gonna be about a 26"W x 18"T 4 row cross flow. The new CS lower facilitates the BBB plumbing (big hoses) much better than the V6 positioning. I am going to make a bracket to keep the upper hose out of the fan. Speaking of which, what fan did you choose for this? Right now I am down to the OEM 4 blade V6 fan and "maybe" a modified shroud.

Pointers? Suggestions??  I sat in front and scrutinized the affair for an hour today and can visualize whats what and how to do it now. I just dont wanna bite the bullet without some confirmation.   Bill

Walt has already given you a lot of helpful advice on your own build thread.  However, you might also touch base with Michael.  He offered to give you a hand on this problem and he also has a 64 A-body and he managed to get a cross-flow radiator into it.  Here is his posting on your thread:

http://65gs.com/board/index.php/topic,4251.msg31983.html#msg31983

A great weekend to all.  Snow or not!!

No snow here and no heat wave either.  Last week was brutal for April, but we are back to normal temperatures.  I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear 65GS.com fans of a certain rascally wagon,

Last week I couldn't find any time to get Biquette on the road.  This week was looking almost as bad, so I decided to give her a quick outing to pick up some groceries at the local supermarket just a few miles away.  On my way I had to deposit a check and that's where Biquette picked up her first compliment.  The guy owns a 1969 Chevelle Super Sport so of course he "got da' concept."

It was the other compliment that kind of floored me.  Biquette was stopped at a streetlight next to a local school.  There was a "granny-type" woman walking a child home from grade school.  She got very excited by Biquette!  Definitely not the sort of person who usually recognizes a classic car from the 1960s!

So definitely get your classic Buick on the road!  The compliments are out there - sometimes in the most unexpected places! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[GS66]

Great to see all ages love great cars! My mom really loves vintage cars.

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

My trusty wagon got filled up a little early since the gas sending unit isn't working correctly.  Behind me a fellow pulled up who was immediately excited to see Biquette.  It turned out this father was a mechanic and had bought a 1962 Buick Wildcat secondhand.  He didn't know it at first but it had the 425 Nailhead with the dual carburetors.  He drove it for a while before selling it to a relative.  Eventually the engine was swapped into another car ending up doing over 200,000 miles!  So another example of Buick quality over the years.

Alas, after this Buick the man made a turn.  He didn't go to the dark-side, or even the darker-side, . . . . he went to the darkest side!  Mopar! . . . .  Oh da' shame!
 

Cheers, Edouard 

[GS66]

It could have been much worse!

[GS66]

Edouard, here are some longroofs for you. A small sampling form last year?s Power Tour. Variety galore, one of the cool things about this event!

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/wagons-crew-cabs-huge-gallery-long-roofs-hot-rod-power-tour-2018/

[cwmcobra]

It could have been much worse!

Amen Brother!!! 

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear Jim, Chuck, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Edouard, here are some longroofs for you. A small sampling form last year?s Power Tour. Variety galore, one of the cool things about this event!

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/wagons-crew-cabs-huge-gallery-long-roofs-hot-rod-power-tour-2018/

Thanks for sharing!    Even a Buick Sportwagon in the collection! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

The trouble with a station wagon is that they are much less common than other body styles and without working access to cargo area - what's the point to having a wagon?

Biquette's tailgate has given us trouble over the years.  My Dad and I tried to maintain it as best we could but we didn't really understand what we were doing.  One problem that has cropped up at least 30 years ago was electric tailgate lock switch had become loose.  Turning the key to the left would raise the window, but turning the key to the right wasn't reliable for lowering the window.  With a little wiggling, the switch would engage and lower the window, but clearly this part was getting "weary."

I had never seen a replacement in all those years - until recently on eBay!  I double-checked.  It appeared to be the correct part and . . . . . . I absolutely couldn't find it anywhere else!  So I pulled da' trigger!



Here is two more pictures:





As it turns out, later on I did find a station wagon parts supplier with a 1970s version of this switch that would fit, but didn't have the correct key and he wanted $70 more for it!  So I'm very pleased! . . .

Does anybody know if this sort of lock can have the tumblers adjusted to work with Biquette's original keys?  I don't see the same sort of release mechanism like there was for the ignition lock.  Still, I can't help but imagine that back in the day dealers would repair rear-end damage to a wagon by replacing this electric lock without having to change all the other locks of the car.

Thanks for your support!

Cheers, Edouard 

[gssizzler]

I believe that could be done but they have to remove the bezel on the front of the lock and
it usually gets destroyed and has to be replaced and not sure if most lock companies or if any  would have
the correct bezel and the die and or press to put it back on!? 

[TrunkMonkey]

Edouard,

Have you tried putting the key in and turning while looking to see if any "release" pin/point presents?

[elagache]

Dear Jon, Michael, and mid-60s Buick tinkerers,

I believe that could be done but they have to remove the bezel on the front of the lock and
it usually gets destroyed and has to be replaced and not sure if most lock companies or if any  would have
the correct bezel and the die and or press to put it back on!? 

If there is any risk of destroying the switch, I'll obviously give up and simply carry an extra key.  I would only try this if there is a reasonably safe way to do it.

Have you tried putting the key in and turning while looking to see if any "release" pin/point presents?

Well, . . . . . no.  That is until a few minutes ago . . . .   When I do that look what is revealed!   



By Joe I think you've got it!  I'll bring the mechanism over to our local locksmith after the holidays and see what they think.  Since they've been in business since 1947, this should be right up their alley.

Thanks guys!! . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S. Ya' know, it isn't easy to keep a switch mechanism twisted while trying to take a picture! . . .   

[elagache]

Dear 65GS.com faithful,

The Orinda Classic Car show is having a special exhibition on station wagons this year.  Take a wild guess as to who was immediately drafted for that exhibit!  Like all events like this, tickling the press is part of the process to get the word out.  An Orinda paper decided to run a story on the wagon exhibit and once more the suggestion went out that Biquette be part of that.

Ever since Biquette has been in car shows, I have had posters telling her story with our family.  At the same time I made the poster, I converted the word processing file into a simple web page.  However, i was always bit nervous to share this website with the general public.  It really represents the story of my life and Biquette's.

I did share the website with the reporter writing up the story on the wagon exhibit and she enthusiastically wanted to include the website link as part of the story.  So finally I'm stuck, I'm going to have to clean up this website and make it presentable to the public.  Before I do the work of "making it pretty," I need to decide what parts I prefer not to include after all.  I've gone over it a few times and I don't see anything really of concern, but I would appreciate a second-opinion.  Could you guys go over this website and see what you think:

http://www.canebas.org/Biquette/

Please let me know what you recommend I remove to keep my privacy and that of the family.

Thanks for your support!! 

Cheers, Edouard