Need a vented gas cap for a 1965 Buick Special WAGON!

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregiver community,

Don't you hate it when a friend makes a casual comment that ends up ruining your whole day (and more!)   A friend of mine who has a 1964 Skylark recently bought a nice looking reproduction gas cap.  As part of his searches he discovered that there were gas cap listings for 1965 wagons that were different from the other A-bodies.  He wondered if the wagon caps might have been vented while the others weren't.

Grumble, grumble, grumble, . . . . Okay I have a digitized copy of the 1972 Buick parts catalog, so I checked.  Here is what I found.



GASP!!!!   This is extremely bad news because here is the cap that has been on my trusty wagon going back perhaps as much as 48 years:



Nope, definitely no vent in that cap!  I ran over to Orinda Motors to talk to their classic car genius Greg.  He too was definitely a bit shaken.  How on earth my trusty wagon survived without a vented gas cap ? ? ? ?   This car has been in blistering hot deserts and extremely cold mountains.  Oh well, I've always thought this car had guardian angel or something!

However, it is time to make things right at last.  The trouble is that not too surprisingly vented Buick A-body gas tanks are bit rare.  I had some success finding caps that might be for Rivera's and Buick full-sized cars, but they two protrusions that won't fit Biquette's gas filling bay.  I accidentally bought one of these caps and they don't fit:



You can see why when you look at the gas filler bay:



There just isn't the space to rotate the cap with those protrusions.

I did a search for Buick gas cap that matches the original Buick part number of: 383155.  The only hit I got was this NOS cap and it is claimed to fit via interchange numbers:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-GM-1966-1967-1968-FIREBIRD-GTO-GAS-CAP-ANTI-SURGE-VENTED-CHEVELLE-TEMPEST-SS-/302149873339?vxp=mtr

I sure hate to spend $50 for a gas cap but I'll pay it if that's all I can be sure would fit.  There are vented caps from earlier Buicks that nonetheless don't have these protrusions.  Does anybody know by chance what the Buick 583604 gas cap is supposed to look like?   According to CARS, the 1961-64 caps do have those protrusions:

http://www.oldbuickparts.com/cart/gas-cap-1961-64-vented-p-4189.html

In that case, some of these generics like this eBay item appear that they would fit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/57-58-59-60-61-62-63-CHEVY-BUICK-CADILLAC-OLDS-PONTIAC-CHRYSLER-DODGE-GAS-CAP/162301825778?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3Da25042c38d9642ed864b248068fdd14b%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D162263696370

Here is another vented cap on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMC-Buick-Cadillac-Chevy-Chrysler-DeSoto-G46-Amgauge-Gas-Cap-/281832877502?hash=item419e8c6dbe:g:yq0AAOSwBahVKSsu&vxp=mtr

What do you folks think?  Are any of these reproductions actually going to fit or should I cut my loses and buy the NOS cap which I'm sure will fit?

Any wisdom on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers, Edouard 

[WkillGS]

In general....
I'm not finding any matches yet online but I just did a quick search.
I'll start my search with good part numbers, as you did by checking the Buick parts book.
See if it also fits other years. That'll give you more cars to search for.

I'll then try a search on Google and eBay. eBay is great for providing pictures of originals.
2nd is Rockauto.com.  They do have a few without the knobs but interchange numbers don't match. Some locking caps don't have the knobs.... might fit?

Then try the catalogs from the aftermarket suppliers..... AC Delco (no listing), Stant has 3 matches, pn 10492 (locking), 10646(has knobs), and 17492(locking)....
Gates has the 31646(has knobs) and the 31692(locking).

All I see without the knobs is locking caps. Maybe that'll work for you.
Some catalogs will have a reference section listing interchanges or dimensions.

If all else fails, take your original to the junkyard or a decent auto parts store and try to match something up.....even those sources are getting hard to find these days!

[elagache]

Dear Walt and mid-60s Buick "parts hounds,"

In general....
I'm not finding any matches yet online but I just did a quick search.

Thanks!    I'll make another search following the guidelines you suggest.  Unfortunately, there is definitely a potential clearance problem since the gas filler bay is rather tight.  So photos might not be enough to confirm the cap will fit.  But as you say, all I can do is search!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick "parts hounds,"

I finally had some time to return to researching the gas cap for my trusty wagon.  I got a break when I found this webpage advertising the exact NOS cap that should have been on Biquette:

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=369763

It indicates that all the 1964-67 GM A-Body wagons used the same vented gas cap.  So that should have made it easy - right?  Well, there was one more twist in the plot.  As usual, you can't buy gas caps for these wagons.  It's discrimination I tell ya'!!

However, Chevy used vented caps for a quite a few of their models including their 1970 Chevelle.  Eckler's has a reproduction of that cap:

http://www.ecklerschevelle.com/chevelle-gas-cap-vented-for-non-california-cars-1970.html

Included in the list in the compatible vehicles is . . . . the 1965 Chevelle wagon!

With this amount of consistent information and the cap looking exactly as it is supposed to, I went ahead and ordered it.  I can't be 100% sure until it arrived, but does look like a safe bet!  Should arrive toward the end of next week.

Stay tuned! . . . .

Cheers, Edouard