Secret experimental 1964 GX 455

[yachtsmanbill]

Lights turned out well. Everything works as it should. Couldnt get the emergency flashers to go tho... LOL. Had to do a little magic on the chrome with an SOS pad and a MOLOTOW chrome paint pen. Looks acceptable.  Hung the pre assembled front bumper on and snugged it into position along with the radiator X braces and remedied a few ol leaks. Hung the tags on it and called the insurance agent for liability and TOWING... no comprehensive yet haha.

Promised Pat a test ride around the block which will happen Thursday probably.

Should the chrome covers stay or go? Like to get some OEM cork gaskets. The black rubber jobs dont seal too well.    Bill

[GS66]

Test drive Thursday, that?s good!

[Loren At 65GS]

WOW ! Bill,  you are making great headway.  Hope the scheduled test drive goes well.

  Loren

[GS66]

Stay.

[yachtsmanbill]

STAY??? Heck, Ive found a new home here! Ive all but quit V8 due to lack of participation. Every few days Ill ad a post over there, but theres literally no participation over there.  This place is a little more personal, and Ive gotten some much needed help from yooz guys!

The test run will be several trips around the block here. Confidence is "high", but she still needs to prove herself. A block away and I can walk home and get the truck for a "nudge" back to the shop. I called the insurance guy yesterday and made sure the policy includes towing LOL. Ya never know!

Meanwhile, anyone have a decent prospect for cast aluminum valve covers? I see small block Buick covers for 50.00 but the BBB stuff? Starts out at 150.00 and up. Thats LUNACY!   Bill

[elagache]

Dear Bill, Jim, Loren,

Lights turned out well. Everything works as it should.

Great to hear! 

Couldnt get the emergency flashers to go tho... LOL.

That's a memory!  My Dad was worried enough to not have emergency flashers that he bought an aftermarket kit to install them.  It went on around 1970 and was still working in 2013 when Biquette got her steering column replaced.  Not bad for an aftermarket kit!

Had to do a little magic on the chrome with an SOS pad and a MOLOTOW chrome paint pen. Looks acceptable. 

If you want a bit more "bling," You might try a metal polish like Flitz.  I originally bought the stuff to polish the rails of my model railroad, but it is amazing on classic car chrome.

Promised Pat a test ride around the block which will happen Thursday probably.

Sounds great!    Don't forget your camera!

Should the chrome covers stay or go?

. . . . I dunno' . . . . .  If the valve covers are the only chrome in the engine bay - they might get lonely.  On the other hand, if you added even more "bling" . . . . . . .     

Meanwhile, anyone have a decent prospect for cast aluminum valve covers? I see small block Buick covers for 50.00 but the BBB stuff? Starts out at 150.00 and up. Thats LUNACY!   

Sorry, you might have search far and wide for those.  Most are installed on engines, so they are rarely "liberated" to be sold used.

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

Heres a shout out to Mike (AKA Trunk Monkey)... Got the horns today. Perfect addition to the project! Thanks!! However after bolting them in, no honky.   I didnt have a chance to trouble shoot anything, however, the steering wheel was off this winter (rag joint problems) and went back together with no (forseen) problems.

There is the battery power junction block on the inner fender. That supplies the fuse block via 2 ring terminals with an OEM splice with a black wire going to the cab and a green wire ("the wire") going to the horns. Is there a fuse or relay in there, or maybe one on the fuse block?  I didnt bench try the horns and I am sure they are fine as per yer video. Any ideas are appreciated. Test drive tomorrow afternoon after I get a Sacroiliac joint injection. More R-A stuff. Gotta keep busy, or the guy upstairs pulls the plug.

The valve cover deal is a UNICORN for sure. T/A covers are on sale from one of the vendors for 139.00 but usually arent drilled for a filler or Vent.  I am considering thicker CORK gaskets like the factory used. Comments? Ideas??    Bill

[WkillGS]

That junction block includes the horn relay. The green wire goes to the horns. The other wire goes to the firewall connector, and then to the horn button. It looks like if you ground the horn button, it'll trigger the relay and sound the horn. Try grounding that terminal and see if it sounds the horn.

As you're already aware, the junction block supplies power to the fuse block, and basically, to the whole car. It's a good idea to install a fusible link there to prevent a melt down in case something in the system shorts to ground. Buick started using fusible links in 1967. Those didn't have the junction block, but had the connection (and fusible link) at the starter.
You can get a fusible link at NAPA.

[yachtsmanbill]

Thats the answer I was looking for Walt, and I thank you! As it stands the only part of a fuse network on the pre 67 models is the headlamp switch, with a bi-metalic strip that overheats "open" in the event of a short (overloading) and opens, albeit momentarily. Its a poor design.  I do want to get away from fusible links tho, and have a visual, easy to see, fuse and holder installed. I used several of these on high amp busses on my Hatteras yacht with its' archaic 32 volt DC system. Thats right! Try to buy a 32VDC starter for a 12-71 or even a 10W light bulb. Not even 36 volts, but 32! Thats FOUR, 8 volt batteries is series. Even the batteries are about 200.00 EACH and there's TWO banks of FOUR. WHEW!

Had a bilateral (double)  sacroiliac injection today with a 10" long needle piercing the sacral capsule. That was at 0800hrs and I had to sleep that one off after getting home. Its already 10-15% better and I cant wait for tomorrow to check that relay and take Pat for that damn first ride. The suspense is killing me!  Bill

[yachtsmanbill]

First time in 39 years under her own steam; literally! Made about 12 blocks and the temp gage was getting pretty warm. I think it was a false positive, although pulling back into the drive the cap popped and lost about 2 quarts of juice. It started out almost a gallon low anyway.

My 72 that I took over in 2013 had a T stat that was unknown age. I put a new one in and it buried the needle. Hmmm. Put the old one back in and its still there. Same chinaman parts??  Im gonna pull it out tomorrow and throw some heater hoses on it. The hand dont lie! I have an IR gun and it showed about 220 on the T stat and 280 at the exhaust manifold. I have no idea where the timing is or even whats in the HEI for that matter. Plus an unknown amount of 39 year old gas with 7 new likker free gallons of premium on top.

Barely used edelhoser 800 CFM carb too... lotsa bugs to work out before exhaust pipes next week.

Here it is in Patina...   AND YOU GUYS SAW IT FIRST!   Bill

https://youtu.be/gpbqEzvYWh4

[GS66]

Looks and sounds good, thanks for posting!

[yachtsmanbill]

Thanks Jim! With only a few minutes to take a spin around the Aberdeen proving Grounds, the "X" job fared pretty well. It steered, it stopped, good clutch and has at least 1-2-3 gears LOL. The 3:23 rear gear proved a perfect match for the T-10/455. A perfect test run? Not by any stretch, but nevertheless pushed me on to a restored coarse. We prefer to call that "Dead Reckoning".

A few hours in the pits tomorrow and we'll take another stab at it!   Bill

[cwmcobra]

Sounds good.  Good luck with round #2 tomorrow!

Chuck

[Brian]

Be careful runnin that old gas.  I have seen it varnish and stick to intake valve stems.  The valves then seize and bend all the intake pushrods.  I highly recommend replacing the gas tank with a fresh one.  They are Around $100 at auto city classics in MN.

[yachtsmanbill]

I can appreciate that, however I think most of the gas had been syphoned out in the past. Probably around 2 gallons remained with 7 gallons of fresh on top. even after driving the short course today, the exhaust smelled way better than the initial start up. Theres also a substantial in line filter in the system which helps for debris.

A few weeks ago, I used air to blow the feed line clear and could just hear the tank gurgling. I think we dodged the bullet. If it were an intact system with old gas, I'd be a bit more concerned. Old varnished gas really sucks. As time goes on, Im gonna get more fresh gas in there to test for leaks. I hope the old tank is OK. May just find the build sheet in the spaces though...  Bill