65 Skylark Down Under Restoration

[Aussie Skylark]

Finished job,
I'm sure I have posted incorrectly here, hope you can all see without any problems. Been a while since I used this forum.
I made all the sections here by hand, ready to move on to the next step now.

[Aussie Skylark]

Sorry last photo is upside down.........I am in the "Land Downunder"

[yachtsmanbill]

G'day mate! I hafta admire your tenacity for see this along as far as youve come! Dont give up the ship! If youve had a chance to read along on my "secret experimental GX 455 thred"), youll see that you and I have done much the same. I must admit that your body was a tad rustier than mine, but it was stored in a dirty barn for almost 40 years. Theres 38,000 miles on the clock.

I took the liberty of switching your last picture to one from the northern latitudes LOL. Damn Yanks! Im getting ready for an initial wet sand today, and then some good primer, then paint. The next big step will be re-assembly of all the trim type stuff without scratching the new paint job, right?

How'd your sheet metal glue work out? My job was all welding and the problem was dirty/painted surfaces on the BACKSIDE that couldnt be reached for adequate cleaning= poor welding results. Lotsa burn throughs haha!

I gonna repost the last pic and a few of mine. I hope it wets yer whistle. I guess that makes us kindred spirits eh Gubna?  Bill in Wisconsin, USA.

[GS66]

Looks like nice progress Marcus!

[elagache]

Dear Marcus, Bill, Jim, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Thanks Marcus for the update!  I had been wondering how your project was going and even comtemplated asking.  I'm glad to see that you are making good progress!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[cwmcobra]

Nice Marcus!  Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

 

Chuck

[Rollaround]

Remarkable Marcus, your efforts are exceptional.
I am curious about your licensing fees or taxes, a bit pricey.  Do you pay a road tax on fuel also?  What is the price of fuel per gallon at your corner gas station?

[Aussie Skylark]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the comments you have posted about my work so far, its a good feeling to know you "Yanks" have my back. All my mates here have Australian muscle cars and I'm the odd one out with a Buick.

Bill,
I have scrolled through your posts, you really are smashing that one out. Your posts will definitely be a point of reference as I get more into mine. I only ended up using  glue on the join where the old and new steel lapped under rear window section across the width of the car, the rest was spot welded with a MIG. Ive talked of this for some time, however next week I'm driving to Sydney to pick up a rotisserie, then the body can be removed from the chassis and the fun will really start.
2500 klm trip ....looking forward to it.

Kevin I have a few answers for you, I think you need to be sitting when you see the prices...
Fuel, today I will be paying $1.55 / Litre of fuel. I know you blokes work in gallons so here comes some maths
1 Gallon =  3.78 Litres
3.78 x $1.55= $5.86 AUD / Gallon, then if we work on the exchange rate from AUD to USD
$1 USD = $0.67 AUS
$5.86 x 0.67= $3.93, so answer to your question in US terms we pay $3.93/ Gallon for fuel. This price includes all taxes as far as fuel goes.

Registration, full drive every day registration will cost me about $1,200 AUD or about $800 USD. This price covers all road taxes and third party insurance. I can get club registration that is about $200 AUS however this is limited to how far I can drive from home (test driving) and the time of day I can drive for general driving. With club registration I can drive across the country if I was in a club run or driving to a car show, but would need to be able to prove this if an insurance claim was made or the police wanted to give me a bad day. I'ts not really policed but we all know trouble can brew from not following the rules.

Have a good week
Marcus

[yachtsmanbill]

Hey Marcus, my sympathy for your $$$ woes. KRIKEY thats expensive! Gas here has dropped 10 cents a week for the last 3 weeks.

https://www.gasbuddy.com/Station/138896

I guess we need a nice big refinery fire so the CEO's can get their golden parachutes re-packed LOL.

Im glad I looked for about a year before finding the BADLASS. I dont know if I have enough umpff left for another frame off restoration. Mine is really solid, minus the trunk floor which sat for almost 40 years with a piece of wet carpeting in it. The front fenders each had a 1" hole at the bottoms and then some majorly minor dings etc. Old school body work prevailed! I used only 1/2 pint of filler. Everything else is steel. Not bad.

Have a safe trip picking up that rotisserie. Watch out for those tourist who dont know which side of the road to drive on. Been there and done that in the Bahamas haha. Scared the heck outa me AFTER the lecture even... Whats 2500Km? About 1500 miles? Thats a wee walk through the rough up here haha.     Bill

[Aussie Skylark]

Hi Fellas,

I'm starting to get ready to for my chassis/ drive train rebuild and want to start ordering parts. My plan is to strip, paint and rebuild the chassis and drive train so the body can be put on and painted.
I've got a few questions for those blokes who have done it all before me.

Is it recommended to rebuild the chassis and drive train replace the body and then paint, or paint the body off the frame then put the two together. Hope this doesn't sound like an armature question (guess I am armature as I haven't rebuild a Buick before). I have a bloke lined up here to paint the Skylark for me and he wants the body on the chassis so he can align doors trunk and hood when the paint goes on. Looking through photos of rebuilds it appears its common to paint bodies off the frame?
I'm also after contacts for supplier to buy suspension components, body mount rubbers, drive train rebuild kits. I seen plenty on eBay and the likes but thought I would ask you blokes who the "Go to people" are in the US.

The Aussie dollar is staring to climb and I'm getting ready to buy some new toys.

Thanks Marcus

[elagache]

Dear Marcus and mid-60s Buick restorers,

Is it recommended to rebuild the chassis and drive train replace the body and then paint, or paint the body off the frame then put the two together. Hope this doesn't sound like an armature question (guess I am armature as I haven't rebuild a Buick before). I have a bloke lined up here to paint the Skylark for me and he wants the body on the chassis so he can align doors trunk and hood when the paint goes on. Looking through photos of rebuilds it appears its common to paint bodies off the frame?

I'm completely out of my league, but I would guess the choice is a usual time versus effort question.  If you paint the body separately, you can go as far as to paint everything in components which reduces having to mask as much and avoid the potential problems of paint over-spray.  However, your bloke is probably correct that painting first and then doing the assembly will make aligning things harder.  As a result, more time will have to be spent making sure the doors are hung with the best possible alignment.  If you are doing all the work, perhaps that extra effort is worth it.  On the other hand, plenty of cars get a very good paint jobs without being taken apart.  So you can go with your bloke's point of view and still end up with a very nice looking car.

I'm also after contacts for supplier to buy suspension components, body mount rubbers, drive train rebuild kits. I seen plenty on eBay and the likes but thought I would ask you blokes who the "Go to people" are in the US.

The Aussie dollar is staring to climb and I'm getting ready to buy some new toys.

Can someone step in and answer these sorts of questions?

One issue is whether or not you want to rebuild your suspension stock or improve your handling.  If you want to upgrade, there is a lot of competition on those components because most of these parts are interchangeable for any GM A-Body.

There are more than one vendor for rubber products.  I don't know which is best (if any) for the body mounts.

I'm not sure what's the best move for rebuilding your engine and transmission either.  Engine rebuild kits may not have the best components.  It might be better to assemble what you need piecemeal and get the best of each category.  The Buick 300 V-8 is something of an orphaned engine and your choice of components is also limited.

Hopefully, the rest of gang will chime in and offer some more concrete advice.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Aussie Skylark]

Thanks Fellas,
I will keep podding along, I do have plenty of time on my side to get this rebuild finished.
I've left a message on Kevin's post regarding lifting the body off and where he connected his rigging. Anyone have any Do's and Dont's when it comes to lifting a shell off the frame.
Thanks Marcus.

[cwmcobra]

Marcus,

See my reply in Kevin's post...I read it first and responded there.

Chuck

[Rollaround]

Thanks Fellas,
I will keep podding along, I do have plenty of time on my side to get this rebuild finished.
I've left a message on Kevin's post regarding lifting the body off and where he connected his rigging. Anyone have any Do's and Dont's when it comes to lifting a shell off the frame.
Thanks Marcus.

Make sure the emergency brake cable is removed..  Check all 14 body mount points for bolts. Some cars have rubber pads in a couple spots and others use bolts at every point. I thought I had ll mine out until the rear wheels came off the ground. 

[Aussie Skylark]

Hi Mid 60's Buick Team,

I'm inching closer to parting the body from the frame, have a few more questions for those who have walked before me.

Anyone know how heavy the body is? would you worry about bracing a body across the door opening with a hard top, similar to how Kevin did with the convertible? I'm fairly sure the answer here is no, but I wanted to check...?hey I'm an engineer, I'm forever questioning.

Thanks Marcus