65 GS Post Coupe Restoration (Painting)

[WkillGS]

....
I tried to put the pin back in, but it would not go in because it cannot go in with the hinge on the door ! SO it fell out because it was put in from the bottom by the idiots at the body shop when they put the doors back on after they painted them.
....
         Tony

This has been bugging me for the past few days since I kinda recalled one of my hinge pins also going in from the bottom. I just checked the silver hardtop I'm putting together, and sure enough the passenger door has the pin going up. I'm pretty sure I put it together the same way it came apart. Maybe the factory built both hinges the same way , resulting in one side having the pin going up and the other side down after they're installed. Or maybe I messed up? I'll have to check the hinges on my vert to see how they are.

I checked the doors off my 66 vert, one upper hinge has the pin head side up, the other side has it head side down. Must've been standard procedure. The upper hinge is the same for left and right sides, they're not assembled differently. 

[option B9]

    Hi everyone, now that the door problem is solved, I can go back to answer Walt's statement. The hinges on the GS are not the originals. I ordered new hinges for both sides since the GS body was disassembled anyway. My Friend Lou assisted in hanging the doors on the new hinges, he insisted that I work with a check list to check and double check to insure that all work is done properly, it's a good lesson that I learned. So I know that we installed the hinge correctly. It was the body shop that messed up .Unfortunately Lou passed away last year, but his mechanical skill and methodology stays with me.
    The next item on the list was to attempt to clean the engine bay and front end of all the White compound & White primer overspray. When I gave the GS to the body shop the engine compartment was totally detailed. I asked them to cover it while working on the GS. (no such luck) When I rescued the GS the engine bay and front end were filthy.. Yesterday was the day to get dirty, it was 87 degrees & sunny. I set up the pop-up tent for shade and made a mixture of Dawn dishwashing liquid/ Simple green and warm water and with a round paintbrush and a soft bristle brush (I removed the ignition wires and covered the distributor/ covered the carb.) I soaped up everything in the engine compartment and scrubbed, rinsed and repeated many times until I could not see the white compound. A final rinse with warm water reveled a clean motor.. For the Chassis I used a borrowed a 1400 PSI pressure washer and blasted off the white gunk.. Afterwards I used compressed air to dry off the engine. The result was a clean engine that does not need to be re-painted, there are a few places that need further cleaning but that can be done easily. Next step is to clean the ignition wires & cap and get the engine started.
     I did come across another problem ! In the engine compartment in front of the right wheel well just behind the core support there was metal pushed up. I found this problem when I went to clean the back of the core support area with a soapy rag and cut the top of my hand on the sharp metal. luckily I was going slow and felt it and pulled back. Otherwise it would have been stiches ! It looks like a puncture from below up. Not something that I would have done and not corrected. Over the weekend I will investigate and correct, so no one else gets hurt.   The adventure continues....

        Tony   

[elagache]

Dear Tony and mid-60s Buick caregivers, . . .

    Hi everyone, now that the door problem is solved, I can go back to answer Walt's statement. The hinges on the GS are not the originals. I ordered new hinges for both sides since the GS body was disassembled anyway. My Friend Lou assisted in hanging the doors on the new hinges, he insisted that I work with a check list to check and double check to insure that all work is done properly, it's a good lesson that I learned. So I know that we installed the hinge correctly. It was the body shop that messed up .Unfortunately Lou passed away last year, but his mechanical skill and methodology stays with me.

Thanks for explaining the door hinge situation.  It is sad that a body shop could be so sloppy with a classic car.  Obviously that shop lacked the esprit de coups needed for this sort of work.

    The next item on the list was to attempt to clean the engine bay and front end of all the White compound & White primer overspray. When I gave the GS to the body shop the engine compartment was totally detailed. I asked them to cover it while working on the GS. (no such luck) When I rescued the GS the engine bay and front end were filthy.. Yesterday was the day to get dirty, it was 87 degrees & sunny. I set up the pop-up tent for shade and made a mixture of Dawn dishwashing liquid/ Simple green and warm water
. . . .

Interesting!  I had never heard of using Dawn and Simple Green together.  What proportions did you use?

     I did come across another problem ! In the engine compartment in front of the right wheel well just behind the core support there was metal pushed up. I found this problem when I went to clean the back of the core support area with a soapy rag and cut the top of my hand on the sharp metal. luckily I was going slow and felt it and pulled back. Otherwise it would have been stiches ! It looks like a puncture from below up. Not something that I would have done and not corrected. Over the weekend I will investigate and correct, so no one else gets hurt.   The adventure continues....

Sorry to hear about your discovery and how you discovered it!  I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself any more than that.  Indeed, we will be interested to find out what damage was done.  In the meantime, do a little healing of your own!

Cheers, Edouard

[option B9]

  Hi Edouard, and everyone following my adventure. There is no secret to the mixture that I use to clean the engine bay. I use a 1 gallon bucket filled with hot water and add 4 ounces of Dawn Ultra Platinum dishwashing liquid, then add 12 ounces of Simple Green liquid and stir it up and get plenty of suds, apply it with a round soft bristle paint brush. Scrub the area and rinse and repeat. If you have a really greasy engine spray the Simple Green full strength then work in the mixture with a round stiff bristle parts cleaning brush and let sit about 5 minutes then rinse off. The suds of the Dawn hold the Simple Green in place otherwise it would just drip away. There are no harsh chemicals that will burn your skin, no toxic smell. easy clean up. $10 for the gallon of Simple Green & $10 for the Dawn Ultra in the big bottle at the Big Box Store. The round brush was $2.25 at my local hardware store. Also, I cover the metal part of the brush with some duct tape so it does not scratch the chrome valve covers or any other sensitive area.
   I spent the entire day today detailing the engine compartment and I hammered down that metal that cut my hand, I have no idea how or why it was lifted but I'm moving on to the next Item on the list....  Installing the Headlights, Grille, Front Bumper, Horns, WW bottle and tank  The adventure continues.....

    Tony

[elagache]

Thanks Tony!

Somehow I never heard of the combination of Dawn and Simple Green.  I've kept the engine bay really clean in my trusty wagon.  However, our modern cars might benefit from a serious cleaning of the engine bay.  One of these days when I finally feel healthy.

Cheers, Edouard

[bobbybuick]

i resemble this post .Nice work

[elagache]

Dear bobbybuick and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

i resemble this post .Nice work

Thanks for sharing photos of your car!  Never can get enough photos of beautiful Buicks!

Edouard

[option B9]

  Hi bobbybuick, If you took that 65GS from the first photo to the third photo, I know you have a lot of time & money into it because I'm going thru the same process now. Congratulations on your beautiful Buick  can you post photos of the interior ?

          Tony

[bobbybuick]

older youtube link
https://youtu.be/GurWWkTPwYs

https://youtu.be/GurWWkTPwYs


  Hi bobbybuick, If you took that 65GS from the first photo to the third photo, I know you have a lot of time & money into it because I'm going thru the same process now. Congratulations on your beautiful Buick  can you post photos of the interior ?

          Tony

[option B9]

  Hi bobbybuick & Edouard and everyone else following my adventure. I looked at the video that Bobby posted and it shows a manual trans/ black interior and a real cool 8Track player & sound system, real nice ! I'm not up to that part of my GS yet, but when I do I will post photos of my additions to my dash.
   I've been busy the last few days getting Two of my Children ready for there trip to College, so not not a great amount of work done on the GS but "Slow And Steady" seems to be the best way to get work done for me. Yesterday afternoon ( my Son Steven) & I were able to get the headlights & grille in, also re-attach the outer bezel to the headlight bezel since the two were separated  before the chrome plating process. Self tapping screws were used along with a tiny bit of body panel bonding epoxy to hold the parts together.  This afternoon we were back working on assembling the front bumper and signal lights. Tomorrow the GS will have its face back on and look like the great Buick Muscle car that it is, but there is plenty more work to do..
 
   Since I have been spending many hours working on the GS I kind of forgot other stuff. This evening I walked in the door at 7:05 PM ready to wash up and have some dinner. I was greeted by my wife Karen and she said " DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS ? "  I said  "Thursday"  She said " I KNOW ITS THURSDAY...THE 17th"    OOOPS  our wedding anniversary !!!  I screwed up by spending more time with the GS than her, no argument there! No dinner and I sleep in the basement with Iris the cat. After 34 years Karen knows me all too well... What was I going to do tomorrow ?? The adventure continues.....

      Tony   

[elagache]

Dear Tony and mid-60s Buick caregivers with too many things to keep track of.

. . . .
Yesterday afternoon ( my Son Steven) & I were able to get the headlights & grille in, also re-attach the outer bezel to the headlight bezel since the two were separated  before the chrome plating process. Self tapping screws were used along with a tiny bit of body panel bonding epoxy to hold the parts together.  This afternoon we were back working on assembling the front bumper and signal lights. Tomorrow the GS will have its face back on and look like the great Buick Muscle car that it is, but there is plenty more work to do..

Glad that your GS will have it's "face" back!  I remember when Biquette finally got her face after bring repainted.  It wasn't until then that I really felt I was going to get my wagon back.
 

Since I have been spending many hours working on the GS I kind of forgot other stuff. This evening I walked in the door at 7:05 PM ready to wash up and have some dinner. I was greeted by my wife Karen and she said " DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS ? "  I said  "Thursday"  She said " I KNOW ITS THURSDAY...THE 17th"    OOOPS  our wedding anniversary !!!  I screwed up by spending more time with the GS than her, no argument there! No dinner and I sleep in the basement with Iris the cat. After 34 years Karen knows me all too well... What was I going to do tomorrow ?? The adventure continues.....

So sorry that you found yourself in that all too stereotypical predicament of forgetting your wedding anniversary.  I hate to admit it, but I've increasing become dependent on calendar software to avoid forgetting things.  Since I've never been married, at least I cannot have that forgetful moment.

Thanks for the update!

Edouard

[option B9]

Hello everyone, Yesterday afternoon we placed the front bumper on the GS, I then sat on a milk box and just looked at it for a long time.. My Son Steven asked me if there was something wrong with it ? I said "no, I was just thinking of the long journey it took to get to this point, and the promise that I made to Sandy Shuman 20 years ago that this GS will be back on the road..." We polished up the bumper and I took a photo and we took the rest of the afternoon off.... The adventure continues.

      Tony 

[Loren At 65GS]

 

[cwmcobra]

Looking good, Tony! Perhaps someday we can get the red siblings together. That would make a great picture for Sandy!

[option B9]

  Hi Chuck, Yes that would be great. I know that it is a bit early, but I'm thinking of attending the Buick National Meet in Ohio next July. I'm not going to have this GS sit in the garage after I spent all this time working on it. If we can get some of our registry members Gran Sports together at this meet it would be awesome...

      Tony