Back on the wheels, baby!

Hello! :)

We got Buick back on its own wheels, just before snow and cold. 😄

Front brake calipers didn't go just as smootsh as they could've go. We need to grind some stuff from calipers and/or steering arm, but not much. Calipers are Chevy Astro, '90-'02 AWD, and brake discs are '71-'74 Riviera. Brake conversion kit is from Scarebird.

Rear axle assembly was in almost perfect condition. It needed only new seals, bushings and paint job and setting parts back together.

Brake drums is still empty inside, because we need to find a brake shoe returning springs somewhere.

We will fix just those little things, and then we can take a little peekaboo inside Dynaflow. 👻

Almost

 

There is our issue.

Nothing was wrong with this little fellow. :)

Ready!

Nice'n'clean

Good as a new!

Chassis

Yo,

So now is a chassis's turn to be fixd'. Chassis was rusty and dirty, but otherwise in pretty good condition. We just tore it apart, and removed rust and shit with wire brush attached to angle grinder, and sand blasting corners etc. where an angle grinder couldn't reach.
That spot, where steering gear is going, was welded very shitty. :D We fixed that and it's now lot better that before.
After that we painted all parts. First epoxy primer, then some paint, that is commonly used in large machines like excavators etc. Then we sprayed some hollow section wax to here and there, where needed. I hope it will stay in good shape now. 🙌
We already started to reassemble parts to chassis. We ordered a new bushings, dirt seals and stuff. You know, nothing is better than installing new and clean parts together! :D
We also saved about 75 euros, when we made an engine mounts by self. Old ones was in bad condition, so we bought a couple rubber discs from a local rubber store for about 5 euros, and its now like a new one. 👍
We will change the front brakes to discs, so we ordered a kit from Scarebird, and rest of the parts from Rockauto and oldbuickparts.com. Scarebird kit uses 1971 to '74 Riviera rotors, and early 90's Chevy Astro calipers.
Now we just wait rest of the parts to arrive and peeking inside reax axle assembly. 😀

This is where it began.

That's what I was talking about 🙈😂

This is what it took to grind a whole frame. Angle grinder was a brand new 20€ macine, when we started. :D

Paintidy paint 😄

Something already installed. Notice our new engine mounts. 😊

Engine, part 5

Hello again!

Engine is now pretty much ready. We mounted the heads on one stormy night, and rest was quite easy to assemble. Starter, generator and power steering pump needed new bearings and seals, so we fixed those too.
We wait the first start till chassis and Dynaflow is ready, and everything is mounted back to the frame. Now the engine needs only carburetor, spark wires and spark plugs. 😊
But next the frame!

Heads up!

Almost there...

And done!

😍

Some old photos of Dynaflow repair

I want to share a photos of Dynaflow repair, that i made some years ago.
Link goes to google drive. There is crappy photos i've taken, and instruction manual for total overhaul. We're gonaa take better pics of it, when we peek inside of it again soon.
I'm glad, if that helps anyone.
You're welcome! :)

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UxT8gJMQeZGIPIBmOL1Mds97xfnQt0oN?usp=sharing

Please, let me know, if there is any problems with a link!



Just adding here some tag words for search engines: Dynaflow, Buick, Buick Special, 56, 1956, repair, instructions, manual

Engine, part 4

Hello again!

Summer came and engine and most of the parts is finally painted! 😀

We still need to paint all black parts, and oil pan, valve covers and some other small parts.
Today mr. Bigfix assembled timing cover, water pump and harmonnic balancer.
At the weekend maybe heads will be installed.

Sand blasting

Installing valves

Done!

Mrs. Bigfix painting

Some of painted parts

Nice and shiny 😎

Waiting the heads

Engine, part 3

Hello there,

Some progress has happened.

Pistons, cranckshaft, camshaft and timing chain is now assembled. Nothing special there, we've just enjoyed of assembling new and clean parts. 😊
We bought paint for the engine, and we're gonna paint block, heads and timing chain cover just with paint brush, and more visible parts with spray gun.
Now, when waiting, that Mrs. Bigfix will paint that motor, I (Mr. Bigfix) cleaned some parts of the valves and heads, like rocker arms etc. Oil passages of rocker arms were all way bunged-up by some sticky and oily stuff. Luckily oil has somehow made it's way to rocker arms and pushrod ends, because they were in pretty good shape after all.

New and clean main bearings

Half way there assembling pistons

Former condition, waiting paint

Cleaning and inspecting rocker arms.

Engine, part 2

Hi,

Crankshaft arrived from a shop. Luckily, it wasn't that bad, as it first seemed. They just polished it, and it still fits inside limits of standard-sized bearings. We ordered some new parts, and still waiting them to arrive, it takes probably couple weeks, yet one package has layed in Jamaican airport about a week now. I truly hope, that it's not missing or something.
We grinded paint out of engine and heads last week, and just cleaned some parts and installed piston rings. When we get our sandblasters working, we can start to blast smaller parts.
We need to buy some paint for the engine.
I blasted clock parts with soda, and will paint them as soon as possible.
Big thanks to my brother, who 3D-printed new gears for trip- and odometer! 🙌

Installing piston rings

And grinding

Clean crankshaft :)

Freshly baked gears

Soda blasted clock parts

Engine, part 1.

Hello everybody!

We decided to start an engine overhaul. So it begun.

At first were heads; nothing much to mention about, somebody has probably done something for it lately, because everything looked fine to me. Just some valve lifters had some scruffs on them, so we'll change them to new one, and clean out everything.

On every cylinder, there's about 10mm wide range at the top of cylinder, some weird bumps, or dents. I think it's marks of corrosion, if car has been out of use a long time. But somebody has at least honed cylinders after those dents, and they don't affect to anything, so we'll just hone cylinders and reassemble with new piston rings.

And then we're going down; At first we thought just to put new bearings and gaskets, and drive to the sunset after easy engine overhaul. 🌅 We even left a flywheel to crankshaft, because we thought just put it back with new bearings. Plans changed a bit, when we took a crankshaft out. It had some scratches on surfaces of connecting rods. I think, it's been a long time, when these bearings has been installed. So we have to take a crankshaft to the machine shop and ask, can they fix it. New crankshafts doesn't grow up on trees, so we truly hope, it can be fixed. 😬

If you look carefully, you can see those dented areas on cylinders

Half way there

Heads up! 🙌

Crankshaft

Engine lifting 💪

Hi,

Yesterday we lifted an engine off. Nothing much to mention about, everything went well and almost as planned. Next one is Dynaflow and then we need to do some thinking, what we're gonna do next. Possibilities are to start overhauling the engine and Dynaflow, or rear axle, or sandblasting the frame and starting to do chassis work.

Seems like something's missing.

Whatcha doing? -Not much, just hangig.

Rims

Hello!

It's been a while. Not much happened here. Weather was quite cold (coldest was about -32° C that is about -25.6 °F ⛄) and snowy, so we have been mostly indoors. We've still done something. We started to fix a gauge-unit, because temperature, trip, and odometer didn't work. It's not ready yet, but we will write an own post of it later.
We also ordered a disc brake-kit from Scarebird. Parts arrived fast and quality of parts is awesome. We need to order rest of a needed parts later.
Today we finally finished that dolly for a body, so we can push it out, and take the frame in garage, and lift up the engine.
We made a dolly mostly out of 2x4 planks, and there's wheelbarrow wheels under.

Check out there rims!

Little sneak peek of a new temperature gauge

Separated

Happy new year!

Last weekend we lifted a body up and pulled the frame out. It sounds easier than it was, because we have quite small garage, and just a few floor jacks, and one workshop crane. But we survived and broke nothing! 😃
Next we're going to make a wooden frame, with wheelbarrows wheels, so it's easier to move a body then. After that we was planning to start an engine overhaul.

Rising up 👍

Under and out!