1958 Buick Caballero

Yep, that's the situation. The powder coating is thick and tough; I prefer using a fresh hole in addition to the start washers for the lamp connections.
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It's been a while...busy summer so far!

After repeated attempts to bleed the brakes and determining that there is a vacuum leak in the booster system, I decided to remove all the power brake system and install regular brakes.

Step 1: removing the booster and master from the firewall...again!
20180712_174933 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Step 2: Prepare the master cylinder and the master-to-junction block line for installation
20180713_101820 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Step 3: Re-furbish the manual brake pedal mechanism. The mechanical advantage of the manual system is much higher than that of the power brake pedal linkage.
20180713_102612 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180714_075646 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Step 4: Install the pedal assembly, master cylinder and brake line.

Step 5: Fill and bleed the system.

Finally, solid pedal and no leaks!

I removed the vacuum fittings, check valve and tubing but I left the vacuum canister under the fender. I plan to re-install the power system at some point.

When I was working under the hood and trying to test the power brakes, I saw fuel stains on the driver's side of the intake manifold and it was wet with gas after running the engine. The engine was also running extremely rich.

I pulled the carb off the car and found that the passenger side float well was about 60% full, but the driver's side was nearly empty.
20180626_085830 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

The well plug screw was wet and I found that the sealing surface on the screw was gouged and would not seal.

I picked up some small diameter O-rings and chose the one that fit the best.
20180626_134143 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Re-assembled everything and tested with fresh plugs. No more leaks and no fuel stains under the carb!

Installed new gaskets on the headlight doors and installed the doors; another layer of bling!
20180627_083807 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180627_102210 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

I have a couple of sets of sun visors, neither of which had the correct perforated material. I cleaned and polished the sunshade pivots and set them aside until they are needed.

I stripped the old covers and pads off the substrates.

The substrates were delivered to CARS Inc., in Auburn Hills, MI (the Chevrolet restoration guys, not the Buick guys in New Jersey) where they will be re-covered with the correct, perforated material and get new clips.

20180627_110402 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

With all the gauges working, I thought it was time to install the new dash pad.

20180628_083901 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180718_210853 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

I couldn't be happier with the dash pad. It was done by RD Autoline in Bodafors, Sweden.
I sent them my bare steel substrate along with color and grain samples. They took it from there and did a GREAT job!

 

Everything seems to be coming together! Well, aside from the power brakes that is. That's a bit of a bummer. It's quite amazing to think that manual brakes could haul such a large vehicle to a stop, but they really do a good job, it just takes a bit more effort on the drivers part. I've been driving the 59 Fairlane the few days and it is equipped with standard, non power assist brakes.
Great work and thanks for sharing the progress.

 

As long as they're drum brakes, manuals will work. I wouldn't give up on the vacuum leak, though

 

I don't think the power brake problem was a vacuum leak. A leak would cause difficult brakes, not soft brakes. My guess, off the top of my pointed head, is that the booster isn't going full-stroke, so the master doesn't fully pressurize. With the unit out of the car, the booster and master cylinder can be looked at together.

 

My favorite picture from Joe's latest post is the top of the carburetor!

 

I had the headliner panels painted recently.
I had to modify the dome lamp opening to fit the lamp housing.


This is the original dome light from this car. The chrome bezel has been cleaned and polished and the base has been re-painted gloss white.

The new lens will make it look perfect.

Before I install the headliner panels, the replacement retainer strips need to be plated or painted to look like the originals. The original parts appear to have been vacuum metallized or perhaps backed with a "chrome" mylar film to make them look like chrome.



I can get them vacuum metallized on the exposed surface, but that won't look like the original finish. I'm still thinking about how to make these look correct...any suggestions?

All the glass frames have been polished or re-plated as required.
When it came time to install the new glass in the frames, I started with the driver's front window.


New fasteners, many had to be shortened to keep from contacting the edge of the glass.


I used liquid soap and window cleaner to lubricate the glass tape. It took a lot of convincing with a rubber mallet to get the glass into the frames, but here's the first one:


Glass setting tape trimmed with a razor blade, ready for installation


The rear door window was more challenging.


The 2-piece roller attached to the lower sash is spring-loaded and follows the lower guide. It took me about 20 minutes per side to free these rollers up; the gap between the two plastic pieces was full of dust and rust. There is a spring (wavy) washer between the two plastic sections of the roller.


Next, I installed the front seal retainer to the front of the frame. This part gets riveted to the die cast frame and it holds the seal that matches up to the front door frame. You can see the rivet heads in this picture if you look closely at the channel.


Then I taped the glass setting tape to the window, cut relief notches in the tape at the corners and began inserting the glass into the die cast frame.


I used a rubber mallet to coax the glass into place. On one of my mallet hits, the rubber mallet head slipped forward on the handle and the handle struck the edge of the glass. Result: INSTANT glass fracture! Crap...another $50 plus shipping for a new piece of glass.


I decided to try a slightly thinner glass setting tape for the next piece of glass. Installation was easier and uneventful...

To prepare the guides for the rear door glass installation, I removed the old cloth from the guides and cleaned and painted the guides, then installed new "bow drill" cloth or felt linings, to match what came out of the original parts.
This is one of the front guides for the rear doors:


The same part, all cleaned up and ready for new lining.


The construction of the front door's rear guides are interesting.


The cloth liners were not bonded to the body of the part, but were bonded to a pair of thin sheet metal panels that were then crimped onto the main body.


I flattened out the original parts and duplicated them in light gauge steel. Those old license plates come in handy sometimes!

Here is one of the re-assembled window guides, with new linings.

 

I agree with all of you.
I probably messed up the stroke on the master cylinder when I re-installed it the last time. That is probably why I couldn't bleed the system.

The major vacuum leak was corrected when I replaced the hose inside the booster, but the unit was still leaking vacuum and there appeared to be brake fluid leaking past the vacuum seal at the rear of the master cylinder.. I have a machinist friend who is going to sleeve the vacuum seal area of the master cylinder. When that's all fixed, I will re-install the power system.

 

Alright. See? You found the problem by examining it outside of the car. The question I have is, will you have it reconditioned and back together in a timely manner so that you don't go installing the manual system parts?

 

I installed the manual brake system when I removed the power booster.
This way, I can move the car under its own power when it needs to be moved.
I'll re-install the power system after the repairs to the power master cylinder and booster have been completed.

 

OK, I wasn't in time to suggest that, apparently. And smashing the glass! I broke a customer's smoked-glass window in their S-10 Blazer when I was reattaching the glass after replacing the regulator. That cost me over $260 at the time, and luckily, my bro was working for a couple that owned a glass company and were able to get it and sell it to me at their cost.

 

The replacement piece of window glass went in without any setbacks...




Rear door windows are challenging to install, but I just followed the instructions in the Body Service Manual and referred to my dis-assembly photos a lot.


Adjusting the windows has been difficulet and I'm still not done with the process. I am starting woth the ventilator window, then working back to the front door and finally the rear door.

I had the driver's side almost perfect, but then I realized that the front of the vent window frame was too close to the A pillar. When closing the front door, the ventilator frame touched the windshield molding near the top of the vent window frame.

I've got to start all over again, but at least I know I can get there!


I know that reproduction sill plates are available for these cars, but I have about 3 full sets of parts so I thought I'd try cleaning and polishing some of the parts I already have.
This is typical of all the parts; a few dings and scratches and serious oxidation.


The areas with the worst dents are circled . I've bumped them out and am beginning to work out the smaller imperfections. This is going to take a lot of time...


Starting to assemble the front bumper:


With the brackets attached to the bumper, I tried lifting the assembled bumper on a beam spanning two floor jacks.


No luck; I opted for two friends to hold the bumper up while I bolted it to the frame. It still needs to be adjusted, but it's amazing how much the bumper made it look like a car again!

 

Looking like she has the Mona Lisa smile!

 

BIG DAY!

First time this car moved under it's own power since I've owned it...and probably since the '70s!


Front bumper adjusted and aligned:


Can't wait to drive this beast!


There are a couple of updates in this photo.
First is the polished hubcap and the new emblem, ready for installation.


And beneath the hubcap and emblems are the pre-cut deadener/insulators for the bottom of the spare tire storage compartment.

Assembled hubcap installed:




I have 2 sets of these rear bumper trim panels and all of them were corroded and/or dented. These replacements were made by Todd Reiter at Reiter's Metal Craft. They've been primed and are painted with the dull aluminum color for the "silver" areas of the panels.


I made a template from the original parts to help with the masking. The aluminum color stripes are 1/8" wide, the black bands are 11/32" wide.


After masking the aluminum base layer, the black was painted and the mask peeled.


One panel came out perfect, but a few areas of the aluminum paint came off with the masking tape.

Do-over went well:


Mocking up the center section of the rear bumper. It's going to look great!


Installing the deadener strips on the spare tire stowage area:


Contact cement and a rubber roller...job done!


Finishing up with the floor pan deadener installation:


Harness covers installed:

 

Now I know who chased down my grandmother, to upholster that seat.
Seriously, how far has the upholsterer gotten?