1972 Estate Wagon Limited Coupe

Hey Jeffrey, good to hear from you!

There isn't much progress on my wagon, because I have been working a lot, and not taking advantage of the incredible weather here.

I did work on it a few days ago, and finally solved my broken bolts problem that has bedeviled me since last April. APRIL! At the time, there was plenty of work to still bedone on the body, so I just shut the hood and pretended the problem didn't exist...I am good at denial.

But now everything is good, and I can start installing the new motor mounts, manifold gaskets, dual exhaust (my parts Electra had good dual exhaust on it...I will have to change it a little toward the back), labels for everything...tons of new parts...I even bought the proper AC oil filter and date-coded spark plug wires. Gonna be pretty!

David

 

sounds great love to see it - my wagon is in the shop 2 weeks now, 2 weeks more, engine work, trim work, new carpet, rust repair

 

Boxing the top. Should go out tomorrow. Taking longer than I planned but I don't move too fast these days. Once UPS has it figure three to five business days. So, next Friday hopefully. I'll give you the tracking number soon as I have it.

 

Its not the speed. Its the motion. I'm impressed that you'd sign on to help a guy with his custom work and follow through as you have. You're good people.

 

What Norm said!

 

Right on, Norm! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima FMC, you're the best! Just for someone to do this at all, is amazing to me!

I am enjoying working on my Buick again these days. I have the entire week off, and the weather is wonderful. I'm working on getting the engine all buttoned up.

The exhaust manifolds will get a coat of POR-15's Grey Cast Manifold paint, the heat sheilds will be their bright aluminum color. I painted more of the block that I couldn't get to with everything in place, bright Buick Red.

New motor mounts are in, and I took the dual exhaust pipes off my parts Electra...they are almost like new!

I am going to pull the oil pan today, and clean it all up...I dented the bottom of it yesterday. D'oh! Oh well, it need to come off for cleaning and painting anyway.

I will take some pics of everything today.

David

 

Does Caliper paint take heat better than POR 15? HandyAndy used something like that and they're still nice, almost a year later.

 

Not sure, Norm. I am going by an AutoZone on my way over to work on my car, so I will check on this. Just bought the POR manifold paint yesterday. If I don't like the way it looks, I will give this a shot.

David

 

Just found a pic of his manifold job. The intake manifold is part of the head on these I6s, and sits right above the exhaust manifold. One of the complaints for this is the carb boiling over from the heat coming from below, but they never get 'red-hot' like an exhaust manifold does:

 

Looks beautiful! I like it!
Thanks Norm!

David

 

The thing is I don't know if it is Caliper Paint, and I think Andy is up at the Lodge, so I can't give you a definite on that. I'd just ask the AutoZone guys. I think the exhaust manifolds get up to 800 F, IIRC, maybe only 650F. Not sure. Calipers get up there too. But again, I've never seen how long the paint lasts.

 

In a bind, you could use Stovepipe paint.

 

Hey David,
Let me know if you need any 455 stuff (tin, brackets, whatever,) I have a pile if Buick stuff left over from my Boat Tail phase.
Just let me know.......

 

Thanks Russ, I may take you up on that. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima Good to know this Buick thing is just a phase!

Today, I got good work done. Though I only had a few hours to work on my Buick, I managed to remove my oil pan, and it wasn't as hard a job as I thought it would be. The manual said that the crankshaft needed to be turned exactly the right way for the pan to clear.

Turns out, last time I ran the engine, probably at least ten or eleven months ago, the crank was left in the perfect position! Yea! Things don't usually go that easily for me.

David

 

It's not a phase for everybody! Just me... I do everything once, then I try something else. The bad thing about Buick motors is that they are expensive to work on. The great thing is the TORQUE! the last motor in my '72 put down about 450hp and just STUPID huge torque.
Anyway, let me know, I'd love to donate to such a cool cause