Roadmaster Wagon Touring Pics and Deer Strike Pics

4/3/2016 - Sunday, Day 2 of Radiator Support Replacement Weekend.

Cleaned Alternator and Water Pump. Time to finally start putting it all back together.



We have a straight radiator support!



Really got a lot done this weekend. Everything underhood got painted or cleaned, new radiator support, radiator, condenser, hoses, and all wiring mounted and working!





She's Running! Runs Great! No Check Engine or Airbag faults. Radiator burped, three quarts (!) of trans fluid, one gallon of coolant, and 1/2 quart of oil. She's a LIVIN THING! Ha! Just need the BODY PARTS back now. The mechanical work is done!

 

4/7/2016 - N.O.S. Roadmaster grill from Florida delivered today, dirty GM box and all. Awesome!




Freshly painted and polished grill emblem. My previous GS grill emblem branded the deer and is on the side of the highway somewhere between Fredericksburg and Stonewall Texas!


NOW it looks like MY grill!! I fixed it! Of course they made Gran Sport Roadmaster Wagons! I own one!

 

Welcome back Mike.
The Buick is looking great!
Thanks for bringing us all up to speed on your progress.
I can only speak for myself, but I missed your posts. Glad to see your wagon is almost back together and will soon be cruising, full of family, on your next big adventure.

 

4/8/2016 - Look at the goodies on my garage floor!



Hood Looks Great!



Freshly-painted front and rear bumpers and door mirrors.


Fender looks good too!


Freshly-painted rear bumper cover. Check out my idea for the upper bumper step-pad area...bedliner paint! Hopefully that will hold up to all the kids that want to ride in the tailgunner seat!

 

4/9/2016 - This is THE weekend! Been waiting for this! Lets make my Roady gorgeous again!

Removed dented tailgate trim to find 20-years worth of dirt hiding under there. What a mess! At least the clips didn't break when removing!



Cleaned and waxed area behind the trim.


New-to-me trim above, dented below (dent is about 10-inches front the right side under the black rusbstrip. Removed the black rubstrips with a heat gun from the backside.


Had to CAREFULLY pry off this plastic trim. Has a screw on the driver's side and this plastic stud on the passenger side. Why GM Why??


Driver's side unscrews. Simple!


Replacement trim installed. Re-used black rub strip from original trim.


Repainted rear bumper cover re-installed too. Looks good from the back again. Wanted to get the EASY stuff out of the way first before tackling the front sheetmetal!

 

4/9/2016 - continued

Assembled the front bumper. The Roady has quite a lot of trim on this. Lots of big and small pieces. The new wide polished trim came out fantastic!




Assembled fender with bright side and lower black trim. Have not installed the wood outline trim. Will be re-painting it and all the rest of the outline trim on the car this coming weekend.


That's it for Day 1 of the sheetmetal re-install

 

4/10/2016 - Day 2 of sheetmetal reinstall

Radiator support was sitting too low on the driver's side. That was my fender alignment issue. Loosened all the mounting bolts and carefully jacked the support up, and then used shim washers to mount it in the proper position.


New fender and hood installed for the first time! Also forgot to note the re-painted door mirrors have been re-installed.


Checking hood-to-fender aligments



Everything bolted down tight, and hood lift struts installed.


Progress, refinished hood mat installed, along with front-edge weatherstripping, light, safety catch and grill mount.


Grill mount here. A bit of a Frankenstein, the hood itself and upper grill mount came from a '93 Caprice (all wagons used Caprice hoods), while the lower part of the grill mount (lower/deeper Buick-specific for larger grill) came from the 65K mile wagon I got the radiator support from. The upper mount on that wagon was bent. Mix-N-Match! Totally sanded and refinished...looks new!


Hood latch assembly installed. Set a towel on the bumper before fully closing the hood for the first time...just in case the bumper was too high...don't want any scratches in the new paint!


Everything lined-up, so could not resist installing the NOS grill. WOW It's Sharp!



Next up, the bumper install! Slid right on and everything lines up well!



Installed the hood latch and Collector's Edition hood ornament. Hood latched, closes easy with no slam needed! She's still blind, but looking awesome! SO LUCKY that hood ornament survived the deer hit!

 

4/10/2016 - continued

Checking panel gaps



DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?!?!? New headlights and marker lights installed, and battery and air intake re-installed.


It looks better under here than it ever has since I've owned this car!


Doing final checks before starting it up and pulling it out. Did I miss anything? Is everything tight?



This all came out really well! Underhood looks better than it ever has in all the years I've owned this car, as does the bumper which always had road chips and such..



Hood down, time to pull it out!


Sun going down on a LONG weekend. Outside and in one piece again! Love it!


Still needing to re-paint and install the woodgrain outline trim on the front fender. Still some work to do but looks like my car again!


Considering I'm a total amateur bodyperson I think it came out really well!


All those Revell, MPC and Monogram model cars I built as a kid finally paid off! Ha! BUILT NOT BOUGHT!

 

4/13/2016 - It's all about the details. NOS 1996 radiator support engine and emissions decals came in today!





Ok not "stock" but..I like it! Not a sticker but a metal-backed emblem!

 

4/14/2016 - I've determined my driver's side hood hinge is slightly bent from the deer strike, so I made a mad-dash to the yard and yanked both hinges off this '96 Roady. Poor thing, it was a cloth-seat Limited model. Loaded to the gills. These hinges look good, will clean, scuff, paint and install them this weekend. With a little luck my hood will sit right now!


Cleaned and painted the under-front-bumper plastics and air dam parts with Satin Black Fusion paint, and the hood hinges I nabbed with Grill and Chassis Black. All look good! More toys to install this weekend!

 

4/16/2016 - Replaced the original hood hinges with these freshly-painted ones from the gold salvage yard car. The originals didn't look bent, but must have been, as the hood fits MUCH better now!





After installing the new hood hinges I spent about 45-mins adjusting the hood forward and back and up and down trying for the best fit. It's not perfect but the best I could do!





Hood still opens easy and closes without slamming. Good Deal

 

4/16/2016 - continued

NEXT Installed the under-bumper plastics and 3-piece air dam. I ended up having to replace the plastic on the passenger side, and two of the three air dam pieces were cracked. No cracks now. These pieces were not painted at the factory, just black plastic, but I painted them all with Krylon Fusion Satin Black. Think it came out well!


NEXT Installed the under-bumper plastics and 3-piece air dam. I ended up having to replace the plastic on the passenger side, and two of the three air dam pieces were cracked. No cracks now. These pieces were not painted at the factory, just black plastic, but I painted them all with Krylon Fusion Satin Black. Think it came out well!

 

4/16/2016 - Since the weather is going to be crummy tomorrow and I won't be able to paint, I've decided to work on the interior, including putting the door panels back on the front doors that I removed to get the mirrors off for paint.

Doing some work on the door panels before re-installing. Trying to get the crappy 90's-era GM plasti-wood REALLY stuck down. Like all LT1 Roady owners I too dream of door panels that don't creak or rattle. Dare to dream! Anyone need a clamp.?..I have a few...



Only 94-96 Roadmaster/LeSabre/Park Ave owners will appreciate how rare these are. These are the door panel power seat buttons, and the chrome tends to come off starting around the letters, and then gets worse. Found the one on the left on the passenger-side of the gold Roady wagon in the previous salvage yard pic, and the other one on a passenger door a a LeSabre a few rows over. Perfect chrome on both. Interesting though how the markings on the Roady button are bolder than on the LeSabre. Same buttons, but the LeSabre was a newer car. Guess the supplier or something changed just a bit over the years. No complaints! I've needed these for YEARS! SCORE. Again...it's the little details!


Decided to try and prevent these very good power seat switches from chrome-peel issues. Clear-coated them, two thin coats, allowing drying time between to prevent clouding. They came out really well! Will be nabbing these buttons whenever I see them now, and will do this to them from now on!



New-to-me seat button on the left, and my old peeling-chrome button on the right. Nice Yarding Find!


Found these Christmas Tree Clips at NAPA. These are MUCH better quality than the brittle ones I'd bought in the past at Autozone. These NAPA ones are exactly like the originals. $5 for a bag of 12. SOLD!



Re-installed the repaired door panels. 3M tape, epoxy, and new Christmas Tree clips and new power seat chrome buttons. OH and I fixed the wire for the driver's door light, that has NEVER worked since I've owned this car. Panels are SOLID and tight, WOW!

 

4/17/2016 - Decided to replace the Christmas Tree clips on the rear door panels too. I'd never taken these off, but could tell a previous owner had, because they've always been a little loose. Sure enough, found new window rollers in the doors, but also broken clips and torn plastic here.


The plastic on this door wasn't torn, but found another broken clip on this door.


Rear door panels off


New Christmas Tree clips added.


Broken mount here. Used some junk plastic and epoxy to mount a new Christmas Tree clip here. Did the same repair in the other rear panel.


Used white lithium grease on all the window tracks and pivot points, and then pulled out the trusty duct-tape to re-mount the plastic splash-guard correctly.


Carefully removed this non-torn plastic and lubed all the window tracks and pivots with white grease, then remounted the plastic with the stock black sticky stuff.


Rear door panels re-installed. TIGHT, first time they've been mounted really well since I've owned this car.

 

Evening 4/17/2016 - Stripped the woodgrain outline trim off my sprare fenders to pick the best ones to be re-finished.


4/17/2016 - Picking out the best fender trim pieces for painting.


Combined the plastic trim clips from three different pieces to get enough good ones for one new one.


Again Epoxy to the rescue


Did not have one good trim tip clip, so used Epoxy to mount this one.


Has good clips now. Will let dry, and then will be sanding this and the other pieces for painting...when the sun comes out again...hopefully next weekend!