It's a Buick, but it's not something you see very often. Caballero!

Nice update.

Nice to see some progress. Thanks for sharing.

Wow really nice.

I sure wish i had either the time,. or the money to do nice restoration work,.

but these days i only have one or the other, never both together,..*sigh*

phantom 309 wrote:

I sure wish i had either the time,. or the money to do nice restoration work,.

but these days i only have one or the other, never both together,..*sigh*

Yep.
It's going to take me 3 or 4 years to do this car...and I'll probably have to sell 2 cars to fund the project.

I'm retired, so you'd think I have lots of time, but it's amazing how life can fill your calendar!
I've spent much of my summer working on my daughter and son-in-law's recently acquired house.
Seems like there's no end to the list of projects.

Looking good! That's going to be a beautiful wagon!

Update: October 4, 2015

Still plugging away!

Finally got the time to remove the rest of the components from the firewall.



Lots of firewall-mounted stuff waiting to be cleaned and repaired:


Wiring harness is quite filthy and brittle; will need to be replaced.


The shift lever could not be moved. Had to completely disassemble the steering column to get the transmission control tube and the column upper

head out of the housing. Now, I'm waiting for penetrating oil and solvent to free up the joint between the hub and the housing.

When I removed the shift control tube, I found that the felt anti-rattle insulator had caused significant corrosion damage to the tube. I

removed all the rust (chemically), fabricated a steel repair sleeve and welded it to the tube. Still need to replace the felt bushing, but this

repair should last for the next 50+ years.







I finally tackled the fuel tank. As I mentioned earlier, the tank was badly damaged and full of foul-smelling remnants of very old fuel.

I filled and emptied the tank a couple of times with plain water, then filled it with water again before beginning surgery.
I spoke with a sheet metal professional about the "right" way to fix the tank. He told me to cut a couple of large openings in the top of the

tank, leaving enough connecting structure to maintain the integrity of the tank.



When I cut the openings, I used at the locations of visible spot welds to determine the position of the baffles and reinforcements. I cut along

beads and radii to provide the best surfaces for welding the access panels back in place after the repairs are complete. Here is the tank after

cutting the access openings:


The entire interior was covered with either a gooey, tar-like residue or "crust" that appeared to be rust, but turned out to be a heavy layer of
deposits. Luckily, it looks like the interior metal is solid under all this junk.


I also removed the rear seat and the rear compartment and load floor.


The floor pans are worse than I thought; found more rust under the deadener pads.


More patching and welding in my future!

It looks remarkably good for its age,. i,m sure you,ve seen the pics of some of our b-body wagons,.

phantom 309 wrote:

It looks remarkably good for its age,. i,m sure you,ve seen the pics of some of our b-body wagons,.

Thats what I was thinking...

phantom 309 wrote:

It looks remarkably good for its age,. i,m sure you,ve seen the pics of some of our b-body wagons,.

Yep, this car is great.
It's so solid, I wasn't expecting to find any rust damage in the floor pans.

Love these clean, dry cars!
It came from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Thanks for that link, Wagoninabox!

October 23, 2015 update...
After bead blasting, here's what the exterior of the fuel tank looked like:


Badly dented corner where the differential case crushed the fuel tank:


The bottom of the tank is badly crushed; it is caved in about 3" in the center:

Looks like the result of an off-road adventure!

Luckily, the metal is excellent.
Baffles and internal reinforcements were badly bent, but easily straightened:


I have started repairing the tank, but still have a long way to go.
Great training for panel beating skills...
This area had a 1/2" deep crease; turned out pretty well:



Earlier this week, we were able to move the car to storage and prepare for removing the body from the frame.

Big day today: we pulled the body off the frame.
I didn't get a pic of the body on the body cart, but here's a photo of the body and frame after separation.
This was easy with a 4 post lift!



In the next few days, I will bring the chassis home.
It's my winter project this year.

so is that quadrajet carb "preserved"? Great project, kudos...

The 57 and 66 Vettes in the background. My childhood. Grew up watching Dad restore vintage Corvettes.

Thanks for the updates.

Started by pressure-washing before disassembling the suspension/drivetrain to get to a bare frame.





Then, into the garage:



That pile of crud on the floor is the first wave of junk that came out of the boxed area of the frame. Yuck.

Rear suspension:


Front:


Front shocks still have the sheet metal push-nuts:


I was surprised to learn that the rear bumper brackets are attached with larger bolts than the front brackets.

Also surprised to find that the driver's front shock tower is welded to the frame. Got some work to do here...


I only broke two fuel line clips! Yee Haw!


Desert cars are great! All the brake lines came apart without breaking any fittings or tubes.


Got the call today (November 2); engine assembly starts tomorrow!

What a difference location makes...Wow.

Very cool and a solid frame too! I wonder how old those shocks are....thanks for posting the updates!

We unwrapped te block and spent most of a day washing it.
We discovered that the oil galley plugs had not been replaced. The block was hot-tanked but the original oil galley plugs were not removed because the machine shop couldn't locate the proper diameter plugs.

Luckily, Russ Martin (Centerville Auto Service) has the right diameter plugs.
We removed all the old plugs, cleaned out the oil galleys and installed the new plugs.
It will be a few weeks before we can get back to engine assembly due to travel and work conflicts.



In the meantime, I continued disassembling the chassis to prepare the frame for sandblasting and powder-coating.
This picture shows the junk that came out of the boxed areas of the frame. No rust; just lots of dried mud, gravel and (apparently) mouse fur.



Removed the steering gear and made a temporary tie rod to allow the frame to be moved.



Lifted the frame off the rear springs.



Made up a small caster cart to be able to easily move the frame:



All components removed; bare frame resting on the cart:



More to come...

In a previous post, I showed that the driver's side front shock tower had been welded to the frame.
Time to cut it off and repair the area properly.
After removal:

LOTS of weld!

Cleaned up the frame and made up a small patch panel:


Welded a nut and a reinforcement to the patch, then welded that subassembly into the frame rail.




After cleaning up the welds:


Looked over the entire frame for other issues.
Straightened out a few dents and dings in the cross-members. Somebody must have taken this thing off-roading in the desert; lots of rock damage!
Found that one of the mounting holes for the steering gear had some cracks around the bolt head. For some reason, the bottom bolt had no washer under the bolt head. Looks like the bolt head cracked the outer frame wall when it was torqued down.
I ground the cracks open and welded them up:

After clean-up:

This bolt will get a correctly sized washer when the steering gear gets installed!

it's coming along great, I understand the travel and work conflicting with car plans far too well sadly

Love the updates...

I know its been mentioned before, but you gotta love desert cars! I can't believe even the brake lines came apart. That is amazing. Do you have any kind of time table to get it running and driving? And, are you doing any of the body/paint/interior yourself as well?

Mark 96 Roady wrote:

I know its been mentioned before, but you gotta love desert cars! I can't believe even the brake lines came apart. That is amazing. Do you have any kind of time table to get it running and driving? And, are you doing any of the body/paint/interior yourself as well?

I hope to have the car done for its 60th birthday. Ideally, I would like to bring it to the Buick National meet in June of 2018. If I get it done early enough, I'd like to show it at Detroit Autorama in March, 2018...wishful thinking.

I will do most of the metal work myself, but I plan to have it painted by a pro.

I will probably get a professional to sew the seat covers, trim out the seats and install the headliner.
I can do all the rest of the interior trim work.

I've done seats on several cars over the years, but only when I could purchase pre-sewn covers. So far, I have not found anyone who manufacturers OEM reproduction seat cover kits for these cars.

December 30, 2015 update

We have been traveling again, so there hasn't been a lot of progress lately.

The frame is at the sandblaster's shop. It is being cleaned and then powder-coated satin black (excellent match to GM chassis black).
I got the ball joints and control arm bushings apart before we left on our trip, so the upper and lower control arms are also being powder-coated with the frame:


Here is the rear axle assembly, as removed from the frame:


Disassembled the rear brakes and radius rods:


Removed the front section of the torque tube and the front prop shaft.
There is a U-joint behind this bearing. This torque tube design certainly was beefy!


Hard to tell from the photo, but this front section of the prop shaft is almost 4 feet long:


The rear axle and torque tube housing assembly is being media-blasted, then I'll take the rear end to a local shop for assessment and rebuild.

"Sparky" (the guy at the radiator shop) bumped the dents out of the radiator tanks.
The radiator looks GREAT!
Here it is, with it's new core and freshly-painted tanks:



Until the frame and suspension parts are done, I will be cleaning and re-finishing chassis and suspension parts.

Frame and suspension assembly should begin soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year...Thanks for the updates.

Frame is back from the powder coater; looks SWELL! (There's a word you haven't heard lately!)





It's so pretty, it seems a shame to put a body on it!


Used the 88 Electra Estate to tow the trailer; all in the (Buick) family!




It's a great feeling to start putting things back together. Here are the front brake lines and junction blocks. The pretty, new lines are from Inline Tube; they fit quite well with only a little "massaging" required. I didn't even need the tubing bender. Junction blocks are the original parts.




Been experimenting with white vinegar for rust removal. Certainly worked well on these parts!






Rear axle is at "The Ring and Pinion Shop" in Mt. Clemens, MI for assessment and refurbishing. Should have it back in a couple of weeks, as long as there are no major surprises or big delays in part availablility.

Power steering pump is going back together with new seals, o-rings and gaskets.
Shaft and bushings checked out okay.




Details, details, details....





This is when all those labels and zip-loc bags earn their keep!

looks awesome!

Love this project.

Thank you for the update!!

Chris

Wow, been awhile since I checked in, amazing progress!

Pulled the Dynaflow transmission out of the parts car for rebuild.
It was well protected by years of oil leaks...


Pressure washed and ready for the attention of Jim Hughes in Perrysburg, Ohio:





Jim has the cases and all parts chemically stripped before beginning the rebuild process.


Continued working on other items; here is the assembled and painted power steering pump:


I tried painting the backing plates to look like the original zinc plating:


But I found I could get the parts plated locally so I had the backing plates, fasteners, hood hinges and hood latch components plated to match the original finishes.



Picked up the rear axle and assembled the torque tube, brakes and brake lines.







Meanwhile, the nailhead is getting assembled.
All main, thrust and rod bearing clearances checked out great.
Currently waiting for new rocker shaft assemblies.



I've also been preparing the body for media blasting. Almost ready!





Busy times!

you've been keeping busy

Somewhere theres a neighbor saying,"The wagon kook is at it again."

March 26, 2016

These inner fender covers were all split and not saveable. It appears to be a grained vinyl sheet that was vacuum formed, then bonded to the inner panel. I'm not sure what I'm going to use to replicate them, but they had to come off in order to clean the inner panels.




A heat gun, a small putty knife and one hour of scraping....




Here's the body shell at the media blast shop. They are using walnut husks to remove the coatings, then more aggressive glass media as needed for corrosion removal.



Meanwhile, the rocker shafts arrived and the engine is almost ready for paint.
Oil pump has been run and oil flow and pressure verified.



Back in my garage, I've been working on the front suspension. New control arm shafts, control arm seals and bushings, new upper and lower ball joints and spring isolators should make this car drive like new.





Spring installation was a challenge. I compressed the springs as far as possible, then used a 1.5T chain fall to pull the lower control arms into position.

Took me a while to get the compressor fingers out of the springs after the spindles were bolted up. I used one of those twist-in coil expanders to spread the coils far enough to sneak the compressor fingers out of the spring.

Next up: front brake assembly, then install the rear axle and torque tube assembly. Should have a rolling chassis in a few days.

Coming along...

2016.04.01 update

Discovered something surprising when I began assembling the front brakes.
The adjusters for the front and rear brakes are not identical...
The front adjuster "yokes" have a wider slot to accomodate the thicker brake shoe plate. Had to disassemble both rear rear brakes to get the wider adjuster components for the front drums. Minor inconvenience...and a new lesson learned.

Front spindle with brakes installed and ready for bearing & hub installation.Each fastener is marked with a paint dot after final torque check is complete.





All buttoned up with bearings adjusted. I will adjust the brakes after filling the system with brake fluid and installing the e-brake system.



New upper control arm shafts were installed with the same number of shims at each position; close enough to get it to an alignment rack.



Mounted wheels and tires to be able to move the frame as needed. No steering linkage is installed, just a length of tubing to keep the wheels parallel to each other.

Now for some fun...sliding the rear axle & torque tube assembly into the frame.

Connected to the winch and ready to roll off the ramps:




Rolled the frame into the driveway and lifted the back end of the frame to clear the rear springs.




Jacked up the front end and pulled the wood cart out from beneath the suspended frame:



A few minutes later, it's back on the rack and ready for fuel and brake systems:



Changing the subject...pics from the media blaster:





There are more floor pan repairs required than I anticipated, but I think it looks great!

Wow. That is art.

Do us a favor and clean up those tires,its bringing the whole project down. JK,of course...Love the progress.

Andebe wrote:

Do us a favor and clean up those tires,its bringing the whole project down. JK,of course...Love the progress.

Yeah, that is some true, vintage rubber, isn't it?

Update April 21, 2016

The passenger side rear shock mounting brackets were badly damaged; one mounting leg was completely severed from both the inner and outer brackets. Ground the mating surfaces to a "V" and welded the torn tabs onto the bracket body. Here is one of the repaired tabs.


Also found the beginning of a stress crack on another shock mount bracket. Ground out the crack and reinforced the part with weld. Here is the back side after welding.


The body comes home! My grandson, Pete, helps check it out after it has been bead blasted and epoxy primed.


Floor pans and spare tire well are worse than expected. This is the left front floor pan:


The spare tire well is solid at the bottom, but has perforations where some parts and trash were laying in the well area.


Passenger rear floor pan needs some serious help:


There are several dents in the roof to be bumped out:


Most of the body looks great!


Found repair floor pans at Classic2Current Fabrication in Michigan. The parts are similar, but not identical to the original panels.
Rather than using the "close" parts, I chose to replace the bad areas.
Here's the portion of the driver's front floor that will be replaced:


Cutting and trimming the replacement piece; the small circles indicate where holes will be punched for puddle welding in the same positions as the origional spot welds:


Stay tuned; more soon.

Do you offer apprenticeships? Lol,thanks for the updates.

Wow, Joe, this is coming along great. This thing is going to a be a brand new car!

Really enjoying watching this car be saved!!! Keep the updates coming please!

An amazing build on an amazing car! Congrats on the great work.

WOW!

Good work! That pine sol will sure clean a carb

I visited Joe's shop today, and took some pictures









his nice truck

Somebody get me towel,so much drool to clean up.