| I took her out
of the "garage"
so I could install doors. Using a large plastic tub as a bench, I drove
it several times back and forth the alley (Tuula and kids hopped
in halfway). The feeling was GREAT! Steering worked beautifully, until
all oil had leaked out along the pitman shaft (one thing to fix over
the
winter). Brakes were marginal. The master cylinder is at too steep an
angle,
and the fluid escapes the front reservoir (for rear brakes). While I
haven't
adjusted mixture, timing or valve lash, torque is awesome. The clutch
engages
smoothly. The first gear seems a bit tall, though, due to the 2.71:1
rear
gear. Idle is very smooth, and you can barely hear the engine run at
idle.
There are still coolant leaks around the water neck. Air escapes from
the
rear air bags. Whatta heck - who cares at this point.
I instantly catched new energy. Installing the doors was a breeze. Well, almost. The passenger side door sits in the aperture perfectly, no adjustments needed. But on driver's side, the window frame was galling against the A-pillar. I had to fabricate several shims between the hinges and door to bring it away enough, but it still didn't sit quite right. I should have registered the fit before I took it apart 3 years ago. Maybe it's meant this way, who knows. Now I could proceed with bolting down the body on the frame. The body is bolted down at 24 points! Talk about overkill. I had to replace many rubber shims with new ones from Bob's Automobilia (mfg'd by Steele). The # 1 rubber shims I cut out of old bias ply tire sidewall (the same method was used by the factory). Once I finished fastening all bolts, the driver's door was thrown out of alignment again. Then I unbolted the driver's side bolts, and added shims to the bolts near the hinge pillar. This brought me back to the starting point, where the door fit was tolerable, yet not as good as I would like it to be. |
 |
| I have often
wondered if
the 2-door roof is any lower than the 4-door roof, or is it just an
optical
illusion due to different length of doors?
Well, now I have measured both - the 2-door side glass is actually some 1.5 inches lower than the 4-door counterpart. Note that the windshield is let up high in the roofline - maybe they are the same height between 2D and 4D models? I forgot to take that measure. |
 |
| Now it was
time to trial-fit
the front fenders and hood. The passenger side fender needed a lot of
sheetmetal
surgery adjacent to the door, as it had previously been hit badly, and
also rusted out. No matter how meticulously I fabricated and fitted
those
patch panels, now the fender didn't seem to match the fender extension
panel on door. The seam is wide high up, but down low it's zero.
Driver's
side fits better. The hood has no hinges or anything, but was just
dropped
there to see the complete picture. There's something cetacean in this
Buick...
Next I intend to mold the seam between the fender extension and door, provided I can sort out the fender fit first. |