Buford the Buick

In the magazine biz, I’m a tech head, which in turn, means I write about things of a technical nature. No secret to this crowd, I’m sure. But what some of you don’t know is I live pretty much fifteen miles from nowhere on Vancouver Island. Black bears (a bunch of them) and cougars (the cat variety, not the other) are my close neighbors. In order to write about things and obviously, to make a living, I work on a project car. Bits and pieces of the build become magazine articles. My current project, which is drawing to an end, is a 1986 Buick T-Type. It’s a neat car and although not anywhere near a classic musclecar, I think it might interest a few of you.

What I started with is a really clean, 18,750-mile original paint car. It was a garage queen, living in a couple of collections, surviving (from what I’ve picked up) a divorce or two, and eventually ended up in the hands of a young guy in Florida. I bought it sight unseen (but I did have a good appraiser go through it with a fine tooth comb). From a geographic point of view, it was in the wrong end of the country. None-the-less, I had it shipped to Blaine, Washington where I picked it up and took it home.

Once I jumped through all of the hoops and had it licensed and registered in BC. My wife and I drove the car to a little place called Cowichan Bay, a few miles from our house, shot some photos and drove home. In the process, I melted a few hundred miles off the back tires (once it got on the boost, it actually did a decent burnout). Immediately after that I ran “Buford” into the garage, and began the disassembly process.

Today (and a chunk of magazine articles later), this is what the Buick looks like (less the engine and transmission):

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/RightProfileLead.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/LeftProfileHigh.jpg

Briefly, the car was stripped to a bare chassis (the body never came off). The undercarriage was scrubbed and detailed. The frame rails were notched at the seam at the rear end. A slightly narrowed, braced 9-inch Ford filled with Mark Williams best pieces brings up the rear with fully adjustable suspension bits from TRZ Motorsports. This a very nice setup that uses stock mounting points for all suspension hardware. All except two of the mounting points are on Aurora aircraft rod ends. I also included a very cool weld-in anti-roll bar from TRZ. The anti roll bar is really the key to making coil sprung GM cars hook without a ton of body roll. Like the other suspension components, it’s completely adjustable, and the tubular mount that welds between the frame rails doubles as a reinforcement for the notched frame. The frame notch and the narrowed Ford allowed me to fit 15X10 Billet Specialties wheels (3-1/2-inch backspace) on the rear, wrapped with P325-50R15 M&H Racemaster D.O.T. drag radials. This rolling stock fits within the OEM wheel wells (tubs). On the nose, the car has an equally adjustable front end, primarily filled with hardware from Auto Fab Race Cars. Shocks are adjustable jobs from Strange Engineering. Up front, the car wears 15X3.5 Billet Specialties wheels along with M&H radial front-runners.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/FrameNotch.jpg

The fuel delivery system is all from the folks at MagnaFuel – the pump is a flow-through model, with large pre and after filters. I reworked a new Turbo Buick replacement gas tank with a pair of welded bulkheads hidden at the leading edge of the tank. From these bulkheads, fuel is picked up inside the sump within the tank. A second bulkhead directs fuel that’s bypassed by the pump. The fuel line is inside the framerail channel and exits by way of another bulkhead fitting located on the right front inner fender (which is setup to lead to the fuel pressure regulator on the engine).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/FuelSystem1.jpg

The finicky Buick hydro boost setup was swapped for a Lamb Components (modified) Mopar master cylinder installed by way of a billet adapter from the folks at TRZ. Under it is a Hurst roll control. I plumbed the entire brake system with hand formed 3/16-inch stainless steel hard-line and 37-degree AN fittings. This is a “fun” job. You should see my “mistake drawer”!

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/4.jpg

There’s all sorts of neat stuff included in the mix: A huge aluminum rad from Ron Davis Racing Radiators, a manual steering conversion from Borgensen, a Precision Performance Products shifter (the Competition Eliminator guys love ‘em and once you fondle it, you’ll know why), a glove box full of MSD digital ignition bits and so on.

Right now, I have the instrument cluster apart. I’m putting a GNX style cluster together using new Revolution gauges from a company called “Speed Hut”. Speed Hut is owned by a young fellow named Aaron Westberg. His grandfather started a little company called AutoMeter. You might have heard about it <g>. Anyway, the parts are awesome.

So what’s next? I’m going to sell the car as a roller and move on (I have a home built 572-inch big block Chevy in pieces that I planned to use, but I’m sure I’ll build it and sell it separately). The truth is I have a huge desire to begin an online magazine that focuses on little guy drag racing in the heyday of the musclecar. Day 2 cars and the technology that supported them is really my fervor. I’m in my late fifties, and in this stage of my life, I’m positive I should pursue my passions sooner than later. I’m sure many of you understand!

I hope you enjoyed looking at Buford the Buick. It’s a neat (albeit pricey) car. I have a ton of blood, sweat and dollars invested. And you know that old saying about no job is worth doing unless you do it twice? They must have been talking about me <g>. Thanks for indulging me!

Wayne Scraba
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

[300deluxeL79]

nice work wayne! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
good luck with the magazine, it sounds interesting. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

Thanks for the kudos man...

I'm looking forward to it. Right now, the plan is to start with a blog (when the guy building the site ever finishes it), then start filling it with basic tech...I think the kids today call it "old school" <g>.

It's funny though. A few years ago, I had a young guy in my garage and he spied my old Sun dwell tach on the workbench. Even though he was a car guy, he didn't have any idea of what dwell was. I guess that officially makes me "old school" too!

Wayne http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[copo69]

Really neat car, Wayne. I've always enjoyed your magazine articles, particularly the copo Camaro clone buildup series a few years ago. Never did see it complete and always wondered what happened to it. Looking forward to your internet venture.

[markjohnson]

It is good to see you here Wayne! I've always enjoyed your writing also and hav your "How To Build A Chevrolet Street Machine" book. That's actually one of my favorite books to this day. Your old Black '69 Z/28 Camaro with the Orange Houndstooth is owned by a member of this site. It's been all restored back into a stock Z/28 but I always kinda like what you did with the car instead. The current owner has even posted pictures of it on here, but for the life of me, I can't remember his name. By the way, sharp Buick! I really like it. I've built up a couple of Drag Radial "G" Body Drag car myself and your really looks top notch.

Hey Guys ...thanks for the responses. My Buick has been a mix of ideas that I've had for years (OK - decades <g>). It's not a legal drag car -- no cage or roll bar. Instead, it was supposed to be a modern version (and my own interpretation with a GM bias) of Addison's Silver Bullet. That car influenced me greatly over the years. So basically, like Addison's Mopar, the Buick was put together with the best hardware I found that was somewhat streetable. It really is a cool car, and I suspect it will really rock and roll with just a simple 572 crate motor.

My old black 69 Camaro haunts me regularly. It's one of those cars I wish I never would have parted with (the other is a for real 1971 LS6 Corvette that I regrettably sold in 1974). The truth was, I had a big tax bill that had to be paid. I had a new EFI Firebird drag car in the shop (NHRA B/Stick Stocker that Tim Bishop now campaigns). The 'Bird was giving me the opportunity to make an income while the '69 was sitting still. So I pulled out the L88/Turbo 400 combination and sold the Camaro to a fellow back east. The L88 was sold to a guy in Oregon who passed away before he could use it. Kip Martin did the machining on the L88. It was a (really) nice piece -- it was more or less an NHRA stocker style engine. FYI, drag racer, Ken Reich was the original owner of the Camaro.

If you folks ever want to see more pix of the Buick, let me know. The suspension is really neat and so is the rear end assembly. My old racing partner, Mike Pustelny narrowed the housing, fought with the concept of fitting the stock mounts in place (with the narrowed width and the huge by large M-W housing ends) and back braced it. Mike does really, really nice work. You should have seen the raw TIG welds.

But I digress. Like I said before....you guys rock and thank you for letting me ramble about some of my old heaps.

Wayne Scraba

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

[thumper83]

Love that regal !I am a g-body lover also strated with an 85 ss then on to the new baby a black 86ss. Grey one is a project / drag car in slow progress lol. Keep it up beautiful car !
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y245/raub/he003.jpg
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[flyingn]

its a sin what you did to it. Its a turbo Buick for Gods sake, build up the turbo 6.. 600 hp is easy with those motors. Why didn't you use a garden variety regal which could have been bought for a whole lot cheaper and it would not have been sacrilegious what you did. What you did is basically grab a mint low mile 1969 SS396/375 and tore into it and but a Big Block Buick in it:) You should be ashamed of yourself. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

You did a nice job on it tho..

[olredalert]

-----Wayne,,,You have good taste in chassis guys. I used Mike P to do a bit of much needed work on "Red Alert" many years ago and he is one of the best. Looking at one of his full tilt Super Stock cars is like looking at a Mona Lisa in the drag race world!!!.......Bill S

----And Frank,,,Turbo-Schmurbo http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif!!! Plenty of them to go around,,,A nice, healthy 540 roller motor and loose converter would give any guy on this sight the shivers in this Buick http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

Hi There GN guy. I had a big long response written, and then I did a double take on your screen name. Your suggestion that 600 horsepower is “easy” could pretty much be open for debate. If you approached that horsepower level with production six cylinder Buick hardware like a block, crank and rods (even on a hopped up, cheating dyno), I have a good hunch the connecting rods would likely be laying on the ground. And even if you did somehow manage it, I really doubt you’d be able to sustain that horsepower level without eventually driving over some engine pieces.

By the way, the dripping, leaking (did I tell you how I had to chip two inches of cooked oil crud from the transmission bellhousing to get at the bolts?) V6 went to a good home. It’s powering a real GN that, uhm, for a short period of time had one of those wicked power engines you’re talking about <g>.

As far as hacking up cars, I’m definitely guilty – I’ve chopped up a number of them. Some were even factory pilot cars with plenty of zeros in the VIN sequence. I have a hunch a couple of other guys on this board have hacked up muscle cars too. And quite a few of us old farts did it when those cars were two days old. Or less.

And finally, I have the stock 6 banger frame mounts sitting here if someone buys the car and absolutely needs it powered by one of those nearly stock 600 HP Buicks.

Take care man…

Wayne (the Buick Butcher) Scraba

[ QUOTE ]
-----Wayne,,,You have good taste in chassis guys. I used Mike P to do a bit of much needed work on "Red Alert" many years ago and he is one of the best. Looking at one of his full tilt Super Stock cars is like looking at a Mona Lisa in the drag race world!!!.......Bill S

Hi Bill! Mike and I have been pals for a long time. If you recall the White and Blue Firebird that Mike Saye raced (and won the NHRA world championship with), that car was originally mine (and Mikes). We were partners on it wayyyyy back when. FYI, that car was originally a low mileage, GM of Canada Player's Challenger car they used to pace race events....oh well. When the $$$ ran out, we sold it to Saye. Mike is one of the good guys in the biz. Plenty of folks don't know his influence either. More than a little of the new Dodge Challenger race package is due to MPR. And I suspect, since he is pals with Brian Wolfe, he had a wee bit of influence on the CJ Mustang as well. Right now, I'm trying to track down some pix Mike took of the housing. When I find them, I'll post them. He builds art.

Wayne Scraba

Here’s some photos of the rear axle housing (I mentioned earlier). I picked up a new 9-inch Ford housing from Mark Williams. For this application, it actually began life as a Currie piece, less the housing ends (Mark Williams usually installs his own on these housings). Going in, the plan was to narrow the housing a bit. The rationale was pretty simple: I wanted to use the smallest backspace wheel possible. Why? When I had drag cars, it was something we always did, because it provided you with the lightest wheel of the bunch (a ten-inch wide wheel with a 3.5-inch backspace is lighter than a ten-inch wide wheel with a 5.5-inch backspace), plus it makes removing the wheel a bit easier if you use drive studs (which I do use, even on this car). And one more thing: I think the deeper dish of the small backspace wheel looks better!

Sounded simple enough. So I had M-W drop ship the housing to my old racing pal, Mike Pustelny (MPR in Almont, Michigan). Little did anyone know that my request for a slightly narrowed housing would morph into such a major job. Here’s the housing as it came from Mark Williams:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4446.jpg

It became pretty obvious that in order to narrow the housing, add Mark Williams’ big housing ends and use the stock mounting points, some major surgery would be needed. Mike sliced the lower mount like so:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4470.jpg

Next, he installed his narrowing fixture and added the M-W housing end:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4699.jpg

He had to piece it all together before finally welding the housing end onto the axle tubes. This wasn’t easy since the lower suspension and shock mount actually overlaps the new (huge) housing end.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4701.jpg

Here’s how Mike welded up the housing end. I you’re a welder or even a guy who appreciates good workmanship, then I think you’ll like this photo:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4703.jpg

Next up is a photo of how Mike finished the lower suspension and shock mount. As you can see, there was considerable work to make this whole thing work with the stock suspension mounting points and the large M-W housing end.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4718.jpg

Another thing I wanted was a back brace on the housing. Mike and I talked about this quite a bit. He suggested instead of using a box style brace that it might be cleaner and easier on this application to use a tubular brace. The reason for bracing a Ford housing is because they tend to want to move fore and aft (flex on the ends) with big power. Here’s a couple of photos of Pustelny’s solution:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4720.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4721.jpg

As you can see, Mike’s handiwork is exceptional. What else is neat about the bracing job is the fact he never really bitched about all of the trouble. The job took a lot (a Lot) longer than anyone ever imagined, and I suspect he could have been well on his way to fabricating a complete Super Stock housing in the amount of time he spent fidgeting with this piece.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4722.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4725.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/100_4726.jpg

In addition to these mods, the housing also received a large inspection/filler bung over the ring gear “hump” along with a magnetic drain plug on the bottom. Once all of those things were done (and after the anti-roll bar was installed out here on the west coast), the housing was powder coated black and assembled with one of Mark Williams’ Pro Street center sections and a 35-spline Pro Street axles. I used one of the billet steel Lockers inside the aluminum through bolt 9-inch along with 3.89:1 gears. M-W set it up and it too is a really, really nice piece. He even goes as far as safety wiring the ring gear bolts on. Whew. Sometimes I think building a dedicated race car would have have been a whole bunch easier. And cheaper <g>.


Wayne Scraba

[kwhizz]

Wayne.......Your Attention to detail is second to none.....All I can say is WOW!!!!

Ken http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flag.gif

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/HollyRocks.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/JeffSucksToo.gif

[thumper83]

Thats just bitchin !!!!!!!!

Wow. Thanks guys. And hey Ken... your comment is one of the highest compliments anyone can get, considering the absolutely stunning level you build your cars to! Yeow!

Again, thanks. If I don't step on any toes, maybe I'll post some more on Buford. I have some "before" engine compartment shots. It's amazing how much stuff GM packed into those things. The production line (factory) wiring harness alone has to rival Rubik's cube <g>

Right now I'm working on the instrument cluster. It's pretty cool.

Wayne Scraba

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

In my last post, I said I'd get some "before" pix posted. In hindsight, I should have done this earlier. Anyway, the first photo is of Buford the Buick sitting at the boat launch in Cowichan Bay, BC. I live on Vancouver Island on the far (far) west end of Canada. "Cow Bay" is a quaint little fishing/tourist village on the south east coast of the island. I lived in the area (Cobble Hill) for a few years before moving to the real backwoods <g>. Where I live now supposedly has more black bears than anywhere else in North America. They're not kidding. And all of 'em must live in my backyard! Back to the Buick:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_2984.jpg


That same day, I pressure washed the engine compartment as much as I could stand, and then ran the car into my old shop. This is a photo I took after an hour or two of peeling stuff out. It's pretty clear here and in several of the following photos that I didn't pressure wash the thing nearly enough!

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_3035.jpg

At this point, I had the engine and turbo 200 out of the car. Take a look at the crossmember. There was no chance this thing would ever, ever rust <g>. Aside from the oil and grease, the original owner had the car undercoated with that wax-oil stuff. It was wicked to clean with a capital "W". I don't have a photo of the trans tunnel, but that was the worst part. Message to self: You love laying under the car with the pressure washer set on "high". In the process of cleaning up the grease, I literally wore out a dozen brushes of all sorts. Walmart and made-in-China brushes wanted to be my friends.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_3089.jpg

In the process, I tackled the AC/heater box removal. That thing is the size of a house. Or maybe a Smart Car. I eventually decided that the inner skirts had to come out in order to clean up the mess. I should have removed them before I pulled out the AC/heater box. It would have been a whole bunch simpler. Hindsight is a wonderful teacher ain’t it?

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_3101.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_3108.jpg

Here's a photo of the car after the scrubbing and pressure washing was more or less complete. You can see how the paint came right off the frame. I used a considerable amount of spray on engine degreaser. For the tough stuff, I'd resort to brake cleaner and hot water hooked directly to the pressure washer. I don't have a lift, so the underneath part of the equation was miserable.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_3223.jpg

Once that was done (and I'll be the first to admit the cleaning process took weeks of my spare time instead of days), I stripped out almost everything from the engine compartment and masked/taped what little remained. Then I sprayed it with semi-gloss black. I found a near match to the Buick offset too: It's paint for a John Deere tractor. They have two different glosses (one is called "Blitz Black"). One matches the firewall perfectly and the other seems right for the frame. I can't take credit for finding Blitz Black (rattle cans or bulk). The street rodders discovered it long before me. The parts guy at the John Deere dealership I bought it from told me he can't believe how much of the stuff he sells. He didn't know why. I didn't tell him <g>. Oh. See the Moroso frame mounts? I didn't miss a bolt. That's how they're installed. One mount fits both sides of the car and that's where the extra unused hole comes from.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_4190.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_4191.jpg


So that's how the project actually began. While this was going on, Mike Pustelny was busy making sparks fly on the rear end housing. Meanwhile, I was melting my credit card ordering parts <g>. Down the road, I'll round up some photos of how the frame was notched. That too turned into a great fab job – this time by an outfit that specializes in some (super) nicely turned out sprint cars here on the Island. I definitely would have used MPR's services for this job too, but his shop and mine are 2597.33 miles (and one ferry ride) apart.

I hope you folks find this a wee bit interesting.

Wayne Scraba

A few of the reasons I chose to build a Regal was because it (along with other G-Bodies) was the last of the mid size rear wheel drive platforms from General Motors, it has a full (albeit a wee bit flimsy) frame, it has a relatively spacious engine compartments that can swallow any Chevy engine, plus there's a ton of aftermarket support for them and they tend to be (relatively) easy to work on. Additionally, I really like the way you sit in the car when you drive them. And from an aesthetic perspective, I personally dig the looks of the T-Type over the other G-Bodies.

Bliss. Right? Maybe not. The trouble is, room is limited out back for big sticky tires. Typically, the most street tire these things can accommodate is in the range of a P275-60R15 skin. And if you run slicks, a 9.00X28.00-inch hoop is the biggest you can get away with (and that might be a stretch). Even with those two tire examples, you’re almost always forced to jack the back end up to gain clearance. The reason is, the leading and trailing edges of the frame rail (closest to the back of the door jamb and closest to the bumper) are tight to the tire. The gentle factory frame notch simply limits the amount of tire you can fit, even though there’s plenty of room in the OEM wheel well. There's another catch when you jack up the back end of a car like this: If you raise it excessively, you mess with the geometry of the back suspension. The factory 4-link instant center location is changed and typically, the car will be a handful to hook.

The solution is simple: Notch the frame. Sounds simple enough, but if it isn't done correctly, it can turn ugly, simply because the factory frame isn't the strongest piece in the world. The truth is, the frame has to be carefully notched, then reassembled (plated) with fresh material and reinforced (with a crossmember) so that it doesn't droop or bend following the surgery. Once notched though, a car like Buford can swallow tires right up to P325-50R15’s or 11.5X28.00-inch slicks, using the stock inner wheel well (tub). Best of all, this is all accomplished at stock (or close to stock) ride height which means the suspension geometry isn't screwed up. I had Lejeune Performance (Victoria, BC) notch the frame on Buford. The Lejeune shop primarily builds bad to the bone sprint cars, but they had an opening in their schedule, so that’s where Buford went for surgery.

The lowest 1/2-inch to 1.00-inch of the inner wheel well (tub) where it meets the frame is actually a sheetmetal lip. At various spots, that lip tends to flare out to meet the outside of the frame rail. Clearance is made with a big hammer, as shown here. Deter (one of the owners of Lejeune Performance, and a rather accomplished sprint car pilot) warmed the innner a bit, then whacked it several times to get it into shape. It really doesn't require a huge amount of hammer clearancing.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch3.jpg

Here's how the frame was cut. Deter used a 4.5-inch angle grinder with a cut off disc for this part of the surgery. The frame rail was cut back to just past the factory seam.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch5.jpg

When Deter finished the side and bottom cuts on the frame rail, he turned his attention to the top. Here, a torch was used to cut it out. Once the rough cuts were done, the notch was detailed with a grinder.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch6.jpg

At this point, Deter fabbed a pattern, using good old fashioned cardboard as the basis. He laid it out, then tapped a hammer around the edges on the frame cut to get an exact match.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch7.jpg

The cardboard template was cut out, laid on 0.250-inch mild steel plate and traced. Company founder, Russ Lejeune cut out the frame boxing plates. Russ sold the business but still keeps his hands busy a few days a week.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch8.jpg

Next, Deter fit the boxing plates into each frame rail. There's a good sized gap at the front and back. That gap is pretty much the width the frame has been notched. Small filler pieces were fabricated to fit the gaps and tacked into place, and then finally, everything was welded up.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch9.jpg

I had a set of gussets welded to the frame rail at the lower trailing arm mount. These boxed gusset plates are manufactured by HR PartsNStuff. High horsepower G-Bodies regularly rip the trailing arm right out of the car at this point (no kidding). Additionally, I added a set of bolt-in tubular braces from AutoFab race cars (you can see them in the second photo). These braces tie the lower (forward) trailing arm mount to the upper (forward) mount, which greatly enhances the strength.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch13.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Buick/frameBraces.jpg


There was more to the reinforcement: Part of the plan was to include a big anti-roll bar from the folks at TRZ Race Cars. This anti-roll bar kit includes a beefy tubular crossmember, complete with large end plates that weld to each of the inner frame rails. While it provides a place to mount the anti-roll bar, it also does a very good job of stiffening the frame, particularly in a critical location. One more piece that really helps stiffen these cars is a back seat brace (basically a pair of diagonal braces that stiffen the body over the rear axle). Why all of the concern about bracing? Easy. If you look at some modified G-Bodies, the windshield is often cracked and the doors don’t line up. Often they'll buckle the rear quarter panels when you add power (as you can well imagine, T-top cars are even worse).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Notch15.jpg

Here's the finished frame notch on the passenger side. I wanted everything to look clean and somewhat close to stock. I think it turned out pretty well.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Buick/FrameNotch.jpg

This is the reason for the notch on each side of the frame. It allows these big M&H Racemaster P325-50RX15 Drag Radials to fit nicely in the back wheel wells. And I didn't have to jack the car up to fit them either. In fact, the back springs are stock and I run them without the upper isolators so that the ride height isn’t ridiculous (the M&H tires are definitely huge by large – I like em!).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Buick/WheelRear.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Buick/TireLeftRear.jpg

That's it for now. I'll post some more detailed suspension and rear end photos (including the front) a bit later. Looking at the clock and the calendar, I think it's time to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas. Best of the New Year too! Cheers!

Wayne Scraba
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[flyingn]

looks good!!!!

Thank you!

Over the weekend, I'll dig up some more pix and post them.

Season's Best folks!

Wayne Scraba http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[markjohnson]

Yeah.....that is some very nice work there. I really like the gusset work on the lower control arm frame brackets. Those two very important points, often overlooked, are actually the two points where the rear axle pushes against and propels the car forward. Yeah, like I said.......pretty important! Those 1978-1988 "G"-bodies really do make good race cars. They were stamped out of such thin sheetmetal (even aluminum in places) for light weight and gas mileage, raked back windshields, rear bumpers sealed to the body to eliminate the "parachute" effect, etc. Like you mentioned Wayne, they may be full-framed, but it really is flimsy "C" channel construction! My '79 Malibu had a 540 CID with 14:1 compression, Moser 9-inch, dog-dish hubcaps, etc. It was a Suzuki Hayabusa killer that got me kicked out from the drag strip for lack of safety equipment that would have killed its' sleeper look. But anyway, it was showing a LOT of stress cracks around the body by the time I was done messing around with it.

Hey Mark!

Those are pretty much dead-on observations on these cars. As you know, they were basically unit-bodies with a sheet metal "frame" underneath. Even the glass is thin. This example has aluminum bumper beams. Some even had aluminum rad supports. I had an El Camino ('78, which I bought new) that had an aluminum hood. It was because of that flexi-flier syndrome that I spent the time bracing everything. The bars that tie the forward trailing arm mounts together are a pain to install (and you can pre-load them..which is the case here), but they certainly work. Before I started (when the car was more or less stock), I could jack the car up and watch the door gaps change! Today, nothing moves or droops. I like going to car shows and taking a close look at Grand Nationals. You can easily spot the ones with extra heat under the hood and little or no chassis bracing (tweaked quarters, cracked windshields, cracked t-tops, "B" posts that are cracking, etc.)<g>. Of course, light also equates to quick for most cars!

And speaking of that, do you have any pix of your '79? I'd like to see some. Sounds like a real bad boy! I like the part about getting kicked off the drag strip http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I can relate...
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif


Take care man...
Wayne Scraba

Here are some details on pieces I used in the rear suspension on Buford. I think you can also get some useful rear suspension tuning info from the following as well:
I used upper and lower trailing arms from TRZ Race Cars (I have parts from both AutoFab and TRZ – both companies have really, really nicely finished hardware). This first photo shows the rear end setup before the gas tank was installed and before the brakes and other pieces were completed. I spent a lot of time concerning myself with the suspension geometry on the car, and as I probably mentioned previously, I’m not big on altering the instant center by a huge amount. I’ve seen so called “lift bars” actually oval the holes in suspension mount points. Folks in the know figure this is because the lift bars are actually attempting to rip the rear end out of the car.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/1.jpg

This photo shows upper trailing arms from both TRZ and AutoFab (I picked up a set of uppers and lowers from both companies). TRZ pieces (the ones I installed in the car) are at the top. These components are very nicely welded, have great machining and are finely finished. Both companies also have outstanding reputations within the stock suspension “fast street car” drag race crowd too. In this case, I decided to stick with one manufacturer for rear suspension hardware instead of mixing and matching.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/2.jpg

What’s appealing with these pieces is the fact they’re easily adjustable. Some people figure you can adjust the factory four link by way of preload (like folks do with a drag race four link – on those setups, you can shorten the upper right bar to increase the pre-load on the right rear tire; If you lengthen the same bar, then more load is placed on the left rear tire.). That isn’t really correct with a stock style suspension system since the factory four link is triangulated, not parallel. In my case (stock style GM triangulated suspension), the upper bars are used to center the rear end housing from side to side (by adjusting one upper). The upper bars also used to set the pinion angle (by adjusting both uppers the same direction and same amount). The adjuster for the top trailing arm bars is shown in this photo (the build quality here on the TRZ pieces is fabulous by the way):

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/11.jpg

I removed the top bushings and bushing sleeves from the rear end housing and installed a set of spherical bearings from TRZ Race Cars. Actually, I used the billet bearing retainers from TRZ and swapped out the spherical bearings (exchanging the supplied bearings which I believe are from QA1) for pieces from Aurora Bearing. I’ve always had good success with hardware from Aurora. Their good bearings are manufactured in the USA, and they don’t cheap out by injecting plastic into the piece as a bearing surface (more common on Chinese made bearings than you might think). It’s for this reason that Pro Stock chassis builders such as my old acquaintance, Jerry Bickel use Aurora hardware. The good quality Aurora rod ends are definitely pricey, but I figured I could justify it on this build. By the way, pretty much everywhere you see a spherical bearing or non-solid rod end (there are two solid rod ends used for lower shock mounts), on this car the bearing came from Aurora. And there are a lot of rod ends and bearings in use on this car!

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/12.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/13.jpg

The lower trailing arms I used on the Buick are also from TRZ. In this photo, you can see both the TRZ and the AutoFab pieces. TRZ bars are on the top. The big difference is the Delrin (very hard plastic) bushing on the frame side and an adjuster on the rear end side. The Delrin-equipped bar is more street friendly than one with rod ends on either end (less harsh and less noise). Delrin material doesn’t deflect like poly. That means, for a street driven car, it’s a far superior material. In truth, poly bushings cause “stiction” (where the bushing momentarily seizes) and that causes all sorts of traction tuning issues. The lower bar adjustment is to set the wheelbase on the car (and obviously attempt to simultaneously center the wheels in the wheel well). FYI, this setup allows for minute wheelbase changes. And like their top bars, the TRZ lowers have a fabulous build quality.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/8.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/9.jpg

When it came to the setup, I didn’t use lift bars. I didn’t use air bags. I didn’t use trick springs (the stock six cylinder springs are in the car). And as you’ve probably gathered, I didn’t use revised suspension geometry either. So how do you make these things hook? The key is in the anti-roll bar along with the shock absorbers. To pre-load the suspension in an A or G-Body, a sway bar (anti-roll bar or “ARB”) is most often used. When the car is driving straight down the road, an anti-roll bar is effectively in a “neutral” position. That means it has no effect upon the way the car feels or works (drives, rides, handles). It also has no effect upon ride height. Get on the throttle though, and the anti-roll bar counteracts torque rotation. Increasing the diameter of a stock rear bar or using a weld-in anti-roll bar (like the really cool TRZ piece I used), allows you to tune the amount of torque rotation the car has. The beauty of the weld-in ARB is that you can physically climb under the car and adjust the links that locate the bar to the rear axle housing. That means you can add or subtract pre-load at will. And it’s pretty easy to disconnect or disable should it be desired.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/16.jpg

The other key at the rear of the car is the shock absorber arrangement. I wanted a high quality double adjustable shock here. It just so happened that Strange Engineering is now building high quality aluminum body shocks in the USA. They’ve been a Koni distributor for a long time, and it was only natural for them to branch out into shock absorbers. Both adjusters (rebound and compression) for each of the back shocks are located at the base (because of the adjuster size and location, I had to rotate the shock at the lower mount).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/shock5.jpg

In the Buick adjustment is super easy to set. I set the rebound first. For a baseline, I set the rebound adjuster to the hardest (full clockwise) position. This means the shock will be hard to extend. Basically, this means the body will not be separating easily. It’s essentially a very conservative starting point.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/shock11.jpg

Next, I set the compression adjuster to full soft (full counterclockwise) position. This means the shock will be easy to compress. The car will droop at the back (again, a very conservative setting to get started). At this point, I can tune the car for various drag strip conditions. When the car is set up for street use, then its easy to turn both adjusters (rebound and compression) to four or five clicks back from full hard). If there’s a need to firm up the handling for some reason, then it’s easy to simply turn both of the adjuster knobs clockwise. As you can imagine, these shocks from Strange are super nice pieces. It's not necessary to remove the shocks from the car for adjustment either. You simply crawl underneath and twist knobs (no tools are required either).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/shock12.jpg

That’s it for now, but I’ve found a couple of pix of the front end pieces, and I’ll see if I can find a few more. When I do that and find some time to add some captions, I’ll post them here. Til next time!


Wayne Scraba












http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

[markjohnson]

Neat stuff, Wayne. I ran my "G" body Drag Radial car initially with an un-adjustable Hotchkiss rear suspension, air bags, and 200 LBS of sandbags in the trunk! First few passes with the "big" motor required holding the steering wheel quite crooked, just to make the car go straight and to keep it off the guardrail! Really made for some scary passes. I installed an adjustable Metco rear suspension (I really like their stuff), QA1 adjustable rear shocks, and a stock F41 rear sway bar from the local junkyard. After setting the correct pinion angle with only the upper left arm installed, I'd re-install the upper right arm and then shorten it a full turn. This actually made the car sit a little higher in the right rear at static rest but would level out beautifully at the launch. I also stiffened up the right rear shock with the dial, totally de-flated the air bags, and was able to get rid of that 200 LBS of sand in the trunk! It took a long time to get all this sorted out and once done, these little things really worked out great for me and the car would launch and track straight. It became very easy to drive.....straight like a missle, compared to how terrible it first was. Mind you, this was all on a BF Goodrich 275-60 Drag Radial back when they were the only manufacturer of Drag Radials. These days, I hear the Mickey Thompson Drag Radial is far superior and quite an incredible tire for getting power to the ground.

I figured I'd show some photos of the front suspension pieces fitted to the Buick along with some various engine compartment shots. My idea for front suspension was to swap out the OEM a-arms for a set of tubular aftermarket models. There are plenty of different shapes and sizes of a-arms out there. Some are really good. Some (as you can well imagine) are really bad. The ones I chose are from AutoFab Race Cars. I really liked them because not only were they (extremely) well built, they were built from 4130 steel (chrome moly) and were nicely TIG welded (which is pretty much mandatory with 4130). Another big bonus was the fact they used large rod ends on all four (per side) mounting points. I should also point out that in stock form, there is quite a bit of camber change when the suspension on these cars goes through its travel (similar to the antics of something like an earlier GM A-body). Much of that camber change is fixed with the geometry of the AutoFab a-arms. Here's a photo of the a-arms as delivered from AutoFab.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/A-Arm1copy.jpg

I decided to make a few mods to the a-arms. Like the rest of the car, I swapped the supplied rod ends for high strength 4130 jobs from Aurora (they're almost $60….each…Yikes!). Another question I had was this: The uppers came with nicely machined aluminum cross shafts. On a racecar, you don't concern yourself with potholes and other road irregularities. On a car that sees street use, obviously you do. “What if?” entered my mind, so much so I called a pal who is a mechanical engineer and asked him. Although he figured the loads might not be that brutal in this location, he thought it would be safer on a street car to use a steel cross shaft. As a result, I had steel cross shafts machined to replace the standard aluminum models AutoFab supplies. Finally, while the hammer tone powder coating AutoFab uses is of an excellent quality, I didn't really dig the color. So I stripped the a-arms and had them powder coated black. You can see the upper here, installed in the car. In this photo, you can also see the fabbed brake hard lines. I installed armor on the lines anywhere the lines would be vulnerable (actually I used an entire roll of stainless armor for the car).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/A-ArmEngCmpt.jpg

This photo of the left front shows the upper and part of the lower a-arm. The big bolt that goes through the top of the upper is a suspension travel limiter. Basically, it's a suspension stop bolt used to adjust and limit the amount of movement the front suspension has. The limiters can be backed right off for street use or you can "tie the car down" so that the front has little travel on a super sticky racing surface. I powder coated the spindles and the brake calipers. The flex hoses are from Russell while the frame bracket for the hose is stock, but cad plated silver. Wheel studs are long models and the dust shields are new old stock from GM (ok…I smashed the originals with a pickle fork….twice…oops). Springs are stock Buick V6. You can see some of the fabricated brake line in this photo. I spent a huge (Huge) amount of time on the suspension and chassis for this car. I always thought that details really made the difference in any car. I hope it shows up well in the photos (particularly since it likely doesn't seem like much when you first look at the Buick).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/brake.jpg

The steering box is a new piece from Borgensen. These folks are wonderful to deal with by the way. Everything I've ever worked with from them has been top notch. And service is great too. Someone sent me the wrong pitman arm, and when I asked about it, it didn't take very long for another correct model to be in my hands (next day Fed Ex if my memory serves me correctly). I chose a slow ratio box. There were two reasons for this: It makes parking easier with manual steering and on a fast car, a quick ratio box is, uhm, rather delicate from a "darting" perspective <g>. I know someone who used to habitually jerk the steering wheel on the gear change on a 427 4-speed Fairlane. It came back and bit him (the result was a guard rail encounter – not pretty)!

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Steeringbox.jpg

Here are a few photos of the master cylinder and brake lines. The master is a Lamb Components modified Mopar unit. This is a darling of the dragstrip. It's light. It's reliable and it's easily adapted to other cars. The only catch is the fitting size (goofy by goofier). Roger Lamb works that out in his modified units. They supply fittings that go to -3 AN. The adapter to the firewall is a billet piece from TRZ Race Cars. What you can't see is a Lamb pushrod retainer captured in the back of the master. It ensures that the pushrod cannot back out (I've had one come out on a Pro Stock style car I had – luckily if fell out while servicing the car in the shop – I've been nervous about this stuff ever since). The actual pushod (which you can't see) has a spherical bearing that attaches to the brake pedal. The geometry of the stock pedal that is used with Buick’s infamous (notorious?) "Power Master" booster arrangement is correct for a manual conversion. All I had to do was have the pin removed (replaced by a high strength AN bolt). These photos also show more of the plumbing. If you recall, I said this was a real pain? I wasn't kidding. I’ll bet there's two weeks of my time plumbing the thing (brakes – fuel was another matter entirely). I know for sure that it took 30 feet of certified (origin) stainless steel tubing to get the job done.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MasterCylinderFirewall.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MasterCylinder2.jpg

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MasterCylinderLine.jpg

Here's why you don’t use stainless without knowing the source. I bought a thirty-foot roll of stainless brake line tubing from a speedshop. The price was right. Now I know why. I threw away every piece I flared. Thinking my high quality flaring tool was junk; I tried flaring some small pieces of certified origin tubing I had left over from an earlier racecar-plumbing job. Bingo. It worked perfectly. After doing a bit of homework, I came to the conclusion that the speedshop tubing was most likely sourced from China. Nice. And the name on the packaging was from a name brand brake component supplier.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/brokenflares.jpg


This is a good look at the uber-cool aluminum radiator Ron Davis built for me. It's the largest rad that can fit in the stock G-Body rad cradle. I had to cut and trim the upper mount to clear the thing (after that was done, I had the top mount powder coated). The rad is huge. Davis' handiwork is over the top too. Beautiful welds. The built-in shroud is tightly sealed as well. The fans are the largest Spal jobs that will fit (Davis provided those with the radiator). You can't see it, but ahead of the rad, mounted on a hand whittled aluminum bracket is a B&M stacked plate transmission cooler. It's fitted with -6 AN ports. It’s a nice piece (and so far, they're made in Canada…but I see a lot of the Hurst and B&M hardware is moving offshore. Yuck).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Radiator.jpg

Here's the anodized aluminum heater block off plate along with an aftermarket cowl piece (when you remove the ac box on these cars, there is no cowl panel remaining). I had it engraved with the Buick logo (the guy who built the plate engraved it). It's pretty cool I think. The round piece with four fasteners in it (top of the delete plate) is a firewall feed through for the coil. The coil takes up residence inside the glove box.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/HeaterDeleteFirewall.jpg


Right now I'm working on finishing the instrument panel. I have a custom GNX style cluster I'm putting together. Down the road I'll include some interior shots and maybe a photo or two of the trunk. I made some neat doubler plates to hold the fuel pump and one of the filters in place, and they show up inside the trunk. Also I have some photos (somewhere on my computer) of the Mark Williams pieces inside the rear end. After all of my years involved in drag racing, I'm convinced Williams builds the nicest rear end pieces in the business. I’ll show 'em to you down the road.

Take care!

Wayne Scraba
and again...

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

[flyingn]

looking good wayne. You would be my hero and Ill buy you a beer if you put a twin turbo v6 in that beast:)

[ QUOTE ]
looking good wayne. You would be my hero and Ill buy you a beer if you put a twin turbo v6 in that beast:)

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha Ha. I'm blushing about the hero part. I'm just a dumb old drag racer. In truth, if you go back through the posts, you'll see I'm eventually going to sell Buford along with my menagerie of big cubic inch rat motor hardware so that I can finance my new online blog/magazine/e-book site (which pretty much will cater to old fart street..err...drag racers and day two musclecar guys like me <g>).

And if you ever buy me a beer, I'll buy you one back. I have a sneaking suspicion where that might lead http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

Take care man!

Wayne Scraba

Here are a few photos of some of the rear axle parts before I assembled them into the housing. I've used Mark Williams hardware for a long, long time, and as far as I'm concerned, it's the best you can get. Buford the Buick has one of Williams' brute strength aluminum through bolt Pro Street 9-inch Ford center sections. It's equipped with a massive pinion support and as you can see in the photos, the billet caps attach by way of through bolts rather than having threads in the bare center section.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MW9-inch1.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MW9-inch2.jpg

When you take a look at the rear, you can see how Williams' safety wires the ring gear hardware (it's all ARP pieces). This car has a 3.89:1 ring and pinion. The Detroit Locker is actually a billet steel piece. The yoke is also billet steel and setup for a 1350 Spicer universal joint (the same as used on many medium duty trucks). Aside from the street gear and the Locker instead of a spool, this is pretty much state of the art for Pro Stock a decade or so ago. They have since gone to larger ring and pinions.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MW9-inch3.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MW9-inchYoke.jpg

These are photos of the axles I used. They're (obviously) from M-W and are large 35-spline jobs (the biggest possible with a Locker). I've used lightened axles from Mark in the past (he offers them rifle drilled with heavily milled flanges), but those are only for racecar use. In this case, the axles were drilled for ½-inch and 5/8-inch wheel studs. I used the honking 5/8-inch drive studs in the car. FYI, to get all of this stuff to fit with a conventional style backing plate (I used 9-1/2-inch early GM midsize parts), the center bore of the plate had to be milled. The axle register on the brake drum was milled (larger) and obviously, the wheel stud holes in the drums had to be enlarged. I'm now on a first name basis with at least two machine shops <g>.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MWAxle1.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MWAxle3.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/MWAxle2.jpg

A few folks have asked me if the car actually has an interior <g>. Yes it does! This is a photo of it with the instrument panel removed. The second shows the back seat and the third is of the door panel. I’m pretty sure the interior is what most would consider to be in pristine condition. There are still places where the factory shipping plastic wasn’t completely removed.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/InteriorPassFrt.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Interior-BackSeat.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/InteriorRHDoor.jpg

I removed the console because I wanted to run one of these shifters. It's built by Precision Performance. They're big in drag racing with air shifters. I had them build me one in a more conventional hand shift mode. I had the carpet section made up to cover the floor where the console once lived. This little mod actually proved trying. Plan "A" was to simply swap the original carpet for a repro from the, uhm, well known restoration carpet place (since GM cuts the carpet under the console). So…..I stripped the seats out of the car and ordered the carpet and it eventually showed up. As soon as I opened the box I knew I was in trouble. It was (a whole bunch) more brown than GM Carmine. Then I put it in the car. The fit was worse than horrible. Plan "B" was to create a removable center section. After a couple of tries, the upholsterer got it right. There are four snaps used to hold it in place. By removing a snap, there's access to the cable or to route wiring.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Interior-Shifter.jpg

Here are a couple of shots of the instrument panel. The panel surrounding the radio is a cool aftermarket piece that allows for the heater delete. I decided to keep the factory AM-FM and the cigar lighter. As you can see, the cluster is out of the car.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Interior-DashClusterOut.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/Interior-DriverSideClusterOut.jpg

At this point, I've reassembled the dash but the actual instrument cluster still isn't installed. You would not believe how much plastic (and how many small screws) is involved in these dash assemblies. Back in the day, I wouldn't have wanted to be the squeak and rattle guy at the Buick dealership. It must have been a nightmare, but I'm getting off topic. I opened up the OEM dash harness connector and peeled out the wires I'd need for a new instrument panel. I used three weatherpack connectors – the big one does everything except for the turn signals. Each signal indicator has it's own weatherpack. I use a lot of weatherpacks in cars. Once you get the hang of assembling them (MSD sells the necessary tools and weatherpack parts), it's pretty easy. I like them because they make for extremely reliable connections.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_2328.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_2327.jpg
http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_2324.jpg

This is a look at what I'm installing. I built this setup with a custom aluminum panel (anodized black) and eight gauges from SpeedHut (Revolution Gauges). Included in the mix is a tach, speedo, fuel level, voltmeter, oil pressure, water temperature, transmission temperature and fuel pressure gauges. These are all stepper motor instruments. That allows them to be super shallow and of course, to have 270-degree sweeps like a mechanical gauge. The wiring harness assemblies for the senders are similar to the mil spec stuff you see on aircraft. There are ton of options available too. For example, the tach has a three-stage shift light. There are "low" and "high" warnings on some of the instruments. The odometer is a digital readout. Gauge bezels have a polished stainless look and they match the trim in the Buick office. I chose a cobalt blue back light package and traditional red pointers (you can select all of this stuff). It's uber cool, but I screwed up. I had it all assembled, but forgot to order turn signal indicators and a high beam indicator in the speedometer. So that's why it's not in the car. I'm waiting for a speedo with those features (supposedly, in transit).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/DSC_2259.jpg


Once the cluster is completely installed, I'll shoot some photos and add them here. I should track down some fuel system pix too. I sweated some details on that and I think it came out pretty nice too.

And by the way, thanks again for letting me indulge myself here! In the meantime, Happy New Year! See ya' next year.


Wayne Scraba

I figured I’d share the fuel system build on Buford, and maybe at the same time give you some insight into how I assemble AN hose and hose ends. I picked up my first piece of AN hose (and hose ends) in 1978 and I’ve been using it ever since. Over those years, I’ve managed to pickup a tip or two (and they’re included below). None-the-less, here’s how I build and test fuel lines: The first step is cut the line. A fine tooth hacksaw is what most recommend, but I like this better. It’s a cut off wheel on a 4-1/2-inch angle grinder. It works super slick and leaves fewer stray wire ends. By the way, I wrap the hose tightly with duct tape, and then clamp it before making the cut.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/1cuthose.jpg

Next, tap the junk out of the cut hose. I usually give it a blast of compressed air too.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/2shakeouthose.jpg

Push on the hose end socket. Sometimes you have to twist it a bit to get the hose to seat correctly inside the socket. This is where a nice clean, square cut on the hose can pay dividends.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/3pushhoseintohoseend.jpg

I always mark the hose behind the socket before assembly. The reason is the socket (and consequently the hose end) can back out when you thread in the hose end nipple. It’s a rare occurrence, but it does happen once in awhile.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/4markhose.jpg

I really like assembling hose with Aeroquip’s soft jaws. They have a magnetic insert and you simply drop them onto your bench vise. Slip the hose with the socket into the vise jaws, leaving maybe 1/16-inch or so of the socket above the vise jaws.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/5hoseinAeroquipvisejaws.jpg

You should lube the threads of the nipple carefully before assembly. This is one place where you shouldn’t be cheap with lubricant. The best lube I’ve found is from the folks at Aeroquip. It’s designed just for this and definitely makes assembly easier.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/6lubehoseend.jpg

Thread in the hose nipple and tighten. Don’t use an aluminum hose wrench for this job! Aluminum hose end wrenches are designed to tighten completed hose assemblies to aluminum adapters. If you use it to assemble a hose end, the jaws will flex (open). It’s a quick way mar the fittings. I use a tight fitting Mac open end wrench for this job. I tighten the hose nipple to the point where the respective hexes are aligned and the gap between the last nipple hex and the socket is no larger than a fingernail.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/7threadin.jpg

Here’s the finished hose end. I always check to be sure the hose end hasn’t backed out (against the mark I initially made).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/8tighten.jpg

This is the finished hose assembly. What you see here are -10 AN fittings and hose. Other sizes and shapes (bent tube and so on) are similar to work on. The only exceptions are hose ends for Teflon line. I don’t like making those at home, and prefer to use crimped ends for those applications.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/9finished.jpg

Not done with the hose end yet. Next, I install a set of Earl’s test fittings (note the use of aluminum wrenches – this is where you use ‘em).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/10installearlsfittings.jpg

At this point, I charge up the completed hose with twenty of so pounds of air.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/11airup.jpg

Then it’s off to the sink to test for leaks. See the bubble? This hose end was simply leaking at the flare (I didn’t tighten the test fitting enough). But it’s still better to test this stuff before it goes on the car.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/12test.jpg

The next part of my fuel system was the gas tank. I bought (actually, my wife bought me) a new Turbo Buick gas tank. The old one was perfect. I just don’t like having fab work done on a used gas tank. Additionally, the repro tanks have metal internal baffles around the sump. The OE Buick Turbo tanks have plastic baffling. One of the steel AN bulkhead fittings is for the pickup (the larger -10 size). The smaller fitting on the left is for the pump by-pass (return line).

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/tankbulkheads.jpg

I built this -10 AN hose to go inside the tank to the pickup. The end you can’t see is slash cut. Internally, the hose is captured inside the tank baffling (by peening one baffle over another) so that the slash cut end resides in the rear section of the sump.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/lineinsidetank.jpg

See the string? See the duct tape surrounding the sender hole in the tank? My arm just fit in the hole, but it was so tight I couldn’t risk losing the wrench inside the tank (the baffling is pretty convoluted). Since the AN wrench is aluminum, using a magnet to fish it out wouldn’t work. So I tied a string to it and if (when) I dropped it, I could fish it out. The duct tape around sender hole saved me from going to the local clinic for, uhm, personal repairs <g>. It’s a bit of a reach to get to the fitting, but I got it done.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/stringonwrench.jpg

This is the pump I used. It’s a bad boy setup from the folks at MagnaFuel. In reality, MagnaFuel is one of two (reliable) companies that are used by Pro Stock teams for fuel delivery (Weldon is the other one). MagnaFuel’s stuff is like jewelry. If you fondle it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Anyway, the pump is a flow through model. That means the fuel passing through cools the pump, allowing it to function full time (continuous duty). It’s actually engineered for fuel injection use, but can be adapted for a carburetor with a different regulator and by-pass valve. As you can see by the tape measure, it’s one honking fuel pump.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/bigflowthrupump.jpg

Here’s the by-pass setup (stainless steel). There’s a big needle inside that operates much like a carburetor bowl needle. Reach a specific fuel pressure level and fuel is bypassed back to the tank. What this does is to reduce the aeration in the fuel by a considerable margin. Fuel pressure is very stable with this setup (you don’t see surges that you see with other pumps). By the way, these pumps can pull a prime; so mounting it above the gas tank isn’t an issue.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/pumpbypass.jpg

The folks at MagnaFuel recommended that I use two filters – one before the pump and one after. Like the pump, these are massive. They have internal filter elements that are easily cleaned or replaced.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/dualfilters.jpg

You’ve probably seen this view before. It’s the mounted pump and pre-filter installed under the rear axle kickup. Given the size of the pump and filters (not to mention the inlet lines are -10 AN), packaging was an issue. This was the only likely spot, but I was really concerned about ripping the sheetmetal due to the weight of all of the components.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/pickuppumpandprefilter.jpg

After looking through several aircraft airframe repair manuals I have on hand, I figured the solution was to use a couple of doubler plates – one for the fuel pump and one for the filter. The idea here is to distribute the load and prevent the pump and filter from tearing the kickup sheetmetal. The doublers were fabbed to size, and then installed with -3 AN fasteners.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/doubler.jpg

This is a bird’s eye view of the trunk. You can see the filter and pump doublers on the kickup. I can cover them with a trunk mat, but I think they look good they way they are.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/trunkcopy.jpg

From the pump, fuel goes forward to the after-filter shown here. I installed it on the passenger side frame rail, just ahead of the lower trailing arm pickup point. The clamp is an aircraft fuel pump piece from Weldon. Part of my plan was to make both filters accessible. There’s no point hiding this stuff, but I wanted it away from the scrub line.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/CH814copy.jpg

The fuel line is -8 AN out of the pump. I routed the line inside the OEM frame rail channel. It’s clamped by way of Adel aircraft clamps, and bolted to the channel by way of short -3 AN fasteners. I usually measure the distance between clamps and make them all equidistant. I think it makes it look nice under the car <g>.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/clampline.jpg

The fuel line wraps over the frame rail near the leading edge of the door. Here it runs upward in between the fender and the inner fender. I installed a -8 AN bulkhead fitting on the inner fender. That allows the fuel line in the engine compartment to be easily removed and installed.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/CH826copy.jpg

This is the MagnaFuel high flow regulator. It can be installed right on the engine. Moroso has recently released a bracket that allows this regulator to be installed on the carburetor (between the respective studs on the passenger side). In the case of the Buick that means a relatively short -8 AN line can run from the fender to the regulator. Like other components from MagnaFuel, it’s a gorgeous piece of machining.

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad262/cscraba/Resize%20Album/regulator.jpg

And that’s it. I think I’ve covered most of the construction, at least in abbreviated form. I also hope didn’t mind me sharing these vignettes of Buford the Buick on your website. Thanks folks!


Wayne Scraba
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/youguysrock.gif

[kwhizz]

Wow!!..........Talk about "Neet" how to do things http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif.......very Informative Wayne http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif......Great Job!!! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif......Again.......Talk about attention to Detail http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif

Ken http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flag.gif

Hey man...thanks for the Kudo's!

Wayne Scraba
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[markinnaples]

Wow, I really admire your attention to detail.

You're quite the craftsman.

I'm blushing....seriously. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Pat Ganahl once stated (wrote) somewhere that he had a sign in the shop or maybe a saying where "no job is worth doing unless you can do it twice". I can relate....easily! <g>

None-the-less, I am glad you like it and I hope I gave a few of you some info and ideas you can copy.

Thanks again!!!

Wayne Scraba