Recent content by njlimbaugh

The wipers on your car are operated by a vacuum motor through a cable system. There is no electricity involved. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the cables need adjustment.

What year is your Buick?

If the cable was broken the speedometer needle wouldn't move at all. If the needle is jumping is just need lubrication. I have gone through this with several cars over the years.

The cable lubricant has dried out. Lubricant is available at any auto parts store and is administered by disconnecting the cable at the speedometer end and running the lube down the cable. Instructions are usually on the package.

I once rebuilt brakes on a 37 Dodge that did exactly as you describe. Turns out that the drums had been turned and the new shoes I installed were standard size. What happens it; the shoes only contact the drums with a small patch in the center which makes two things happen: the shoes flex...

Looks good! Don't forget that it's the shock fluid in the upper A-arm that also lubes the pivot points. If you don't keep some sort of lube in them, they'll wear pretty fast; then you will be doing more repair work!

You need to compress the springs. I suggest finding a repair manual before you start a job of this magnitude with no experience. As long as you're doing this, you might as well rebuild the whole front suspension system since most of it needs to come off anyway.

Aftermarket switches for the steering column are available from lots of sources; some with 4-way flashers built in, some just for turn signals. I bought my last switch from C.W. Moss (look on the internet) who had the best prices at the time. You will need to convert your taillight sockets and...

.030 undersize is not unusual. In fact, I once had the crank for an old Ford flathead V8 ground to .040 under with no problems.

Either remove the sending unit for the dash gauge/light and put the line there or put a tee in the port and use both the light and a gauge.

How many pounds of pressure are you running in the cooling system?

I you have pinholes, I've used SealsAll to good effect several times. Comes in a small tube. Wire brush the area down to bare metal and smear on a thin coat. Let dry 24 hours.

One thing I have noticed, not only on this site but several others that I frequent, is questions which indicate that the writer lacks quite a bit in understanding the basics of automotive design. We oldtimers started by simply repairing the crap that we were forced to drive because most of us...

I'd go for the stick shift. Dynaflow trannies are inefficient both mechanically and economically; plus a stick will last forever in a collector car and is easy to repair for any competent mechanic. As to the engine size, a slightly souped up 248 with a stick should be faster and more fun to...

While you're kicking this around, search for a more modern car with the same wheelbase and track as the Buick you want to build. It will, naturally, need to be body-on-frame construction as opposed to unit construction so the old body shell can be dropped on the new chassis. Consider pickup...