My First Buick

General Information

I recently purchased this beauty at auction. The motor, a 430, is seized and there is a few speed holes in the rear quarters and some significant weight reduction on the trunk lid. The rag top is mostly rags at this point but the interior held up surprisingly well. This is my first project that needs more than a battery and an oil change. I'm excited to learn and I appreciate any tips, tricks, or advice anyone has to offer!
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J
If you haven’t already you need to pull your heads off at least and see why your engine is seized. If you’re not up to doing all that yet, you can pull all your plugs and spry some PB blaster down into your cylinders and get a 1 & 1/8” socket to turn the crankshaft bolt at the front of your engine. Do not try to use the starter to turn over a seized engine. You will damage your flywheel before you damage your starter. If your engine had hydro lock your flywheel may already be damaged. These were balanced from the factory to your engine and a replacement while easy to find may make your engine unbalanced. Try to keep all the parts from your original engine and driveline, transmission before you start buying new stuff. You can also unhook the hydraulic pump from the top and raise and lower the top easily by yourself. Don’t try to do that without the pump disconnected because you will damage the top frame pivot points. Get a portable “garage”from harbor freight if you don’t have indoor space. Most difficult stuff to fix is rust so check your core support and rockers first before you sink money into a car with incurable cancer. Panels are made to be replaced and even the frame can be replaced but the body work to cure rust in your rockers is devastating.
 
krmanr
jbeary said:
If you haven’t already you need to pull your heads off at least and see why your engine is seized. If you’re not up to doing all that yet, you can pull all your plugs and spry some PB blaster down into your cylinders and get a 1 & 1/8” socket to turn the crankshaft bolt at the front of your engine. Do not try to use the starter to turn over a seized engine. You will damage your flywheel before you damage your starter. If your engine had hydro lock your flywheel may already be damaged. These were balanced from the factory to your engine and a replacement while easy to find may make your engine unbalanced. Try to keep all the parts from your original engine and driveline, transmission before you start buying new stuff. You can also unhook the hydraulic pump from the top and raise and lower the top easily by yourself. Don’t try to do that without the pump disconnected because you will damage the top frame pivot points. Get a portable “garage”from harbor freight if you don’t have indoor space. Most difficult stuff to fix is rust so check your core support and rockers first before you sink money into a car with incurable cancer. Panels are made to be replaced and even the frame can be replaced but the body work to cure rust in your rockers is devastating.
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All very well said, very good recommendations to take for a first step.
I wasn't sure about the factory balancing --- I take it the harmonic damper/ balancer is the same way; custom balanced at the factory?
 
M
It has been almost a year since the original poster put his pictures up there. I have been wondering if and how progress has been made on this one...I am rather fond of the 1969 models, since my first Buick was also a 1969 Buick Electra 225 ragtop. With a new engine and fresh paint it was a fifteen hundred dollar car back then. Good times.
 

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ChrisC29
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Yorkton, Saskatchewan

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