New member from Germany - 1949 Buick Super Sedanet 320

K

Katu

Member
Hi there,

since three years now I'm the proud owner of a 49' Super Sedanet. I never thought it would take 3 years to bring it on the road again. But when you fix one thing, you discover another and at one point I just decided to make it a foolproof daily driver without changing too much of the appearance. So now my Super has a new drivetrain with a TH350C and a new rear end, a contactless ignition, electric water pump and fan, dual-circuit braking system (with original drum brakes), the original tube radio is restored and has a hidden bluetooth receiver, the wiper motor was replaced by an electric one. All seals have been replaced and the next thing that will be done is to replace the original 248 cui straight 8 with a rebuilt and improved 1952 Roadmaster 320 cui straight 8.

Interior and chrome looks a bit shabby though and the red paint job is not the nicest in the world, but I don't want it too perfect. Otherwise I'll be to cautious to drive it.

I'm thinking about converting the 320 to EFI, but I'll write my questions in another post.

Greetings from Germany,
Katu
 
the next thing that will be done is to replace the original 248 cui straight 8 with a rebuilt and improved 1952 Roadmaster 320 cui straight 8


oooh, the 320ci is a bit longer.

are you going to have to modify much in order to get that to fit?
 
bob k. mando said:
the next thing that will be done is to replace the original 248 cui straight 8 with a rebuilt and improved 1952 Roadmaster 320 cui straight 8


oooh, the 320ci is a bit longer.

are you going to have to modify much in order to get that to fit?
Click to expand...


The 320 is about 5 inch longer. But I made room for it by replacing my broken water pump with an electric pump and the fan with electric fans that I placed in front of the radiator. There should be enough room. If not, there is lots of room in front of the radiator, so that I could relocate it and make more room in the engine compartment.
 
firstofeight said:
Will the 320 make it a "1949 Century" ?

Ben
Click to expand...

😝👍 Definitely!

The rear axle and the transmission give it a wider gear ratio. I already did 90 mph on the german Autobahn with the old 248. I'm not planning to drive that fast all he time (I also need to do something about the noise insulation) but it's nice to know I can.

I aim to see how economic an old straight 8 can be moved when everything is optimised and I definitely will use it for some tours across Europe. So I'm looking forward to the new motor.

IMG_7567.JPG
 
Some new pics from the garage

Finally the 320 Straight8 is fixed in place. It's not only longer but also higher. So we need a few more modifications to it's new environment. And the headers are still work in progress.

Sedanet_garage_kl.jpg320_straight8_top_wide.jpg320_straight8_front.jpg320_straight8_front2.jpg320_straight8_top.jpg
 
Hello from Germany

:waving:

I am a lucky owner of a buick special from 1955 since severals weeks. In the moment it is in work to get the German street legal. Furthermore I would like to make some improvements.
I look forward to the car and the summer and I am able to use it. But now I have a question, too, because I am looking for an old stile radio, but with modern technic. I cannot find it neither in the
web nor in a shop in Germany. The typical radio of the 1955 buick has rounded edges. The offers show only cornered edges. I saw pictueres in the web with radios which fit, but I cannot find anything. Perhaps somebody can help me.
I would be very glad for your support.

Thanks an bests wishes from Germany
roadrunner 53
:rolleyes:
 
hrm, a modern stereo with "old style" facade is a pretty specialized request. i would suggest the www.RivOwners.org forum but the oldest Riviera is only 1963.

perhaps the AACA forums would know? they tend to get into a lot more of the 1930s-50s cars.
 
There are vendors who can upgrade an original radio to tune in both AM and FM bands and provide other modern electronic enhancements. The exterior of the radio looks the same as before, plus the original knobs, buttons, and dial still function. Being in Germany, you may need additional bands on the radio.

The 1954 and 55 Buicks have an arch-shaped cutout in the dash for the dial. This makes installation of a standard replacement unit difficult. The original Buick Sonomatic radio made by DELCO with pushbutton tuner is a part number 981651. The Selectronic electrically-tuned unit is a 981652. Corresponding 1954 radios have a black dial instead of gray as found on the 55s. Retrofitting the Selectronic unit may turn out to be much more difficult than the regular Sonomatic unit.

It will help to locate an original unit by searching for Buick or DELCO and the radio part number. Many times sellers have a radio showing the part number, but they do not know which cars it fits.
 
Updates on my project

So,

I‘ve been asked for an update on my project... thanks Ben for reminding me that it has been so long :p

The engine-swap worked out just fine. Thanks to half a ton of iron my Sedanet is now two inch closer to the ground which looks really nice but needed some adjustments of the steering (custom made pitmans arm) and the chassis geometry (too much camber). The rebuild Roadmaster engine is a real nice upgrade with about 250 HP instead of 115 :) Only the fuel injection gave me a hard time for month. Adjusting it to work with a straight 8 instead of a V8 was a real pain in the rear end. After that other problems showed up. First the ignition did not have enough power and the engine shut off at the most inconvenient moments (stranded on a busy highway in the middle of the night with no hazard lights, fearing for my life and my Sedanet) until I replaced the petronix system with a better distributor (http://performancedistributors.com/product/buick-straight-8-dui-distributor/). After that problem was solved it became summer and the fuel commander (a little fuel tank that came with the Fitech EFI) decided that it didn‘t like the hot german summer and overheated every other mile. My next move is to throw out the fuel commander and just put in a fuel pump that was made for EFIs. A friend of mine has a build like that (with a V8) and he had no problem with his Fitech EFI ever since. I plan to finish the project until the end of this month. Wish me luck.
 
Update

Thanks, Katu! Quick response.

Sorry you are having problems. What, exactly, was/is the fuel center doing?

Ben
 
fuel command center

Well the official description for the fuel command center is:
„The FiTech Go EFI Fuel Command Center sump kits use your stock low-pressure manual or EFI pump to feed its sump tank—delivering enough go-juice to power up to 800 hp engines. The pump is submerged in fuel, allowing it to run cooler and quieter than external units. A float in the sump automatically shuts off once the correct level is reached, at which point the pump dead heads against the Fuel Command Center.“

So it‘s meant to make the installation easier by utilising the fuel delivery setup you already have from the tank to the engine compartment. the only other way to install the EFI that the manufacturer recommends is to convert the tank you have by putting a modern fuel pump in it or replace it with a tank that has a pump build in.
Since I didn‘t want to mess with my tank and wanted a easy installation I thought this would be the way to go. But there are tons if videos on youtube from people who have temperature issues with the fuel command center (FCC), there is also an official fix to the problem which is a modification of the FCC and I think they sell a newer version of it now with less problems, but I rather try to live without it and try the way my buddy did it with an external fuel pump so I get to have more room in the engine compartment (maybe for a vintage air A/C someday) and get less questions asked by german officials next time I have a technical inspection (everything has to be ORIGINAL in Germany if you want to insure a classic car).
 
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