1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

The Power Steering Pump and Steering Gearbox were both rebuilt by Power Steering Services (http://www.powersteering.com/).  As part of the job I decided to go with a fast-ratio power gearbox conversion . This conversion essentially changes the gear ratio inside the steering box to convert the slow factory ratio to a 12 : 1 quick ratio.  This will reduce the number of turns of the steering wheel lock to lock and vastly improve handling.  The conversion is 100% inside the gearbox and does not alter the look of original steering gearbox.

Below are a couple pictures showing the Pump and Steering Gearbox.  An NOS high pressure power steering hose was found on eBay.

Below is a page from the 1959 Buick Facts Book describing the Buick’s new Power Steering (Click on Picture to Enlarge).

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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

Moving right along…

I ordered a rebuilt Water Pump from Kanter’s (http://www.kanter.com/). CARS would only rebuild mine…and being that my housing had a hairline crack that wouldn’t work.

A fellow from Texas graciously contacted me and let me know he had an extra Temperature Gauge and he sent it out today.

Greg hung some stuff on the engine and firewall inside and out today and also hooked up a bunch of linkage and stuff. He mentioned what a great time he had snaking the new rubber fuel line through the inside of the frame…something about it almost being as much fun as shoving a wet noodle up a tiger’s butt.

Greg also noticed something rattling around inside the windshield washer reservoir, he took off the lid and found a surprise rolled up in plastic/scotch tape. Guess what…an extra key, just a little corroded.

Next issue is this…the shift linkage is cobbled together, this is the shift rod that goes from the lever on the steering column down to the bellcrank mounted on the frame. The twin and triple are different so they probably made this mod when the tranny was converted from 3T to 2T.

Notice that there are two foot switches.  The switch to the right with the wire leading from it (closer to the brake pedal) changes the stations on the original “Wonderbar” radio.

Here’s that key found in the windshield washer reservoir…a little corroded, but should clean up just fine.

Below is the modified shift rod that has been cut and brazed together. The end with the adjustable clevis should be a simple 90* bend on the end of the rod. Not only is this one ugly, but due to the much larger dimension it’s possible it might rub on the power brake canister. I’ll need to find a correct one for the twin turbine.

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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

The engine and trans have been installed in the car.  You’ll notice the crankshaft pulley is now correctly painted black.

Based on many recommendations I purchased a new exhaust system from Waldron’s ( http://www.waldronexhaust.com/ ) instead of Kepich (also known as the KlassKollection). After just having installed Kepich/Klass systems on two other 59 Buicks, Greg Cook advised that the Waldron system was made far better and pretty much fit right on with some minor adjusting. In contrast, one of the Kepich systems required so much cutting, welding, bending, and grinding that it would have been impossible to install without a torch and welder. After viewing a number of pictures of brand new 59 Buicks, it appears that the exhaust tip did not extend below the rear valence.  I’m doing it the same way so the tailpipes will not be visible when looking at the car.

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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

Things continue to move along! Here are a few pictures of the engine so far…it is painted in authentic “Buick Green”.  This picture is not quite reproducing the color properly, the camera appears to be enhancing the vibrancy a bit The power steering pump was rebuilt by Power Steering Services (http://www.powersteering.com/). The exhaust manifolds have Jet Hot coating applied (http://www.jet-hot.com/), aside from keeping the underhood temps down a bit, they won’t rust. We also installed new fuel and water pumps, and I found an NOS High Pressure Power Steering Hose on eBay. The last picture shows the engine mated with the fully rebuilt twin turbine.

People with sharp eyes will notice that the engine is not painted to 100% factory accuracy.  Buick (and most GM) engines were painted after they were fully assembled.  This would mean that the fuel filter, oil filter, oil filter adapter housing and the brass vacuum fitting on the intake would all be painted green.  In addition, the bottom half of the distributor (how much depends on how neat the factory painter was) would also be green. There would also be paint on the exhaust manifolds, most of which would burn off but on many originals you can still detect some residue (especially noticeable on Chevrolet Orange engines).  I should also point out that the crankshaft pullys should be black, but they will be repainted

While I could have gone 100% correct, I decided to take a few liberties and make it about 95% correct as it looks a little neater than the “correct” factory slop job that would have required paint on the exhaust manifolds and letting it burn.

People with really sharp eyes will notice that I’m using a reproduction fuel pump.  The correct AC pump would be a screwed-together multi-cast unit, not one with a pressed steel bottom.   The correct pump would have the number “4672” stamped on the mounting flange (although the same unit number of 4672 was carried on to the later pressed-together type pumps like I have installed). This would be for cars produced after 03 December 1958.  Using the correct pump would have required rebuilding it and updating it to use internals which are compatible with modern gasoline.

Other 59 Buick owners may be wondering about the fan clutch, this part only came on A/C equipped cars.

Here she is mated to the freshly rebuilt 2T transmission…

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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible