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.

_________________

~ 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…

_________________
~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

Now that the other 225 convertible is nearing completion things are starting to move along on Snow White. The rear axle has been completed and the front end is getting close. New parts include a complete front end kit, brake shoes, motor mounts, and transmission pad from CARS (http://www.oldbuickparts.com/), new Coil Springs from Rare Parts (http://www.rareparts.com/), new brake and transmission cooler lines from Classic Tube (http://www.classictube.com/), and a new exhaust from Waldron (http://www.waldronexhaust.com/).

Greg has pretty much completed the engine work…we’ll get the driveline installed as soon as all the parts arrive.

I ordered all new tinted and date coded glass as well as window frames from Auto City Classic Glass (http://www.autocityclassic.com)… but I had a little issue with them. The shipment came in a large wooden crate that was shipped to Greg’s shop.  Greg opened the crate immediately after delivery only to find that the windshield had been cracked in transit. The problem was that the crate really wasn’t large enough as the windshield just about touched both sides of the crate so any jostling in transit could easily crack the glass.  It’s likely that Auto City uses standard size crates that will fit most windshields…but the huge curved windshields fitted to 1959-1960 GM cars are about as big as any ever manufactured and the crates are just a bit too small.

Anyway, Greg immediately called Auto City no more than 15 minutes after it was delivered. Auto City passed the buck and said to call the shipper, and the shipper said “you should have checked it before you signed for it…it’s not our problem”. Greg let me know what happened and I called Auto City explaining that there was no way to open and inspect such a huge crate in the shipper’s presence. The guy at Auto City didn’t want to hear it. I then told him that since I purchased it on my American Express card I was going to contest the charge, and he told me to go ahead and do it as they always win (really rude). I called the next day to tell them that I had formally contacted the credit card company to contest the charge…now he told me that since it wasn’t his fault he would be willing to split the cost with me and wanted to charge me another $200 for a replacement windshield. I explained that he contracted with the shipper, not me, and I wasn’t willing to pay for their mistakes.

Bottom line…American Express pulled the entire purchase amount (about $1000 including the frames, side glass and shipping) out of Auto City’s account. A day later I got another call from Auto City telling me they decided to ship a new windshield at no cost. I guess some outfits need to learn customer service the hard way!

Here are a couple shots of the rear axle and torque tube assembly:

And a couple more of the front end:

_________________
~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

Well, Snow White has taillights…

Here’s a close-up of the taillight and fin with Joe’s beauty in the background:

The gas tank painted:

The rear end removed:

We decided to replace the mid-ship bearing, it’s a sealed unit that doesn’t run in oil. It was smooth but when it was spun it it seemed a bit noisy so one was ordered from NAPA (not an “everyday” bearing so it has to come from Kentucky):

New axle bearings are pressed on, drums turned, everything cleaned up and mostly painted:

Greg has rebuilt a lot of rear ends in his time, but after taking off the cover he’d never seen anything quite like this!

The bearing races are in the differential case and the bearings are supported by a hollow sleeve with axle shaft bushing inside.  Talk about re-inventing the wheel!

Take a close look at the procedures in the shop manual…..and all the “special tools” required.

Based on the positive reports I received that the rear end is dependable and durable we decided not to blow it apart. Hopefully it works out because the carrier bearings in there go for $439.00 EACH (and two are needed)! 

Here it is all painted and ready to go…

_________________
~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible