Two Dollars Too Far - '49 Riviera Update

by Paul Blackbourn

Before we go onto the latest stage of the restoration there are some updates to the last article. During the sorting out of the axle internals, I had to make the pin that holds two planet gears in place. Well, whilst looking through the parts swap meet vendors had for sale at last year's Buick Nationals, I saw a half dozen or so little boxes which caught my attention because of their physical size. Brain said: "Those boxes could hold one of those pins for the axle". And sure enough, that's exactly what was in them. I enquired as to the price - $2 each -can you believe it, I would have got them all but they had been to many swap meets and only one had not suffered from rust. I am going to leave the one I made in to see how it fares.

As I said in the article prior to this, I had a mate lined up to give me a few pointers and look over my attempt to strip and rebuild the Dynaflow gearbox. Unfortunately this didn't go as planned and I ended up doing the job myself.

I have to say the gearbox wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. The Dynaflow was rebuilt, as the man said it was, but I still found some problem areas to sort out. The bolts around the two halves of the torque converter were a bit of a mish-mash of different styles of nuts, washers, and bolts, probably due to some being lost over the years. These were sorted out and all are identical now, as an out of balance situation could result from the original problem. The oil pickup screen in the gearbox sump had got a very poor repair to it, so this was replaced, then on the final assembly a new torque ball kit was installed, as that had not been done prior. (Tip: at all times whilst working on fluid drives, your bench area and tools must be absolutely spotlessly clean, or don't even start the job). A complete Dynaflow weighs 224 pounds (or 16 stones). (Tip: when carrying a Dynaflow you will have to be two persons). Hopefully after all this the unit will be oil-tight, bearing in mind that ATF automatic transmission fluid gets as thin as water when hot.

Next, the engine was dismantled. It also had been rebuilt, as the man had said, but again there were jobs to be done, and a finding of what could have been a 'hanging myself' situation, had I not tore it down to check that everything inside was as it should be. Basically, Buick Straight-Eights have a floating oil pickup screen that follows the level of the oil by floating just below the surface, thus avoiding sucking debree from the sump bottom. So if you don't watch it, it's possible to fit the pickup screen upside down; this will result in no-none-nothing-zilch oil being drawn into the engine. This is how I found mine, so had I left it and fired her up she would have run for about five or ten minutes and the crank would have seized. Take it from me, these motors are difficult enough to take in and out without help. The cylinder head has had the exhaust valve seats done so as to run on unleaded gas. Then all the oil galleries in the top end of the engine had to be extensively cleared out of horrible solidified black gunge, or again the oil feed, even with good pressure, would have been severely restricted. Along with other smaller tasks, the motor should be ok. Oh, by the way, a Straight-Eight crank weighs 1 cwt or 8 stone.

As you can see, the blasted and painted frame is now rolling on some temporary wheels I've made, and although the pics don't show it yet, the main body is bolted on (see next article). Now I'm on with aligning the doors and front panels, then the whole of the car will be put in finished colour later this year.

I've kept on relentlessly taking the smaller items from un-restored storage and sorting them one by one i.e. head light, side light, rear light, backup light assemblies trunk latch, hood latch etc., so they are ready to fit straight to the finished body.

Until the next article, keep on cruisin'.