65 Skylark project

[Dr. Evil]

Made some progress on the brakes. I need to finish plumbing from the master cylinder to the proportioning valve, bleed the system and try it out. The brackets and hubs came from BRP hotrods. There were no instructions and the hardware kit (nuts and bolts) must have been for a different application. I only needed to use 4 of the bolts and 4 washers. The kit had 8 of each I think. I figured it out, but they could do better IMO.

[Dr. Evil]

Brakes are done. Took it for a drive and had exhaust work done. Still need to dial in the proportioning valve and the pedal rod but its close. Car has really good feedback and stopping power is incredibly improved. A worthwhile mod if ever there was one.
I did get an x pipe and duals put on, nothing special but at least it sounds like a V8 car now.

Progress... slow and steady.

[Zoomin]

Slow and steady? Heck, you're driving your car already! A lot of these threads go for years before they reach that point.

[Dr. Evil]

Have quite a few more miles on the car now. Brake upgrade really brings a smile, its a huge difference.
Exhaust sounds so much better with the 2.25" true duals, x pipe and turbo mufflers.
I had an overheating issue crop up and I thought my motor had turned loose of something. I was seeing a bunch of oil in the coolant. Put in a 180* thermostat, verified water pump was working fine and flowing well. Looks like it was trans fluid so I added an aftermarket trans cooler and bypassed the radiator. That go the oil/trans fluid out of the cooling system (and a very thorough flush).
Did a lot of reading on a buick board and set timing, played around with some other things like switching the vacuum advance over to manifold instead of carb vacuum etc.
Looks like my overheating was due to retarded timing. Once I added timing it really woke the car up.
I also read some bad reviews on fram oil filters so I switched to a Purolator. This alone gained me about 10psi oil pressure at idle.

[joejbal]

Are you using a low angle booster bracket?

[Zoomin]

Any more changes planned soon, or are you going to drive the wheels off it till Winter?

[Dr. Evil]

Are you using a low angle booster bracket?

Joe, I did not use any bracket. I was initially concerned about the angle but its fine as is. The firewall has 4 bolts for mounting. I cut off the 4 bolts on the face of the booster and welded some tabs to the lower part to extend it so that I could drill out two more holes to mount it using the 4 bolts on the firewall. This also allowed me to center the rod in the firewall hole. I have no hood clearance issues and it sets in the slot on the inner fenderwell for the booster perfect.

Any more changes planned soon, or are you going to drive the wheels off it till Winter?

I have a little left in the budget and am trying to decide what I want to do. I definitely plan to swap in a jeep steering box soon. I just made a deal on another board for a T/A performance dual plane aluminum intake for the 350 in it now. I want to use the 350 in it now to sort out the suspension and drivability before swapping another (455) engine in it. I really want to put an FITECH on it now as part of that but that gets a bit pricey. I've put a couple hundred miles on the brakes since I last posted and have been playing around with the proportioning valve to get it dialed in. I put a return spring on the brake pedal too. It wasn't returning all the way and was dragging the brakes just a hair. Works great now.
Now my trans is leaking a bit. I may throw a th350 under it since its a direct swap to keep it on the road.

[Dr. Evil]

I was curious what this car weighed so I took it down to the local truck stop. 3560lbs without the driver.
Still has the spare in the trunk and about 2/3 tank of gas. I havent weighed the new wheels but I'm sure
the 17x8 with 245s are heavier than the stock 14s. I've also done a disc brake ugrade that likely added a few lbs too.
I'm pleased with it being that light thus far.
Future plans include some corner carving and an occasional trip down the 1320. An aluminum intake, relocated lighter battery and a few other weight saving mods I think I can get it below 3500lbs.

[Dr. Evil]

I have hopefully solved my overheating issue. I picked up this 2 core from the local hot rod shop for $160. Pics show how much larger it is than the one I had in it. The one I took out with the plastic tanks had a leak in the trans cooler anyways.
I also picked up a BOP TH350 for $25 off of the local craigslist. It needs to be rebuilt but $25 for a core was fair.
I have also since picked up another big block buick 455, a 70 non stage model complete. I got it for the misc parts that I didn't have already. Things like valve covers, rocker arms, oil pan, distributor etc. It has a good timing cover too.
Other than that, I've been driving the car quite a bit, at least once a week.

[Zoomin]

Yeah, that new radiator should do the trick. That's a good buy too.

[Dr. Evil]

Been busy so not a whole lot to report. I dropped off the big block at the machine shop. I also got my jeep grand Cherokee steering box installed. I couldn't locate fittings for using my old hoses and to be honest, wasn't thrilled about the idea of using old hoses anyways. I ended up using AN fittings and made my own hoses. A lot of people here have done this swap so no need to go into detail a whole lot other than I had to upgrade my old PS pump to a newer Saginaw type. Then the bracketry wouldn't match up so out came the die grinder. Some time and a lot of metal shavings later it fit.
A worthwhile mod to go from the old numb set up to this one. Car drives much nicer and is easier to drive and especially to park.

[Dr. Evil]

Was at the local hot rod shop the other day and a guy brought in a Holley 600 vac secondary to trade in. He purchased it off the internet and it was the wrong one. The parts guy whom I've gotten to know better, plus we went to HS together many years ago, asked if I wanted it for $150. Upon inspection it is brand new, never been bolted up.
Its now sitting on top of an alum intake that I picked up from another board for $100.
I now have it all installed and the car really likes it. Its not going to win any races but it definitely runs much better. For <$300 including gaskets I have a new carb, alum intake, linkage and breather. Pics to come shortly. I may even drive it to work tomorrow.

[Dr. Evil]

Been doing some home porting on the big block cylinder heads. They are at the machine shop now and the cam, springs and lifters arrived from TA performance.




In the last pic you can see the new PS pump and setup. The close ratio box helps drivability tremendously. The Holley 4bbl and alum intake are running great. I've driven the car to aork a couple times now (40 miles each way). The 2 speed has got to go however.

The BB is coming along slowly, I hope to have it together in a couple months and in the car before summer is over.

[1989GTA]

Yeah, I really like the Grand Cherokee steering box on my car. Keep us posted with your progress.

[Dr. Evil]

So Ive been driving it mostly and enjoying it. Not a lot on the car to update. I did make a really nice score on some big block parts though. I picked up an early edelbrock B4B intake which is a nice score but the guy also threw in a set of alum finned valve covers. I flipped the covers and ended up making a small profit which I put into the big block build.
Funds are tight so every bit helps.
I ordered a distributor, motor mounts, adapter plates, odds and ends. I have everything to start the BB now. I hope to get it on the stand and broken in in the next week or two.

[Dr. Evil]

The big block is together, going to for it up on a test stand and break in the cam. Meanwhile, as if I'm not moving door though on the engine and needed something else to work I decided to pull the dash apart. I'm tired of looking at the stock instrument cluster. I'm using a piece of clear plexiglass to make a template. Once that is done I'll make one out of aluminum with the typical fuel, voltage, oil pressure, temperature, tach and speedometer.

[Dr. Evil]

Pics

[tim222]

I like your progress, If I follower the thread correctly, your Buick car is dropped 2" with BMR springs all around?
I am hoping to assemble once and not sure if I have the right parts for enough drop on the front of my Skylark.

The dash idea is great, looking forward to updates.
-Tim

[Dr. Evil]

Tim, I have only dropped the rear so far. I wanted to wait on the front to get the big block in to see where it settles with the new weight.

[Dr. Evil]

So it took longer than planned but thebig block is done and ready. For anyone wondering about the starter, I had a spare left over from a 1996 LT4 corvette I used tp own. Turns out its a direct replacement and works great.
We broke it in on the stand and ran it for 30 minutes, no issues. Intially Iĺl have to use the manifolds and will add headers as budget allows. Now I need to find time to swap and funds for a th350 and converter.