1972 Buick Turbo LS Pro Touring - Garage Made

[lwilliams]

just about forgot. i found this pics of the car at a car show from about a month ago.

[lwilliams]

"Closed Course - professional Driver"

Full 1st, 2nd and into 3rd gear pull. those new tires made a world of difference, they hardly broke lose in these two pulls.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/53UpBwRo6d8

[Vimes]

just about forgot. i found this pics of the car at a car show from about a month ago.

That looks a lot like my 72 Skylark, which was my first car. I wish I could find it again, even if it means finding out it was totaled, although I'd rather find that someone took proper care of it after me.

[lwilliams]

That looks a lot like my 72 Skylark, which was my first car. I wish I could find it again, even if it means finding out it was totaled, although I'd rather find that someone took proper care of it after me.

the previous owner told me that it came out of the states at some point and he got it from a Police Auction. Did you happen to get arrested and the car was impounded? LOL

[Vimes]

the previous owner told me that it came out of the states at some point and he got it from a Police Auction. Did you happen to get arrested and the car was impounded? LOL

A short thread hijack -

No to being arrested although it was a near thing a few times . The last time I saw that car was May 1, 1988. The next day I was getting yelled at by a drill instructor. Shortly before I joined the military I put a rod through the side of the block. The easiest thing at the time to do was to let my mother dispose of it, and she did so by handing the keys to my older brother who had an engine but no car at the time. I was fine with it, as it helped everyone out of a jam; I needed the car gone, she needed to stop sharing a car and he needed a car to drive.

Looking back though, I wish I'd have kept the car, or at least said he could use it but if he decided to get something else I wanted the car back. I've been looking off and on for getting on to 30 years now but aside from a possible location, once, about 15 years ago that didn't pan out, no clue where it went. It wasn't until my dad passed away a few years ago that I found something solid to use when I found the bill of sale from when the car was first bought - with the VIN listed. Last 3 on the VIN are 446. If it's mine there would be a jigsawed hole in the floorpan for a 4 speed shifter, and drag marks on the bottom of the rear bumper. The engine my brother put in the car would try to point its nose at the Sun at noon. Logically speaking I shouldn't want the car back considering what he put it through, but I've always felt like I abandoned a good friend since giving it up. I'd either like a chance to make it right or at least know someone else was a better friend than I was.

And now, back to regular programming.

[lwilliams]

A short thread hijack -

No to being arrested although it was a near thing a few times . The last time I saw that car was May 1, 1988. The next day I was getting yelled at by a drill instructor. Shortly before I joined the military I put a rod through the side of the block. The easiest thing at the time to do was to let my mother dispose of it, and she did so by handing the keys to my older brother who had an engine but no car at the time. I was fine with it, as it helped everyone out of a jam; I needed the car gone, she needed to stop sharing a car and he needed a car to drive.

Looking back though, I wish I'd have kept the car, or at least said he could use it but if he decided to get something else I wanted the car back. I've been looking off and on for getting on to 30 years now but aside from a possible location, once, about 15 years ago that didn't pan out, no clue where it went. It wasn't until my dad passed away a few years ago that I found something solid to use when I found the bill of sale from when the car was first bought - with the VIN listed. Last 3 on the VIN are 446. If it's mine there would be a jigsawed hole in the floorpan for a 4 speed shifter, and drag marks on the bottom of the rear bumper. The engine my brother put in the car would try to point its nose at the Sun at noon. Logically speaking I shouldn't want the car back considering what he put it through, but I've always felt like I abandoned a good friend since giving it up. I'd either like a chance to make it right or at least know someone else was a better friend than I was.

And now, back to regular programming.

I totally missed your reply here! so its definitely not my car the those last 3 digits on the VIN are not the same as mine. i know what you mean, hindsight is always 20/20. i have lots of cars i wish I didn;t part with too!

[lwilliams]

Some more progress below. Now we got hood vents!



these are the vents i used.

https://trackspecmotorsports.com/col...r-22-x-11-inch

honestly wasn't all that difficult to install. just a lot of measure 7 times cut once. Still not sure on if i like the look of them compared to a not cut up hood. I think that i will like them a lot better once i paint match them to what ever color i paint the car. i also made a DIY wicker on the front of them to increase air flow. it is just a angled piece of 3/4 aluminum that was painted black by my kids.

here is a video i made of me installing them. https://youtu.be/l3uYefkxUyQ

One other addition to the car that i have made is putting in coil spring isolators from energy suspension, both the ones on the rear end and on the frame. it has made a noticeable difference in overall ride quality and also quieter while driving as well. on another note i also put some wd-40 on the rod end joints of the lower rear control arms. they were sooooo squeaky. now the car with the isolators and lubed joints is really quiet, waayyyy better!

Somewhat hard to see the isolators but a few pics below. also used spring compressors - things are terrifying.







quick look at the trimming on the engine cover to fit everything with the ICT bracket. Also a pic of my catch can. Had to use this tool i found called a rubber mallet to adjust its shape so i doesn't hit the hood vent when it closes.





A few maintenance things i have run into. my front brakes were dragging hardcore, like really hardcore. I could barely turn the passenger side rotor by hand. the drivers side wasn't as bad but was still some serious effort to run it. I checked the fluid here and it was black!!!! but in a weird way. it wasn't black like it was boiled and cooked. it was black like the fluid was still good but it was full of sediment. Either way i had a buddy help me bleed the front brakes again and get some nice new clear fluid in it.

We have another autocross race this sunday. going to put the car through its paces and then check the fluid again and see how it looks. not sure of the fluid issue is also related to the brakes dragging but looking forward to seeing how the car brakes and drives without the sticky brakes, potentially even more MPG now wouldn't be out of the question for how hard they are stuck on.

My trans cooler blew up at one point on an autocross day, i narrowed it down tot a bole on the front bumper came loose and i think it torqued the cooler the wrong way and cracked it. WHAT A MESS that was! the cooler is attached to both the bumper and rad support. the bumper started flexing a lot a think with the loose bolt and then put a bunch of stress on the cooler.

here is some videos of the car at autocross a couple times.

Autocross Race Day RDSCC Event 8 - https://youtu.be/QG_4lhoWj4A
Autocross day trans cooler explodes - https://youtu.be/8-e1dW-S8z0

I have been trying to get in the habit of doing some normalized tech inspection on the car before each race day. hence how i found the terrible brake fluid and the stuck/dragging front brakes. I have also found that the shop that did my alignment only set the front camber to 0.25 degrees! SAYYY WHHHAATTT. i just didn't pay attention to the sheet when they had done it. From this i am noticing on my tires that the inside 3" is not wearing the same on the front tires as the outside. I know it won't be exactly the same perse but i have an appointment to go back and have them add some camber potentially 2degrees total. then i should see an improvement in cornering hopefully.

My steering was getting some decent play in it so i also tightened that up.

video of how to tighten the jeep grand cherokee steering box swap on these A-bodies below. it should work for pretty much an saginaw steering box.

https://youtube.com/shorts/rThZ1QFBWB0?feature=share

I can also change the boot up screen on my dash video below. Alex at Nexgen EFI works hard at making these things really user friendly and fun!



https://youtu.be/RtpjX-I92MI