*drip* *drip*

A few pics from the water pump install on Saturday.

*drip*

There is a leak at the water pump. It seems to be rather small, however it is just enough that it sprays on the serpentine belt and power steering cuts out at low speeds. It's no fun backing her down a driveway that I could sell lift tickets for with the power steering deciding it's optional.

Variable assist indeed.


Brake lines and rear shocks are fixed.
Water pump, gaskets, serpentine belt on order.

Ugh

She popped a brake line. In order to pass inspection she needs all new metal brakelines and new rear shocks.

Nearly There!

*Bleep*

Oh yeah. And she has a proper distinctive four note Buick horn now.

Wagons come with only a two note.

As the Roadmaster turns...

The turn signals were a royal bitch to wire. The wagon just uses a Caprice harness, the sedan has it's own unique harness and light cluster layout. There are lights on the sedan cluster that don't even exist on the wagon. I had to steal the harness out of the white sedan parts car and chop it up to make this work.

The turn signals are supposed to work thus:
Headlights off, turn signal on = side turn signal and front turn signal blinking in unison, no running lights
Head lights off, turn signal on = side and front blinking alternately, cornering lamp on
Head lights on turn signal on = side and front blinking alternately, cornering lamp on

well... it took a while... but I got it.

The FrankenWagon

Hood Test fit

Hood installed and bolted down

Looking out over the prow

Taking shape...

Bits and pieces....

The power antenna has been installed, the horn wiring harness has been converted from a wagon setup to a sedan setup. The right front fender is in and bolted down. Tonight will be headlight wiring harness conversion and possibly hanging the left outer fender. If all goes well with that, bumper will go on tomorrow with the hood going on Saturday.

Putting Humpty together again - Part II

Test fitting the left front outter fender and finding out it doesn't fit. The core support appears to be bent slightly. We'll be hammering that out tomorrow.













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Right inner fender isn't on. We're test fitting the outer fender to see if we have the same problem on both sides. The right side doesn't fit perfectly... but it's just shim work.













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The inner fender is attached and all accessories are bolted down to it. The outer fender is fitted and lightly bolted down. We've marked the space where I need to drill out a hole for the radio antenna. Wagons have their antenna on the front right fender, sedans on the rear right.










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Though you can't see it because the shutter speed is too high, the LT-1 is actually running in this picture. She's been sitting for about 10 months without being started. She roared to life on the first turn of the key, the engine fan blowing out a huge cloud of dust.

Putting Humpty Together Again

Last we left off, the front end was disassembled. The new body mounts have arrived and we can now start the assembly process. During the commercial break Dominic sanded and painted the inner fender and I used the wire brush on the replacement core support to remove surface around the mount points. A quick coat of flat black rustolium and we're good to go.

Sunday March 2^nd

12:00pm – Starting point - Battlewagon in drydock.

3:00pm – Core support has been painted around the mount points. Wiring harness routed. Sway bar linkage replaced.

5:00pm – Upper and lower fan shrouds installed. Most of wiring harness plugged in. Left front inner fender test fit.

7:00pm – Left front inner fender installed, accessories attached to new fender, ECM installed.

And that's a wrap for today.

Here is a picture of the donor parts car.

Cancer

This is what car heads call "cancer" and is one of the primary reasons for this rebuild project. This was the right front inner fender removed after a lot of cutting and cussing because most of the bolts had rusted so badly. Dremel tool with a cut off wheel FTW.

This was the radiator core support…… also had to be cut out.

After removing the core support, we found that the body mounts were pretty much toast. We also spotted a broken sway bar linkage.

At the end of the surgery to remove the cancer, we had this sad looking heap.

But all the bad stuff had been removed and stitching the patient back together is next.

The Begining

In an attempt to simplify my life and make myself more mobile for a potential move to Germany, I have gotten rid of both of my cars. No more car payments! YAY!

However... that leaves me without wheels.

Almost two years ago my best friend Dominic bought a 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon from the Goodwill auto auction. The car had around 49,000 miles on it and was in excellent shape except that it had been run into a pole... so the front bumper was all smashed up. On closer inspection the inner front fenders and radiator core support had rotted away to nothing.

Dominic acquired the front end from a Roadmaster sedan. Those of you who know these cars will know that the fenders, lights, hood, grill, and bumper are all different. While the wagon looks like a Chevy Caprice, the sedan has a much more distinctively "Buick" look to it.

Dominic has decided to let me borrow this car and in exchange I'm helping him restore it and paying him a bit of money for it's use.

This is a picture of a 1991 - 1993 Roadmaster Estate. Externally, it is no different from the 1996 other than the side mirrors.



This blog will document the progress of rebuilding the wagon.