2013-09-10 56X Buick

Subject: 56 X BUICK SESSION SEPT. 10 2013

We started out fall work sessions right on time. Some volunteers are still enjoying the beautiful fall weather we are now having and still vacationing.

VOLUNTEERS: Jim Baker, Al Batts, Bob Boorsma, Jerry Bush, Del Carpenter, Dick Chambers, Connie DeJong, Ron Elzinga, Don Feutz, Don Mayton,

Art Meidema, Dick Saddler.

Photos #1 & 2 show Dick Chambers working on the tail light housings preparing them for the chrome plater. We have decided to send these to the chrome plater and get them stripped prior to going through all the labor of grinding off the chrome. It is just enough work to just get the metal surface ready for the plating without having to grind all the chrome off first.

Photo #3 shows Art and Connie moving the car in a better position to work on it.

Photo #4 shows Don Feutz's hands as it works on the inner castings for the tail light assemblies. Working preparing the parts for chroming is very labor intensive and most of us today were working on a part to be chrome plated later.

Photo #5 shows Dick Saddler's hands as he polishes one of the "J" bars that go on the rear bumpers.

Photo #6 shows our spare engine. Today's task was to get the engine into the back of my pickup for the purpose to take it to a person that locally makes manifolds. This engine came with a parts car, a 1956 Buick Century convertible, that has given up many parts of its body, engine, and other parts for getting our restoration done. Although the engine had been previously restored it had sat years without being cranked over and thus it was stuck. Ron Elzinga led the effort with Jerry Bush and others also assisting in getting it un-stuck and after much work including pulling the heads, coaxing the pistons

and crank to move with breaker bars and hammers they managed to get it rotating. In addition they cleaned out all the magic concoctions I brewed over the years to unstick the engine. They then cleaned out the oil pan, and cleaned out everything else. The engine later in the week got delivered.

In addition Jim Baker was working on the right front bucket seat installing different gearing to get it to rotate slower which will also increase its power.

Bob Boorsma has started to assemble the instrument panel. He is making good progress at this job and will ultimately be ready to install the instrument

panel when it is needed.

Connie and Art have been welding on studs on some of the hood trim, again preparing it for the chrome plater. Don M. has also been working on some

of the interior trim for chrome plating.

!929-55X -€“ We came back from the Buick National in South Bend, Indiana with a First in our class. However, that did not allow us to not find items that would improve some of the things we thought were restored properly. We managed to find 50 small detail items that needed to take care of. By our first work session, today, I managed to take care of 1/2 of these items leaving the bigger ones to our volunteer group. Del and Jerry started the day by tackling the head lights that functioned when we took the car to South Bend but at one point at the show ceased to work. Del managed to find a poor connection that had been made. In addition he found that the bulb socket needed repair and the socket itself needed to be changed.

Since the electrical problem has also burnt out a bulb we found out we did not have as spare. So at lunch we headed to the local parts store. The owner, working with his daughter on separate computers and in their old, old parts books, each managed to find the type of bulbs that we needed. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE TYPICAL BULB FOR THIS CAR IS TYPICALLY 32 CANDLE POWER BUT THEY MANAGED TO FIND 52 CANDLE POWER. That means we will have brighter head lights with out changing any other components.

A really good days work for the volunteers considering that our brains had to remember where we finished last spring.

PARTS NEEDED - We need a typical glove box door button-lock of the type that were on 1956 Buicks. My 1953 Skylark Buick glove box door has this type of glove box button-lock. Would appreciate any lead.

Don