Anyone know anything about restoring a car

A customer I have done work for off and on through the years gave me a 1967 Buick Electra in very good shape. Theres a few things that need to be done but all in all no rust and its all there. No blemishes on chrome etc. The paint, red, is faded and a couple small rips in the front seat drivers side. It has 96,000 on it and was never driven in winter or the rain. Its been parked for the last 23 years in a garage so theres a lot to work with that’s in good shape. Its fully loaded and is the same car, two door hardtop that Jane Mansfield owned. Turn right or left and a separate turning light comes on to shine the corner and it has curb scrapers. The fuel system still has the same gas it did 23 years ago. Anyone have any advice or places to go to for information, too give the car a decent restoration. I plan on disassembling it and looking at every square inch to bring it back but I’ve never done one, anyone have any input etc. Thanks

What ever you do, you have to put those big chrome curb feelers on the front corners when your done

if you havent already attempted to start it,( hope not ) you will most likely need to at least remove the tank and fuel lines to clean them or replace them at the worst,same with fuel pump as its diaphragm is most likely dried out and rotted.
next,rebuild the carburetor and get the ignition system tuned up.
personally I would remove the distributor and prime the oil system for several minutes so you dont have a dry start.
while priming the oil system,turn the engine over by hand several times so that the entire rotating assembly gets lubed well and the lifters get bled out good.

next in line once the engine is running good,go through the entire braking system,replace all hoses and wheel cylinders as well as the front calipers.
you can find almost anything you need for those old cars at rockauto,I have used them several times with out issues of any kind with their parts,am sure you can find several old buick forums as well that will have any additional leads you might need.

good luck!! those old electra’s are a sweet riding automobile,please post before and after pics!!!!
if I can be of further help,pm me,have worked on several of those old girls in the past.

Ya I know what your saying Randy, this thing is 19′ long and the air conditioner still works, or it did when he parked it. Sitting up in the front seat you can reach to your right and not touch the person next to you. I looked at the tires thinking they would be weather checked and because it was in a garage theres no checking, I can put air in them. Going back later this month to get the car and hes going to tow it for me to a friends house where I’m going to work on it.

YA Iowa I never though about taking out the distributor but will now. I’m going to take that out to clean and regap the points, clean the cap and check the wires. Going to keep the old plugs and clean and regap them also, want to see it run with those in it. Was going to put liquid wrench in the spark plug holes and just click it over several times to lube the cylinder walls and rings. Turning over the oil pump through the distributor hole is a good idea and click it over after about 15 seconds of turning the oil pump, and do that several times. Dave the guy I got it from takes very good care of everything hes got, waxes his boat after he takes it out of the water, I checked to oil and its clean so this car has been taken care of. There was an old auto upholstery shop here in town that closed so I’ll have to find out where their old upholstery rolls of stock went and hopefully I can buy some of the same type and I’m going to resew the seat covers myself, the last time I was in there many years ago they had hundreds of those rolls of different types and years for their repairs. When I get it to where I’m going to work on it I will take pictures and post them. I looked under the car at the frame and its in good shape, a little rust but what would a guy expect for 96,000 miles but its all in good shape. This thing is a cruiser and a head turner to the max. The turning lights in the back start in the center and individually flash from the center to left or right, theres four separate lights that flash on each side, take about an old school cruiser. He said everything worked when he parked it. I’m taking out everything I can and checking it out being carefull not to turn any screws and bolts to hard as to damage the pieces. Clean all the wiring harness sockets and prongs etc. Theres front brake drums on the front with shoes just like to back and no calipers. I want to save everything I can and keep it original If I can right down to the spark plugs. I’m anxious to see what kind of shpe the old rubber brakelines are in beings the old tires aren’t weather checked because its been stored inside, maybe thier still ok and will put some belt dressing on them and let them sit overnight befor I put a wrench on them. I’ve got a sandblaster and am going to clean all the bare steel parts and then prime and paint them before putting them back inplace, emergency brake cable, everything.

When it comes to rebuilding the carb I’m going to be very careful to try to save the gaskets from the pieces and try to reuse the gaskets. A guy can take a thin very sharp knife and cut the seal between the aluminum and fiber because sometimes they will come apart with no damage, maybe even the accelerator plunger will be good enough to reuse after a good soaking.. Put a vacuum gauge on it to tune the air jets and time it, etc.

my memory must have failed me,was thinking 67 was the first year of disc brakes on those things,oh well,thats been a long time ago.
the rubber brake hoses,they may look good on the outside,but they can collapse on the inside ( especially where there is a retention clamp if used ) causing a check valving problem,what will happen is that when you apply the brakes,they can stick on because the hoses is acting like said check valve and wont let the fluid return to the master cylinder.

when you prime the oil system,I use a 1/4 inch drive extension with a 5/16 deep socket taped to it so you dont lose the socket down into the galley,been there,done that!! only once though!!!

nothing like bringing one back to life!! never gets old.

which engine does that one have?? just curious

dont bother trying to save the carb gaskets!! talk to Gina ( hope I spelled her name right ) down at daytona parts in florida, 386-427-7108,they make there own carb gaskets for about any carb known to man,just buy the complete kit,about twenty bucks.
the accelerator pump I guarantee will be shrunk up and of no use.
when you buy the kit,get the ethanol resistant one,not any more money.

oh,and in case you are curious,Gina has worked on carbs for over twenty five years,it scares me she knows as much if not more than I do about carburetors,and I have rebuilt about every make and model of them from tractors,cars,boats,small engines,planes,you name it,and she can tell you what you need,really impressed with her.

You know your stuff Iowa, I just assumed it had brake drums but your right it was about that time they were going to calipers, on racing cars first. Thanks for the tip with the tape on the socket, not a good place for a 5/16ths socket next to the cam gear ouch!!! Brake fluid has cleaners in it that might eventually soften the lining of the flexable brake hoses so it looks like I will have to replace them. There is a little oil on the drivers side head from the valve cover gasket but its a small amount, like I said this car was taken care of. I’m also curious to see what kind of shape the brake cylinder rubber end covers are like. It has the 430 Buick wildcat engine in it and you can sit in the engine compartment if you wanted, youd have to use a small step ladder to get at the distributor because of the reach to get to it. It weights something over 4000 lbs. Theres also a small crack on the bug shield but I can remake one of those out of plexiglass.

I was hoping it had the 430 wildcat!! they were a blast when used in the old skylarks,fast,good torque and a tire burner bone stock!!
still is not a slouch in the heavier electra.

when tuned properly with non oxy gas,18 mpg is not out of the question at 65mph!!
may have to make it a point and stop by someday to check it out!!

Thanks Iowa, for a 20$ bill and to get all that experience, its worth it just to talk to her, maybe she can help on other things too, its got the original Quadrajet, they weren’t high performance but they worked good for a stock engine. Dave said it didn’t burn oil and the exhaust tip was clean.

Dave said and he was in his earlier days, but he said it would roast the tires so I assume he did it a couple times. Anytime you want to come see it just message me and I’ll show it to you. I plan to burn regular gas non ethonol and add octane to the gas each time I put gas in it.

the original Q- jet is a fantastic carb,if you know what you are doing,they produce good mpg’s when you dont have your toenails in the fan blades.

they also are a great easy to tune performance carb!! love the sound they made when fully opened up.
they usually came from the factory a little on the rich side,if you know how to read plugs properly,( operative word properly ) you might get away with jetting it down a size or two,but you must change the needles also.
if you choose to run ethanol,the factory jetting may be spot on.

tuning the air valve on the secondaries can be a little overwhelming,but easy to do once you have made a mistake or two when doing it,no hill for a climber!!

make sure the metering well plugs under the main jets are sealed up tight,you may have to install new plugs,Q-jets were notorious for these leaking fuel into the manifold over night,dont bother using the foam gasket here,it was a joke as gas ate it up rather quickly,Gina will help you here as well.

Where the metering rods bottom out and gauge the fuel? I will check them out when I get it apart. What about replacing the welsh plugs, good idea or just carb cleaner through the passages and blow it out? Does the kits she sells come with the welsh plugs, if so I’ll replace them.

What were the jet sizes in those carbs of the big engines, .025?, what size would you jet it down too and can she get the right air screws for the jets? just the primaries or the secondaries too??

the jet size was according to what the engine was rated for when it was built so sizes can vary.
jetting down would be only by a couple of sizes,ie,if it has .066’s in it,step it down to .062 and go from there.

ya,the plugs are under the primary jets.

she should have about anything you want for it,in fact,daytona parts will completely overhaul that carb for you if needed,check out some of their work on their website.

Hey,
Just joined up , first post.
That’s a cool car. Just be prepared to spend some cash to get some of the stuff done. The carb rebuild is a tricky task. If you can find someone that will guarantee their work that might be a good way to go. You might even consider replacing it?
Just my 2 cents, had to weigh in. FWIW, I’ve been wrenching on cars my whole life and have gotten to the point where I try an leave some stuff to more experienced hands.
Best of luck to you.
Post a pic if you have it!
Jcris

Mossy, is it a 2 or 4 door?
DT

Disregard. Found it in the original post.
DT

Iowaboy1 wrote:

the original Q- jet is a fantastic carb,if you know what you are doing,they produce good mpg’s when you dont have your toenails in the fan blades.

X2 The Quad is a great carb…..if it’s set-up right…..sadly,good Quad guys are getting hard to find….I knew a quad genius but he’s gone now….
I actually preferred them over Holleys at 1 time…

Nice car bud

Mudshark,agree with you whole heartily on the Q-jet vs holley,still prefer them that way.
I figured out holleys quirks a long time ago,most of which was the power valve being the wrong size for any given cam/intake combo.
other than that they were easy enough,just more parts than most wanted to contend with.

I still rebuild carbs to this day on about anything out there,especially the older stuff.

would love to do it for anyone,but not having the engine at your disposal makes final tuning a pita,and the customer is unhappy when its not perfect and you cant be there to finish it up for them.
and sometimes,its not even the carbs fault.

for those who have been there will understand that!!!

Deertracker 2 door hardtop and the doors close nice too and the weather stripping is in good shape. If it isn’t an asteroids that drops in your lap it might as well be a 2 door hardtop right?

Thanks for the input John but I can do the carb myself, I’ve done a few and still do all my carb work on all kinds of motors from lawn mowers to cars and most everything in between. I’m not going to change any settings just maybe soak it overnight in carb solution then blow it out and install welsh plugs. I’ll probably keep the jets and air screws that came with the carb. A step up would be a Carter carb but won’t go with a Holley, too hard to tune but will probably keep the quadrajet. Its amazing to watch a vacume gauge work and set the air screws, then check the timing and it will be pretty close to a timing light, maybe even closer because the timing chain stretches over time. It will run at top performance with a vacume gauge. A vacume gauge and an external tachometer together and you can get it right on the money.

Iowa I know you couldn’t jump much in sizes maybe a size or two was all because too lean and it wouldn’t run right and actually loose mileage because it wouldn’t develop enough horsepower to pull the load right and it would create hotspots on the plugs and top of the pistons and that isn’t good.

Forgot to mention, Dave lost the ignition and trunk keys so I will have to remove the steering wheel, I have a strike plate compression tool, and then take the ignition to a locksmith, then when it runs take the car down and get a trunk key made with a few extras, can’t be all gravy but it will be fun.

Mossydan,you are correct sir on the jetting being critical.
I play with jetting more than most would,the reason being that todays fuel is designed to be pressure fed through injectors and you would be surprised at how lean you can go on some engines,others for what ever reason end up needing more.

ethanol fuels can really be pita because the blends can often be inconsistent from one brand to another,so you stick with a happy medium.

as asked before,pics would be good,but a video would be better!!!!
been a long time since I heard a wildcats growl!!

Iowa back when this car was made they had three basic blends of fuel, atleast that’s what my auto shop teacher said, 98% was just regular fuel, today its 87%, 99% was Ethyl and 100% was airplane fuel. Today if you want fuel that high or higher in octane you have to go to racing fuel which is around 106% octane which the local racers buy for the local 1 mile oval asphalt track.

The engineers back then had to get the air and fuel mix right and level in the float bowl right along with the jet sizes and the fuel was blended to make sure the cars ran and started good in winters. With todays fuel injection to lessen the chance of flooding out like the old motors did with electric and vacume chokes and batteries, they do start better. Things sure are different today then in the past and I will post a video after I get it running and maybe while I’m adjusting the air jets and timing it. I will definitely make a video with sound so everyone can hear the motor. Half of the top fuel dragsters back in the day ran the 430 buick wildcat engines that were fully built to race. Buicks, Chevys and Plymouths engines were all winners. Back in the day a few guys around here had 6 cylinder engines than ran like a raped ape in 1/4 midgets on the local dirt track, balanced everything. I remember a guy talking about how they would weigh the rods, pistons and nuts and bolts to get everything to weigh the same on the best and most accurate scale they could buy.

I’ve done a VW and an old El Camino. Both took way more money than the cars were every worth. I managed to get the car restore bug out of my system.