1961 Buick LeSabre
Estate Wagon
On the road again:
Sitting in my barn for nearly a decade didn't do the wagon many favors. Luckily there was no extra damage from sitting for so long. The mice did move in a little, but they only had time to attack the hood insulation before they were evicted. The wagon last saw daylight in 1996, but hasn't really been in service since 1991.
In June of 2005 we ("we" being myself and the guys from my shop) brought the car carrier to the barn and removed the dust cover from the wagon and brought her into the light again. A quick wash of the outside and a scrub of the interior got the wagon looking like you see above. The body is still in great shape, but as with any car that has been sitting we have mechanical issues. The engine and fuel system was stored correctly so the engine is free, but we have no spark. New tune up parts have been ordered and all new brake parts ordered as well. The wagon has seen a lot of use and it is time to go through the hydraulic system completely. You don't want to have bad brakes in something this heavy, at least I don't. So we moved the wagon into the shop and started to do the work needed to get it on the road again and allow it to move and run and drive prior to the full restoration. There are a lot of parts to find and such for this restoration project, so we are not going to tear the wagon part until we have more parts on hand ready to go. We also want to wait until we get the donor wagon here at the shop to see what, if anything, might migrate from that wagon to this one before we start with any body work or paint.
One of the first things to go was the ancient dry rotted tires. The old tires were removed and new correct looking BFG white walls were ordered from Coker Tire. While the rims were bare we media blasted them back to bare metal and treated them to numerous coats of PPG epoxy primer and a number of coats of the original color in PPG base/clear. Once the tires arrive we'll get them mounted up and at least that part of the restoration will be already done.
With the wheels getting painted we need to address the suspension, steering and brakes. We have removed the cool alloy drums from the car and now we will tear down the entire front end and install all new tie rod ends, bushings and brake parts. There is a lot of crud on the parts, but most everything is free and comes apart pretty easily.
Under the hood we have flushed and changed all the fluids and installed all new tune up parts. We got the tune up parts from Kanter Auto Parts and that was a bit of a mess. The cap they sent was correct, but they sent the wrong rotor and the wrong points. Luckily the local NAPA had the right rotor and points. Kanter also sent "cut to length" wires, but they didn't send the right ends or boots for the coil wire, so we saved the old boots and ends and made a "new" coil wire. Once we got everything installed the engine fired right up and runs smooth and quiet just like it used to. One new wrinkle though is a leaky fuel pump. Its to be expected though with all that sitting. So we ordered a fuel pump kit from CARS in New Jersey and that was like pulling teeth. The guy on the phone must have been having a really bad day. I just wanted to buy stuff from them, but he treated me like I was being a jerk... and all I did was ask if he had a fuel pump for the car. He sold us a rebuild kit, and stupid me bought it without taking a look at the fuel pump first. The AC fuel pump on the LeSabre isn't a rebuildable type, so that was a big waste of time. So we sent back the rebiuld kit that the guy sold us and ordered the correct fuel pump.
Speaking of a mess (its been bad luck on the Buick front lately). I ordered tires from Coker Tire on line. On line said they would ship same day. 2 weeks later I call Coker and ask what the deal is. They tell me the on-line orders don't really mean anything and that the tires are back ordered and not expected in for 6 weeks. That would have been no problem, they just could have sent me an email to let me know that, or called. Anyway, 6 weeks go buy and I call them again and ask where the tires are. They tell me they sold out and missed my order, sorry, no more for another 8 weeks and they offered me a Coker tire instead of the BFG, but they could not get the whitewall size I wanted. So I told them to skip the entire thing and cancel the order. They said they would and sorry for the screw ups. So call our local tire supplier and order some normal width white wall tires and get them on the new rims that same day. On the way back into the shop with the new tires mounted on the newly painted rims I see a delivery truck unloading tires into the shop. Yup, the BFGs from Coker arrived that same day. Unbelievable, but they had me over a barrel as I wanted the wide white walls. So back to the tire guys to have them strip off the new tires and install the BFGs from Coker. Don't get me wrong... I love the look of these new tires, shown above, but the guys at Coker have their heads in deep dark places.
So here is what it looks like when you gut all the front suspension and steering from a '61 Buick, not much left.
Now that all the pieces are out of the car we took the time to media blast all the parts and prime and paint them. You can see them above hanging in our spray booth.
A neat thing on the Buick is the alloy brake drums. These are alloy pieces with a steel inner liner. I assume his was done to assist in cooling down the brake drum. One thing I do know from checking around is that you can't locate these parts easily (although I just picked up a low miles spare set off ebay). Luckily the ones on the wagon are good and with some new seals and re greasing the bearings it will be good to go.
Yes, I know the new painted parts look a bit silly next to the surface rust on the frame, but we have to stop somewhere and a frame off restoration is coming, but not yet. For now the new parts are going on so that the wagon will drive and stop correctly and be safe. To make that happen the wagon is getting treated to all new ball joints and bushings, and new tie rod ends. Kanter sent us the wrong tie rod ends and the wrong lower ball joints in our "rebuild kit", but once we got through to the tech people, not the sales guys, they could not have been more helpful. They are sent what they thought were the right parts and sent a UPS return tag for the wrong bits, so that was a refreshing change... actual customer service. For some reason with model year changes and such the wagon must be very late (or early) in the production run for 1961. The 1961 units won't fit the application, so Kanter sent 1962 versions. However the 1962 units that Kanter sent are the incorrect part as well, so we are still on the hunt for Thompson style tie rod ends. The LeSabre had two style of steering, Thompson or Saginaw. This wagon has Thompson... guess what type of tie rod ends no one has? Isn't it fun working on a car that basically no one knows anything about? New sway bar bushings and control arm bump stops are on the way from CARS in NJ. The guy on the phone this time was much easier to deal with. Maybe we just won't call CARS on Friday afternoon anymore.
One of the things that the wagon needed was some new door hinge bushings. 122,000 miles of opening and closing the drivers door has worn out the top bushing and makes the door "slump" a little when you open it. So in doing this repair we had to take the LF fender off, as you can see above. This will give us easy access and make the door hinge repairs a snap.
So when you are restoring your own 1961 LeSabre wagon, don't forget to make the "281" paint marks in white and the "TI" paint marks in orange on the firewall. I'm just kidding, but it is cool to see so little decay in this area and to see all the factory marks in place.
The LF fender has a couple of supports that have trapped water and debris over the years, so as we had the fender off we decided to take care of the one ugly blister of rust on the wagon. Here you can see we have cut away the rusted area and we will insert a repair panel into the area and then get it primed and painted.
Here you can see the new repair piece, all steel, going into the fender. Everything is being done in the same shape and same gauge steel, so once we grind down the welds, the panel won't need any filler to look correct, just primer and paint like before the rust. The paint on the wagon is all original, so we'll only paint what we have to in order to cover up the repair, instead of taking down the entire fender.
Its really hard to hold back from tearing the entire car down and doing a full frame up restoration right now, but the timing isn't right and I'm on the fence about the "originality" thing. Restored cars are great, but there is the other side of that coin says it is "only original once". Half of me wants to keep as much original as possible and use and many NOS parts as I can find, and the other half wants to keep it stock looking but drop in a twin turbo Buick V6 and modern suspension. Dilemma... I think the wallet will speak to this subject and keep most of the wagon in tact and keep it stock... for now.
A little primer and a little paint and the fender looks good again. No rust blister, and no body filler.
Here you can see we are in the midst of the door hinge repairs. Once the new bushings were installed in the hinge, the door now has no play and opens and closes like new.
The front end is now almost back together and all the brakes are back up and running. We pretty much replaced everything in the brake system in order to make sure things are safe. This wagon is really heavy, bad brakes are not something you want with this much Buick weight rolling along. We also installed some upgraded, but stock looking gas shocks for a little better road manners. Still no tie rod ends yet. As a note on the brakes. The brake parts that Kanter sent all fit well, but there were 2 odd things. The master cylinder had one outlet that was different than the stock master in the car, so one brake pipe had to be slightly altered to fit. Also the rear brake flex hose they sent was incorrect so we still have the original in there for now. It looks good, but as soon as we find the right one it is coming out (too old). The left and right brake cross lines on the rear axle were pretty rusty, so we fabricated ones that look just like the originals, with all the proper bends, but made them from stainless steel brake pipe so that rust won't happen again.
Here you can see the fender and door back in place and all lined up. The rust blister is gone and the door now opens and closes with ease, so things are getting better. The new fuel pump has been installed and the engine is up and running and is as smooth as it ever was (and if you don't know the 364/401 nailhead... its pretty smooth, almost silent). Next the front bumper will go back on and then we need to start sorting out the rusted window tracks. When I had this car in college it was famous for dropping windows due to the retainer getting rusted and letting go of the glue that held the window to the piece that goes up and down with the window regulator. On more than one occasion a window would get rolled down and the glass would suddenly dump into the door frame and not come back up (once it rusted out of the retainer). You'd have to lift the window up by hand and then roll up the window and pray that no one opened that window. My college parking lot attempts at fixing this problem were pretty lame (c'mon I had basically no tools and was working in a parking lot in upstate NY in the winter). I guess when the wagon was put into storage I hadn't fix all those issues, so when I rolled down the left passenger window it once again dumped into the door (college flashback). So while the wagon is inside all the window retainers are going to be replaced with stainless steel and all the window tracks are also going to be replaced.
Here you can see the wagon back together and ready for a few road tests. The window tracks are still to be done, but that is easy fabrciation and we'll have that sorted in no time.
ECR.
21 Tolman Road
Warren, ME 04864
207-594-8086
fax: 207-594-8120
email: ecrover@midcoast.com