1957 Buick Special 6.0 T56 8.8 Build Thread
Hey everyone! My name is Eric and I'm a proud owner of a 1957 Buick Special 4 door. I got this vehicle back in september from a gentleman in Lexington Ky.
As the story has it this was an old lady's car who had it garaged for most of its life. It apparently last saw the road according to the inspection sticker in 1984, was taken to a shop due to a blown engine in the late 90's early 2000'. That shop owner bought the car off of her. Shop decided to pull the drivetrain and install a 8.8 rear axle from a Ford LTD. It then was found by the owner I purchased it from in early 2000's who bought it and was gradually restoring it , redoing the brake system, cleaning up the chrome and front end inner fenders, installing a buick 350/th400 from his 70's GS he upgraded to a 455. But back problems and lack of motivation (and probably room due to this big car) had him put it up for sale on which I found it.
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When I recieved the vehicle, I had plans to get it driveable as soon as I could since I'm getting married in May of this year and would like to drive it to my wedding. I did a front disc brake conversion from scarebird, and had a driveshaft made for the existing drivetrain in the car. Things were looking up as it seemed like it just needed an exhaust, and to plumb a fuel system, everything else seemed like it was good to go. I was tinkering here and there with parts i had laying around , buying some wheels for it as the stock wheels had super old tires and were just in bad shape rust wise. even decided to attempt to use a ls ignition box to fire the old buick 350, i got it to spark but ended up changing my mind, a lot haha. the brake system had been redone but the master cylinder mounting strategy wasnt so great, i needed to fix that.
Well the hot rodding bug within me decided that if I'm gonna drive this car, I'd like to make it my own. I've wanted an old car for a long time and this isnt necessarily my dream car but I want to build it like it is. I want it stock appearing , be reliable to drive whenever i'd like. be easy to drive. and be able to fix easily with available parts .
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...K/IMG_0955.jpg
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1957 Buick Special 6.0 T56 8.8 Build Thread
Very nice car, I've always liked the 57's.
Have you already bought the 6.0 engine?
and for the master cylinder, it looks like there is room for a modern booster and master cylinder, has anyone made a bracket to mount one yet?
1957 Buick Special 6.0 T56 8.8 Build Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
etizz
Painted factory Buick green, holley midrise intake, to look"retro" instead of like all ls swaps look.
Lol not that theres anything wrong with how all LS swaps look :bgrin:
Are you using a drive by wire throttle body then? And have you measured to see where that shifter is going to be? seems like it might be close to the bench seat.
1957 Buick Special 6.0 T56 8.8 Build Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
etizz
Haha no offense with your ls cars , it still looks good , just I want to try something different this time . I'll still Be doing drive by cable , I'm making a piece for the intake to work , also I'm not sure about the shifter location it'll probably be under the seat after I got the engine this weekend lol I'll have pics of it soon
None taken, I got a laugh out of it. Half of the car guys that see it roll their eyes so its very true haha
They make offset T56 shifters, so the shifter comes out of the forward hole instead of the regular location. not the cheapest thing though.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TREMEC-T-56-...dWShJo&vxp=mtr