Buick 38 BIG project

[nali]

Hello .
I m a new user of this forum , my name is Philippe .
I m from south of France , but I live in Canada ( Montreal ).
In a few words , my driver is a Rambler 66 , and my big project is a rusty ( really rusty ) Buick 38 Coupe Business .

My Coupe is quite incomplete . Missing dash instruments , rockers , seats , steering wheel , wheels , front ( the nose ) , grille , head lights rear lights , bumpers , I ve cut the floor ( rust is not easy to weld ... ).
The engine turn by hand , but is incomplete ( missing intake / exhaust, carb , starter , ignition ) and the 3 speed trans took so much water inside from years that even the gears are dead , so I gave both to a friend for a Ford 26 project . .

So it would be stupid to rebuild it as an original car ( according to me , but I m often naive ) , unless I have 25.000 to spend on it .

I had the chance to get an Olds delta 88 1979 for 80 $ CAD ( my RIP grand father s girl friend ) , with a 350 Rocket ( not the best year ,, but for this price .. ) , a TH 350 and a full tank of gas . So it seems I just payed the gas

I suppose you all guess what s gonna append ..
Quite the same back plate size , not so far same driving shaft size , and a Rocket fits in a Coupe 38 , of course , even with a blower ( my dream ... )

I plan to begin the project next spring . I have the car for 1 1/2 years , but babies , job , new house .... So I really begin to search parts and ideas . I have 2 grille , one cost me 400 $ on eBay , the other 25 $ in Granby ...
I have quite new front fenders from a 37 , and a 37 nose unusefull for now .
New side hoods for 50 $ and so on .
Rear lights will probabely be from a 403 Peugeot ( don t forget I m french

So now you may know a little who I am and what I do . Here comes the question

I want it as low as possible . So 3 inches ( legal here ), lower would be idiot , roads in Quebec are **** . . My knew suspensions are dead ( not a surprise .... )
I ve been looking for a way to drop the front and in the same time swapping to disk brake ( of course my drums are also deads )

I ve seen
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ension_upgrade

and
http://www.teambuick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15749

but I don t see no where dropped spindles with a disk swap .

Fatman as dropped uprights , but just dropped . I mean keeping the drums and kingpin . their other solution is a sub frame , but for legal reasons, in Quebec , the car as to be inspected and a cutted / welded frame is no fun for the inspectors
The last idea is bolting a Ford Aerostar front ( yes , it s bolted on the frame ) , and adding Ford ball joints on the 38 lower control arm .

Is there anyone building THE magic way :
- 2 or 3 inches dropped uprights
- disk brake

Thanks a lot, hoping my english is not so bad , remember I m french from Toulouse :P

A few pix :

[Bob]

Looks like lots of hotrod potential. Of course it would be nice if it was going to be a Buick engine

As far as low ride is concerned I think the best is air. You can ride low on good roads and high on poor ones.

[nali]

I d like to install a Buick engine 455 with a Dyers blower :P . But money ....
I think about air to drop, but I wonder what to do with my stock knee level shocks . They won t like a big drop ..
I have the Olds engine , the trans and everything , so first step will be this way .
It seems to me that once the car runs , changing the Olds on a 350 TH for a Buick should only be a 2 days job ( in fact 2 weeks cause I have young babies .... ) . It s my first street / hot rod project , let s be safe :P

But the goal is definitively hotrod .

Edit : of course air is one option , I think about a York , it s cheap and efficient .
The trouble is that even without springs or shocks , the car is still much too high . That s why I look for a dropped spindle solution .

[Spud]

I would get the nose on before you see how far you want to drop it, the nose drops down. Here is a shot of my 38 business coupe with 2 inch lowered springs. I could let you know how far the cross member and front panel are from the ground if you like. "I just went back and saw that you linked to a post that I put up. Here it is in the yard with 15 inch wheels a little lower."

[nali]

Spud , in fact I ve found this forum after seeing pictures of your car , while I was looking for a lowered 38 with Google

I have a few questions for you ...
After cutting the front spring , or using air bags , what appends to the level shocks ?
I m afraid they move out of limits ...
Doesn t this cause a too high camber ?

As you can see on pictures , I m far from driving the car
But the first thing I plan to do is swapping the engine , so I have to decide what to do with my front ..

I d like to try on my car , but I don t have the nose . I have a 37 nose , it came with 2 front fenders I found for 250 $ ..
And yes , I would really like to know how low is the car with 15 inches wheels :P
Here , the miminum legal value is 3 inches , so it s important not to go lower . Atleast for the inspection ...

Thanks a lot .
Phil

[Spud]

Sorry it took this long to get back, I drive truck and there are two days I can't even look in the garage. I run 215/70/15 tires on the front, and the lowest part of the a-frame is 5 1/4 off the ground a dropped spindle would put that at 3 1/4. I got two inch lowered springs from coilsprings .com, they will make what you want. That puts the nose at 5 1/2 off the ground, I don't want to go lower than that with the way driveways are around here. Shocks still work good. The camber I don't think is to bad haven't had it checked just got it on the road, but it handles good, had it up to 65 - 70 MPH and it fills good and stable. Any thing I can help with ask, car will look good.

[HilbornNailhead]

If you change your mind about wanting to run a newer engine, and want to keep the '30s/40's look, I've got a buddy that has a good running '41 Pontiac Flathead 6 with a 3 speed manual still attached. Ran good when he pulled it out 3 weeks ago, 45 lbs oil pressure at idle, might need to clean up the valves and give it a carb rebuild, but it still runs fine as is.

He also has an extra complete '41 Flathead 6 with tranny to go with this one for parts (might actually run, not sure).

I know it's not a Buick, but at least it's not a Chevy

If you have any interest, let me know.

[nali]

For sure it would be nice under the hood .
One of the reasons why I plan to install an Olds V8 is that the whole donor car ( Delta 88 Holiday 1979 ) costed me just 80 $ CAD, with the tank full of gas , and I already have it .
The back plate is quite the same as the Buick , the driving shaft may be installed as is , without cutting ( well , I ll see this later of course ) and the trans is a TH350 . Last thing , even if it look quite nice , the whole car is deadly rusty , and it s not worth spending money on it . Bad for it , but I can t save them all , not enough place or money

The other reason is that I like driving my cars . There are chances the Buick will be my driver each summers , when finished . So it seems that a 1979 engine / trans will cause me less trouble than a 1941 .

But for sure , it would look very nice and you re not so far from here :P
Thanks .






I have a video of the engine on Youtube , but can t link it here ....