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Thread: 1956 Buick Century Project

  1. #11
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    1956 Buick Century Project- Brakes! New Master cylinder and booster

    One of the bigger obstacles to this project was the brakes. I had a factory power booster, and just finding someone to rebuild it was a hassle, it took forever, and it was expensive. And it leaves you with 1950's brakes. They work fine but not like a new car.
    I set out to design a completely bolt in kit for 1956 buicks (and possibly other years) that replaces the factory air box / water drain. It's taken a lot of measuring, designing and testing but I now have a working model. It's CAD designed and is cut on a plasma table. I plan on making these for sale later in the future, after it has been thoroughly tested. Here is what I have so far. It uses a modern booster, a modern dual outlet master cylinder, and a new brake pedal. It requires removing your firewall vent (aren't these cars drafty enough anyways?), removing your factory brakes and the sheet metal support (the factory bracket would interfere with the new pedal), and absolutely no cutting or anything else irreversible.

    It has provisions for water drains and I am making a bracket that bolts to the steering column to hold it in place as the factory air box did.

    The final product will be welded much better, and likely powder coated black.

    And also patent pending











    Heres a look at the beginning of the CAD design


  2. #12
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    1956 Buick Century Project- Brakes! New Master cylinder and booster

    Also, I if anyone has a 54-56 Buick and is interested in helping me test this out please contact me. From pictures, 1956 larger cars and 1954-55 Buicks have the same bolt pattern on the firewall. I just have a 56 century and special so I can't test fit it to find out.

    I plan on instilling this on the yellow car and test driving it within the week.

  3. #13
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    1956 Buick Century Project- Brakes! New Master cylinder and booster

    I painted and mounted the new set up on my running car today. Everything went pretty smoothly. I didn't get a picture of the inside but the brake pedal is hung, and sits in about the same position as factory. Tomorrow I will plumb it in and give it a test. It's fairly tight between the master and the inner fender, but certainly enough to bend the 3/16 line safely.










  4. #14
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    1956 Buick Century Project

    Here is a picture of the plasma table cutting out the parts. very fun tool to watch



  5. #15
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    1956 Buick Century Project- Brakes! New Master cylinder and booster

    Test drove the new brakes today and I am pleased to report that it was a success! I went clear across Las Vegas, from stoplights to freeway. There is at least double the power compared to the factory buick power brake booster. With the 4 wheel disc brakes and the factory booster, you would really have to step on it in an emergency situation. It feels like modern power brakes now. The pedal is actually a little softer but it bites the brakes much more strongly.

    I plan on testing this on a couple other cars but hope to have it for sale in about a month.

    Here are some pictures of the new plate that sits beneath the steering column. Unfortunately the factory plate has to be removed entirely because the tabs for the pedal get in the way of the new pedal.


    Factory plate (and new brake pedal)



    New plate:

  6. #16
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    1956 Buick Century Project

    I just finished a 3,000 mile trip in my 56- las vegas to Washington and back, including hot august nights in Reno and several detours. Here are a few pictures from the trip, and the next ideas for the project.














    As usual for me, I haven't been content with my drivetrain. Ive been doing some research and a gen 5 chevy V8 makes 355 horsepower factory and gets 23 mpg in their big 4wd trucks. And of course there's always room for improvement with a cam and a tune. I picked up a 2015 engine out of a silverado with hardly any miles for surprisingly cheap. I will be putting a 6 speed auto behind this. I am hoping to get around 23-25 on the freeway while still running about a 14 second quarter mile with complete reliability. More details to come, but I am excited to get going on this. Here is a picture of the engine (L83)




    Also, I recently completed a 401 / 3 speed auto / jaguar rear suspension conversion in my friend's 56 Buick.


  7. #17
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    1956 Buick Century Project

    These pictures are from last year, but shortly after I put my LS1 in, it seized up on me. All of that work for a more modern, reliable engine, and it gave up on me. Turns out the oil pickup tube came loose from the oil pump. I ended up doing a full rebuild in Las vegas, a 1000 miles from my shop in Washington.
    While I had it apart, it was too tempting not to get the heads ported with bigger valves, dual valve springs, a 224 / 224 .600" lift cam, and a higher stall converter. Wow did it come alive after this! And best of all, it still gets over 20 mpg on the highway.










  8. #18
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    1956 Buick Century- Cold Air Intake

    I have had issues with power loss that seems to come on after the car is fully warmed up, and especially on hot days or after a lot of stop and go. I bought a remote thermometer and placed it inside my intake tube, behind the air filter and turns out my intake air temperatures would creep up to 130 degrees or more! So I set out to make a cold air intake, the first to my knowledge on a 56 Buick! I used an inline air filter and some 4" intake piping. I drilled a 4" hole by the driver side horn, which was by an oval hole that the factory made (I'm not sure if this had a purpose originally?). so far intake temperatures are down dramatically!





  9. #19
    i have to say, that brake system looks pretty snazzy.
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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob k. mando View Post
    i have to say, that brake system looks pretty snazzy.

    Thank you, its saved my car from certain collision a couple times. If I ever have the time, I would like to develop several different versions of this for different Buicks of the 50's.

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