1958 Buick Caballero

Three week vacation??? There is a car to finish!

Actually your car is really coming together very well...you really have a talent for this, have you given any thought to your next project?

 

I'm making a big push to get the car back to the paint shop before we leave for vacation on April 27.

Opened up the starter relay and checked it out. It worked perfectly, so I cleaned up the contacts, the terminals and the case cover. Painted the cover and installed it.
Starter relay 1 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Same for the dimmer switch; tested and worked fine, so I cleaned it up and installed it.
Before:
20180420_191440 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

After:
20180420_200949 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

All the front sheet metal installed, getting ready to go back to the painter
20180421_163407 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Ballast resistor and blower motor resistor installed, windshield washer hoses installed to nozzles, wiper motor installed.
20180421_163457 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

On to the rollback!
20180423_131233 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180423_131301 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180423_132036 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Installed the hood center molding, the fender moldings, the headlight buckets and the radio antenna before the panels were installed to the car.
20180424_140728 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

20180424_160113 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

 

Yep, I've still got a lot to do!
The next 2 projects are waiting patiently. First if to get my 1933 Pontiac 4 door running. Then, the BIG project...a 1933 Pontiac Sport Coupe hot rod. That one's going to take me a few years.

 

A few more pics of the fenders and hood before installation:
2015.04.26 left fender by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

2018.04.26 left fender headlamp bucket by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

headlight bucket installed LH by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

rt fender with molding by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Got these photos from Masterworks when I was still in Scotland. They did all the body work & paint.
Woo Hoo!
2018.05.15 in the sun by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

2018.05.15 Rt frt view by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

 

This showed up the day after I returned:
Dash pad carton by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

New dash pad; it looks GREAT!
dash pad wrapper by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

dash pad detail 1 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

dash pad 1 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Here are a couple of pictures of the fenders and hood. The hood bumpers are in and all the re-plated fasteners look great.
LH fender installed - fastener detail by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

2018.05.17 hood hing detail LH by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

2018.05.17 RH hood hinge detail by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

The hinge arms and bases are zinc phosphate plated, then oiled. Hood latch is bright zinc.
2018.05.17 hood latch detail by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Still have some work to do; the fender moldings need some convincing to fit tightly to the fenders.
2018.05.17 RH fender - molding detail by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

When I tried to connect the battery, I got HUGE arcs and sparks. I found a short to ground on the positive power junction post and spent a couple of frustrating hours trying to track down the short. I was finding nearly 0 resistance on the wire that feeds +12V to the coil and the ballast resistor. Took me a while to realize that I had not isolated the points. DOH! AS soon as I stuck a piece of paper between the point contacts, that circuit checked okay.

Re-checked the positive battery cable and found it had 0 ohm resistance to ground; a direct short. What I found was simple, but somewhat embarassing...

Apparently, when I installed the positive battery cable to the junction block, I installed the junction block end "upside down", causing the edge of the junction block base to cut through the heat shrink insulation on the battery cable. You can see the 2 bright spots where the heat shrink tubing was cut.
20180519_093057 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

All I had to do was turn the cable over and the lug no longer touched the base of the power junction block. Easy fix, but I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner.

Next: Brakes!

 

Now that's really something!

 

Oops on those points; that's why I undo the negative wire from the coil and tape a flag to it, on a just-in-case basis, then do the actual ignition setup and testing last.

 

I was actually kidding about your next project but not surprised that you have a next one or two.

I REALLY like the color of you car.

 

Die-hard hobbyists always have more projects in the background.

 

I agree, the color is amazing.

 

Yeah, that particular line of paint colors, when properly applied, really pops, even inside under lighting.

 

I noticed that the filler neck was not centered in the bracket opening.


Only took a few minutes to loosen the straps and shift the tank a little bit.
Much better!


I added DOT4 brake fluid to the master cylinder back in April.
When I pushed the brake pedal, it went to the floor and I found multiple leaks in the system,

Some of the leaks were caused by my forgetting to tighten some of the fittings after loosely assembling all the lines. But some of the leaks have persisted after re-torqing the fittings. I'm still working through the system, one fitting at a time.

Meanwhile, I've brought the car back home for assembly.
This color looks great in the sunlight!


I've had to remove the headlight buckets to to re-fit the eyebrow moldings.


The eyebrow moldings that came with the car were both damaged. In the process of straightening and polishing, the contours changed slightly. The driver's side is ready to go back on and the passenger side should be ready on June 4.


Finally got around to cleaning the blue protective coating from the whitewalls!



I've also been chipping away at trim installation; so far, I've got the hood emblem and 2 of the "whiskers" installed. It's a time-consuming process.


Today, I connected the transmission cooling lines to the radiator, hooked up the fuel and vent lines to the fuel tank, checked the torque on all the transmission mount fasteners and tried to adjust the emergency brake cables. Not sure what's going on with the e-brake cable; there is still slack in the cables with the adjuster at minimum length. I've got more work to do there...

 

Steady progress! It's looking great, coming together nicely.
Has all of your snow melted yet? I bet you are eager to get this one on the road.

 

Thanks for posting with your progress>
Looks great.

 

Trim going on, that has got to feel good. You're are right that color looks amazing in the sun.