1958 Buick Caballero

He is almost ready to build the seats.

Rear seat covers are ready to be installed.
He's working on the front seat covers now.
I'll be heading his way in the next few weeks to build the seats and door trim panels with him.

 

The progress is looking amazing! Thanks for sharing the updates with us.

 

Hey Joe this might make you smile. Not even in the same planet as yours in condition but neat to see one for sale locally here in Austin.

Another project for sure...sadly a hot rod, but still, love the style! He has a parts car too, see pic in ad.

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/d/1958-buick-estate-wagon/6650101347.html


-Texas Mike

 

With all the door glass installed, I began working on the glass alignment. It's been a frustrating experience so far...

I started by installing the roof rail weatherstrip retainer and the new weatherstrip.


As I mentioned earlier, the Body Service manual states that the rear door glass must be adjusted to the front door glass and the front door glass is adjusted to the ventilator frame. The ventilator gets adusted to the windshield frame/A pillar, so that's where I started.

The driver's side looks pretty close, but I don't have the windshield moldings yet. The moldings I have are for a different body style. I will start on the passenger side.


Got a long way to go...




Started by installing the roof rail weatherstrip.


This is the best alignment I could achieve between the ventilator and the front door window. It looks good in this photo, but the rear of the door glass is not touching the weatherstrip.


No matter what I did, I couldn't get the back corner of the glass to contact the weatherstrip.

Going back through the shop manual instructions, I found a reference to the upper attachment between the ventilator frame and the outer door frame. I had not installed that attaching screw and I couldn't get the screw to engage the threads, so I had to remove the vent window assembly and repair the threaded hole in the door frame. The arrow points to the guilty culprit.



After repairing the threads, I re-installed the ventilator and tried to set the ventilator relationship to the windshield frame. I installed the windshield reveal molding so I could see the exact relationship between the ventilator and the windshield pillar.


The ventilator and pillar relationship looks great, but I still can't get the upper, rear corner of the door glass to contact the weatherstrip unless I allow the front of the glass to travel at least 1/4" beyond the top of the vent window frame.

The Service Manual states that the upper, rear corner of the window can be adjusted to travel higher by raising the rear attachment of the inner panel cam. The circled area in this picture highlights the rear cam adjustment on the left front door.


I've done that, but I still could not get enough additional travel.

I lengthened the slot for the rear attachment point, giving additional upward adjustment to the rear cam attachment, but that didn't give enough additional travel, either.

That led me to look at the window frame and glass assembly itself. This window frame had to be repaired and reinforced due to corrosion damage at the bottom of the channel.

I feared that the repairs increased the thickness of the lower sash enough to force the forward, top corner of the glass too high in the vehicle. I also saw that I could get additional room for adjustment if the back of the door glass frame wasn't so tight against the rear guide.

I removed the window from the door and took the glass out of the frame.

I re-set the glass, concentrating on getting the glass as far rearward in the rear sash as possible.

The re-installed glass was easily adjusted to align with the ventilator.



Now, on to the rear door...

 

Sometimes you just run into problems like that, and with how much patience you've shown over this restoration, you've got this. You'll see it through.
I also like your new avatar.

 

I know it can be frustrating. It seems that the little details such as this are what take the most time on a restoration project. But, as Andrew said, you'll get it figured out. This time next year you'll be sharing stories about how many compliments you received while driving it in the Woodward Dream cruise.

 

So glad you solved the issue. I was getting worried there for a couple of minutes as I read your narrative.
Looks beautiful!

 

Here are my helpers finishing up the deadener in the rear compartment.


Now that the passenger side windows are adjusted, I am moving to the driver's side. I am still missing one of the reveal moldings, but I can get everything lined up and ready.

I started by aligning the ventilator frame to the A pillar. I noticed that the inner panel moved when I tried to tighten the attaching bolts. I found that there were 3 spot welds holding the 3 layers (inner panel, reinforcement and outer panel) together.
One of the 3 welds only held 2 layers together, causing a fatique failure adjacent to the weld.

Got some advice from some VERY experienced friends...

They recommended drilling and tapping 3 holes in the 3 layers, then using fine thread set screws to lock the layers together.
The set screws and the interfaces between all 3 layers are coated with JB Weld epoxy.





Repair worked great!

 

That is ingenious! If the spot welds are not visible after assembly, all the better!

 

One of those helpers seems more helpfull than the other

 

But just think, once they're in school and dad picks them up in the Buick they can proudly say to their friends " I helped daddy build that car" and they will. No matter how much they actually help it builds an appreciation and pride in these old machines.
My step son still jokes about all the chrome he buffed and polished for a 34 Cadillac I restored in the early 90's.

 

Imagine the jokes he could have spread around, had you restored certain commercial antique furniture

 

They're helping Grandpa; these are my grandchildren!

Actually, that yellow blur in her right hand is the roller she's using. Very difficult to catch her when she's not in motion!

 

Yes, it was a good idea - it came from my 84 year old master machinist buddy.
The entire area is covered by the frame of the ventilator window.

 

Well you know what I mean, either way they'll be proud of helping to build the Buick.