1958 Buick Caballero

If the gasket is still hanging up, I'd try silicone spray. I've had nothing glide rubber material better than it. Soap is a thing belonging to the past, except for staying in the kitchen

 

The tail light housings should be back from chrome plating soon, so it's time to get the sockets, pigtails and lenses ready.

Here is one of the original tail light pigtail & socket assemblies and the new replacement.


I removed the grommets from the original parts and installed them on the new pigtails


I also had to replace the terminals and pigtails in the license lamp sockets. The rear bumper was removed without first disconnecting the license lamps from the body harness.


All better!




So many things to finish!
Here, you can see the vinyl cover prepared for adhering to the driver's side kick panel.
20181010_122612 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Sprayed contact adhesive on both parts, trimmed & wrapped the edges and used a rubber roller to apply enough pressure to set the adhesive bond.

Here's the driver's side as installed:
20181010_125439 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Passenger panel ready fpr bonding:
20181010_130503 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

Assembled with 2-part rivets and installed in the car:
20181011_080940 by 2manycars2littletime, on Flickr

 

You're coming down to the wire (pardon the pun); do you have a list of what's left?

 

Great! Look forward to seeing you and the Buick when you come through Newnan!

 

It's all of the little details at the end of a project that are so time consuming! But, they are what separate a top flight restoration from the rest. As always, things are looking great. Thanks for the update.

 

Yes, I've got a list....but it seems that for everything I check off the list, 3 things get added!

 

There was a local Scandinavian-American celebrity here in the Pacific Northwest (actually from here in Everett, no less), name of Stan Boreson, and he had a line from a song that was a parody of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," called "Uncle Sven is Coming to Town," which was:

"He's makin' a list and he's checkin' it once; that's because he is such a dunce! Uncle Sven is coming to town!"

 

This thread has finally headed in the right derection

 

Naughty Uncle Sven!

 

The tail light housings should be back from chrome plating soon, so it's time to get the sockets, pigtails and lenses ready.

Here is one of the original tail light pigtail & socket assemblies and the new replacement.


I removed the grommets from the original parts and installed them on the new pigtails



I also had to replace the terminals and pigtails in the license lamp sockets. The rear bumper was removed without first disconnecting the license lamps from the body harness.


All better!




So many things to finish!
Here, you can see the vinyl cover prepared for adhering to the driver's side kick panel.


Sprayed contact adhesive on both parts, trimmed & wrapped the edges and used a rubber roller to apply enough pressure to set the adhesive bond.

Here's the driver's side as installed:


Passenger panel ready for bonding:


Assembled with 2-part rivets and installed in the car:




Months ago, I partially assembled the rear door trim panels. I recently installed the metal edgefold retainers and bonded the material around the perimeter.

The panel did not fit properly; I had not noticed that the attaching "nails" were not all equidistant from the edge of the panel.

There at least 3 different dimensions for the position of the nails from the edge of the panel.


Compounding the problem...I used aftermarket repair parts to replace the missing nails; there are multiple versions of these parts as well.


I removed the edgefold reinforcements and test-fit the panel again.


Even without the nails, the base panel does not fit properly. Re-checking dimensions, I found the armrest was installed too low on the panel, driving the panel too high on the door when installed.

Lesson learned: I had assembled the trim panel without installing the armrest attaching plate to the door inner panel. Dumb mistake...I know better.

The "fix" will require re-working the armrest position and revising the perimeter cut lines to accomodate the various nail positions. I'm glad I found this before I made the same error on all 4 doors...

 

Lots going on recently...

Liftgate glass is IN!
I was reluctant to tackle this myself, so I got help from the glass installer who installed the windshield.
I was lucky enough to get a tinted liftgate glass panel from another Caballero owner (57BuickJim). His parts car had tinted glass and he agreed to swap it for my clear glass.


Painted the wheel well trim to match the interior.


Installing rear compartment load floor panels.




This is the front edge of the rear load floor. There is a vinyl closeout panel that covers the floor pan from the middle of this part to the rear of the floor pan, under the rear seats.


This part was created by using the crispy, original remnants that were in the car when it was disassembled. It got us close to what was required, but the patterns needed refinement.

I used muslin material to develop and confirm the revised patterns.




Time to cut & sew!
I cut the vinyl pieces and used 2-sided tape to hold the hems down while sewing the hems.






A hardboard reinforcement was sewn to the upper edge of the original panel. I incorporated a panel edge molding (sold for 1/4" wall panels) to provide a more defined, straight edge.


The upper reinforcement is screwed to the waterfall, below the load floor. Then the vinyl is folded down and lays onto the waterfall and floor pan. The cutouts for the seat bottom stop brackets are made and this part is done.


This is when I realized that I needed inboard stops for the split folding seat. This car originally had a full width second seat, requiring only 2 bottom stops. The split folding seat needs 4 stops.

Two pieces of 1/8" flat stock and some bending and drilling yielded these little gems


Installed & painted, ready for seat installation:


First test fit of the carpet...


The "B" pillar cover panels must be completed before I make the final cuts and install the carpet.

Muslin test parts sewn to confirm patterns are correct.


These were interesting panels to construct. There are hardboard panels behind each of the 3 curved surfaces. It all gets sewn together "inside out", then inverted into the "vinyl side out" orientation for installation into the body.


Masked the pillar flanges and sprayed adhesive on the part and the flange edges, then applied the part to the pillar. The edges are pulled taut to the pinch weld flanges at the front and back pof the B pillar, then the painted steel retainer moldings are pressed over the flanges, trapping the vinyl in place.





These turned out great!

 

Those sure did turn out great! I absolutely love the passion that you have for this restoration. Thank you so much for sharing your photos, commentary, and your wealth of knowledge and information. That will truly be a one of a kind lovingly redone Buick. Thanks again and continued good luck with her.

 

Well, I guess the windshield installer will take the secret, as to which rubber lubricant was used, into his grave

 

I'm sorry; I don't understand what you're looking for.

The windshield installer used no lubricant on the windshield or the liftgate window gaskets.
Each glass channel (in the gasket) was partially filled with bedding compound and the gasket was then installed onto the glass. Then, a bead of bedding compound was applied under the inner flange of the gasket and a rope was inserted into the inner flange. The gasket and glass were positioned into the cavity on the body and the rope was slowly removed to help flip the inner flange over the sheet metal flange on the body.

He showed my how to install the flat glass into the door and vent window channels and he instructed me to use liquid soap for lubricant.

He also is the professional who told me to trim the gaskets on the quarter glass because they are too large for the body opening.

Hope the answer you seek is here!