Repair Records / Restoration Guides?

I'm new to the forums and tried to do my homework via the 'search' function, but couldn't find anything...

My question:
Can anyone recommend sources/books/guides for getting 'trouble spot' information and also restoration information for 1960-1970 Buicks?

Are Buicks similar enough to Chevys that Chevrolet manuals can be used, or are there guides specific to Buicks?
(I'm finding that Buicks are much less known and are less popular than the ubiquitous Chevys and Pontiacs.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Mike

P.S. Moderators - if this is the incorrect forum section for this question, please feel free to move...

 

This should help:
http://www.tocmp.com/

Or this:
http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/

 

Thank you Stormin' Norman - that's a great start and an excellent website!

Any other suggestions/recommendations out there???

Regards,
Mike

 

Welcome


The things to get are:

Fisher body manual for your year
Buick service manual for your year (it's Buick specific, although things such as tranny, rear axle can be the same across divisions)
User manual

Things that are very nice to have are:
Buick Service bulletins for the model year i.e from September to the next September
Fisher body bulletins (very hard to find)
Parts and Illustration books/catalogs..
Dealer sales books - the thick once that has upholstery and color samples!!

Nice but of no real use when restoring:
Sales brochure

Cheers Dyna

PS: In a general way there is a lot of common stuff under the shell. Engines are different. The brakes are different but how they work is very much the same. Lot of things are shared, but the higher up the scale you go the better the stuff are. You will see more Chevy stuff on a Pontiac than on a Buick... It's just common sense..

 

Thanks Dyna!

The challenge that I have is that I don't know what year I would prefer yet. Was trying to get an idea from a general perspective of which particular years might be better than others. (Almost like a Consumer Reports that would have ratings and evaluations of the years - which ones are better than others.)

Would the Buick Service bulletins you noted have that type of information (at least for that specific year)?

Thanks,
Mike

 

You don't have that kind of problem on a Buick from the sixties or any GM for that matter. Sure the first year of any body has it's teething problems. Reading service bulletins and it becomes pretty obvious.

Although when reading the service bulletins for a 1965 Cadillac a year when Cadillac (and Buick/Olds) C bodies got both new body and new perimeter frame I would say there is very few things that went wrong and the things that are needed to fix are pretty small.

The cars back then aren't complicated and they are very well built (if you exclude rust protection). I would say it's more a matter of getting the model and year you like, if you want to be on the safe side don't get the first year of anything .

In regards to better I would say the later you go in the decade the more comfortable and the more powerful they will get.. like it's hard to find one with AC in 1960 while it's hard to find one without AC in 1970.. Crank windows, non power seat etc are although pretty common in 1970 a few years later it's more common 50/50 and when you reach 1980 it's like with the AC hard to find one without power windows..

Cheers Dyna

PS: You will find consumer reports in old car magazines..

 

Thank you Dyna!
Looks like I'll have to start narrowing down the choices and pick my favorite year (years?) of Buicks...
Wagons, of course.

-Mike

 

I haven't been there in a while, but you also may look at epinions.com. People who have problems will often vent there about their issues. I don't know how much people will have posted about older models, but it's worth a look.

 

Lots of pages to sort through on epinions.com, but there are opinions about various Buick parts and accessories.
Didn't see much on the actual overall vehicles.

Still, more data points and information!

Thank you,
Mike

 

And don't get one with the damn torque-tube driveshaft. What a major PITA. They were a 2-part driveshaft with a U-joint in the middle (front to rear). You had to pull the engine/tranny and the rearend to repair them. Hate is too mild to express my frustration with those. I think they ended in 1958 or 1959.

 

Good recommendation - thank you!

I'm primarily looking from ~'63 through the mid 70's.
Still need to figure out what body style really grabs me. Must admit, those 60's designs are really purty!

-Mike

P.S. I think I've narrowed it down somewhere between '64 and '72.

 

Here is a great Buick site.
http://www.v8buick.com/

 

Yep they are a major PITA have it on the 58 Caballero ... --- www.buicks.net is pretty good too

Ah one thing to keep in mind is that Buick fullsize wagons are only made up to 64 and then from 70 hence there are no full size wagons 65-69 -- In all getting hold of a nice Buick wagon is not that easy just so you know...

Cheers Dyna

 

Two excellent websites - thank you!

Dyna - just checked out the buicks.net site and looked at the production figures. I now know what you mean by getting hold of a nice Buick wagon is not that easy.
The production figures were quite low for Buick wagons! Especially during the mid-to-late 60s.

Hmmmm...might have to rethink this one. Either that, or be very, very patient...

Thanks,
Mike

 

Well as they say patience is a virtue . Well it depends on the intermediate size wagons are pretty common (although not as common as the Olds counter part). It's the full size wagons very hard with really low production figures in the early sixties.. and none zero nothing between in 65,66,67,68 and 69 but quite a few in 70.. -- the easiest once to get hold of are the sports wagons from 65 and 66 seen quite a few of them..

Cheers Dyna