1958 Buick Caballero

Are those the original colors? My mom's '80 Silverado was Charcoal Grey and Argent Silver, for which your rig's two colors approximate. And BTW, I hadn't seen any of the updates since last spring; excellent work on the floorpans. I should also go looking for that Olds Holiday wagon I used to follow.

 

You have some fine looking automobiles to call your own.

 

The pick up looks nice. Now back to the Caballero!
Most people have no idea of the work, time, and money that goes into a finished car. Many assume you just found it that way and touched it up. Great seeing the build and the craftsmanship!

Hurry up before MotoMike gets pushy!

 

No, my truck was originally teal and white.
I wish the previous owner had kept the original colors; I think it would have looked great.

 

Thanks.
Yes, I am a very lucky guy!

 

Yessir!!!!!

 

Update February, 2017

I've been working on this car for about 2 years. Time flies when you're having fun...or not.


I finally got all the floor pan patches installed. Still need to fill in a few spots from beneath the car and repair teh rea compartment floor and spare tire well. The rotisserie has been a great addition to my tools!





Doors had to go back on before removing/replacing the rockers. The doors are banged up, but the metal is beautiful. Hem flanges, reinforcements and inners are all very solid.



Two of the hold-open springs on the front door hinges were broken. Luckily, the springs were easy to find. They are the same as the springs on first-generation Corvettes.

I don't possess the tools or skills to fabricate new dogleg panels, so I decided to have a pro make the new doglegs and weld them in, along with the new rocker outers. After months of searching I found one repair panel for the passenger side, so only one side has to be fabricated.


The rocker outers also need to be repaired or replaced. Another job for the pro...I expect he'll find inner rocker damage when the outers are removed.


The rear crossmember needs to be replaced due to corrosion damage. Both ends look like this. The corroded areas are directly above the rubber body mount isolators. The rest of the part is like new.




Next step is to button up the engine and transmission and get ready for cam break-in. I think the chassis is looking great. Lots of plumbing and wiring to be done yet.

 

Thanks for the update with all the fine pictures Joe. Its very interesting to see 60 year old GM engineering.

 

March 29, 2017 update
No progress on the body, but I've been chipping away at the chassis.

It's great to be putting parts back ON!
Pulleys, fan, power steering pump and generator mounted, along with the carburetor, exhaust manifolds and the exhaust system.
Exhaust system is just sitting in place, waiting on some detail parts.



















It almost looks ready to run...well, not quite.


Shocks are mounted and brake lines are done.

I'm waiting for new rivets to replace the originals in the exhaust hangers. The tailpipe hangers are getting new rubber insulators, new rivets and re-plated or powder-coated metal parts.


I've started getting the stainless trim and chrome parts ready for polishing & plating.




Beginning to rebuild the AC fuel pump.









Interior of the pump is in excellent, rebuildable condition. Rebuild kit came from Hal Houghton, Classic Preservation Coalition. Very knowledgeable and helpful gentleman!

http://www.classicpreservation.com/

Hal offers kits, full rebuild services and partial rebuild services for carbs, fuel pumps, vacuum tanks, etc.

Thanks for reading!

 

454 Thanks for sharing , your workmanship and attention to detail is awesome . from Downunder

 

Noice! The most fun I had as a mechanic/diagnostic tech was a '55 Star Chief Custom Catalina I did a bunch of mechanical and electrical work on. Seeing the engine and drivetrain sure brought back some good memories of working on it.

 

Glad to see you are making steady progress.

 

August 20, 2017 update

Yes, I'm still working on the Caballero.
It has been a busy year with volunteer work on a charity car show, family travels and helping friends on their cars, but I've kept moving forward on multiple fronts...

Back in April/May, I was working on the chassis assembly in my garage.
Exhaust is done. This photo shows the tailpipe hanger under the rear chassis cross-member. New rubber and new rivets for all the hangers.




Radiator core support, radiator and fan shroud in position. I was getting everything ready for camshaft break-in.




Fuel pump was rebuilt and installed. Bench tested before installation; 5psi output, 20 in Hg vacuum on the inlet side - practically perfect!


Filled with oil and primed it, but the oil filter housing leaked when I pressurized the system. Removed and re-placed it and it didn't leak the second time. It either was not torqued properly or the gasket shifted away from the top of the canister the first time. All good now.

The metal work started with fabrication of a new dog-leg and replacing rust damaged areas on the inner rockers, wheelhouses and rear body mount.






I wasn't able to break in the cam before the body had to go back on the frame (in June) for door/fender/tailgate fitment:


Hard to see in the photo, but the frame and all chassis/suspension componenents were wrapped in heavy plastic film to protect the coatings from heat, dirt and moisture while the metal work was being completed.


All the exterior metal work is complete and we've added anchor plates for the split folding rear seat.
Seat belt reinforcements will be going in soon, as well as some final underbody patch work.
The door and liftgate fits are excellent.

The body is now back on the rotisserie and will be moving to the painter in the next week or two.

While the metal work was being done, I got the stainless steel trim and chrome plated die-cast parts moving.
The first batches of trim and chrome are done.

Driver's eyebrow molding:


Die cast parts are coming out beautiful!



I've got dozens hundreds of photos like this to help with re-assembly.



The body is back off the frame and the chassis is back in my garage for final assembly and engine break-in.
Gages are hooked up for break-in.
Next comes starter/generator wiring and fluid fill.

 

Is that all you basically did with the engine was to replace the camshaft and lifters? If that was all and the rest of the engine was within specifications, that's super cool. I hate to see people unnecessarily remove metal on their cylinder walls which would mean one rebuild less on a rare engine.
It seems, they've been using that torqutube system for quite a while. Wonder what the advantage to that was, besides never needing to change a bearing cross. Here, grab yourself a brochure:

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/brochures_1958_buick

 

Man, everything you have done looks great. I enjoy your updates ad look forward to seeing more as the project continues.