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Hey guys, first post here! Got something that's not the usual for Stanceworks.
My 96 year old great grandpa recently gave me his 1961 LeSabre, it's got a 364ci Nailhead V8 in it and a Dynaflow transmission. Power steering, A/C but no power brakes. It's been sitting in his garage since 1994, it ran and drove like a champ when he parked it. He said he had lots of plans for it but then my great grandma got sick with cancer and his focus moved to her health, so there it sat. Well anyway, he sold it to me for $1 so I'm going to get it going for him!
I'm 19, live with my girlfriend and have a decent sized garage where I can work on it, so I've trailered it to my apartment and am in the proceses of getting it running again.
Here's an album of pictures I took before I picked the car up, this is where it sat for 21 years:
So I got it out of the shed, along with his '49 Chevy which has a straight six and a 3 on the tree:
I managed to get it home in one piece. Here is a look around of it:
It's very clean other than the two identical holes in the front fenders (easy fixes) and the surface rust underneath. But for a 54 year old car, I'm very happy with it!
First thing I wanted to do was get rid of the 2 barrel carb setup it came factory with. Unfortunately for me, factory 4 barrel manifolds are rare. I bought the cheapest one I could find, which was a nice $425. I picked up an Edelbrock 1406 600CFM carb for $200. I painted the intake, swapped it onto the engine and threw the Edlebrock on it. Had to get a custom linkage setup from Russ Martin at nailheadbuick.com for the transmission kickdown.
Next step was dropping the gas tank and cleaning it out. Got that done and now I'm waiting for my next paycheck so I can order a new sending unit for inside the tank. After that, the gas tank gets re-installed, she'll get new fuel lines. I also discovered from some looking online that a 600cfm carb is not big enough for these Nailhead engines. So I'm looking for a 700-750cfm, and sold the 600 to my buddy, we're converting his truck from TBI to carbureted.
Then, I'll do an oil change before we start it, I picked up some Valvoline VR1 5W20 race oil (some of the only oil available with adequate amounts of zinc for the old engine)
I also picked up new perfect length plug wires from NailheadBuick and I'll get new plugs next time I'm at NAPA and actually remember to ask for them lol
So this is how it sits right now:
I just bought an Optima battery for my truck for better winter starts, so instead of buying one for the Buick, the truck battery went to it. Shouldn't be long before we're able to start it up for the first time. After that, the brakes need to be bled and then it'll be ready to drive. Don't fret stance-heads, this build will be Stanceworks relevant... When I get my tax return I plan on picking up the Ridetech air kit for it
The final goal will be similar to this:
Or this:
My 96 year old great grandpa recently gave me his 1961 LeSabre, it's got a 364ci Nailhead V8 in it and a Dynaflow transmission. Power steering, A/C but no power brakes. It's been sitting in his garage since 1994, it ran and drove like a champ when he parked it. He said he had lots of plans for it but then my great grandma got sick with cancer and his focus moved to her health, so there it sat. Well anyway, he sold it to me for $1 so I'm going to get it going for him!
I'm 19, live with my girlfriend and have a decent sized garage where I can work on it, so I've trailered it to my apartment and am in the proceses of getting it running again.
Here's an album of pictures I took before I picked the car up, this is where it sat for 21 years:
So I got it out of the shed, along with his '49 Chevy which has a straight six and a 3 on the tree:
I managed to get it home in one piece. Here is a look around of it:
It's very clean other than the two identical holes in the front fenders (easy fixes) and the surface rust underneath. But for a 54 year old car, I'm very happy with it!
First thing I wanted to do was get rid of the 2 barrel carb setup it came factory with. Unfortunately for me, factory 4 barrel manifolds are rare. I bought the cheapest one I could find, which was a nice $425. I picked up an Edelbrock 1406 600CFM carb for $200. I painted the intake, swapped it onto the engine and threw the Edlebrock on it. Had to get a custom linkage setup from Russ Martin at nailheadbuick.com for the transmission kickdown.
Next step was dropping the gas tank and cleaning it out. Got that done and now I'm waiting for my next paycheck so I can order a new sending unit for inside the tank. After that, the gas tank gets re-installed, she'll get new fuel lines. I also discovered from some looking online that a 600cfm carb is not big enough for these Nailhead engines. So I'm looking for a 700-750cfm, and sold the 600 to my buddy, we're converting his truck from TBI to carbureted.
Then, I'll do an oil change before we start it, I picked up some Valvoline VR1 5W20 race oil (some of the only oil available with adequate amounts of zinc for the old engine)
I also picked up new perfect length plug wires from NailheadBuick and I'll get new plugs next time I'm at NAPA and actually remember to ask for them lol
So this is how it sits right now:
I just bought an Optima battery for my truck for better winter starts, so instead of buying one for the Buick, the truck battery went to it. Shouldn't be long before we're able to start it up for the first time. After that, the brakes need to be bled and then it'll be ready to drive. Don't fret stance-heads, this build will be Stanceworks relevant... When I get my tax return I plan on picking up the Ridetech air kit for it
The final goal will be similar to this:
Or this:
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