Re: Josh's 2016 Upgrade Mega-Thread

[regal81455]

Josh: I like the door speaker layout. What size speaker holes you cut?


Keith

Tx Keith!  The front speakers are 5.25" and 6.5" in the rear.  Actual cut hole size was per the manufacturer's requirement for the speaker.  IIRC I think they were 4" and 5" respectively but they were done almost a year ago when I first installed them so I'm not 100% on that.

[woody1640]

lol

[regal81455]

I cut 6X9 speaker openings in my rear deck and have purchased a set of "cool 60's" era chrome covers for them. I was thinking a pair of 5.25's up front and the door panel seems to be the best fitment. ... Oh yeah thats yet another project on the never ending list ... lol
And another reason to spend more money.


Keith

Do yourself a favor and get components no matter what size you go with upfront, then you can mount the dome tweeter using the outside screws of the dash trim that runs along the windshield and get your sound stage up in front of you. Much crisper, cleaner sound that way. On another thread on here I'm pretty sure I posted a pic of mine.

[Esasky's62Lark]

Josh,

You covered those?!?  Those look great man!  Was wondering why I wasn't getting updates on your journey.  Could it be because Bill renamed it?!?  :-)  (Just messing with ya Bill)

Definitely making headway Josh!  And, Happy Belated Birthday!

I have some updates from last time as well.

My guy and I started on my 62 on Tuesday.  Mainly making plans of what we need to do and ordering some parts.

So, the 1st thing we are tackling in tandem is the hot side piping for the turbo and the rearend/trans angles for driveshaft/driveshaft tunnel fabrication.

Below are some pics of the header, charge inlet, and y pipe made for the turbo application.

We are making our own adjustable upper control arms for the rear end so we can dial in the pinion angle and run a one piece driveshaft.  Getting rid of that carrier bearing.  :-)




Everything is going well so far.  Hope to have it move consistently.

As for my other news, I am now a proud owner of another Buick.  I purchased a 72 Skylark with a 455 from a fine gentlemen in NC.  Its being delivered on Tuesday.  

Here are a few pics






Looking forward to digging into this one as well.  Doesn't need nearly as much.

Chris

[StageCat]

That looks like a very clean 72', congrats Chris....

[regal81455]

Josh,

You covered those?!?  Those look great man!  Was wondering why I wasn't getting updates on your journey.  Could it be because Bill renamed it?!?  :-)  (Just messing with ya Bill)

Definitely making headway Josh!  And, Happy Belated Birthday!

As for my other news, I am now a proud owner of another Buick.  I purchased a 72 Skylark with a 455 from a fine gentlemen in NC.  Its being delivered on Tuesday.  

Tx Bro, its coming together nicely and tx on the bday wishes too, much appreciated!!

Happy to see you're making progress on your own as well and congrats on the new ride! I figured you were gonna get things worked out -- hope it's an easy go - keep us posted on both fronts!!

[Esasky's62Lark]

Thanks guys!

72 arrived today!  Super excited!  Car is clean!  





More updates from the 62 Skylark side of things.  Buddy and I are pounding away at the turbo hot side piping.  Really liking the way we ran the piping from the headers.  We are currently working on finishing that up and they starting on the trans tunnel.

[regal81455]

Hellz yeah dooder!! Looks good!! Super happy for ya Chris! Keep us posted on your progress!

[regal81455]

Here's an update on my progress too! Doors are done and carpet has begun -- had it sitting out for a day to relax some and now it's sitting in the car -- I haven't done anything with it yet but hope to get on it in the next day or two -- almost finished with the interior rehab!

[Esasky's62Lark]

Looks bad ass Josh! Super happy to see yours taking shape too!

[woody1640]

lol

[regal81455]

Josh: I love your carpet, where did you get it? Whats the name, style and part number please!

Keith

I'm super happy with it too Keith -- best part is it was about 1/2 the cost of buying it through OPGI or similar... www.trimparts.com ( GM licensed restoration parts ) -- here's the info straight from my receipt...

Products Ordered
# Product Name Quantity Price Amount
1 MOLDED CARPET
- Item No: 53127
- Style: ESSEX-PREMIUM PLUSH CUT PILE ULTRA THICK +25% UPCHARGE
- Style Color: BLACK 1001
001 $189.95 $189.95
Total: $ 189.95
Shipping: $ 0.00
Tax: n/a
Total Amount: $ 189.95

[regal81455]

I took these pix about 1.5 weeks ago but have been super slackin' on posting them.  Interior is complete -- carpet is in, even though you don't get to see much with it being black and all. 1st pic doesn't show the kick panels in the front corners but I recovered them and they are installed as well.

I added a set of LEDs for courtesy lamps.  They operate off a controller that is BT so you can do a quite abit with them -- 49 different colors on the fly, multiple zones, effects, etc... really neat setup.

Anyways, on to the next order of business -- new springs & shocks and the disc brake upgrade for the front...

[Esasky's62Lark]

Looks great Josh!

Glad to see that you finally got interior complete!

As far as shocks, when I got mine, I ordered the fronts straight from old buick parts. They were pricey but the fit like a glove. The rears, I actually used GM G-body shocks and made a spacer. They actually worked out pretty good.

Springs were in good shape so I just cut 1-1/4 coil off of them to drop the car about 2". Worked really well.

[regal81455]

Chris--

Can you elaborate on the spacer you made for the rear shocks...if I can I'll use some Gbody Bilsteins...

[Esasky's62Lark]

Factory GM G body shocks use the t-bar on the upper shock mount. Factory Y-Body cars use eyelet.

Both shocks are basically the same length.

All I did was get the G body shocks, press the t bar out of the shock on top, and make a spacer to press in that acts as a sleeve to house bolt.

Done!

:-)

[regal81455]

Ok yeah that was the part I wasn't clear on -- didn't realize you could take the "T" out. When you say you made a spacer, was it just a bronze/steel bushing? or did you actually machine something?

[woody1640]

lol

[Esasky's62Lark]

Ok yeah that was the part I wasn't clear on -- didn't realize you could take the "T" out.  When you say you made a spacer, was it just a bronze/steel bushing? or did you actually machine something?

I machined spacer out of 6061.

[Esasky's62Lark]

Why don't you buy yourself a really nice set of shocks? Check these out. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-new-1961-1962-1963-F-85-Buick-Special-Rear-Shocks-Delco-Vintage-GM-Parts/191887635872?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D95086a84e28143a3887ad2f53620bc6f%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D191887635872   Not only are they rare as hens teeth, but also worth 3 times his asking price and in my opinion much better quality than anything newly built today.  This is only the 2nd time I have seen these come up for sale in the last 6-8 years on ebay, thats how rare they are.

Keith

Definitely agree with ya Keith. Just didn't have that option when I did mine. :-)

[regal81455]

Keith--

Tx for the link! I shot him an offer and he took it so guess I'll be putting some NOS shocks on the car -- just hope they are up to the task with the added weight in the back now. Springs I think are my biggest issue though -- Id like to order some but it would be nice to find something close to stock that is available commercially -- $200 for a pair of springs from oldbuickparts.com is ridiculous -- might drop the rear this weekend and see if I can get one out and measure it and talk w/ Moog tech support. Just don't know how to go about finding out the spring rate. Anyone?

[woody1640]

lol

[keithg]

I love this thread. I'll be doing door weather seals sometime and will use it as a guide. It would be awesome if we could set up some 'howto' section in this forum. If you extracted poses here of how you replaced the rubber door seals and set up a "howto". This is a great thread and has all the information in it, but could be more helpful to others (me) if it had it broken down by task or project...

Keith (in Chicago)

[regal81455]

Keith--

I agree, it kinda got sidetracked and never recovered lol -- when you get to the point you need some advice or my experiences while doing my own feel free to hmu!!

Josh

[Bill]

How-to section it is.

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