1962 Buick Skylark Convertible

You can get adaptors that are less than 1" for most applications.

Oh man, now you’ve got me thinking, which always seem to cost money!

Always but we can't take it with us, and I'm just getting my car on the road....then the cost will go way up.
Check on ebay they come up pretty cheap and often for you Americans, us Canadians get hammered in the shipping costs.

Yeah but then new wheels.

Well I took the old girl out twice today to see what else it will need to be reliable and was very impressed at the performance, took me by  surprise a little.
What I wasn't impressed with was the effort required to stop, so much different from my modern cars/truck.
And the suspension seems very 60ish,lol, doesn't quite handle like my 2010 Camaro. Is it normal to seem a  little jumpy going over rough road? I don't remember that far back on how they handled but yet remember something about going a little sideways if one hit washboard on the road???
Sure got the looks today...people seem to want to see something different today with all this going on.

I am always amazed when I take mine out. I always get comments and thumbs up even though it’s orig faded dinged paint, and that so many people had one or friend had one....

I was told the “cowl shake” was very typical of the coverts but not so much the hard tops. Mine certainly, and other’s, shake on pot holes and rough roads- irritating but you do tend to get used to it, kinda. Probably made worse by the front susp rubber mounts rather than suspension bushings. Seems like GM didn’t have it together yet for unibody. I know the frame mounted converts had some but not like these.

You have your brakes adjusted up to drag and then off a notch? Ck the book. Don’t know about Buick but 61-62 f85/cutlass/jetfire did NOT have self adjust brakes. 63 did, easy to update. That said, they should work ok. Remember, manual will take some effort. Rebuild all the components?

You don’t have those rear drums on front hub do you?

I put on stock rate springs but 1” lower, HD shocks that are a little stiffer than stock but not much, new front sway bar rubber bushings and end links, aligned with as much Caster as possible(opposite of factory spec), boxed rear lower control arms and installed a rear sway bar, riding on the 205x65/15s. I live in the coastal mountains above Monterey bay and drive the mountain roads all the time and it handles good-flat and firm. Not boaty floaty. The manual steering is good on the road, a pain when stopped.

Thanks for the info, like you said just need to get use to it and maybe a little trust is involved here too!
I still need to set up the brakes as the car wants to go left on stopping hard and I know that it was a little tighter on the drivers side than the passenger side.
No rear drums on the front, but if the brakes don't give me confidence then I will look into the disk conversion and 5 lug wheels. For now just trying to work out the little things and enjoy it before i start on the body work, one panel at a time so I can still drive it while the restoration continues.

Could be a sticking slave cyl too. You rebuilt/repacked all right?

The stock brakes should be “adequate” but way below a disc brake conversion. Never drove mine with stock brakes.They will also fade significantly if being used in spirited driving in the curves or extended braking downhill.

Others here can comment better than me on the stock brakes.

I have an El Camino that had manual drum brakes with a lot of effort required if you really wanted to stop now, and in general actually. If someone borrowed it I made them try the brakes 3-4 times at the house before they took off so they’d know what they were up against. When I saw the diff in stopping distance at 60 between the drums and just the front disc conversion I did it.

Can someone tell me if a 1-9/16" socket works on the threaded ball joints or is it a special socket as some places say?

Not sure on size as I did it a couple of years ago. Friend had the socket, it’s a big one.

First, are you sure they are threaded not press in?

Olds used both.

Can usually get big sockets for that in a “sheet” metal style, a lot cheaper.

http://www.madelectrical.com/

Bunch of good articles on this website on car electrics, advice and info.

Go to the electrical tech tab at the top

Oops, thought I was still on the alt conversion

No problem.

Today was my last day stripping the 4dr parts car, saved the trunk lid and happy I did. Looking great after stripping the paint, a little rust under the back lip but other than that good. I also saw these for the first time as well, never have seen these anywhere . 3" Medallions from the 4 doors, cool but still need cleaning.

Well the donor trunk (1st pic) lid seems to be in better shape than my original after stripping the lid. The only thing I will need to do is weld up the trim holes from the Special and drill new ones for the Skylark trim (last 3).

Well finally got the lid into epoxy. I found something else I don't care for and have so much of it to do.....body work and painting!

nice car
courage guy

Thanks Wailleur, still lots of metal work I think but built a sheet metal brake to help on some of the bends???



Trunk lid on with some of the chrome.

nice project. lucky in was stored indoors. Mine was stored outside in the arizona sun.

Thank, yes inside for 36 years.
Took her for a spin this week and noticed a valve tick and it was running a little rough. Here is what I found.....no wonder! Good thing I have a spare engine with all its parts!!!!

Too nice of a day to work in the garage on the ZR2 Blazer or the Skylark so we went out for a photo shoot.....yeah I'm no photographer just wanted something to have with color behind the old girl!

Hi, can you sale the door medallion?

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