BUICK 1964 Skylark Coupe Project

[Rktpwrd]

Cheaper to just fly Rktpwrd down.

How do you know that, my prices might be astronomical! I know my worth afterall…
😅

He might have to fly coach, but he'd be well fed when he got here.

Coach? My prices just tripled!

In all seriousness though Joe, if you wanted to cut out the offending areas (with a small amount of good metal on either side) and mail them to me, I would gladly take a stab at recreating new patches for you to weld in.
Let me know if this is something you might be interested in.

 

[Bonnewagon]

How did I miss this project?!? YIKES I am getting feeble minded. Your car brings back memories. The girl across the street from me growing up bought a 1968 Firebird brand new. When I got out of the Army she sold it to me. Her Mom had a silver/grey 1965 Wildcat, same body as yours. That car was incredibly beautiful. It had a small V-8 and ran great. I remember she had a big problem with detonation and run-on because of the very high compression. I solved the run-on by back-fitting an idle solenoid. When she shut the car off, the solenoid closed the throttle completely, stopping the run-on. For the detonation I richened up the carb and told her to buy the highest octane she could find. It helped. And you have a Buick 350 ready to go? Awesome! You do NOT see that model Buick at all anymore. Great score!

 

[joesregalproject]

I very much appreciate all the offers to help track down parts. I will get in touch with you guys if I come across anything. Thanks!

How do you know that, my prices might be astronomical! I know my worth afterall…
😅



Coach? My prices just tripled!

In all seriousness though Joe, if you wanted to cut out the offending areas (with a small amount of good metal on either side) and mail them to me, I would gladly take a stab at recreating new patches for you to weld in.
Let me know if this is something you might be interested in.

Economy plus? 😁

Donovan, that's a super generous offer. That'd be awesome. If I don't come up with anything in the next few weeks from a donor car, I'll take you up on it.

 

[joesregalproject]

How did I miss this project?!? YIKES I am getting feeble minded. Your car brings back memories. The girl across the street from me growing up bought a 1968 Firebird brand new. When I got out of the Army she sold it to me. Her Mom had a silver/grey 1965 Wildcat, same body as yours. That car was incredibly beautiful. It had a small V-8 and ran great. I remember she had a big problem with detonation and run-on because of the very high compression. I solved the run-on by back-fitting an idle solenoid. When she shut the car off, the solenoid closed the throttle completely, stopping the run-on. For the detonation I richened up the carb and told her to buy the highest octane she could find. It helped. And you have a Buick 350 ready to go? Awesome! You do NOT see that model Buick at all anymore. Great score!

Glad to have you following along Mark. Stay tuned, as the weather gets warmer I'll be working on it more and more. I do have a rebuilt Buick 350 on a stand ready to go for it. Probably gonna back it up with a Tremec TKX. I'm definitely very eager to start making some progress on it.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Joe, I can't wait to see a Buick 350 with a manual trans. When I was playing with Buick 350's it was almost impossible to even find a manual flywheel. Then you got me wondering what happened to the Wildcat. I found out my old neighbor bought it from the old lady. He had it re-painted, then took it with him to California. It is still on the road. I liked Buick 350s for the under-square bottom end torque. Perfect for a manual trans car. We had a 1968 LaSabre with a 1974 low compression 350, T-400 trans, 3:23 posi rear. A beautiful car, destroyed by a drunk driver with no insurance. I still carry the torch for Buicks.

 

[Ugly1]

Joe, I can't wait to see a Buick 350 with a manual trans. When I was playing with Buick 350's it was almost impossible to even find a manual flywheel. Then you got me wondering what happened to the Wildcat. I found out my old neighbor bought it from the old lady. He had it re-painted, then took it with him to California. It is still on the road. I liked Buick 350s for the under-square bottom end torque. Perfect for a manual trans car. We had a 1968 LeSabre, 1974 low compression 350, T-400 trans, 3:23 posi rear. A beautiful car, destroyed by a drunk driver with no insurance. I still carry the torch for Buicks.

My brother has a Riv. With a 401 nailhead. Wants to sell it ,but as normal needs loving.plus I have a pair of 1973 Buick 350 heads on the cheap for anyone on here.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Yeah, an off brand 350 5 spd TKX sounds great to me as well. Your 350 is a very nice build. The conversion is eye watering expensive but I am determined to do it, will take two years due to cost. Supposedly the MalwoodUSA.com clutch pedal and throwout bearing is the way to go for hydraulic. Speedmaster even makes a dual pattern flywheel for the Olds V8 with a removable weight for my internal balance 330 crank. TA has them for the Buick 350. Are all Buick V8's setup for manual transmissions? Olds V8's aren't, someone put a pilot bushing in my 330 crank, so I'm good. You don't see many of these Buick's and I think they look the best of these square mid 60's square cars. Sucks that the less popular GM siblings don't get the chebby treatment for parts. Keep it up.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I have had a 1968 and a 1974 Buick 350 out of the car and on a stand. Both were drilled for the pilot bearing.

 

[joesregalproject]

Joe, I can't wait to see a Buick 350 with a manual trans. When I was playing with Buick 350's it was almost impossible to even find a manual flywheel.

Thanks Mark. I think it'll make for a fun driver. The TKX is designed to be retrofit into older cars so it should be a good fit. Luckily the flywheels are available through TA Performance now and they are relatively inexpensive.

My brother has a Riv. With a 401 nailhead. Wants to sell it ,but as normal needs loving.plus I have a pair of 1973 Buick 350 heads on the cheap for anyone on here.

The Gran Sport didn't come out until 1965, but they had 401s. I think it'd be cool to build one someday, but I've been told they are stupid expensive to build. I believe Offenhouser made both a tri-power and a dual-quad intake for the nailhead.

You don't see many of these Buick's and I think they look the best of these square mid 60's square cars. Sucks that the less popular GM siblings don't get the chebby treatment for parts. Keep it up.

Thanks. I love the '64-65 A Bodies. The Pontiac is my favorite and a '64 GTO is a bucket list car for me, but the Buick is a close second for a lot less money. I do wish there was more sheet metal reproduced for the BOP cars.

 

[Bonnewagon]

The TKX is designed to be retrofit into older cars

I did not know that. A friend with a 1977 TA has 3:73 gears and hates them. He is determined to put an overdrive trans in. He keeps saying the TKO, but I know that requires a lot of added hardware. I'll have to investigate the TKX. Thanks for that info Joe!