1966 Buick Convertible Barn Find Rescue, Part 1

I'm fitting in that's Freiburger we're at the Phoenix Airport starting our next big adventure we could die we are suckers for a clean car and we're gonna fix up the 66 Buick and drive it home before Mother's Day one of my best known accomplices is Rick pay way who's the editor-in-chief of four wheel and off-road will fly into town find a jeep like this one fix it in the guy's driveway who owns the thing and drive it all the way home on dirt we're kind of doing the same thing this time but there's a twist to the story it's not a Jeep this time it's a 66 Buick convertible but not just any 66 Buick humor this Buick has been sitting in the Penguins backyard since 1978 his mom bought it when it was a couple years old her and the rest of the family drove the thing until the forward gears in the trans went out and so they literally just shoved it in the backyard with the top down and left it sitting there it's been there ever since untouched and so we thought that naturally made it a good idea to fly here to Phoenix fix it up in a couple days and get home before Sunday which is Mother's Day because our wives will kill us if we're not there all the upholstery is a hundred percent gone just from sitting in Arizona like nobody removed that get just vaporized this thing is actually a Buick special and not a Skylark and oddly enough this is one of 2036 1966 Buick Special convertibles with a v8 here is the five in 1976 she got plugs condenser points rotor cap radiator hose radiator hose coolant timing chain R&R timing gears oil pan gasket which means they had the bottom end off the thing at a time you chain gasket all installed a 168 85 we get ripped off on your wife so before we got here Rick actually under the car and got a few things done here's the water problem it was a nun attack there's a little frozen I have to admit if anything is going to stop us here it's the cooling system that's fine Smith oh this is good the engine in this thing 300 cubic inch v8 three penances that's the torque rating that's what Buick did this is almost too nice to really be an adventure so I think we need to make a plan we need to just decide what we need to get at the auto parts or and go get it right blue tarps bungee cords Windex Whitney - let's do a girl got a window window I'll be highly surprised at these seat backs even make it home since that sides already broke off support it with two black horse yeah that's right oh so uh again yeah don't bother your pull-string um we can fix that Oh baling wire mechanics wire anyone Airport tug with afford to 92y block we could probably get that home meanwhile our video guys a fruitcake and he rented this it's got air conditioning bungee cords because you just never know how much is this freak are costing us so far well that's about three hundred fifty dollars on a transit kit and then another two hundred dollars for a transmission drum and then five hundred sixty seven dollars here so pretty much we're over a grand rate it'll be two grand by the time we pull it out of the driveway for sure hey guys it's a little sweaty in here how about we turn down the air conditioning Wow nice floorboards in the back some Legos I think the market research really failed when they named these shock absorbers they're the Delco pleasure Iser the bummer is that rick actually had this running before we got here so that we know it runs but this will be the first time we've seen it fired up mint flowing it's not smoking I say you asked for okay it's steadily pouring gas fuel pump Lincoln it's a likes wedged together two metal pieces in the theme is just sort of weeping onto the ground that's why we have an electric field you they're meant the brakes are literally like new all right what's happening we're draining the motor oil out of the diff really yeah what's probably a high performance limited sweat yeah strange isn't it do I doesn't taste right about ten o'clock at night the end of the very first day and we decided to pack it in because we're kind of tired got a lot done on the car there's a lot of mysteries left ahead we'll find those tomorrow it's Thursday afternoon actually it's 10:30 in the morning we just woke up just got to McDonald's in time for breakfast before they shut that down we have a lot to do on the Buick today but watch this because what we're about to do is going to be some fun perfect you like it that sucker is Joy's it's custom right there almost too nice for the car we're gonna part the breaks and I'm pulling the inner wheel bearing like that by using the nut my sides looking pretty good Finnegan apparently ungood I wiped all the rust out in the ekor took the best cap off and found that she is not good he's cleaning and packing we can do that but it was last time you could peel back green slippers hmm genuine made in USA bearing you don't see that anymore made in USA not ISA China now that I have the wheel bearing flawlessly clean and grit free and have inspected all the rollers we're gonna do the old school grease job which involves getting dirty with this wrong looking grease like the Vaseline of wheel bearing grease ease I disapprove this wheel bearing grease but it's what we have so it's what we use is what I am doing is scraping this across my palm and as you can keep pushing the grease in the bottom half of the bearing all the way until it squeezes out the top this takes a while and rubs your palm raw glaring endorsement here this is the best Rest penetrant on earth bar none if you need extra leverage on your box end versus your open end wrench look Luke there it is works like magic that's it ah rust all the way down my ear I can hear it it's like water in the ear except crunchy err oh this pay way had a lead foot look at that oh yeah fail thank you most of the floor on it that's one hell of a shot back suck the whole floor out of the car we couldn't find a rear diff gasket but velcro sells this stuff you can make your own I was smart enough to actually order new brake parts for my bestest before I left so these were here waiting for us it's perfect good you're going to have to adjust the rod of course but I would say it's going to be bolt in all right not a problem nice that is a wrap on assembling the brakes the thing is we don't yet know if the wheel cylinders leak yet or not so I'm not going to finish this all up until we get the master cylinder on the thing try and bleed it and see if we pop all the seals out of it or not slinky we open up the glove box and found treasures look this is a folding top thing but inside I found the paperwork from the original original owner before Rick's mom what are you looking for for the floor stop sign yes yeah that's only going to cover this side really yeah that's for this side like a glove just replaced a master cylinder in khakis of a bow and your visit your clan business casual business casual we have ignition then we have fuel pump money the joke idle up is actually working yeah it's coming Wow look it turn clean all the partners you know go on hey look at the dirt look Oh give me a hammer that was that was close good thing we know what we're doing there the needle and seat stuck if it started to overflow the float ball at which point most people would panic and have a fire but we knew what to do which was to hit it with the jack handle did you notice the well-orchestrated coordination cuz Rick and I've been here before yeah I went straight to keeping it running while the gas was guzzling down the carburetor and he went straight for the implement of bashing like a well-oiled machine what we did is basically get the brakes working they self bled we didn't even have to open a single bleeder screw and we vacuumed the floor out of the car and we got fluid in our new transmission we got it running we got fluid in the rear end it's virtually restored we'll see if we can drive it tomorrow starting our Friday on the tool tight our floor has little more ventilation we normally like you know even in a convertible so $20 grinder from Harbor Creek with a cut-off wheel put all the rest out and then we're going to bend up a not stolen stop sign to fit the floor will tech screw it in dial that nice I think it'll work we'll find out last thing in there on the floor just takin a picture for the magazine now we just have to throw our seat in it make sure that the electrical system works we don't have any brake lights or headlights right now and then I think we're ready for a road test video guy Clint had a brilliant idea to repurpose this piece of railroad sign as a rust brace under here ah yes bolts right up oh oh yeah the action on that baby got to put on the hubcaps looks ghetto without ignition clear here we go it moves yes I feel safe in this oh there's no pedal we waffle many of this is good who it handles good - it is so the lock is their Arenado rings hang on everybody ready yep better than 90% of my cars moves out yes utterly flawless Wallace Wow this is a thing of beauty I told you when I showed you a bad turn Wow oh that was awesome to drive this car again after 34 years yep this is just a feel-good car I mean chicks dig you when you have this yes Wow we just made the glorious maiden voyage it's time for some celebration it looks like the bottom of a fish tank you

Channel: HOT ROD Network

Views: 1,583,131

Rating: 4.8514791 out of 5

Keywords: hot rod magazine, hot rod, 1966 buick, special, skylark, convertible, barn find, rat rod, rick pewe, david freiburger, freiburger, fryburger, frieburger, mike finnegan, 300ci, V8, road trip, adventure, cars, ST300, super turbine, wrenching, makeover, overhaul, DED, dirt every day, mcguyver

Id: kAFoX3jfvzY

Length: 16min 1sec (961 seconds)

Published: Fri May 27 2011