Hello “Ham”,
Just wanted to take the time to thank you for publishing your two part adventure. I have been struggling w/ the idea to remove and repair my 41 Buick speedometer or NOT and your sequence of events has given me the courage to try it.
You had many good thing in your report, but one really simple but valuable piece of information/picture was where the heck the 1/4 – 20 nuts were that held the face on (thank God they were not rusted). If it wasn’t for you I probably would not have tried to remove anything, especially after the shock of looking under he dash for the first time.
– I set up a GPS, so I did have a speedometer…
What helped me with the removal was I bought and used flexible socket extension rods w/ deep 7/16 sockets which worked out well (Another Buick Nut suggested that), but man that Harness under the dash was a get in the way nightmare, there is just no slack to speak of. Some how I managed to get all Five nuts off today and tomorrow I am taking the 10-32 nuts off that hold the gauges and speedo in, doesn’t look too bad, now that I can see.
Really don’t know how I will get all this back together though (“Contortioning” aside, I’ll be surprised if I didn’t break a wire or two). Somewhere I saw another Buick guy say he used O Rings to hold the face plate back in. Hmmm have to think on that one (Rattle time I would think). I was thinking about Wing nuts
Thanks again
Bob
PS; As for your Vent issue the Gasket was the easiest, my car’s previous owner never bothered to change it out and the under/behind dash area around the vent was all rusted The radio is shot because of the water intrusion and the Vent’s “L” mounting brackets that were part of the body are completely gone, I mean nothing there. I replaced the gasket and now hold the vent in place with bungee cords under the dash… No Opening the vent though…
Bob … Glad my description was of help. I used every kind of nut driver, wrench, and whatever I could find. At one point I was using a socket and turning it with just my fingers. Years ago I recall seeing a sort of disk that had serrations along its perimeter. You attached this to the socket and turned it by hand. I need to find another one of those. The nut drivers with a hollow shaft work well. One thing I would do different is get nut drivers that are American style only. The ones I have are American and Metric. The fit but not as well as American sizes only.
I also invested in some wobble extensions and a small socket wrench that approaches from the side and has multiple heads. The more tools you have the better.
Regarding the O Rings, I used that idea. You still need to put at least 2 or 3 of the nuts back because the O Rings are not quite tight enough.
You might also want to check out the AACA pre-war Buick forum. There is lots of good stuff there especially articles written by a guy from CA named Neal.
Stay safe and don’t give up on that car. If I can do it anybody can.
Hello “Ham”,
Just wanted to take the time to thank you for publishing your two part adventure. I have been struggling w/ the idea to remove and repair my 41 Buick speedometer or NOT and your sequence of events has given me the courage to try it.
You had many good thing in your report, but one really simple but valuable piece of information/picture was where the heck the 1/4 – 20 nuts were that held the face on (thank God they were not rusted). If it wasn’t for you I probably would not have tried to remove anything, especially after the shock of looking under he dash for the first time.
– I set up a GPS, so I did have a speedometer…
What helped me with the removal was I bought and used flexible socket extension rods w/ deep 7/16 sockets which worked out well (Another Buick Nut suggested that), but man that Harness under the dash was a get in the way nightmare, there is just no slack to speak of. Some how I managed to get all Five nuts off today and tomorrow I am taking the 10-32 nuts off that hold the gauges and speedo in, doesn’t look too bad, now that I can see.
Really don’t know how I will get all this back together though (“Contortioning” aside, I’ll be surprised if I didn’t break a wire or two). Somewhere I saw another Buick guy say he used O Rings to hold the face plate back in. Hmmm have to think on that one (Rattle time I would think). I was thinking about Wing nuts
Thanks again
Bob
PS; As for your Vent issue the Gasket was the easiest, my car’s previous owner never bothered to change it out and the under/behind dash area around the vent was all rusted The radio is shot because of the water intrusion and the Vent’s “L” mounting brackets that were part of the body are completely gone, I mean nothing there. I replaced the gasket and now hold the vent in place with bungee cords under the dash… No Opening the vent though…
Bob … Glad my description was of help. I used every kind of nut driver, wrench, and whatever I could find. At one point I was using a socket and turning it with just my fingers. Years ago I recall seeing a sort of disk that had serrations along its perimeter. You attached this to the socket and turned it by hand. I need to find another one of those. The nut drivers with a hollow shaft work well. One thing I would do different is get nut drivers that are American style only. The ones I have are American and Metric. The fit but not as well as American sizes only.
I also invested in some wobble extensions and a small socket wrench that approaches from the side and has multiple heads. The more tools you have the better.
Regarding the O Rings, I used that idea. You still need to put at least 2 or 3 of the nuts back because the O Rings are not quite tight enough.
You might also want to check out the AACA pre-war Buick forum. There is lots of good stuff there especially articles written by a guy from CA named Neal.
Stay safe and don’t give up on that car. If I can do it anybody can.