Dear Blick and WeatherCat fans of a certain rascally wagon
Just the kind of news we do not need. I'd rather hear about the Buick.
. . . . . .
Remember, you are askin' for it! . . . .
Biquette hasn't been doing too much lately. There is one more upgrade needed before she can be put on her new tires. She needs to be fitted with a stronger axle assembly and I was having a squabble with Orinda Classic Car over the rear end ratio. They still seem to insist that Biquette is a drag racer when her mission is extremely clear: heavy-duty tow vehicle!
We are now little more than a month before the Orinda Classic Car show, so it would be a struggle to make the axle swap with all the show prep work. Instead I decided to take care of a glaring ding in Biquette's paint:
Somebody hit the driver's side door on New Year's day 2013 and these dings have been there ever since. It was time to remove this blemish before the show. So Biquette will be going over to a local body shop to fix this on the week of August 13th.
It was an opportunity to potentially make an upgrade as well. The hood of mid-sized Buicks didn't change between 1964 and 67. In 1967 the Gran Sport model had decorative hood scoops. They can be back-fitted on a 1965 Buick like this:
I had managed to locate a used pair and then did some restoration of the chrome and purchased reproductions of the inserts. Leaving me with this that could be repainted and installed:
Here is a close-up of the rechomed bezel:
That definitely looks
"kewl" , but I am personally more interested in getting the engine bay more cool!
The 1967 Gran Sport hood scoops weren't designed to be functional, but I did some calculations and with an available automotive fan they should be able to cool down the engine bay. With some help from some of my online buddies on a local Buick forum, I came up with a basic scheme. Alas, there is one critical fly in the ointment. I would need some space between the top of the hood and the air cleaner to run some air ducting. Alas, Biquette's electronic fuel injection throttle body is very tall and there is no clearance. I'm not particularly happy with Biquette's electronic fuel injection system, but I don't see anything that is a huge improvement to replace it with. So I think I'll put off this upgrade for now. However, before lugging large travel trailers around, I certainly would like to have these hood scoops installed and providing cooler air for the engine.
So that is a latest update on
da' trusty wagon!Cheers, Edouard