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Rochester Carb Rebuild (And How I Killed a Buick)
After the last chapter, I went back to school, so my time to work on the Impala was limited to breaks and free time surfing eBay for parts. Since I wasn't able to work on the car, I put together a plan for which issues I would address during each of my breaks in order to get my car ready for an inspection and registration in the Summer. For Fall Break, this plan involved replacing the automatic choke spring and hooking up the choke, fixing the AC wire harness, and rebuilding the Rochester 2GC. All three items went by quite painlessly, although the can of carb cleaner we had did decide to die while I was in the middle of the carb rebuild. When I got the carb back on the motor, it took a little bit of tuning to get the idle right. I did the usual one and a half turns on the mixture screws, but the idle was still way too slow. It actually sounded kinda cool, like the engine was cammed. I adjusted the screws and got the idle where I wanted it, and after another test drive deemed the rebuild successful.
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I was also able to track down some more parts for my car. More info can be found on the blog under Fall 2022, when I visited Hot Rod's Vintage Auto in Salisbury, Mass. And now, we come to the part of my story about how I killed a Buick. The shop's owner, Glenn, had a '65 LeSabre he tried to save but gave up on, so he was parting it out. I came across the ad on FB Marketplace and decided to check out the car. The rear decklid filler panel, which isn't reproduced for sedans and is heavily rotted on my car, was in great shape on the Buick. The only problem was it was a fairly clean car with little rust and few pieces missing. My hacking out the back piece would officially deem the car parts and relegate it to the scrapyard. But Glenn already had buyers for the front clip, bumpers, and other parts of the car. He was just waiting to see if anyone wanted it whole before he parted it out. So in a sense, I killed a Buick, but it was only to save my car. Glenn also had a '65 Impala sport sedan in mist blue, a virtual twin to my car, save the padded dash and white roof. I got a bunch of interior pieces off of it and the C-pillar trim for the white top.
The panel I got from the Buick.
Double vision? Another blue 1965 Impala Sport Sedan.
Parts haul from Glenn's Impala.
Dome light lenses installed in my car.
The dead Buick. RIP LeSabre 1965-2022.
Thanksgiving didn't offer too much time to work on the car as it was a shorter break. I did manage to get a bluetooth module installed on the original AM radio for my car in preparation for the dash rebuild over Winter break. I also ordered all the parts and materials needed to rebuild the dash. We've come to the end of yet another chapter in my Impala restoration. Be sure to stick around for the hectic, curse-filled fiasco known as the dash rebuild (it turns out good in the end, I promise!).
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