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Don't think you will find a complete rubber kit from anyone. Kanter and Max each have some stuff in kits but for the best selection (both quality and quantity) don't think you will find better than Steele Rubber. As to holes in package shelf, Kev had the answer. Shelf was almost unchanged since 51 and except for items mentioned, probably was originally stamped to be rigid and light. In 53-4 the Frigidaire AC was so big, it had to go in trunk and holes were a given- middle for speaker & return air and and 2 outside for conditioned. In 55 factory AC went under dash, but some aftermarket & dealer (ARA units) still went in trunk and used the holes.

got the passenger's side fender off. no problems. although some idiot put a couple of bolts through the trim piece that crosses over to the front fender at the bottom. they were so rusty i had to cut the heads off of them cause i couldn't get to the back side with the dremel. i had to be careful no to damage the trim, which i got lucky. i did find some rot under that as the car seem to have swipped something at some point in its life that put a big dent in the rocker and caused water to get to it and thus rust has eaten it. it is not bad, just creaks when you push on it. it will need to be cut out and replaced. so far i have been very lucky so far to not find very bad rust.

the front grille is in really good shape, just needs new chrome of course. killed about 5 more spiders....did i ever mention i HATE those bastards!! i will strip the bits off the fender tonight and take pieces off that i can restore myself and paint etc... hooked up the blower motor and it ran after blow a bunch of dirt at me. LOL!! i think it will need some cleaning as it seems to make a bearing noise when it is comminig to a stop. maybe the electric motor needs rebuilding.

enjoy the pics.

Hank

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Hope they are tame spiders, not the black widow variety that seem to like it out here. As to blower, it may be brush noise you hear. Motor is sealed and probably won't need rebuilding because getting it back together might be a bitch because of brushes. After 50 yrs could probably do with some oil and maybe some heat shrink around wires where they exit. I have had luck using penetrating oil on blower fan setscrew and shaft and then sit for a day or so. It's probably stuck pretty well and might need a gentle pry--equally on both sides at once so as not to bend. Some light oil around shaft. In the rear, drill a small 1/16 or so hole carefully over shaft at center of cap and put a few drops down to wet the felt and bearing. Have done that to several & that seems to keep them going.

Count yourself lucky that you didn't come across one of these beauties while working on your car:


That's a camel spider, found in the Iraqi desert.

yeah, i have heard of those little bastards!! heard they can attach themselves to the underside of a camel and eat them up, put there eggs inside and then dead camel....sound exciting. sucks for the troops over there. Can't wait till they can come home and see there families again!

so far i haven't found any really serious spiders and the ones i am killing stay in their little nest and wont come out unless you provoke them. i just squash them in their house...LOL!! DIE!!!!!

okay, finally something to report on.

i got the transmission out of the car, FINALLY!! that thing is a BEAST!! had a hard time with the upper starter bolt so i could pull it out to get to that inner plate bolt on the driver's side. got lucky and the torque converter slide right back on the the transmission after a few turns of the crank. the support brace in the middle of the car didn't want to come out, but i finally coaxed it. the drive shaft was still attached because i couldn't reach two of the nuts on the upper side, but once the trans. dropped it was able too and we slid it right out, with some effort of course. it was a heavy ##$#!! well, that was the goal for last night, which turned out to be a 3 day extravaganza!

i have the carb soaking in some gas as the leather was kinda tight. i don't want to buy a 55 freaking dollar rebuild kit......whoever heard of such a price......just yet. i just want to see if it will run a bit before i pull the motor out. i don't want to spend a bunch until it comes time.

enjoy the pics. it's nothing special, but it's an update.

Hank


p.s. no spiders to report any killings of. crime rate is low this last three days. LOL!!

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Congrats on the successful removal, lack of 8 legged wildlife, and also finding out how much quality was measured by the pound back then--although maybe that doesn't hold either because trans got lighter with the aluminum case in 56 and reliability went up as well. As to carb kits, that sounds like a Kanter price. You might check Napa because that is a fairly common carb--and DaytonaParts.com also. I think they make a lot of the kits for resale by vendors--at least the ones I've bought from Fred Mauck are Daytona.

The Carb kit I bought last year from Fred was from Daytona also. I think I paid $45 for it, which was for a 2bl Carter.

Henry, do you have a shop manual? Just wondering why you left the tail shaft on when pulling the tranny? Just out of curiousity what is an inner plate bolt?
I just bought two carb kits from Daytona for the Carib and paid $55.00 a piece for them. I didn't consider this expensive at all. I am really glad that Buick, Caddy and Olds used this carb or we wouldn't have any kits at all.
I'm enjoying reading your updates and seeing the pics.

there are 3 bolts on each side of the access plate so you can drop it to see the flywheel and gear. from the aspect that i was working at i couldn't see the inner one and the manual doesn't state that there are 6 bolts in total, it just says to drop the plate off so you can access the flywheel and torque converter. the removal directions are alittle vague....i need pictures or step by step in good detail, especially with something i have never worked with before. i know now though. i guess people back in 55 just knew this stuff already. my dad does.....but ask him about anything on my BMW and he wouldn't know.....but i know that car inside and out.

When i installed the supercharger on my Z3 i can tell you the manuals are much more invovled and more detailed on where things are and what to do. no just drop the plate.....it would have actually told you the location of the bolts, how many, and what to remove in the correct order.

i didn't disconnect the tail shaft because i couldn't turn it. remember the trans is stuck for some reason. i tried VERY hard to turn it and even used a wrench on one of the bolts to get leverage and it still wouldn't turn. so i tried to take it off, but i couldn't reach 2 of the bolts holding it on. so i took it off once the trans was lower under the car, this way i could reach those two bolts i couldn't before.

55 dollars for some paper and a leather or plastic piece...are you kidding.....that is not cheap to me. a rebuild kit for my 83 cordoba was only like 20 bucks. i guess 55 isn't bad considering the age of the car and the fact that they have been out of business about as long as they were in. i was just thinking more around 30-35 for the kit and since so many cars used the same carb from different car makers that maybe Autozone would carry it....but no. you can't even get plug wires for this car at autozone...not even the simple stuff. so....where do i get those wires from?? they will probably cost 100 bucks....they are just wires...geesh. sorry to rant...it isn't that i thought this would be cheap, but for the parts i am talkling about i guess i figured they would have been more readily available is all. i could probably just get some for a 318 chrysler and it would work as long as the lengths were close.

all that matters is i got the trans out, so now i can really work on that manual valve better. still doubt i will reuse it, probably will go with the rebuilt one from Bob Aller.

i guess the first paragraph answers your 1st question...yes i have the manual.

maybe someone else that is trying to do the same as me will benefit from my blog....that is why i post so many pics....i like pics.

thanks for enjoying it with me