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March 18, 2003
1.5 hours

Stymied!

Tonight I decided to try to wrap up a few loose ends in the interior disassembly and get that stage of the project done. The dashboard is fighting me--there's one screw in the upper right corner that just won't come out. I've fought and fought with it, and still it won't budge. Of course, it's a screw that needs a flat blade screwdriver, which has been chewed up by my attempts to remove it. I think I'll have to grind it out. Score: Buick 1, Matt 0.

Failing that, I moved to the back seat area and decided to remove the plywood bulkhead between the trunk and rear seating area. It is only held in with a few screws, no problem. Well, almost. There are two screws down low that are not fastened to blind fasteners but use nuts on the back. Unfortunately, the nuts are inaccessible inside the trunk, which I can't open right now because of how the car is positioned in my garage. So the bulkhead remains. I can't cut it up, because I need to use it for a template to make another one. Score: Buick 2, Matt 0.

Then I decided to remove the windows and regulators. I read the manual and managed to remove the glass without a problem or damage (though the right rear window had been shattered by a BB gun sometime in the distant past). Then I started on the regulators. It's like pulling a square peg from a round hole. There are no access panels, so you have to work them out through the handle opening. Well, OK then.

The view down the window channel to see the lifting mechanism.
The center pivot seems to be rusted solid and will not move. If it
won't move, I can't remove it. I soaked it with penetrating oil.

The left side regulator appears to be rusted solid. The manual says to crank it until the lifting arms are aligned, but these do not move. I soaked the pivot joint with penetrating oil, and I'll try again tomorrow night. Score: Buick 3, Matt 0.

Then I moved to the right side, which moved much more freely than the left. I was able to align the lifting arms as instructed, but I was still unable to remove the regulator from its opening. One thing I did notice was that the cradle that holds the glass and lifts it was different on the right side. I'm guessing that there was some problem on the left side and it was poorly repaired. I'll have to find another cradle for the left side so the window will operate correctly in the future.

The right riser cradle appears to be the correct one. I need one
of these for the left side now. I suspect this missing part is
why the left side is such a headache.

With a little bit of jiggling and moving around, the right side regulator came right out. It came out so suddenly and easily that I didn't even have time to recognize what I was doing so I could repeat it on the other side. With my success, I tried again on the left, but no dice. Rats. Score: Buick 3, Matt 1.

Finally, fed up with the interior, I pulled the coil and armored ignition wire out of the firewall and tried to disconnect the cable from the coil. Though I could get the nut to turn, it didn't unscrew itself from the housing. I'll look at the manual to see if there's a way to remove it or if I have to send it out somewhere to have it rebuilt. Defeated there, I gave up for the night before I became angry. This project is about having fun and doing things right, so I didn't push my luck. Final score: Buick 4, Matt 1.

I could not remove the ignition cable from the coil. It just spun
in the socket as I turned it with a wrench.

I also won a new headlight switch on Ebay. I don't know if anyone restores the old switches, but I figure it's good to have a spare, just in case. I'll probably clean up the ones I have and use them until they fail.

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E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net

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Last modified on 02/06/2005

Thanks, Fidget!