Re: buick roadmaster for towing
Wow! A clutch, & gears, in a boat? That's something I always wondered about how it would work?
I saw an old crabbing boat a few years back around here that had an older Ford motor and a three speed manual trans, it was a mid engine mounted inboard. It moved along pretty good. It was one of those rigs though that just looked like an accident waiting to happen. The engine was mounted out in the open as was the trans and linkage. the clutch was actuated with a long lever on one side of the motor box. He had it running through a conventional boat trans as well, it gave it three speeds in both directions. It looked as if it have been on the water for quite a while too. The worst part was that the exhaust was just a pair of flipped car manifolds, no water cooling at all other than a pump which drew water through the hull to feed the automotive water pump. It dumped the used coolant out the side of the boat through a piece of water pipe. What caught my eye first was how high in the boat the motor sat.
As far as a tow vehicle, the Buick's weak link will be the transmission, it's most likely equipped with a 4L60 or 4L60E, which is an updated version of the old TH700C. The rear axle should be a 10" GM unit, very similar to what is used in may light trucks, and the motor should have no problems at all with the correct gear ratio. The chassis is pretty much rock solid on those, they were built on the same platform as the Chevy Caprice, which was a very common Taxi and Police platform.
I ran an Olds version for years, towed just about anything that you can imagine with no concern for weight limits, that car is still running with over 200K on it. I sold it at 175K. I literally did nothing to it for the 7 years that I had it and I got it with 12K miles on it.
I also ran a Ford Crown Vic wagon for years, it towed pretty good too, I pulled a utility trailer that weighed about 6500 lbs about 80 miles a few times with it with no trouble. I did have to rebuild the trans in that one at about 100k, but it was fine after that to 285K when I sold it. It towed some sort of trailer at least once a week. I pulled a 20' Bayliner with both several times with no problems.
With the proper hitch and maybe equalizing bars, that Buick should be fine.
If you are traveling any real distance, simply add an oversize trans cooler to help protect the trans from any added heat or wear.
:redface:,,, LOL. That was my first real car, a 1955 Buick 2dr black & white, V8 stick shift, (with a slipping clutch) I called it the "Beast". What do they say, The eyes are the first thing to go,,, 
