Oregon Desert model 45

I met the new owner of this car at the Portland swap meet, and he is working to finish restoring this car.

This is the Standard six 5 passenger Town Brougham, model 28-29 with 10,840 produced . It cost $1375 The coolant return pipe exiting the forward end of the head identifies this as a Standard model

The 1928 Standard heat riser I have has a thinwall tube with inside diameter of about 1.32. The best solution is find another tube with thinner wall that fits and replace it. It should be a lot easier pressing out a thick wall tube than a thin one. Kevin

These are stamped steel, not cast iron right ? Looks like Model A Ford rear drums. The smaller diameter is for parking brake band

Pump casting number 1228885 indicates 1931-32 series 50

I measured the parking brake link "L" dimension and it is close to the 1922-23 link dimension 6-11/32". Also the brake bands are sized for 11" drums, and I am pretty sure that 1924 was using 12" drums, so this rear axle should be 1922-23. Kevin

A quick look at the Buick Master Parts list 1916-1932 suggests that 1922 & 1923 4 cyl models have a lot of interchangeable parts for rear brakes. Some parts changed for 1924. I highly recommend that you order a copy, available a Amazon and other online sources. It will pay for itself in saving you from buying something that will not fit. I have a 4 cyl rear axle with brake parts and will have to figure out what year it is tomorrow. Kevin

I have been working on a Master fuel gauge which is slightly larger in diameter than Standard. I machined a stamping die to form the domed gauge faceplate but the tricky part has been cutting a slot and adding the fractional numbers. Something always gets screwed up. I will keep trying until one comes out good enough. Kevin

Scrape off the gunk in circled area and look for a casting number. It does look Buick and we can figure out what years it fits from this number

Looks pretty close to this 1920 Mercer

Hugh The rear wheel was the only application I can think of where the seal was not the same size as the adjacent bearing as it sits in a smaller counterbore. The rear seal was 72mm x 92mm x 10mm. this was not quite a press fit so I used some RTV sealant to add some grip inside the bore. The wire wheel hub might be different so check measurements first. Kevin

John Do not dismount spokes from the rim unless they are headed to a wheelwright for respoking. I removed the hub, scraped and sanded the old paint and gunk. My favorite scraper is a utility knife blade without a handle. It will fit into the narrowest point between spokes and will scrape cleanly. With heavy paint build up you might have success using a heat gun to soften things up. It is a very tedious project that takes many hours. Others have taken wheels to a sandblaster for clean up. Kevin

looks right for 1923 Buick 4 cylinder. Not sure why the cowl light is not visible.

Here the view of the back side of the id tag fasteners on a 1924 Buick engine. Circled are 2 bent over nails. Perhaps by 1927 Buick revised this to blind holes and drive screws.

I found some round head brass trim nails that worked perfectly as replacement. The originals were very close in diameter. Add a dab of sealant around nail to keep oil from seeping out. Hold an anvil against the head when bending the nail over on the back side.

Looks real nice Hugh. those escutcheons are thin, weigh almost nothing and its surprising they still cleaned up so well. Kevin

The brass hubcaps with script Buick and lack of rock guards on the backing plates suggest the axles and hubs are 1924-1925. Disk wheels that fit Buick are sought after and worth saving from the scrap bin. Pictured below are wheels manufactured by Tuarc. The tire is mounted on a demountable rim which is fastened to the wheel with rim bolts and wedges. The hay cart wheels have disk center riveted to a rim stuffed into another rim and not using rim bolts. It looks heavier than it should be for passenger car however it could be from another aftermarket wheel manufacturer.

Larry That would have been dripping on the exhaust if you hadn't caught it. Do you trust a compression fitting to hold ?

Since I didn't previously explain "air hammer raised beading", the first photo below pretty much explains it. A wooden upper form slotted in the bead pattern, a lower form, and air hammer with cut off chisel bit ground down to a radius. Its noisy and makes a lumpy bead. Wear earplugs if you try this. I thought it worth experimenting with this process because the long side splash aprons for the Buick have a bead, which my father made with an air hammer, and it fades out in the center area and needs some more work. I worked on the filler neck installation by making a flange and tacking the GM pickup neck in place using Larry's dimensions. The black powder coating had to be heated and wire brushed off first. As it turned out, that neck was just the right length, only needing trimming to the short dimension to make it lean to the right and back. When I first began this project, I thought it would be waste if I only used the slip roller machine one time, and how easy it was to roll out an oval hoop to make a tank. This was before I knew how many hours it took to make all the pieces and weld up a tank. I got more sheetmetal from the steel yard and started working on 2 more tanks standing up in speedster configuration and sitting on a cradle. I learned a lot building these 2 tanks, like how time intensive it is to weld all the joints, (approx 12' of lineal weld) and how thin wall DOM tube can warp so much that the cap will not thread on after welding. The 2 filler necks pictured below were made from 1/8" wall x 3" tube and both warped when welded to the flange, which was a big disappointment. The successful 3" filler neck on the finished tank was machined from 1" x 3" dia solid slug of steel, which took hours to make. I used copper or brass heat sinks behind every weld to make sure it didn't blow through, and with C clamps positioned about 1-1/2" apart, it is a lot of time hunched over clamping, welding, and grinding. Kevin

These photos show a broken distributer removal from a 1925 starter-generator unit. 1927 distributer should be stuck in the generator not the engine block

I made 2 baffles to go inside the tank and added air hammer raised beading similar to original. Another oval end plate made from scrap pieces has a window so I have access to the inside while fitting up the fuel feed tower and gauge tower. This is obviously temporary. The fuel pickup tube should be aimed at the bottom center which should be the lowest point where gas will pool as it gets empty. A 5/16 rod pushed through the banjo bolt screwed into the feed tower indicates where it is aimed. I am wondering if it would help to add a raised bump to provide a low spot where the pickup tube will be. I used the rear frame crossmember holes to locate the center for tank penetrations. It is difficult enough to install the tank when I have easy access to the strap bolts that go through the frame, but this must be a big pain when the body is covering those bolts and they have to be accessed from underneath. It takes a stack of wood blocks under the tank to hold it in place while the bolts are pushed through the frame and cradle strap. The cradles have a short hook on the end which catches in a slot through the rear crossmember, and will fall out if a small wood wedge is not shoved in that slot ; these are visible in the 3rd photo below. Has anyone tried using a transmission jack with a wood cradle to lift up a tank ? Kevin

Looks closer to 1942 Plymouth to me

I was working on converting a pair of lights to open car configuration. The first one must have been a later model, maybe 1927, which had the bucket spot welded to the base instead of riveting like earlier lights. I used the drilled out spotweld holes to fasten to a replacement base but they were in a somewhat random pattern and look a little crude. I might redo this one by welding the holes closed and redrilling in a regular pattern. The second one is not done yet. None of the original base parts were reusable. The replacement base is made from a drilled bolt welded to a short piece of tube, then wings welded on. The light socket fits snugly into the tube. If rivets are to be used in assembly, the light socket would block an anvil from fitting inside. Kevin

Before diving into this, first decide how much time and $ you are willing to spend re-engineering a rear axle. Do you have your own machine shop with racks of material suitable for making axle shafts and machines capable of modifying a housing, or are you relying on outside machine shops to build parts needed? Have you considered how this conversion will work with cantilevered rear springs with pivoting spring hanger over the axle housing ? The stock axle was the result of years of incremental improvements and revisions which continued through the 20's making many components interchangeable for very few years. It would be far simpler for you to find another axle that meets your needs and add decorative rivets. just my 2 cents. Kevin