DonMicheletti

I had my '18 E-45 do the same thing. Drove me nuts. In the end it turned out to be that the distributor rotor / cam had slipped as nsbrassnut mentioned. I have driven this car for over 50 years and this was a new one for me Note the "timing adjustment screw" to adjust the cam

I used Fig.6-3 in the service manual as a guide to do mine on the '38's

With all those issues, I'd just tear it down and check everything out. May be more than one issue

What is the tube running along the spark plug cover used for?

They are packed with grease

Have you checked the accuracy of the compression gage. That got me one time, bad gage

The doughnuts must have been pretty poor because that "bell" was very common to hear on Buicks. You just gotta be old enough to have heard them.

'38 shop manual does not show that grommet (or doughnut) in Fig. 5-6 nor 5-18

Grimy, you can ask Neil about noisy shock links

I remember the "Buick Bell" as a kid. Very, very common. As far as the daub of paint goes, it makes sense that the daub is on the torque tube or carrier housing. They are the parts that hold the gearing and they are assembled before being attached to the axle housing.

Marks like that are done by a guy with a brush. Location accuracy probably wasnt very important

Jims Doble book is great. He spent tye better part of 30 years researching it. There is a lot more that was not published as part of the book.

I was told by Jim Crank (a steam car nut) that all the threads on a Stanely are 20tpi. Jokingly (I think) he said they probably had a gear change lathe with only one set of gears. Is the 20tpi thing true?

Bobs Automobilia has reprints of the nmanual https://bobsautomobilia.com/shop/literature-decals/shop-manual-all-1941-sm-41/

Another "pretty reliable" source is '41 Shop Manual section 6-42 that agrees with Neil

Actually, the '38 is a tight fit and pinned too on a good one and also a pain to separate

WOW, that is crazy. I always assumed that the wear was an unusual failure and the fact that mine was welded was someones shade tree repair.

DEVCON makes metal filled epoxies that would work perfectly for this kind of repair. Can be had fro Mc Master-Carr and some bearing houses

A major portion of the problem is the aluminum exidizing and gripping the stud. I cleaned the holes on my heads and then painted them to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing.

Sorry, I cant help. I scrapped the bad parts and converted to 3.9 gears

One of the '38 Special differentials I disassembled, the driveshaft was welded to the pinion at the spline. When I ground the weld off and took things apart, I found the splines very badly worn.

The oil cooler story is wrong according to some. The story I remember is that Buick used the "cooler" to actually heat the oil up to bring it to operating temp more quickly. My '31-67 didnt have one for a long time and it had no issuies. Also, Packard used them and I expect others did too.

These engines can reslly build up a lot of crap at the rear of the block. To really clean the cooling system you have to knock the core plugs out and clean the water passages.

With a lirtle practice, striping with a striping brush isnt that difficult. I did both my cars using one of the front hubs to spin the wheel as I applied the stripe. I did one stripe at a time and let it dry, that way if I screwed up the next stripe, I could wipe it off wiothout ruining the prior stripe. Without the rings and stripes, the blackwalls look pretty blah.

Key to the rocker stanchion bolts not leaking is thorough cleaning of the bolt holes. I use a round wire brush, solvent and a an electric drill to clesn them before installing the bolt with a sealant