Seems a bit Quiet on Forum

Seems to be a bit quiet on pre- war forum of late. So thought I,d post a few pic,s and what Ive been up to on my cars.

Brake linings looked very low on the K-44 roadster, So when removing brake bands, the bolt that holds bands onto the axle

broke off at the bottom of the slot. Still unable to remove band , so had to drill bolt out to remove band.Tried to remove bolt with easy out, with no success. Applying heat with easy out will be the next step. Hoping not to damage the threads. Yep the bands do need re- lining.

Rod W,

Well, we do have some excuses. The weather was cold in the northern part of the country,and parts of the south far late in the winter, so it is only now when people are starting to get the cars out of storage for much of the country. Then there is the start of the baseball season (actually started over there) and college basketball March Madness. Sorry about your misfortune with the bolt.

I am sure the forum will be busy soon.

John

Hi,

Soak with Kroil, PB Blaster, Or 50/50 ATF and lacquer thinner (or acetone). Then drill it out with a LEFT hand drill. More often than not the bolt will come out as you are drilling its center.

--Tom

Maintenance never ends for prewar cars, especially cars like this 1913 Buick Model 31 Touring that is driven over 1000 miles each year. The rear spring on the right failed last summer due to loose U bolts. I have two new springs currently being made like the originals with tapered and rounded ends. Special forged clamps (pictured on the front spring in the left photo) are also being made by the Portland Car Spring Company. I will make the small half-moon shaped keepers and weld them on the sides of the new leaves like the originals, and will cut down new grade 8 bolts & weld them to the original forged square U bolt brackets to prevent this from happening again.

As you can see from the photos, this car is well overdue for some cosmetic attention. The new springs will get a coat of graphite lubricant spray paint on the top and bottom of each spring leaf before assembly and repaint with black chassis paint. This eliminates further lubrication maintenance except for greasing the shackle pins. The spring expert advised that U bolts should be checked and re-tightened 500 miles after re-installation. So, if you have not checked yours lately, it wouldn't hurt to put a torque wrench on them to make sure they are torqued over 80 ft. lbs.

This car also developed a harsh vibration when letting off the gas at driving speeds. I found that all the internals for the sliding universal (located immediately behind the transmission) were badly worn, so I have new parts being machined from hardened tool steel to replace these badly worn parts. I expect to spend over $1000 just for the new parts to fix the springs and universal parts for this year's touring season. All the parts should be ready when I get back from the Bakersfield Swap Meet.

Thanks for that Mark, Myself probably like many others tend to forget and leave things like tightening U bolts. Yes Tom I,ll have to try using a left hand drill bit. I,ve never had any, but can probably be obtained through specialist supply shops or online.

Hi,

Left Hand drill bits can be found at Amazon.com, McMaster.com, Harborfreight.com, use-enco.com, mscdirect.com, and many other places.

--Tom

I've had a quick look at Masters here in Melbourne, and they don't seem to stock them (they have far more drill bits than my local bunnings) so it might be an internet order. Total tools may have them if you've got one close.

Hi,

Toolking shows them available in Australia at

http://www.toolking.com.au/drill-bit-set-15pc-left-handed/

Google "left hand drill bit set Australia" and you'll get a lot of hits.

--Tom

Hi,

Toolking shows them available in Australia at

http://www.toolking.com.au/drill-bit-set-15pc-left-handed/

Google "left hand drill bit set Australia" and you'll get a lot of hits.

--Tom

masters/bunnings are our equivalent of lowes and home depot respectively, so more if he didn't want to have to wait for delivery

Rod,

My band adjustment bolts look identical on my 1923 but are brass. Not sure if brass is correct but mine have not frozen up.

Quiet? We went on a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean. Wonderful stuff. Just back. Carnival gave us a second cabin free so took the 22 and 24 year old daughters along with Mama. We had a balcony cabin. The girls were not in the engine room but they did have an interior cabin. If you want good service when out and about, take your wife and 2 daughters. The waiters hardly ever left our table. And here I thought it was my charm. Arrr matey, it's a pirates life for me.....

Brian, Brass does sound like a good way to go. I had an MG once with brass manifold bolts, never any problems removing them, the steel one,s a different story.

Sounds like you had a great time on that Caribbean cruise. My wife has been trying to talk me into going on a Great Barrier Reef cruise over here, but I want to finish the body on the 25-55. Can,t do everything.

Two old sayings here in the States, perhaps Down Under as well.

'Happy Wife, Happy Life'

'If Mamma aint happy, aint nobody happy'

I made one of my two adjustment bolts from a regular brass bolt when I lost one. Just cut off the head and with a hack saw, cut the groove.

I got my sliding U joint parts back from the machine shop yesterday. I made new gaskets and installed them into the housing with the pin on the drive shaft. Boy, what a job that was! The new parts are made with very close tolerances and needed lubrication to slip into place. The problem was getting all the rotating parts lined up with other rotating parts while everything was slippery. It took about a half hour just to get everything to finally slip into place.

winter work share pics

Hi,

SWEET!

I am jealous of all the elbow room that you have!

--Tom