Assembly thread, 1942 Lincoln Zephyr Club Coupe

VERY NICE !!!

An internal combustion engine runs because of a delicate set of compromises. The most delicate of those compromises is the air/fuel mixture. All old cars ran rich which wastes fuel and really stinks, not to mention the amount of pollution it produces due to unburned hydrocarbons. Due to the improvements in fuel quality it is no longer necessary to run an engine rich.

Our old Porsche wouldn't run well when we first got it. I found an independent VW mechanic that built race engines. He said that a simple jet change would cure my ills. What I never expected was for him to reduce fuel flow by 10%, curing my problem.

I've mentioned this to some auto people before and they just scoffed. However, it turns out that it really does work. The jets removed were size 57. They were replaced with size 54, a 10% reduction of fuel into the air-fuel mixture. The engine quieted down and the rpm decreased so much that all you hear from the engine is the valve train.

The engine runs smoother, accelerates faster and doesn't stumble at higher rpms. Win-win-win.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204702092686287&l=554007557056026893

Modern Non ethanol gasoline is superior to some of the older fuels

Ethanol added to gasoline makes a less efficient fuel.

Running my car on a lean mixture can lead to overheating of the heads. Causing a valve train seizure

For my car the fuel is an important component of the cooling system

OK.

I believe you have it backwards. Based on wire drill sizes a 57 jet would be smaller than a 54.

One of the culprits that gave the 1942 Lincoln V-12 its terribly bad reputation was too low of rpm at too slow of speed (lugging). You want to keep the rpm relatively high when driving.

I believe you have it backwards. Based on wire drill sizes a 57 jet would be smaller than a 54.

I could be wrong, but I believe a jet number is the flow size, or surface area of the hole, not the drill size.

Turns out we are both right. Both measuring systems are used depending on manufacturer etc.

Stromberg jets are roughly their size in inches, AKA a 48 would be .048. Holleys are often one size down, like a 63 would actually be .062. These are not hard and fast rules, however, and there is more to jet flow than orifice size. Orifice shape is important too, which is why sometimes, two different jet numbers can have the same size orifice.

Barry, I do think you should hook an air/fuel gauge to the Zephyr. Plug readings with modern gas are nearly irrelevant, as it doesn't color the plugs like old leaded gas would. I'd hate to see you damage the engine by leaning it out too much. I believe I mentioned earlier in the thread that most Corvair specialists run a couple sizes richer to keep the engines cool. I certainly wouldn't drop more than one or two jet sizes from factory in any situation, and even that shouldn't be necessary most of the time.

Ethanol is an oxygen bearing fuel. The difference in E 10 (common midwest pump fuel) and straight gasoline is actually a leaner fuel/air mixture. We go through this on our hopped up sleds, that ethanol actually reads lean on the plugs and leaves a smaller "wash" than desried on the piston crown. Even though that's the case there's still some additional energy in today's fuel vs the old days. The best way to compensate is in the ignition system. Better to light it a couple degrees advanced to help ensure a cleaner and more efficient burn. E 85 has huge potential for later cars that had high compression ratios. In something like a late 50s to early 60s Cadillac or a 60s muscle car the flow can be increased by about 30% and ignition timing can remain stock or even advanced a bit. E 85 acts like 105 octane gas in that regard but the BTUs (energy) are lower, thus the need for additional volume. Mileage suffers on E 85 as well, but who worries about mileage in a Ram Air Trans Am or 58 Eldorado with tri-power? To get good readings on plugs with ethanol blended fuel you need to run wide open for about 8-10 seconds in high gear, let off and stuff the clutch in and shut off the engine right away, coasting to the side of the road. Pull a plug or 2 and it should look like coffee with cream on the ceramic. Yes, you could also stuff an exhaust 'sniffer' in the tailpipe but what fun is that? Just sayin...

Barry, I did not read the whole thread but knowing your past cars, I,m sure that it is very nice. I'm also sure that you have gotten other peoples mouths watering for one so this is what I found.

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/cto/4844310404.html

(1947 )

I have a '47 parts car I'd like to sell. Might be a good companion for that car.

The cost of dipping the bumper into the chrome tank is the least of your worries. The plater is going to charge you a ton of dough filling in those pits with copper, grinding it down on a grease wheel, copper plating it again, etc. North of 2K I'd say.

$550.00

No copper. Nickel base, only.

The life expectancy of plating without a copper base is limited. Copper not only fills pits, it promotes adhesion as well. Thus "triple chrome plating".

Thanks for the advice.

Today's bro-date, or Technical Session, as Dave would prefer to call it, went just great. Larry bought a Heathkit exhaust analyzer. I asked Greg along as he knows how to use them. Dave and I were there just to absorb some knowledge and make adjustments.

I'll start the story from the beginning. Once we got the engine running we pulled the plugs to clean off the oil we had put into the cylinders to get initial compression. It was obviously running rich. After a couple of hours of fiddling it was running better, but not right. Pulled the plugs again and found them heavily carboned-up.

I went back in my memory and and realized I had the same problem with the '55 Porsche. A guy that builds VW race engines said he could get it running smoothly. He pulled the seats and examined them for a number. I didn't understand at the time, but he explained that he wanted to reduce fuel "one size". Well, it turns out that one size is about a 10% reduction in the amount of fuel that can pass through a jet. That would make it run leaner.

My concern, a real one expressed by others too, is that running too lean is harmful to an engine. Dave consulted his carb guru and came back with 8 sets of jets. The guy had done all the math and confirmed that the other tech's "one size" was a gret place to start. The reduction in size had a great effect on the engine. It runs without vibration. The only noise you hear is the valve train, an intoxicating sound of its own.

I've encountered some naysayers, but the proof is in the readings of an exhaust gas analyzer. We did something no card-carrying man has done before, we read the manual.

The first step was to warm the engine up. We hooked the flex pipe up and ran it outside. We also took the tester outside to balance the meter. Holding the meter level the needle is adjusted to a center mark. Then it's a simple matter of inserting a flexible pipe into the exhaust stream and checking the readings.

The initial reading were at idle with the engine at operating temperature. It was idling rich. We could smell it. After a little balancing the idle jets had the meter pegged right in the center.

Using the throttle control we raised the rpm to 1200 and took another reading. The increase in rpm ran the needle into the rich zone but quickly settled into the center of the scale again. An increase to 1600 rpm made it run rich for a few seconds, but then returned to the center, once again. It returned to the zone each time the rpm were allowed to stay in one place for a moment.

We were all set to call it done when we realized we really didn't have a control to know if the meter was working correctly. It made no sense to use another old car as a control so we tested my new X5. We had to check to see if the meter was working properly because the needle hardly move even through revving the engine. Both the vehicle and the meter were working perfectly as that's what you would expect from a sophisticated modern engine.

The conclusion we have determined is that a 10% reduction in fuel for an old car does not make it run too lean. We've also concluded that in this one measure an old car doesn't have to be a stinky fuel-waster to run properly.

It all, a great learning experience. Would do again.

At idle, about 450 rpm.

At 1200 rpm.

Same reading at 1600 and 2000 rpm. This simulates driving speeds. It went to the lean side, but never got there. It doesn't get much better than this.

Barry,

Y'know we really didn't need no stinking instructions. I was only reading them to see if they were correct. They were prety close! Just for the halibut, read one or two of the spark plugs to see what they say.

Larry W

The life expectancy of plating without a copper base is limited. Copper not only fills pits, it promotes adhesion as well. Thus "triple chrome plating".

Another reason for copper plating is it is non-porous, whereas nickel and chromium are porous. Thus without copper you are much more likely to get tiny rust pits in the chrome. You can get around the porosity somewhat by polishing the nickel on a cotton wheel before chroming. Nickel is fairly soft so polishing the nickel moves it around, closing a proportion of the pores. Chromium is too hard to move around like this.

Leaving today for Oklahoma.

http://vid244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/barry2952/1941%20Lincoln%20Zephyr/MVI_4113_zps6dwg6kur.mp4

Like I mentioned earlier, 1600-2000 RPM in the driveway isn't the same as 1600-2000 RPM under load. Pushing a car down the road is going to require more throttle input, opening the throttle valve and allowing the car to operate on the main jet rather than the idle jet. 2000 RPM in neutral is probably still on the idle/transition circuit.

You're right in that it's probably OK a little leaner, because the manufacturers did seem to run the circuits rich until emission standards started coming down the pike in the late '60s. The '74 Holley 1945 on my Dart was really set up lean from the factory. My Skylark, on the other hand, with it's '65 model Carter AFB, is a little fat all the way through the rev range. It does not come anywhere near carboning up the plugs, however. My '53 Buick is fine on the idle and low speed circuits, but leans out to a 15.5:1 AFR at cruising speed. Your mileage may vary...take it as you will.

The car did come out looking great...

Bub-bye!

I am very pissed at Passport Transport. It seems they have broken their promise of a 1 week delivery. The car left a week ago and has been sitting inside the truck at a large storage facility outside Chicago. I'm damn glad I changed the water to antifreeze before it left. Arggg!!!

I haven't seen it yet, but I've sent someone after the newly plated bumper. I'm told that the color or hue of the chrome is the same as the chromed bumper guards I sent along for fit and comparison.

The real chrome story is the few bits that weren't done 10 years ago with the rest of the parts. It's an incredibly small number for the $2,500 price tag. The shop, Fininish, even suggested that I try and find replacements before embarking on this adventure. Unfortunately, there are very few spares, and they would likely be in just as bad shape. It seems that the WWII material restrictions cause there to be really low grade "pot-metal", basically the scrapings off the top of the molten cauldron. The castings were nowhere near as substantial as previous years which caused the hood spears to break from not being able to handle flex. Some of the parts are '42, only, parts. The curved Lincoln hub cap emblems, specifically. The hood spear and dash parts are' 42-'48.

This picture was taken after they were de-chromed, basically the reverse process of chroming. They simply reverse the polarity. It also takes away a lot of the corrosion, but leaves some pits behind. Some pits are quite deep. Untreated, the corrosion at the bottom of the pit will present itself, if not removed.

If I understand the process the bits will go to metal finishing next. Much of the corrosion is on the surface. By sanding off the layer of remaining copper the deep corrosion is revealed while other problems are sanded away. The parts are treated to a date with a dentist's drill to remove any trace of exposed corrosion or visible flaws in the metal. I believe he said they were then nickel-plated. The pits are then carefully filled in with a special solder and metal finished smooth. I believe the next step is to "acid copper" plate them before the final two steps of nickel and chrome. They'll also be able to rebuild the mounting post for the V-shaped hood ornament.

Basically the guy said, "If you want it done right........." I asked if they had an AARP discount. He laughed and said, "Then all our customers would get one."

Did I miss the post that said something about you selling it????

Selling it, no, it's on its way to get an interior.

Oh. When you said good-bye, it sounded like forever. Glad to hear it.

All that chrome prep is the $$$$. Strip, drill, acid copper, low temp silver solder where drilled, metal finish, final copper/nickel/chrome. I try to do my own whenever possible, but even the stripping process is different for aluminum and diecast. Wrong process, the parts disappear like magic...!

Wow, what a great story of your assembly of this rare car. I'm just picking up the thread and have read through it, thanks for all the great info and pictures.

Keith

It's going to http://www.dankirkpatrickinteriors.com/classics/, about 35 miles east of Tulsa. It should be there this evening. Last I looked the transport was in Overland Park, KS.

After a number of attempts to make a new side hood trim I became frustrated with contractors that said they were going to do something, but never followed through. Due to the expense of milling or casting new parts I wanted to make sure that whatever way I went that the parts fit the curvature of the hood correctly. I've been cautioned that left and right hand parts may not be mirror images so I think it's worth the extra expense of having the parts printed to prove they fit.

I spoke to a number of companies offering 3D scans, but none of them had the capability of producing a printed version from the files so it made little sense to spend the $1,100-$1,500 they were asking for the scan.

In desperation I want to one of my friends at one of the auto manufacturers and asked how his design department does rapid prototype work. He said it would just be easier to have his department do the scan for me. Due to tight scheduling they won't be able to do the printing, but I'm part way there.

By later today they will have finished removing all of the pits and blisters in the old surface. When that's done they will simply invert the image and provide me with a left and right file in OBJ and STL formats good for printing and CNC.

This is the original and the crappy "reproduction" made from a broken casting. Why bother?

I asked for a couple of screen grabs to post. Now I just need someone to print the proofs.

I now have a right and left hand molding. They currently only exist digitally, but they take me to the next step. I have two .stl 50mb files that are good for printing and CNC. I learned today about a process where the trim van be printed in metal and sintered. It's a rougher surface than CNC, but can be copper plated and metal prepped before plating.

This is a fascinating field. If I were 20 years younger I'd jump into this business.

http://vid244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/barry2952/1941%20Lincoln%20Zephyr/MVI_4135_zpsk2br2jkq.mp4

I agree. 3D printing is an amazing (developing) technology.

I have been wondering for a while if it is possible to print in chrome platable plastic. Most modern car labels seem to be in plastic. It seems that so far the surface is not smooth enough for plating? Plastic should be lighter, of course, so all those weight saving diecast things we are replacing with heavier brass or bronze or stainless could be in light plastic.

Printing in sintered metal sounds interesting. Recently I have been struggling to obtain and then make sintered bronze bushes that are no longer available in the size I need.

Apparently I've been lax in posting updates. It took almost two weeks for the car to get to Oklahoma. When it arrived it had been sitting in sub-zero temperatures and didn't want to start. After a jump it fired right up. Need a bigger battery.

The first thing Dan did was take the car into his shop, wipe it down and take it back out to the entrance to his beautiful property.

He then neatly tucked it away in his spotless shop. It's in fine company.

Back outside for more pictures. I think he likes my car.

The first thing he did was to sort out all the interior bits I sent along. It was important that he saw the original carpets and upholstery to see the ways of this particular car so he could match the edging and stitching exactly. This picture doesn't even show all of the seats, nor the huge headliner. It's pretty astounding to see what literally goes into making the interior of a car.

Since this was the first time Dan had seen the car we really hadn't locked in any fabric choices. After recovering fabric and carpet samples he laid them on the headliner material. The three samples on the left are carpet, seating and door panel material. The car was originally blue. The light color carpeting and the striped seating material were selected. We're looking for an appropriate door panel fabric.

The original door material has an obvious pattern that was almost obliterated by the flocking that covered the fabric. Since I had sent him all of the material I asked for a picture of the original material on the right that had been protected from contact and the sun for 70+ years and the flocks sample on the left. Being an old draftsman and carpenter I asked for a picture photo of the material sample next to a scale, and this is what I got.

Dan is the antithesis of my way of working. I have to be able to see everything while he puts everything away nice and neat. I wonder what his sock drawer looks like.

He's stripped the fabric off the seat frames and found no moth or critter damage. The seat frames aren't rusty, but all of the springs need to come off the frame, re-wrapped in burlap and bound together with hog rings. I've asked for some additional butt support. The cotton materials will be replaced with modern foam, but other than that it's period correct materials and skills.

Each seat retained it's original parts tags. The "26H" specifically denote that these seats were for a '42 Lincoln Zephyr. Ford used generic part numbers with year and model suffixes. These tags will be returned to the seats when completed.

The new windshield I had made didn't fit. It was made off a broken windshield that was poorly cut. In trimming the edge a piece of diamond must have ended up embedded in the table of the glass router, gouging a scratch in the glass in the same arc as the windshield top. D'oh! Dan suggested that he replace it now instead of it having to come out again once he's finished the interior. I have an OEM windshield from the '47 so I'm making a template for that and another window with a flaw.

I got the 2-staged chromed bumper back and it looks great. I assembled the bumperettes to it and the chrome hue matches perfectly.

The original sound deadening was sprayed on, from the underside. Installing sound-deadener from the inside is better. The material protects the steel floor pan from moisture with its adhesive rubber base and aluminum outer barrier. Note all of the channeling for water removal on the sloped floors.

The foil-covered bubble material was installed by the previous owner to replace the spray-on material on the inside of the roof and side panels. These are large, unsupported, pieces of sheet metal and would flutter in the wind, creating noise. This material acts as a heat barrier, too.

The door panel material is a little thicker than the original but is designed for the application and is not affected by moisture. The horizontal line shows where carpet will be below and fabric above. Holes get drilled along that line to take the securing barbs of a polished stainless steel decorative strip. The lines vertical lines above are sewn into the fabric and padding for some dimensionality to the door panel. I don't know, but I assume that those stitches will also require that holes be drilled for hand stitching.

The cavernous trunk also gets finished. We're looking for a plastic woven fabric that's close to the original.

Sad car looking for a new home. Demolition derby car? Put a V-8 where the V-12 was and have plenty of crush space.

The assistant to the previous owner said that the '42 was in worse shape than this. I guess anything is possible.

Well, it appears that I have another project.

My friend that owns the Ruxton was having a 1939 Steyr restored in LA when the most unfortunate thing happen, the guy passed away. The restorer was like me in that he didn't bag and tag anything, which left Scotty in a bit of a bind. The car has to be moved so the building can be sold. He's going to pack it up and send it 2/3s of the way across the country so I can put it back together for him.

There is only one other Steyr in the country and it's at the Lane Museum. I may have to pay Jeff a visit.

Wow! Talk about a puzzle!!! And what a cool little ride....

So will there be a new thread for this one? It's always great to follow your work Barry!

So will there be a new thread for this one?

If management doesn't mind a furring' car build.

If management doesn't mind a furring' car build.

????

AACA is not an American car club, it's an Antique car club.

There is a thread on a 38 Broke My Wallet so this one should be fine,just where was that thing made since I never seen one before.

It was Austria's "People's Car". I know nothing about it, but I'm about to learn. A pile of documentation (in German) is headed my way. I've already lined up translators. Although, I'm more of an exploded-view guy.

I have learned that there are more than two out there, but not a lot of them.

I've found a large local machine shop that is giving me a price on doing the side spears in CNC-shaped stainless-steel. It seems like the most logical and cost-effective approach as it's only three steps, mill, metal-finish and polish while every other method has many more steps. Lost wax and investment casting both would require an original, but I only have one side. I had investigated chrome-plating sintered printed metal, but that requires a lot of metal finishing and would still need to be chrome-plated, and, it's incredibly expensive. Printed plastic is out as the binders interact with the plating. My plater says he'll only plate plastic for prototype work as it doesn't bond permanently. I'm awaiting a price on this with a defibrillator standing by.

While Dan was waiting for ordered materials he was able to start the installation of the headliner that came with the car. There was insufficient material to do the door panels so a very close match was obtained. The two materials are never next to each other so the slight shade difference will not matter. I am very glad I didn't attempt this myself. Things like this are not in my skill or patience set.

We've also decided to use the windlace that came with the car. Windlace is a decorative cloth that's folded over a flexible core and stitched closed. The remaining flange attached to wood that's embedded in the steel around windows and doors. The windlace is the last defense against wind noise and air leakage bordering the doors. That's the strip in the center. It's basically a large welting.

Dan suggested that we trim the carpet, cover the arm rests and front door kick panels in leather as was done with the original door kicks. He found a leather that matches the car color perfectly.

The seats needed rebuilding, but the springs were fine. However, they are not up to the mass of the ass quotient as I sink in the seat further than I'd like. He'll be replacing the springs on my side with Big Boy springs.