New Guy With Questions

Hi Fellas

I recently purchased a 1941 Buick 40 Special with dual carbs and have a few questions. Model T's I know pretty well but this beast has nothing in common with them.

What spark plugs do you guys use? What gap?

Point gap?

Any condensers out there better than others?

I'm going to go through the brakes, drop the gas tank and clean it and coat it and drop the oil pan and clean that also. Is there anything else I should be doing when I have the pan off? Seems like I read somewhere that something should be done to the oil pump?

Probably be smart to rebuild the fuel pump?

Are there any tricks to dropping the oil pan, I can't see under there very well but it doesn't look like there's a lot of clearance.

Probably do hoses, belt and fuel lines. Am I missing anything? Oh, I'll check the steering and kingpins over, too.

I'm going to get a manual also, any recommendations?

It's a pretty solid car but I don't know any of its history.

Welcome to the forum Tyler. I have found it an invaluable source of information and inspiration. You'll get the answers you need I'm sure. Got any photos of the car ?

welcome dual carbs can either be strombergs or carters make sure you know what you have when you order rebuild kits if necessary. yes would rebuild the fuel pump with modern parts so the new gas will not be a problem on the old parts in the fuel pump.

when dropping the oil pan you have to have the number 1 cylinder in the right spot and the pan will come our easily, if the crank journal is too low the pan will not clear the front cross member. would rebuild the oil pump since the pan will be down. some parts are available at the local auto parts store. if not use either bobs automoblia in calif or cars in new jersey czn pick up a repair manual on ebay for about 25.00 good luck

Welcome! I dropped my pan this summer as part of redoing the rings. The trick is to have #1 and #2 pistons at equal points in the cyls, at the 1/2 way point. Then the pan comes back easily. The 4 front pan bolts can be accessed from below thru holes in the front crossmember. The next 4 (2 ea side) are a bit tricky but I got good results using 1/4 inch drive socket, universal, and abt 8 inch extension, approaching from below and behind. The rest are cake. If the engine hasn't been worked on in a while there will likely be tons of goo on the bottom and it's a very dirty job. While the pan is off be sure to pound out the dimples around the holes, and when tightening torque to 10 lb ft.

Since you are pulling the pan, why not do a compression test first? That should tell you if you are going to be looking at rings and/or valves.

Cheers, Dave

Other answers:

Plugs AC 45 or 46. Plug gap 0.025" Dwell abt 30 deg. Timing 4 deg BTDC although some advance it a little further. Check for proper operation of your centrifugal and vacuum advances.

Shop manual thru Bob's or Cars.

Is it running now? Does it turn over?

Cheers, Dave

That was fast!

So how do you turn the engine to get the cyl.'s in the right spot and how do you tell when they're there? It's easy with flatheads! Compression test is a good idea.

I'm expecting lots of sediment in the pan, been through that before.

I have to remember to check which carbs I have ; thought they were all Carters.

I'm hesitant to ask about what oil to use since I've seen what that can turn into on other forums. The factory recommendation of 20wt. seems a little light but I don't know much about these engines. Is that what most of you use?

I'll try to post a few pictures tomorrow. Thank you kindly for your advice.

Tyler

Hi Dave

Yes, the car runs fairly well, it's cold-blooded and needs some tuning but the engine sounds good as in no knocks or noisy valves. It does chatter a little when you start out but I'm hoping to get through next summer without replacing the clutch.

Tyler

If you have the car up on blocks or something anyway to pull the pan, pull the lower cover off the clutch and you can turn the flywheel by hand. You could alternatively put a remote starter switch across the vac switch terminals and bump it over. The easiest way to get them where you want is first get #1 to TDC by using the flywheel mark (inspection hole near the starter, you may still have the hole cover installed, it just pulls off), then turn over 90 degrees (1/4 turn) and that should be the right spot.

You probably have Carter WCD's.

Oil: yeah, lotsa opinions. No, straight 20 is likely too light. Probably straight 30 wt is good until you see if you need to go heavier. Since you will have the pan off, look at Flyer15015's posts on what he did to his oil pump, I ended up doing the same, although with not as good results likely due to looser mains.

Cheers, Dave

Tyler

I turned the engine over by hand to get the crank in the right position. used socket on 1/2" breaker bar. I think the front pulley nut socket size is 1 1/8". if the cars has an oil filter make sure the lines to and from it are clear, also there is separate oil line from the block to the rocker arm assembly and a filter screen inside the head. make sure this oil line and screen are clean. screen is very fragile, take care when removing.

Jim

Hi Dave

Yes, the car runs fairly well, it's cold-blooded and needs some tuning but the engine sounds good as in no knocks or noisy valves. It does chatter a little when you start out but I'm hoping to get through next summer without replacing the clutch.

Chattering MAY be due to bad engine, transmission mounts. 20W oil was recommended for cold weather, 30W for summer. I use any modern multi grade. Usually 10/w30.

Ben