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1929 Hupmobile project


Guest Dean_H.

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Guest Dean_H.

Hi fellow car people, this is my first post on this site. I live on the central coast of CA and I'm working on a '29 Hupp six cylinder sedan. I bought this car last summer with the intentions of not restoring it... just sort of driving it as is. I got it running OK, but it smoked and leaked oil and there was some other issues. As can be seen in the pics I finally gave in and disassembled it. So far, I've gone through the brakes, greased the wheel bearings and cleaned the frame. The chassis is in great shape, most of the original paint is still intact. King pins, spring shackles and steering pivots all are tight and only needed cleaning and new grease.

The first picture is the day I brought it home.

hupp.jpg

This picture shows the frame stripped down getting ready for paint.

unpaintedframe.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Dean

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If you haven't joined the Hupmobile Club I suggest you consider it.

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/hupmobile/

There are many experts you can quiz for information and it is an excellent source for parts, etc. They print a "Parts Locater" newsletter advertising parts wanted any for sale usually not available elsewhere. If you plan to paint the engine, I have the correct color green available.

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Hello Dean,

I must say you have a nice looking sedan and an excellent original car. I wish my best project was as nice as your Hup. It does appear to be a nice original car. Are you just going to resolve the few issues, clean up and reassemble. You would sure have a nice survivor! That is the kind of car most of us only dream about anymore.

GOOD LUCK...

Alan

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Guest Dean_H.

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I was able to get the frame painted and started on the sheet metal. The frame is basically perfect on this car. No modifications or damage at all, it looks great. The aprons and running boards are another story. Both aprons have some rust out areas. As can be seen in the pic, I fitted a piece of sheet metal to replace the bad areas and welded it in. With both aprons done I got started on the running boards. I'll continue work on those today.

Thanks for the replies, I don't belong to any clubs, maybe I'll join some day. My engine is black, I didn't notice any green anywhere on it. Are you sure of that color? I'm afraid I'm going to need to restore the entire car. It's just not quite good enough to make the preservation thing. It is however, in pretty good shape for it's age. It was last registered in 1950 (barn find). The first picture is of the frame after painting, the second pic, is one of the aprons.

Dean paintedframe.jpg

rustedapron.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

I had to make new running boards, the old ones were just too rusted. I still need to make the bolt clips and weld them on. I was also able to get the shocks cleaned up and glass beaded today. They had very little wear, but they needed new packing. I made a punch tool and used aircraft engine baffle material (silicon). It took a few tries but I finally got some decent looking 'seals'.

oldrunningboards.jpg

runningboards.jpg

shockseals.jpg

shockseal.jpg

Thanks for posting the picture Huptoy. You have a very clean looking car. Do you drive it much? In the picture, there seems to be the edge of a fender light, which would mean it's 1930 or later. I've noticed that even though the 1929 cars looked similar, they are in fact quite different from the later S model. I picked up some extra parts from a 1930 car only to find nothing worked on my '29. Even your grill shell has a slight difference from mine. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I'm still not totally on board with your engine color. I took a wire brush on my black engine today and could not find any green paint.

Dean

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My car is a 1931 Model S, 4dr, Century 6 motor. The 28-29 Hupmobile was very different from the 30-31. The newer cars were cheaper and not as ornate. What parts are you looking for and what 1930 parts did you purchase? I have had my Hupmobile since 2000 and have driven it 12,000 miles. The furthest I have driven it in one day is 200 miles. I drive it almost every week and even in January and February if the roads are dry and don't have salt on them. It's not unusual for me to drive it 150 to 200 miles over the winter. The late 20's Hupmobiles were often sold as taxis as they were very dependable.

post-41405-143137984795_thumb.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

I cleaned up the gas tank and painted it gray. It had a plating (galvanized?) but had started to get some surface rust. I managed to install it yesterday, along with the shocks. Unfortunately, I have some other business to tend to, and won't be able to work on the Hupp for the next few days.

fueltank.jpg

fueltankmounted.jpg

Huptoy,

What a great looking car, your engine sure looks clean for a driver. I too wanted a '31, but after looking for several months I settled for the '29. Not too many of the '31s come up for sale.

I bought an extra window bottom rail. Some of my door windows are missing with the bottom rail. Then I picked up a set of 1930 wire wheels and a transmission - none fit. I need outside door handles, mine are cracked up. The aluminum hubcaps are beat up pretty bad, would love to find some decent ones. And I still need the chrome piece that goes in the middle of the front bumper.

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks everyone for the positive comments. No pop out ignition on this car. The key just turns on or off, doesn't pop out. The ignition looks original to me, but I'm not certain.

Today I worked on the running board bolt brackets. I used an old punch press to make the brackets - lots of set-up time and then only minutes to stamp out the twelve pieces needed. I managed to get them trimmed up, slotted and installed on the new running boards as well.

Here's a pic of the punch press, ready to go.

punchpress.jpg

This picture shows some new brackets on the original running board

boltbrackets.jpg

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Dean...My mistake, I was looking at Huptoy's picture which shows a Electrolock ignition cable. Your car ('29 series A) is supposed to have a type 5A Electrolock ignition cable.By the way, great job on reproducing your runningboards and especially the mounting brackets. I need to reproduce the mounting brackets for my '28 Chrysler. The Chrysler's are a little more complex than your Hupmobile's; however seeing you do it helps me with my project.

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Dean.. great car! Is the "skeleton" of the body wood? I'm looking to remove my body as well and have heard horror stories of bodies, particularly doors not aligning properly once the body is re-attached to the frame. Any precautions you took before removal?

Dan

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks Dan,

It does have a wood frame. I did not consider door alignment when removing the body and took no precautions. The body needed to be removed because of rust that could not be accessed. It was actually pretty easy and now I'm able to do a better job on my restoration. I'll just have to deal with door alignment if it comes up. I don't have much experience in this area, but I suspect the 'horror stories' are largely exaggerated.

Does your Chrysler have wood in the body? I know Dodges were all steel, not sure about Chrysler. Either way, taking the body off makes it a lot easier at getting your chassis in top condition.

Dean

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Guest Dean_H.

The last few days I've been working on the engine. I found it to be in pretty nice shape. All sizes were standard and the cylinders are almost perfect. Two pistons had some light score marks on them. I was able to locate a complete new set and they should arrive in a day or two with rings. The valves also are in great shape. If anyone out there has a gasket set for this engine, I need one. Here are before and after pictures.

enginestripped.jpg

strippedengine.jpg

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Guest Debby Soucia

WOW Dean,

You are doing a great job!

We have a 1927 Hupmobile that needs body work but our engine runs fine. Inside of our doors are wood and they are falling apart.

We joined the Hupmobile Club and went to the show in Detroit two years ago. What a nice time. Got lots of help and got lots of information where to get parts. You should think about joining.

(I would add a picture but don't know how to do that.)

We are in nothern NY.

I am going to watch your progress.:):)

Deby & Jim

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks for the tip Don, I ordered a head gasket from Olsens today. And thanks for the comments Debbie and Jim. Sorry to hear your car needs body work, I think that's the most difficult part of a restoration. Hope you get it going soon.

I was able to get some work done on my motor today. I'm fortunate with this project because of the great condition it is in. The valves and cylinders were in decent shape but I dressed them up a bit.

Here I'm removing the very small ridge.

ridgereamer.jpg

In this pic I'm working on grinding the valve seats.

engvalves.jpg

In this last picture I have the valve grinder running. It didn't take much to get the valves looking real good.

valvegrinder.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

My 'new' pistons arrived yesterday. I really like getting packages smile.gif and aggressively opened this one in the kitchen, spilling a few of those packing peanuts. The wifey didn't waste time ushering me out to the barn. smirk.gif

newpistons.jpg

Back at the shop, I matched up the pistons. My number 5 and 6 pistons over heated because the back of the block (water chamber) was full of rust debris. The new pistons are .100 oversize. They told me to just machine them down to size needed.

newandoldpistons.jpg

I painted the block inside and out with epoxy primer.

engpainted.jpg

enginepainted.jpg

I really want an all stock engine (and car) but... the ports were rougher than a corn cob. I smoothed them out with a dremel tool. The inside of the crankcase was also very rough. It had what appeared to be casting sand stuck to the cast iron. I cleaned that off before the primer was applied.

ports.jpg

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Dean, first let me say I am impressed with your abilities in restoring your car; I wish I had similiar skills. I noted on one of your earlier pictures an early original oil filter; do you plan to rebuild it? Also, thanks for the tip on using the Dremel tool to clean up the valve ports. I have never seen the inside of a crank case painted before, aren't you concerned some of the paint might start to come off in thye future?

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks Harry, I had not put much thought into the oil filter. I certainly don't want a modern looking filter, so I'll have to clean or retrofit this one, if I can't find NOS. I'm not concerned at all about the crankcase paint coming off. I did a very thorough job on preparing the surface. I work in construction. Part of my time is spent overhauling or repairing my equipment. I've notice newer engines (1990+) are painted inside the crankcase. The paint always looks good when you disassemble one. Also the epoxy primer I used is very tough, even carb cleaner doesn't effect it.

I spend a lot of time on small things such as this 2.75 X 2.5 inch cover. This little cover from the front of the block was almost rusted through.

smallcoverfront.jpg

smallcoverbefore.jpg

I filled the thin areas with braze

smallcoverbraze.jpg

Then machined it flat

smallcovermill.jpg

and finished.

smallcover.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

Progress has been a bit slow the last few days. My first attempt at machining the oversize pistons went down in flames. The lathe chuck deformed the piston a few thousands, it sprung back after I took it out, leaving it slightly triangle shape. I had to machine an arbor to hold the piston, took some time but worked good and I resized the two pistons I needed.

In this first pic, this piston had to be tossed out after deforming. My chuck is too large to hold the piston. I used a small chuck to hold the piston and held the whole mess in the big chuck. Thought I had out-smarted myself smile.gif ...oh well.

lathepiston.jpg

This set up did the trick, sorry about the poor focus. The piston fits snugly on the holder, a 1/4 inch stud catches a hole inside the piston and stops it from slipping.

pistonwork.jpg

Also surfaced the head.

headmill.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

Dan,

I don't have a time frame in mind for completion other than it would be nice to get the body back on the frame before our rainy season starts in November (body is outside). If I stay at the pace I'm going that won't be a problem but if a job comes up, the Hupp takes the back burner.

Today I worked on small parts. Cleaning and painting is an effort, it would be easier to just buy new bolts but I like the look of originals.

smallparts.jpg

Polished the camshaft with fine emery cloth. There was light rust in a few spots, it cleaned up real nice.

camshaft.jpg

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I replaced my valves 6,500 miles ago with no problems.

If you want to replace the valves with hardened ones, start with the exhaust valve from a 352 Ford. Shorten the stem and renotch it to match the original. The stem is 5 thousand's too large, drill out the block 5 thousands to remove any slop in the block. I was told with the lower compression and RPM, you will not have any problem with unleaded gas for 20 to 30 thousand miles. You could also insert hardened valve guides.

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks for the tip Huptoy. I'm going to leave the original valves since I already reworked them. But I'll keep your information, should I need to replace these in the future.

Progress has slowed a bit on my old car. I got all the valves in and installed the pistons and head. The rear main seal was pot metal and I had to make a new one. This is where things sort of stalled the last few days. I finally got something I'm satisfied with but it took a little time.

This picture is of the block after I installed the valves. What a beauty! Those valves and cam are a mechanical work of art, sort of sad to put on covers. blockvalves.jpg

The head gasket from Olsen's fit well. headgasket.jpg

Original (lower half) of rear seal was junk

rearoldseallower.jpg

The upper half of original rear seal

rearoldseal.jpg

Found a split rear seal in an old gasket set that is correct diameter. rearlipseal-1.jpg

Machining new upper seal holder

rearnewseal1.jpg

Cut 'new' seal holder in half to get what I need

rearnewseal.jpg

Rough cut lower rear main seal

rearsealmaterial.jpg

The result of much machine work and a little welding

rearlowerseal.jpg

And finally finished. It looks like the fit is pretty good. And I painted it cast iron gray so it would look cool. rearseal.jpg

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Good news, I found the chrome piece that goes in the middle of the front bumper. I believe the 28 and 29 bumpers are the same. It will need to be cleaned up, chromed, and painted but it is solid and intact. They are moving their 28 Hupmobile from Dayton, Oh to Seattle, WA for the next week. I will provide them your email address and you should hear from them in about 10 days. I am enclosing a photo of the front bumper.

post-41405-143137989055_thumb.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

Thanks Huptoy, I certainly would be interested in that item. That roadster is awesome, sort of took the wind out of my (sedan) project. smirk.gif

Work does continue on my old girl, although a little slower than I'd like. The valves were a pain to adjust, it almost requires three hands. I had the valves done and the covers on and then noticed some of the lifters were not spinning well when I turned the cam. I decided to take the lifters out to resurface them, that took a little time but the results were worth it.

This is one of those - 'never enough time to do it right the first time, always enough time to do it twice'

redolifters.jpg

The first time I've used this grinder, it worked great. The lifters all spin the same when I reinstalled them.

liftergrind.jpg

In an attempt to slow oil loss, I put a modern lip seal on the front cover.

machineseal.jpg

Here is the cover ready for paint.

finishcover.jpg

I didn't want to pony up the cash for a full gasket set and have been cutting gaskets.

cutgasket.jpg

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Information provide me on the 1931 6cyl engine states the valves should be adjusted at 8 thousands when the engine is hot. Hupmobile said you could remove the valve covers, run the engine till hot, adjust the valves by reaching behind the carb, and under the exhaust manifold. Of course, you are at risk of burning yourself on the exhaust.

I was also informed by 2 older mechanics that you should set the valves at 11 thousands with the engine cold. Just remove the carb and valve covers. My engine runs well and has a slight valve lifter noise. As you know, too tight will burn the valves and you are back to square one.

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Guest wk's_olds

Tell me what you think of this '29 Hupmobile! It's part of a local collection and I have the opportunity to take it for drive and give my grandkids rides in it-and other from time to time. It's a straight 8 and it purrs!

Hupmobile.jpg

and taking the grandkids for a ride!

HPIM12692.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

I've been out of town for several days, finally got in last night. Thanks for the valve info Huptoy, I adjusted my valves to .012 (cold... sort of, it's been over a 100 deg. for a while now). Wow, wk's_olds that Hupp is a beauty! It looks a little earlier than 1929. Very nice.

I'm starting to feel like Cinderella going back to rags after seeing the other hupmobiles out there.

Before leaving town I painted my engine.. black. I was told by several people that the engine should be green, however, I could not find any green on this engine. These were the colors of the engine when I got it, and it looked original to me. I was told only the eights were painted black, but I suspect some of the sixes were too. Anyway, it's my car and the engine is black. smile.gif

I had to go through the water pump

waterpump.jpg

The engine

enginepainted-1.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

Machine work never ends on my project. I was tightening the bolts on the fan when I heard a crack. The fan spacer (pot metal) was the victim and I needed a new one. Since I'm getting a little tired of all the machining, I looked for an easier fix. As luck would have it, I found a modern spacer with the right bolt pattern. I sliced off the length I needed and saved some time, albeit not quite original looking. I also got the engine mounted in the chassis and started work on the flywheel. The clutch chattered and some starter teeth were stripped. I cleaned up the clutch surface, but this flywheel does not have a removable ring gear. I located a new ring gear of the right size and teeth but I still need to cut the flywheel down to slide it on. Hopefully I can get this done today.

The original fan spacer (black) and a fresh made new one of the same thickness.

fanspac.jpg

I left it unpainted

fanspacer.jpg

Working on the flywheel. **point of interest, the old lathe I'm using in this picture is three years older than the car - still works like a charm. smile.gif

flywheelcopy.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Dean_H.

I finished the fly wheel and reground the pressure plate. The clutch was junk (metal frame cracked). I couldn't find an exact replacement, but since Ford 9N tractors have the same size spline, I bought one of those, cheap too, only 40 bucks. Both clutches are supposed to be 9 inch but the new ford clutch wouldn't fit into the fly wheel. Turns out the Ford is 9 1/8 inches and the original Hupp clutch is 8 7/8 inches. I had to cut the new clutch down 1/4 inch to make it fit.

The flywheel machined for ring gear

flywheel1.jpg

For the interference fit on the ring gear, a little heat expands it enough to slide it on.

ringgear.jpg

High lighting markings on the flywheel to make them easier to find later.

paintparts.jpg

and finally balancing it

balanceflywhl.jpg

Machining the clutch down .250

clutchsize.jpg

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Guest Dean_H.

The transmission had a broken piece where the clutch throwout arm bolts to. It had been brazed before but was broken loose because of a poor quality repair. Even with it broken loose, the clutch still worked, but there was more play in the pedal than normal. I picked up a replacement 1930 transmission, it fit OK but looks different than the original. So.. I decided to weld up my original. It turned out to be an easy fix and I figure a few battle scars just adds to the character of my old car.

transbroke.jpg

All the braze had to be removed, clamps keep it from warping. Some cast iron is difficult to weld but this trans case welded easy and I was able to do a decent job.

transweld1.jpg

And getting the second piece in. I also Ved out the back side and welded it too. All welds were done with the proper cast iron welding rods.

transweld.jpg

I reluctantly strayed from original and put in an electric fuel pump. My reasoning; the original vacuum tank is located on the left side of the fire wall. Fuel lines run across the engine compartment and back to the carburetor. It looks like a vapor lock nightmare to me so I put in the electric pump so I could run a shorter fuel line direct to the carb. I recently had a ton of vapor lock trouble with an old '60 chevy truck I use. I suspect new gas formulas are the culprit. I also installed a new fuel line and new fuel gauge line.

fuelpump.jpg

Putting in the wires to the tail light and to the fuel pump. The original wires were not quite good enough anymore. I'm using aircraft wire because I like the quality and look. It only comes in white.

wireing.jpg

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