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.



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


Thanks for looking,
Dean

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.

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

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

Yes, the color is not great but it is the color.

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'.





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

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.

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.


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.

Dean....Nice Job! I noticed the ignition cable...is it an electrolock? (pop out)

Thanks Harry, sorry, I don't know what an electrolock is.

The original ignition was an electrolock or similar (pop out)

Dean, It is a "pop out" ignition switch notice the tag on the cable leading into your distributor. The ignition switch pops out when you turn on the key.

Really nice car you got there ! A '29 Hupp is a real solid car - built like a tank. Good luck on your restoration. .............Steve

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.


This picture shows some new brackets on the original running board

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.

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

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

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.

Try Olsen's Gaskets for an engine set. www.olsensgaskets.com

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

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.


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


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

My 'new' pistons arrived yesterday. I really like getting packages 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.


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.


I painted the block inside and out with epoxy primer.



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.

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?

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.



I filled the thin areas with braze


Then machined it flat


and finished.

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 ...oh well.



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.


Also surfaced the head.