Bob Engle

I use the 12 volt battery out of my trailer brake system. small gel battery and easy to remove and relatively inexpensive. Bob Engle

I don't know of any seal supplier for the shaft seal. They are a pain to take apart. The seal cover is pressed on and there is no room to get behind the cover to remove. I have had some luck with using a torch to quickly heat the outer cover so it can be removed. I have taken rubber sheet and formed the seal that is inside this cover. Sometimes I have to make several attempts to get it sealed properly. The original seals appear to have been a cork impregnated compound. Bob Engle

If you have wire wheels, you can use a standard 3 legged puller. You don't need to use the threads. You can rent or borrow one from many auto supply houses. Bob Engle

The 32 Specs manual says "It is important that the cylindeer head bolts are not pulled down tighter than can be done with a 9" wrench using one hand on the wrench". I personally think it is mor e important to tighten the head in small increments. I am not fond of their tighrning sequence. I prefer to start in the middle and work side to side out to the ends. I tighen in 10 # increments up to 60 psi and then check again after a warming sequence on the engine. The key is to not distort the cylinder head, but pull it down uniformly. If replacing the head bolts, I do not recommend grade 8 bolts. They require more torque to stretch them. I have found that many 32 cylinder heads have had the bottom of the hex bolts rounded off and also rounded cylinder head bolt hole edges. I have counter bored the holes and installed a hardened washers flush with the cylinder head top surface, along with new head bolts to prevent further damage to the cylinder heads . Bob Engle

Terry: Ill take them, just tell me the shipping cost and a check will be on the way. Bob Engle

It's not a 50 series. Engines on 50 series do not have the top water tube on the engine. It's not a 1931 as it is a six cylinder.

Electricity will take the path of least resistance. If the wires are arcing, it's possible that the connectors at the plugs are not in top condition, It's also possible that the plug gap and grounding of the plug to the engine block is not at it's best. Would any of the teflon antiseize products on the plug threads reduce the conductivity? I would also test a slightly smaller plug gap to see it's effect. The available plug wires are rubber coated with a cloth weave on the outside to look like orignal products. Even if the cloth is wet, the rubber should have enough resitance to prevent arcing. 9mm wires have more resistance than 7mm wires. More questions than answers. Forgetting appearance, run the wires without using the metal tube and put separators on the wires to keep them away from each other and any grounding potential. Bob Engle

And long stays for the windshield/ top support. Bob Engle

Were the wires you got 9mm? My car had 7mm wires and I replaced them with the correct 9mm. John Brillman has the wire with the correct cloth braid on the outside, You need to cut and solder the plug connectors on the wire. Cost is aboit $1.60 per foot plus shipping. He has a web site for any info you may need. Bob Engle

One of my hunting buddies sent a bunch of old photos, and we all like to look at photos. Who can I.D, the years and models? Last photo is one of my favorites, I'd love to have that Buick sign! Is that a Buick in the last photo? Bob Engle

John Brillman has the plug wiring. Phone 540 477 4112 It is modern inside with woven outside. I guarantee his price will be less than competitors. I made a set for my 17 D45 as my car had 7mm od wiring and I went to the correct 9mm wire. oak with black tracer 0ver 10 feet $1.60 per foot. Bob Engle

We talk about spring wire diameter, spring length uncompressed, but I haven't heard anyone talk about the spring rate (pounds per inch of compression). To me this is the most critical specification. Wiire diameter and uncompressed length can vary from original, but the wrong spring rate can cause a lot of damage. Bob Engle

I have used brake clean solvents on woven brake lining and then high pressure air. solvent disolves the greas and oil and then air blast to remove from the material. I would think you could use your favorite solvent and then air to clean them up. They are made of woven material with no bonding agent theat could break down with solvent use. Bob Engle

Sure looks like a cone clutch to me. Very similar to my 17D45. I wrestled with the relining of my clutch last year. There are advocates as well as detractors for leather, kevlar and woven friction lining. I ended up having a local restoration shop reline my clutch with woven material as they guaranteed their work. I have to date been happy with the clutch performance. One argument for the woven material is that without a restoration of the engine seals, and replacement of the bearings with sealed bearings, there is a significant potential for grease and oil to get on the clutch matierial and the leather and kevlar will not perform well with these materials on the clutch face. As I have said, I talked with people that are happy with all of these materials. I doubt that there is one correct material. Bob Engle

Stop at the BCA booth GBK 35-37, early on your visit. They always have a list of Buick booths and buick suppliers. I am hoping for good weather Saturday as I want to bring my 1917 D45. It's not a show stopper, but I want to get the 100 year old AACA badge. I sure hope it will drive from the trailer parking area to the show field. Bob Engle

Thanks for the offer, I made a replacement pushrod and am back in operation. I plan to take it to Hershey Oct 13, 2018. I wan tto get the 100 year medallion. I hope the weather is good as I only have an open trailor and won't go with rain. Bob Engle

I see a number of people not sure how to post multiple photos on the forum. The issue is that there is a limited amount of data that can be transfered. There are several ways to deal with this, one is to set your camera for low resolution before taking the photos. I prefer not to do this. I like to keep my photos digitally saved on a backup hard drive. I want the highest resolution I can get with the camera. This allows blowing the pictures up in size to look at details if needed. Low resolution photos can't be improved. For posting on the web forums, I use a free downloadable program called fastinage resizer. I set the resolution to 800 x600 on the program. It's then just a matter of drag and drop the desired photos. with these reduced resolution photos, you can post at least 10 photos on the forum at one time. I also then keep the resized photos on my backup hard drive. digital storage is cheap and they can be indexed for ease of future use. I admire the folks that use software to add arrows and comments on their photos. Bob Engle

The 1932 model 56 and 57 only had one taillamp. Did 31'S have ride control shocks?? Bob Engle

Glad to see you solved your mystery. I was surprised to see how different the 1932 Assembly is from your setup. Only 2 tubes on 32's and locating mechanisms are on the bottom at the light switch. Bob Engle

Be very careful with the bottom die cast piece for the throttle. They easily break at the key slot. Bob Engle

Sorry I can't help you, my knowledge is on 32 Buicks and they adjust the location of the light switch on the bottom. There is a slot in the bottom stamped metal bracket where a piece clamped on the shaft has a tab that fits into the slot. I think I have these pieces if you want to attempt a conversion. I hope these photos are self explanatory.

My 53 Chevrolet has no filter. I drive it about 300 miles a year and change the oil yearly using 10-30 weight oil. It has the dipper oil sytem on the rods. 80,000 miles and good compression. When I worked in my Dad's shop in the 50's, with the switch to detergent oils, we added cannister filters to a lot of cars to catch the dirt from non detergent oils that was in their systems. Bob Engle

I've always adjusted for zero clearance. Put a dial indicator on the ring gear and gently pry in each direction. When it doesn't move the pointer, you're set right. The bearing caps must be torqued to check this. Bob Engle

Run it without a filter and change oil frequently. Oil filters were an option on many cars into the early 50's . Another option is to buy a canister filter on ebay like a tractor filter and pipe it into the system.Bob Engle

Success today!! I got the carb back in the car and made initial adjustments and checked for leaks. The O ring on the idle meter works great. I started the car and adjusted the idle meter for a smooth idle. The air valve needed to be adjusted for good throttle response. I took it out for a drive and it ran great. Good power, Speed was as fast as I want to drive it. It did take a lot spark advance to get it to run good. Almost to the end of the steering wheel adjustment. Dean Tryon had told me that his car liked a lot of advance. I parked the car and pulled a spark plug, good tan/light white color on the electrode, first time I didn't find black soot. I think I will go back and time the distributor @ TDC rather than the book 7 degrees after TDC. That should get me more lattitude on advance on the steering wheel. Thanks for everyone's assistance on the forum. It sure makes this hobby a lot of fun to have a whole world of support to learn and solve the gremlins common to these early cars. Bob Engle