Bob Engle

It's amazing how the government wants to get into our lives and cost us money. 5 years ago, I bought an estate barn find 1957 Continental. The PA title was listed as 1956. When I got to Virginia DMV and wanted to put 1957 plates on the car, they wouldn't tile the car as a 1957 eventhough I showed them the documentation of a January 1957 build. Their response was go back to PA and get the title changed there. I contacted the lawyer that handle the transaction in PA. He said to change a title in PA, you need to hire an investigator to track the reasons for the incorrect title and then hire a lawyer and go to court to get the title changed. He said total cost would be in the $4000 to $6000 range. The cause of the incorrect title is that all 1956/1957 Mark II Contintals Vins start with 56C. Needless to say I titled the car as a 1956 with VA 1956 plates on it. Bob Engle

I made the bullet nose piece and swaged onto the air valve today. I debated about the air valve pivot pin and decided not to make a replacement today. I don't have a reamer small enough to ream the hole true and make an oversize pin. That's a winter project on the list. The screws were soldered onto the pivot pin. I filed the solder away and used a pair of vise grips to break the screws loose and turn them out. I replaced the screws with SS 4-40 screws and let the threads run out the back side where I crimped the threads to keep the screws from working out. I replaced the packing on the idle adjustment with a nitrile O ring. The packing had to be so tight to prevent leakage that it was difficult adjusting on a hot engine. Teh O ring isn't leaking and it adjusts easily now. Carb is assembled and I poured gas in the bowl. I've got a leak at the large nut on the bottom. I'll tackle that in the morning and fire it up and see if I have made any progress on the lack of power/ running rich condition. I can't see how I didn't improve the situation. That hole in the air valve plate and a spring not kept in alignment had to be creating some problems. I'd still like to hear about jet size changes and what works best.

Several years ago, an antique car auction in Connecticut was raided by the state police. They stopped the sale of any cars that they thought the data plates had been tampered with. Their prime concern centered on whether the rivets had been tampered with. Bob Engle

Thanks for your reply. I am missing the cone piece, no wonder it didn't want to idle properly. I will most likely have to ream the pivot pin bore and make an oversize piece to hold the plate properly. Bob Engle

I have been struggling to get my D45 running well. I spent quite an amount of time on the electrical. I kept losing my distributor timing. I found that the rotor was rubbing across the top of the pin the points are mounted to. I added a .010" thicker brass washer under the distributor cam to raise the rotor. I replaced the 7mm plug wires with 9mm wires. The car still would not run with any power and the plugs are always sooty black. The idle was very eratic and would stall frequently. I ran a voltage check to the points and only had 5 volts while the battery was charged to 7 volts. I found that the grounding from the battery to teh battery tray was severely corroded. I removed the components and bead blasted them and coated the contact surfaces with dielectric grease. Now I have 7 volts thoughout the electrical system. Still runs poorly. Today I began to look at the fuel system. My vacuun fuel pump was gutted in the past and has an electric fuel pump with a return line back to the gas tank. A gauge reading on the top of the tank shows 1/4 psi. Running with the vaccum pump tank full and open to atmosphere still runs poorly. I removed the carb today and have found some troubling areas. The airvalve plate is loose in it's pivot pin. Screws are tight, but the plate wiggles around. There appears to be a lot of play in the pivot pin. I haven't removed the plate from the pivot pin because the plate ends below the pin are bend slightly to prevent the plate from being removed. To bend the plate will put pressure on the pivot pin, possibly damging it. So my questions are: 1. Is the plate supposed to be loose? 2. Are the ends of the plate supposed to be bent? 3. The plate has a hole in it, but in looking at the service manual cutway of the carb, it looks like there should be a tapered piece mounted to the plate to align the air valve spring on the plate. Am i corret that this pice is missing? 4. On reading info on these Marvel carbs, it is suggested to reduce the jet size to have the carb run better on 87 octane. My current jet size is a #67 (.0320") drill bit size. What is the recommended jet size? Any help will be greatly appreciated Bob Engle

With mechanical brakes, I prefer woven lining. In my opinion, it gives better braking force. The trade off is that the woven lining does not last as long as molded lining. You may get 8,000 miles on molded lining as opposed to 4,000 miles on woven. I prefer to stop faster and reline more frequently. Also, there are many different hardnesses in molded lining leading to much difference in braking force. Bob Engle

Thanks for your response. Too many people post a problem, get suggetions but we never hear the outcome. bob Engle

Purshase a reproduction Parts manual and you can sort out what fits from models and years. The specs and adjustment manual for 1932 will give some detail across the models and body style as well as propersetup of components. Bob Engle

Now we need to know how much camber The car has before we offer opinions on what to do. Bob Engle

There's been no disccussion about what the factory caster spec is and how much caster exists now. From the above comments, it sounds like Bushoker would like easier steering and thinks that more caster will give him the results he desires. It is quite possible that the car is within factory specs and more caster may be a major modification that will not yield the desired results. All these old cars require more steering effort than cars of the 50's and newer. Bob Engle

What's the spark plug color? That will tell you rich or lean condition. Marvel carbs are notorious for warpage on the diecast Air valves. there are some old threads about checking the clearances on these air valves. Bob Engle

The covers on the regulators are prone to rust through from water eddy currents. I would suggest plating the inside or epoxy coating the inside. The oil pressure through the unit should be much higher than the water pressure. Oil in the radiator would be the indicator of a leak. Bob Engle

Do you have woven lining on the brake shoes? My 32-58 will skid the tires. Of course it has cast drums. I do hav some 32 50 series brake drums if you ever want to fool around installing them. I doubt that the coefficient of friction is much different from steel to cast iron. The biggest difference is less fade with the cast iron. Bob Engle

Yes they are legible and a usefull tool. I go through and highlite all items relating to a particular car. It's a pain sorting through everything to get to what you want. I highlite different cars with different colors. Bob Engle

On starting the car, there is nothing mysterious with the 32 Buicks. You don't need to have the clutch depressed as long as you are in neutral on the transmission. Set the spark, throttle and choke, turn on the ignition and depress the starter pedal. Bob Engle

I would guess that a properly restored gauge will be next to impossible to find. A used gauge will be what the seller wants as there are probably very few available. Then you will have restoratiion cost to also. Your best bet is to find other 31 Buick owners and see if they have parts cars and are willing to help you with your project. I've been searching for some 32 Buick parts for 20 years now. Bob Engle

Looks like a nice candidate for BCA preservation or AACA HPOF. Side mounts on the Victoria coupes are rare as are the wood wheels. Strange container hanging on firewall ( gravity feed to carb ??) I also noticed some modern wiring coming through the firewall?? There were 2,194 model 58 's in 1932. The 80 series Victoria coupe had an attached trunk , It was called a traveller coupe. The right rear tailamp is missing the Buick badgeand bracket. The heat shield for the carb is also missing ( A common problem with no reproductions currently available) the car appears to be a repaint as the raised molding on the body are body color and there is no pinstriping on the moldings. If this were a a single body paint color with black as the secondary, the entire trunk and moldings would be painted black as seen in the attached photo. In the end result, It is the lower value 50 series car, with little provenonce, or unique features to increase value. A quality restored car may bring $25k to $30k. Unless someone is absolutely in love with the car, I would be surprised if the seller could get over $15,000. As with many of us, I've got far more into my 1832 model 58 than I will ever get for it and I'm still not done going to the bank to get it finished. Bob Engle

Take the seal into a local industrial bearing and supply store and have them match up an equivalent seal. The Buick numbers won't mean anything to them. Bob Engle

While it's a pain to pull the differential, getting the gearmesh correct is is bigger pain. there are setup tools for this job, but finding someone that has them is a problem. You want to mark the carrier bearing position so you can get the ring gear back in the same location. Usually you would take a measurement from the end of the pinion shaft to a straight edge across the carrier bearing caps. If the thrust bearing is bad, you can't get a usefull measurement. It's then a process of gear mesh backlash and gear mesh contact pattern. Don't be in a hurry, get the lash and contact correct. Bob Engle

The portion wrapped around the rod at the top of your picture is help onto the rod by spring pressure. With a small screw driver, put pressure on the right two pieces and it should pop off the rod and swing down. The hook part of the rod can be moved to the right out of the vent . Spring clip can then be pulled off the vent. Bob Engle

Mechanical fuel pump would need to have a rupture of the diaphragm to let fuel into the oil sump. Gasoline with alcohol will damage the original rubber daiphragm. In any case, whether using an electric pump or not, the fuel pump should be rebuilt with a modern material daiphragm. Bob Engle

My first thougtht was that .040" would be an acceptable difference, but knowing the problem with cracked exhaust manifolds. I would opt to get them the same thikness. You could take the metal off the washer side as this will give you a nice smooth surface for movement. Most of these manifolds show a groove from the washer and his could prevent the washer from grabbing rather than sliding. Bob Engle

Be sure to put a pressure regulator on the electric pump. The Marvel carbs don't like pressure over about 2 #. Be sure that the air cleaner has the drain tube that makes sure any flooding does not drip fuel onto the exhaust pipe. Bob Engle

While you are that far into the project, I recommend plugging the exhaust directed toward the carb heat riser. You don'tneed or want any exhaust flowing to the carb. There are a number of threads dealing with this on this site. Bob Engle

I agree on the nailheads that the Remflex is a great gasket. The straight 8's are a different animal. Especially the early ones that are a one piece manifold. The amount of movement that occurs through the heat cycle is double the amount of a V8. Replacement exhaust manifolds are well over $1,000. Repair of cracked manifolds is an iffy proposition. It's best to baby the original manifolds and make sure they slide on the gaskets with minimal fastener torque. Bob Engle