Bob Engle

The thermostat in the top of the radiator is set up to open the shutters at 145 Degrees F. The thermostat will generate about 14 pounds of force and will move about 1/4 " to fully open the shutters. If I can be of any further assistance, feel free to contact me at bengle58@gmail.com Bob

I have a 32 model 58 and can share some thoughts on the cooling and brakes. First, I would just block the shutters open and then see if this helps the cooling, I suspect it won't. You can put a piece of wood in the lever right at the thermostat to block it open. There is considerable mechanical advantage in the linkage, so it take quite a bit of force at the thermostat to open the shutters. If you remove the lower radaitor hose and block the opening, fill the radiator with water and then time how quickly the water flows out of the radiator once you unblock the bottom. If it takes more than 3 seconds, your radiator is plugged. I had this problem with my radiator. A flushing at the local radiator shop did nothing to help the problem. I took the radiator and removed the thermostat and went into the top of the core and with dental picks, I removed small pieces of scale from as many areas as I could reach. Then I plugged the radiator thermostat opening, set the radiator upside down on a plastic 5 gallon bucket and rigged a hot tube pump, (high volume low pressure) to flow into the bottom radiator hose connector. I circulated hot water and radiator flush through the radiator of 8 hours and at the end of this flush, I had great flow. 1.5 seconds to drain the radiator. These old honeycomb cores are difficult to repair or replace and are extremely expensive. The second area of heat problems that I found on the four 32 engines that I have is a large build up of sludge, rust and scale in the water jacket around the cylinder walls.The back passenger side corner is the worst problem. The water jacket is only about 3 " deep and I have found 2 1/2" of sludge in the corners. The water jacket is difficult to clean. The only access is by removeing the water jacket cover. This only gives access to the one side of the water jacket as the cylinders are close or in contact with adjoining cylinders. I used wires and pieces of banding iron to snake around the cylinders to break up the sludge. An air hose is needed to blow out the crud. This is a slow dirty job, but once done, the engines run much cooler. I personally recommend runing a corrosion inhibitor in these open unpressurized cooling systems. With respect to the brakes, check that the front brake cable are free. Also on the rear brakes, I have seen where the pivot linkage mounted on the differential housing have frozen up and prevent good operation of the rear brakes. Mechanical brakes will never have the firm feel of hydraulic brakes, but they can effectively stop the cars if set up properly. I am a believer in using the original style woven linings rather thean the composit materials. The woven wears faster and needs adjusting more frequently, but gives better braking force with less pedal pressure than the composit linings. I hope this helps Bob

Auto Hardware Specialties in Sheldon Iowa has them. They don't have a web site, but can be reached @712-324-2091 Bob

32 Buick registry has repro's for all 32 series. Bob

just a thought on seat belts in an early 30's car. I would look for anchor points that would go through portions of the body wood frame as well as the the sheet metal floor pans. the floor pans are only held in place by wood screws. The seats are anchored to the wood frame. Large thick washers on either side of the wood should be adequate for the job. I definitely would NOT go through the floor boards to the chassis frame. Bob Bob

flywheels and clutch assemblies are different. transmission input shafts are different. I can supply bolt pattern dimensions from my spare 32 transmissions if that will help. I believe the length of the tansmissions is also different so torque tube match up would be a problem. Bob

Duco paint # Gypsy Brown light is 246-6071 and Gypsy Brown Dark is 246-5155. The pinstripe colors are Riviera Cream 289-6994 and burnt orange 289-1295 Wheel color is Gypsy brown light RP-93-1505. The 290 Paint code is an early year color scheme. There we 2 later color schemes and any car could be ordered in any of the color schemes. Mac Blair sells templates for the pin stripe patterns. It appears from your description that the car is painted close to the original color scheme. You may want to look for some paint that has not been exposed to sunlight for use as a match. The bottom of the cowl vent is a good bet for original paint. Mac Blair did a newsletter in the 90's that describes the paint process for under the fender wells as well as the entire engine comartment paint scheme. I could provide a copy of this if you are interested. bengle58@gmail.com Hope this helps.

Acccording to leif's parts book page, Mac should have the needed filter as he lists a filter for 1931 thru 1036 Buick 80 and 90 series. Bob

32 Buick Registry ( Mac Blair) has oil filters for various models from 1928 through 1936. They are a correct exterior with an internal fitting to take a modern screw on canister filter. I am not sure that he has one for your exact needs. I don't have master parts books beyond 1933. Bob

When I looked at the metric washers for my 32 Buick, I found that when I got one to fit the shaft, the inner key lock was short and not a good fit to the keyway. Also the outer diameter was not large enough to give a good fold up along the flat of the nut. Remember that these nuts were much larger on the outer surfaces than a modern nut of the same thread size. Bob

Kevin: I am interested in your color chip database. Are you using original paint chip charts? I have some 1932 charts, but the paint has discolored so much that they can't be used for color match. Most of the chips appear to have gotten much darker with age. I keep looking for some early mixing charts so colors could be prepared from base colors to get more correct matches. Any help on 1932 color matches would be appreciated. Bob

I never was able to find any for my 32 Buick. I hand made a pair for my use. I have watched for somea Hershey, but never found any the correct size. Modern standard washers are not the correct size either. I used a piece of sheet metal and a lot of time on the bandsaw cutting out the shape. Bob

Why go all the way back to the gas tank with the bleed line? Just Tee into the suction line before the fuel pump and it should relieve the pressure. Bob

It was not uncommon to use engine numbers for titling on cars in the 30's. My 32 Buick is titled this way. There is no problem with this in transferrring titles in Virginia. 32 Buicks have the car Serial number on the outside of the frame, passenger side, just behind the centerline of the front axle. I don't know how this matches with later years? Bob

Long term, you will have little success with a welded exhaust manifold on these early straight 8's. There is a lot of expansion and contraction from heating and cooling. The early cast iron is not of a very good quality with a lot of sand and other impuities in the castings. I have one 50 series manifold that was welded, but it again cracked about an inch away from the first crack. 32 and 33 manifolds will work on your engine. They are hard to find due to the cracking problems. Be sure to follow the instalation procedures faithfully on instalation of the manifold. The manifold must be able to slide on the gasket at the head attachment. Liberal use of graphite or moly antisieze on the gaskets is necessary. The Manifold mounting studs have a domed heavy washer That is supposed to allow the manifold is move. Don't over tighten the manifold studs!!! I polish the washer contact points so the washer can move on the surface. Under exhaust heat, the manifold will expand. Cast iron can take high compression forces under heat expansion without problems. Upon cooling, if the manifold can't easily slide on the surfaces, it will put the manifold under tension forces and cast iron is terrible for tension strength. Due to the inherent cracking problem on these manifolds, Buick eventually switched to 3 pieces exhaust manifolds. I recommend that on old engines with rusted manifolds, that they be removed the gaskets properly lubed, all rust on the washers and locking surfaces be polished and the nuts be carefully lightly tighened upon instalation. Bob

Any shop that works on performance engines will have a spring rate tester. Have them measure your complete set and then average them out to get your spring rate. With your other specs, you can then get a spring manufacturer to make replacement springs They usually charge a setup fee $25 to $100 and then per spring costs based on quantity purchased. With the wide use of this spring, you should be able to find someone with spare springs.. I have them for the early 30's 50 series engines. I would not think that the rate of this spring is very critical. It's purpose is to keep the roller lifter in contact with the cam. ONce you know the spring rate, you may be able to find a stock compression spring that will fit. Bob

To check bearings, you have to drop the pan and pull a cap off of a connecting rod. Be careful not to lose any shims on the rod capscrews. If the bearing is smooth, no deep gouges and the crank shaft is not scored, the bearings will be Okay. You can adjust the bearing gap with plastigage and changing shims to get to spec on the proper clearance. Let me know what you find on the smoking. Bob

It's not to bad a job to overbore and instal new pistons. It's the bearings that are a bigger issue. Many engines I have torn down have acceptable bearings even if the engine shows severe wear. Rebabbiting is expensive. 50 series pistons have to come out the bottom as the rod end is bigger than the bore. On the gas side, Most of these old cars have fuel system corrosion problems. Rusty gas tanks and fuel lines. Also, the fuel pumps are not the strongest. I would suggest flushing the gas tank and blowing out the fuel lines. Many people instal an electric fuel pump which they use for starting and then shut it off after the engine is running. Remember, if the car sits for a while, the gas will evaporate out of the carb and it takes some cranking to get the carb filled again. This is where an electric pump helps. Somewhere, I've got an article on installing an electric pump with a bypas check valve so the regular fuel pump can be run in parallel with the electric one. I'll look for it. Bob

Sorry I left a digit out of the serial # starting # is 2602732 for 1932 Bob

Did this problem come on all of a sudden or has it been a problem for a while? The more wear on an engine, the more smoke you will see out the tailpipe and/or breather. I suspect you have worn rings and cylinder bores and the compression and power strokes are blowing exhaust into the crankcase and then out the breather. Worn valve guides ussually blow smoke out the exhaust pipe. The faster you run the engine, the more blowby will occur ans be seen out the breather. A compression check and cylinder leakdown test will ID individual cylinder problems or low compression on all cylinders will ID engine wear as the problem. A caution on running heavy weight oils, 40 or 50 weight can starve the valve train of proper lubrication. I know of a recent 1935 Buick that had stuck valves from using 50 weight oil. Hope this helps. Bob

Piston rings worn or broken; hole in piston; valve guides shot; cylinder bores worn. Are you losing water? Blue smoke is oil, white smoke is water. Any smoke out the tailpipe? Bob

1932 Buick Serial numbers begin with 260273 thru 2659522. The serial numbers are not model specific. Wheel base is easiest identifier for series. The body tag on the cowl will list the model number. Hope this helps. Bob

John: Good to hear from you. I'll be watching the forum regularly. Bob

I think any hydraulic oil of equal viscosity will work. To test viscosity, take a ladle and drill a small hole in the bottom. Put finger over hole and fill ladle with oil. remove finger and count seconds for ladle to drain. Doe similar test with replacement oil looking for an approximate time to empty. For a stiffer ride go to a higher viscosity oilo rsofter ride lower viscosity. Bob

If the axle is broken, the wheel will come out of the axle assembly. The axles are held in by a C clip in the differential carrier assembly. I have seen several 32 Buicks with drums not seated on the taper on the axle and the key stripped letting the wheel spin on the axle. Removing the axles does not interfere with the differential settings. Remove cover, remove slotted screw in the center block, slide out block, push in on the axle and remove the C clip and then the axle can be pulled out. Bob