GLong

As bogataharry said, there is a tube within a tube. The castings are all pot metal, so be VERY CAREFUL. The two tubes are both open at the bottom, and both have a hole about 3" from the bottom.. when the lever is in the 'Supply' position, the side holes align, and fuel is pulled from the tank until the side holes are exposed to air, and the vacuum tank suck air, not fuel. When the lever is moved to the 'Reserve' position, the side holes are not aligned so the fuel is pulled from the bottom of the tank, providing a reserve supply. Greg L.

One of my least favorite ebay 'tricks' : a seller will list every car make under the sun and dead and alive.. So when you search for 'Minerva' , you see 40 listings of chrome radio antennas for sale, with 'perfect replacement for these cars' and a huge list of cars.. GRRRR.. Oh well somebody with a 1915 'Cole' needs a new chrome radio antenna, right ?? Greg L

Yeah, and now it's believed that methane is a huge contributor to 'ozone layer damage'.. do you know the main sources of methane?? Swamps, decomposing vegetation and Cows, Cattle. yes.. COW FLATULENCE is a huge source of methane in the atmosphere. Is the government going to legislate that our cattle are fed 'Bean-O', that is supposed to reduce gas ?? LOL.. BACK TO BRAKES; I almost bought a brake shoe grinder at Hershey this fall, but a friend bought it instead. So i might have access to it if I need it.. a neat tool.. That I probably won't need.. I think I'd hand fit the new shoes to the inside of the drum and see if the shoe 'rocks' or fits tight against the drum. make your decision from what you find. Greg L.

Well, I'm certainly not going to get rid of all my old cars for fear of asbestos, or pay someone else to do my brake jobs and clutch replacements. I've used some of the OSHA approved and overpriced washing machines. It's pretty simple to use a pump sprayer with a water/soap solution, spray down the brakes/hardware and backing plate over a trashcan with a trash bag liner, do all four wheels, tie up the trashbag liner, and discard. I won't run in fear, screaming the sky is falling.. we all are exposed to carcinogens everywhere, every day for most of our lives.. Margarine, artificial sweeteners, GMO corn and other foods, most solvents etc etc etc.. Nobody gets out of this deal alive.. while I don't want to speed up the process, I certainly don't want to live in fear of every potentially dangerous action, procedure or chemical. What I fear: fire, be prepared with Halon fire extinguishers in your car, at the door to the house, kitchen, workshop and car hauler trailer. What I fear: Loss of control, inspect ball joints, tierod ends, shocks Loss of brakes,, keep 'em in good shape, don't overload, Buy the best tires available. What I fear: poor quality work, or poor quality parts.. I do 99% of my own work, and either know who does the other work, and I know what the parts are that go in my cars and trucks and home.. or i make them myself if possible. What I fear; more agencies like OSHA, Bureau of Automotive repair, and others who respond to political pressure and greed, and don't really help anyone but the agency or politicians.. I'm not a fool, I won't take a sniff of all the brake dust and clutch dust I find in my old cars. But it's less dangerous than a gasoline leak, rusty brake line or a boiling battery, or a bad staircase. Sorry about the rant, but some fears are blown way out of proportion to the risk. Greg L

Brake drums, new or useable used might not be available for many early cars.. and as long as proper procedures are followed, there is nothing unsafe or dangerous about re-arcing shoes.. The trucking industry still uses drum brakes and re-arcing is standard practice where needed. Obviously only a slight amount of grinding/sanding is safe, you don't want to remove so much lining that the center of the shoe friction material is thin. Just a few thousandths of miss matched shoe and drum radius' will make for a very spongy pedal,, and that IS unsafe.. A properly arced shoe will fit the drum, and you will have a solid pedal and maximum shoe/drum contact. Modern friction material has no asbestos.. if you are cleaning old brake shoes, mechanisms, backing plates.. I doubt very much if anyone doing a brake job on an early collector car would be in a big hurry like the flat-rate mechanics making a living doing brake jobs.. THOSE are the guys who used compressed air to blow off the brake dust.. I'm sure a collector car's brakes would be carefully washed or vacuumed then washed. Common sense and mechanical skill is always required.. or join the list of 'Darwin Award' incidents. Greg L

Some of my '20s cars that have anchored shoes use .006" as the spec. Which seems really difficult to imagine unless the shoes were perfectly arced to match the drums. On my '41 Plymouth PT125 pickup, the heel anchor moves the shoe both in and out against the drum, but depending on which way you rotate the anchor, it can move the shoe up and down some as well. The mid-shoe adjuster at 3 and 9 o'clock can only move the shoe out against the drum.. A comment about the 'slight drag' of a properly adjusted brake shoe.. I was helping a guy over the phone and via email to adjust the rear EXTERNAL contracting brakes on a teens Studebaker.. I told him to NOT have any drag when he was done.. he didn't pay enough attention. The car was driven only a few hundred feet after his adjustment, then went into a trailer.. I was the guy to drive the car next.. I didn't notice anything until about 2-3 miles down the road, the car started to pull to the right.. I pulled to the shoulder, thinking it had a flat tire, but smoke was pouring from the right rear wheel.. And, my luck, the shoulder was narrow, not much room for a car, and the weeds and field next to the shoulder were tinder-dry.. a field fire for sure.. So I drove a few hundred more feet to a side road apron... Thankfully no fire, just a very hot brake drum and band. The external contracting brakes must be left a bit loose to allow the brake drum to expand and not drag against the band. With internal brake shoes, a very small amount of drag won't cause any problem, but if the shoes perfectly match the drum, they can be adjusted to have no drag. I have 'arced' shoed on a belt sander with a table, and on a big disc sander with a table. the critical item is that any friction material is removed perfectly evenly across the shoe, or it will get odd side loads and can chatter and do other weird things.. It's best to go drive the car and remove the drum again and inspect the wear on the friction material to make sure it's flat and even. Using a sander would be a last-resort for shoes and drums that have a really significant mis-match of radius.. Some re-arcing should reduce the amount of spongy pedal. Greg L.

Don't want to HiJack this thread, so: the gentleman who owned the RR I drove to Florida owned a Sabre 80SC, I think there were only ? 10-12 of the 75/80's converted to the SC wing off the Sabre 65. That RR was a dog for him. he's a hands-on guy, and he did not like the car.. he bought it for his wife, she liked it, and since she is a just wonderful lady, I was glad for her to have it.. even though it was a pain to keep up. The RR got sold for one of the high-end Cadillac cars that came out in the mid to late 90's. I'm not 'up' on the Cads, but it was a nice car. The Sabre went south of the border like most of them did, only a few 65's still in use in the states.. a nice, economical plane. Send me a pm if you want to compare 'war stories' about flying. Rusty, did you give up on the RR's? or are you going to go take a look and drive ?? Greg L

Hi Bob, yep, and the old-school Sabreliner had about ? 8 moving parts in each of the main landing gear assemblies.. Sometimes simple is best. Greg L

You should be able to remove the filter element, and if it doesn't have any part numbers, most good auto parts stores have a photo/size chart to look up orphan or unmarked parts. Napa stores etc. Greg L

i drove a early 90's Rolls from Michigan to Florida for a friend. It was the smoothest riding car or vehicle I've ever driven, but one of the poorest handling cars. I stopped after a few miles on the freeway to check the tire's air pressure a second time, and they were unchanged from my 'pre-trip' check-over of the car.. I pumped them up way past normal pressures, I think I ran them at 48psi instead of 36psi, but: The suspension has such soft bushings to give the 'floating on a cloud' ride, that the car sways with any steering correction, or slight cross wind or passing a truck.. felt a lot like low tires. The engine compartment was an amazing sight. just about solid with hoses, wiring, ducts, fittings etc etc.. typical British complexity. And, to top it off, it had a Bosch fuel injection system, the same type that the early late 70's and early 80's VW's and other european cars had. The external fuel pump, mounted under the car ahead of the rear wheel sounded like a beehive. The owner had complained numerous times to the dealer, and it had been replaced several times.. for noisy operation. The car only had 28K or so miles on it.. The rubber window sealing strips came loose above 75mph, even trim adhesive didn't keep them in their grooved, chrome trim-piece. I removed them and put them in the trunk, reinstalled them when I delivered the car to the owner, he said he'd replaced several of them already. The fit and finish were very good, but the complexity was scary. The cost of proprietary RR parts was also scary. Like Bhigdog, I operated a Hawker-Sidley for many years. The Hawker-800 version. When at school for the plane, the instructors showed a slow motion video of the landing gear retracting and extending.. What two parts could do, the Brits used at least 6 or 8.. it was an amazing video. And typical British engineering. A similar business jet of the same size and weight that I flew before and after the Hawker-800 had about 1/4 the moving parts in the landing gear.. My thoughts on these two RR's would be to get a battery, and go fire them up, check them for what is working and what isn't.. and don't 'blow off' something like an electric window that doesn't work.. you can 'break the bank' buying some or most parts for RR's of these years. I doubt that there is much if any money to be made, but if owning and driving a RR 'scratches an itch' that you have, they might be a good way to scratch that itch.. Good luck with them if you get 'em. Greg L

Marty's comments about a long wheelbase vehicle are also 'on the mark'. My previous tow-vehicle, a 3/4+ ton diesel club-cab pickup had the longest wheelbase available at that time for that truck: 155" My latest tow-vehicle, a 1 ton [not a dually] diesel crewcab pickup has a 170" wheelbase. The difference in towing stability is noticeable. I hardly know the trailer and car are behind me. Even when stopping.. I picked up a 5500# car with a friend a few weeks ago. Since it was his car, I 'made' him do part of the driving. He was just amazed that the truck and trailer pulled, steered and stopped so well. His gasser pickup with a similar load would have been shifting up and down all the way back home. The diesel never came out of top gear on the freeway. Just loafing along at 70mph. He's looking for a diesel truck now. And the fuel ?? We got 14mpg unloaded at 75mph, and 12mpg loaded at 70mph. His gasser would have been 9-10 empty, maybe, and 6-7mpg loaded. Even with the higher price of diesel fuel, it's either a wash or cheaper to burn diesel.. My truck did 19.2 going, and 20.3 returning from Hershey this year.. 70-75mph or so each way, no trailer. I've had too many hair-raising towing experiences with trucks loaded and towing to the limits.. I really prefer having more truck and engine than i 'need'. Up until I bought this latest truck, I was seriously considering buying a FL90, or similar light semi tractor or small Freightliner based motorcoach. But this latest pickup is a keeper. It will probably outlast me. Greg L

On gravel and dirt unimproved roads, my county road commission uses calcium chloride during the summer to keep the dust under control. The CC acts like a moisture attractant. The treated roads will be darker, and damp looking. The surface will pack hard and a lot of rain will just run off the surface if the road is graded with a good crown, and the surface has packed down hard. The untreated roads are a lighter color and dusty. In decades past, the county would oil the roads with waste oil.. the environmentalists put an end to that.. The oiled roads would last longer, and not harm the cars.. I really wonder about the long-term effects of the Calcium Chloride. It can't be good, and in spite of all the screaming by the environmentalists, I've yet to see any decline in squirrels, ground hogs, chipmunks, possums, or raccoons that thrive on the land adjacent to the roads.. Not one two headed squirrel, not one groundhog with pink polka-dots, nor any raccoons without their signature eye-mask markings.. NOT ONE.. Now, in SE Michigan, we get 'salted' year-round. Winter salt for the snow and ice, Summer CC which is just another salt all summer long, every time it rains on the dirt roads. The worst is when the county grades the road, applies the liquid Calcium Chloride over the soft, freshly graded gravel. Then it rains, the roadway hasn't had time to get packed down, the road surface is like thin, runny peanut butter, or a chocolate milkshake.. and all that super-corrosive muck gets all over the cars, trailers etc. As mentioned above, the CC eats soft steel, brake lines, fasteners etc.. The noteworthy clue is the rust from the CC is a bright red, almost a coppery red, where 'normal' rusted iron is more like purple-red.. The CC mud also dries much harder than normal road-mud. even a power washer will often have a difficult time blasting away a dried gob of CC-mud. So I have to powerwash the underside of vehicles while the mud is still wet or damp.. I have cancelled meetings and appointments when the road is all slop.. I just won't subject myself or my vehicles to the damage. A $500 winter ride is a good idea, but around here they are $2500-$4000, and still may only last a winter. and nobody will buy what's left in the spring.. I drove down the road a few days after a rain, when I thought it was dry. And, unfortunately drove through a damp/wet spot, just enough to fling some CC-mud on the aluminum rock-guard on the front of my car-hauler trailer.. later that day, when I'd arrived at the hotel for the weekend car tour, I washed off the front of the trailer.. the aluminum was corroded, and it took some serious polishing with a power-wheel and several different grits of compounds to get the shine back on the aluminum... it's really nasty stuff. Greg L

So, for someone wanting to try to cast a part, what is the process ?? How to make a casting mold? Even though the process may be hundreds of years old,, I have not seen the process from the begining to the end.. Does anyone have a link to a good site to read up on the process.. I tried 'casting for Dummies' but got links to stage-plays.. :-) Greg L

Try to borrow a diesel truck to take a short 'pull' with your 40' trailer. You will not go back to gas. It's that simple. I've had dozens of friends borrow my diesel to tow a car/trailer they normally pull with a gas engine truck, and virtually all of the borrowers bought a diesel truck within a year. The diesel's torque will sell itself. The diesel trucks usually have a much higher towing capacity, which means heavier axles and much stronger brakes. Both of which add up to a much safer towing vehicle. Greg L

TORQUE !!! That is what you need in an engine, NOT 4500rpm horsepower. I've towed with all forms of gas and diesel engines, in pickups, vans, SUV's and the old suburbans. I will never by choice tow with a gas engine!! The turbo diesel's torque makes towing a breeze.. As for the brakes.. most trucks prior to 2000 did not have very good brakes.. the later trucks have good brakes for a full load. There is nothing worse than having to scream up every hill with a gas engine, and scream and sweat down every hill with lousy brakes.. BUY MORE truck than you think you need.. Towing 5-6000# with a 1/2 ton truck is foolish and dangerous.. regardless of what the truck is 'rated' for. Buy more, not less truck than you think you need. Greg L

I highly recommend this shop, the owner's integrity is beyond question. Excellent work, from repairs to National Concours winners. Scott Stazney at : Deluxe Auto Werks 319 Wilson Ave West Chicago, IL 60185 (630)-293-7750 (630)-293-7790 Fax deluxeautowerks@att.net e mail deluxeautowerks.com web sight<var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var>

Lots of great information here. Casting is one item I've aways shied away from, but I have friends who don't think more than twice or thrice before casing a piece from a broken part. I guess it is one more skill-set that a restorer ought to have or at least know about.. Now, how to fit that learning process into my schedule.. Please keep this thread going, I'm sure I'm not the only 'casting-challenged' member out here that would like to know how and what worked. Greg L.

Starters are pretty basic. Is the battery still good? Are the battery terminals clean and the connections to the engine/chassis clean and tight?? With both a positive and a negative connection, you should be able to jump the solenoid and get the starter to spin.. Is the engine still free ? a cylinder full of coolant or gasoline will lock it up, and seem like a bad starter. Lots of possible reasons for the starter to not currently work. Greg L

Photos please !! and any other automobile related 'old antique' parts/items. Thanks, Greg L

So, where is this transmission located?? eastcoast, westcoast midwest ?? Missed it because I didn't want to telephone too early!! I think it would have been a good upgrade for my '41 PT125 pickup. Greg L.

When comparing stopping effectiveness, you have to compare apples to apples. The most important are the diameter of the brake drum, the width of the shoe, and the braking material on the shoes.. Metallic or semi-metalic brake material is much less affected by heat than the average friction material. Cheap relined shoes often fade quickly. And of course, what are the weights of the two cars ?? It's all physics.. heat is energy, so is the motion of the car. The motion is converted to heat. Greg L.

The only problem with drums is that the drum expands away from the shoes as it gets hot. The only way a person in an automobile can repeatedly apply a lot of braking action, and cause the brakes to expand enough for the brake pedal to get close to the floor, is to be on a race track, or going down a mountain pass, or worse down a mountain pass with a trailer in tow. I have experienced brake fade, and in every instance it was expected, like the third hard stop from 120mph in a mid '60's muscle car. And also on a mountain pass when I was traveling too fast, a hard turn came up quick, and the early 70's van, with trailer in tow was a bear to slow down, the brakes stunk a bit, but worked fine a few minutes later. Because I crept along for awhile in 1st gear, letting the brakes cool. Drum brake cars will stop the car, and do it well, but the disc brake cars will stop repeatedly in mild overload situations.. There is nothing unsafe about drum brakes.. Disc brakes on rear wheels are actually not a great idea unless they are on a heavy tow vehicle.. My previous towing truck was often used for regular driving, and I had to replace the rear disc brake pads just as often as the front pads.. The front pads wear out, they carry ~80% of the braking load, and the rear brake pads rust out. The bond between the pad material and the steel backing would fail and the pad just slide out and then the rear would be metal to metal.. happened twice in 140K miles. Happens a lot according to my local brake specialist.. My newest towing truck has huge discs front and rear, and I'm sure it will have the same problem.. maybe not as bad, since it is rarely driven except to tow.. Greg L

Start with the basics. Check the compression, if all cylinders are close to equal, you are OK, if not, suspect the valves first. I'm not sure on the '20s Chandler engine, is the engine an aluminum crankcase, with two sets of cylinders of three each? If so, it is similar to the earlier engines. Each cylinder has two threaded plugs in the top of the cylinder. These plugs are how the valves are serviced. The oil pump should be removed, the screen on the oil pickup cleaned, and the oil pan cleaned. After 20 years, there will be a thick layer of crud on everything, it needs to be removed before running the engine !!! If the compression is close to even in all cylinders, and the spark plugs all look ok, then double check the firing order from the magneto to the plugs. Then check the intake manifold gaskets where it is bolted to the head, a bad gasket will cause a miss. The Bosch Magnetos don't need much, if the cap doesn't have cracks or carbon tracks, and the points are not dirty or oily, the mag should be fine. The plug wires must be copper core wires not some modern carbon-core junk. A photo or two of the light switch and a photo to accompany each question is very helpful. These cars are NOT plentiful, and many have had items like carburetors swapped, and other non original parts installed. Here is a photo of the right side of my '15 engine, it has the correct Rayfield carburetor, and for me, it is working very well. Greg L

I have had nothing but good experiences with Michelin tires. My first Diesel Rabbit econobox had it's original Michelin X's on it when I bought the car with 110K on it, the fronts were pretty skimpy, but the rears about 40%, I found a used pair to put on the car, and it was great for another 25K. My next econobox was a Rabbit Diesel Pickup. it came with Goodyear tires, seemed to need to be balanced.. got 'em balanced then 5K later shaking again, back to the tire guy, rebalanced, and they needed different weights, hadn't lost any. Hmmm .. another 5K, same thing.. rebalanced.. On the third visit, the tire guy said he couldn't keep rebalancing for free.. so.... I bought a set of new Michelins for the little pickup.. WHAT a huge difference.. smoother ride, and stayed balanced.. and another unexpected bonus: the little diesel pickup never got above 40 mpg, the previous rabbit got 44 regularly. I just thought it was the extra weight and aerodynamics of the pickup. But with the new Michelins, the pickup was up to 44-45 mpg regularly.. On my Dodge Cummins Pickups for towing my car-haulers, Michelins were original equipment and went 65-75K regularly. I found a set of '04 17" wheels with factory BFGoodrich tires for a good price.. put them on and hated them.. lousy in the rain and snow, rode rough regardless of air pressure. but about the same fuel mileage.. when they got thin, I put michelins back on. My latest Dodge CTD pickup came from a buddy, who likes fancy wheels and big tires.. I don't.. but he'd sold the original wheels and tires.. i drove the truck home and within a month or two, found someone who wanted the tires, I put on new Michelins and absolutely love them. I'm thinking on trying the very expensive radial tires with old tread patterns on one or more of my 20's and 30's cars.. but wow, the price.!! Greg L

Thank you very much, no, I haven't figured out the rear hood hinge mount on the cowl/firewall, and I don't know what the correct hood latch would look like.. I'm finding that most hood latch lower retainers have a 1.5" center to center spacing. The Chandler has 1.25" spacing.. I would GREATLY appreciate a photo or two of the correct hood latch. And a photo or two of the rear hood hinge support on the cowl. What type of hood lacing does your '14 have? flat, or the type with the recessed channel in the middle? it seems that the recessed center would keep the heads of the rivets from touching the hood. Thanks for your help, I'll PM you with my email address, but if you want to post photos here, that would work too. Thanks again, Greg L.