AHa

What's the status of the car, if I may ask?

My suspicion is the grease was developed for high rpm gear boxes where the grease gets really hot and therefore leaks out of the box. These gear boxes 'sing' while in operation. The problem, as I see it, is everybody is always trying to improve things and most marketing is an effort to improve. Think of all the aftermarket parts and devices developed in an effort to improve the model T Ford, or STP. All neat tricks, but did any of them actually improve anything? I hear all the time how the oils today are so much superior to what they had at the time but it is easy to forget the components were developed to run on the oils of the time. The fact that the cars have lasted this long should tell you something. The other problem is our society as a whole has decided it must save the planet. "One drop of oil is enough to pollute the water on the whole earth," is a quote I often hear, never mind the fact that it is a natural product that seeps out of the ground in places and plants are still producing it today. I don't advocate pouring used motor oil on the ground but how about a little moderation. Maybe use some gasket sealer. I put flowable grease in my 1940 truck transmission because it was said to be superior to the 90 weight recommended by the manufacturer. Turns out the manufacturer knew what he was talking about. Don't make the same mistake I did.

In my experiment, I did stir the corn head grease rapidly before turning the cup upside down. It was not a scientific experiment by any means but I couldn't get it to perform as advertised. Years ago now I put some flowable grease in my 1940 truck transmission. Then I had to tear it down to rebuild it. The flowable grease never made it into the needle bearings. It actually never did flow. You have to remember, any kind of lubrication will work for a while. I'm sure Corn head grease works great in combine gear boxes, that's what it was designed for.

I did a little shade tree mechanic experiment. Put some in a cup and turned the cup upside down. Funny, it did not run at all, not one bit. The oil ran down the cup and out on the table. What's more important, minimizing oil leaks, or lubricating parts. My cars are too expensive to experiment on.

Yes, the article I quoted above also stated the difference between modern race cars and the early ones. The camber shown on the car above would make driving on pavement more difficult but on dirt easier. It's just a fun fact to know why, and yes, the spindle was intentionally bent.

I think I may have found my answer. This was posted in an online chat: "Positive camber was used on some old open wheel race cars because it made them easier to steer and more stable on uneven terrain. It also helped them avoid nose-diving under braking. However, positive camber also reduced their grip and cornering performance on smooth roads." When race tracks were nothing more than dirt roads, as in, the Long Island Parkway, some race cars were given positive camber.

D, While I appreciate your efforts here, I'm looking for the why. If circle track cars are still built this way, there must be a reason why.

I'm hoping someone can explain why the left front wheel on this old racer is splayed out from the top. This was deliberately done as there are hammer tracks on the spindle where it was bent. Guessing it has something to do with running on an embanked circle track?

Wish we could see a picture of the racing roadster 90 horse with large gas tank and small oil tank.

My next door neighbor bought a sweet 58 cameo pickup several years ago missing a few hubcaps. He ended up finding them at an old guys place. He told me, "I really need to take you down there. He buys these cars and restores them and then sticks them in old shelters. The shelters are scattered all over out in the woods and he has parts galore." I never went. He died a couple of months ago. When I bought my current house, built in 1915, there was a 40 Ford convertible in the garage, in barn find condition. It didn't go with the house and was later street rodded. I suspect the OP was truly wondering if anybody had heard of anything like a private sale. Perhaps he had heard a rumor about something changing hands he'd like to track down, or, maybe his car had been found and sold as a barn find. A few years ago, a friend's dad was operating a bull dozer, leveling out a building site. Within view was a pole barn with several brass era cars in it. He told his son, who promptly looked into getting the cars out. Not long after, the cars disappeared. I suspect some barn finds are actually stolen cars. After a car sets around in a barn or garage a while, titles get lost and proof of ownership gets muddied and possession is 9/10ths of the law.

The Limited racing train photo can be purchased from MaryEvansPrints.com.

Does anybody know what this goes to? Period 4 cylinder Timer by Thomas A Edison Jr.

Talking about burning the shop down, a friend in Canada always left the radio playing in his shop until one day it shorted out and burned the shop down with his car inside. The experts do recommend a little thread sealer smeared on the flares if you can't get them to seal. The 410a refrigerant is notoriously hard to seal up with flared fittings but that's a whole different kind of gas.

My question would be how much difference would there be in this jug and the next size down. What if you took an A or B jug and sized it up?

I wanted to give an update to this problem in the hope that I might help the next guy who runs into this problem. What shoulda been very obvious wasn't. It wasn't the flare connection that was leaking; it was the solder joint next to it. It took me a while to find a 7/8 flare wrench. I'm kinda stupid as I still prefer to buy from local suppliers. To be fair, however, several suppliers said that had the wrench, both online and in store, only it turned out they didn't. When I finally found one at Ace, one village over, I figured out my solder joint didn't take. Several more attempts didn't take as well, and about the time I was ready to give up, I carefully set all my pieces up and set a chair in front of my work and got success. For some reason I decided to try and blow through the line and that's when I discovered the solder had completely blocked the line. A 1/4" drill bit cut out the excess solder and I blew the line out, installed it, and turned on the gas with no leaks.

Yes, what I'm dealing with is a solder on flare joint. I have been using open end wrenches. I'll look for the flare wrenches.

OK, I've got everything sealed down to the cut off between the tank and line. It is still resisting me.

Hey There, I am attempting to reassemble a 1911 Buick race car and keep as much of the original patina as possible. I knew I would have leaks once I put gas in the tank, and I don't know near as much as I once did and never did know as much as I thought I did, but oh my gosh. These are 100 year old fittings, still, they should, at least in theory, tighten up and hold, right? I'm thinking there used to be something like plumbers putty that could be slathered on the fitting to help them hold once tightened. Got any ideas?

From gtr80083 post in Mercer clutch question in 2020. "Continental announced later in 1910 that they had expanded their factory and could now take orders again. Mercer dropped the Beaver engine, and offered their 1911 cars starting in early July 1910 with Continental engines. Some months thereafter, they added their own T-head engines in the 1911 cars. We do know they had at least one T-head engine running in a prototype Raceabout at race tracks starting in August 1910. It seems that the first appearance of Raceabouts in public was at the Vanderbilt Cup series of races on Long Island in early Oct 1910. Mercer took 3 cars to that event, 2 racers and a backup car. Porter indeed "made improvements". The Raceabout was a fast car right out of the box. It just needed a good driver to make it win. Young Washington Roebling 2nd took a Raceabout to Savannah in Nov 1910, and came in 2nd in his very first long-distance race. One of the drivers he beat was Hughie Hughes, who saw first-hand how good the Mercer was with just a novice driver. Either he approached Mercer, or Mercer approached him; either way, he led Mercer to a very successful first full year in racing, in 1911." Really good information Terry. Thanks for posting. I wonder why Mercer didn't continue with the 6. Could it be that the power to weight ratio no longer worked?

Using your idea, I should be able to cut the 5/16ths rod and solder short pieces inside the housing I have without starting over. How does this sound? 1/4" brass pipe is about 9/16 OD. This should give me plenty to turn the wheels on something so light?

This is from SuperCars.Net: "The first Mercer was the Type 30 and the Type 35 became Mercer’s second car. It had a new T-shaped cylinder head designed by Finley Robertson Porter that produced around 60 bhp. At the time, the Porter engine was running on much higher compression than it’s contemporary cars and could produce more horsepower from less displacement. This meant the Type 35 was both powerful and light and essentially became the first production race car. The first Mercers featured a T-head engine which utilized massive 2.25 inch valves. These valves, with high-compression pistons and high lift cams, offered 56 horsepower at 1900 rpm." I was sure I had read on numerous occasions that Mercer used Wisconsin T head motors but that looks to be erroneous. This information from SuperCars.Net might also answer my other question as well. If Mercer built a 6 cylinder car, most likely Porter designed and built the motor.

Greg, My interest is not in the value of the cars but in the history and the truth of what is reported. From what I can ascertain from those who have driven the early cars, they truly are remarkable feats of engineering. It is not just hype. Mr Google reports that all the early cars came equipped with the Wisconsin T head motors and it is reported that Mercer asked Wisconsin to increase the compression ratio from 4-1 to 7-1. The thing that makes these cars so outstanding is the power to weight ratio, which also improves handling and they were lowered by using a smaller diameter wheel. The six cylinder cars, however, seem to be virtually unknown outside Mercer's inner circle. From my research, Wisconsin did not make a six in 1911, which begs the question, what motor did Mercer use in these cars. They did exist, and not just in pictures. I would also like to know if Wisconsin redesigned the motors before increasing horsepower. Mr Fred Hoch probably knows these answers. I have found him to be a real delight to talk to and I may have to call him again.

Here is the 6 cylinder Mercer at the 1911 Grand Prize race, Hughie Hughes driving. It was knocked out of the race due to magneto trouble. I guess it's just me, but very little seems to be known about this car.

Here is the bottom of the steering shaft and how I have it attached to the frame. Everything about this car is super light. Still, I can't see anybody undertaking a project such as this to end up with something unusable. My original thinking when starting this thread was that if I converted over to 30" bicycle tires, it would take less to steer. The wider the tire, the more difficult to steer. As to whether or not the car was ever practical, when I got the frame, it had been lengthened, indicating it was practical, otherwise, why modify it. I think you can see, I'm using common sense. We are pretty far out in the country here. The frame was made out of readily accessible items. If memory serves, I cut a square hole in the pitman arm and made a square on the steering rod. The steering attachment is simply a 1/8" inch piece of steel rolled over the side rails of the frame and bolted together, each end, with the shorter piece spaced and bolted to it. The housing bolts to this cross member and the second piece has a hole in it, not drilled but punched, for the rod to pass through. Without modifying something, I see no other way to do this. ABear, your car is very professionally made; what I have is very much less.

There is the anecdotal story of the blacksmith throwing his girlfriend out of the car as they went over a bump and the recoil of the spring sent her sailing. Really, the only thing I started with was the frame and a picture of the car and a firm conviction the car should be brought back to life if at all possible. Most of the family had passed on before I learned of the car's existence. This is an example of reverse engineering.