ramair

Caution, running a early six cylinder Buick without pilot sleeves in the exhaust can make you start looking for a manifold made out of unobtainium. I recently bought a 1915 big six model C-55, it had a exhaust leak and I thought no problem I will change the copper rings. I soon realized that the manifold had warped toward the front near the radiator, probably heat and the weight of the exhaust pipe hanging down in the front. After some research and talking to some early Ford people who have had this same problem , I feel that the manufacturers did not put these pilots in just to make it easy for you to change the coppers. So I can not put the pilots in now because the front ports no longer line up with each other . I have tried to find a sweet spot but it just leaks somewhere else. Luckily I have access to the formerly unobtainable manifold and I will be trading it out this week. I will include a photo of the issue

Can anyone suggest a vendor that might have bulk rubber mat material? I found some but the ribs are real wide and as you can see from the picture above the original must have been very narrow or fine. I have been trying very hard to put it back as original as I can. The fact that trucks during the depression were used for a much longer period of time as money was tight and the fact that when World War 2 came along these trucks had to keep going as few people could get a permit to buy a replacement. I could also mention that I do not believe that anyone ever parked these trucks in a garage from new and just sparingly used it to go dump their trash once a week like people do now with their trucks. I have looked for 50 years inside every 36 through 38 Chevy or GMC pickup either in person or magazine to see what the floor mat looks like, I have yet to find even a remnant of the mat

Ericmac, we are so close I can taste it, we left the front fenders off so that the pinstriper can stand closer to the hood and cowl. Last month he did the back of the cab, but did not want to do doors in case there was a alignment issue with hood. He is scheduled now to come in either Monday or Tuesday and finish. We just have to route a few wires and solder some sockets for the headlights. Having a little routing issue with the exhaust system, but getting help from a friend in Florida that has the same model truck, thanks Patrick. Interior is nearly complete I just need to decide what ribbed rubber mat would look close to original. I have a sales brochure that shows a drawn picture of the interior so I have a little something to go by.

Today’s progress

I am very excited to see so much progress the last few days. This weeks project was to recore the radiator as we need to get the radiator shell and hood on before this Thursday when the pin stripper returns to finish off the doors and hood for proper alignment of stripe. We had a surprise with the radiator core, the new one was of poor quality, the fins were very close together, very modern looking. So the shop owner said let’s see what the original 85 year old radiator has to offer. This radiator has the original date code of 1936 with the GM Harrison tag. Surprisingly After cleaning up it was leak free and it flow tested better than the replacement core, possibly because 50 years ago I stored the radiator with soluble oil or just lucky. Here is a photo of finished product, if it fails we have the core with a spare set of tanks ready to go

Sorry I have been having issues with pictures, but I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. Two of these pictures show some great pinstripe application, we decided to have the tailgate GMC logo hand painted instead of using the store bought decal. The other picture shows how a modern material can be easy to apply and come out great, I am referring to the brown wrinkle finish on the interior. originally the factory took the interior panels and painted them with a special paint and then baked them in a oven. The paint would wrinkle and then they would be screwed into place with clutch head screws ( I would call them one way screws, hopefully you will not experience what I went through with these). The modern solution to this ,as that paint is not available is a wrinkle finish powder coat. The material was less than $200, I took my panels to my local powder coat shop and they charged me $400. As many of you know there is no way you could sandblast and paint those pieces or upholster over them as cheap as this. Not to mention it came out perfect

r1lark, here you go, these pictures are from 2015. What is not shown is the boxes of NOS parts and components that were cleaned and rebuilt and ready to go. I had to move all the parts 3 times, but was lucky that in 50 years it sat indoors. With the exception of the cab and box that was pulled out of the barn in 2012. I also am amazed that I only lost a few items and of course as life would have it, I found some of those pieces misplaced after I spent years looking on eBay and countless phone calls begging

Finally on the home stretch with help from my friends, including help and advice from great people on this forum. I thought I would share my story with you all. I grew up on a farm that had a lot of old machinery. I loved all things mechanical and In 1971 when I was twelve years old I decided to “restore” a 1936 GMC 1/2 ton pickup. This pickup had sat since 1956 , it was complete except for the front axle that was borrowed for a trailer project. Sin number one, never tear something completely apart, especially when you have no skills or a plan. Sin number two, do not tear apart a vehicle that is in good original condition without A proper evaluation . in the summer of 1971 I took this nice old pickup and completely disassembled it , thank goodness I did not grind all the rivets off the frame. Not knowing what to do I asked around for advice , some said hot rod others said why in the heck did you go and do that for. I was fortunate to know a pretty good machinist who said , son start by evaluating components and then make up a list of parts that you will need, meanwhile start to develop skill on the simple stuff first. Of course I had school and chores , years fly by . The one good thing that happened is I learned to work on old hit and miss engines. Actually restored a couple of them and learned how great it is to complete a project, if I only learned that lesson first (before sin number 1). fast forward a decade , finally got the engine evaluated and the engine block was not usable I then spent many years trying to find a original style engine. In 1936 when GMC introduced their first light duty pickup they wanted it to have a pressure oil system. They chose Oldsmobiles 213 cu flathead six with a few differences like different motor mounts, distributor, water pump, clutch ect. To me the most important thing to have in this truck was the proper letter and number sequence on the engine block, GMC used the letter T to begin the serial number. Another decade latter I finally found a complete engine 2,500 miles from me. I bought the motor and had it shipped to me, I sent it out to be rebuilt at a very busy machine shop, I continued to put pressure on them to get it done , secretly hoping that did not get it done too fast as I was always short on time and money , you know, got married, bought a house, had a kid, got divorced repeat, as some say life got in the way. That takes us to decade four. The machine shop calls and says pickup your motor, I was thrilled until I learned that they did not finish it. The owners decided to retire, however they said that all the machining was completed and the engine only needed to be assembled, they even gifted all the labor as they felt bad. Fortunately I had become good friends with a nice young man who has a restoration shop near me , he specializes in pre world war classics , does Packard’s, Pierce Arrow and many other engine complete overhauls. I took the engine to him and within a few weeks he called me with the bad news, the engine that had sat all those years at the previous machine shop and had all the work done on it was never magnafluxed . It had water jacket cracks inside the block were the side valve chambers are. I started my search again, like trying to find a needle in a haystack, in 1936 GMC only built 12,000 trucks with this engine. I reached out to some new found friends that I met on this site along with the VCCA and someone remembered a guy who dropped a small block in his truck, I was able to buy it as is, so until it made it to my friends restoration shop I had no idea if it was rebuildable, thank goodness it was. Anyway the engine has been on the test stand and runs great, truck is pretty much back together, just waiting for the new radiator core to be installed . Not sure how many pictures I can include on a single post so I will start with a representative photo of the beginning and one near completion, moral of the story is, it took me 50 years but you can sometimes Make up for the sins of your youth, Michael

Great car, interesting when looking at the ad the first engine picture looks highly detailed and goodness knows there are a lot of details, look a little farther and then you see a engine that has some time and miles ,

I have a theory on the Allante. In the 8 year run of Allante’s they made a total of just under 20,000 cars. These machines were expensive to buy and expensive to repair and because no one made after market parts you must search and wait . I just described my 1993 Allante, let me briefly describe another one of my cars. It was also made for 8 years and they made just under 20,000 cars. They were expensive to buy and repair and no one made after market parts for them and you know what ,they do not even have a marque spot on the forum and if they did they would not have very much traffic either. Oh my other car has another in common with the Allante, it is also the last model year of the Packard Twelve , 1939

Oh my! I apologize I did not see this post until now and I am tardy. What I discovered while gathering parts for my 1936 GMC was that there were no internal part differences between truck and Oldsmobile cars between 1934 and 1936, I would assume that this would be true with the next series starting in 1937. Buying spare engines for my project , both truck and car allowed me to see how GM adapted from car to truck. Most of the accessories had to change like the water outlet on the head had to meet the radiator outlet at a different angle. The need for a heavy duty clutch required a different flywheel and bell housing for a huge ball bearing throw out. The GMC trucks/ pickups used the Chevrolet cab which was designed for the stove bolt six, the Chevy engine had the carb on the drivers side and the olds engine has the carb on the passenger side. GMC had to create a pretty complex Lever pivot system that uses the head bolt to hold down In order to operate throttle and return spring, other than distributor,starter, generator and motor mounts it is the same. Last fun fact, remember when I said the GMC used the new for 1936 Chevrolet metal cab ( minimum wood)?, well the sheet metal firewall was indented to fit the Chevy engine. Every 36 GMC including mine has a factory modification and no two are the same as a large sledge hammer was used in a small area were the rear engine head Apparently rubbed against the firewall. Around twenty years ago I talked to a guy who pulled his engine out and restored his truck cab, including straightening that banged up section, well you guessed what he had to do to get his engine back in.

I like this idea a lot, my only comment is it wold be great to agree that the receiver of the item pays shipping and the person gifts it knowing that they will need to package and ship. How many times I have seen a ad for a part I need , I then call and I am told yes it’s available but I am required to pick it up . As some of you know it’s near impossible to travel 2000 miles to get a part. Once in awhile I was able to find a fellow old car enthusiast that I found in a club directory to do my leg work , I always sent a check and a bottle of wine to these generous people

I am rebuilding a 1936 gmc 1/2 ton pickup engine which uses the 36 olds 213. You will not find a logo for olds on 36 or 37 blocks, I can speculate that since GMC was also using the engine they did not want to confuse. Someone pointed out that the raised tab on the front of the block is for serial number and that is correct. All GMC application the serial number starts with a letter T. 1936 blocks were the last of the 213 ci. They also have a distinctive casting were you can see the outline of all six cylinders the 1937 have that bulging water jacket that now extends down and covers that area. I will speculate that improved cooling, I say that since it took me years and much shipping expenses to find a uncracked block(the 36 crack is internal) a few side notes on differences between Olds app and GMC. Different water pump, non vacuum advance distributor on GMC, different starter, generator, clutch, flywheel,throw out, ring gear and motor mounts

Dale did a series of articles for either Hemmings or Cars and Parts , I believe it is floating around the internet. A must read if you have any interest in Packard Twelves, absolutely amazing how he solved so many of the rebuilding/machining issues, after reading it multiple times I can now see why twelves can cost so much more than most engines to rebuild

Hi, interested in hearing more about this Buick, you can ok me if you like,

I have a 1938 Packard with the super 8 engine and I wanted to chime in and say that you have described the same exact issue that I have with my car. I am down to either a vibration dampener or clutch issue and I have been reading your posts hoping for a clue that I can use. My car idles and cruises at 50 to 55 like velvet. The rest of the rpm range has a slight shake and a slight rattle sound, hard to describe . I talked to one of the previous owners who spent $15,000 on engine overhaul at a famous shop that does a lot of vintage Rolls Royce engines, he drove the car on a US to Canada caravan and said it was always Packard smooth . After he sold the car to the next owner a clutch was installed , but he died and I bought the car, I am thinking that is we’re the problem is, I believe your car has the less complex vibration dampener , you could buy a used one and exchange it with yours and see if the problem goes away, if it does you can send to the dampener doctor here on the west coast great work and very reasonable . I have been trying to find another dampener for my car but no luck, the model that I have has disc and springs inside and I do not know what to do with it

Matt, check with USA auto parts Oldsmobile catalog. I saw them awhile back for 66 through 70 Toronado . The toronado never had the auto level feature until 1979, it did have air shocks to compensate for a trailer hitch as a option on early E body’s ,

Well sometimes people just do not communicate well. I can understand if the OP was paying for the answers at the going Shop rate of $100.00 per hour ( although here in Calif. might be $125.00 per hour) . I myself am very happy when my posts are answered and I much appreciate the time that most of you take to respond. I would prefer to think that “Hook” had a bad day. I can’t help but think that if he felt his question was not being answered to his satisfaction why did he not reply on the 5th or 6th ? Just my 2 cents

Junior osprey was the guy who pm me and gave me his friends email address

I recently mentioned on a thread that I am finishing a 50 year long restoration and there is one small part that I need. A few days ago I got a private message from someone registered on forum, he said he had a friend that most likely has the part I need and here is his private email. I sent the friend the part number along with some chit chat, his response came the next day $75 includes shipping and to send him the money pay pal friends and family to save me money. I sent email and asked for a proper description and a picture of part and he did not answer any of my questions instead he said take a screen shot of PayPal payment and he would take a picture of shipping receipt then send the part. I decided that that sounds suspect, so I went back to the pm and clicked on the member that reached out to me and guess what he joined hours before he “helped me” gosh we need more helpful members like that, I should have looked him up first to see that he had 0 next to his name. I do not want to publicly say the new member name without discussing it with the forum moderators. I lost no money , but gained knowledge, just want to bring this experience out to others to keep our hobby free of criminal behavior .

Thank you for the compliment and the tip. I have about 4 weeks left until I need the clamp. I will circle around and ask some more people, then I will just make it, then like magic it will appear for sale on Craigslist for $10, sound familiar!

Hi, I have been following your restoration with great interest. I have been working on my 1936 GMC t-14 1/2 ton since I was 12 and now I am 62 . Obviously you are making much better progress. I read that you are going to sell a 35 Chevy pickup and some parts. I was hopeful that in your extra parts you might have a steering box clamp Gm part number 476587. Mine went MIA ( I am sure it has nothing to do with the time lapse). I have been checking with people that hot rod but they seem to be in a hurry to scrap everything. I am ready for final assembly and I may have to make this part or adapt a rod bearing to work since that is what it closely resembles, if you can help I can be reach at fgvineyard@sbcglobal.net, thank you

Hi, I have gone down this same “Rat Hole”. Five years ago I bought a 1928 Buick 54C country club coupe that had been decently restored in the nineties. It had been driven occasionally as it was part of a small collection of cars. I had many other projects in various stages of repair and really wanted a well sorted car that I could just drive and not worry about it much (ha ha). What was so impressive was how it started and ran, hardly any choke to start when it was stone cold and you could push the knob in all the way , put it in gear and go through the gears up to 50 mph without a snort or backfire. Crazy as it sounds it did this with a late 1928 pot metal Marvel. If I would have done my homework I might still have that reliable dependable driving experience. You may ask what could I have done to bring down misfortune on myself and that car, I did nothing, meaning I poured in gas and checked the oil and put hundreds of miles on it. Then it happened on a 105 degree day, driving 52 mph up a hill on highway 101 . I heard a big shotgun blast under the hood, the car lost power and as I coasted to the edge of the highway a flume of black smoke and orange flames shot out of the hood side. I grabbed my new Chinese fire extinguisher, you know the one that has no words just pictures ( ikea instructions) And could not get it to work. Luckily I had been in a car tour in Paso Robles a week before ( touring in a friends Pierce) and I heard a first hand account of a model 66 Pierce that caught fire In Altria’s on tour many years ago and it was saved by someone that scooped up dirt and threw it on the flames. Lucky for me it worked. I brought it home and discovered a melted carb and no compression in and no6# cylinders. So what happened is the engine got hot because the cylinder water jackets were full of rust, the engine had a crappy repair done on the head a mechanic from the past welded in a chunk of cast iron between the intake and exhaust valve. The weld failed and hot flame traveled down the marvel and turned it to a metal sculpture. Found a head, redid the water pump, valve job, radiator and found another marvel, but this time a brass one, so far I have rebuilt it twice. The car pops snorts idles rich and runs poor. I have now procured another marvel and had it rebuilt we shall see. The point I am trying to make is that unless you are extremely lucky you are risking your life and fortune unless you systematically start at the bottom and work up. Another item I would like to share is on my Buick, it seemed to be a little lacking on power, I suspected it was but I did not have anything to compare. A friend of mine who has a restoration shop suggested that the spark advance might not be set right. He suggested moving the distributor so that it would advance more with the lever and listen to hear if it either pings or when hot check if engine fights back when you try to start it. This little trick made a huge difference. I think I have it dialed in, I generally retard the spark when starting it when it’s hot , then advance it. Someday I will tell the story about what happens when you do not pull the wheels off to inspect all the brakes, I will give you a clue, it involves a fire extinguisher, see some people can be slow learners,

Looking to buy the last missing part on my 50 year restoration project. The clamp That holds the steering box to the frame of my 1936 GMC 1/2 ton pickup, it was also used on some Chevy cars. The Gm part number is 476587 . By the way you may ask how and the heck did I lose that part, well.....................

My 1915 Buick big six parked near small carriage house that my great grandfather built for his Big six, one hundred five years ago