JV Puleo

I made the mistake of measuring in the middle of the hole, taking the measurements for my sleeves from that and trying to press them in. Some actually went in but others stuck and it was hell getting them out. In one case I had to cut it out with a torch and, of course, then had to make a new sleeve. This is why I crushed one of the front hubs.

Make sure the bearing seat in the hub isn't tapered. This is something I learned doing the Mitchell hubs. When they used drawn cup bearings...the "bicycle bearings" with pressed steel cups, the holes in the hub are often slightly tapered. It was a way of get the cup tight in the hub without having to machine it very precisely since the cups compress a bit. Modern bearing cups don't compress at all and even a few thousandths taper will prevent the new tapered cups from seating.

The talent is out there but you won't find it in what were the conventional places. I know some very talented people but most of them are hobbyists rather than professionals or professionals (like Gary) who are willing to share their expertise with fellow enthusiasts. I'd bet there are some in Australia...but you have to find them. They aren't going to be advertising on the internet.

I've wondered about that myself...all second hand because I haven't had reason to buy reproduction parts but judging from the horror stories I read here it seems they are wrong more often than they are right, so much so that if they are right someone wants to comment on it. I really find it hard to imagine going to the effort of making something and having it not fit. Or is it that the majority of the buyers don't even realize that the parts aren't right.

As the person that machined those bronze impellers I can testify that Gary's castings were really impressive. I've machined a lot of sand castings and the difference between them is remarkable. When centered in the lathe I was able to get those rough castings to run with only .005 runout. I'll add that the sand castings I've worked with are also extremely good which says a lot for the accuracy of the lost PLA process.

What Keiser31 just posted... Also, they often have footman loops to attache them to the trunk rack. All that I've seen are much more robust than a normal steamer trunk.

This is true for many of us who are not all that young. I was disappointed in all the clubs I belonged to when I was in my 20s. Things haven't gotten better.

As I see it, if you are going to include cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s in the "antique" definition ALL of the figures will be heavily skewed by the "fad" factor. I wonder what sort of figures you'd get if you only measured cars that all pre-date their owners. No one alive today remembers brass cars on the road and, effectively, that demographic probably now reaches into the mid 30s. No one that wants one of these cars does so because they coveted one when young. The motivation for coveting those cars is completely different from the "muscle car" world and I seriously wonder if they will hold their relative value when the cohort that admired them in their youth passes on. I have an uncle, my mother's older brother, who is still with us at 105. He was born in 1917. He's not interested in cars but, if he were, any car he remembered from the age of 13 would be a 1930 model. Back in the 70s I remember being told that when the "old guys" pass on the price of brass cars would drop like a rock. It didn't. Heck, I bought a PI Rolls when I was 20 years old...something I haven't a snowball's chance in hell of doing today.

I feel the same about Silver Ghost RRs...and .10 on the dollar is about what I could afford.

I find these predictions of doom both tiresome and idiotic. I don't give a damn if every "investor" looses his shirt. The fact is, old cars have virtually no practical value. The entire market is based, ultimately, on what a true enthusiast with disposable cash is willing to pay for something that has no real use aside from his own amusement. I feel as if the investors have squeezed many true enthusiasts out of the running on nearly everything except the most pedestrian examples or projects that that even the most optimistic (and ignorant) investor will run from. That said, how does car collecting compare with other "hobbys ." Has anyone ever realized a profit on their out of date tickets for past sporting events? My favorite is golf...something several members of my family seem addicted to. The costs can be astronomical with not a penny of it recoverable. My brother actually bought a condo near some famous golf course that he visits maybe two or three times a year...and took a bath when he tried to sell it. Anyone who uses auction descriptions as a basis for investment deserves to loose his money...and this goes for a great many more items than cars. The fact that Haggerty seems to be using their position as an insurer to hype investment is enough to make me very reluctant to do business with them.

Yes

My everyday driver is 34 years old so I suppose by the AACA definition it's an "antique." I don't think of anything made after the mid-30s an antique so I'm not sure if it qualifies.

That is really excellent work Harm. It's a pleasure to know that there are still enthusiasts out there who can and will undertake this sort of "save". I'm guessing you've come to the same conclusions I have regarding the real cost...if you had to pay someone else to do it, it would never get done. Heck, it isn't cheap to do yourself!

It looks as if I've finally gotten my computer to work properly and want to thank Jeff...Luv2Wrench, for solving what can only be described as a very obscure problem peculiar to the operating system I'm using. In a million years, I would never have found it.

I'm waiting for Ed and AJ to do a show in New England that I can get to.

And what in the world is this? It seems a moderator has to approve my answer...

Thanks Gary. It've no idea why it did that but, thankfully, I got past it by going back to the default settings. It would appear that something like that did happen but it may be that the settings were altered for one of the programs that were used when it was in the office. I'll eventually eliminate most of those because they have nothing to do with my work. I'm now down to a problem where the computer frequently refuses to open a web page saying it isn't "private". This happens with 3 different browsers so it appears to be a computer problem rather than one of the browser. It also appears to be an issue with this particular OS. Jeff (Luv2Wrench) has sent me a instructions on how to fix it since, naturally, I can't open the page you need to access the information. But, it's a 13-step process so I will have to print the directions out before I even try and, as you might guess, I can't access the printer either.

Actually I built the 2nd floor so it's much closer to level than the first floor but yes, nothing is really flat, square or level. The oldest part of the house dates from 1703...that is now the kitchen and the dining room. Head clearance in the dining room is 6'3"...if you are any taller you'll bump your head on the beams. An addition was added in, I think, 1757...that's the living room, bath and another room that is a real wreck. I don't even open the door unless I have to. That one is going to be next year's project. Ed...I fix just about everything. I did all the finish carpentry, the wiring and the plumbing. My cousin, an ex-navy electrician, helped with the wiring but it's mostly a 1-man show. This house was in such bad condition that the seller took $5000 off the price of the land if he didn't have to tear it down. I, on the other hand, wanted an 18th century house and this was what I could afford. Finding someone who knows early 18th century construction is every bit as difficult as finding someone who can sort a pre-war car properly but if I could find such a person I couldn't afford them in any case.

Ted is an ace. I am fortunate that almost a neighbor.

Since the computer in the office actually works I thought I'd share the current project. This really should go in the "what are you working on" thread but I'm posting it here. These are the two rooms I'm trying to finish... The living room... And the dining room. I also finished, today, new doors for the bulkhead. The old ones are so rotten I put my foot through one of them. And, because I actually finished early today I set the mill up to start a square hole. I could have started milling but this is a job that requires so much concentration that I don't want to start it until I'm rested and as alert as I'll ever be.

This another lesson in sorting a what was purported to be a "restored" car. I find it astounding that paint and upholstery seem to be the only things most people think are important. Demco, you are doing a splendid job. Keep it up. This is exactly the sort of effort so badly needed and so frequently ignored.

I fixed it. I found the window that allows resetting the computer to it's original default settings. That seems to have made the difference. Hurrah! That worked with Chrome. However when I try to log onto the AACA forum via Firefox I get this message.

Another question, since many here know a lot more about this than I do. The new computer I have at home has nothing on it yet that I need to save since I only started to set it up yesterday. Should I "wipe" the HD? I'm not sure how to do that but a google search indicates it is possible. Would that set everything back to the original default settings?

My problem is that I use InDesign for the book work. That has now become a subscription service and there is no way I can afford the subscription for the small number of books I do each year. I have the last of the pre-subscription versions but they won't load on a machine newer than 10.6.11. In fact, even that is newer than recommended but it works fine. Eventually I'll have to use a dedicated machine for my work but all that starts to get both complicated and expensive.

Well...I am typing this from my office computer which is actually running an older version of Firefox than I have at home. It seems to be working so I think that establishes that something is wrong with the home machine. That said, the computer I have at home came from our office and may have security settings I know nothing about. I only started to set it up yesterday...replacing one with the same OS but the new one has a much bigger screen, valuable for my book work. At least we have evidence here that it's the machine and not the site.