JV Puleo

Mine is 300 years old...but I have to admit that a lot of it, especially the plumbing, is a lot newer!

I used ordinary 50/50 lead solder. I don't think something like this needs the strength of silver solder and the lead stuff is so much easier to work with. In this case, I purposely made the threads a little loose in order to give the solder room to flow. I'm not certain that was the right thing to do... at least I should not have done it exactly as I did. By soldering from the outside of the cap I got some run-through to the inside. In both cases, more than I wanted so I flipped the cap over and heated it again so that the solder flowed down. Were I to do it again, I would solder from the inside since run-through to the surface I am going to machine is meaningless. Both caps will come out fine but I'm learning a technique as I do them.

The next step was to solder the ends into the caps. I do this on a little propane camping stove. The idea it to heat everything up together so the temperature is uniform and the solder will flow into the threads. Then back to the lathe to face off the ends and turn the finished outside diameter. With that done, I knurled the cap. I also bored the center hole and threaded it 1"-20. This is the cap that will be attached to one of the banjo fittings so the top plate has to be unusually thick to receive the threads of the banjo bolt. None of that will show from the outside. I lapped the top of the cap to make sure it is perfectly flat and I'll use fiber washers between both surfaces of the banjo fitting. I still have to put in the grooves for a hook spanner so they can be tightened a bit more than hand-tight when I assemble the pieces. You can just make out the solder line between the two pieces ... but I'm not worried about that. While I was doing this one of my friends was working on something he's making ... he's one of my two local friends that know old cars and likes to kid me about my sometimes "over the top" productions. Even he agreed that you'd never see the solder line unless you knew where to look for it.

You might try RDG TOOLS. I think they are in Yorkshire. I bought some involute cutters from them and their service was outstanding. Actually, the shipping was less than the VAT so I actually got them for less than a UK resident would have to pay (which don't think is very fair, but I don't make the laws). j

I think the original poster has things backwards. If you had done that same survey with my senior class in high school (I just realized that was very close to 50 years ago), you would have gotten pretty much the same result. Of the 200 odd members of the class, exactly 3 were interested in old cars, me and the Zangari brothers. We are still friends but I can't think of anyone else we went to school with that ever owned an antique car. I get a bit tired of being told what I ought to be interested in according to my age. Born in '51, I should be interested in the 50s and the muscle cars that were popular when I was in HS. I'm not, and never have been. Truth to tell, I've no interest in much of anything after 1930 and, for the most part, prefer brass cars. There probably is a short-term interest in a particular period as the people who coveted those cars acquire disposable income but, ultimately, it fades and is replaced by another period while at the same time the best examples from all periods continue to be coveted. Car collecting is like most other things. It is heavily influenced by fad and fashion. If it suddenly became fashionable to own a Yugo, because some idiot pop music star drove one, you can bet prices would temporarily skyrocket. At the same time, there is always a bedrock of enthusiasts who are not the creatures of fashion. They are the ones that provide the floor everything else is sitting on. Realistically, old cars aren't "worth" anything. They aren't all that practical to use and they deteriorate rapidly when not maintained...unlike many antiques which, if you don't use them, don't go bad in the meantime. Their "value" is based solely on what another enthusiast will pay.

The expanding arbors are on the right. The 1" and bigger sizes are intended to be held in a 1" collet. On the left are two expanding collets. This is the cap end for the side that will hold a spring to push the filter screen. Here are the two caps. The spring is centered by the projection. I made a trip to the local hardware store to see if I could find a spring that will work - without any luck so I picked a spring from McMaster Carr and turned the OD of the projection to fit.. And, I made a holding fixture for the caps so I can machine them. Ordinarily, I'd make this out of steel but it is only going to be used twice but this time I got lazy. Turned down and threaded to receive the caps. I will knurl these caps and knurling puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the workpiece so I have to be able to grip it in my big chuck.

Expanding collets are slightly different but work in about the same way. I'll photograph the set of arbors and some collets to show the difference. Threading brass tube can be a headache. The alloy used for making tubing is not as easily machined as the "free machining" C360 brass. The extremely fine threads were used because they are shallow, an important point when working with tubing.

I do - and I'm not at all embarrassed by it. I do not like talking on the telephone...I have no one to send a text message to, I own several cameras, including a VERY good one and 3 computers so I have no reason to need to access the internet via a telephone. The cost is, to my mind, prohibitive especially as they are too big and clumsy to be carried around in the shop without being broken in a matter of days.

Until about a year ago I'd never used the threading dial. I did exactly what you are doing. I think that threading is one of those jobs that definitely gets easier the more you do it. The instruction plate attached to the apron of my lathe actually has an error in it that thoroughly confused me. It says "use any line for even numbers" when it should say "use any line for even numbers divisible by four". I was cutting 6 tpi and got a double start thread. I'd always wondered how those were made and managed to find out entirely by accident. The razor blade is just lying there. The wood background is the cover on my surface plate and it tends to attract little bits around the shop.

I threaded the 2nd cap... And then got on to making the ends. This is about twice as much brass bar as I really need but I don't have a good way of cutting or holding small pieces. The first step was to drill and ream a 5/8 hole in the center. One end will be threaded 3/4-16 and the other 1-20 but I needed to be able to hold them in the lathe to turn the diameters and thread them and I wanted the hole to be as large as it could be but smaller than the finished size. Then I cut a piece off... again, about twice as thick as it will be but otherwise it wouldn't grip well on the little expanding arbor. This is the end that will be threaded 1-20. Finished it has to be about 1/4" thick because a banjo bolt will be screwed into it. After it was threaded, I tried the cap on. These threads can be a tiny bit loose because I will lube them with soldering flux and solder the cap in place. A little extra space for the solder will not be wasted. This is what it looks like assembled. There is a lot of extra material here that will come off in the finishing steps.

That might work... I've sent you a PM

This is going to be one of the two caps for the oil filter housing. Bored out to what I thought was the minor diameter... I was actually about .015 small so it took longer than it should have to thread it. But, it came out just fine. I'm getting better at threading. In this case, both ends screw into the cap and the threads don't even have to be lapped. Unfortunately, I have to make the caps one-at-the-time in order to be certain that the threads are absolutely concentric with the hole. But, having done this a dozen times now it is definitely getting easier.

For a good perspective on predictions of this type read Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. It was published in 1887 and describes the world of the year 2000. Bellamy's book was so popular that it inspired "Bellamy Clubs" and a political party, the "Bellamy Nationalists" to bring about his vision of the future. It is a comment on the value of such predictions that virtually nothing he predicted came about and I'll bet that 98% of the people reading this forum have never heard of him. Oh.. and we should remember that the printed book is the most efficient means of storing knowledge ever invented. It is practically indestructible and properly stored will last for centuries. I have many that are 200 and 300 years old and no, YOU CANNOT find them "online" anywhere. They require nothing except the ability to read in order to be useful. I wonder how many 300-year-old CD or pen drives will be in use in 2300.

I have some bits on order to finish the pump vanes but won't get them in time to do anything before I leave for my annual pilgrimage to the UK in about a week. So...as I try to get all my ducks in a row for the trip I made the oil filter housing. Some time ago I bought this oil "pre filter". The only part I wanted was the filter screen - the black anodized housing with purple ends is obviously not appropriate but they did understand filter screens in 1910 so I'm not averse to using one that is probably finer than what was available then. For the housing, I'm using a piece of brass tubing I actually bought to make the intake manifold before I discovered it was slightly too big. I'll thread both ends for caps. One cap will connect to the oil manifold and the other to the oil pump (which is what one of the banjo fittings is for). By using the dial indicator, I'm able to cut the threads on both ends to exactly the same depth. When I make the caps, they should work on either end.

The late Steve Delano had a 1907 Renault Limousine - a big car too - that he bought for unpaid back storage, I think on Martha's Vinyard. He never restored his cars and this one didn't need it. A bit frowsy around the edges but astonishingly original. Effectively, it had had only one owner at least the last time it was in regular use.

I am curious here. Does the Humberette not have any internal oiling system and relies entirely on splash? Is this some sort of primer pump to make sure there is oil at the bearings before starting and allowing the splashing oil to keep up the good work when running? If so, I need to find one or copy it. I've been thinking of adding a little hand pump to the Mitchell oiling system that will suck oil from the sump and gill the oil manifold and lines before the engine is started. It may be gilding the lily but I can't see how it would hurt. If this was a fairly common item maybe I can find one and adapt it.

Might the 1/2" hole be a BSF thread? That's a long shot because 1/2 UNF is 1/2-20 and the BSF size is 1/2-16. I don't know of any system that used 19 TPI. 20 seems more likely but the part is old and as much as we'd like to think so, standardization was not as "standard" then as it is now. I've run into several cases where the thread count was standard but the diameter was very slightly different. 32 TPI was a BSF size, albeit for very small screws. But (and I doubt most people who have not cut threads think of this) thread count determines the depth of the thread. The depth of 32TPI is identical whether the piece is 1/2" or 4" in diameter. Thus, the very fine sizes are used when threading something like thin-wall tubing. Also, it was probably cut with a lathe that was equipped with the correct gears to cut the BSF thread range...

I actually prefer bearing bronze. I only use brass on parts that are not bearings. Having set the mill up to run horizontally, I milled the slots for the vanes in the rotor. I'm using a 1/4 staggered tooth cutter here. It leaves a much smoother finish on the inside of the slot. Here's the rotor with the slots milled, turned 45-degrees to start on the flutes. I decided not to bother with the rotor with the holes at the base of the slots. It turned out to be a good deal more difficult to set up than I'd anticipated so I used the other blank and milled the slots the full depth as Spinnyhill suggested. Without taking the dividing head off the mill, I then reattached the vertical head to mill the flutes. These are partly cosmetic but the amount of oil that a pump like this moves is determined by the difference between the mass of the rotor and the hole it is running in. By reducing the mass of the rotor I should be increasing the oil flow. This is the finished product. I'm satisfied with it... though I still have to drill & thread holes for the set screws that will hold it in place.

The impeller is easy to make. I've actually made one that I might use. The hard part is the "involute of discharge". I have yet to think of a good way to machine that. Ideally, it would be done with some sort of cam-controlled cutter. I have thought of casting one - I could do that quite easily as my next-door neighbor is an aluminum foundry. The complicated part is the special fixtures that would be necessary to machine the casting. None of this is impossible but none of it is easy so using an old pump or making one that circumvents the problems seems like the best way to go.

Here's what is left of the original pump. On a more optimistic note, I've started setting the mill up to run as a horizontal. The oiling system is an old Chevy oil filter canister.

The pump is aluminum. What you see in the picture is how it looked when the car arrived. There is a lot less of it now... in fact, it was so corroded from the inside that it literally fell apart when I tried to dismantle it. Believe it or not, the impeller was made from cast Babbit metal. I tried to replace the center (because it was badly worn) and melted it! The aluminum they used was really not suitable although it probably didn't fail in period. I'd like to move the pump back slightly so I can put a coupling in the shaft that will allow fine timing adjustment of the magneto. One problem I have is that with a new cam and higher compression the original timing would not be correct even if I knew what it was. I need a lot of adjustment since I won't be able to do that until the engine runs. And, I agree re rebuilding vs. replacement but in this case, I've nothing to rebuild and the design was poor (i.e. cheap) to begin with. It is a lot different from the Loco where only the best materials were used and it was carefully made. The water inlet is on the back side and points straight down.

Most likely it had a screen and someone has left it out. You know it has been apart so that's not surprising. The melting temperatures are close but are you sure it is silver solder? There really isn't any good reason why it had to be as great strength or heat are not much of an issue here. The intake manifolds of Silver Ghost RRs were assembled with lead solder* and I can tell from experience that it is much harder to take parts apart than it is to put them together. When I am working on my intake I can assemble the parts with MAPP gas but I need my acetylene torch to disassemble them. I don't understand that... but so far it has been the case every time. *The late Art Soutter (one time head of service for RR of America) describes assembling those manifolds around a large round gas burner that kept a variety of soldering irons hot. I don't think you can do silver solder with old fashioned soldering irons - but I could be wrong there.

I'm just about the same situation you are... lots of imagination and relatively little extra case. If I took a lot of the advice offered here seriously, I wouldn't have anything at all because the chances I'll ever have 50,000 (or even half that) to spend on a car are nil. I also have access to machines and know how to use them. It is, even to me, sometimes amazing what can be accomplished if you are willing to take the time to think about the job. The difference is, I'm at the end of my working life and only have one or two of these jobs left in me. Go to the "Our Restorations" sub-forum and take a look at the threads on the 1914 Humberette and the 1910 Mitchell. It will give you an idea of what you may be in for if you undertake something like this. My guess is that the car you've found needs less than either of those - I know it needs less than the Mitchell. If you decide to pursue this, owning a car is the ticket of admission. I've been helped, and continue to be helped by several fellow enthusiasts and, fortunately, have been able to return the favor. The amount of money out of pocket has been a tiny percentage of the estimates you will hear here but it has been and continues to be a lot of work. My only real reservation is that you really want the finished product. There will come times when it just seems too much but if the goal is worthwhile to you, you'll get there.

This is what I will have to replace. The water pump is in the lower right-hand corner. You can see how it was mounted on the engine There is room between the pump and the magneto to move it back and, while I'd like to use the original system, I'm open to changing the mounting details if I have to. This is really a poor design, to begin with. If you need to pull the water pump you have to remove the front covers and take the mag timing gear out with the pump. I intend to change that so I don't actually want a gland nut in the space between the two mounting flanges on the crankcase.

If that is so, then at least for early cars it is probably impossible. I say "probably" but I really think "certainly". The whole construct of judging these things is based on practices that developed over time and were not in effect in the first 10 or 20 years of the century. "Factory authorized parts" are highly questionable before WWI when accessory catalogs abounded and practically everyone who owned a car "modified" it in some way if only to add a windshield. How about those rear-view mirrors clamped on brass model T's? The rear-view mirror wasn't even invented until Ray Harroun used one in the 1911 Indianapolis race. How long was it before it became a common accessory? Looking at period photos, few cars have windshields... go to any early car meeting and nearly every car will have one.