JV Puleo

Could you post a picture? I've had both 1910 and 1911 Model R REOs but it was a long time ago. Is it a 4-cylinder car (the one's I'm familiar with) or a 2-cylinder.

The ends all threaded and the heads of the bolts screwed on... The about 3/4 of the OD turned round to 13/16. Next I started cutting the relief for the end of the thread. So far, this has gone well. You can see why making them in two pieces gives me a near perfect "bolt". If I had a cylindrical grinder I could have made them in one piece but that's a machine I can't really justify for the little I'd use it, especially when I can get pre-ground stock.

I need to face off one end of the bolts and came up with this idea to position it in the collet. It's just a piece of 1" aluminum with a 1/2" hole in the center but by using it as a guide to set the piece in place I was able to do this without having to measure each piece or even adjust the lathe...once set up, all the pieces were the same. I did the same thing to bevel the front edge. And to cut the relief for the threads. I don't know how much time it saved but the job went smoothly and the parts are as close to identical as anything I've ever made. To thread these I decided to single-point it about 2/3 of the way and finish with a die. The depth of thread is .032 so I went to .020. As I guessed, this steel doesn't single-point nicely. I suspect it is close to the grade 5 bolts I threaded a few weeks ago. Even with a fine thread, it is very likely the piece would slip in the collet if I tried to use the die to thread in one pass. This worked very well. The threads, when cut with a die, are just about perfect. As I finished threading each one, I screwed the head on using a little Loctite. That is probably overkill but why not? This was going so well I decided not to push the envelope and quit before I made my usual "late in the day" mistake.

I think the first thing you have to determine is if there ever was a title. By no means did every state have a title law and many that do now didn't enact it until long after 1932...

I finished turning the caps... And knurled them. I was aiming to put the knurl in the middle of the cap but got it slightly off. It's a little low but they are all the same and that isn't a detail I'm prepared to loose sleep over. These caps have proved fussier than I'd anticipated but I think I've learned a few things in doing them. I had to re-solder about half of the tops as they popped off when I was turning them. That never happened with the repaired caps so I am thinking that the aluminum fixture I originally used cools off to quickly. When I did this before I used a steel fixture to hold them and I suspect that by retaining the heat longer, the joint was stronger. I didn't use the aluminum fixture for the repairs. While I was waiting for the caps to cool I started on the actual bolts. These are 1/2" ground rod so the surface is accurate to less than .0005. Off hand, I don't remember what the material is but it is about 1/3 tougher than the stressproof I'd used previously. I don't know how it will thread but I'll find out shortly.

Ah...it's called "fish paper". Who'd have guessed! [edit] I found it. Thanks.

Hmm...I looked there. Maybe I'm so recognizing it. I'll look again. I think I order from the about once a week. I got to thinking about the little caps I made for the shackle bolts. I really don't want to start from scratch again so I decided to try turning them down. fortunately, I left the wall thickness thicker than I'd originally intended so I may have enough material to turn the knurl off and re-knurl them. Besides, if I save these I won't have a bag of brass caps that I didn't use but are "too good to throw away" hanging around the shop for the next 20 years. I put one in the lathe... Unfortunately, the top popped off but I was able to resolder it and keep going. While I was doing this I also cut some ground stock to use for the bolts. There are actually 3 different lengths - The front bolts are about 1/4" longer than those in the rear because the rear springs are slightly wider. I also have this to deal with...this is the mounting for the front end of the rear spring. You can see they just used a big carriage bolt. It's shorter than the shackle bolts and no provision was made for lubrication. I'll have to cut this out because the head of the carriage bolt just turns when I try to take the nut off. I'll put another bolt with a grease fitting here. The forged mounts will have to come off the chassis to be bored and bushed and I'm not convinced they actually line up perfectly across the chassis. All that will have to be delt with eventually because it is important that the brake shafts be in perfect alignment. The caps are fussy to do so I didn't quite finish...

When the US Army embarked for France most of the smaller field guns...I think they were 3" - were left behind. The artillery was re-equippped with French 75s. After the war the French sent several hundred of them (they were worn out) to America to be used for war monuments. The army retained many more but most of those were sent to England after Dunkirk. The war monument 75s are still around...I remember one in a local scrap yard many years ago and you still see them from time to time on WWI monuments. They have to have the breech welded shut because otherwise they are classified as "destructive devices" and require a class 3 Federal license to own. A 155 howitzer would be much too heavy. Most of those were still horse drawn or pulled by artillery tractors. What would be cool - and likely more work than a field gun. would be the Army mobile machine shop. It was a trailer set up with small machines. I've seen pictures and, oddly enough, the machines could be found and wouldn't be terribly expensive but building the entire trailer would be more work than the body of your excellent truck.

Ed...where do you get the fiber gasket material? I haven't been able to find it is anything like the small amount I could use.

I think I'm already into my "golden years" and busier than I've ever been. Aside from the car stuff (which I do during the day) there is more demand for my other job - editing and designing books on antique arms - than there ever has been.

I was thinking American Fiat but I don't know if that is a T head. The pre-Silver Ghost RR cars had an overdrive 4th speed. They called it the "sprinting gear." So did the Silver Ghosts up to about 1913.

He was regularly badgered by hot rodders to sell them the white hearse and resolutely refused to do it. He told me it ought to be preserved but not as a hot rod. I've no idea what became of it after he died. Hanging from the rafters above that hearse were NOS Model T fenders. I was one of the few regular customers permitted to rummage around the inside storage any time I wished...I found a lot of stuff there but I only wish I knew then what I know now.

There is a gas White here in RI , or was a few years ago, but I seem to remember it had a 3-speed progressive transmission. Manny Souza had a gas White in his storage area about 40 years ago...I think that one was about 1910-1911 I would have liked to buy it but it was way beyond my means) and I remember one outside rotting under some trees on the Joslyn Farm in Exeter RI. That might have been a truck or perhaps a car cut down into a truck. I think there was one or two at Bills Auto Parts in the 70s - again in such deteriorated condition that it wasn't always easy to tell what they had begun as. Some place around here I have a dash mounted, cast aluminum oil reservoir from one of those. I can't say I've ever seen a big White gas car.

Today I used the repaired 13/16 punch to make up some copper and rubber blanks... I also had to make the reinforcing rings... Then assembled the fixture with a rubber gasket between each copper one. And turned them down. The glare on the aluminum makes it difficult to see the alternationg black and copper pieces. But they turned down nicely to 1/4" This worked better...the gaskets are uniform. You can see one of them on the banjo fitting I replaced on the sump. The surface area of these gaskets is probably 3 times the surface area of the fiber rings I used previously. I would prefer to use the copper ones because I think that is more authentic but crush washers are "one use only" and I know this will be apart and reassembled many times so I'm hoping the rubber ones will be useful...I may not put the copper ones in until the final assembly but, of course, i'll have to test them first. I may also have to get a bit more copper and make more of the larger version...

This morning I got to discover if my fixture for turning the copper gaskets really worked. I did have my reservations... but I started by taking light cuts... And eventually it started to be round. Then it was just a matter of taking it to the finished size. This worked better than I'd anticipated and I think the aluminum supports on each end were a big help in keeping the thin sheet copper from bending. They came out very uniform. They still have to be annealed as this was 1/4 hard copper strip. I then tried it again with the rubber I bought. This was not as successful because the rubber expands too much when compressed. I have a possible solution to this that I'll try shortly but I think that, in a pinch, these would also work. I then moved on to finishing the other punch - the one I had to make a bushing for because the hole was too large. The bushings were pressed in to be flush on the top and bottom of the punch and then the inside surface of both pieces was surface ground. I then reassembled the punch and reamed the hole to 13/16. Then cut some 2" squares of copper and tried it out. It worked just as well as the 15/16 punch. This takes a little time because you can only do done at the time and you have to take the punch apart each time to insert a new piece but in an industrial setting this would be done with very elaborate machines...I'm just glad to be able to do it.

The OD of the rings is actually a bit larger than the finished OD. I'll cut everything at once. When I make more, I'll use the same rings but work very close. The second set will be rubber so I can "finish" the outside edges with some sand paper. As long as everything is very tight they should come out fine. I did the same thing with the gaskets for the water system although that was a stiffer material. If this works really well I could replace those with rubber...but it probably isn't necessary.

I think you are more than the proverbial ten feet away... I had one of those days where little seemed to get done...though it may be that I'm just tired. I did receive the newly polished brass fittings for the water system. You'll remember I had used copper which isn't really right but was all I could find. I eventually found some brass NOS plumbing fittings...almost enough. I only had to make the "T" fitting. Ted, "christech's", neighbor polished them. I doubt anyone would now recognize them. I used the 15/16 punch to put some holes in copper sheet and made some rubber ones as well. Holding these pieces to turn them is a challenge...so I also decided to make some aluminum reinforcing rings to go on the ends of the stack of copper pieces in the fixture. All of this is a PIA because of the odd sizes. I did this twice, the first time with a piece of mystery metal I had. It gave me all sorts of trouble so I just scrapped it and did them over in aluminum. They really don't have to be steel. Here's the fixture all bolted together. I finished this at the end of the day so I think I'll wait until tomorrow to turn them. If ti works, I'll then do the rubber ones the same way.

Funny...I've just done that. I bought a 76 Blazer...low milege, no rust very basic model that is pre-all OBD crap. I've had it with electronics and even this in'st completely free of them but the less the better.

I pressed on with the grease caps even though they weren't coming out as nice as I'd hoped. Knurling the soldered-on end proved to be difficult because the pressure from the knurling tool wants to pop the end off. This happened three times. I was able to reattach them but the knurls aren't consistent or as deep as I'd like. These will work...and I doubt anyone but me will care but I know I could have done better. When there were only three left to do, I had another idea. So, when I'd finished I decided to make a prototype of the improved version. First making another cap. I don't have the materials to make a complete set but there is no point in getting them if I can't improve the result. On this one, I knurled it below the end cap so that the pressure from the tool would not dislodge it. It isn't as close to the top as I'd like but I think I'm on to something. Although I didn't take a picture of it, I turned this knurl off and did it again with another tool I have and got it even better. I don't have the patience to do this all over now but I will probably get the materials in and the next time I'm stuck for something to do because I'm waiting on materials I'll go back an make another set. If the shackle bolts come out close to perfect, I'll have to just to satisfy myself. I'm also thinking of putting little zerk fittings inside under the caps. I know that isn't original but the purpose is to force grease into them and that will work better...the jury is still out on that one but it does seem like a good idea, especially as I'm aiming at much closer tolerances than the car originally had. I want to eliminate ALL extraneous play in the springs...no clunking or squeeking and I've good reason to believe that getting the tolerances right will make it easier and safer to drive. The copper for the sump gaskets came in so, having some time I tried out the punch I'd made. I still have to finish the repaired 13/16 punch but the one for a 15/16 hole is usable. I cut a 2" square of copper and clamped it in the punch then put everything in my shop-made 20-ton press. This worked like gang busters...I got a perfect 15/16 hole in the sheet copper. So, I'll go on and finish the punches and make the gaskets and keep on with the shackle bolts. About 90% of my experiments have worked so I have no valid reason to be discouraged when one doesn't come out exactly as planned.

Well, when you rent a car in the UK they always try to sell you an automatic because, as one clerk said to me "Americans don't know how to shift". I got to respond that "I was driving manual shift cars before you were born." The automatic has never caught on there. I'd say 98% of the cars have manual transmissions...the exceptions being the very expensive Mercedes and other "foreign" cars. A friend of mine bought his college-age daughter a car with a manual shift. She was never bothered by friends borrowing it and never had to be impolite and refuse to loan it because none of them could drive it! Personally, I'd rather shift but my everyday car purchasing budget forces me to take what I can get...

My apologies for taking so long to get back to you. Mike West tell me your Mitchell radiator is very nice but for an earlier model...but, I've just been contacted by a friend who may be interested. I'll send you a private message with my real email address. Thanks, Joe Puleo

Frank, a third endorsement for keeping the vertical molding dark...

It might but here isn't much to work with and when I get the knurl right it has the same effect. (edit:) I did think about that but it added numerous complications to making them. I suspect it could have doubled, or even tripled the time required so since it's one of these points only a tiny handful of people might even notice I decided to forgo it. The original caps were probably made by drawing and stamping in the same way cartridge cases are formed. The machinery for that is highly specialized, developed late in the 1860s to make rimfire cartridge cases. After the Civil War the US was approached by several countries to purchase cartridge making machines...they were sold to Denmark, Spain and I think a few others. One of the most interesting transactions was 3 machines that went to Russia. The Russians offered to pay for them but the Ordnance Department chose to give them to them - I suspect in recognition for the support the Union had received from Alexander II during the war.

I finished threading the caps today... For the top of the cap I bought some 1" brass discs on ebay. They are probably left from punching 1" holes in sheet brass and it was a lot easier to buy some than it would have been to make them. In order to solder them on, I made a little holding fixture out of aluminum since lead solder doesn't stick to it. The discs are a tiny bit larger than the cap but that doesn't make any difference because they will get turned down together. I finished one as a test. It will work just fine but the knurl isn't ;perfect. I know why...the piece that was holding it was not stiff enough to take the pressure generated by knurling so I'll have to make something for that as well but, on the whole, they will look good.

This morning I drilled and reamed for the bushings... The press was not as tight as I wanted but rather than doing it again I just used some locktite on them. According to the technical data sheet this material takes 72 hours to reach full strength. I see no reason to push this so it won't be ready to machine until Sunday...and I will probably leave it for Monday morning. I'm waiting for materials on this job as well but I do have the brass tube I need so I set this up to cut it in lengths 7/8" long. These will be the caps on the grease fittings. Fortunately, a 1" diameter will pass through the old collets that came with the lathe. It won't pass through a 5C collet so if I had to use those I would have had more work to do and more waste. This way there was hardly any waste at all. This tube is 1" OD, 3/4" ID. 3/4" is the hole size for the 13/16 thread I used for the sump fittings so I have the right tap and by using tubing I've saved the considerable labor of drilling out bar to make these. I reamed the ID - just to get the burrs out and a consistent ID (tubing is close but usually slightly undersize). And threaded them. I only finished 7 by the end of the day but this isn't a taxing job and I'll have no problem finishing it tomorrow. I don't put in 8 or 10 hour days very often...usually I'm in around 10 and leave a little after 5. mostly because I've found that I make all my mistakes when I'm tired and I'm not in my 30s or 40s (or even 50s) any more.