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dibarlaw

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Posts posted by dibarlaw

  1. post-121302-0-81200400-1442170067_thumb.post-121302-0-88592100-1442170090_thumb.post-121302-0-11916200-1442170129_thumb.We got home at a quarter to 7 last evening. We stayed over night at the same motel in Bristol VA. We left there at 8:20 AM. So over 10 hours with stops. Probably 7 1/2 hours total actual on the road driving time.Total mileage since last Sunday morning when we left Chambersburg is 1,585 miles. I kept the speed between 55 and 60 mph on  routes 81 and 40 thru VA and TN. We would get on to routes 11 and 70 to cut the boredom of the interstates.  Except for the first 2 days when the temps were in the upper 90s, the water temp stayed at 160 degrees. Other than a few hard pull, uphill vapor locking episodes (when we had to use some ethanol gas) she ran great! 100% gas was very available once we were in VA and TN.
     We were the only ones on tour who had no problems! John Young from Louisiana trailered up a beautiful green 1938-41. Low mileage, pristine interior, flawless paint etc. On the first day of the tour his brakes locked up which caused the engine to overheat ( plugged return hole). This caused the same problem we encountered trying to go to Springfield. Sludge from the overheated engine plugged up the radiator. The first photo is of the on the road repair seminar with 38-41 stuck in the middle of the street. The tour leader Ralph Artall is trying to remove the master cylinder cap to clean out the return hole.  Ralph had the starter vacuum switch go out on his 1938-46 Coupe. Then one of the modern cars on tour with us a 2002 Park Avenue had a plastic fuel line split. The local Buick dealer quoted him $1,800 to repair and a five day wait for parts.  A local shop got him going again for less than $100 and now they are back home in Indiana.
    This is the third "tour" we have been on. The second with the 37. We did have a great time. On the last night we had a banquet and all dressed in period 1930s costume. Right up my alley. But now Joan wants vintage jewelry.

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  2. As I promised the update of the cooling system situation.

    So far since we left Chambersburg on the 6th of Sept. we have driven the 37 895 miles to and around Nashville on tour. Except when we were driving on a continuous pull up hill of waiting in the endless maze of "Miracle Mile" stoplights around here, the temperature rarely went above 180. Each day until today, the10th, it has been in the middle 90s. Normal highway driving at the average of 55mph the temp gage has stayed at 160 degrees. We are quite pleased!

     Tomorrow we start back to PA.

  3. Dave :

     We do wish you well and success. During our 1936-38 Club tour two of our members were recounting their bad luck with the overdrive conversions on their 38 specials. One a McLaughlin Buick. Bad solenoids locking up gears etc. and are still trying to resolve some of these problems. So they did not attend with their cars. One indicated that they got several hundred miles before failure and the other only about 35 miles. We hope all goes smooth with yours. Also as a side note on tour one member had the return hole plug up on his master cylinder of his 1938-41 with 28,000 original miles. Locked up his brakes = overheating which = dislodging old rusty sludge in block which = plugged radiator. Good thing he trailered it to Nashville.

    • Like 1
  4. We are on the road to the 1936-38 club's Tour around Nashville TN. Since we had the embarrassing roll back ride home on our attempt to drive our 37 to the Buick nationals in Springfield we feel she was now ready to go. After installing my re-cored radiator and redoing the manifold gaskets the 37 is running cool and quiet. We put on 385 miles today driving from Chambersburg PA to Bristol VA/TN. Temperature gage pretty much stayed around 160-180 all day. Even at over 90 degrees. We have a little under 300 miles to do tomorrow to get to Muffreesboro TN where we will meet the rest of the group.post-121302-0-89850100-1441592849_thumb.post-121302-0-79191800-1441592942_thumb.

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  5. I spoke to the gentleman (a BCA member since the 1960s) and he was very knowledgeable about all 1925 Standards. We spent over an hour on the phone comparing notes. It seems that he had owned I believe 6  1925 Standards of various body styles over the years. The car is a regular 1925-24 with some of the sport roadster accessories added. He said the car was originally black and was repainted yellow in 1961 by a former owner. I am still waiting for other info.

    I wish I had met him when I bought my touring in  October 2011.

  6.  Looks like a really nice car. Could be a late season sport roadster 25-24S since it has a visor and dual spares.

    I tried to buy the leftovers from a 1925-24 rat rod project. Originally a partial restoration in which the owner had passed. All the guy wanted was the frame and body. What original parts he was selling on e-bay was; the rebuilt engine with transmission and torched off torque tube, rear axle, front axle and 4 wheels. He also had the top which I tried to buy separately just for the rear window. When I asked about the bumpers he said he "cut them up for the flat stock". According to the listing all items were sold except the top and the rear tire carrier which I offered to buy but he refused. He said after a week no one sent money so he hauled all to the scrap and got $158.00! I know I have expounded about this on the forum before but this just reminded me. It still hurts.

     The ad needs a little more information and photos of the engine and interior..... I think I will ask.

  7. I like the part of the historic description near the end that states that "$500.00 non refundable due at the end of the auction". I hate buyers /sellers premiums or what ever people want to disguise them as. I have attended auctions for over 45 years. I do understand that the auctioneer is to get their cut for doing the work, which is subtracted from the final amount due the seller. It does not indicate what the $500 is for.

  8. post-121302-0-40532100-1439737778_thumb.post-121302-0-04016600-1439737812_thumb.post-121302-0-71725800-1439737839_thumb.Tony:

     I know I don't have a right hand car but the placement for the starter generator should be the same as on Leif's and my LH 25-25. I had only the carb (left) side splash pan when I bought my car. I found a set on e-bay and I had them sand blasted and powder coated.. I have not had a chance to install them. And yes the pans do mount on top of the engine flange. I hope my photos help.

     Best of luck :

     Larry

  9. Jeff:

     The fellow near me is at KEYSTONE RADIATOR.717-264-6911. He is in a one man shop. I know he got the cores for the 37 and my1925 from a place in Pittsburgh. At Hershey last fall I believe I talked to the people who were doing these cores from there. I misplaced their contact folder. There is also POWELL  Radiator Service in Wilmington Ohio 937-382-2096 . This information I had from a 2010 Hemmings publication. I hope this helps.

     Larry

  10. Roj:

     So nice to see the car out in the sunlight. It is good to know it went to a Buick loving home. The previous owner and I almost had a deal at a lower price until he got it running. Then it jumped out of my price range. Have you sourced out the front brakes yet?  I remember he said the fronts had been converted to hydraulics. Best of luck with the car. If it comes to Trimcar's place for a top I hope I can visit it there.

     Larry

  11. Last week on e-bay there were some gages for 1920s Buicks an assortment of 1924-28 speedometer, oil, amp etc. and also a roll of film on these cars. There was a rusty round AC speedometer with a broken out glass which looks to be the same as my 25's. and an oval heat/choke plate for the 1925 standard.  When I saw the listing it was already over my limit over what I would spend only to have to sell off the other items. So I did not bid. Of course with an assortment of stuff like this no one knows what the ultimate bidder was really interested in.

    I would be interested in the round AC speedometer to see if it is rebuild able and the oval heat/choke plate. Please P.M. if you can help

  12. Leif: :

     We hope we will be driving the 37 to Tennessee in September for a 1936-1938 Tour. I still have to change the manifold gaskets. I wanted to make sure I had the overheating problem solved before I did the manifold.
    Our weather in Pennsylvania has been the best in some years. But it is promising to be in the 90+ F heat and very humid the next week. Just in time for our "Macungie" swap meet which is usually hot and humid.

     My friend Terry Wiegand in Kansas has already had many days at over 100+F heat and high humidity. I had the 1925 out today for a 7 mile drive. Beautiful day. Now I have to get to those gaskets on the 37....

  13. post-121302-0-27214200-1437853893_thumb. Yesterday I reinstalled the re-cored radiator. I had to clean up the sides and mounting area and did some touch up. When the shop put in my new wiring harness apparently they already replaced the radiator and routed the wires on the engine side over top of the radiator. So while the radiator was out I took the opportunity to route the harness correctly to the front side of the frame where the clips are. Made for a much neater appearance.Today I took the 37 out for about a 10 mile drive. 85 degree day here. Just doing weekend errands. Stop and go in traffic pulled some grades on route 30 west of Chambersburg. Had it at 50 mph for a time and my temp gage stayed around 160 through all conditions. Even after hot shut down the temp did not go above 180 degrees. The Gano filter did already pick up some stuff. Hope this is the final solution to the problem.

  14. post-121302-0-64341600-1437853262_thumb.post-121302-0-36743200-1437853292_thumb.post-121302-0-61170600-1437853321_thumb.post-121302-0-73356500-1437853348_thumb.I had flushed out the block after the 2nd treatment of the EVAPO RUST, with about 10 gallons of water at hose pressure. All came out clean but the water had the same yellow green tint as the ER. Yesterday the radiator was plumbed in. I ran the engine for 40 minutes at idle and it seemed to not go above 170 on the gage.

  15. Joe:

    Been there .. done that. I think this has happened to us about 4 times. Except once it was only a 2 hour drive. Another time it was arranged that I was to stop by to inspect a partially restored 1918 E-45 in West Virginia. We called a half hour away and all was good. By the time we arrived the owner changed his mind and would not even let us see the car. That was only 3 hours out of our way.

     We had a 9 hour drive back from a pre-arranged purchase of a 1923-54 sport Roadster. Agreed upon price and check in my pocket and just had to wait for the transporter. Called the owner the day before (Thursday) and said we would inspect, test drive and pick up the car tomorrow (Friday). He said that was great and would see us when we arrived around noon. Since he was self employed he would be free. We arrived at his place at 11:30 A.M. Prior to our arrival we had called every hour from 9:00 on to make sure he was available. No answer .... We drove back 15 miles to the town where his office was and was not anywhere to be found. By 2:00 we finally made contact.. He said he thought we were coming.... tomorrow.....and the car was not ready yet. He did say that he could be at his place within an hour and that we could remove the tarp and check out the car.  The car was exactly what Joan and I wanted. When he finally arrived at 3:30 and we could calm down from our rage. I said I had the check and still wanted the car... lets go for a drive in it.... Then the excuses started about all the "sorting out " work that needed to be done which I assured him I wanted to take care of. But he did state that the car was drivable as per our agreement. Well, he could not even start it let alone be able to drive.  So that was our 9 hour return trip experience.

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