dibarlaw

Jim: I had checked the universal output bushing and it was around .005. So far no vibration. But!!!! Yesterday the wife and I got the rear axle in so I spent the remainder of last night cleaning the spring to axle clamps, greased them as required and bolted them back up. Reconnected the rear brake rods and set Beulah down on all 4 wheels since June 14th. The wife gave me a pitying stare as I came in from the garage at 1:00 AM. This morning after breakfast I put only 2 of the floorboards in so I could watch the clutch action with the inspection cover off. We drove about 4 miles doing errands getting acquainted with our new car. It surely felt like a new car without all the fussing around I had to do before to get it under way. The clutch worked smooth as silk! Another day of Buick Bliss!!! Today I made up 2 transmission mount studs. They were about 2 1/2" long and cleared the flywheel by about 1/8 inch or less! Also both ends were 3/8-16 the outside thread should be 3/8-24. I hate it when fasteners were mixed to just make do. Also ran out of all my old style lock washers replacing all the broken ones as I would remove a bolt or nut. Thankfully I did not strip out any fasteners. I really wanted to get her back together before we left for Portland. As I did not want to return home to that monumental job. Now to clean the garage... So maybe "Beulah" and us will finally become friends.

I thought that there were seals from the transmission but there are none. The oil is supposed to ooze out over the input shaft spline. Just a bit passing thru the ball bearings. The oil from the engine is controlled from the oil pan rear main cork seal. Then the bottom flywheel cover has a sheet steel plate with a felt seal which slows the leakage. I riveted a seal of felt like carpet padding and oil absorbent matting. I will see how it works. There are holes in both the flywheel cover and transmission bell housing for oil to escape. Considering that these cars only rarely saw paved roads I don't believe the engineers were all that concerned with all the oozing and dripping. After all it did kept the dust down. I guess I will have to be more vigilant in cleaning every so often the accumulation of oil from the crankcase above the rear main. But, in my case the oil damage to the clutch came from the throw-out bearing. Best Regards: Larry

Gladly buy you a pint for a ride in that lovely automobile. Congratulations!

Success!!! Reinstalled the transmission tonight. I installed it by myself with my wife watching in case I needed help. Dropped it down from above. It was amazing how much lighter it was with the shift tower, universal, torque ball, and main-shaft removed. I had thought it better to flush out the case and check bearings and such. Bearings appear good but of course the gear teeth show some wear. Something I will have to live with. I made new gaskets and put in fresh 600W. Now she clutches, de-clutches and shifts without any clashing! It was magical to start her up in neutral, put the clutch in and have it drop silently into 1st gear! Next to get that torque tube and rear axle back in

Sorry about the previous post. I had captioned all the photos and when I uploaded the post the text placement was changed. In the meantime I cleaned up the rear of the engine and painted. Today I finally reinstalled the clutch. Now for the big job of getting the transmission and rear axle back in! Larry

Finally getting back to the clutch work. I would like to get all put back together before we leave for the Nationals. I had to take care of the transmission assessment and some general cleanup of the rear of the engine. I removed and cleaned the throw-out bearing assembly and re-lubed. Ring of grease around the bell housing. Manufacture. The Bearings Co. Lancaster PA. Cleaning up and checking universals and torque Ball. Cleaned and lubed throw-out assembly. Worn and torn release lever boot. I took a break from degreasing to do a little sewing for a new boot. Polished up torque ball and cover with new seal I had previously removed a handful of shredded clutch from the flywheel housing. Prior to the clutch's failure packing. There was no gasket. No wonder it leaked it was getting more difficult to engage the starter. Now I know where the rest of the facing went. A lot of so badly. picking with a sharpened hardwood stick to clean out! More work ahead today.

Next installment of progress. Terry Wiegand sent me 8 NOS facings 2 weeks ago (THANK YOU TERRY)! After much clean up and testing of surfaces all has come back together. New facings on outer cover and first double sided plate. Press I made from a heavy gear puller. Last plate on flywheel side all rivet heads to flywheel. Had ti take a cut to true up throw-out contact surface on my lathe. Original facings made by RUSCO. All double sided plates alternate rivets. Note set pattern. Tested for warp using parallels. Second facing grease soaked and others ready to come apart. Drill press riveting set up. Re-assembled stack.

This is what I was greeted with when I removed the transmission. Filthy greasy mess. Definitely over lubed throw-out. Other facings ready to depart. Comparison between Standard (left) 8 facings. Master (right) 10 facings and 1/2" taller. Center plates had some heat discoloration. Going down thru the pack and finding more facings ready to go.

This weekend we drove the 1937 around town and to church just to give her some exercise. I don't believe she has sat for more than 2 weeks not being driven since we put her back on the road in September 2012. We have racked up over 3000 miles since then. The previous weekend we drove to the AACA museum for the Cadillac La Salle Club meet. Great bunch the CLC group! Did 140 mile round trip. Larry

Pete : On my 1925-25 Standard it is 15/16". I bought 2 - 7/8" Tool kit thin wall type sockets at Hershey which were very sloppy fit on my 1937s plugs. I probably looked at hundreds of these over the years but never a 15/16". So I want to try to heat them with a torch and open them up to fit. One for me and one for Dave Blaufarb's 1928-25. Yes the engineers did not provide much space for a socket. You should see the cobbled device I made to check compression. Best of luck: Larry

Dave: I did "plastigage" my mains and rod bearings on my 37 248 cu. Took out 2 shims at most to bring it back to spec. Also rebuilt the oil pump with new gears. My pressure runs around 45lbs. I am running 10W-40. The only time it dropped below 20lbs was when I was on the return leg from South Bend last year and drove continuously for about 7 hours in 90 plus heat. After a 120 mile trip yesterday it was the same at around 40lbs. Has 106,242 miles now. Larry

Congratulations Terry, all the hard work and obsession for detail did pay off. The other Larry

Dave : As I warned you this is what happened to me on my 37. One thing begat another etc. until 25 years passed by! The photo above is summer 1991 Below, the same 3 grown children ages 25,29,31 Christmas 2012. Notice, now you can see the window at the back of the garage. Since the 37 is off the jack stands where it was for 25years!

hidden_hunter: I will be posting more on my thread on 1925 Clutch Issues but this is what I used to hold the rear plate and spring compressed on mine. Also some comparisons between the Standard and Master clutches. I know that yours should be different than mine. Standard on the left. Standard spider on the left. Best of luck : Larry

The project is going slow and unsteady. I was finally able to drop the axle last night. Staging the jack stands and the 2X4 & 3/4" plywood Boxes I had made to raise things up was a bit scary. (Made them to do the same thing on the 1937 back in 1987). I hoped never to have to use them again! All staged then the diagonal truss rod on one side hanging up on the face of the right jack stand when the axle made it's descending arc. Had do redo it twice. Today I will probably start uncoupling things. I have NOS linings coming from Terry Weigand and a possible used clutch from a fellow I had helped with his 25-25 in Canada. Just has to verify that it is for a 1925 standard. They are all the same from 1918 to 1925. Except the 4 cylinder and standards have 8 linings and the larger 6s have 10. Always, once something is apart the need to do other things arise. So any suggestions as to what to do or check while I have the transmission out. I plan on making a new felt engine rear seal, torque ball seal, check pilot bushing etc. Also check all the starter gear mechanisms. Also there are locator plates riveted to the axle housing for the shackle blocks. These 1/4" thick riveted plates are loose and leak rear end oil. A lot. Since the shackle block is a grease lubed fitting any one come up with an idea how to seal this leaking? What I did not post on my other thread about my out of round rims was that while trying to get the spare on the right rear...... OOPs.... the first time in 40 years I knocked a car off a jack stand. Thought I broke my wrist as the fender came down on it. Just a burse. The car dropped only about 5". More fun than the law allows!

When I bought my 1937-41 back in1987 the wheels were incorrect and I bought 4, 37 wheels locally. Fast forward 25 years. They were sandblasted and repainted Hampton Gray and striped before I put them on. Looks Great! Of course I had a flat on the way from our MASON-DIXON car show on Saturday and pulling out one of the tires and wheel I had as a spare got me wondering what the wheels were originally for?? The 1937 16" wheel has a smaller center depression and 5 clips. The ones that came with the car were 4, large center depression with 3 clips and 2 with the same center but with 5 clips. All the 1940-1949 type of hub caps fit these. Since I don't have a 1937 wheel for a spare I was just going to re do one of the 5 clip wheels to match. Thought these may be for a 1940 and up... Once I know what they are for I can send them along to some one in need. Larry

My mistake. I just watched it again. More rounded radiator, Tilt ray headlights, light switch on steering hub = 1926 or 1927-55. Close, a 1926-45A.

I showed the movie to my one Tech-Ed class on the last day of school. Watching it on the "Smart Board" I was able to catch some details. The car that is dropped into the river (I still cry) is a 1925 model 55 Sport touring. As it has a trunk and double spares and aluminum steering wheel spider. The 24-55 has the wooden/aluminum spoke steering wheel. Still did not look bad for an old car at the time "1934". Must be some product placement going on as the "BUICK " name is referenced at least 3 times. Unusual for MGM. Usually Warner Brothers pictures are crawling with Buicks during this time. MGM movies had lots of Fords Lincolns and Packards. Larry

Drove 105 miles round trip in our 1937-41 to our 6th annual MASON-DIXON car show at Freysinger Buick GMC at Mechanicsgburg Pa. 2.5 miles from home we had a flat! It was a perfect day otherwise. Larry

Terry: The kids left the building! So school is over and now I can attend to more important things. The first picture is of the loaner clutch from the 1924-45 BCA member David Stratton, which was for me to study. It has 5 guide plates and 10 lined surfaces. This is the outside cover toward the throw-out bearing. This lining is now what is missing on mine. 2nd photo is what I found after removing the bottom cover. Last, that 8" piece which is all that was left of what was on that outer plate. Again, as discussed my clutch has only 4 guide plates and should have 8 linings. So I believe that is what I will need. Of course I don't know what the metal plates actually look like yet until I get them out. Now have to stage things to pull that axle.. Hope you enjoy your ride in the "20" today! Larry

After fighting with the sticking clutch on my 1925 Standard since I bought it over 2 years ago it finally worked as it should today! I was preparing to take the car about 44 miles to our Mason-Dixon car show in Mechanicsburg Pa. this weekend. Over the last 3 weeks I redid the cobbled brakes, installed new tires, repainted wheels and installed my newly re-cored radiator.(This was to combat the chronic overheating). Today I thought I would take it out for a 15 mile shakedown run. The wife and I started out and it went right into gear! Drove about 2 miles and stopped to fill the gas tank. Not a drip from the radiator! Moto-meter still at "cool motor "after 15 min of driving. Did some stop and go traffic for another mile, with each shift not a clash up or down! Drove another 3 miles out into the country.We were truly experiencing a form of Buick bliss! Downshifted from 3rd to 2nd as we approached a route 30 stop light, slipped right into 2nd without even double clutching!!!! Magical! Downshifted into first (quiet as a mouse)as the light turned green. Put out my hand to signal a left turn onto rush hour route 30, pulled away in first no problem, shifted to second..............NOTHING..........Tried all gears.......... NOTHING...... The clutch was gone! So my 25 will miss the show again. (Last year it foamed up and overheated at the city limits.) I had heard the stories about dying trees putting out a great crop of fruit just before they died. Did not know it also applied to clutches. When home I took off the inspection plate and the interior had an abundance of what resembled shredded burlap. So now that axle will finally have to come out.

Last week I was redoing the cobbled up brakes (steel split rivets) with properly counter sunk and set brass rivets, new tires and repainting the two wheels on the drivers side. Today I adjusted the brakes, filled the transmission which was about 1/2 pint low and went for a drive. Of course I started out in the same fashion but every shift up or down afterward was quite positive with a minimum of clash. Thank God for small victories! This week I will change out the old radiator for the re-cored one I had made last year to hopefully cure the chronic overheating. I guess we have to just keep at it! Larry

hidden : Again welcome to our world. I know that torque tube drive stops a lot of "do it your self" home repairmen. I deliberately passed on buying several nice 1930s Buicks back in the 1970s because of the rear axle removal in order to service. " Runs great, but what is that sound?. Oh, just needs a pilot bearing real cheap fix".......So instead back in 1987 I bought a 1937 Special with what felt like a good clutch and then blew it on the drive home. So I still had to pull the rear axle. Sat for 25 years before I got a clutch back in her. All I know is that a much younger man that I am now pulled it out. When we bought the 1925 in 2011 it was to be running well "all it needs is the clutch adjusted...." So I am trying all the fixes as stated before I pull that rear axle. That young man is long gone. Best of luck : Larry

You should be able to feel the oil at the threads of the side plug. Fill it up till it starts to run out or just below the "sight hole " as the manual states.

hidden hunter: Welcome to my world. I have attempted all the aforementioned "fixes" to my 1925-25 including trying to de-gum the faces with solvent and detergent. All made the clutch work better the first few times. But after sitting overnight the same problem came back.. Start up- then gears-no-go! Shut down-- put into gear--restart --hold on to the brake until the clutch breaks free...as the car lurches ahead... A very unrespectable means of getting underway! While the car is parked I have a length of wood wedged under the dash to keep the clutch pedal in. While the car is underway I have gotten used to doing the shifts in a fairly peaceful manner. Although one day it would give me no trouble then the next day, miss a downshift and have to shut down and start all over again. As I approach a stop I depress the clutch then I will give the accelerator a shot to rev up a bit, and the clutch usually breaks free. Just worried about the day when it does not! I did find a source for 600# Steam Cylinder oil and it does shift much better than when I first drove it. Larry