Franklinguy

I have a subscription and occasionally write articles for Skinned Knuckles. I submitted an article in June, and after some normal editorial discussion, it was published in August. I prepared another article and tried to submit it by email in early September; system could not deliver article. Telephone number is out of service and web site is gone. I received my last issue in September. Skinned Knuckles seems to have vanished! I have not found out any more. If anyone knows more, please share. Frank Pennypacker

Another point about the cylinder hold down nuts: Both the Series 10 and Series 11 owners' manuals have "tighten cylinder hold down nuts" as part of the monthly service. I think this is part of regular service for later Franklins as well. Until very recently, I owned a 10B that had the original two nuts on each corner of each cylinder. When I bought the car, several nuts were loose enough that oil was leaking out. I made sure all the nuts were tight and I checked all the nuts yearly. After the first tightening, none of the nuts could be tightened more than a few degrees. If you tighten cylinder hold down nuts, check the valve clearances.

South Carolina -- Got it on 28th.

Need one Demountable Rim Clamp Bolt Franklin PN 27685. Bolt fits Series 10 and 11 with demountable rims and wood spoke wheels. Need 1, but it would be nice to have a spare. Frank Pennypacker

I am located in Wisconsin. Measuring with a steel tape, this seems to be the same as the drawing. There is a twist at the top of the arch, I cannot measure it accurately, but it looks about right. The diameter of the pipe I have is 1 1/2. I do not know what drawing you used in your post. The Series 11 Parts Book says the tail pipe is 33540. The club archive does not have that drawing. The supplier is Kepich. I recommend sending a drawing. To rjp: If you want it, send me your address and I will ship the pipe to you by UPS Ground and you can send me a check for the shipping. 5 years ago, they charged me $24.00 for shipping. I can let you know exactly what UPS charges me.

I have a tail pipe that may fit a Franklin. I asked a well known custom exhaust components supplier to make a tail pipe for a Franklin 10B touring car. I asked if he needed a drawing. The answer was, "We make a lot of tail pipes for Franklins and we know the dimensions." I received the tail pipe in the picture. It does not fit my 10B touring car. I sent a drawing from the club archive and ordered another one. The second one, made from the drawing, fits and is installed in the car. I do not know what model of Franklin the one I have will fit, except that the supplier insisted that it would fit a Franklin. I will giver it to anyone who can use it and will pay shipping cost.

The autumn leaves are better if you are driving a Franklin.

Roger, I was able to unscrew the gas gauge in my car using a large pipe wrench, one large enough for 2 inch pipe. I avoided marring the finish be wrapping the gauge with a cloth before applying the wrench. If you don't have one, perhaps you can borrow one. The tube seemed to be pressed into the casting and I concluded that I could not separate the tube and the casting without breaking something. There is a square rod twisted into a spiral that causes the float to turn the gauge needle. There was enough corrosion, that I did not expect it to come apart without breaking. I think you will not be able to combine parts of two units to make a single good unit. Please let me know how you make out. I just looked at the parts drawing and I now know that the cast part at the top is the same for Series 10 (like my car) and Series 11 (like yours). The difference is the length of the tube and the location of the hole in the tube. The different tube lengths are necessary because the tanks have different depths. Be careful of the tube length when you put in another gauge. I still think that you can get a complete gauge that only requires cleaning and (perhaps) a new float. There are a lot of Franklin club members who have spare parts. Frank

Roger, Congratulations on being the new owner of a Franklin 11A. The car should be a delight to drive and a beauty to the eye. I couldn't agree more that a fuel connection using a rubber hose connected to the bottom of the tank is very unsatisfactory and also dangerous. The unit in your picture looks beyond repair. The best thing to do would be to get another unit that can be reconditioned. This unit does several functions: A tube carries fuel from the tank to the fuel line, There is a hole in the tube about 2 inches from the bottom which stops the fuel when the level of the fuel is below the hole. Turning the lever on the top covers the hole to provide a reserve. And, there is a fuel gauge. I have a 10B Franklin. The unit in my car is similar, but not identical to the one in your car. I have attached a picture of the unit from my car. When I bought the car, the fuel gauge did not work. I found that the cork float was split in half. I made a new float from Nitrophyl (available from Restoration Supply Company). A new float and cleaning the dirt and corrosion did the job and I have a functioning fuel gauge. It is much better than using a wooden stick. There are several club members who might help you with a replacement. If Jeff Haslen cannot help you, I suggest you ask Richard Harry; he had the parts I needed to rebuild a vacuum tank. Best of luck, Frank Pennypacker

Nothing is better than riding with my granddaughter in a Franklin touring car on a beautiful early autumn day.

Ed, I suggest you look at Franklin dwg 28902 which is the dwg for the gauge (available in club online archive). This dwg includes variations for Series 10 and 11. Pn 31404 is the pn for most of Series 11. The gauges were different because the gas tanks were different in size. If you check a part against the drawing you will be able to determine if the gauge is right for your car. I need the cork float for my gas gauge. The rest of the gauge is ok, just needs cleaning. If anybody knows where I can get one, the information will be much appreciated. I expect that I will have to use a float made for some other use and modify it. The old cork float is shriveled and broke apart. Other used gas gauges are likely to need new floats also. Frank

I replaced the coil and the condenser. The car runs a lot better than it did, cold or hot. In my original posting, I said the car ran ok when cold. Now it runs a lot better even when cold. I drove it for about 1/2 hour when the air temperature was above 80 degrees and it did not lose power. I stopped the road test because it started to rain. Tomorrow, I will run it for about an hour, but I am pretty sure it is ok. As Scott recommended, I went to the local parts store, in this case, O'Reilly, and asked for a condenser for a 1953 Chevy. The man behind the counter came up with BWD pn G102A. It is the same size and shape as the one that was in the distributer and it works just fine. The old coil was mounted on the engine side of the firewall and I mounted the new one the same place. I thank everyone for the help. Frank Pennypacker

Thank you both for the recommendation. I was thinking carburetion. A couple years ago, on another Franklin with a Stromberg OE carb, I had a stuck float that was causing flooding and it seemed just like what I was experiencing with my 10B. I think I have eliminated flooding as a possibility. I have known for a long time that it is better to have the coil on the inside of the firewall. It sure gets hot under the hood of a Franklin. High temperature tends to wreck coils of many turns of fine wire, like an ignition coil. I am now relocating the coil inside the firewall. I am using a new coil. It will take me a few days. I will let you know the result when I am done. I will also replace the condenser. A previous owner installed a Chrevrolet distributor. It should not be hard to get a replacement condenser, but I hope my friend at the local parts store can figure out which one. Frank

Last year my 10B ran great. This year it runs great at startup but loses power at low rpms after running for a while. It will die at idle. If the engine is shut off and allowed to cool, it runs great again, until it warms up. When it loses power, it is still smooth. No sputtering. It seems to be firing equally on all cylinders. It seems almost normal at high rpms. Warmer weather is worse than cold weather. This is temperature related. The engine has a Stromberg OE-1 carburetor. I disassembled and cleaned the carburetor. Cleaning the carburetor made no difference. A previous owner installed an electric fuel pump. Thinking that the electric fuel pump puts out a lot more pressure than the original vacuum tank, I installed a fuel pressure regulator and set the pressure at 1 psi--no difference. I ran it today and when it lost power, I shut it off and checked the carbureter float level--Normal. I will appreciate help with this Frank

Yesterday, June 1 was a beautiful day in Sun Prairie, WI. It was a wonderful day to drive around in a touring car and an even more wonderful day if the touring car is a Franklin. I invited two friends, who are not fortunate enough to own Franklins, to join me and we had a wonderful time. One of the friends took videos on his iPhone. I have three files, but I can only attach one of them, because of the size limitation. Frank IMG_1805.MOV

Thank You Dean. I will try to buy these on Ebay, the bidding does not close until early Sunday morning. There are 6 of them and I only need 2. If I get them I will offer the other 4 to other HHFC members. I still have the mystery of why these are like exhaust manifold gaskets when they are not exposed to high temperatures. Maybe somebody can tell me why. Frank Pennypacker

Just above the king pins on series 9 and series 10 Franklins, there is supposed to be a gasket that keeps lubricant intended for the king pins from leaking out. I found that these are missing on my series 10-B. I want to find or make new ones. It would not be hard to cut new paper gaskets. The original Franklin drawing 21020 says that the material should be "COPPER - ASBESTOS". This seems like a high temperature material and this part is not exposed to high temperatures. Also, it is probably not available. What is the best material to use to make replacement gaskets. Thanks, Frank Pennypacker

Classic and Exotic Service http://www.classicandexotic.com/store/c-216-watson-stabilator.aspx has parts for Watson Stabilators and they sell adjustment wrenches. Unfortunately, they do not sell the lubricating discs. I have not bought anything from them and I cannot comment on their quality or service. You can download a 1927 Watson manual there which is not specific for any make of car. It has instructions for adjustments. It has instructions for installation. Evidently they expected Stabilators to be installed on cars which did not have them originally. Frank

Mike, Thanks. I appreciate knowing about your experience. I will get in touch with them. Frank

I would like to buy a cloth cover for my Series 10 touring car that will protect it while it sits in my garage during winter storage. Can anyone recommend a supplier? I have done a search online and most of the suppliers I found never heard of Franklins. One seems to think that a cover for a sedan will fit a touring car. Frank

I used to own a 130. I still have a copy of the wiring diagram, which I have attached. Ignore the markup. I think it may help you with the 135. I don't know where it came from. It is not page 1704 of the Series 13 parts book that is available on the club web site. Anyway, I hope it helps. Frank Wiring Diagram.pdf

That helps, Thanks

Maybe some of you can tell me if this is one of the Chevy distributors. It is the distributor that was on my 1923 10-B when I bought it. I know it is not Franklin original. It seems to work ok. I wonder if it has the right advance curve. Also, it would be nice to know its origin if I ever have to buy points or a rotor or a cap. Frank Pennypacker

I have a 1929 130 sedan for sale. The car was restored in the 1980s and has been maintained and driven since then. Interior is very nice. The car starts up and we drove it regularly until just before Thanksgiving, when the weather turned bad. The major problem is that the body needs to be painted. Upgrades: turn signals and halide headlights. If you look at the Franklin Club web page, the picture at the top shows this car at the opening of the Gilmore car museum. It's the green sedan on the left. I bought this car last year and I love it, but I also have a 1923 10-B that needs a lot of work and I don't think I can do what is needed to keep both cars. Asking $13,000. I would strongly prefer selling to a Franklin Club member. Frank Pennypacker Sun Prairie, WI