Daves1940Buick56S

Moon over Miami?

This is my friend Irv's car. It is beginning to look like the intermittent fuel issues may be due to lots of crud in the tank since we have pretty much eliminated everything else. Since I don't have a shop manual, does anybody know the procedure for getting the tank out? The car is a 4 door sedan. Hopefully it won't come to that, but.... Cheers, Dave

I had the high privilege of paying a brief visit to Buick Gardens this past Sunday and can tell you that the real thing is a lot better than the pics! Marvelous work! What Lamar has done is architectural art! Cheers, Dave

Sorry Mike! I was remembering Lesters...

Mike in Colorado has a set of NOS Lester WWW from before WW2. Real rubber! No cracks or anything.

Iirc the rockers should toe in. Somebody assembled them toe out. Swap each one left to right. One would think a shop would have caught that.

Merry Christmas from the Stovalls and da boyz who help me keep my cars looking good! (Shane, Ben, Bennett)

Yes it is a replacement engine. The dealers were responsible for putting the old engine's serial number on the new engine with a provided punch kit.

I have a big L&R ultrasonic cleaner. Probably well over 10L. 2 gallons fills it about halfway. It cost about $500 15 yrs ago and now I think they are a kilobuck. It has a built in heater if you want to preheat but after 10 mins of vibration the liquid will be plenty hot. I use L&R #677 Waterless Cleaner. If you are ok with water based cleaner it is cheaper but it contains strong ammonia. If you use 677 also get the rinse since you have to wash it off. You can use a water rinse but you have to dry it immediately. I originally got it for large clock movements. When I got back into cars I also started using it on carbs if they are very bad. My procedure is to use ChemDip first and just soak for a few hours. If there is still crud and signs of passage crud or blockage then I go to the ultrasonic. Usually 15 mins does it but another 15 mins may be required for stubborn cases. So far that has always been successful. I also use the ultrasonic on smaller car parts. Auto parts crud up the cleaner solution pretty quick compared to clock movements so every so often I filter it thru paper towels or filter paper to remove the crud. Cheers, Dave

Do you have drill set with numbered drills? If not get one, they are very useful. #70 down to #30. Use the shank end to get the largest smooth (not tight) fit.

Ok, since I have time while waiting for the vac pump rebuild I decided to pull the bottom gear and clean it up thoroughly. I am going to take some measurements on the engine to see if I am going to shim or not. Now, replacing the bottom pin. What should I use - a roll pin or a solid one? Cheers, Dave

My 1940 Super had black mats but the color was originally Casino Beige (glad it was repainted a different color). Cheers, Dave

Also nitrophyl supposedly has slightly different buoyancy than cork so you may have to adjust the arm. At least that is what they said when I replaced the floats on the carbs on my TR-3. Cheers, Dave

JB Weld?

Nice autumn tableau. Leaves 'n' rust.

Ok I understand. Will stick with what he has. Maybe just try it as is after I get it cleaned and the ball groove unpitted since it's easy enough to pull if problems persist. Thanks!

End play. You can move the shaft up and down. Lateral play seems good as dwell is rock steady.

I am trying to fix up the distro in my friend Irv's 1934 series 40 (233 engine). It is a 663E as per spec for the car. I pulled it and am working it on the bench. I don't have the Sun tester but do have a setup on the bench which allows a full ignition system test at all speeds. Vac advance inop of course - hello Terrill Machine! It is pretty cruddy which was causing intermittant grounding problems and I am addressing this. And of course the 3 balls have worn the grooved track pretty badly. But there is a lot of end slop - about 0.025 in. When there is this much wear, is it even repairable? And I have a spare 1110801 in good shape and ready to go. Can he use this temporarily? The dimensions appear to be the same although I checked part numbers and a lot of things are different. I suppose the mechanical curve will be more aggressive but will that make much difference for the small amount of driving he does? Has anyone done this? Thanks, Dave

My 1940 had an aftermarket as well. It was in a hammertone finish common in the 50s. The fan was frozen so I pulled it, stripped it, fixed the fan, cleaned the core, and repainted in a black wrinkle more appropriate to the period. It still works fine today. A little research revealed the it was made by Hupp Manufacturing, successor company to the Huppmobile. As of 3 years ago they were still making this model heater.

No sleeve on mine, probably lost years ago. I did get in the donuts and found one that works well. The maker is FelPro and the number is 60538. It does have a metal inner liner. Rock Auto carries them. There is also a cross to Nickson and ROL. I believe NAPA also carries them. Now I just have to get a new muffler. I ordered from Waldrons and should be here in December.

Can you epoxy it back? Getting the switch out of the car is not too bad.

Second the Hastings.

On mine, if you turn the carb so you are looking at the bowl in front with the air horn in back, the stamping was on the top front left side. It's not real deep so you may have to clean it up to see it.

I just did an overhaul of this carb with a kit from Jon. The number stamped on top of the bowl should be 7-5A. The .048 stamped on the base probably refers to the 0.048 main jet size, which is correct for a 7-5A (also known as part number A18181).

My thoughts exactly. I have been looking at them online and both Nickson and ROL have detailed illustrations with dimensions. I have narrowed it down to 6 candidates. I was able to get 2 at NAPA today. Will order the other 4, should get next week. Will post again once I have them all and do a fit test.