Beltfed

A question...are your plans to keep the original tach or at least the face of the old tach? There are companies like "John Wolf Company" that will convert about any gauge or instrument. If this is your direction I would think $200.00 is in your rear view mirror.

I am assuming your sender is a variable resistor type (there may be other types). This means as the temp. rises and falls, the resistance does likewise (but usally in the inverse). So you can check the working of the sender out of the car with an ohmmeter, pot of hot water, and a good thermometer. Just heat the water to say 140deg F., place the part that goes into the engine (do not immerse the whole thing) and note the resistance vs temp. Repeat at different points of your temp operating and you have that part done. This step not only checks the sender operation, but gives you a calibration chart. Now it's time to check the rest of the system. Buy, borrow, or beg a variable resistor (often refered to as a 'pot') which has a range close to the resistance values you got from the sender (0-200 ohms sounds good). With test leads hook the pot to the sender wire at the engine and ground. Set the pot to one of your known resistances from your chart (done without the sender wire connected to the pot). Make the gauge hot and read the water temp on the gauge. It hopefully is close to the temp. chart. Repeat at your other temp points If everything works out, you now have a calibrated water temp. gauge. Not many guys have this, they just trust in the Gods. Good luck

Do anyone run radials on their Zephyrs? My old ones are 6.50x16. Who knows if this is the correct size? I assume anyone that does run radials doesn't have tubes in them. If you are running radials, what size? Thanks

Rather than "taking a stab in the dark" by replacing parts, why don't you troubleshoot the problem. You seem to have a handle on when it happens. Now all you need is to find out why. A VOM (volt,ohm meter) and an ampmeter will do the trick. I prefer a clip-on ampmeter as you don't have to break the circuit to use. I would start by heating the motor up till it goes into discharge then remove the output wire from the generator. If the discharge goes away then I would suspect the generator or regulator has a problem. The regulator may be the problem by allowing the battery to discharge by way of the generator or the generators insulation may be breaking down.

I am not receiving the magazine. And yes, I do need to get off my 'hind end' and join. Could you share the ad here. Thanks.

After spending time to totally rebuilt the drivers side trunk latch, I want to replace/refresh the warning tag. Mine is totally faded out. Can you suggest a place that has a repop or will repair mine to original? Thanks

I am rebuilding the Zephyr v12 Ford AA-1 carb. The power valve removed from the carb is marked 7.5. The rebuild kit has one that is marked 2.8. The original one (7.5) is still good and sounds like the right size. The new one (2.8) seems low to me. I know from my hot rod days that multiple carbs require smaller number power valves. What size do you run in your stock motor? Thanks

Never mind. It took three weeks of off and on work but I rebuilt the latch. Making the two gears (if that's what you call them) was a job without a machine shop.

Need the driver's side trunk door hinge. The one that latches the door open. Mine is 'toast'. Thanks

I would put an ohmmeter on the horn button side of your horn to see if you or fate has pinched the wire to ground. While your in that area check the voltage and ground of your buckets. If no ohmmeter, a test light (looks like an icepick with a pig tail) can be used for the voltage test. A jumper from the bulb base to a good ground will work for your ground test. Do you have a ground strap for your buckets instead of relying on the mounting bolt for ground?

There is a clock on eBay right now.

I've owned a small mom & pop business that does bead blasting as a prep to metal refinishing. I have a bead blaster in my garage (big one). I just don't want to remove the heads unless I have to. I've already bead blasted the spark plug wire conduits and applied a coating (hi gloss) which cannot be removed without blasting. If I ever remove (or when) the heads, I will make them look better than new. For now, I'm going to carefully apply a low acidic mixture to remove grim and oxides. Thanks

Don't own a '46 but....my Lincoln has a fuel sender inspection plate in the boot floor. If your has such, then you can remove the plate, remove the fuel sender and take a peek inside your tank for trash.

Update: had the sender/gauge on the bench today to perform the calibration. After taking the rear mounting piece off I found two calibration 'stars'. I gave it a shot and now have the gauge reading dead on with the new Ford sender without adding the 10 ohm resistor. Ready to move on to the oil pressure calibration. Thanks for all the help and sorry for hijacking this thread.

I am looking to clean up the old gas/oil stains and the other 'stuff'. The heads are still in their original matte finish.

Preacher, I stand corrected. I didn't look and think hard enough. The Ford unit should work ok. It has a 70 degree swing of the float which is what I measured on the old unit. The resistance is 100 ohms (m/t) to 12 ohms (full). The gauge likes about 112 to 18. Current is about 5ma. to 20ma. I plan on putting a 10 ohm 1/2 % resistor in series with the sender. This should correct the gauge to about 1/4 to 1/2 needle width. Thanks

Update. I ordered a Ford sending unit for years 1936 to 1956. It will not work on my '38 Zephyr. The new unit is a variable resistor type with a range of 100-12 ohms (empty-full) which is not what the Zephyr wants to see. The other and biggest problem is the mounting flange holes don't match. The ones on the Zephyr tank aren't symmetrical, the holes on the Ford unit are. Original tank....who knows?

Gosh, I don't think I have that much time left. I was hoping for something quick and simple. But then, there has been nothing quick and simple since starting on this Zephyr. Thanks

Would someone care to tell me what kind of springs are used to hold the rear deck open. Mine are missing and I'm over the broom handle thing. A pic of how/where they attach would be great. 1938 Zephyr coupe. Would Ford springs work? Thanks

I want to clean/brighten up my aluminum heads which are installed. What would you use? Thanks

That is indeed good news. I have a calibration rig that I use on my and my friends old cars. I will install it on the sender wire and see what resistance fits my gauge. I might do the same thing on the oil pressure sender as I believe it's the same King-Seeley setup. The only problem there is, the manufactures don't give you much information on pressure senders. They just say, get the correct make, model, and year sender and it will work. I make it a habit to calibrate all my gauges as they have their fingers on the pulse of your motor and other important things. Thanks

A couples of questions please. My books say the 1936-46 Fords and 1936-46 Lincoln's all use the King-Seeley Electric type of sender/gauge. The King-Seeley type used a very different system of measuring fluid level. The sender works somewhat like the blinker cans in your turn signals. The somewhat more modern system using a variable resistor as a sender and a balanced coil type of gauge. The King-Seeley gauge is a bimetallic strip and heater wire. Can one replace the sending unit with a variable resistor type sender? If so, does 88-94 (empty) and 14-18 (full) sound right? Thanks

As they say, "When all else fails, read the book". I took my "Motor Auto Repair manual" with me to see what was what. From the drawings in the manual I now believe I have the Holley AA-1 flavored carb. I ordered the '38 to ? rebuild kit from Boos so I should be ok. I believe my car was a latter production '38. Production number #52067. Thanks

I read the article from Waynesgarage. I didn't see any mention of really old cars like ours. I do believe that some type of anti-corrosive stuff needs to be in the cooling system as mentioned in the article. I think I will try to find some old style antifreeze to be safe. Thanks.

The reason I asked was from reading a discussion over on the Buick forum started by 'trp314592' on Nov. 7, 2010. It has a lot to say about organic additive technology vs inorganic additive technology and what these additives do to cooling systems over ten years old. Very interesting reading. If anyone has more information to add please post it. It reminds me of the lack of ZDDP in modern oil problems a couple years back. That problem cost me a fresh 250 Chevy motor. Till then I for one am going to take their advice. Thanks.