JP75

When I pulled the water pump off it was frozen not with rust but, with scale. It cleaned up nicely and may be usable. I have tried to pull out the water distribution tube and it is stuck solid. It appears to be brass and I am afraid I will damage it if I get to aggressive with it. I tried grabbing it with pliers and all I did was damage it. I saw on a Packard site were they used a hook to reach in side and use one of the distribution holes to pull it out. I tried this and I think all I did was elongate the hole. I am convinced it is locked in place with scale. What can I do to free it with out hurting it any more? Thanks in advance for any help.

Okay I should have noticed this before I installed the bushing but, it did not click until I saw it installed. Looking at the picture the center shaft in the bushing is about an 1/8 off center to the right side. I can not imagine this will cause a problem but, it will bother me if I do not at least ask and get a few opinions. Thanks for your help.

Would anybody consider using NOS bushings?

Hi Tinindian The parts came from California Pontiac Restoration and part # on the packing slip is C502442RP.

Hi everybody UPS just delivered my latest delivery of parts in a little brown box. My excitement is on hold due that I found inside. I purchased 4 new rear spring bushings 2 for the frame and 2 for the spring ends and the rear shackle connects the two. I was expecting parts to be like the originals with rubber between the inner and outer sleeves (picture with C513638R text in it) . What I received with a note saying the originals have been discontinued and they shipped a replacements that have a threaded sleeve and shaft with a grease fitting on one end with two rubber washers on each side. (The picture below shows the the bushing put together and taken apart). My question is will there be any difference in function, vibration, and noise if I use these over the bushings with the rubber or would I be better off looking for original style parts. Thanks in advance four your thoughts.

Hi, This is the leaf spring off a 1953 Pontiac. In the 1st and 2nd picture there is what looks to be burlap rapped around the spring. Is this burlap? If not what is the fabric and were can I get more or what is a good substute? The last picture of the clean spring it looks to be painted blue. Is this an illusion or were they really painted blue? I was thinking about painting them black but, when ever I get the chance to be authentic I do try. Thanks for your help in advance.

I made some more progress i wish it could go faster but, with the long hours at work and the hunny do list the Pontiac has to wait. I have the left rear spring completely taken apart. The metal gators were a bit of a challenge the metal is not very thick and I was afraid I might mess them up. Once I figured out how they work they came off fairly easy. The ends were packed full of Moore County sand. Old hard grease and sand kind of make a concrete rock that I basically had to beat off the spring at the ends of each gator. I cleaned up all the leafs and they look okay a little bit of rust on the trailing end and some very shallow grooves I will have to sand out but other than that I am very happy with there condition. I do have two questions for the Pontiac enthusiasts. In the 2nd picture there is what looks to be burlap rapped around the spring. Is this burlap? If not what is the fabric and were can I get more? The last picture of the clean springs they look to be painted blue. Is this an illusion or were they really painted blue? I was thinking about painting them black but, when ever I get the chance to be authentic I do try. Okay that was 3 questions. One last thing I do not have a picture of it but, it is the best $7.00 I have ever spent and I want to share. I as watching a You tube video of a guy restoring a 1941 Plymouth (may be a different year) and he showed a crock pot he had filled with Marine Clean and water a 1-1 mix. He was putting dirty greasy parts in it turned it on and walked away for about an hour and when they came out he washed them off with water and they were clean. I had to try this I found an old large crock pot at Goodwill and I have been cleaning parts ever since. I'm sold any time not spent with rags, wire brushes, cleaning chemicals and spending hours cleaning parts is a win for me.

Okay so my timing is of a little bit. It took a little longer than I thought to get the frame painted. I went with the POR15 system and so far I am impressed. The first major part done I can not wait to start on another part. I think I am going to work on the leaf springs and the rear axle next.

It feels good to be back in the shop. I got tired of waiting for good weather to clean up the frame outside so I built a blasting booth inside. So far the booth is working well most of the media is staying in the booth and I would say I am about 2/3 of the way done. Hopefully later this week I can flip the frame over and blast the other side. My goal is to have this mess cleaned up and can paint it this weekend and can start putting things (dare I say) back together!

Okay, Been helping my dad with his 1931 Tudor. He was over eager in my opinion to remove all the rust (no rust through or surface rust but, there might have been some between the panels and he could not live with that) and took the body completely apart rear panel, two sides etc. We have the sub frame all back together using the original rivet holes and have the cowl, gas tank a lot of the wood back in to give the vertical uprights some support(door posts and the rear vertical supports that support the rear of the side windows and body sides). We decided to test fit the two rear side panels and have run into an issue. We have put every thing back together with the original holes and have the sub frame sitting level. The front of the panels fit perfect against the door uprights but, the rear is sitting about 1/4 to 3/16th to high on the rear up rights. The roof curves of the side panels are firmly against the rear up rights were they curve and connect with the sheet metal and we can not figure out how to drop the panels down any further. This is my question does anybody have any experience with a model a body construction and may have some hidden insight on how to make these panels drop and align. Sorry for my descriptions I hope they describe the situation well enough. Thanks for any help

Hi everybody I am sure this has been spoke about many times but, for the life of me I can not locate a thread on this topic. I picked up a set of 710-15 Firestones this past week end for my 1953 Pontiac and for what ever reason I thought my wheels were welded (had not looked at them in a few years in any great detal) to my surprise they are riveted. The tires are capable of running tubeless but, from what I have read I really should run tubes and flaps to ensure problem free driving. Two questions. How to you know the correct size of tube and flap to purchase? Other than asking the tire companies? I would like to verify what they tell me is correct? Is it safe to run riveted rims with out tubes if the rivets to not leak? Thanks for your help.

I have seen this steering wheel hanging on the wall at a local antique store for at least a year. It is just to nice to be on a wall so I thought I would share it to see if someone had an fitting home and was looking for a steering wheel like this. It is located at the antique market place in Greensboro NC Let me know if the pic does not show. It was there when I submitted the post and now I can not see it. If not I will post it again when I can get to my laptop. Just Incase it is not there it is a nice thick brass fat man steering wheel.

Let see it has been about two months and I have managed to completely strip the frame and the timing cannot be worse. I know I am not in the northern states like some of you are but, a non-heated garage is not a fun place to be. I have taken advantage of some of the nicer days and I have been prepping the frame for a nice coat of por15. I have read it is very thick and not easy to apply when cold. I think it is going to be at least another month or two before it will be warm enough to actually apply it. I am in the process of installing insulation in the celling of my garage and if I am able to get done maybe the kerosene heater will be enough to keep the garage worm enough to apply some paint. If not may be in late February I will be able to apply the Por15. There is a nice bend it the bottom of one of the frame rails that still needs to be fixed. Dad swares it came from when his brother ran the car into a ditch nose first and was sitting on the frame He said it was so hung up they had to get a tow truck to pull it out. Nice story but, I still want it straight. Also As you can see in the last picture I have a pile of parts that need some attention. It sucks I may have to wait on finishing the frame but, I think I have a few more projects that I can work on till then.

Okay I have a question. I will have pictures soon I was not able to take any tonight. I finally removed the complete front suspension. Very nerve racking removing the coil springs without the body or engine on the frame. My question in is regards to the fixed shock absorber bushing cup in the lower control arm. The right side control arm shock absorber bushing cup is firmly fixed and okay. The left side the shock absorber cup has come loose and it is obvious the whole in the control arm has opened up allowing this cup to come loose. My question is has anybody run in to this situation before and is it worth trying to fix or should I start looking for a replacement control arm? The rest of the arm at first glance appears to be in really good shape. My main concern is if I try to fix it and it is not centered correctly will it make a difference to how the shock functions? I am only talking about 1/16” to 1/8” or less.

Made some good progress and a mess this past weekend. The engine is finally out and it is amazing how much fluid a Hydromatic holds even after it has been drained. I decided to take the engine head off because I was not happy with how far the head bolts screwed into the block with the chain attached. I just knew they would pull out of the block. All of the head bolts came out very easy and other then a little carbon everything looks very good so far. For 47000 miles I would have expected to see some cylinder ridges, but they were smooth as if they had been cut down for a rebuild. I really believe the engine was rebuilt before grandpa parked it. I am thinking about not digging any further into the engine other then cleaning out the oil pan. Does anybody with experience with these engines know of any problem areas that I should check out now while I have it out just to be safe?

Hi Charles I was reading my shop manual about the front motor mount and it says on cars with power steering there are a flat washer on each bolt between the engine support and insulator. When I acquired my steering parts I did not get these washers. If you are able to see your mount can you tell me if you have these washers in place and how thick they are. I am thinking they are rather thick and lift the engine up high enough to change the belts.

Now this just has me puzzled. There is no way Pontiac could have made a design this bad. Something has to be wrong here. To remove the fan belt the power steering harmonic balancer has to come off or the engine has to be jacked up. I am thining the front motor mount has compressed. Yuck, More rust. This is going to have to be fixed. Does any body know if a Chevy support is the same as a Pontiac? Another sign somebody was taking things apart at one time.

Not much has happened lately just working on getting the Engine and Trans ready to be removed this weekend. I still have to drain the fluids and remove the 30 plus bolts to seperate the engine and transmission. <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Hi Charles my car originally came with manual steering, but I was able to acquire a complete early power steering assembly several years ago. It is the early Eaton rotor pump with the Saginaw steering gear. I have taking it apart and it appears to be rebuildable so if it works out it will be one of the few accessories I would like to add. So far the pulley woodruff key slot is the biggest issue. If I cannot locate a replacement pulley I may have a go at repairing it. You said I have a 1954 horn button. This was the one piece I had to source. Other than the "Power Steering" text on it it is exactly like my originally button. What are the differences between a 1953 and a 1954 horn button?

That would be my 1969 MG Midget. I did not know it was possible for one car to break down so much. I have owned it for 19 years and it has been fixed and working on and off for about 10 months. Maybe this winter I am going to put some more attention to it.

This car has been in the family since new, my great uncle bought it new in 1953 and it lived many hard years on a farm. My grandfather bought it from him and drove it many years in the sixty and my dad drove it for a while when his car was stolen in the late 60's. Then in the 70's my grandfather decided to restore it and had the engine and transmission rebuild and then it basically sat until the early 90's. When he decided he was never going to do any with it and asked if I wanted it. His only condition was I could not hot rod it. I wish I had taken pictures of it when I got it in the early 90's. Basically the interior was gutted and all the chrome and stainless had been removed and was in the trunk. The white and blue paint was mostly powder and full of cracks. Well I did not have much money or experience with engines so in my great wisdom I removed all the paint. I eventually got it running then parked it while I went into the Marine Corps, got out and finished collage, got married and several years later built a garage and that brings me to last year when I pulled it out of its tomb and brought it home.. My first task was to get the body ready to remove the body from the frame. First was the front floor pans and of course nobody makes reproductions for a US Pontiac. The Canadian Chevy/Pontiac reproductions are a dime a dozen. The Chevy pans are close enough to make them work. I do not have the after photos. but here are the before pics. The back Left door halted progress on the body removal for about 6 months. I found out the car had hit a bus and the left rear quarter was replaced. It appears the body man was a bondo artist I found up to 3/4 inch of bondo in the door jamb and dog leg. The lower door edge overlapped the rocker by quarter inch. I slowly started cutting metal looking for the what was still bent and when I finally cut the rocker loose from the dog leg the rocker sprung out and down a half inch. That fixed the overlap, but the door would still not close properly. When I had the top of the door aligned the bottom was too far in and vice versa with the bottom and the top. What I found out after much searching was the body man bent the door in at the base of the window frame so the door would fit the rocker that was still pushed in a half inch from the crash. I had to cut out a very shallow dent on the edge of the door to allow the door to be bent back finally fixing this six month problem. For a while I thought I was goingto have to find a new door. Next was the inner and outter rockers were repaced and the body is off finally.