Lahti35

I had received a couple of vacuum tank tops from a nice forum member... After cleaning I couldn't get the better of the two lids to function well. The vent/vacuum assembly did not want to snap up when held in the vertical position, it would do it in any other position but up. Close examination revealed the issue to be a crooked pin hole that had the actuating arm off center, it would wedge the vent valve in it's bore instead of allowing it to pop up. This is turn would not allow the vacuum valve to close. With nothing to loose I thought I'd enlarge the pin hole a bit while straightening the bore also.... No problems there. The vent valve assembly is not meant to come apart, I figured I would try and grind the mushroomed end off and see if it would come apart... I wanted to be able to remove the assembly and clean the seats and valves, the vacuum valve wasn't sealing well. Some careful work with a dremel tool and I removed just enough to pop the base off. I had run across a website selling replacement vent assemblies (for $82, ouch!) They advised that the new assembly would need to be soldered together and it got me thinking. Why couldn't I just solder mine back together? When assembled it looks like this: So I cleaned everything up and soldered it back together. Went well, I used an electric soldering gun to try first but it wouldn't get things hot enough so I graduated to a propane torch with only short hits with the flame. After cleaning things up it worked great! Problem solved, the extra play allowed things to line up and seal as they are supposed to. All that was left was to install the brass pin that holds it together and carefully peen the ends to keep it in place. And that's where it all went to $&^# Well dang! Even with gentle peening on the pin WITH the pin supported from underneath, not the top itself, the ears cracked off and left it useless. Mama said there'd be days like this. Pot metal is the devil's invention, no doubt about it. Working with peanut brittle would feel safer. Plan C is a new repro aluminum top from down under, should be here in 1-2 weeks via express post and we'll try again. A small bump on the road of life, nothing we can't overcome.

Nice work! I'll be very interested to hear your results with the new venturi block...

Kind of a lazy day today so I thought I'd back the Nash out and wash off 4 months of work dust. Sadly I had to push it out, still waiting for a fuel line fitting but hopefully this week. Some after bath beauty shots... I noticed the tires had some oxidation or something on them a few months ago. Getting her out into the light really showed the discoloration. I'm not sure what this is, the tires are soft and no cracking whatsoever. Anyone see a black wall do this? UV exposure maybe? The tires are Universals. I thought I'd start gentle and just use some armor all on a rag. Some gentle rubbing seemed to removed a lot of it, some further more vigorous scrubbing removed 90% of it. Whatever it is the brown stuff came off on the rag. There are a few stubborn spots but I think I'll try some scotch brite and see where it gets me. Edit: My wife, bless her heart, researched the tires and discovered it is called 'tire bloom". Some sort of anti aging component reaching the surface of the tire and reacting with the atmosphere. Lots of online tips for taking care of this to check out.

The Nash lives! I just wish my camera work was better... Oh well, better to come. It coughed to life fairly quickly, good for an engine that hasn't run in a year. After some quick mixture adjustment it ran much better. Still some timing and mixture work to be done. I had a leak at the vacuum tank flare fitting, I have it rigged up with just the outer tank temporarily. The old lines are single flare brass, been on and off a million times I'm sure, it's on the fix list. Float level is off, too low. The modern float is very buoyant. I'll be fixing that once the vacuum tank is done. Probably opening up the jets a hair to cope with ethanol also after some driving runs. I'm happy though, throttle response is good and it starts easy. I'll be interested to see how it does when it's more dialed in. Looking forward to it moving under it's own power.

Love the green! I'll bet a new wiring harness is in order based on the under hood shots... Same old problem, not enough space or I'd bring her home!

I find myself in a similar situation! I really enjoy getting them running right even if it means dumping lots of $$$ into them when previous owners baulked at spending a dime. I'm a sucker for the hard luck cases! Once they are done though part of the fun is gone and I find myself eyeing up other cars...

I would think driving a 50's Cadillac on those roads must be a hair raising experience! Always neat to see how they do things across the Atlantic, thanks for sharing🙂

Follow up here... Turns out the filler/drain casting was not leaking at it's solder joint. It was a leak from the pan gaskets running down and collecting at the lowest point, the casting. Faked out a previous owner enough to smear RTV around it, almost got me too! I filled the pan with lacquer thinner to just over the level of the casting solder joint and let it sit for an hour with no leak. I figured if oil out found a way out, the thinner would leak out extra fast. The pan is back on the car now, full of oil and not leaking a drop. The fix turned out to be high quality cork and felt pan gaskets instead of the poorly installed paper and felt old gaskets.

Charlie Duncan is a very real scammer, he tried to get me last month. He found me through an ad I placed on the Nash club classifieds, same MO, sent me pics of my Nash, lol. I attributed it to the fact that if you type in 1925 Nash on google my car is one of the first to show up. His e-mail is: charlesduncan788@gmail.com

Looks great! Keep up the good work😀

Success! I filled her with conventional 10W-30 and began cranking. I must admit I got a bit worried after the 2nd attempt and still nothing but on the 3rd try the system primed and a beautiful thing happened... Way better than the old pump's pressure. Nash spec says between 20-30psi at operating RPM, it barely reached 20 before at high RPM. I'll see what she reads when hot but it's clear the pump is doing great so far. We're on schedule for a 4th of July holiday weekend fire up... now on to the vacuum tank and plumbing.

I spent yesterday working on the oil pan on and off between other projects, the goal was to get it installed by the end of the day. I thought I'd run a test and see if I could uncover the leak around the filler casting. I got to thinking a while back that maybe leaking oil pan gaskets running down the pan sides and collecting at the casting (the lowest point) faked a previous owner into thinking the casting solder was leaking. I set the pan on some blocks and filled it to above the filler neck solder joint with lacquer thinner. I figured if it leaked with oil the much less viscous thinner would leak right away. It sat on my bench for an hour with no leaks anywhere. I think it was a leak around the pan edges or the felt end seals dripping down, the original pan gaskets I removed were poorly RTV'd on and of thin paper instead of cork. Satisfied with the leak test I cleaned the brass screens and fastened them back into the pan shelves. The new gaskets from Olson's are much better quality than the old ones. I trimmer the felt seals a bit proud so they compressed when installed and used some permatex ultra black on the pan side only of the gaskets except at the ends where the cork met the felt, a dab there to aid in sealing on the block side. I spent an 1/2 hour slowly working the bolts around the pan to draw the gaskets up to the block, just enough to get the permatex to start to squish out. I'll retighten tonight as it will be fully cured. Oil goes in tonight and I do the oil pressure check, long time coming!

Got the oil pump fully reassembled this AM, those relief valve flow tube "horns" make me want to lasso cattle. Strange design! When I originally got into the oil pan the relief valve pressure adjuster was unscrewed almost to it's limit. When I got a copy of the correct manual it showed it set flush with the relief valve body. Not only was the pump barely working, it was also at it's lowest pressure setting. It's now set correctly and secured with a cotter pin instead of wire as before. This evening I had an hour and installed it without any drama back into it's home. I rotated the crank to make sure it wouldn't contact the relief valve "horns" and had to make a small adjustment on one. It's good to go now, always nice to get a project off my workbench after weeks and weeks!

I've used YnZ wiring and Brillman for good repop cloth wire, both are excellent resources.

Thanks all for the great suggestions! I may not have to deal with the crack, a kind forum member has sent me a top to try out that appears to be crack free... While waiting for that to show I'm back on the oil pump. The machine shop finished up and I grabbed them on the way home today. I pressed the gears on this evening and so far so good! I had to do some minor filing on a few of the teeth before the driven gear would spin 360 but it was very minor. The shafts are nice and tight in the bushings, no slop. Case clearance on the gear teeth is tight and both gears revolve around the center of the shaft, no more eccentric action as before. Gee, it only took 3 months and $500 to get it sorted out! Looking forward to oil pressure, yay!

I talked to the machinist yesterday and supposedly he'll have my oil pump shafts done Monday afternoon, hopefully he will but it's 4 weeks overdue so far... In the mean time I pulled the vacuum tank of the firewall after noticing some small chunks of stuff when I emptied it via the fuel line to the carb. I didn't like the looks of the mating surface between the tank and top either which has some ancient sealer smeared around it. This valve was leaking also and when I took it apart the threads were messed up on the internal bit. The body where the packing seals is also missing a chunk so I'll have to find a replacement. I have to be able to cut gas to the carb when the car is not in use, safety first! I carefully pulled the top off the tank and immediately discovered some issues... The fuel inlet was clogged with junk, strange junk! Bits that looked like pink Easter basket grass, flecks of shiny silver, dirt and some long things that looked like wood slivers. Once cleaned out I could see through the screen... good job catching crap Mr. Screen! Also plugged was the vent into the outer tank... the sealer someone in the past had used had packed the passage closed. I picked the bulk of the junk out in preparation for the Chem-Dip cleaner. After manual removal of all the easy to get crud the top assembly was ready for a dip in the cleaner can. After the Chem-Dip. It came out much cleaner and the mechanism works much more crisply now. All the varnish and fine white powdery stuff is gone. The cleaner had no bad effects on the pot metal, other than darkening it some, washing with water cleans the solution away. After cleaning I found a crack in the gas inlet neck. I'll grind out some of the material around the crack and patch with some JB weld. Since it's not submerged in gas the JB weld should hold for some time. The rest of the top is crack free. This part also seems broken, missing 3 tabs. It sits at the bottom of the inner tank, the float shaft goes through it but I'm not sure of it's purpose just yet... All in all it's safe to say the vacuum tank was not at optimal performance!

Looks like a nice one! Nice to see a same era Nash spotted in the wild!

Still waiting on the machine shop making the new oil pump shafts, not much else going on... The scammers are busy though! I got a reply to an ad I posted looking for a gas cap and oil pump. Wouldn't you know it, an elderly gentleman is breaking up a car and can supply me with parts! The only problem is the car he's busting up is mine, lol! Poor choice of pictures Mr. Scammer! What is one to do with these these fine folks... Whip up a list of fake parts of course and see how much he's charging for my requested goodies! We went around for awhile, myself feigning difficulties with paypal requiring help from my fictitious granddaughter, thanking him for helping, requesting alternate payment options... He did give me routing and account numbers to a real bank in the US using another name on the east coast and an alternate address on the west coast. Eventually I had to get some real stuff done and dropped the bomb after a few days... Since he ended every message with "God Bless" i thought it was only fair to return the sentiment. What a world! LOL!

That VW half cab is worth some coin, those VW folks go bonkers for that stuff. I'd take the White myself, always loved the style of those.

Good price, even if the steering wheel is on backwards.

Float height? Venturi condition?

At least they're still asking too much, thank goodness for some continuity!

Could the Johnsons of Oldtimeworld be related to the Rock Ridge Johnsons by chance?

Interesting to see those "old tyme" fixes, creative indeed! I almost wish I just had a gauge on the tank since it's a less complicated affair. We'll see how the gauge works when I get some gas in there. There is some resistance to the wire moving, more than I would like but I'm not ready to replace the wire yet.

You can never have too many grounds! I find so many electrical issues in old cars to be due to corrosion, especially if the body is involved in the current pathway. The above example is grounding the body and bed of my truck to the frame. I always clean off the spot of any rust and sand the area to bare metal, apply a little electrical grease to keep moisture out of the connection and then tighten down. It's the same with me for little or big cables/wires/connectors.