Taylormade

I used copper/nickel on my 1932 Dodge Brothers DL sedan. It was easy to bend and flare, and matched the look of the original copper lines. I bought all new line fittings, but used the original Lockeed junctions and brass fittings on the wheel cylinders. I used silicon brake fluid, which has a tendency to leak more than standard fluid, but have never had any leaks from the lines or their fittings. I used double flares and did not anneal them. I’m not sure what annealing would do to the composite material in these lines - it’s not all copper. Personally, I wouldn’t anneal them and I feel the double flare gives a much better seal. All my fittings handled the double flare with absolutely no problems. I don’t know who made the brakes on your REO, but if they’re Lockeed you shouldn’t have any problems. Not trying to start a war here. I’m sure PFitz is giving you the straight dope and basing it on his experience. Go what ever direction you feel is correct.

Which LEDs did you buy? This guy has a lot listed.

Fonts were originally named for the type that typesetters designed for printing. Often the font was named for its creator. For a few centuries, there were only a few hundred different recognized fonts in existence as each font had to have patterns made and then be made into lead type face. There are thousands of fonts today, as artists can churn them out on a graphics program, name them anything they want and post them for sale. The letters on the hubcaps and the lettering on the sign are not some guy looking up a specific font and then copying it, they are unique creations designed and executed by a graphic artist or designer out of whole cloth. With the number of fonts available, you can probably find something close, but I have lots of experience with this and I always find that close is not close enough. I found a very similar font when I was doing the service sign, but the E wasn’t right, the R didn’t have the little tail, everything was just bit more rounded, and it just didn’t look the same. I always end up creating what I’m looking for with anything done decades ago. It’s like looking at a letter with my handwriting and then trying to find the font I used.

While it’s true that complete alphabetic fonts have been designed and named over the years, we have to remember that the computer age has redefined the use of fonts. Just because you can plug in a myriad of professionally designed fonts into graphic programs and spit out the look you want, today, that didn’t and couldn’t happen back in the day. For printing, typeface In required fonts could be attained, but the actual design and rendering of the font style was done by graphic artists - by hand. Many artists slightly modified the font to match what their clients desired and what fit the piece they were designing. The two examples you provided on the hubcaps are actually two different fonts. They are similar, but notice that in the top example, the thickness of the letter’s parts remains constant. In the second example, the rounded areas of the letter bulge along the curves and vary in thickness. The only way to reproduce this accurately is to photograph the letters from straight on, with as little distortion as possible, then recreate it in Adobe Illustrator or another similar graphics program. There is no magic wand for this situation. A while ago I did a high resolution recreation of the DODGE BROTHERS APPROVED SERVICE STATION SIGN in Illustrator. I used a photo of an original sign. I had to take the distortion out of the photo before I could even start. After that, I quickly determined that the font used on the sign was not available in digital form. I had to basically trace each letter on the sign to create the type. I quickly discovered that the original artwork for the sign was hand lettered, as each matching letter varied in size, sometimes by quite a bit. I realized that making one “E” and then using it wherever one was required didn’t work. The lettering looked too regular and even, and the sign just looked wrong. If you need artwork for one of these logos, PM me and maybe I can help.

I re-annealed my copper washers - they still leak.

While crawling around under my car checking on the leak from the bottom of the timing cover (tightening the bolts seems to have almost stopped the problem, nothing is dripping or flowing, but I still can see a tiny bit of oil seeping) I discovered another problem. My brake lines are still leaking around the banjo fittings. This after I got new copper washers and annealed them so they would crush properly. I found an article on this problem and they recommended these washers... Funny, since I just bought some smaller ones for my transmission leak problem. Has anyone tried these on brake fittings? The article, from The Toolbox site, says they work every time. They have no skin in the game and do not advertise this product, so maybe it's legit. I have silicon brake fluid in the system, and I suspect this may be part of the problem. I have heard it is more prone to leak than conventional fluid. Nothing else in the system leaks, all my brake line fittings (which I made and flared myself) are fine. Same with the master cylinder. It's an ongoing and annoying problem, so I may give these washers a try.

I found that Homosote board was almost an exact match for this material. I'll have to paint it black, but it's the right thickness, is fire retardant and shapes easily. You can find it in most big box stores.

Here are some shots of the Homosote cut and in place on the two floorboards. It proved to be easy to cut with a jigsaw. I cleaned up the edges with sandpaper. These panels were originally black, so I'm going to give them a quick coat of H-Temp flat black.

No Creosote in the stuff I bought - odorless and white. Even after cutting and shaping, no odor as all.

Twenty years from now they’ll probably discover that all the current safe and environmentaly friendly products contain a deadly material that has been poisoning us for decades.

I found Homosote at a Menards. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so it’s a 70 mile round trip, but they had some with a good fire retardant rating and it was the right thickness - 1/2 inch. The pattern on the outer covering matches that of the firewall pad, really lucky. Thanks, jpage for the heads up, Homosote was the answer to my problem. I’ll post some pix tomorrow.

Powder coat. Many opinions for and against, but I’m happy.

Hot Rodders love this car. It appears to have a straight body under the surface rust. It will be interesting to see if the car really sold, or if it shows up,on eBay in a week or so, which often happens. Hot rodders are paying more than this for an original 32 Ford roadster body, even though steel repo bodies are available.

Before the last post I tightened the bolts that hold the plate and timing cover in place - the ones I could get to. Checking two hours later, it seems to have helped. Not sure if the leak is completely stopped, but it's definitely slowed. A check after 24 hours should confirm if the problem is solved. I'm currently working on the firewall insulation pad found on the inside of the firewall in the passenger compartment. It's in pretty bad shape, and has come apart, the front "decorative" piece coming unglued from the pad. I was surprised to find not just the expected jute padding, but a molded piece between the jute and the cover. I suspect this molded piece is loaded with asbestos, as this was the material of choice for heat and fire protection back in the day. It will be carefully disposed of. Here is a shot of the pad and cover, both facing into the interior. You can see the molded section on top of the jute. Here's a close shot of the jute and the molded piece. I was thinking of buying this to replace the pad. My only concern is that without the molded piece for support, would this pad tend to sag or distort over time? The two removable front floorboards also have what I suspect is a similar material attached to the board, facing the motor. Again, this must be for heat protection - and probably contains asbestos. It's disintegrating, and the fibers can get into the air. I found this material that seems to be about the same consistency and is the right thickness, but I worry about its ability to handle heat from the motor. I don't want to use something that might be flammable, and this may be. Then there is this stuff that has the right properties and thickness if i use two layers, but it will hardly look original with the reflective, shiny outer surface. Always something to try and figure out. Someone, somewhere must have solved this problem at some point. Maybe just paint the surface with hi-heat flat black and go with that.

Another annoying problem has reared its ugly head. I noticed a slight engine oil leak this morning. I filled the car with oil several months ago and have been monitoring for any leaking ever since. Of course this was before I started the engine for the first time. After the motor ran with full oil pressure, I discovered this tiny leak - in the worst possible place on my car. The Floating Power feature on my DL has the front of the motor mounted on a single rubber mount placed on the top of a stamped steel cradle that straddles the frame. You can see it in the picture below. The rubber pad is just under the waterpump, with the cradle straddling the frame. The cradle has a hole in the center so you can take it off over the front pulley, but this can only be done with the motor out of the car or the pulley off. The front of the engine has a plate and the timing cover attached, held on by some common bolts and some exclusive to the plate. Here you can see both the plate and the cover during engine disassembly. This is what it looks like with everything in place and not covered by the cradle. Obviously, once I got the motor started and running, oil was forced under pressure into the timing cover for the first time. That's when the leak became apparent. The very tiny leak is coming from right here on the bottom of the motor. it's coming from the area between the plate and the motor, not from between the timing cover and the plate. With the motor in the car and the mounting cradle blocking access, it's very hard, almost impossible, to get up under there and tighten anything. I did manage to get a wrench on the two lower bolts that hold the cover and plate in place. I could tighten them slightly, but there still seemed to be seepage after I cleaned everything off. Needless to say, if this doesn't solve the problem, I'm in trouble. The only way to fix this seems to be a long a tedious road. I'd have to remove the radiator and all hoses, support the front of the engine on a hoist, pull the front pulley, remove the cradle, remove the cover and plate, get new gaskets, clean everything and put it all back together. I'm strongly considering just leaving it alone and resigning myself to cleaning off the engine pan after each trip. The leak is so small, if I can get it clean enough, maybe just a tiny bit of silicon rubber (ugh!) in the crack would fix things. Daphne is fighting me at every turn, no doubt as revenge for leaving her all those years ago. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

This rebuilder was respected by whom? I hope you are steering fellow car enthusiasts away from this shop.

This car was listed as sold for $3152.00 on August 26th. Now it’s back on eBay with top bid at $565.00. Maybe the first winner showed up, discovered the true condition of the car, fainted, and then drove home with an empty trailer. Or maybe his wife found out and he just never showed. I have to admit, it’s an interesting car, and one that can conjure up some pleasant dreams. But after spending five years restoring my 32 DB, which was a complete car in fairly decent condition, tackling this project would be more than I could handle. I do hope someone can save it, it’s a cool car.

My wheels looked worse than yours - half had been painted black - and the original color had darkened due to weathering and rust. I had all six wheels sandblasted and then took them to a wire wheel specialist to have the spokes tightened and the wheels trued.

Gloss and sunflower yellow (a creamy yellow) as original. I don’t think gray would look good - just my opinion. Are you taking the tires off? If so, be sure to clean the inner rims and make sure they are rust free and as smooth as possible.

Should be working now.

Well, I finally got Daphne started. No real problems, she cranked for awhile but then took off. There was some obnoxious noise from the fan or waterpump area that I think was a loose fan belt - you can see my worried and annoyed look on the video. The first few tries nothing happened, and I thought she might not be getting a spark. I loosened one of the plug leads and held it close and got a spark. Then the motor wanted to start. I snapped the plug wire back on and she started right up. Not sure why that seemed to be the "spark" that got her going. On a later try, I had to do the same thing. My coil wires are all rather long at the moment, so maybe she isn't getting enough juice at startup. There might be some lifter noise, see what you think. The carb seemed to work fine and I got 50 pounds of oil pressure. No leaks so far. I am pretty happy with this, as I didn't have to adjust the distributor at all and actually had all the plug wires in the correct sequence.. Lots of smoke as I had Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders. I noticed a bit of bubbling around the top of the manifold, but a quick tightening of the manifold bolts got rid of that. The second shot has her running pretty well. Still not sure if I'm getting too much lifter noise or if that's normal. This really took a lot of stress off the restoration. A little work with the motor and I can put the hood on and start working on the interior.

They look like the two on my DL, but the length may be different. I’ll check tomorrow.

Thanks. Adjusted the carb this afternoon. Plans are to start the car tomorrow evening when my granddaughter gets out of basketball practice.

Doing a few small jobs today. I cleaned off the speedometer cable (it's a long one!) and was pleasantly surprised to find everything intact, still very flexible, and with both ends and fittings in good shape. The cable pulls out of the housing easily. and I plan to clean it and re-lube the housing. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? The housing was caked with 80 years of dirt and oil, but it cleaned up nicely. Ends and fittings all good. Then I fabricated a new carb linkage, as my new BB-1 updraft is different than my old carb setup. Next, I went through my list in preparation of starting the engine for the first time. Gapped plugs to .028. Made sure the crankcase is full of new oil with a bottle of zinc additive for startup. Radiator full - no leaks from hoses or radiator a week after filling. Points gap set. Plug wires checked for position on distributor cap and plugs. Valve covers tightened, new cork gaskets. New coil (hopefully good) with positive wire to distributor and negative wire to negative terminal of battery (positive ground system). Temporary oil pressure gauge and temperature gauge installed. Remote gravity fed fuel tank filled with non-ethanol gas. Fire extinguisher. Fresh six volt battery with correct, large gauge wires. The only thing I haven't done yet is to adjust the BB-1 updraft carb. I'm searching for the correct information on initial setup after a rebuild. As usual, I have it somewhere, but can't find it at the moment. I just noticed in my linkage photo that i don't have the bolt in the exhaust pipe clamp. That needs to be done. Anything I may have forgotten? I promised my youngest granddaughter that she could be there for the first startup. At 13, she is exhibiting a real interest in cars. Since she lives just down the street, this won't be a problem. I'll take video of the first attempt. hopefully it will be uneventful. I know I've been promising to start Daphne for the last year, but it's actually going to happen - I hope.

Also 32 Dodge Brothers DL. Won’t fit a 33.