Carsnz123

meanwhile on the other side of the world the mercury is on the rise and we're dusting off the cobwebs, inflating tires and planning routes. Its a nice 24*C day here in Ashburton NZ

I wish, it's a little far out of my pay rate at the moment. On the bright side I got to take a Bentley t1 for a test drive today. Also spent most of the day using the sand blaster, I felt like dath vader with the respirator on.

The place is a dedicated Rolls-Royce and Bentley workshop. we're able to work on anything from the early 1900s right up to today. I'm the new apprentice. First day on the job I was let loose on a 1960 Bentley S2. I have to strip it down for a reprint and an engine rebuild.

Not much progress. I have decided to go for a boat tail design. I'm trying to find a later diff to give me a good top speed. The engine is being held up by the water pump. I have also move away from home and started a new job. The the picture is of the view from the tea room. Unfortunately I had to leave the Chrysler at my parents place but once a couple of cars leave the shed at work I might be able to bring it along.

It's got that dank swag and could huss up a skid real good. lollollol

I'm only 18 and the disease has set in well and good.I can't walk past a pile of forgotten car parts without having a quick look and coming up grand ideas about how i could utilize them. The only thing stopping me buying every awesome project I lay eyes on is a lack of money and the fact we don't have any shed space left.

According to classic car database, if it is Buick, the serial number will be on the either at the right front of the chassis or the left rear depending on whether it is a Master or Standard series. http://www.classiccardatabase.com/specs.php?series=1240&year=1926&model=2299 http://www.classiccardatabase.com/specs.php?series=1239&year=1926&model=2286

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but that looks Studebaker to me.

I think you're mistaking me for another tall and handsome Chrysler fan. But if you're paying, I'm keen for a trip to the states and to have a look at the plane . What make is it? I also have planes though mine are of the radio controlled kind. I'm interested 20" wheels like the pic above. I'd be interested in learning what models and years they were options for as all the info I can find is they an option for 60s after august 1927. can you send a picture of the wheels you have?

I'm interested in tracking down some steel Disc wheels for my '25 Chrysler speedster. Judging by the lack of info on the internet I'm guessing they are like rocking horse dung. The only two mentions of the them I can find is the pictures of the 1924 prototype phaeton and an article on "Old Car Weekly" about a 1927 model 60. http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/collector-cars/pre-war-classics/car-of-the-week-1927-chrysler-five-passenger-coach Any info (size, make, possible leads, whether they exists, etc) would be greatly appreciated

I don't know what button you didn't push, but here is Lucas' list of 6.00 20" tires. http://www.lucasclassictires.com/600-20_c161.htm This is a dealer here in New Zealand and he lists the Firestone Deluxe Champions that you have already (the prices are in NZD) http://classic-tyres.co.nz/wp/?page_id=145 As far as I'm aware tire makers don"t stick to strict sizing dimensions so one makers 6.00-20 might be bigger than another's. this is the case with a couple of 5.50-20 I have at home. One is a Firestone the other a Pirelli. The Firestone is a noticeably larger tire.

Dammmmm, I wish that was in New Zealand. I'd be towing it home in a hart beat, clearing space in the shed and not coming out until it's finished. Being veteran makes it EPIC!! All the cool kids drive 100 year old cars. I'll be driving down the road singing "Remember me for centuries"

Rebuilding engines is not that expensive. The usual guess of $1000 for each cylinder is a worst case scenario where you have a rusty lump that has been sitting outside with no plugs for years. The complete rebuild of the Chrysler Flathead six for my speedster has only cost me around $3K NZD and that includes an overbore and new pistons. as long as it is not rusty in the crank case all you'll need is crankshaft and con-rod bearings, valve job, new piston rings and if the bore is too worn add pistons and an overbore to the list. Chances are rebuilding the original motor will be cheaper and easier than a V8 swap. Unfortunately it is frowned upon to hot-rod a salvageable original car, even if it is just the drive train.

There are five things I am really grateful cars have evolved. They would be Power steering, Power breaks, Indicators, heaters and demisters. Over the past month I have had my appreciation of the these five things greatly improved after driving a 1929 Plymouth, a car with 40hp and a top speed of 95kph, to work because the "modern" 1987 Toyota Crown needed a bit of work doing to the engine. Now as you are reading this you will probably think that vintage cars cant be used every day as they are too unreliable and can't handle today's commuter traffic, well you're wrong on both counts... sort of. It took me two attempts to pass my restricted drivers license. When I pulled into the car park of the testing center after failing my first attempt, driving the Crown I had done most of my driving in, I noticed there was a lot of oil in the park where I had started the test an hour earlier. Further inspection revealed the car was hosing oil out at an alarming rate and there wasn't much oil left in the engine. So my second attempt a few days later was done in my sister's Toyota Starlet, a car I had only done a quick blat up and down the street with to make sure I had put it back together right after rebuilding the head. Somehow against all odds I passed with flying colours but I had a small problem; My car had to have the engine out to fix the oil leak, I needed to get to work 30km away and the only car available to me was our 1929 Plymouth. oh well they did it 80 years ago, why cant I do it today? The first week was great. I really enjoy driving the car, all my work mates were quite amazed someone my age could drive such a machine let alone something akin to a horse and cart would be able to be used as every day wheels. By the second week I realized how expensive the car was to run. It was getting 13 MPG, I was spending $120NZD on gas every week and I needed to fill up twice a week because I could only 3/4 fill the tiny 11 gallon tank because of the leaky fuel gauge. It also started to get colder and darker at 6:30 AM and the car less a heater meant the 40 min trip to work was very cold. Furthermore it rained on a couple of days so I had to drive with the windows open to stop the car fogging up. The wiper is also not the best and I had a hard time seeing when the headlights of other cars lit up the rain on the windscreen. The novelty wore off on the third week. The suspension (and my spine) had a hard time coping with Christchurch's earthquake damaged roads, I was charging the battery every night because the headlights were draining the battery faster than the generator could charge it, the rate of acceleration and deceleration was a bit hair raising pretty much every trip with other motorists not realizing that I couldn't go any faster or break in a hurry. In the mornings I froze my arm off every time I needed to indicate and it let what little warm air in the car escape. After a hard days work on the construction site the non-power steering and crash gearbox were hard to handle and the lack of a radio made sitting in traffic on the way home rather boring. The constant noise and vibration of the engine and drive train were rather annoying too. I put up with the... quirks of the Plymouth for another week and was very happy when the crown was together and able to be used again. What I can takeaway from the experience is that driving a vintage car gives you more gratitude of what we have in our modern cars, all the fancy bells and whistles that we take for granted, the comfort and luxury that people in the 1920s could only dream about. It also teaches you how to drive, I don't mean getting in the car and pushing the go peddle to go and the stop peddle to stop but rather being in full control of each aspect of the car: when to change gear, when the ignition should fire, how much choke is on, how much fuel to give the engine. you learn to drive to the conditions, keep a look out for dangers, pick appropriate gaps in then traffic and to not be generally stupid as the car you're in is irreplaceable. I think everyone should spend a month or more using a vintage car as a daily driver to discover they don't need all the comforts of modern cars to get from A to B. The last month had its ups and downs but I have to say I really enjoyed it but may leave it a while before doing it again.

The sand blasting cabinet I use has the same problem. I have found that pulsing the gun like you're spray painting helps. I have heard that one of the reasons this happens is the finer particles in the mix can become packed down too hard around the gun pickup for it to be sucked up.

GOT IT!!! Its a 1939 H-D Prototype V8 (Whatever that is). https://www.pinterest.com/pin/172544229449028384/ BAMM!! I'm 18 and I declare a win for the Young people!! Here we go, found this http://www.lemaymarymount.org/vehicle.php?vID=489 Looks like Keiser was right initially about the custom nature of the car.

here is another shot of it I don't think its custom but it is a part of the largest car collection in the world or something like that. The show "Strange Inheritance" did a piece on the collection. http://finance.yahoo.com/video/road-keeping-one-man-enormous-155703690.html !!!Update!! The car is part of the LeMay Family Collection the world's largest private car collection. some of the cars are in the LeMay - America's Car Museum.

I'm still interested but unfortunately I need to spend the money I set aside on one of our other cars so it will pass a wof. Did you get round to measuring the headlight glass? Ill get back to you when I have some more spare cash.

No worries. Quick question: what diameter is the headlight lens? And judging by the pics is there only one of each?

Hey mike, are these still for sale?

Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!!!!!!! Anyway a lot has happened over the past month and a half. School finished, had end of year exams, got 3rd in calculus, did the first cut of hay for the season (we were up till 10 pm stacking it in the shed so it didn't get rained on the next day), put an application in to join the NZ Army and now Christmas is coming. And all through that there was a bit to time for car projects. The engine is slowly coming together. All the internals are in I just have to bolt on the external bits. The water pump is proving a bit tricky as it needed a full rebuild and the guy who was going to sell me a seal kit for it has disappeared with out a trace. I started work on the tuned intake and exhaust manifolds and hope to have at least the intake dome by the end of the week. my plan is to make a big 180* arc of 35mm mild steel tube over the top of the motor and mount the carburetor roughly inline with the thermostat housing so I can have long runners for low RPM torque and the whole setup will fit under the bonnet. The headers I think will will have to wobble their up in front of the oil pump as the steering box will be at the back of the motor and it will be a too tighter fit to go between it and the engine block (Stupid american cars and being optimized for left hand drive). I plan to do a 6 to 3 to 1 setup in a "tri-Y" style (Actually now I think about it, its going to be a "quad-Y") starting at 38mm pipe and finishing at a massive 76mm pipe, I'm a little limited by the size collectors I can buy and their inlet and outlet diameters. I had a stroke of good fortune during my last trip to the local vintage car club parts shed. for $55 I picked up a working starter and a excellent condition Chrysler 3 on the tree gearbox. It wasn't the 4 speed I was hoping for but I'm OK with one less gear and saving myself $2000. unfortunately Hurst don't sell a a floor shift kit for the early Chrysler 3 speed boxes but making one is not that difficult. Does anyone know how to date the Chrysler gearboxes? the first pic is the number on the main gearbox and the second one is of the tail shaft housing. as far as i am aware the starter is off a late 40s dodge truck being a maw 4041. I have a line on some period seats, a set of taller diff gears and some head lights so maybe i will have some more parts soon.

$5000 does seem rather pricy for a basic 8 to 1 manifold, even with the tapered bit and being stainless. I was quoted $800 NZD for bending up the headers for my flathead 6 dodge motor and an extra $150 for lazer cutting the plate( the place I'm getting the stuff done dosn't weld them up) I'm only getting mine done in mild steel though.

What dictator27 said. The stuff we use is straight, non ep gear oil. http://www.morrislubricants.co.uk/scripts/prodview.asp?idcat=140&idProduct=27

My brother is running straight 250w in the gearbox of our stude ge. It's a little stiff in cold weather but the heavy oil stops it leaking too much out of the gear selectors. If your going to use it when it's cold 90w works well, our 1929 Plymouth shifts great in below freezing weather with 90w oil.

would you be able to post a couple of close up pics of the front engine mount setup? I have to make up a frame to mount the engine in my Speedster project. I have heard nothing but good reviews of these engines and was told by the owner of a Chrysler 72 powered by one of the industrial versions that they have the torque to lift the front wheels off the ground if you dump the clutch!