Tom Boehm

Hello dcaddick, I'm sorry you did not get any responses to your question. Unfortunately It seems there are only about 5 people who regularly post on this woodie section and I don't think any of them have a 1949 Ford/Mercury woodie. Your inquiry would get more exposure if you posted in the Ford section or the buy/sell section. Is this piece you are looking for particular to the station wagon? Is the Mercury part different from the Ford part?

I know a lot about varnishing and furniture refinishing through experience but I don't know everything. I think you should look into a final coat of a lower sheen varnish rather than sanding. If you sand, even with with wetsand paper 600 or even 1200 grit it will only dull the high spots in the wood grain. You would have to sand it completely glass smooth to get an even sheen. Sanding with coarser paper will avoid this but will leave scratch marks. 0000 steel wool might work. Overall, my gut tells me any kind of sanding will obscure the grain and color showing through the haze. My suggestion would be a final coat of satin varnish or perhaps some furniture polish or wax that dries satin.

I'm not mad if you did. I just want to learn more about how this forum works. I was just ranting/blowing off steam about a high toll bill I got from my Hershey trip. I think the last count was about 40 responses in less than 24 hours. I wish I could get that response when I try to start conversations about old car topics. Actually I'm glad you deleted the thread (if you did) because it started to veer away from the original intent. Is there a way I could do that voluntarily on my end?

These tips have been mentioned above but they are worth repeating. On a 6 volt system make sure all the battery cable and ground strap connections are free of rust and paint. It helps a lot to have the proper thickness of battery cable also. These may or may not be your immediate problem but these tips will help your starter spin faster and start the car faster. I think it helped on my car to clean off the paint and rust on the faces between the starter and the bell housing. And the bolts too.

Henry J is named after Henry J. Kaiser, part owner of Kaiser- Frazer Corporation, manufacturer of the car. This is unusual in that his first name was used. Edsel and Mercedes were first names also.

St. Regis was also a Jesuit Catholic Priest like Marquette. St. Claire was a catholic nun in the middle ages. It is a possibility that these cars were not named after saints directly. The Dodge St. Regis was probably named after the hotel and the Wills Sainte Claire could have been named after the St. Clair River or Lake St. Clair in Michigan.

Good one. Had to look it up. Gaspar Portola, explorer and first governor of Spanish California.

I find The Marquette name interesting. Like Lasalle, Cadillac, and Desoto, Marquette was a French explorer of North America. He was also a missionary. This is probably the only car named after a Catholic Priest ! Along those lines, There is also the Wills Sainte Claire and the Dodge St. Regis to include in the above list.

I like this topic so here is all the names mentioned in this thread so far: These are cars named after a celebrity who did not have anything to do with founding the company or designing the car. Most are pre WWII. A few like Mercedes and Goggomobile are not well known celebrities but relatives of the founder. I included Edsel. Edsel Ford was dead by the time the car came out and they named it in his honor. Was Louis Chevrolet involved in founding the company or did Durant just use his name? Rockne, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Rickenbacker, Mercedes, Washington, Grant, Lasalle, Cadillac, Marquette, Lafayette, Pontiac, Tesla, Sinatra Edition Chrysler, Edsel, Eddie Bauer Ford trucks, Daniel Boone, Daimler Docker, Goggomobile. Diana, Mercury, and Minerva are Greek/Roman gods/goddesses.

Good topic! Lasalle, Cadillac, Desoto, Marquette, Lafayette, Pontiac, Lincoln, Tesla, Chrysler had a Frank Sinatra trim package in the 80's, Mercury is fictional. All named after people who were not the founder of the company. Edsel fits this category. Franklin was named after the founder

Join the Cadillac and Lasalle Club and network with as many 38-61 owners as you can.

One difference between 1940 Cadillacs and Packards is Packard offered optional overdrive. Have any of you out there driven both 1940 cars? Does the overdrive make a difference? Why did Packard offer overdrive and Cadillac did not? The senior Cadillacs with high differential ratios could use it on modern roads and highways.

Very ambitious project. I'm restoring a 1940 Lasalle now that was about the same condition. If I ever restore another car, a 1940 Packard 120 is on my short list. So is a 1940/41 Lincoln Zephyr and a 1940 Cadillac. The 1940 Cadillac Series 90 V-16 had 185 horsepower. Only 61 of those were made so I see your point. I did not know the top of the line 1940 Packard had 160 HP. The 1940 Cadillac Series 75 V8 had 140 HP. I'll be watching for your updates. Good luck

Does burning used motor oil create more air pollution (outdoors) than conventional natural gas furnaces? How does it compare to a wood stove? I had never heard of burning used motor oil for indoor heat.

I found out there is a tool available to keep the piston centered while bleeding the system. It replaces the electric switch while bleeding the system. It is shaped just like the switch but the post does not move so as to keep the piston centered. I may still have to take the whole thing apart to re-center the piston and then re-bleed the system anyway.

Thank you Lahti 35 and 8E45E! Now I know what I have to do. The link to the Ford Truck forum was very helpful. 1. Check the parking brake switch. 2. Check the electric switch on the pressure differential switch. I now know that can be removed without fluid leaking. If fluid leaks out when it is removed then I need to replace the O rings inside. 3. If the switch is not stuck then the piston is probably stuck. Time to remove the whole thing to clean it out and replace the O rings inside. And re-bleed the system. 4. There is a tool available to keep the piston centered while bleeding the system. It temporarily replaces the electric switch while bleeding. When the dashboard light is tripped on, it does not prevent an otherwise healthy brake system from working properly. Front and Back.

How do I get this light to go off? 1967 Mustang with power drum brakes. The light won't go off after I rebuilt the brake system, changed the fluid, and bled the entire system. The light goes on when there is a brake fluid leak. A piston in the sensor moves toward the leaky side and makes electric contact. Bleeding the system caused it to go on. The factory service manual says to open slightly the outlet opposite the last line bled and push the pedal slowly to re-center the piston. This did not work. I understand how the sensor works. Does anyone out there have experience with this ? Responses to my post in the Ford section say this is very finnicky to get right. Does the piston get stuck? Does the electric contact get stuck and not the piston?

Another thought I had was the piston is not stuck but the vertical post that makes electric contact is stuck in the up or on position. When we were trying to fix this by bleeding various fittings the light never went out or even blinked. This possibly could be fixed without opening and re-bleeding the system. Has anyone out there had this happen?

Thank you for the tip but I got lucky a few years ago and was offered some NOS brown long cobra grain 67" wide by a retired upholsterer.

Since this is the first time I have dealt with this device, that is what I need to know. Also if I need to take it apart, I should put new seals in it. The book made it seem simple.

Yes that is how the sensor works. And yes that is what I suspected, that the piston is stuck at one end. And yes that is the remedy I thought of. That requires removing the sensor and then re-bleeding the entire system. I was hoping someone had a way that avoids having to remove the sensor. It's not the end of the world if I have to.

1967 Mustang with power drum brakes. Warning light on dash goes on when there is a brake fluid leak and pressure is lost. How do I get it to go off? I rebuilt the brake system and replaced the fluid with dot 3 and bled the whole system. The factory service manual explained how the sensor works and how to reset it. I tried that but it did not work. The process is to open slightly the sensor outlet connection opposite the last line bled and push the pedal until the light goes off. Then tighten the connection. Does anyone out there have experience with this?

I remembered. www.restorationstuff.com. They call it drip rail but it is a J shape. Page 29 https://restorationstuff.com/shop/#fb0=31

Ditto. I had glass cut for the back window of my woodie at an automotive glass shop. They made it out of auto safety glass.

I have not tackled this yet on mine. I have been observing a lot of woodies in the meantime to see what options are out there. My Lasalle was custom built in 1940 but is typical of lots of woodies. It had an extruded aluminum J shaped raingutter on the sides without hidem. The gutter goes over the tack heads holding the edge of the roof fabric. On the front my car had a narrow (about 3/8")aluminum molding screwed down to the header to cover the edge of the roof fabric. I guess the roof fabric was glued down to the header sheet metal. The screw heads were down in a groove which was covered by a strip of rubber/plastic? I plan to reuse this molding. I don't think there was any molding in the back. I think the edge of the roof fabric was tacked under the hinge for the back window. I can think of about three versions of raingutter available. One is the Ford woodie version mentioned by 46 woodie. Another is from Ford Model A suppliers. I'm not sure that comes long enough for a station wagon. And there is a plain extruded aluminum J molding that screws on with exposed screw heads. I have seen this version in catalogs but I can't remember where. Also, since you said all this was not on your car when you got it, give some thought to how all these molding will come together or end at the corners. This may require some craftsmanship to look good. again it is helpful to look at other woodies. Also I am not sure how I am going to bend the rain gutter.