kgreen

Hey Matt, I'm looking at your differential cover plate and the position of your drain. Is it in the lowest position, that is straight down? I ran into a guy that has his rotated to about the 8:00 position and I wondered which is correct. He said his car came like that and the higher oil level allows the lube to travel to the outer axle bearings. Any comment, I'd like to hear from you. Ken

Body roll? never happen.

My original top cylinders were damaged beyond use. Through this forum, I found a gentlemen that swapped his pneumatic actuators with electric and sold me his old cylinders. What a blessing! The pneumatic cylinders were only used on the two door convertibles and probably for Buick, Olds and Cadillac. These cylinders ere in perfect shape and held a strong vacuum. I think someone around here suggested using neats foot oil to lubricate the cylinders.

Made and installed the vacuum lines for the convertible top cylinders. Sort of dreaded this because I don't have professional equipment and have to make do. My parts car had remnants of the old lines from under the rear seat. There are two lines to each cylinder. One line applies a vacuum to the top of the cylinder causing the top to open, the other applies the vacuum to the bottom of the cylinder pushing the top closed. The vacuum is applied to either line by the vacuum switch that I fixed last weekend (post above). Image below: I'm pointing to a critical bend and tube position as the interior rear quarter panel cover needs to cover this area without interference. Image below: My first bend effort and I used it. This is a steel line and my brake line tube benders struggled with the 3/8-inch tube. My second line was even better. Image below: The first line is complete and compared to the remnants of the original line taken from the parts car. Image below: Both tubes need to snug through the A-pillar brace and extend up the kick panel area far enough to connect flexible vacuum line from this tube to the under dash valve. Several of the clips were rusted beyond use so I fabricated extras. Again, this clip was not my first attempt. The holes in the floorboard are 3/8-inch diameter and the smallest plug I've found from the usual sources is 1/2-inch. Still working on that detail. Image below: Here's the jig I made to form new clips. Two tubes screwed into my temp workbench with a wood filler to place between the two tubes. I drilled a hole in the flat plate and hammered the inside edge of the radius then hammered the radius around the tubes. This clip was my first attempt. To roll up the edges, I mounted a piece of square stock in my Hershey's find vice and hammered the edges on the straight area up for rigidity like the originals. I used gorilla tape on the bottom of the clips for squeak and vibration isolation as was done originally. Image below: The original T's were in good shape; I connected them using airline hose. Here you see the forward line connected to the under seat line that feeds the right side cylinder

This square frame is for the two door convertible: hard to find. The frame with the curved top and bottom is for the four door convertible.

Can't let this go to waste: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/674826847976885/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

Oh no, another unique connector for me to find? Got a photo of it?

@2carb40 great trivia! I had no idea, but that sure makes sense.

Yep! http://www.riwire.com/

Continuing with the wire harness: The shop manual shows wire harness routing for most of the 1940 series, but not the 51C or 71C. My numerous photographs gave me a good idea though. Several unique connectors on the harness had to be salvaged and reused. This included the five pin connector between the main front and rear harness sections. I'm glad I did a dry run fitting because the connector wouldn't fit through the routing passages. I was able to add all the connectors for the front harness on the bench which was easier than working in the car and the trunk. It wasn't until I had completed soldering the five pin connector, that is well hidden in the car that I thought it would have been much easier to use modern bullet connectors. Oh well. One task I'll foreworn others about is disassembling the convertible top vacuum valve. You probably don't need to do it as the valve is not likely used often enough to wear out. Then if it was worn, you have no options for parts replacement! I'd flush a solvent through it to clean it then put some lightweight oil in to free up the operation. There are two springs inside the housing and the spring returning the valve to neutral is a real bugger to put back in place.

"Hi Ken. I went on the site to tell Hans1 that it was OK to copy the article to another newsletter, but I would have to create an account to comment. So could you just tell him that you checked with me and it’s ok to use it? And yes, I do appreciate it when people ask first."

These folks have a pair for $225. https://www.allcads.com/elements/pages/about/ You now owe us photos of your car!

Repros are available, I might have a pair. Check with vintage Cadillac parts suppliers as well.

I've sent a note to Bob, as well provided a link to this AACA forum post for him to connect with you as he desires. I'm certain Bob will appreciate your asking.

From Bob Blanchard, A Burlington, VT historian: This photo shows two men examining a new Hudson automobile. Burlington’s H. Nelson Jackson at the right. Beside him is Orville Wright. Both men participated in historic trips is 1903, Jackson’s being the first automobile trip across the United States, and Wright’s the first manned, powered flight of a heavier than air craft at Kitty Hawk, NC in December of that year.. The difference between two two trips could not have been greater. Jackson’s covered thousand of miles, and Wright’s 120 feet. Jackson’s trip took 68 days, Wright’s 12 seconds. But there is no doubting that Wright’s powered flight was by far the more significant of the two because it ushered in a revolution in transportation. Both of the vehicles used in their trips are in the Smithsonian. But the very different paths that they took there make for interesting reading. Jackson’ Winton auto, named “The Vermont”, went to the Smithsonian in 1944. Up until that point he had stored the famous car is a former carriage house on his property in Burlington, and enjoyed driving it in parades and displaying it at local auto shows. Amazingly, when Jackson’s Winton arrived at the Smithsonian, the Wright brothers’ airplane was still not at the there. This was due to a decades long feud between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian, which refused to recognize the Wright brothers flights at Kitty Hawk as the first powered alights. Instead, they recognized an aircraft built and designed by Samuel P. Langley, an aviation pioneer who had carried out successful flights of unmanned aircraft as early as 1896. Critically, Langley was also secretary of the Smithsonian from 1887 until his death in 1906. His work on his aircraft was funded by the Smithsonian, and carried out in Smithsonian facilities. But two attempts at manned flight in Langley’s airplanes a few weeks before the Wright brothers flights, ended in failure. Nonetheless, the Smithsonian displayed Langley’s plane in their museum, labeling it as the first plane “capable” of manned flight. In 1914 another aviation pioneer, Glenn Curtiss, did successfully fly in Langley’s aircraft, but this was eleven years after the Wright brothers, and it was also after Curtiss had modified the craft. The Smithsonian said that this bolstered their claim that the Langley craft was capable of flight, and they continued to relegate the Wright brothers flights to secondary status. Curtiss was also locked in a bitter patent dispute with Orville (Wilbur Wright had died in 1912). All of this just added more fuel to the feud between Orville and the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian wanted the Wright’s 1903 aircraft, known as the Wright Flyer, but Orville refused them as long as they continued to “pervert history”. Fed up, Orville declared that he was going to send The Flyer to London, where it would be displayed on loan at the London Science Museum. In 1928 the Flyer was shipped to London, where it was displayed until after the war. During the war it was kept in an underground bunker 50 miles outside of London. Finally, after the war, the tide of public opinion had shifted to the Wright brothers. Langley’s connections at the Smithsonian had passed from the scene, and the museum issued a groveling apology finally recognizing the Wright brothers’ flights at Kitty Hawk as the first powered manned flights. The Flyer was finally brought home 45 years after the Kitty Hawk flights and displayed at the Smithsonian starting in December of 1948. Orville had died earlier that year. He never saw the Flyer again after it left the U.S. for London in 1928. The photo of Jackson and Orville Wright is from the Jackson papers at UVM Special Collections. It’s undated and the location is unknown.

Check this out: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1129245224698732/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A757bff4e-0fcb-4e40-97e6-9a12e66db4be

I noticed that your bracket didn't have the hole required for the spring and rod. Off chance question, is the rest of your transmission correct for the car? Have you owned the car long? wondering how the shifting was managed in the past.

Owing to fade on the original color chip, the car is Royal Maroon Poly.

The rewiring of the front harness took three days which included recovering old connectors for reuse and checking continuities throughout the harness, replaced bulbs and fuses. I would likely be the first one laid-off at Buick if this were a production process for profit. Ninety-nine percent of the wiring instructions were spot on. The flasher connection was the only variance from the shop manual. The shop manual was essential as well when wiring the fuel gage and amp gage to know which terminal was pos./neg. I've not applied power to the car yet as I still have the rear harness and engine side to accomplish. This just seemed like the most difficult task so I wanted it done first. I attempted to finish everything that was going to be buried by the dash and hadn't installed the cowl vent drain. Locating the drain with my finger, then seemed like a good idea (shortcut to crawling upside down again) to determine the size based on the indent on my finger. Yep, it's a half inch: Placing the dash panel into place was much easier than I thought and gave the appearance of immediate accomplishment. A hint to anyone following the same process: connect the wires to the light switch but leave the rectangular chrome bezel loose. The two screws you need to access the cowl vent brace are directly above this bezel. The glove box was installed on the open backside of the dash and caused me concern for interference on dash placement. However, it was easy and prevented any damage by attempting to install the glove box liner on an in-place dash panel.

Thanks for the photo. The bolt should be a shoulder bolt. This is a photo of a parts car that I documented on disassembly. See the L-shaped piece? This example has two springs on it but should only have one spring. As you can see, this keeps a counterclockwise rotation pressure on the lever which should solve your "dropping down" problem.

Phillip, can you share a photo or two of your concern? I don't understand your problem as the shift linkage is not in anyway connected to the bell housing. The clutch petal pivot shaft is, but all the linkage traces directly from the steering column to the transmission.

Yeah, the firewall grommet was a doozy on dry fit without the bulk of the wire harness captured. I saw no way to feed the wire with all of the tangent wires through that little hole. I'm going to slice of cut with the bandsaw into the bigger hole then re-secure it with black urethane caulking. I'm still not sure how I'll stuff the grommet into the firewall. I might need to leave it out and drape a rag over the firewall when the hood is open while showing the car. Nah, I'll find a way. Thanks for your comment about the wire coding, you and Dan are both correct and have identified why I had a difficult time learning anything in school!

Dan, you are correct, Rhode Island did match color coding. I looked at the wire diagram for the light switch battery connection and saw 12 BRC which identifies as 12 gauge black and red crossing tracers. Rhode Island matched that but noted the base color of the wire was yellow with this designation: YxBkxR. I've primarily been cross referencing the wiring diagram to function alone and now seeing the color coding as and easier step. I'm still going to cross reference function as the extra thinking time adds to my QC. Thanks for asking.

Work progresses and with much joy. I love working on a "new" car; it's clean as a whistle. Ongoing projects include everything associated with the dash re-installation and wiring. The wiring is tedious and requires careful check and recheck to be sure that I'm connecting wires to their proper position. The color codes used in the shop manual do not line up with the newly fabricated harness, but the guide sheet from Rhode Island wiring provides adequate data. I've positioned the primary harness through the firewall and routed the wires under the hood. I've had to confirm wire positioning, particularly in places where I have not yet replaced a particular part. Note the dumpy looking horn relay. In these cases I've re-installed the old or unrestored part. The dash switches were filthy and each one was disassembled and cleaned. I used dielectric grease on moving parts, but not the points of electrical contact, fuses replaced where needed, then tested for continuity and smooth operation. The longer switch is the headlight switch the other three are for the left side of the dash, positioned under the dash: one for each defroster, heater and dash lights. I had to remove the windshield as the dash panel slips all the way up to the windshield opening. I have an extra dash from the parts car to dry fit for clearances before attempting to install the fully restored dash. I've set the dash up in front of its final position to test wire routing and to prewire switches. I'll install the switches after the dash is attached to the car. Given the gyrations required to remove the old glove box from the parts car with the dash in place, I'm thinking that I'll attach the new glove box before the dash is installed. I rechecked the defroster outlets and wiper tower installations and connections as they will become extremely difficult to access once the dash is re-installed. I cut to fit an routed the defroster hose to the unrestored defroster motor be sure I clear obstructions like the cowl vent and glovebox as well. The defroster motor serves to verify final hose positioning and can be easily removed for restoration after the dash is back in place. One last part to install on the dash at this stage is the radio grill. I ordered similar colored and patterned speaker cloth that is supposedly acoustically invisible. I had not found an exact replacement pattern and color match, but this will do. Referring to Neil's post with his new seat fabric, there is a stark difference in the color and pattern after 80 years so I'm sure I am close enough with my effort.

The Cheekwood Exhibition of Elegance Auto show June 17-18, 2023 was a fun adventure and featured 63 cars including this 1920 Winton, Model 25, owned by Mike Wall. Mr. Wall posted the story of the 1903 cross country tour by Dr. Horatio Nelson lasting 63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes. The car was spectacular and Mr. Wall generously shared his car with everyone that visited him on Saturday when I was there. Here is the rest of the story of Dr. Nelson's cross country trip as researched and reported by Bob Blanchard: The story of Horatio Nelson Jackson’s first cross country journey by automobile in 1903 has been documented thoroughly by books, a Ken Burns documentary, and has been posted about several times on this page. (Bob is referring to his Facebook page on Burlington, VT History.) Just when you thought there was nothing left to say, you come across “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. In this case it’s Jackson’s trip home to Burlington from New York City after successfully completing his cross country drive. Jackson and his co-driver reached New York on July 26th, 1903. After spending several days enjoying the adulation for his accomplishment, he set out for Burlington. He was accompanied by his wife, Bertha Wells Jackson (pictured). She was the daughter of William Wells, and with her brother Frank, inherited a fortune from the Wells Richardson patent medicine business. Jackson’s cross country jaunt was funded by Bertha, so you could say that the Winton auto that crossed the continent was fueled by gasoline and by Paines Celery Tonic. The Jacksons started for Burlington on July 30. When they reached Hudson, NY, the low speed clutch broke and they had to wait 24 hours while it was being repaired. On the road again, they were 12 miles north of Albany when the high speed clutch broke. They had to return to Albany, where Jackson had to telegraph the Winton factory for parts to make the repair. They did not get back on the road until Wednesday, August 5. They set out in a pouring rain and soon had to pull off the road to wait for the storm to pass. By August 6th they had nearly reached Middlebury, when the “break box” failed and a new one had to be made out of some old parts. They finally arrived in Burlington in the afternoon of August 7th. The most remarkable occurrence happened at the very end of this trouble plagued trip home. The Winton’s drive chain, which had not broken or given way during the entire trip across the country, failed as the car was being driven into the “stable” on the Wells estate in Burlington. Most of the trouble that Jackson had encountered on his cross country drive was in the west. Once he arrived in Omaha, he made great progress. It only took five days to get from Omaha to Chicago. He got from Chicago to New York in nine days, the same amount of time that it to him to get to Burlington From New York City. It seems that by the time he completed his remarkable drive, the Winton was just worn out. That fact didn’t manifest itself fully until he set out for home, making that journey to Burlington a strange footnote in the history of "Horatio’s Drive”. Also attached is a photo of the Winton after arriving in New York, and a previously posted photo of a 72 year old Jackson sitting in his Winton one last time before the vehicle was taken to the Smithsonian in 1944.