richard m

My 1930 Studebaker Dictator has a Warner Gear T2c-1 transmission that jumps out of second gear. This transmission was used in many cars of the late 20's and 30's apparently. Before I tear into it I thought I'd see if anyone has experience with these transmissions and can you suggest what might be the problem? Bad gear, worn bearings, worn shift collar? Also is there a diagram of this transmission available? Thx, Richard

What is the correct pattern for the running board matting for my 1930 Dictator? It currently has narrow ribbed matting but I don't believe its original. Thx, Richard

Thanks Greg H. Yes, I believe you are right, the 1928 Falcon Knight seems to have all the right features, particularly the piano door hinges which appear to be unique to the 1928 cars. Thanks for the great detective work!

Yes, you are right there is a piano hinge across the top of the windshield opening. So, it may be a one piece windshield and the brackets 2/3 of the way up are for the hardware that holds the swing out windshield open. The brackets at the top of the opening may be for a visor? -Richard

Yes, the piano hinges are pretty unique, and the combination of the front doors with mixed piano and conventional, and the rear doors with piano hinges-only is even more unique. Plus the split windshield suggests mid-20's not late '20's when most cars had one piece windshields, so yes it points to 25-27 at the latest. It appears that a feature of the Whippets is suicide front doors, which this car did not have. Then there is the lack of cowl lights like all the Nash's had and add in the twin belt lines and it gets even more complicated. Looking thru the Standard Catalog of American Cars the only car that comes close is the 1923-25 Cole, a competitor to Cadillac, in which some models had the combined piano/conventional front door hinges, piano style rear door hinges, and twin belt lines. But all Coles from 1916-25 had Northway V-8s, so why the indented firewall in this car that looks to be for an inline engine? Is it a some model of Cole, Cadillac, Nash, Essex, Whippet or some other more common make? Hopefully someone on the forum knows. Thx for all the responses, Richard

Unfortunately no, the dash is missing.

This 1920's sedan cowl has no id tag or any makers marks though it looks like there once was a serial number tag on the drivers A-pillar held on by four small rivets. It has distinctive hidden rolled/interlocking 17 1/2" long hinges on the front doors along with a single conventional lower exposed hinge. The rear doors have a long 26" hidden hinge only, no exposed hinge. The front doors are hinged at the A-pillar, the rears are hinged at the rear. The body has two parallel belt moldings stamped into the sheet metal that are 3" apart . The lower one that starts on the cowl is 1/2 inch wide; the upper belt molding on the doors is 1" wide. There are no cowl lights, but there is a large cowl vent. It has a split windshield with the top portion hinged at the top and the bottom part hinged about 2/3 up from the bottom. The firewall is indented to accommodate the engine (6, 8 or ?). There is an oil can holder on the firewall that may be original or add on. What is it? Thanks, Richard

Thank you. That would seem to clear up the mystery. The adjusting screws could have certainly easily been "updated" many, many years ago. Thx, Richard.

Thanks for your reply. Yes there are no locknuts on any of the tappets. I checked a friends engine and it too has no lock nuts. What confuses me is that the parts book and manual look to me to show lock nuts and there is a part number for the nuts. I adjusted the valves and we'll see how it goes. The adjusting nuts are a tight fit even when loosening or tightening, so maybe they are designed to work without lock nuts. Just another old car mystery to keep me awake at night.

I tried to adjust the valves on my '36 Dodge for the first time since the stock L-head engine was rebuilt. The first thing I noticed is that there is no lock nut on the adjusting screw. There is a flat on the tappet for a 1/2" wrench and the adjusting screw hex takes a 7/16" wrench. There are only about 3 or 4 threads between the hex part of the adjusting screw and the tappet where a lock nut might go. Am I missing the lock nut (it is shown in my parts book) or is there some type of aftermarket adjustable tappet that the shop may have installed that requires no lock nut? Thx, Richard