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AdaminNH My first job as a mechanic in 1980 was using a single post setup. I use the same design today. I have lifted vehicles from a 1915 Buick through 2020 vehicles on them. Long vehicles require you to be attentive so you do not have too much weight over hanging center. You also have to watch doing major repairs. so the vehicle balance doesn't change enough to have it become unstable. The two post in-ground lift I use is a rotary 9k. I have lifted my 27 commander through modern cars on it also. Same deal you must be careful. Every vehicle I lift for the first time, I get the wheels off the floor about 6 inches and test the stability. If it is good I continue , if not I lower the vehicle and reposition it. I have had a few vehicles that I could not lift, they were the exception, not the normal. After market running boards were a pain to lift, this is where a 4 post ramp lift would make lifting them easier, but working on the vehicle other than exhaust became more difficult. You must lift and strain away from your body, I found it to be uncomfortable. The last garage I worked at had a 4 post ramp lift, I may have used it twice in a 1 year period, I used the rotary 2 posts several times every day on average. On my vehicles I use a paint marker to locate the lift blocks at almost the same position every time. I do not have trailer queens or 100 point cars, what I have I drive and we have fun. I have never dropped a car from a lift, I saw one almost go when my coworker lowered the jeep he was putting gear oil in the drivetrain on. He did not have the tall narrow hand pump barrel totally out from under the vehicle, he was lucky. When using either lift once the vehicles vehicles wheels are off the ground, doors may open or close differently. This will happen most often on unibody vehicles. Once they are back on their wheels they work as they did before lifting them. I will use the single post for any work except complete exhaust system replacements, the 2 post units have a completely clear underside of the car. The single post is also good for some transmission jobs on 4wd pickups. The 2 post is usually my choice for transmissions and engine replacements. I have always liked in-ground because of them not being in the way if the vehicle is not lifted, That changed when the Ford 6.0's came out. Now I wish I had an above ground unit to pull cabs off with, that would allow me to do that work, although I really do not want more work. All designs, above ground 2 post, in ground 2 post, single post, 4 post have there benefits. If you know the type of work you will do most pick the unit that will meet those requirements the most since that is what you will be doing the most of. If you do anything and everything on vehicles then get the one that you believe will be your best option, think safety but do not fear it to the point you make the wrong choice. All lifts are capable of being deadly. Know your style and what your actions working on the vehicle can do to the vehicles balance and use thoughtful judgement. Best wishes

I do not have any setup outside but a friend of mine has a 2 post asymmetrical lift outside. My preference is a combination, I have 1 single post lift and one 2 post lift. They each have their benefits. Yes you must get on your knees to set them but, after that you can use a stool or stand to do all repairs along side or underneath. I also recommend a set of tall stands to stabilize long vehicles on any lift if you are rocking the vehicle on the rack.

Do you have facings for a 1927 Studebaker big 6?

any water pump kit (shaft and impeller) for a 1927 Studebaker big 6

I know its a long shot, do you have door and window handles for a 1927 Commander

They use to be fairly easy to find. If you are having issues with the trans shifting and the wire harness is original, check the wire ends and insulation. A new harness should not be that expensive.

search for an autolite HRM4102

I am pretty sure the Autolite part number for the fluid drive transmission relay is HRM4102. When I first got my dads 48 New Yorker I bought several at Hershey and Carlisle

Great looking IH, and the body looks to be rust free. That is good news for you. I have a 73 1210 camper special, 4wheel drive and 345 mated with a 5 speed overdrive. My father bought it new in York Pa when I was a teen. I still have it but it has not run for the last 5 years. Be sure to keep mice poison in your truck cab and under the hood if you live in a rural area. They will cause you grief if you don't. I change the green cakes every year with a fresh one. Be sure to keep them away from children and pets. Congratulations on your acquisition.

In 1993 I rebuilt my 48 Chrysler brake system. I used silicone dielectric grease to lubricate everything. the sealing cups, pistons, the cylinder walls, and the inside of the outer rubber dust boots on all 6 wheel cylinders and the master cylinder, then assembled them. I filled it with DOT5 fluid and bled the system and adjusted the brakes. It is now 2021 and that brake system still works flawlessly. The car sat since 1995 when my father passed away and I started it again late last year and again two weeks ago. Since then I have done many brake systems for other hobbyists and they all have experienced the same long lasting results. I agree with Graham man, the break through is the grease.

In search of a water pump kit for a 1927 big six. Any vendors that have kits or components? I checked with Studebaker International and several others, no luck so far. Thanks Larry

An easy way to see if there is a light socket that is not grounded is to connect a test light to the grounded battery terminal. Turn the lights on needed to make the feedback occur. Now touch the test light to the base of the bulb that quits working when you turn both the lights on, does it light the test light? A bad ground connection will make the test light glow steady or flash if the turn signal is flashing. The test light proves the bulb is not grounded by lighting the test light. Next touch the test light to the metal socket the bulb goes in, does it light there? If test light does not light on the metal socket the poor ground is between the bulb and the socket. If the test light does light on the metal socket then continue to check the ground path by touching the test light to what the socket mounts into and look for the results. You can determine exactly where the poor ground is this way so you can repair the issue. Also the same test light can be used to check for a parasitic draw/battery drain. On cars without any computers just unhook the ground cable from the battery terminal and connect the test light between the terminal and the cable. The test light will not light if there is NO battery drain. To see if your test light has a good connection and is connected correctly for this test open the car door or turn the key on and the test light should light showing there is a path for current to flow. If the test light does not light the test light is not working or has a poor connection. For reference less than a .02 amp parasitic load on a new vehicle will not even make the bulb filament glow a dim red. Computerized cars are able to draw up to .02 amps and are fine unless they set for extremely long times such as months at a time. Then the battery will not start the car due to the discharged state If you want to use a test light on a car with a computer you must disconnect the cable , connect the test light between the Battery terminal and the cable, then with the test light connected it will probably be lit, while keeping the test light connected touch the cable end to the terminal the test light should go out, then take the cable away from the terminal keeping the test light connected. If the test light stays out the battery does not have a drain, if it glows dimly you must perform the test with an ammeter to verify it is under .02 amps or the manufacturers specifications. Best of luck to you, Larry

With all the plugs in the engine take another plug and connect it to the plug wire leaving the extra plug external and crank the engine. Does it spark? If not the mag does not make enough voltage with the slower engine cranking speed to fire the plug. Check the cranking speed with the plugs out and with the plugs in. The engine should turn over at least 125 to 150 RPM's at cranking for the unit to start well. If the cranking speed with no compression is 100 and with the plugs in the compression drops the speed to 70 I would look at why the RPM's are so low and see if it can be improved. The other cause would be if the cranking speed is normal and there is no spark from the Mag then it is not producing enough voltage to jump the gap. Connect a 12 volt test lamp to the plug wire on one end and ground the other end of the test light.With the plugs in the cylinder, crank the engine. see if it makes enough voltage to make the test light flash. If so the mag cannot produce enough voltage to fire the plug at that cranking speed. If cranking speed is normal the mag is weak. If cranking speed is low see why and get it to where it needs to be.

If I remember correctly the vacuum advance on these cars was disconnected when you set the static timing at idle speed. The vacuum supply is manifold vacuum so when you reconnect the vacuum line the distributor advances the timing for the full vacuum advance degrees. When driving the vehicle the vacuum drops as load increases and retards the timing from the full vacuum advance. Mopar must have found that the engines started better hot with timing retarded or another similar benefit came from the retarded base timing.

CoolChem makes a glue that works great for all kinds of repairs for a reasonable cost. I use it on multiple items and have great results. I repair car /truck plastic dashes Toy trains and other things as needed. Be carful when using on plastic , it uses an acetone accelerator to instantly dry the glue so some plastics do not like it. Once the glue dries you can build a strength layer with the material. Best of luck. Larry

I also used a Lovejoy coupling. the only other thing I had to do is to install 3 shims of the same sickness under each mounting bolt because the coupling was about .1" thicker overall. It works great. I run my 27 EW every time I get the chance. No one can tell unless they look for it. enjoy the drive!!

I worked on farm equipment for my last real service job from 2013 thru 2016. The condensers we get now are made in area's that there are no or very poor quality control checks. I have seen several condensers during that time which work for the half but will not generate the field collapse and fire the plug . These were on older equipment which had complete tune ups that went to the field and didn't work more than a hand full or two of times and then they would begin to start hard, no start or run for a short time and shut off then not restart. I would definitely try another condenser if it were me. I know a great starting engine will fire a plug with 3/16" gap when external of a cylinder. If you have a plug tester available that adds simulated compression pressure (using air pressure) to the end of the exposed plug while firing voltage to it you will see the more pressure the higher kv the plug needs to fire correctly. Blue spark is great but if it can only jump .03" when external of a cylinder with no compression pressures when you add the compression and fuel mix it will fall on its face. The other thing I have noticed is the spark will arc to ground when compression is on the plug if external arcing is the path of least resistance. I do not think this is your issue because the timing light does not trigger. You can check for this by trying to start in a dark area with no lighting. I do not know it all but I will try to help. Best wishes on your repair

With the plugs in the engine connect one plug outside like you have been testing it to confirm no spark, If there is spark present I would open the gap of an old spark plug to 3/16" and see if the spark will jump that gap. If it does not jump 3/16" it probably will not fire a cylinder under compression. if it doesn't jump 3/16" double check the points to see if they are shiny clean the whole face of each point. If they look good I would replace the condenser if it has one and retest.

A reply to Matt Harwood. The Vintage Motor Touring Society will gather again starting this spring and in a group of up to 15 or so prewar vehicles we will cruise to a collection, a museum, a hobby or historical society or whatever the tour master chooses then stop for lunch. After lunch we all head home until the next months run. It doesn't get any better than driving an antique car. We avoid highways when possible but will run them when needed. We do the run on a weekday most months to avoid heavy traffic.

I also have used a red or black magic marker, painted both the valve and seat, put the valve in and turned it back and forth about a quarter turn with light pressure. Then removed the valve and looked at the shiny area of contact. Be carful with the lapping compound, any not thoroughly cleaned out will cause excessive wear if it gets into the wrong area.

You state low compression but the rings were intact, the only damage if I understand correctly is the ring land on the piston was broken on this piston. You also have 3 more with no-compression. If the compression was 0 psi on the cylinder that had the broken ring land I would check the valves and seats on that cylinder closely by putting a ring of light oil or diesel around the valves margin when they are fully closed and watch to see if it weeps through the valve and seat. Typically a piston that does not have any broken rings and no scoring will be low compression which still does not run correctly. If the other 3 cylinders pistons show the same damage I would suspect continous detonation in the cylinders from timing being advanced too far or someone was using ether to start/run the engine. if all 4 piston ring lands are broken I would replace all the pistons. If you reuse the pistons be sure to check ring side gap and end gap, both are equally important. Excessive ring side gap can also break the ring lands.

You can turn the cable between your fingers and watch which way makes the needle move upward. Then take an old speedometer gear if you have one and chuck it in a drill to run it faster or put the cable in the chuck and tighten the check only enough to hold the cable.

Hello Dennis, yes that is correct for the engine if the timing marks line up with #1 cylinder on TDC and the valves on #1 are both open slightly, known as valve overlap, then the distributor would be installed with the rotor pointing to the #4 plug wire

use a timing light and check the mechanical advance and the vacuum advance separately. The Timing should be set with the vacuum disconnected at the proper idle speed. then hook the vacuum back to the distributor. If the vacuum line comes from manifold vacuum the timing light will show the mark (Timing marks on crankshaft) advanced when the vacuum is connected. If the vacuum comes from a ported location on the carburetor (vacuum line connected above the throttle plate) it will only get advance from vacuum when the throttle is opened. You can substitute manifold vacuum temporarily to check for proper advance with the timing light and if OK put the correct ported vacuum line back in place for operation. To check the centrifugal advance leave the vacuum disconnected and with the timing light raise the engine speed while watching the timing marks. As the speed increases you should see a timing increase if the weight system is working. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to put points into a distributor and set the ignition timing with a timing light without disconnecting the vacuum to the advance diaphragm at the distributor. This has the timing set on the retarded side which will lower power and fuel mileage. I hope this will help you.

The timing gear marks can be different set points for different manufacturers. Most Manufacturers of 4 cylinder engines haver it designed that when the gear marks line up the valves on cylinder #1 are on overlap at TDC. so at this point if you are putting the distributor in on a 4 cylinder engine you would set the rotor to point to number 4 since this cylinder is on the TDC of the compression / power stroke. Other manufacturers made the engine marks line up when the valves are on overlap on #4 cylinder ( on a 4 cylinder engine) so on this type the rotor on the distributor would be set to point to #1 cylinder when installing it since 1 is on the compression / power stroke.