Oregon Desert model 45

I want to buy a restorable bowl for 1925 Buick Master Marvel carburetor. I have a complete Marvel cast iron body # 10-87 missing the bowl. (my carb is pictured below). Note: 1924 & 1925 Marvel carbs look very similar. for clarification, the 1925 throttle butterfly is not located in the carburetor body, its located in the heat riser, not shown in this photo below is the 1924 Marvel carburetor. note the throttle butterfly at neck at top. to my knowledge, parts from 1924 don't interchange with 1925. Kevin BCA # 47712

I want to buy Windshield stanchions for 1925 Buick Master. 1924 6 cyl stanchions should be identical. Not sure if 1926 & 1927 will fit. Kevin BCA # 47712

I want to buy a restorable hood for my 1925 Master. 1924 6 cyl hood should be identical, not sure if 1926-1927 hood fits or not. Kevin BCA # 47712

I posted this question in the "What is it?" forum and received no responses. This hood upper panel has a crease that looks almost identical to 1930 Buick, but the area surrounding the louvers on the side panels is raised, and all photos I could find of Buick or Marquette has flat side panels. Plus another unusual feature is there is no seam at the front / rear edges- usually the sheetmetal on a hood is folded 1/4 inch along the sheared edges to add stiffness and reduce paint chipping. Perhaps is was a Buick hood that was modified or shortened with replacement side panels ? or was there another make of car that has a nearly identical crease in the hood upper panels ? length is 33 1/4" center top. attached is a photo of a series 30 phaeton with L&H which clearly shows the creased hood of 1930 Buick Kevin

Here are the actual measurements from the window frame plus a closeup of the stamped pull detail from the underside.

The Model A Briggs door moldings are similar, but the door pull is a separate piece that is chrome plated and fastened with screws to the bottom part of the molding. The door pulls on this pair of molding I have are stamped into or welded to the bottom part of the molding. There were numerous midyear changes to Fords - perhaps this was an early version of the molding before the chrome plated pull was put into production ? here is a closeup of the pull

Pair of window frames with integral door pull, these appear to fit a 4 door. what make of car do they fit ?

Transmission top with lock and parking brake handle, Muncie products #551857; 7-16-27 appears to be the casting date. What make of car does this fit ?

This door that is from a car made between 1914 to about 1918, and appears to be coach built. The latch is stamped : JOS. N. SMITH & CO DETROIT PATENTED MAR 24 14 5052, so 1914 is the earliest it could have been produced. The original wood is intact, the latch and hinges are intact. It is contoured inwards at the latch end to match the body contour. It measured around 21 3/4" wide. Does anyone recognize the make of car this door is from ?

This hood has a crease very similar to 1929 Buick, but the crease gets shallower toward the rear, and the area surrounding the side louvers is raised, which is not on the Buick. Another unusual feature is there is no seam at the front / rear edges- usually the sheetmetal on a hood is folded 1/4 inch along the sheared edges to add stiffness and reduce paint chipping. What car does it fit ?

I finished removing pistons, cam, and valve lifters last weekend. I had to compress the piston rings and push them back into the upper block before removing from below, and somehow one of the top rings failed to compress and it caught on the top of the block and a small piece broke off. These pistons & rings were new when dad assembled the motor 30 years ago. The babbit on one of the rod bearings has a shallow gouge, which I estimate to be .003 to .005 deep, shown in the zone between red arrows in the photo. is this OK ? The camshaft keeper bolts were accessible thru the 2 holes in the fiber cam, but the cam would not pull out until the valve lifters were pushed up enough to clear the center cam bearing journal. With the cam out, the valve lifter assemblies could be pushed out using a softwood stick and a mallet. I am relieved that cam is in good condition. There is only some minor surface rust in a few places. When dad bought this motor, the cam was deeply rutted where the rollers contact, and he found a machine shop that could add metal back to the cam and regrind to the correct profile, which must have cost him $$. According the 1916-1932 Buick interchangeability manual, the short valve lifters #207554 that were in the motor are from 1928 6 cyl. I have (11) of #166139 lifters which are 1924-1925 6 cyl, but they are a motley looking set. Buick was apparently tinkering with valve lifter design for a few years. Of my (11) 1924 style lifters, the 6 inner roller sleeves on the left have a single hole drilled thru which drips oil onto the roller, and appear to be #165805 in the 1924 parts book. These are all scored, which must have dumped a lot of metal particles into the oil system while it was occuring. The design was revised by adding an external lube groove, (4 parts on right) and a second hole drilled thru to provide lubrication between the inner and outer sleeve, which apparently helped reduce the scoring problem. what year was this additional lube hole added ? The roller thickness on the 1928 design was also increased from approx .365 to .430, which should also help reduce wear on the cam. I am inclined to use the 1928 style lifter assembly in lieu of the 1924-25 design. The main difference between long & short lifters is the overall length of the outer sleeve, yet the only functional piece of this sleeve is the lower section that inserts into the block and guides the inner roller sleeve. The rollers in my #207554 valve lifters shown above are pitted, so I should probably replace them. who is a good source for the rollers ? Kevin

To answer how the water got into the crankcase, my father pulled the car out of his garage and left it out in the rain with minimal covering over the engine. He did not install a gasket under the valve rocker cover or under the side lifter cover plates, so water was able to leak in and run down thru the valve lifter assemblies. I do not believe that dad ever got the motor running due to a few pieces that were still missing, so the only additional damage to the motor is resulting from approximately 12 years of fresh water rusting. The beige colored area on the cooling jacket is an old weld repair to some cracks. The beige stuff might have been a surface treatment since it appears to be applied to the entire weld repair zone. Here is a closer view of the repair I removed the connecting rod bearing caps and was able to easily push #1 & 2 back away from the crank, but #4 thru 6 needed to be pushed with a hammer and piece of wood. There is some surface rust in the lower end of the bores up to where the piston rings blocked the moisture. I pushed all the pistons out of the top end of the block so I can reach in and sand the rust out of the lower end of the bores. Here are the main bearings and caps. The babbit has no apparent cracking or flaking, just a slight gouge and a couple of small pits in the rod bearings. The crankshaft journals show some shallow pitting which does not show very well in the photo. I had earlier removed the crankshaft- flywheel nuts, but the flywheel still did not come loose so I left it attached to the crankshaft during removal. this made for a tricky removal. Do I just knock out the flywheel-crank bolts with a soft hammer ? The camshaft turns but won't pull out of the block. There must be a keeper holding it in- where is it located ? Which valve lifter assemblies are correct for this motor ? the long or short ? (yes its a 24 motor)

I have what appears to be a ceremonial staff or flagpole with a brass plate enscribed :PRESENTED BY PONTIAC MOTOR COMPANY AT WASHINGTON, D.C. JUNE 13, 1935. The pole is approx 54 inches long with a brass ferrule one end near the enscribed plate, and the opposite end of the pole is tapered to fit into something. What event took place on this date ? Was Pontiac celebrating some milestone in the company history, or awarding a new Pontiac car to the lucky winner of some contest ? it sounds like it was a great photo opportunity. any ideas ?

I drained the motor oil from my 25-45 and discovered it was mostly water that came out, so I figure the motor needs to be completely disassembled and inspected thoroughly. It also does not turn over, so something is stuck. Below is a photo of the sludge covered oil pump filter and pan with rusty bathtub rings marking the water level. When I got to the valve train, I removed the nut holding the valve lifter guide clamp, and the nut catapulted right over my head. What tool is used to compress the 3 springs in order to re-install the nut ? It looks like a good way to get hurt without having the right tool for the job. I have a spring compressor that works for a flathead ford, but it probably won't work for this motor. The valve lifter assemblies might be stuck down inside the block. Is there a special tool for pulling these out ? I tried prying them up with a big screwdriver, but they didn't budge. The motor head came off easily and the cylinder bores look good. Pistons are stamped STD and no signs of sleeved bores. Hard to believe the motor has never been bored out. I also notice the head bolt holes are not blind, but go directly thru and into the cooling jacket. Does the head bolt thread have to be coated with pipe dope to keep coolant from seeping around the threads ? Kevin

Thanks- those photos are all very helpful. I have been combing the web for the last year looking for clear photos of the wood structure for this car. Do you have any more showing the wood front seat riser support ? And yes it was me that bought the 25 radiator shell that was on e-bay. Also just bought some headlights that looked pretty good too. I pulled the motor out this last weekend and think I know why the lower 5 transmission bolts didn't line up - the lower flywheel housing was wrong. It should have milled pads where the engine arms / rear motor mounts attach, but there are not. It appears to be a later housing that has been modified. Kevin

Mark Shaw loaned me the 1924 Buick Parts book and now I can identify some of the smaller parts that were in boxes that came with my 1925 Model 45 Touring. Most of the part descriptions are adequate to point me to where the part goes and I can figure out the rest, with one exception. Part # 170270, and opposite side # 170271 are described as Rear seat iron, right / left, 45. Can someone show me a picture of these installed ? thanks Kevin

Hello everybody My father got the old car bug around 1973 when he bought (3) 39 buicks; a small 4 door, an opera coupe, and a large 4 door with sidemounts for the bargain price of $100 each. He got the small sedan running and driving with minimal effort since it had only been parked for around 12 years. We joined the local old Car Club and participated in tours and parades. Several other old cars followed. a model T ford, 31 chevy, model A's. Dad bought the next Buick project, a touring, in 1983 from a friend who found it while deer hunting in the desert near Lakeview Oregon. The engine, axles, hood, radiator, windshield, and all brightwork had disappeared, but the body was pretty much left alone. The Oregon desert is not a bad place for a car to sit outside for 40 or so years. There is very little rust in the lower areas and even the sheetmetal floor pans are solid. The car had been identified as a 24 master and for the next 30 years we believed it so. Dad found a 26 standard parts car and transplanted the engine and axles into the 24. A year or so later he found a 24 master engine & transmission in pieces. The cam was deeply rutted where the rollers contact the cam lobes, but dad managed to find somebody that could build up the metal on the cam lobes and regrind to original profile. I am not sure what other work he actually did on the motor since I was away at school while he was working on the buick. There were no other 20's buicks around to look at for reference, so when a key part such as the rear motor mounts were missing, he had fabricate a replacement with no idea what the original part looked like, and the result was a strange looking strap that crosses under the crank case. He cut and installed new wood for the body, but without a complete wood pattern to work from, he made a few mistakes. Dad continued to find parts for the Buick at swap meets, though he ended up with a lot of standard parts that didn't fit. notice how the windshield posts don't sit down - these are from a standard. At some point work on the buick ceased and dad moved the car outside where it sat in the rain for 12 or 15 years. After dad passed away, i started researching the Buick and eventually found the pre-war Buick forum and purchased the 1916-1932 parts interchangeability book. It took me a year to make space in my garage and finally haul the car home, and inventory dad's parts collection. After checking the serial numbers i now believe the chasssis to be a 25, and the motor to be a 24 with a 25 manifold & carb. The transmission apparently came from a different year car because the lower 5 bolts common to transmission housing and aluminum crank case don't line up. Has anyone else encountered this same problem with transmissions ? non-interchangeability seems to be a common theme with early Buicks. This chassis has the 120 inch wheelbase, which makes it a 25-45, but it has a built in trunk rack. Was this installed by the dealer or was it a special order from the factory ? Is this rack the same design as those installed on model 55 ? Its made from heavy sheetmetal, angle and round bar, and the spare tire carrier attached to the rear with angle brackets. Its pretty heavy ! its only propped up in place for the photo. The starter generator unit is missing a cam plunger which fastens to the fork on the end of the starter crossover linkage. This cam contacts a roller on a crank arm inside the s-g to shift the brushes from start to generate function. What does this plunger look like ? What covers up the starter gear ? is the starter crossover linkage correct ? I didn't find a crank in dad's garage so i haven't been able to check to see if the motor stuck during the years out in the rain. The motor needs to be pulled and disassembled to check the condition inside the crank case. The front and rear axles & wheels are from the 26 standard parts car, so dad must have pulled the driveline out and taken it to a local machine shop to be lengthened to reach the transmission. I searched his garage and the yard for the missing driveline, but never found it. If there was any work receipts from a machine shop we would not have found it anyway due to the incredible mess in his house. The transmission & crank case casting numbers are not in the interchangeability book; can someone tell me what transmission this is ? frame serial 1275278 motor serial 1221987 alum crank case casting 1653947 transmission housing casting 1813621 Kevin R Portland, OR