m-mman

Tachometer settings Slow idle 500-600 RPM shown.

More images. connected as if negative ground. wires reversed (positive ground) dwell setting. 15(?) double for a four cylinder(?) is 30 degrees for an 8 cylinder??

Photo to add to the this informative discussion.

Absolutely not! I’m not interested in messing with the inside of the distributor after a knowledgeable person has set it up. My original question was about evaluating the engine with a tachometer. Yeah that’s pretty much any old car part. The hurdle is getting it into that factory correct condition. ☹️ Technical information on Johnsons is not “abundant” even about the theory of operation. Ed says that he has spent up to 80 hours fixing a Johnson , including machining. That is beyond my resources. And when Jon doesn’t express confidence in being able to make one function I know that I am not going to tinker my way into a solution.

Thanks everyone. Yes it is a four lobe cam. Ed set up the distributor on his machine so I know that it is correct for gap, dwell(?) advance, etc. there are marks on the flywheel and the distributor rotates (can adjust the timing from the dashboard) I used a timing light to adjust the timing for both sets of points/cylinders so they are correct. The car still runs poorly but that’s because of the original Johnson carb that both Jon and Ed condemn highly. (both have no ready suggestions for a replacement). But my concern was evaluating the RPMs. At some moments it accelerates great and the next moment it “hits the wall” and revs only slightly above idle. Then it may/may not run well for the next shift. I’m confident that it’s all carb, but I was going to try to track how much it revs and if it hits the wall at a consistent top RPM. Other Cadillac folks have custom built a downdraft manifold and use a modern carburetor. I don’t know, I like original, but this thing is almost as frustrating as Matt’s Lincoln. I work on it, get frustrated, put it away for months then drag it out and tinker with it some more. I drug it out now to see if I can get it usable for our “Holiday Motor Excursion” tour, but maybe it still ain’t ready enough.

The car is a 1929 Cadillac. Single distributor, single coil but dual points. One set fires 4 cylinders the other points fire the other 4 cylinders. Connect a tach dwell meter. Connect it “backwards” because it’s positive ground. 6/12 volt? Not sure that it matters with this tester. Dwell reads 15(?). The distributor has been professionally set up so I know that the points are correct. Is the dwell doubled? Hummmmm…. I Know the points are correct, reading is academic and not critical. BUT what about the tachometer? Wide open it reads 2000 RPM. Hard to estimate if that’s correct. Do you double the tach reading also?

The death, the grief and the seller’s eyes are covered by the welding glasses of sentimentality. Eventually the grief will fade, reality will shine through and they will be able (be forced?) to make a deal.

Actually Ford used a snap in cover, Mercury had a zip in cover. 😉

They seem very unknowledgeable about it. Seems like “dad” told them nothing about it, they just want to extract the market value. I see this as when someone inherits a coin collection. Most are worthless a few might be priceless….BUT DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT CLEANING THEM because you will devalue them. The carb issue? Either the grandson or neighbor saw a YouTube video where someone starts a long parked car and the star discussed how carbs are always at fault and how difficult they are to fix.

It’s not just a “wooden boat” it is a Gar-wood with the original WWI surplus aircraft engine. Considering the cost of restoration I suspect that the seller will be losing money.

Paint can always be color matched. He was referring to the original color matching rubber floor mat. The rubber hardens and cracks apart like glass. They are not reproduced in all the various colors. The fix is to install carpet which while might be seen as an “upgrade” is a downgrade to originally.

No, the engine is missing a lot of unobtainable parts. I mentioned the carbs (yes there are two) the intakes are not shown, but there are some sort of aluminum manifolds(?) Also what’s missing is a conclusion. Buy it, find the parts, machine it ($$$$$) then what are you going to do with it? If you think about putting it into a V8 car, it will always be a “fake” car. That might have been acceptable in the 50s, but in the 21st century if you really want a Cadillac 12, you buy a real one, or a done one. Perhaps there is an equally abused 12 associated with an existing car that this one could donate to, but it is never going to stand on its own again.

For those folks who have become bored with maintaining a RR Phantom III with solid wood bodywork and want something else to take up their time.

Hummmmm….. don’t see the carburetors……🤔 maybe you can just get some Edlebrock carbs to work?

Don’t bother it’s not in the books. The details and documentation was rooted out at the Ford Archives by my friend Phil Skinner, one of (or the) top Edsel historians in the country. Nobody “killed” the second Continental. The 2 door only high end luxury car was doomed in a market segment where buyers preferred 4 doors. 444 cars produced for its second year. You can’t justify that minuscule production. So Ford wisely decided to apply the name to their new unibody car. Compared to the previous 2 door version it sold very well. Today collectors may prefer the earlier version, the company MUST make a profit, and the 56-7 didn’t. A company must follow the buyers not expect the buyers to take what is offered. That’s what killed the independents. Another example is replacing the slow selling 2 passenger Tbird with the 4 seat 58. Another smart profitable decision

Base model……crank windows. If you really want kids to see a big 50s car you get either a 56 or a 58-60 😉

Edsel didn’t “bring it to market” the 1960 model. It was a contractual obligation. Edsel dealers were signed up with a guarantee that there would be 3 model years of production. (1958+) Internal memos show that Ford had actually decided to drop the Edsel before it was introduced in the fall of 1957. Of course it did collapse during the 58 model year, with many dealers resigning. During the 1959 model year Ford representatives were crisscrossing the country begging dealers to quit. Huge buyouts for their inventory, signs, building improvements etc. “Please just quit already!” But there were a few dealers that were actually profitable and wanted to stay in business. With Ford begging, pleading, threats etc. but they couldn’t get the dealers gone before they had to introduce a 1960 model. So they cobbled one together. Eventually by the fall of 1959 there were no more Edsel dealers and on November 19th production stopped and the announcement was made. If Ford could have gotten away with not having 1959 models they would have.

I suspect that it might be a genuine WWII military ambulance. 🤔 Henney built a few “modular” ambulances for civilian use. This looks like a classic military ambulance interior. Would need better pictures and some research

Correct. Makes me think that the engine might be a 250 six from the 70s.

That ain’t gonna happen for less than $25,000……. That ain’t a Ford V8 under the hood and you can bet it has the Cadillac pot metal disease. I took a 40-50 year parked 1929 and made it operational. Same paint job from the early-mid sixties. Every time I show it….. “When are you going to paint it?”

And if the carburetor cars lasted 10 years then the American fleet was all FI by the turn of the century. That was 25 years ago. 😲 Now to understand why the choke on my Model T is located at the radiator! 😆

Yeah, with all that skill and experience laying around, it should be an easy thing to get up and running…..Just ask Matt. 😉

Nothing in common, besides the running gear. Cadillac wagons were always built as a modified regular Cadillac. Sometimes Sedan de Ville, sometimes the Fleetwood sedan and sometimes a 2 door ElDorado. Look through the Crestline book and you’ll see that there was a Cadillac wagon offered almost every year from the mid fifties through the 80s. Every year some businessman got the idea that the world needed a Cadillac wagon. Where they all got this hairbrained concept is beyond me. “Hey! Let’s get into manufacturing automobiles!” Production always ranged from a few prototypes to maybe a couple of hundred before the doors closed and reality hit. Then somewhere in the other end of the country another poorly thought out business plan and a few more Cadillac wagons were constructed. Sure they are RARE and unique and interesting and attract attention (some are nice looking, some are hideous) but none of them have or will ever achieve the value of the 59-60 El Dorado. Similar to the H&E Lincoln’s discussion they are cars that sellers always want a lot of money for and people want to see, but they aren’t digging into their pockets pulling out cash to get one. Yes they were expensive and yes some were connected with celebrities but if the best thing that you can say about a car was that it was owned by a celebrity then it isn’t much of a car.

There’s a power steering option under that hood! First year available, 1954 parts only. That might be worth the price of the car.

Sounds like good stuff, but you will likely find more responses if you scroll down and list what you have in the For Sale (parts) area.