chistech

Had a customer send me in his rotted and leaking 20 Buick water pipe. It had been patched numerous times many years back when the metal was still thick enough to weld and most recently with our favorite, JB weld. My plan was to make it out of 316 SS and tig weld it all together, then polish it up as the original was nickeled. The elbow and front down pipe are 1.125 diameter and the main pipe is right at 1.3125 which tapered to the elbow diameter. I was able to order a 24” piece of 1 3/8” for the top pipe and a piece of 1.125 for the front down pipe. I was not able to get an elbow in 1.125 so for now, I ordered a 1.00. I would like to find someone who could cleanly radius bend some 1.125 for me but as of now, I’ve had no luck. Some .250 x 2” flat stock was bought to fabricate the flanges.

While not a car show, but another hobby of my, RC scale aircraft. I was at a show and a fellow member of my RC club showed up with his elderly dad, Bud, he himself an avid RC plane builder and a WWII veteran. Among the line of aircraft was a Storch which was the WWII German version of the US piper cub or L19 Cessna bird dog. While Bud was looking intensely at the very well done Storch, another elderly gentleman walked over and asked Bud if he knew what aircraft it was. When Bud said he did, the gentleman then asked if he had ever seen one. When Buds reply was yes, the next question was where. When Bud told the gentleman where he saw it, the gentleman then said that’s where he had seen one. The next question was when. It turned out both Bud and this gentleman were in the same place at the very same time, while their regiments were different, they ended moving through Europe on the very same campaigns till the end of the war! Both, miraculously managed to make it home safely. To listen to the two men reminiscing about such a horrific time, watching them hug each other and start to cry, was just an incredible thing for me to experience. There’s no real way to explain the emotions I felt and I’m normally not a very emotional person. It was just incredible.

We owned a 23 T Martin Parry bodied depot hack and that truck was great to drive with enough legroom for my 6’1” , 230# frame. One would think the depot hack were designed with getting in and out along with larger size men. I enjoyed driving that truck and wish we still had it.

Didn’t you post this on Facebook with the coil arcing? So it was a negative ground issue it seems.

Gene was a wonderful gentleman. He and I talked many times while I was restoring my 32 Olds and our cars were virtually side by side at my first Junior showing at Hershey. He had made up some excellent reproductions of specific 32 olds parts like the “high compression “ information plate on the engine head, the label on the Remo decarbonizer fluid can, and the small red 32 olds optional equipment catalog. I purchased all those items from him. Rest in peace my friend.

There are perfect examples of the RHSC right in these comments. Here’s some examples. 1. If two auto makers or marquees came out with the same thing in the same year say even one hour apart, the first one to come out with it is still the first no matter how you want to slant it in your favor. Races are won in the hundreds of seconds. The Corvair guys have been doing this for years. 2. The HUD is a perfect example as olds had in their pace car first but Nissan was first in installing it in a production car. Two different firsts. Olds only claimed the first example , not the second. 3. If olds claimed it as a first and because they were part of GM, saying that they really can’t be the first because they’re all one group that would mean the whole GM family couldn’t singularly claim anything they came out with as a first. They marquees all worked independently in R&D in most cases and collaborated on few. It was the GM brass that did the slashing and mashing. 4. Based on my ownership of my 32 Oldsmobile, which has, undisputedly, the first production automatic choke, it never gets credited to olds. I’ve had many people with The large classic marquees see my automatic choke on my 32 and the immediately say, “I didn’t know that the Olds got the automatic choke from “Packard, Pierce Arrow, Cadillac, etc” (just enter any one) as I’ve heard it from owners of all those brands when in fact those brands didn’t get the automatic choke until 34! My own reasoning (based on research and what I’ve read) for the corporate hate from GM on Olds is they most likely purchased Olds to remove a competitor from their market as this is how business works. It’s easy to assume that GM figured Ransom would take his money and run but he instead, founded another competitor in REO which produced very nice higher end cars that were in many cases better than the top line Buicks and even possibly the Cadillac. (Okay,I probably just started more arguments!) So I believe this is where a majority of the corporate hate come into play. Pontiac garnered its own corporate hate because it was started as a companion brand and it ended up overtaking the Oakland in popularity and sales. That’s another corporate NoNo as you know that some in the GM brass had their Oakland love get shattered. If you read some of the corporate meeting minutes back in the early thirties you’d understand my post even more. GM almost hoped Olds would fall flat on its face but instead it developed a lot and was GMs 1st Guinea pig with Pontiac second. Oldsmobile was in most cases, GM worse producer so if something new failed, better to fail on an Olds and not any of the others. But then you have the example of the F88 that was known to be a much better car than the Corvette. They knew it wouldn’t fall on its face but in fact, due the exact opposite so the GM brass squashed it. If it wasn’t for Harley Earl and E L Cord, there wouldn’t be one example left.

So people know, I didn’t cherry pick the list nor did it come from a Oldsmobile biased website. Here is the link where I found that list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile

.250 for the bigger line, .125 for the smaller line

It was actually 1926 when Olds became the first to offer chrome trim. I believe they were the first in '27 to offer a chrome radiator shroud. I could be wrong but I don't believe they used the three step process we now use today, (copper, nickel, chrome) but instead perfected the flash chroming process of chroming directly onto bare steel. It wasn't really perfected though as an old joke was if you "took a leak" on an Olds, all the chrome would instantly rust! I know my own 32 was only flashed (one step)chromed and all the chrome rusted quite easily.

Restoring my '32 Olds DCR I ended up doing many years of research. I have also gone to Lansing, attended the NAOC's National show, and spent some time going through the Oldsmobile museum and learning the local history of Ransom E Olds. What I learned is that there was very little corporate love for Olds from GM, not much love from car enthusiasts in general, and little love locally (Lansing MI) for the brand or Ransom and his family. I won't go thru all the particulars that brought me to my conclusion and figure if there are those out there interested, doing some research on your own will really enlighten you. But there are examples of actual sabotage of a Olds designed vehicle that was a much better design than the other car that GM marketed instead because it would have destroyed that other car both in performance and sales. What I did find a list of firsts that I thought I'd post as while I knew Oldsmobile had many, I didn't realize just how many it did have. 1898 – Olds Motor Vehicle Company exports a steam powered automobile to Mumbai, India, making it the first exported American car.[16] 1901 – The first speedometer to be offered on a production car was on an Oldsmobile Curved Dash. 1901 – Oldsmobile became the first car company to procure parts from third-party suppliers.[17] 1901 – Olds produces 635 cars, becoming the first high-volume producer of gasoline automobiles.[18] 1901 – Oldsmobile was the first auto manufacturer to publicly promote their vehicles.[19] 1902 – The Oldsmobile Curved Dash becomes the first mass-produced vehicle in America. 1903 – Olds builds the first purpose built Mail Truck.[20] 1908 – Oldsmobile becomes a division of GM, and rebadges the Buick Model B as the Oldsmobile Model 20, creating arguably the first badge-engineered automobile. 1915 – First standard windshield.[21] 1926 – Oldsmobile was the first car company to use chrome plating on its trim.[22] 1929 – Oldsmobile creates the first Monobloc V8 engine in its Viking Sister-brand. 1932 – Oldsmobile introduces the first automatic choke.[23] 1935 – Oldsmobile offers the first all steel roof on an automobile.[24] 1940 – Oldsmobile introduces the Hydra-Matic, the first production fully automatic transmission. 1948 – Oldsmobile, along with Buick and Cadillac begin offering one piece compound curved windshields. Prior to this, windshields were split in the middle. 1949 – Oldsmobile introduces the first high-compression, OHV V8 engine the Rocket.[25] 1952 – Oldsmobile, introduces the "Autronic Eye" – the first automatic headlight dimming system.[26] 1953 – Oldsmobile becomes one of the earliest automakers to switch their complete line up to the newly standardized 12v charging system. Buick Roadmasters and Cadillacs were other early adopters. 1962 – Oldsmobile creates first production turbocharged car, the Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire. 1962 – Oldsmobile creates first production car with water injection, the Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire.[27] 1966 – The Toronado is the first mass-produced front-wheel-drive American car.[28] 1969 – First use of chromed ABS plastic exterior trim, on the 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado.[citation needed] 1969 – First production electric grid window defogger on an American car, the 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado.[citation needed] 1971 – The Oldsmobile Toronado was arguably the first production car with a high mounted brake light. The taillights were supplemented by a pair of eye-level stop and signal lamps set in slots just below the rear window.[29] 1974 – The Toronado is the first American car to offer a driver-side airbag, a feature later shared with Buick and Cadillac. 1977 – The Toronado is the first production American car with a microprocessor to run engine controls.[30] 1982 – First use of high-impact moulded plastic body components – 1982 Oldsmobile Omega [31] 1986 – Oldsmobile along with Buick introduces the Delco VIC touchscreen interface on the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Buick Riviera first of its kind on a production Automobile. 1988 – The first production heads-up display system – 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Indy Pace car.[32] 1988 – Oldsmobile broke a world closed-course speed record with the Oldsmobile Aerotech at 267 mph, driven by legendary race car driver A. J. Foyt.[33] 1990 – Oldsmobile introduces an updated color Touchscreen interface with built in cellular phone (a predecessor to modern infotainment systems) on the 1990 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo.[34] 1995 – Oldsmobile presented Guidestar, the first on-board navigation system to be offered on a US production car.[35] 1997 – Oldsmobile is the first American car company to turn 100.[36] 2001 – The fully redesigned 2002 Oldsmobile Bravada SUV became the first truck ever to pace the Indianapolis 500.

I rebuild sending units all the time. The one shown doesn’t look like a difficult fix. Any gauge or sender shop should be able to restore tat pretty easily. The cork floats also need to be replaced with modern neoprene ones.

Mark Santos of the NAOC should be able to help you out with information. You will find there is little literature on Olds and even fewer people who truthfully know them. The people who know the post war Oldsmobiles in most cases know little to nothing about pre war Olds. Those who know the pre war cars usually know a specific year or two. Olds was quietly making technological advances about every three to four months of every year especially in pre war cars and it’s very hard to thoroughly know about more than a year or two. The olds division designed and developed lots of GMs firsts but often never got the credit. I researched my own 1932 model year for three years using what was out there published, original factory bulletins, and original meeting minutes. 32 Oldsmobile was the first production car with a fully automatic choke system by Stromberg. Once proven on the Olds, cars like Packards, Pierce’s, and others got them. Many believe it was those marques that developed the auto choke and many of the owners incorrectly give their car brand the credit. After all, how could little old Oldsmobile design anything. It’s not like they designed and marketed the first automatic transmission right???? GM wasn’t a big fan of Oldsmobile with the other divisions, especially Chevy, pretty much hated them and prevented some Oldsmobile designs from ever coming to fruition. Look up the Olds F-88 vs. the Corvette and what the GM brass made Oldsmobile do at the behest of Chevrolet. There’s still a big argument about who came out with the first production turbocharged car. Chevy guys say the Corvair was first and the Olds guys say the Jetfire was. When you look at original factory documents, the Olds Jetfire shows about a two week earlier start of production date than the Corvair but the argument continues. I probably just started the debate again!

Been putting a few miles on the Olds. What a nice, smooth driving car. What really surprises me is the power the flat head six has. Rated for 74 hp you would think it would be adequate and not much more but it’s way more than adequate. I can come to a steep long hill and just push the pedal down o accelerate pretty quickly up the hill. I had the car on a safe long straight up to 62 when I backed off with a lot of pedal to go! I would not normally drive it like that but just wanted to see and was quite surprised. There’s not even a little drift to the steering and virtually no vibration to the driveline. The car has about 350 miles on it now and it’s really breaking in nicely. The pictures were taken on Gooseberry island in Westport Ma. The island at one time had two lookout towers on it, built at the start of WWII.

I think the Pilot Ray lights are to one’s personal taste. If they are 1932 they would be acceptable.

It’s coming out tomorrow.. what front lock? Do you mean the catch for the hood latch wire? Dimensions for the filter, 4 1/8” diameter and 5.5” high.

It always seems like my oxygen is empty when I need my torches so I feel your pain! And when you go to refill the tank they tell you “ oh, this bottle is out of date and you need to buy a new one “! 😡

That spring I believe I had and thought about using for the free wheeling interlock system. My interlock system was off the car so I had to duplicate those parts from the drawings on the factory bulletins and that included any spring. My car is extremely close to 100% OEM but that doesn’t mean all the parts are original parts as some of the parts are newly created as close to exact copies as possible and that includes small items like screws, bolts, and springs. My friend joe actually purchased collections of original factory bulletins from men who had saved them from the Oldsmobile plant. He has an extensive amount of original bulletins. I will be talking with him soon and see if he has the time to send you what he needs. He’s currently extremely busy so I’m not sure how much time he has right now. They referred to the 32 chevy cabriolet as the baby Cadillac but I believe the 32 olds more closely resembles the Cadillac than the chevy. I’m pretty sure it was GM brass that coined the “baby Cadillac “ phrase so they would sell more Chevys. If you looked at Oldsmobile history throughout the years you would realize that the marquee was not very appreciated by the GM corporation. In fact, even in Lansing MI, home of the Oldsmobile and Ransom himself they didn’t appreciate him or the marquee.

The Cadillac is beautiful! I actually just found the paperwork for the transmission parts kit I bought off ebay. The seller was Old Car Parts NW, internet address is OCPNW.com. What is got is called is a transmission small parts kit, Buick/Oldsmobile/Pontiac 1932-1936. Dittmer PO609A. The kit was made by Dittmer and the number is the PO609A. It contains those perforated bronze washers you recreated along with three synchronizer springs and other small parts including lock rings. You can try their site and possibly they have more. I will be getting the car out sometime this weekend and will climb under it to look at the layout of the springs. I don't believe I used that spring thats on top of the transmission but I could have. My car had the majority of it's original springs. It was missing the linkage for the free wheeling interlock but I duplicated it all from the factory bulletins. I have those and should be able to scan them if you need them.

I don’t believe I ended up using that long spring but I have to crawl under the car and have a look. That small rubber boot on top of the shift lever comes up for sale from time to time on eBay. Not sure if Steele Rubber or Metro offers them. They can be black or brown. The car in the picture down from mine is a 32 chevy, not an Oldsmobile. If you look closely you will see cowl lights instead of fender lights. The hood only has enough length for 4 hood doors instead of the Oldsmobile 5. That picture was taken at Hershey when I got my first junior award. The guys who owned the chevy were joking about how one could cut up an Oldsmobile roadster if they need parts for a Chevrolet cabriolet because many parts are the same or could be worked to make fit. I said the opposite because of the rarity of the olds versus the chevy.

My friend Joe Pirronne and I work together to mold the pedal and shift lever closeout panels. Joe is waiting for the urethane he uses to come back in stock. We have to make up at least two other sets for people so I assume we’ll probably make up 6 -7 sets. Once joe molds them, he ships them to me where I put the special bevel cuts in them using a special jig I made to do that. I’ll be talking with Joe soon and see if he’s any luck purchasing the urethane he needs.

Not sure what rod and plate on the transmission side you’re talking about. I might have the original technical documentation on the free wheeling clutch interlock. The interlock was added by dealers to early production cars and later production cars had it installed at the factory. looking at your last photo there is a linkage that was made up to keep the free wheeling lever in the disengage position. That is not original. (Rereading an earlier post, I assume this linkage is what you fabricated to lock the free wheeling lever) Normally the eye of the free wheeling cable is attached to the bottom eye of the lever. The casing of the cable is held with a clamp and bolt to the bottom of the front of the brake cross shaft support. In your last photo, the front of the cross shaft support is bolted to the transmission and is visible right behind the eye of that linkage rod to lock the free wheeling lever from moving. Below the eye is the area on the cross shaft support where the casing of the free wheeling cable gets clamped. It has a groove in it for the casing to fit in. Free wheeling was a mainly 1932 option on many cars installed as a fuel saving option. When free wheeling is engaged, it works like a one way ratchet, allowing the motor to rotate the driveshaft with power but also allowing the drive shaft to rotate when coasting without any back pressure from the engine. The engine can be allowed to go to idle without affecting the speed of the coasting vehicle. Of course this meant any stopping of the vehicle was strictly on the brakes and there was no downshifting available to help slow the vehicle. It was quickly realized that free wheeling was a dangerous addition to a car and they were pulled from production for most brands by 1933.

What are you looking for? I couldn’t find the hood hooks that mount on the radiator shell bottom. Maybe I didn’t have them. I did find a starter pedal spring you can have. My original free wheeling unit was welded together but I removed it because I wanted originality in my car. I’m starting to think i might put that welded unit back in.

Not sure on the airport closest that would accept international flights. Maybe someone else reading this will pipe in.

I would run that.

I ran the old school 500 weight oil in my trans but it’s too heavy. Once in a while my free wheel pawls will pop out after I’ve down shifted and I believe the oil is too thick to allow the springs to push the pawls back quickly enough. I would think , and I’m going to do it myself, a 75-90 weight gear oil will be fine. I looked in one place for the bonnet hooks for the radiator end of the bonnet but didn’t find them . I will look in my other area today to see if I have any.