chistech

Yes, sae 30 is fine. I use VR1 racing oil because it’s got a lot of zinc in it. To ge to either of the frame numbers you will have to do a fair amount of unbolting of sheet metal. I would guess getting the fuel tank apron metal off would be less work. You will have to pull the rear most body bolts and loosen the others so the body can be raised slightly. The trunk rack has to come off and the bolts at the bottom insides of the rear fenders that bolt the fenders and apron together. It you drop the tank first it will be easier to put the apron off. He rear most section of the frame rails over the tank on the driver side will have the number. It’s not super deep into the metal as you can see in the photo of my chassis. Your country sounds very difficult to work with. Almost every old car drips oil. I make new keys for the radiator cap out of brass. No more rusting away problems.

The serial number is on the top of the frame rail in two places. To view either one sheet metal needs to be removed and it’s a big job. One serial number is on the front drivers side chassis rail top, its about in line with the front motor mount. There one or two more numbers both stamped on the top of the chassis at the rear drivers side under the fuel tank apron metal. There was a radio available in 32 and they can be found then converted to modern internals. The radio I have and radio head is a 33-34 Oldsmobile. I haven’t done anything with it yet and I’m not sure if I’m going to install it or not. on your gearbox: the Oldsmobile transmission has to have a good gasket on the face of it where it bolts to the bell housing or it will leak. This is often the cause of the leaks. There is a company that makes up new cables but i don’t know their name. I was extremely fortunate that my own car had what appeared to be new cables before it was put in storage in 1966. We were just about to wire wheel them then polish them up to a new like finish. They weren’t even pitted (rust corroded) at all. Sometimes a good source for parts is still eBay. Many times parts like ignition items will come up. As for finding more thing’s wrong I’m sure you will. Many times, even after a complete restoration, a shakedown period will reveal things that just aren’t right even though they’ve been gone through.

I hated to put them in my motor!😄 I actually said they should be on a coffee table somewhere as a piece of art.

Here’s some pictures. There’s more paper work not shown with each pistons vitals.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjio5KKu-j_AhVKmokEHf20BL8QFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rosspistons.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw0UKA7C4A-hSqUyyLBzbx7D&opi=89978449 Mike is the guy I spoke with. What I liked was he suggested changes to the original design of my pistons that improved them. A major thing was to shorten the full bore width wrist pins. He suggested making them shorter as there was still plenty in the bosses and it would reduce the upper end weight of the assembly making the motor “snappier” to accelerate. I have gotten dozens of comments at the shows about how nice my olds motor runs. I know reducing some of that massive cast iron and steel mass had to help. The machine shop that rebuilt my engine was also very impressed with the job they did. He’s used to their actual racing built pistons but had never installed their custom “restoration “ pistons. He said there was no difference in the materials or quality of workmanship. Not sure how they would be different but the pistons do come with a print out of each piston with 5 measurements taken of each one and each one’s weight. The weight difference was virtually nothing. You will most likely have to send one of your pistons but they don’t charge extra for engineering from an original piston. I also got my pistons in a couple weeks from my initial phone call.

Would a set of custom Ross pistons be something you’d consider? If you did that you wouldn’t have to worry about the Teflon plugs and they’d make the pistons for a set of available rings. I don’t feel the ones I got were that expensive especially when Egge quoted me virtually double (just for the pistons alone)for their cast aluminum versus the Ross forged aluminum. 6 pistons, hasting rings, wrist pins, pin clips, and shipping from CA to Ma was $830. If you end up sleeving and need pistons because of that i would highly recommend them.

The porosity issue sounds like a job for JB weld! Okay, sorry guys, just trying to lighten up a crappy situation especially with how much we bust on JB weld! Hope you get everything cleared up but I’m sure you will. I am really enjoying the report between you and Joe P on this. Two men with like minds and like abilities. I’m just sitting back, reading, and learning things.

Not looking to start an argument but i don’t believe a lot of this accurate advice pertaining to the post. Yes Brassworks is a great company and could supply a core if needed but that’s about all I’ll agree with. For one thing the OP is from Belgium and everything posted he has to use a translation for. Reading this he could believe that no heater should be trusted to be installed and that simply is untrue. Demco32 is looking for a specific Harrison Sr. Heater which I know a fair amount about. Demco32 requires that heater for a correct, dealer installed option for his car. I’ve installed many original Harrison heaters in the 30’s era cars (I specialize in GM restoration) and have had zero core issues. Harrison was a part of GM and the brand used by GM. This era of car is a non-pressurized system and the heater core only has water flow through it, no pressure. The Harrison cores are in my opinion, overly built. Any radiator shop worth its salt would know that these old cores should not be tested at modern pressures. We don’t torque head bolts from this era to modern recommended torque tolerances for the same reasons. Most radiators of the era only get tested to 6-10 psi and the same for heater cores. If the heater core leaks at that pressure then it simply has a leak. I haven’t had to replace one core in any of the Harrison tombstone heaters I’ve purchased, installed, or restored. I don’t purchase obviously damaged ones of course.

That is the book you want. It has a lot of photos too that help but some are illustrations, are engineers renderings, and they are not always 100% correct to the actual production of the car.

Yes, mine is connected and has the original metal covers. Your covers were recreated by someone and are difficult to make. The most important thing about connecting the oil cooler, especially with non original covers, is that no water leaks by the cover to oil cooler core connections as you could get water into your oil. The Canadian roadster was manufactured with brass oil cooler covers that I have never seen before Brian, the owner, is very lucky to have those as they won’t rust out. I have been contemplating making some covers up out of SS. I will need to make up a die for some of the forming then figured the rest would be tig welded, ground smooth, and polished. I could probably sell every single 32 olds owner a set but they wouldn’t be cheap. There would be a lot of work entailed in making them up and making them correctly.

Hello Conrad, if you go to the restoration thread on my own car, many of your questions will be answered because there’s a lot of detailed pictures. You will see the oil filter lines. Also, there is very little oil flow through the filter and many times people didn’t even use them. The sticker is reproduced and can be found at many of the restoration parts suppliers. My car is at another garage and I probably will be going to get it in about a week. I can take measurements then. I usually use Rhode Island wiring for all my antique car restoration work but they don’t have a pattern for the 32 Oldsmobile. I used YnZ in California for my Olds harness and ordered the electronic directionals pre wired in. It was kind of expensive and would estimate now around $1000 but the fender lights and tail lights will operate as directionals so you will need to add nothing else and the car looks 100% original. A small discrete toggle switch that operates the left or right gets mounted where ever you choose (I mounted mine just under the edge of the dash to the left of the steering column where it can’t be seen. Most of the wire ends are overly long at the lights and will need trimming. I believe the horn wires were just long enough. You will need to order the small nickel or brass wire end buttons with it so you can connect the wires to your bulb connections. It’s a very nice harness that’s plug and play.

I have a guy in WI that I'm helping with a 32 olds restoration. He's checking on a chevy axle he might have. I see that the 31 olds axle is 1" shorter. Will one work or does those numbers mean that the pontiac will work in the olds if it's shimmed and not the other way around?

I tried the phone of backeast and it is disconnected. What is strange is I got the information from a fresh add in a car magazine dated 3/23! I don’t know if there is anyone else making them. I’ll have to ask around. The body number for the cowl tag, if you can get one, somewhere around 480-530 is based on where your car’s serial number puts it in the total production of all 32 olds body styles. Your serial number puts it right around the early middle of total production. With just a little less than 1200 convertible roadsters in total made, picking any one number in that 480 to 530 range, (493 for example) would be appropriate to recreate the cowl tag. The cowl tag has the job number, 32418, which is the number for the convertible roadsters so that means that one cowl tag with that job number was made for each roadster, and that just less than 1200 of those tags were produced. Attached is the picture of the Harrison Senior “tombstone” water heater. Harrison made a smaller version for Chevrolet which were private labeled for chevy but some weren’t. The Sr. heater if about 2-3 inches taller than the smaller version. I am looking for my factory technical bulletins for installing it. There were a few Buick parts guys who were offering the oil filters that had a modern canister filter inside. Maybe someone reading this can help out with more information. Mine is an original I obtained. A good automotive store or even the internet should be able to get you the grommets. My own cars wiring harness is new and I ordered the electronic directional lighting built into it. My front fender marker lights flash along with the corresponding taillight. You will have to get a column switch and wire in separate lights. I believe someone was talking about a wireless set of directionals (blinkers).

When I went to post on the VCCA I read your post. Chipper is a really good guy and it doesn’t surprise me that he offered to help. Chipper has helped me in the past and I’ve helped him. I posted tat a few of us have been offering you advice in your restoration.

Zach, I’ll ask over on the VCCA forums and let you know.

I used R&D in Elizabethton. Found them great to work with and good pricing.

Your issue is not uncommon with these old cars. I keep a couple spare axles for my own 31 chevy and have a pair of spare axles for my Oldsmobile. If you’re to order those new axles and there’s a long wait, you could always find a good used axle from a chevy and put it in for now so you can use the car while you wait for the new ones. If I had a 29 I’d send it to you but I don’t. There’s got to be someone out there who has one or knows someone who does.

Yes, thank you!

I’m looking for the name of the company that rebuilds our old coils. A friend has a keyed coil for a 32 Oldsmobile that needs rebuilding. I believe the company I’m thinking of is up here in the northeast. thanks in advance

I have to totally agree with this. When I first got my Olds and had done some research, I realized immediately that what parts I had missing were going to be impossible to find and started right away on planning an attack on how to make them. Some parts needed complete fabrication and others, working with bits and pieces, I was able to make back into fully useable parts. I really enjoyed learning how to use my machines because of these parts and the satisfaction I got from completing them. You do get a real sense of accomplishment when done. When I wasn't making parts, I was looking for other things needed though! Most of that time was spent ordering things that were available and getting other parts out like my gauges and chrome to the plater. Did mention that my wife was pretty sick and tired of "not" seeing me much! LOL

Another way is to leave one rear wheel on the ground and the car in gear. Remove the hubcaps so you can see the axle nut and try turning the wheel. If the wheel turns and the axle nut doesn't, then you sheared the keyway. Pay attention to the friction felt in the system. If the nut turns, repeat the process on the other side. If the nut turns again but the friction is more than the other side, you can figure you probably broke an axle on the other side. If the friction is greater, than you probably have a broken axle on that side. As you said the left is turning with the car running you pretty much determined the passenger side is the culprit. Another way is with the car fully jacked up and in gear. Turning one rear wheel will usually result with the other side turning opposite if all is well. Dragging brakes do it harder to do all this. I personally had a bad clunk in my 31 chevy. When I bought the car as a basket case, some things had been done and I was told by a friend of the deceased owner that the work was top notch. (My first foray into finding out just how many spectrums the phase "top notch" has. The motor was "fully restored perfectly" was one as it turns out only the head and pistons were done with the main babbit not in great shape. The chassis and wheels were all done, assembled and painted. Well it turns out the clunk was because the previous owner doing his "perfect work" had used terribly worn keyways on the rear hubs. I still don't understand why as both the axles and the hubs showed no real wear and two, new, full dimension keyways fixed my clunk. They were so worn that when the car was shifted from 1st to reverse and clutch engaged, you could see the axle nut rotate quite a bit. Though it's a bummer, it would have given you a problem down the road so it's better to get things sorted out now while your still in the restoration process. The thing I hate the most is having to go back into a car that I've believed was all set and ready to go down the road for a long time. It is part of the game though and unfortunately things like this rear their ugly head. Good luck my friend.

The reproduction sill tag is currently available on Ebay from a guy in Poland. Auction number is 181311769347. For the cowl tag you need to contact A. G. Backeast, PO Box 40011, Grand Junction CO, 81504. Email is dataplt@bresnan.net or datatags.com I have gotten one from him for a 31 Chevy that was an exact duplicate of the original. You will most likely have to send him a picture of mine and you will have to tell him what to stamp on it as we discussed earlier. The Job Number would be the 32418. The Body number you have to determine as I mentioned previously. I would think something like a 506 or 521 or anything in between should be about right based on your chassis number. The rivets for installing can be a couple different things. You can use aluminum rivets or you can use small chrome carriage bolts with nuts. They carriage bolts are used in small light fixtures or even headlights to mount the bottom mount to the bucket. The head is about .500 in diameter. I've also used aluminum flat head rivets with spring steel push nuts on the back as the inner firewall has a pad that covers the back side of whatever fastener you choose to use. The small stainless steel carriage bolts can be had from places like the Bolt Depot in MA. 10-24 X 1/2" works fine and the .500 head is about right for the cowl tag. The data plate simply gets nailed into the wood with small nails at each corner. My car has the correct Harrison Senior hot water heater that was a dealer installed accessory. You do not need a heater in your car to be correct but if you do install one, the Harrison Sr. was the the only correct one. I have a copy of the factory technical bulletin for the installation of the water heater. It shows how to install all the plumbing. The oil filter canister is an original and they can be somewhat hard to find but they are out there. The filter lines are hard to bend but can be done. There used to be a company making reproductions that had a modern filter inside the can but I'm not sure if they're still being made. The green engine paint is or was available from Bill Hirsch. Not sure if they're still in business as I've heard a couple stories. Not sure what rubber grommets you're referring to but they are available on the internet and most were found in local hardware stores here in the states. The upper middle grommet with the three holes is custom made and can be had from a fellow 32 olds owner who casts them in two part urethane. He also casts them with the proper metal insert. His name is Joe Pirrone of Severance CO. He and I also make many other reproduction parts for the Oldsmobiles.

Yes, that is incorrect and the pump shaft is one diameter from the generator end to the impeller.

There are ways to increase the lighting all around to help with visibility of our old cars. LEDs were already mentioned with both taillight and headlight bulbs available. Recoating the reflectors or aluminizing them makes a huge difference. There is a small company that does a great job offering a third brake light which can easily be installed in a rear window on any hard top car. It is also a LED along with it working as a brake light, it will flash half its length to each respective side when wired in with a directional switch. Bumper mounted directional lights are another big help and even modifying single filament bulbs in cowl lights to dual filaments allowing the cowl lights to now be directional lights also is another modification that doesn’t effect the integrity of the car.