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37S2de

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Everything posted by 37S2de

  1. There was a recent thread here where connecting rods for a ‘35 Dictator were being sought. Knowing that I had some rods stashed away, I went and looked and found twelve rebabbited rods with the number 186606. The caps don’t have any numbers. I can’t find 186606 in my late 30’s parts book, so I suspect it is a casting number, not a part number. Two questions 1. Does anyone know what these rods fit? 2. Does anyone here need these rods? I have no use for them and do not remember why I bought them. I figured I would see if anyone needed them before I set them down at the end of the driveway with other scrap metal for the roving scrap metal scroungers to haul away Tom
  2. Here are a couple of photos of an original ‘35 Studebaker front door panel and the clips that are used to attach it. As near as I can tell, there is no wood in the front doors. I did not know if you needed this information, because the original question was probably about wood used by the coach builder in the rear doors Tom
  3. Some here might remember the saga I reported several months ago about replacing the king pins in my ‘35 Commander. In one of the posts I showed some brass shims that I had machined and asked for opinions on their use versus steel shims. A couple of commenters recommended against the use of the brass shims and I recently set about making and installing steel. Steel king pin shims are readily available on the commercial market, but I machined my own just like the brass shims. This time, because I wasn’t fighting 80+ years of wear and oil and grease and dirt buildup, the total job of taking everything apart and replacing the shims only took about an hour and a half. I’m still trying to find the right oil to use in the king pin system. The shop manual says 20wt engine oil. I tried to find straight 20wt and was told that motorcycle fork oil was the only 20wt available. I went to the local Harley dealer (because they were closest) and asked for 20wt fork oil and they only had fork oil that was branded Harley specific and did not have a viscosity rating on the bottle. I used that anyway, and I think water might be thicker. It leaked out right away. About a month ago I found some oil that was labeled straight 20wt and sucked out what little Harley fork oil was left in the pancake oilers and put in the new 20wt. It also leaks, though not quite as fast. I think the next move might be 20w-50. One commenter suggested STP. I think that I’ll get some and see if it will wick. Any thoughts? Tom Any thoughts? Tom
  4. I can make most anything automotive that can be made on a large manual milling machine and tool-room size engine lathe. I’ll need a detailed drawing or blueprint. Finding a machine shop willing to do small jobs or one-offs at a reasonable cost is hard. I like the challenge and don’t want to get into repetitive work. Satisfaction guaranteed. It’s my name on the door. If I can’t make your part I’ll tell you right away. I don’t have the equipment to do surface grinding or heat treating. Please call to discuss your project. During business hours with the machinery running, I don’t interrupt to answer the phone. It is a one-man shop. Please leave a message and I’ll call back. I’m located in northwest Louisiana. Lewis Machine Shop Tom Lewis AACA number 522402. (50 years membership) Phone or text: 318-382-3337 e-mail: studebaker4829@live.com Thank you. Tom
  5. Walt G —- If you were at Pate in the 70’s, that’s when it was south of Fort Worth in Cresson, Texas and named after the Pate Aviation Museum which was nearby and I think owned the land the swap meet was on. The swap meet was down in a hollow among the live oak trees and could be a muddy mess. There were years when I could not figure out how the vendors got in and out given the mud and the hills. It’s been over 20 years since the swap meet moved north of Fort Worth to the Texas Motor Speedway (but kept the name “Pate”) and the swap meet area is all paved. It’s certainly easier to walk and, for the most part flatter, but sometimes I miss the shade of those trees The Pate swap meet is always around my wife’s birthday. One year when we were traveling from our (then) home in Missouri to the swap meet, it was on the day of her birthday. I didn’t say anything about her birthday and she complained the whole way down that I had forgotten. When we got to the hotel there was a dozen red roses in the room that I had arranged for the hotel to place there (with a card that said “Happy Birthday”) when I made the reservation. This was pre-cell phone days and she knew I couldn’t have done it while we were traveling. It turned out to be a pretty good weekend Tom
  6. When I lived in Virginia (in the mid-80’s), I would make Spring Carlisle every year. It was, for me also, the jumping off point for the season. I’ve always been a pre-war kind of guy and even then Carlisle had the reputation for having mostly newer parts. I never came home empty-handed. I remember having to go back to my truck several times because I couldn’t carry all the stuff I was buying. I remember looking at a table full of carburetors. The vendor asked what I was looking for and I told him a ‘38 Oldsmobile 6 cylinder carb. He said he didn’t have any, but did have an NOS rear fender for a ‘38 Olds behind his table where I couldn’t see it. $60. There’s another trip back to my pickup. I miss Carlisle. Next week though, is the big (for this part of the country) Pate swap meet at the Texas Motor Speedway just north of Fort Worth. I know there will be some things there that I just can’t do without. Tom
  7. I have sprayed single stage acrylic enamel from sealed partial left-over cans (mostly black, but other colors too) that were more than five years old. As long as they were thoroughly mixed to get all the solids off the bottom of the can, they were fine. Single stage does not “dry”. It “cures” through a chemical reaction with the reducer and catalyst (hardener) when sprayed. As long as the can is well sealed, and no reducer or hardener added, it has a pretty long shelf life. Tom
  8. I’ve owned this one for 25 years now. It’s the original paint. Jaguar, of course, called it “Primrose” Tom
  9. Stickers on a toolbox — Yeah, I’ve got ‘em Back when I had multiple spaces I had leftover Hershey swap meet space stickers in most years. Now that I’ve downsized to one space, that one sticker goes on the windshield and none left for the toolbox. Tom
  10. I helped remove the clutch from the Bour-Davis in an effort to get it rebuilt and the car operational before that 2015 meet. At the time I was one of the younger members of the local club and was one of few who could still crawl under the car to do that work. I really wasn’t part of the rebuild process. I was just there to hand wrenches to those who knew the car and to help move heavy parts. Tom
  11. I recently replaced the king pins and bushings in my ‘35 Studebaker Commander. I machined both the pins and the bushings myself. If you can’t source the parts you need, I might be able to help. I would need exact dimensions and materials that you would want. I can be contacted at 3one8-382-333seven. Or e-mail: studebaker4829@live.com Tom
  12. I know that I should just let this slide by, but the machinist in me can’t do it. In the photos above, there are two photos of the compound setting on the lathe. The text implies that to make 60 degree threads that the compound should be set at 60 degrees. This is not correct. The second photo shows the compound set at about 29 1/2 to 30 degrees. This is the correct setting to cut 60 degree threads and should probably be emphasized in the text. Tom
  13. On our way to get married. 1990 Brenda first laid eyes on me when I parked and got out of the Porsche outside the Louisiana Unemployment Office where I had an appointment to interview her for a job. She got one alright —- putting up with me for the last 32+ years and counting. Best thing that ever happened to me. I sold the Porsche over 20 years ago, but the “YOU WISH” tags were transferred to a ‘66 Jaguar E-type roadster that we still own. Tom
  14. Thanks for the responses. I probably will replace those brass shims with steel. One of the reasons that I used the brass (besides the fact that I had it on hand) is that I figured that the weight of everything in this assembly is at the top and resting on the thrust bearing. The only time that the shims touch anything is if the suspension is completely extended the other direction. It’s not a problem for me. This is why I ask some of what may seem to be obvious questions. I could have left those brass shims in place and never asked the question and no one would ever know. Removing and installing king pins to get at the shims is, for me, not really difficult or time consuming. Tom
  15. After having everything back together for a couple of days I looked under the Studebaker to see if I could tell that the oil was actually wicking up out of the reservoir and into the king pins. It certainly was. And then promptly leaking out. There are no seals or anything else to prevent the leaking. I put a container under one of the king pins and the second photo shows how much I captured in 3 days. I now understand why Studebaker discontinued this system and went to grease for king pin lubrication. The shop manual says 20 Wt oil should be added to the reservoir every 1000 miles. I wonder how they expected the king pins to be lubricated for the next 950 miles after all the oil has leaked out in the first 50? For those of you that have hung in here to the very end, I apologize that this saga took so long and thank you for reading it all. If there is anyone out there that needs basic machine shop work done, (lathe and milling machine) and your local machine shops don’t want to touch it because it’s too small a job, maybe I can help. I’m looking for projects and can work off blueprints or drawings to your specifications. I’d prefer to not do anything that requires metric threads, nor anything that would be repetitious. Tom I can be contacted at: studebaker482nine@live .com. Make the “nine” a 9. Or 318-38two-333seven
  16. Oh my! Art Burrichter. That’s a name I didn’t see coming today. Back in the days when I thought that I could make a living transporting antique cars I had quite a few dealings with Art. I finally stopped taking his calls. The transports were never profitable, there was always something added, as in “while you’re there…”. There was never a “Thank you” and I was always treated like just more hired help. (I know that that is just what I was, but I didn’t need it rubbed in) Several times I dropped the tailgate on the trailer and get whatever it was out of the trailer and the customer would say, “Wow. That’s not exactly what I was expecting”. I felt like I was being blamed for something I had nothing to do with. I was just a transporter. I stopped taking his calls. Tom
  17. No need for an add-on pump. Use what is called a propane safety switch as used on propane powered forklifts. Plumb the wig-wag to your intake manifold with the switch somewhere in line. The switch can be wired to the brake light switch on your master cylinder. When the brakes are applied, power will go to the brake lights AND to the propane safety switch. The propane safety switch opens up and vacuum is pulled through the wig-wag and you’re in business. The lights in the wig-wag can be wired the same way to come on with the brake lights. My ‘37 Studebaker Coupe-Express is still 6 volts, and the propane safety switch is 12 volts, but it works just fine. Contact me if you need a part number for the propane safety switch, although the counterman at any large forklift parts supply house should know what you want. Tom
  18. We’re getting to the finish line on this series. The oilers themselves were covered with what I assume to be 87 years worth of solidified oil, dust, grime and grease. The car looked like it had spent its early years in the oil fields of Southern California, or at least in a place where oil was liberally used to keep dust down. It took a while to figure out how to remove them from the car because the nuts were hidden by all the grime. Once out of the car, both oilers had short lengths of very stiff steel wire sticking out of the tube. No trace of any wicks were found here. I pulled the steel wire out. The tubes were hard packed solid. I managed to clear the tubes with picks and small bore brushes and lacquer thinner. I drained what must have been oil at one time from the oilers and found a worm of a remnant of a wick in the bottom of one of the oilers. I remembered seeing in one forum post (I can’t remember which forum) that Hobby Lobby still carried wicks for oil lamps. I took the little piece that I had to the local Hobby Lobby and they had a perfect match. $2.49 for five of them. In his article, George Vassos said to thread the wick from the top of the king pin through the tube to the oiler. I couldn’t do that with just the wick —- too flimsy. I stripped a length of 16 ga wire and twisted two strands together. I then tied the wire to the very end of the wick and fed the wire through and pulled the wick behind it. Very easy There is a disc of felt at the top of the king pin. The shop manual says to slot this felt so the wick from the oiler touches the felt. Nowhere does it say how thick the disc should be. I made it to where I thought the Welch plug would compress and keep it in place. The last thing is to cut off the pull wire and to tuck the long end of the wick into the oiler, fill with oil and put in the last of the Welch pugs.
  19. Hi Gary You are absolutely correct. When I bought it, I was under the impression that this 4140 was pre-hardened. When I received it, it was obvious that that was not correct. I expect that I will never put enough miles on this car to worry about king pin wear in what’s left of this lifetime. It is something that will go in my notes to tell a prospective buyer the next time this car gets sold, however. Thank you for the thorough reply. Tom
  20. Now it was time to test fit the whole assembly together. The original thrust bearing appeared to be in good shape, so it was re-used. I reinstalled the one .010” shim that had been in it. The shop manual states that there should be .003” to .005” of clearance between the top of the thrust bearing and the steering knuckle. With that one shim in place I now had .026” clearance up and down. The fit was perfect laterally, but up and down was very sloppy. I could buy shims on-line that would meet my need, but, 1). I thought they were outrageously expensive, and 2) I’d have to wait for them to be delivered and delivery times are iffy at best and 3) if I really thought I was a machinist I should be able to make my own shims. I decided to machine my own shims. I used .005” brass shim stock that I had on hand. I guess that all the replacement king pin kits that I have seen have steel shims in them. Is there a valid reason (besides cost) that brass is not used in that application? Anyway, I reduced the clearance to .007 and figured it was close enough. Tom
  21. It was time to start reassembling the king pins. I fitted the bushings with almost no resistance to the driver. I then slipped the king pin into place. I was astonished at how well it fit Tom
  22. Now is when this project really starts to become fun for me. I bought 3-foot lengths of 4140 steel in 7/8 diameter and a 1-foot length of solid bronze from MSC to actually make the king pins and bushings. Here’s a hint —- when I ordered the bronze I noticed that MSC was the vendor on the e-Bay website. It was the same price as the MSC catalog, so I figured that I would just order directly from MSC. Not a good idea. On e-Bay the shipping was free, but direct from MSC they charged me $14 for shipping and a one-foot-long piece of bronze came in a box the size of a large suitcase. I won’t make that mistake again. The lathe work and milling machine work for the king pin is really straightforward. Just follow the blueprint. On the bushing, I established what would be the outer diameter so I could set the lathe to get back to that setting with the tool I had selected and I could take that cut for the final diameter in one cut. Then I drilled and bored the inner diameter to fit the king pin to within a half-thousandth of an inch. I like it when parts are fitted together and everything is sliding smoothly, but it feels like you’re pushing against compressed air.in one direction and pulling against a vacuum in the the other direction. Tom
  23. I can only attach a limited number of photos to each post, so here are some that go with the narrative in Part 2 of this series Tom
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