Jack Worstell

Several years back the lights on our 1937 Special started flickering for no apparent reason We concluded that the circuit breaker was tripping prematurely because it had weakened with age. We bought a circuit breaker with somewhat higher amp rating at the local auto supply house and installed it in parallel to the original breaker and then disconnected the original breaker. Problem solved. Jack Worstell

Jolly-John Here's a link to PEKO PeKo Radio (pekorf.com) PeKo Radio (pekorf.com) Or you can GOOGLE this I can't guarantee that they have a SS vibrator for your specific radio.....but I would bet they do I suggest you call them and discuss your application....they are very helpful. Jack Worstell PS Bloo's advice on capacitors trumps my thoughts...he knows what he is doing ......and I did have the two radios "aligned" by a pro when I had finished my work

We re-did the radios in our 1937 Cadillac 60 and in our 1937 Buick Special As suggested above....we replaced all capacitors . Even the ceramics and the micas...maybe a bit of overkill Where resistors were easy to get to and we had replacements on hand...we replaced some of these too Definitely get a solid state vibrator. We found ours thru PEKO in Florida. The latest version of their SS vibrators include diodes...makes the job a little easier Jack Worstell jlwmaster2@aol.com

If copper particles ( from wear of the copper commutator segments ) have filled in the groves between the commutator segments ....then it seems to me that is the problem I don't recall ever hearing of this condition getting to the point of "no charge" Of course behind might be another problem of the armature windings shorted to one another. I guess this is what a "growler" test is supposed to detect As EMTee have pointed out.....an auto electric shop ....if you can find one....might be able to correct the commentator issue I see from your photos that the ID tag is still on the generator housing If you have 1950s Delco Remy reference books....you can find the correct armature replacement. But maybe it's easier to just get another generator Jack Worstell

Commutator sure doesn't look good. Needs a good cleaning and maybe turned down ( very lightly ) to eliminate any roughnesss And clean the groves ( carefully ) between the segments Do I think this will solve the charging problem ? Probably not....but it's not hard to do and if it were mine....I'd give it a shot Jack Worstell

Did you also change out the VR ? The original generator was probably a three-brush and the 57 Chevy is a two-brush generator I would guess the two generators take substantially VRs Plus going from a 6V generator to a 12V generator calls for a VR change Commutator segments show continuity ??? As measured to what reference ?? If the armature is out on the bench...I don't think adjacent segments should show continuity ??? Jack Worstell

Bloo/hchris I'll be working on the Buick Thursday.....and first thing I will plug the manifold opening with a 1/4" NPT pipe plug and check engine vacuum again

Hchris.....right........ the distributor vacuum advance isn't big enough to cause a large vacuum leak esp in view of the fact that it is connected to the carb via about 4' of very small 1/8" dia copper tubing. Rather....I was thinking a ruptured vacuum advance unit would cause poor engine performance and hence low manifold vacuum I removed the accelerator switch from the manifold and last night I checked it with a vacuum tester. It would not hold vacuum !! I think this explains the starter "kicking in" several times during our drive last week. But I don't think it explains the low manifold vacuum because there is only about a 1/16" passageway drilled thru the 1/4" NPT fitting at the base of the unit.....the switch screws into the intake manifold via this 1/4" NPT fitting So do I have two problems ?? We don't want to depart from originality too much....but if I can't find a used switch we may have to simply use a push button arrangement Has anyone else ran a vacuum leak test on a starter accelerator switch ? These things are more complicated than meets the eye and I want to be sure that...because of this....there's not some special way to do the vacuum test on one of these Back to the low manifold vacuum...Hchris....I will go back and repeat the vacuum test being careful that I do it at engine idle RPM. Maybe I wasn't careful enough about this and got a mis-leading result Thanks for the comments Jack Worstell

No....fuel pump is single action not double action

If you open up the radio...I'd suggest you replace the vibrator with a solid state version Not hard to do and a SS vibrator is a big improvement "PEKO" in Florida can probably fix you up with a SS vibrator which will work for your radio. Jack Worstell PS For the radio in our 1937 Speccial...I replaced all capacitors and put in a SS vibrator....now the radio sounds great

Hchris........I only checked vacuum at about 1000RPM. But I should also have checked it at idle...might have picked up a clue. I will do this Nor did I try to advance the distributor...another good thought ....I will try this too. Your comments prompted something else...I will check the vacuum advance diaphragm in the distributor Something I didn't mention in my first post was that on the same drive we didn't seem to have as much power as usual I'm pretty sure that a faulty vacuum advance diaphragm would explain both low manifold vacuum and loss of power. Jack Worstell

Bloo....thanks for your comments.....good point I believe our 37 Special has a small relay mounted on the starter solenoid similar to the set-up on our 37 Cadillac Series 60 If it does...I.ve been thinking about adding one of those small cube relays to the system........and run the ground for the small solenoid relay thru it Set the cube relay to be NC....and have it actuated by voltage from the A terminal of the VR Or follow your suggestion....ground the small solenoid relay thru the generator armature. I have seen this set-up before but I'll have to find a 1939 schematic to refresh my memory on details I definitely don't want to continue to rely only on the accelerator vacuum switch to keep the starter from kicking in. The vacuum switch is more complicated than I realized and hence more prone to something going wrong Jack Worstell

Gary...thanks. WOW looks like I have a problem. And where did you measure vacuum ? in my case I disconnected the vacuum tubing going to the windshield wiper and attached the vacuum gage there Jack Worstell

For a 1937 Special ( 248 ci) ....what should manifold vacuum be at ,say, 1000RPM ? I'm getting only 12" Hg. I know that "modern" engines get more like 18" Hg...maybe a little more. But should I expect this on a 1937 248ci engine ?? Or is there something not right with the engine " My question is triggered by last week the starter engaged four times while cruising around. Yes...each time the accelerator was "floored". But still this shouldn't have happened. So I figure that either the accelerator vacuum switch has a problem or something happened to reduce engine vacuum By the way...the VR was switched out years ago...so we don't have the back-up safety relay. I'll test the vacuum switch separately this evening. Jack Worstell

I ran into this problem several years back...it seems to me that I found that the right size BB will work....I had to check several sizes And won't an allen set screw work ? They come in many sizes Jack Worstell

About putting a 263 engine into a 1937 Buick...on the flywheel issue I thought there was more to it than just the pilot beating question. I know a guy in Germany ( Jenz38???) fabricated a special flywheel so that he could fit a Dynaflow 263 into his 1938 ( or '37 ? ) Jack Worstell

The fellow in Minnesota that sells parts off of pre WWII Buicks ....I've lost his name and phone number. Can someone help ? Jack Worstell

The circuit breaker in our 1937 Special had weakened over time So we by-passed it and added in a new breaker Jack Worstell

We have a Lloyd Young OD in our 1937 Special and it works great But as provided by Lloyd...there was no provision to drive a speedometer cable ( leaving the cable in the trasmission meant 30% low reading on the speedometer ) and no provision to drive a governor. We took the unit apart .........and secured back in the drive gear for a speedometer cable and the drive gear for a governor. onto the output shaft. So now the speedometer reads on the money and the governor cuts out the OD ( and hence "kicks in" the free wheel provision ) below about 28mph Just as originally intended Makes a world of difference in the ease of driving the car ....we now can cruise at 60mph now with ease Jack Worstell

Our 1937 Special has Borg Warner OD AND a 3.9 rear end ....And still 70 mph is about tops Jack Worstell

Jenz38 ( I believe he is in Germany ) reported that he put a 263 from a Dynaflow car in his 1938 Buick....but he had to fabricate a new flywheel. Being in Germany he had limited choice and couldn't find a 263 from a manual transmission car Somewhere he published drawings/dimensions of the flywheel he fabricated Jack Worstell

Jim Now that Lloyd is gone....who does overdrive conversions ? Jack Worstell

JamesR......I'm surprised you got the title on the 55 Chysler. The deceased had an estate and whoever handled the estate normally would be required to do a title release. Or the beneficary to whom the car was assigned to thru the the terms of the estate settlement At any rate...glad for you that it all worked out Jack Worstell

Thanks Matt...that's the bulletin Jack

I have lost my copy of Buick Bulletin 6 D-912 dated 2-28-38 esp pp 6,7, and 8 This bulletin contains info on the 1937 Buick Centerline radio and this is my prime interest in this bulletin. PP 6, 7 and 8 show .....component layout, top and bottom views and . ... component listing with brief specs I have the Buick manual for this radio ( I bought a copy from the BCA ) but the manual does not include this info the bulletin has Can anyone help ? Jack Worstell jlwmaster@aol.com