neil morse

It's also posted as a "sticky" at the top of the general AACA "Cars for Sale" forum.

New Tailpipe When I got my car, I saw that the last 8" or so of the tailpipe had rusted through and broken off, and what remained had a "filigree" look to it. A local muffler shop gave me a bid of $75 to replace the pipe and also patch a small hole in the muffler. Seemed like a good price, so I took the car down today and waited while the work was done. I forgot to take a proper "before" photo, but you can get the idea from this one. Old pipe cut off just behind the rear axle. New pipe welded on. Looks much better, and will make for more pleasant conditions in the passenger compartment. I took some photos of the undercarriage since this is the first time I've had the car on a lift since I got it. I was pretty happy with how clean it looked.

Thanks for that -- I will send you a PM.

Haha -- now you're giving a big hint! I go by my own name here, but I completely understand your position. And I noticed your list of cars when I joined this forum and thought, "Hmm -- maybe I should look old Grimy up." And I still might take you up on your invitation!

(That's me in the background getting ready to do some repairs -- like Gary W., I find that formal dress is always best when working on a Buick!)

Thanks. I heard that, but I couldn't find them listed in the catalog. I will give Bob a call.

Looks like a nice deal for someone. I love the "Cadillac Identification Card!"

Spark Plug Cover I got a spark plug cover off Ebay to spiff up my engine compartment a bit. After spraying with a rattle can of Dante Red from Cars, Inc., it looks pretty good. I'm going to wait a while to install it because I want to see if we took care of the problem of oil seeping down onto the plugs. Also, I need to score a pair of the correct acorn nuts.

I don't know any more about it than what was posted earlier in this thread (post #'s 12 and 13). I have noticed, however, that some engines have the "breather" oil cap and no draft tube, even without the pipe going to the air cleaner.

John commented earlier about the primitive PCV system that Buick used in 1941 with a tube running from the valve cover into the air cleaner. I neglected to take a photo of the inside of the valve cover when it was off, but there was, in fact, a baffle on the inside to prevent the problem that John was wondering about.

Getting Rid of Some Oil Where it Should Not Be The last time I was down at Don's, he commented on the smell of burned oil in the engine compartment of my car, and noticed that there was oil around the spark plugs on cylinders 2 through 7. He told me that this is a common problem in these engines because the holes for the bolts for the rocker arm shaft supports are drilled all the way through into the spark plug cavities, and oil tends to seep down through the holes and get burned by the hot plugs. He suggested sealing the bolts with RTV, which is something he has done on his engines. Sounded like a great idea to me! The valve cover came off very easily. You can see the bolts that line up with the plugs. After removing the bolts, we cleaned out the holes with a brush on a power drill using gasoline as a solvent. The holes have to be as clean as possible so the RTV can bond making a complete seal. We gave the bolts a gasoline bath at the same time. A glop of Permatex black silicone on each bolt, and back they go. All cleaned off and the valve cover buttoned back up with a new gasket.

Bonus photos: Here's a shot of Don's 1918 Buick, and also one of his "non-Buick" vehicles.

Back together – shifting is a lot smoother now!

Looks much better after a gasoline bath.

Here’s a close up of part of the linkage once we got it out of the car.

I haven't yet figured out how to post photos with captions underneath them, so bear with me. I purchased a “repair kit” from Bob’s: http://bobsautomobilia.com/transmission/1941-48-shift-linkage-kit-.-slr-418/ and made an appointment with Dr. Don to install it. Here’s the kit as it comes from Bob – everything is labeled and there’s a reproduction from the shop manual exploded drawing that shows where each part goes.

Shift Linkage Repair Kit My '41 has a tendency to pop out of third gear, particularly when decelerating on a long downhill. Before we got any farther in trying to fix this problem, my friend and automotive mentor, Don Micheletti, pointed out to me that the shift linkage had a whole lot of play in it due to totally decayed rubber bushings and other failing parts.

-- that's great! It even looks like he's wearing white gloves in the B&W version. Gary, that should go on your wall!

My '41 Super 4-door has outside door locks on both front doors, so they must have started putting an outside lock on the driver's side by then. But as far as entering on the curb side, I notice that on my car the door-activated switch for the dome light and rear seat "courtesy" lights is on the passenger side only. My '48 Chrysler was the same way. So it was assumed that you would never open a rear door to admit rear seat passengers on the left side. Again, a hold over from the carriage days as well as a safety issue, I'm sure.

This is my favorite of all! Wife: "Gary, what the heck are you doing? We have to be at the party in 10 minutes!" Gary (dressed in his tux and immaculate dress shoes), "Just a minute, darling, I'm just putting a fender on the Buick!"

I pirated the photo from Ebay. As far as I can recall, the one I had was just a plain Mason-type jar with no logo on it. If you look on Ebay, you will find a ton of them, I'm sure. But any jar that fits the screw top would work.

This is the Trico type that was typically used in the '40's. It has a two-compartment vacuum chamber on top. When you push the button, it introduces intake manifold vacuum into the top chamber, which pulls up the diaphragm and sucks water out of the jar into the lower chamber. When you release the button, it relaxes the diaphragm and the water is forced out of the lower chamber and out the little nozzles onto the windshield. There was one on the firewall of my '48 Chrysler when I bought it, but all the rubber hoses were rotted away. I just replaced the hoses, and it worked great!

Wow -- that car is going to be stunning! Great work!

It sounds like maybe the diaphragm inside the "vacuum chamber" is compromised. Those things are so simple, there isn't much that can go wrong. But if the diaphragm isn't making a complete seal, it's not going to work.

Nice!