neil morse

Upon further review, as they say in the NFL, I have discovered the source of the leak in my air cleaner. I did not realize when I first opened it up to add oil that the bottom of the housing actually has two parts. What I will call the oil reservoir is at the bottom, and stacked on top of it is the housing for the part containing the "brillo pad" filter material. There is a fiber or cork gasket where these two parts join each other. When I disassembled my air cleaner looking for the source of the leak, I discovered that this gasket was badly deteriorated with several gaps. So the air cleaner held oil as long as the car was on a level surface. But when it was tilted, the oil sloshed into the gap between these two parts and leaked out. This makes sense because my route this morning out to the beach (Fort Funston) was fairly level. When I got there, there was no smoke or smell. But on the way home, I took a different route that took up a steep hill and down the other side. So that's why oil had leaked all over everything when I got home. I know this is a fascinating account (haha), but I'm just posting this in the interest of thoroughness in case anyone else has these issues. So ... does anyone know of a source for this gasket? Probably not. Given that I will have problems replacing the gasket, I'm still interested in substituting a paper element for the oil bath. Again, for anyone who has read this far, thanks for your attention!

I'm reviving this thread because I recently checked the oil bath air cleaner on my '41 (dual carb set up) for the first time since I bought the car five years ago, and found that it had no oil in it. So I put in a pint, as per the owner's manual. This morning, on my first drive since adding the oil (which also happened to be my shake-down cruise after finishing my core plug replacement project) I came home to find my engine smoking from oil spilled onto the exhaust manifold. For a moment I freaked out and thought something had gone terribly wrong (new valve cover gasket leaking?). Then I remembered about the air cleaner. So this is just a long-winded way of saying that my air cleaner turned out to have a pretty bad leak in it. I found this thread as well as another one started by Mike @kingrudy. I understand what Matt is saying in both threads about "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but my situation is a bit different because it IS broke! I could find and repair the leak and continue with oil. But I'm wondering about figuring out a way to use a paper filter of some kind. I agree with what Matt says about the set ups for conversion of a dual carb air cleaner that he shows -- they look funky and don't pick up fresh air. But if I correctly understand what @Lawrence Helfand is saying about his conversion, it sounds as though he was able to just use his existing filter housing and stuff it with the material he mentions. Lawrence, can you enlighten me about this? I would also be interested about any other experiences people have had with this issue since last posts in these two threads. Thanks in advance, as always! Neil

Core Plug Project Complete! I am very happy and relieved to report that this project is DONE! We did the final "hot" valve adjustment today, put the new gasket on the valve cover, and declared the job finished. Konrad was (and I believe remains) skeptical about the utility of doing the valve adjustment with the motor running, but I persuaded him to try it after finding this entry in the Owner's Manual: Here's a little video of our efforts (that's Konrad on the feeler gauge and me on the screwdriver and wrench). I was pleased with the result, although I'm not convinced that it made a huge difference to do it with the engine running. But the bottom line is that my car is back up and running with the coolant leaks taken care of (and running 10 degrees cooler to boot). A long project with a few wrong turns, but I'm a very happy camper in the end!

Thanks, Matt!

Does anyone know where I can find one of these tubes for my '41? Someone along the line substituted a piece of rubber hose on my car, and it's not the greatest solution. Thanks in advance! Neil

This car looks very familiar. I have a feeling it's been posted before.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that the stock setting is for the timing mark to be in the window when number 1 is at top dead center. However, there are six different ways the flywheel can be bolted on. If someone took the flywheel off your car and put it back on in a different position, a different cylinder will be at TDC. So you will need to turn the crank manually to see which cylinder is actually at TDC when the mark is in the window.

Hi Grant: These come up fairly often on Ebay in varying conditions. I don't know whether Ebay sellers will ship to Australia, but if you're patient, you will eventually find a decent one. The hardest thing to find is the ivory-colored plastic face in good condition. Most clocks have a cracked or misshapened face, like the one in your car. Here's an example to get you started (but not a particularly good one). https://www.ebay.com/itm/284659615243?hash=item424709060b:g:9jAAAOSw4AhiEEnO

Back on Track (part 2) I got back from my trip yesterday and was happy to find that Cars, Inc. had delivered the new pushrod and adjustment screw that I had ordered. The pushrod was different at both ends from the other ones on my car. Here are comparison photos ("new" one on top, original below). Newbie that I am, I was concerned about whether these variations would make any practical difference. After being assured by both Don and Konrad that they wouldn't, I went ahead and put everything back together. Started her up, and was very happy and relieved that it's back to running just the way it was before we broke the pushrod! So I'm very relieved and looking forward to doing the timing and "hot" valve adjustment that we were set to do when disaster struck. Stay tuned for more updates.

Pending some more information (is it running?), this looks like it has a lot of potential for the price. The body looks excellent -- fit and finish of doors, trim, etc. No photo of engine compartment is a bit concerning. Also, do I see an added horn button on the side of the steering column? A common fix if that wire down the inside of the column breaks. But I could live with these kinds of problems if the motor is running strong. If it's running well, this would be a fun car to drive as is and slowly improve over time.

Wikipedia provided the answer to my question. This is the origin of the Steak 'n Shake slogan: A. H. "Gus" Belt (born in Morrisonville, Illinois) founded Steak 'n Shake in Normal, Illinois, in February 1934, after serving four years in the United States Marine Corps. He converted the combination gas station and chicken restaurant that he owned (Shell's Chicken) into a hamburger stand. Steak 'n Shake's slogan "In Sight It Must Be Right" originally referred to Belt's practice of wheeling a barrel of T-bone, sirloin, and round steaks into the public area of his restaurant, then grinding them into burgers in front of his customers.

You're on a roll, Elpad, with this most recent group of photos! This one is the most intriguing to me. It appears to be a double exposure, with some ghostly images, like the Plymouth in the foreground. Also, what's with the slogan of this burger joint, "In sight it must be right?" What does that even mean?

Thanks, Gary, and thanks to everyone who has contributed to the valve adjustment discussion. Very interesting. And, yes, please, let's get to that successful finish! It's the unforced errors that are getting to me. Just waiting on the new pushrod and I will get back on it in a few weeks when I'm back in town.

No need to apologize -- just pulling your chain!

Hey Hudsy, is there an echo in here? 😄 This looks like a pretty good deal for someone with the skills to carry it through. If all the parts are there as represented, the price isn't too bad. I love the MoPars from this era, especially these business coupes.

You can continue here, but many of us find it useful to start a thread on the "Me and My Buick" forum. That way you can keep a nice record of what you've done with your car. Then, if you have specific questions, you can post them here with a thread title that alerts people to what you are asking about. That's the combination I've been using and I find it works pretty well.

Excellent! Thank you so much!

Can anyone confirm that the pushrods on my 248 are the same length as on a 248 from a '38? I'm finding conflicting information online. Mine are 12 3/4".

It turns out that I can "borrow" one of the pushrods from a spare engine that Don has, but I will have to get him a replacement. I will start with Dave Tacheny, but if anyone out there knows of any other possible source, please let me know. Thanks.

Thanks for the sympathy -- I'm trying to develop a better attitude about these "detours." @EmTee, maybe Konrad will chime in here with the exact answer to your question. I wasn't paying very close attention at that point, but I believe the outside bolts needed about half to three-quarter turn and the inside ones needed about a quarter turn.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back We were having a fine morning until we made a very careless mistake. We decided to go ahead and remove the rocker shaft to retorque the head, which went fine. We put the rocker shaft back on, and started the engine to heat it up so we could readjust the valves. It immediately backfired through the carb -- odd because it had been running very smoothly, as I said. We figured that the valves had been affected by the retorquing, so we took the valve cover off again and started to check the valves. Oops! It was then that we discovered that we had put the rocker shaft back on without one of the adjustment screws being properly seated in the top of the push rod. When we tried to start the engine, the thin wall in the cup on the top of the pushrod broke. Fortunately, with a magnet, we were able to fish the broken piece out from where it had fallen down into the valve lifter. But obviously the project has ground to a halt until we can get another pushrod. Don is pretty sure he has a spare pushrod, but I will not be able to get back to this for a few weeks because of some family travel plans. What a hobby, right? I had just commented above about how satisfied I was feeling, but "you never know what's waiting around the next corner." Well, this was what was waiting for me. (In the category of "it could have been worse," I will note that the pushrod that was not properly seated was number 16, closest to the firewall. The manual actually says that because of the "overhang" of the firewall on the Super, this pushrod cannot be pulled out of the top of the head with the head in place. You can only remove it once the head is free and and moved slightly forward. Mercifully, on my car the engine must be slightly forward of where it normally sits because I noticed when we took the rocker shaft off the first time, this pushrod could be lifted out like all the others. If my car was configured as described in the manual, we would have had to remove the head again just to replace this pushrod!)

Not much danger of that since I have no idea what that even means. I promise not to touch the car until we get together tomorrow morning! 😄

Yes.

I just recently cleared out that area on my '41 -- I believe the engine is basically the same. I got the plug out, but the passage was jammed up with rusty crud. From the position of that plug and the passage leading to it, I concur with Don. Here's the cross-section from the shop manual with a mark showing where that passage is located. It lines up between two cylinders. I don't see how you could have possibly drilled into the oil gallery or the crank case.

You have a sharp eye and I believe you are correct. But at least it's the right color!