Bloo

On the 36 Pontiac, I had a similar situation with the fuel lines, in that I had no Idea what they should look like. They were hacked up beyond belief and mostly hose. There was just enough cut up original line and one fitting to clue me in that the fittings were threaded sleeve. There was also no swelled end on the metal line on the frame to hold a hose (also consistent with threaded sleeve. I looked at every engine compartment picture online, blew them up til I was looking at blurry pixels, and although it helped it wasn't enough. Almost all cars have had their lines all hacked up for filters, electric fuel pumps, or whatever the flavor of the day was when the hacksaws came out. I thought I would just run the new line far away from the engine, avoiding heat. After staring at the engine a bit and considering all the heat sources, it turned out that idea was completely impractical on my car. This is what I came up with: This is Bundyflex and threaded sleeve fittings between the carb and pump, and 30R9 on a modern barb and FI clamp connecting the pump to the frame. Having the line running next to the heat riser box like that would at first glance be a really bad idea due to radiant heat. On a second look, everything else is worse. If I were to run the line forward, it would be running parallel to the exhaust. Additionally, it would be closer to the exhaust ports, which are the hottest parts of the exhaust. There is also hot air blowing through the radiator, and running the line forward gets closer to that. Of course heat rises, so getting lower in the engine compartment might be better. The heat riser, being shut off on a hot engine, is now not looking so bad. I made every decision based on the avoidance of radiant heat and that is the design I came up with. I have seen original lines in the years since then, and as it turns out the one I made is indistinguishable from the original part. That is probably not a coincidence. I doubt it will translate directly to Chrysler, because for one thing Pontiac exhaust manifolds usually go up and Chrysler ones usually go down. In the absence of any pictures of originals though, I suggest doing the same thing and making your design to stay away from radiant heat as much as possible. My car would have originally had a special hose from the frame to the fuel pump. These NOS/NORS Pontiac hoses are threaded sleeve. A second sleeve nut would be used at the left (fuel pump) end. If your Chrysler had something like this, and the if fuel line on the frame is not mangled, you can probably tell how it attached. If it has a double flare and an inverted flare nut, it's double flare obviously. If the line is straight tubing at the end, and only shows a slight depression about 1/8" from the tip, it was threaded sleeve. If there is a bubble at the end, the hose probably clamped directly to the line.

This seems to be going back and forth between an oil hose and a fuel line. I would not use fuel hose for oil. I know it is all petroleum, but it is not the same. Run of the mill fuel hose might not hold up well. It used to be common to see automatic transmission cooler lines on 60s-70s Chrysler products patched with fuel hose, because 5/16" fuel hose was on the shelf in every shop. The hose would get soft, swell, and eventually fail. It was simply the wrong hose to use with oil or ATF. Modern 30R9 fuel injection hose is rated for a bunch of different fuels, so that might be OK I don't know. I would rather have something made for oil, like hydraulic hose. I assume that hose on the firewall feeds an oil pressure gauge. In that case, I would just have a hydraulic shop make one, assuming the fittings on the steel lines are something semi-normal. On the other hand if they are "Threaded Sleeve" fittings, and they sure could be in 1936, no one will have that and the original hose barbs will have to be salvaged, probably by cutting the crimped part off and dressing it, leaving a sleeveless hose barb. Then, have a hydraulic shop crimp bands around new hydraulic hose. Fuel injection clamps could work just fine here in the absence of a shop with the ability to crimp, but would stick out more visually. Now about fuel lines, I hope someone can post pictures of some originals. Another thing that would be nice to know is what type of fittings Chrysler used. In 1936 they could have been Double Flare or Threaded Sleeve. Double flare fittings are available in any auto parts store. Threaded Sleeve is weird and obsolete. All the threaded sleeve fittings are readily available online still, except the right angle one. That is a swap-meet-only item if you happen to need one. The tubing size for almost all cars is 5/16", and the tubing is "Bundyflex" type steel. NAPA should have it in all sorts of lengths as brake line replacement. A length will come pre-flared with 2 flare nuts on it, one that has the right look and one that does not because it it way too long. If your fittings are double flare, you can use one of the premade flares and one of the nuts. Otherwise, no but it is still the right kind of line. They probably won't have it out front as they seem to be pushing coated brake lines these days, but may have some behind the counter. There is probably a rubber hose from the frame to the fuel pump to absorb engine motion. In the absence of any sort of original to work from, or any information about what the original is like, I would get appropriate barbs to connect to your fuel pump and your line and use 30R9 hose and fuel injection clamps. I painted my clamps black. It is way less noticeable down there, especially if you put the screw part down underneath.

Yes, that last one is the one you want. Loosen it up a whole bunch of turns, and try to pop the ring off of the housing. It's just hooked over the edge of the housing. You might have to spread the gap somehow at the bottom if it is stubborn. Use both hands and make sure the lens doesn't go flying. As built, there are wire clips attaching the lens to the ring. They might be missing or no longer solid. If you need clips, bobsautomobilia.com might have them. There's probably a cork gasket between the lens and the reflector. It could be stuck. The lens is supposed to come with the ring, but it could try to stay. It's just hooked in a notch like the one around the outside of this Pontiac:

I do believe there is left and right as well as up and down? If I remember correctly, the buckets do not move on a 37, so the lens and reflector have to, I believe with screws. I know where one of these cars is to look at, but I can't get at it right now. I couldn't get anything useful from the shop manual either. @MCHinson, are you reading this thread? Typically we expect a headlight rim on a Multibeam headlight (which this is) to have a screw going SIDEWAYS at the bottom of the rim, which is split, and a little flat spot at the bottom of the lens to clear the sideways screw. I'm wracking my brain, but can't remember if the 37 Buick is like this or not. For resilvering, you may have 2 options. One involves sending the reflector to a plater for high polish nickel, and then sending them to UVIRA in Oregon for a deposited aluminum finish coated with glass, like a telescope mirror. I'm not sure you can get this done anymore, maybe. It is not subject to tarnish, so it is lower maintenance. The other option is original silver, and there are several companies who can do that. I had mine done at Frank Mance Plating in Pittsburgh, PA after seeing pictures of @Terry Wiegand's reflectors. I was very happy with the results.

That's not bad advice, but I don't think it goes quite far enough. Speaking of phone numbers, don't ever put yours in your ad. That allows them to contact you without even registering on the forum. This problem is endemic on car forums today, all of them. Now I'm going to cut and paste myself from another thread.

This.^^ Gmail has been ubiquitous in the IT field, and probably a bunch of other fields since the mid 2000s. I stubbornly hung on to my Yahoo address in part because I hated Gmail's infinite scrolling web interface. People in IT see that Yahoo email address and assume I am 110 years old. Your mileage may vary.

Rusty_OToole's post is right on point. I would add that the guys on the VCCA forums use the hammer method on 4 cylinder Chevys, and do not trust plastigage for this particular operation, as the bearings tend to wind up too loose. I don't know if this applies to the 216 6 cylinder also, but it wouldn't surprise me. I believe the point is to find zero clearance and then add a tiny shim. .002 sounds like a lot? I would go over there and ask for clarification because I know they post about using the hammer method. There's hardly any oil pressure in these engines, and as Rusty_OToole already mentioned the squirter aiming is critical. It is also important to use a light oil so the squirters will reach the dippers when the engine is cold. Never thicker than 20W in the old days unless it is 100F+ outside, and never thicker than 10w30 now.

What is it like using the thumbdrive? Are these PDF so you can zoom, scroll, etc. or are you stuck in some page flipping application?

I mean, you've got the current Mopar part number now.... If they can't figure that out you might need to try a different dealership. 🤪 On a more serious note, I would imagine the techs in the service department would demand it if they were aware of it's existence. It's the best penetrating oil ever. The dealership I worked at in the 90s carried it, but they had strong connections to the past. They still knew it as heat riser solvent in the parts department. I was buying it at some newly minted dealership later on in the 2000s where they had probably never had a slant six through the doors of the service department. I asked the guy at the counter for "Mopar Rust Penetrant" and he walked back and got some. My last few cans came from Amazon, so I have no idea if I could still walk into a dealership and buy it. I'll bet I could.

That is a terrific red for a fire engine.

I have yet to see any evidence any wood-free FIsher bodies existed in 1936, and for now, I don't believe it. Fisher may have been blowing a bit of smoke and laying some mirrors around, so to speak. They had been bragging for quite a while that wood sheathed in steel was better "like an arrow". Meanwhile, Plymouth had an honest to god all-steel body and they were driving one around with a WW1 tank tied to the roof for advertising. I am not sure if the Plymouth still had a cloth insert in the roof. Maybe a metal insert? It might have, either way the body itself was all steel. Fisher concentrated on the "turret top" an "all steel top", and I think people may have read more into that and assumed the whole thing was steel. @Jim Skelly, the Buick Roadmaster Phaetons are wood for sure in 37, and I think the 80-90 series closed cars are wooden too, but I am less sure of myself on that. The 40 and 60 are all steel, also Pontiacs, Chevrolets, and probably Oldsmobiles(?).

I always try @Kornkurt here on the forum for flathead Pontiac NOS stuff. California Pontiac (pontiacparts.net) is another good source. If you can't get the right one, try one for a Buick (bobsautomobilia.com) or an old stovebolt Chevrolet (fillingstation.com). Put it in the slot so that as you wind it and hook it on the pin, it moves the weight to the top. I would shoot for about a 3/4 turn windup at first. SInce it goes in a slot, you have two options for how to put it, and still have the spring pulling in the correct direction. There is also the option of a whole extra turn of windup if the new spring has a lot of coils. If it is fairly tight when it is cold out, or shut but not that tight at room temeperature, you are on the right track. When the coolant gets to normal temperature, the heat riser should be wide open. If you can get it to do that it will probably be fine even with the wrong thermostatic spring. The weight falls down almost 90 degrees from the closed position, and on most inline engines, it falls toward the block. Some, maybe most heat risers also have an anti-rattle spring. It's just for noise, not thermostatic and not for function. You'll probably need a shop manual (or maybe a parts manual) to figure out how that one goes on if you care. In the absence of real Pontiac parts, a reproduction Buick one might work if it happens to hook up the same way. Otherwise, maybe something from Ace Hardware.

If it were mine, in the absence of any symptoms, and it's all in the rings, and there's nothing to suggest a broken ring, and the oil consumption is not off the charts.... Not a chance. You've got a 25% variation. Is that ideal? No. Is it at the very tippy-top of what might be considered "not broken"? Yes. When I was working in auto repair, 3/4 of the cars on the road were like that. Valves are a big deal. Rings, not so much, unless the oil consumption is completely out of hand. Even then you can get away with it practically forever if you have the discipline to keep it full of clean oil, and you continue to change the oil regularly. That cannot be, not even if the engine was brand new. You must be getting fooled by the equipment. RIngs have gaps. If they didn't. they would break from heat expansion. Those gaps leak. When doing a leakdown test with a leakdown tester and compressed air, you should not really hear hissing in the intake or exhaust, as valves are expected to seal. You will always hear hissing in the crankcase.

Can you say more about this? Is the purpose mainly to attack rust or is for calcium deposits? Oil?

In my opinion, don't glue that. It's just going to make a mess. To patch that in a way that would not pull unevenly would require a patch from the back, and I think that would require ripping seams to get in. Even then, the outline of the patch would probably telegraph through the leather.

Is there a little relay hanging off the back of your solenoid (behind the copper bolts) with 2 little terminals on it? If so, the 2 small screw terminals are the relay coil. It floats, so it does not matter which terminal is which. You mentioned your car has been converted to a starter button, so that makes it harder to guess what to do. On a Buick with Autostart, one of the 2 little wires goes to the autostart stuff to provide 6v to start, and the other goes to the charging system somehow to provide a ground, but only when the car is not running. To make the car crank, one of the little terminals must be grounded, and the other must have 6 volts. Be sure the relay cover has not been clobbered, and is not shorting to either terminal. It comes close. If you don't have the little relay, ignore all of this post.

I don't think any 1936 GM/Fisher body is all steel. GM/Fisher pushed the steel "Turret Top", and people may have thought they were getting all steel, but what they were getting was a one-piece steel top skin on a wooden body. It is true that there is less wood than in say... 1930, but it is a far cry from "all steel". The "end of 1936" bit, to the best of my knowledge, is the use of all-steel doors on Chevrolet Standard sedans near the end of the year. It's still a wooden body. I am not sure if this door update made it to Chevrolet Standard coupes. Maybe. Another thing that exists is documentation in Chevrolet service news publications of a floor assembly for 1936 that contained a lot less wood than previous bodies. I am unsure this even exists in real life, never mind what model Chevrolets it may have been used in. Does anyone in here know about that? In any case, while it is a step toward wood elimination, it does not make the body all steel. None of this is likely to appear in an Oldsmobile. My late-in-the-year 1936 Pontiac has every mid-year change I am aware of, and there were a lot of changes. It has a wooden body. 1936 was not the last year for wood either. SOME GM/Fisher models got new all-steel bodies in 1937, and some did not. Some years ago took a bunch of pictures inside the doors of @37_Roadmaster_C's 1937 Buick Roadmaster Phaeton, in the interest of reverse-engineering the rotten and missing wood in my 1936 Pontiac sedan back doors. His 1937 Rodmaster has a wooden body. I'm not sure where those pictures are, but I'll dig them out if anyone doesn't believe me. I believe 1938 was the first year there was no structural wood in GM/Fisher cars. Station wagons of course were still wood, but probably not Fisher built. In my opinion if the body is all steel, someone did it with a welder. It is easy enough to tell. Open a door and lift the edge of the front floor mat. You should be looking at the wooden "sill", one of the wooden rails that holds the whole body together. Hey @Dandy Dave and @pont35cpe, are you reading this thread?

You're not wrong, but I am still not convinced it's the coolant's fault. That same gasket design was offered as an aftermarket replacement for the Ford FE engines (332-352-390-427-428), and they failed in exactly the same way, and there have been plenty of pictures posted on the web. It is a fair guess none of those Ford guys were running DexCool. I have DexCool in my 390 Ford, but have yet to meet another FE owner who is using anything other than "traditional green" antifreeze. Most of them seem to insist on it.

It would be interesting to find that car now wouldn't it? The headlights with their flat lenses are also interesting. I wonder if those were special equipment for Switzerland?

You can not believe color these days. Not at all. A quick look online at what all is available will make your head hurt. There are probably about 10 different formulas in a typical auto parts store. The colors are not standardized, and a formulation that is red in one brand might be yellow or purple in another. I hear efforts at a standard are underway but it has not happened yet. You didn't say what you are working on. For several years it was usually true that green meant traditional antifreeze and orange/pink meant DexCool. If it is a GM car, it is fairly safe to assume it is DexCool, as they started using DexCool for factory fill (and warranty) in the mid 90s. If you cant figure out what it is or are going to change to another type, I agree that the system should be thoroughly rinsed out. There are "all cars" antifreeze formulas available today that claim to mix with anything but if I were changing types I would still rinse it out. DexCool takes a lot of heat for being the root of GM's cooling system issues, but I think the blame lies elsewhere. I have been using DexCool and similar formulas since the 1980s, when formulas like that were dyed green just like most other coolant, and have had zero issues. The thing is, it doesn't last 5 years like GM says it would. I change every two years like you would with traditional coolant. I rinsed out and changed my 91 Geo Metro to DexCool in 1996, much to the horror of some of my co-workers. The engine is aluminum. The radiator and heater core are are the original brass/copper and still solid. Most of my other cars have DexCool in them too.

I was wondering about that. If the cable is indeed supposed to go to the firewall, then whatever grounds the body (and firewall) to the engine/transmission needs a good looking at. I'm thinking there must be another big cable or strap.

You put that so diplomatically.

Your cable looks big enough, but is the ground connected to the firewall in the picture? Maybe someone more familiar with 46 Fords can comment on that. It doesn't sound right to me but it could be. Regarding the cables, follow the path the current takes with your eyes, from the battery post, to the starter solenoid, to the starter, and then don't forget the ground side. The starter case is bolted to the engine/transmission/bellhousing assembly somehow, and then the current flows from the engine/transmission/bellhousing through more cable back to the battery. All if it must be big and have clean connections. For example on some cars there is a ground cable from the engine/transmission/bellhousing right back to the battery post. On a lot of other cars, there is a cable from the engine/transmission/bellhousing to the frame, and then another cable from the frame back to the battery post. Either setup is fine. Those braided cables are often used on the grounded side of the circuit. They are fine. However Ford wired it, everything must be equally large and the connections equally good from one battery post to the starter and from the starter all the way back to the other battery post.

Most cars in those days didn't have oil filters. Even in the late 50s it wasn't settled whether a car needed one or not, and the sort of full flow filters we expect today didn't become ubiquitous until the early 60s. My 1937 Pontiac parts book has this to say: Parts listed were: X1600 Oil Filter (Service installation) All models to 1933 W2890 Service Installation 1933-34-35-36-37 all XA2 Renewal Cartridge O/6 26,G/O6 27 XA1 AA6 28 XA5 AA6 29, O/8 30-31, P/6 except 35 W10 1933-34-35-36-37 Renewal cartridge does not mean what you might think. These were disposable canisters plumbed in with metal lines and bolted to the block. They did not have a replaceable filter inside the can like the vastly improved later version @stakeside posted. The "service installation" kit probably includes lines, fittings, and brackets. How often did the filter get replaced? Probably not very often. Later on when you could just change a filter by taking a lid off (see @stakeside's pics), I think people were changing them more often, about every second oil change. These are all "partial flow" oil filters, meaning they do not filter oil on the way to the bearings. They filter a little of the oil pump's excess capacity. That is way more effective than it sounds. On the upside, they trap much smaller particles than a modern full-flow oil filter on a modern car does. Also they cannot block flow to the bearings if they plug. It was not settled until the 60s which kind was better and maybe not even then. A downside with any of them is that if you don't change the filter at every oil change, and you probably wouldn't be expected to in the 30s, you still have about a quart of old nasty oil left in the engine. My 36 Pontiac has no oil filter. I just change the oil a lot. There's a bunch of pictures of "plumbed in" type filters in this thread: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/291695-oil-filter-for-1930-marquette/

FIrst I would check with @Kornkurt here on the forum, then California Pontiac Restoration, sales@pontiacparts.net or 714-245-9800, and if is truly not available, I would try something from another car, like maybe a Buick straight eight (bobsautomobilia.com) or an old inline 6 Chevrolet (fillingstation.com). Make sure it is on so that the spring pushes the weight to the top, if not flip the spring. You also have 2 ways it can fit in the slot. I'd shoot for something like about 3/4 turn to hook it, and if that doesn't work out, either rotate the spring 180 degrees, or if the spring has too many coils maybe try a whole extra turn. If you can get it so that it is good and closed (weight up) cold, or looser but well closed at room temp with a cold engine, but open (weight down) when the engine is fully warmed up with the coolant temperature up to normal, it should be fine.