Bloo

I don't believe it is exactly like that, because he called it a P2. I could be wrong but it is my understanding that the P1 has a third brush generator with a cutout, and a P2 has a third brush generator and a voltage regulator. On a third brush generator with a cutout, you can only adjust current regulation with the third brush. The voltage falls where it may because it is unregulated. On a third brush generator with a voltage regulator, the third brush is just set to the maximum value of current that will not burn up the generator. The voltage regulator is then set to some specific voltage at room temperature, and it does most of the regulating. It's usually about 7.5 volts, but I think it might be higher on this car.

It is a late 1930s D series International.

If it's only 32 you would be fine with the bulb. If it's only 32 you would be fine without the bulb, but I would not even consider trusting it. Yes the bulb trick was common in the old days, but it is also true that people often got surprised when the weather did something unexpected and cracked the block. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, it needs to be an incandescent light bulb. Not everyone has those laying around anymore. Back in the day the old style metal cage trouble lights were used. Make sure its not touching or heating up anything that could burn. If it were me, I would put some antifreeze in and run the engine until warm to mix it. The thing is, if you have ANY antifreeze, there is more of a tendency for it to slush up than just freeze like water would. That allows you to get away with a little more cheating than you can with straight water. I'd get a gallon of Valvoline-Zerex G-05 concentrate as it is less foam prone than some other common options, and that can really matter in old non-pressurized systems. It probably won't cause you trouble by foaming when you start driving again. Even a half gallon of concentrate could really help save you in a sudden unexpected cold snap. But yeah. if its really only 32, and it is not going to go on for a day or more, it shouldn't freeze. The garage will also slow down the freeze process.

I second that, and I am 99.9% sure this is supposed to be positive ground. Hey @ply33 are you reading this? Is the battery fully charged? I would charge it and recheck before getting too excited, but it looks as if your regulator may be set too low, assuming this car has a regulator. Since it is a p2, I think it should have a regulator. 7.5v is typical on 6 volt cars, but I'm thinking I read somewhere that these cars ran slightly over 8 volts, which is unusual. In any event, 6.45v on line 4 would be too low with a fully charged battery.

Would I pay that? Not a chance. Am I surprised? No. In fact, I've been expecting this trend for years. It's the "R Type" performance edition, it's a good color, and only 7000 miles. You won't find another. Honda products were rock solid through the malaise era and it gained them a rabid following. This is the future of the hobby.

@The 55er has the answer to your question. An Orpin switch and two 6 volt batteries is what does that. It was a fairly common setup on fire trucks with 500-ish cubic inch engines back in the early 50s. In my experience, whatever is causing the car not to start will continue to degrade, and you'll have to fix it anyway. Then the Orpin switch and the second battery won't be needed anymore, all that extra complication will just be in your way. You will probably wind up taking it out when the batteries fail, instead of buying two batteries again. It might not work with the Buick automatic starting, I'm not sure whether it would or not. If it doesn't, you would have to add a starter button or switch.

I doubt it, they're still nitrophyl. I changed hundreds of bad ones in the 80s and 90s. They failed pretty reliably at 80k miles. The cars didn't usually catch on fire, but they would come in running horrible, smoking black, and with gas running out of all the discharge tubes at idle. GM had instructions on how to weigh the float, and I guess you were supposed to put "good" ones back in. The floats were such a failure prone part you couldn't really do that and expect the car to stay fixed.

That is a non-negotiable design issue of the fuel gauge. The trouble is they used 0 ohms for the "Empty" point. There is always a little resistance, even when new. A tiny bit of degradation in the wire, sender, or ground means that the needle can never reach "E".

That could be part of it. Not all model Ts are created equal either. A lot of them have the gas tank under the front seat, and gravity feed only to an updraft carburetor. That was not unusual in the era. I have a 1913 Studebaker that is set up the same way. It is not out of the question on some ludicrous grade like the one I posted to have the carburetor higher than the gas in the tank. In that case, if the hill is short enough to get over on the gas already in the carburetor bowl, no problem. One period solution is to pressurize the tank. My Studebaker is not set up for that, nor are Ford T's as originally delivered. How do you fix that? A period solution is to put the gas tank up high and forward in the cowl. There is more elevation difference, and it is less affected by angle as well. Some later teens Studebakers did this, Hupmobile 32, K, and N, the "Improved" model t of 1926-27, the Model A Ford, and whole bunch of others.

https://www.goat-simulator.com/

The sock in your gas tank will hold back water, if you have one. That's not an old wives tale.

Flat silver is the most likely finish. In the 30s it might be the plating itself. It was on my Pontiac. Graham Man's bumper looks like silver paint. A plater told me with the methods used in the 30s, the plating was coming out of the tank matte and getting polished after the fact, so the back side probably just didn't get polished. It wont come out like that now. Smooth or not smooth has to do with the prep, and that is not what I am talking about. Today the plating will come out of the tank shiny everywhere, no matter what is underneath. If it is rough on the underside, it will be shiny and rough. If you want that 1930s matte silver look on the back I believe you will have to use paint, even if it was plating originally.

I do my own zinc, but that is possible using harmless stuff out of your kitchen cupboards and an old trim tab off of a boat. A very short list of other metals might be possible with stuff in the kitchen. Not silver. Even though I prefer to do my own work, once you get into the chemicals the pros use I would rather pay someone else. There are only a few jobs on a car I won't go near, but this is one of them. There is no reason you couldn't do it if you really wanted to. Also, there are a gazillion little variable power supplies more or less like that all over ebay and amazon with reviews ranging from excellent to outright crap. Some are linear, some are switching, (internal circuitry) and although it might matter to an electronics experimenter, for plating it should make no difference. You will need the adjustability. Figure out ahead of time how much current you will need, and be sure the supply you buy is big enough. I didn't calculate it, but I think the one in the link is probably big enough several times over. It's front panel markings and power requirements are a bit confusing. The description says 110v (suggesting it runs on normal USA power) but you might want to verify with the seller as the front panel markings seem to contradict that. EDIT: There are other sources in the US for reflector silvering, I just cant vouch because I haven't used them. Steve's Restoration in Oregon is one, although I believe they were more expensive than Mance. There was a table silver restoration outfit out in the midwest who do it as well. There are leads in several old threads. I used Mance after seeing Terry's pictures, but I don't believe they are the only game in town. You probably don't have to post them to the UK.

1952 should be brass for sure. I don't recall what year Buick stopped using corks. They are fairly common. Originally they were sealed in shellac I think. Today something alcohol-proof must be used to seal them. Shedding cork really hasn't been an issue, but fuel saturation often has. Some carburetor floats were cork as recently as the 1930s (Marvel).

That sounds better. Check it again after the battery is charged back up, because you can't tell a lot when the battery is low.

Battery voltage should drop when regulator is unplugged. That's normal. It sounds like a regulator problem to me. The regulator powers the alternator field to make the alternator charge. The battery voltage "sample" comes from the battery, probably via the starter post, through a small wire to pin 3 on the regulator. It just about has to be the regulator. Here are 3 things you could check to eliminate some edge cases: 1) On the wiring harness plug, unplugged, check for voltage from pin 3 (+) to the regulator's ground (-). This is the sample of battery voltage used for regulation decisions, and should match battery voltage very, very closely. 2) Is there any chance the regulator plug could be on upside down? You should find battery voltage on pin 3 of the plug with nothing running. When you find the one terminal that has battery voltage with everything shut off (as in #2 above), make sure it is going to pin 3. 3) Is there any chance the alternator plug could be on upside down? After making sure the regulator plug is on right side up, and that battery voltage goes to regulator pin 3 check to see that the wire from "F" (field) on the regulator is going to "F" on the alternator. Two bad regulators wouldn't surprise me that much. Especially electronic ones. Do you have an old used electromechanical regulator laying around? If you do, I would try it. Good luck and let us know what you find.

Might take a bit to get that unstuck. What is it?

I never suggested a Model A couldn't do it. The gas tank is up high and forward. A model T (and a bunch of others) with the tank under the front seat is another matter. The carburetor does need to be lower than the tank.....

I think you are right on. 1938 is pretty early for torque wrenches and torque specs. It may be best to find a newer model that uses the same hardware if you want to know for sure. If I remember correctly it usually winds up about 60 on smaller fasteners (6 lug Chevys and the like). and about 80 on the bigger ones (like a 5 lug Buick). In 1938, they would have just tightened it up. Heck, they still would have in 1988 on an American car with drum brakes.

But with a model T or some other old car with the gas tank under the front seat and gravity feed, that could be an issue. At some point the gas needs to flow uphill. My mom told of riding with her parents backing up Knapp's Hill, a road that wound straight up the side of a cliff. It was replaced in 1936 with a tunnel and road we still use today. It is still a little steep, but nothing like the old road. This is on US-97A between Entiat, WA and Chelan, WA. Today there is a zip line outfit operating over the cliff where the old road was. Here's a clip. The old road is at 0:55.

I think you will have to keep screwing with it until it behaves. Sock as low as possible, float does not hit the bottom or the top, can swing 0-90 (or a wee bit more) between stops, still some "reserve" gas between the point where the sender hits 0 ohms and the point where you can no longer suck gas through the pickup. Anything left in the bottom is just lost capacity. I wonder If GM rated the tank in the actual volume, or in the volume the customer would see between having the tank completely full and running out of gas? Someone probably knows, but I must admit I have never paid much attention to that. I personally marvel at the fact GM stuck with this design as long as they did. In another thread, someone who actually worked at AC told me the sending units were set up at AC (on a jig I think) and that it was not a problem in production, at all. I believe him, he was there. Nevertheless, I still think decades later with reproduction parts, used parts, shelfworn parts, parts that have been sent through the mail, etc., you had better check everything or you are going to be taking the tank out a whole bunch of times. My own experience bears that out. The design of the system leaves no room for error. I highly recommend adding a ground wire to the sending unit. It helps prevent problems down the road.

On any of these GM gauges that use 0 for empty alignment is critical. There is no way to "adjust" the gauge electrically. Floats shouldn't bang the top or the bottom, but the sock should be as low as possible. Don't forget you wont be able to suck 100% of gas from the tank, so some of that excess fuel capacity is just lost, and there's nothing you can do about it. You can use a hand powered transfer pump to check. Don't use anything electric. Put enough gas in to bring the sender up a tiny bit, as read with an ohmmeter. Suck fuel out through the pickup (wiggling the tank so that you are sure the sender is responding) until the sender is back down to the "0 ohms" or very close that it measures when on the stop. Now change the container you are pumping into, and pump fuel out until you suck air and can't get any more fuel. The fuel in this second container is the true size of your reserve. The shop manual may tell you. Sometimes they did. Rocketraider's numbers sound right to me.

Many car names can really only have one correct pronunciation, that of the land the car comes from. So many of them are names of people, Citroen, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Maserati, Ferrari, Renault. Buick, Chrysler, etc. How can you change that? If I live in some foreign land where another language is spoken, and I and my countrymen start calling Buick "Buck", you can call it a local pronunciation if you like, but it is still wrong. Jaguar only sort of escapes this because it is named after a large cat. A cat whose English name is often pronounced with 3 syllables in the UK and two in the US. On the other hand, maybe it doesn't escape. After all, the car is not really the same thing as the cat, is it? The car and it's name come from the UK.

You might be thinking of AC LM-46. They are AC brand "46" heat range, no resistor. and a shorter tower on the outside. Does that sound right for the Buick 8?