Bloo

I think by the 60s those cars had Chevy drivetrains in Canada, too.

Graham. .

Tinindian's advice is good advice. Bearing stores typically charge much less for the same bearings than auto parts stores do. In the USA they have been under intense pressure for the last 15 years or so NOT to sell any bearings into the automotive trade, and any part numbers that are automotive only have been removed from their supply chain. It may come down to telling them what it is, but I wouldn't mention any cars right off the bat. Chances are good that in 1933 it was some sort of standard industrial bearing, and if an interchangeable bearing is still made, this may be pretty easy. The person at the counter will measure it with a caliper. .

I doubt it's the coil. There is no mixture adjustment for high speed. It is what it is. A sunk or misadjusted float in the carburetor could make it rich. Make sure the choke is getting all the way open with the engine warm. Check for vacuum leaks. 196ci? Flathead or OHV? Ramblers usually have vacuum wipers, and probably a booster pump. The system can be a source of leaks. Plug the port to the manifold and see what that does. Does the car have a power brake booster? They leak when they fail. Sometimes, you can even hear them hiss. Try disconnecting and plugging the port on the manifold. See if it runs noticeably different. I don't recommend trying to drive with a booster disconnected, but if you do, know that you will have to stand on the brake pedal REALLY hard to stop. Is the intake manifold on this engine a trough in the head with a lid on top? Make sure the gasket isn't leaking. Especially look for leaks near whatever cylinder had the cleaner spark plug (pictured on the far left) in it. If there's a port for a vacuum hose or device near the cylinder that plug was in, it deserves extra scrutiny. If you don't come up with anything obvious, start with the basics and do a compression test.

Yes they did use K and W in commercial 2-way (and still do), though I don't believe the letter necessarily indicates a side of the Mississippi river.

The Mississippi River. W is to the east and K is to the west. It only applies to radio and TV broadcast stations, and not other types of radio. Any exceptions would most likely be very old licenses. .

If there is still doubt, post on http://vccachat.org . The body of early Chevrolet knowledge over there is unparalleled. .

1939 was the first year for the blinkers, and they were only on the rear. Look on the shifter for a switch.

We still don't know what the car is. It is posted in post war Buick, but frankly that doesn't narrow it down near enough. In the absence of a pressure pot, get out the manual and look over the oiling system diagram, and see if there is a plug, sending unit, oil filter port, or anything that would allow you to pour some oil down in to the oil galleries from the pressure side in such a way that the oil would flow down into the pump. Thicker is better but probably anything would work. Fill the new oil filter with oil, too. If it's a spin on, you might spill a little. C'est la vie. If none of that works, and the oil pump is external to the engine, you could take it off. Or, take the cover off if the whole pump isn't easily removable. Pack the pump with Vaseline or light grease. If that won't work, you are probably pulling the pan. If the car is prone to losing prime at oil changes (as some are at high mileage), it is probably time to rebuild or replace the pump while you have the pan off.

That may be true in some areas, but on some cars, and in some parts (like doors), Fisher did apparently use glue and, if I remember correctly, even published a recipe. It may have been in the 1926-31 body manual. Any of the finger joints would have also had to use glue to hold up I think. In fact, Fisher's finger joints were tapered. It is hard to do that now, due to the unavailability of appropriate cutters. The only reason to do it in the first place is to get better bite for the glue. They did also screw them, but I suspect that just weakened the joint.... until the glue failed. Then maybe it helped a little. Also you would have to use glue anywhere you made one of Fisher's one-piece parts in 2 pieces in order to get it into some spot where Fisher put metal in the way after the woodwork was done.

205-R-16 is a metric size, and radial rue to the "R". It is equivalent to 205/80R16. If you are in the USA, it is probably no longer available. To the best of my knowledge everything that size or close is discontinued, and you are stuck with the reproduction or specialty tire manufacturers such as Diamondback, Coker, and maybe Blockley. If your original size was indeed 600-16, and you are in the USA, I know it is true because that is my size (1936 Pontiac). If your original size was 6.50-16 there is similarly nothing but you might have room for 7.00-16. If it was 7.00-16 you might still find a bias-ply pickup tire, but even that is doubtful today. The 205-R-16 should be almost 29 inches tall, and about 8 inches wide at the widest spot. Good luck, and let us know what you come up with.

It is most likely the gearing that is incorrect. A lot can change over the decades, but tire size is a biggie. Junkyard transmissions with the wrong gear are another. Rear axle gears could have been changed. The factory not getting the speedometer gearing right in the first place is more common than you probably think. You fix the gearing because that is how the system is designed to work. If it is already correct there is nothing to do. If the speedometer itself is wrong when the odometer is right, then the speedometer needs work. You could try to compensate for bad gearing by backyard recalibrating the speedometer spring tension... I guess. Or you could try to compensate for a bad speedometer head by changing the gearing. It sounds like a fools errand to me, since the speedometer was not designed or built to operate that way, and most likely has something wrong with it. I have yet to run into a bad magnets issue. Admittedly I have not worked on a speedometer head for a long time, but it seems like it was always shot bushings causing one drum to drag on another, or swelling pot metal causing too much drag and constantly twisting off cables, or lack of lubrication in the wick, or someone "oiled" the speedometer and the oil got out on the drum or.... It's pretty simple. You drive by some mile markers and check the gearing against the odometer. If it is right (spoiler: it won't be), then the speed should be right too. If the gearing is wrong, the speedometer should be off by the same amount. If not, it is time to send the speedometer head out. P.S. 60s speedometers are not precision devices. Even when factory correct, the speed won't be perfect across the scale.

IMHO get the Mitchell.

While it is true that a higher speed rear axle was found in the cheaper Chevys in the late 30s, that is a different axle design and a different division. I think any late 30s Buick Special you are likely to run across will have 4.44, no matter what a salesman might have thought about it or wanted. 3.90 fits, but it was a Century thing from the factory. Putting higher gears in cars sold on the plains was a Pontiac thing, not Buick. Let us know what you find. The car is beautiful.

If it wouldn't bother you to work on a relatively small mechanical clock it might be ok.

Correction of the odometer for tire size or axle ratio is done with the gears . The speedometer itself should be calibrated to match the odometer, period. If it is calibrated correctly, the speed will be right when the gears are right. The chances of a speedometer made in 1963 needing work are very high, just due to dried out lubricant in inaccessible areas even if the speedometer is not worn out. I have had good results with Commercial Speedometer of Sacramento, CA. The proprietor has been doing this since 1958.

No, but the gas gauge's power terminal was a common spot from which to feed switched ignition power to everything else. If the ignition switch was in the coil, then the gas gauge would be next logical place for switched power to land. It still seems funny to see it labeled that way. .

I don't have access to anything 1934. I might have some pieces of 1936 sill out in my shed, I'll have to look. Do you mean you think the whole sill was 1-3/4 thick or the boards? I seem to recall two equal thicknesses of board, maybe about 3/4" each. Sills were laminated, probably to control shape with temperature and humidity changes. The whole quartersawn-vs-flatsawn boards thing probably comes into play as well but I am not sure exactly how. Fisher boards for lamination in general do not seem to be any particular standard thickness, although they may have had to keep the thicknesses equal on a sill. White Ash was always the preferred wood for body building, although you can find almost anything in a Fisher body. I think I found some Beech in my doors, too rotten for positive ID but definitely not Ash. Fisher made so many bodies they may have had to make some compromises, though I suspect a sill would always be Ash. Sorry I couldn't be more help. The most useful manual for a wooden Fisher body of any year is the 1926-1931 edition. It is posted here: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/fisher/2632fbsm/index.html Sadly, I am pretty sure it is not going to answer the question you asked, but if you haven't seen it you may find it useful. There are some other years of Fisher manual on that site as well: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/ . Welcome to the forum! EDIT: Posting this in general, or better yet technical, would be a good idea. @chistech or @Cabnut might know something. Both of them have way more experience with Fisher wood than I do. EDIT2: I just realized since it is an open car Fisher may not have built it. Do you know who did? .

My speedometer guy said the same thing, 1000turns per mile. Despite his protestations I don't think it is always true before the war. It certainly should be true on a 63 Riviera. I would like to clarify though that speedometers are calibrated to the odometer, not actual vehicle speed. A speed error on a car with a correct odometer is indeed a calibration error in the speedometer. When both the speedometer and odometer are off, that is a gearing error. Gearing errors are corrected with the little speedometer drive gears in the transmission. On something as new as 1963 it is likely only the outer gear (the easy one) would need to be changed although I am not 100% sure. Speedometer shops offer little external gearboxes to correct the gearing in instances where it would be inconvenient or impossible to change what is in the transmission. The first step is to drive 10 miles or so, better yet 20, watching the odometer closely as you pass the mile markers. Determine if there is an error, and how low or how high. Typically you should be within 5% or less, and that is about what the calibration step (next gear option) is on many cars. A 5% error would result in a 5mph error at 100mph, or 2.5mph at 50mph, so not a big deal and most cars only have marks on the speedometer face every 5 miles per hour (I can't remember offhand what the Riviera has). If the odometer is OK, send the speedometer head out to a speedometer shop. .

Even though the transmission and overdrive can share oil, as I recall they usually had two fill plugs and you had to fill or check both to make sure the overdrive has enough oil. I don't know what the fluid is, but probably some tractor fluid or GL-1 or something would be better than modern gear oil. Hey @Grimy are you reading this?

The master cylinder will be under the floor somewhere, probably under the driver's floorboard, In any event it will be down at frame level. As originally built the car would have had a rubber mat that could be rolled back. Crawl under the car to find where the master cylinder is and that will tell you where to go looking for access from the top. What was leaking? Whatever it is you will need to fix it as you cannot keep brakes working with a leak, even if it's tiny. Air gets in. Plan on changing all three of your brake hoses at the same time if you don't know when they were last changed. They are rubber and could suddenly break, but also are notorious for failing internally and causing frustration bleeding the brakes. And yeah, get a factory shop manual. You won't regret it. Good luck and welcome to the forum. .

Now I am even more suspicious of the roller clutch than I was before.

There's just too much in that picture I don't recognize. Are you sure the solenoid works? I think if the whole mess is allowed to rotate, you're in direct? To use the planetary gears you would have to stop one of the three elements of the planetary set, either the sun (center) or the ring (outside) or the carrier (3 gears). You need to know what the power flow is, and I just can't make sense of it from the picture. I would have a REAL CLOSE look at that roller clutch. A clutch like that will engage in one direction but not the other. Does anything act on it to engage it, or is it always ready? It looks like it is probably always ready. Since you have freewheeling in overdrive, it is a fair bet that the power flows through that one-way roller clutch when you are in overdrive, and for some reason it is not holding in the forward direction.

Some thoughts... Re-check valve clearance. Disconnect the connection for the vacuum wipers at the intake manifold and plug the manifold side. Try different spark plugs. Maybe some old ones, heck even some from another car if they are physically the right size and shape. Just try long enough to see if the roughness goes away. Ohm test your plug wires. I would check from the plug end all the way to the distributor terminal in the inside. A few ohms if copper conductor, 1 or 2 k ohms if resistance wire. If resistance wire, the ohm readings should follow the length (longer = higher). If you find a bad wire, replace but wait for your new rotor to arrive before you get too excited about whether it fixed it (a bad wire will try to clobber the rotor by causing it to try and burn down toward the distributor shaft). Inspect your distributor cap very closely under a bright light for cracks and carbon tracks. Also, look at the carbon button in the middle that contacts the rotor. It needs to touch the rotor. On some distributors the rotor may have a springy flat piece that reaches up to it. On most older cars like yours, the carbon button is spring loaded inside the distributor cap. Just make sure it is going to touch. Look closely at your points and recheck the gap. What does the return spring look like? On many sets of points there will be a copper ribbon, but also a piece of silver or steel blue colored spring steel that actually does the springing. Sometimes the spring steel piece is separate and can get left out. Check your firing order one more time. (I know that advice has to be getting old.) Which way does the distributor turn? How do your points ground? If they are mounted on a plate that moves, for instance a plate that moves with a vacuum advance, there needs to be a ground wire from the moving part to the distributor case. It is often a special wire made of spring steel and copper to resist the constant bending. They break. If your plate is bolted directly and solidly to the distributor, disregard this. Good luck. I have no idea about the noise. I am hoping unrelated is just rattling because of the rough engine.

That looks like a 37 chassis!