Bloo

304736 here. I have not seen anything like that. Info seems to be really scarce on cars built before production was moved to South Bend.

Looking great!

Make model and year always helps.... I see from the dash picture it is a Buick, and the gas gauge worked the same for decades on those. The sending unit, when disconnected, measures 0 ohms (or as close as is possible) empty and 30 ohms full. Since you disconnect the wire at the tank and the gauge goes full, that indicates normal operation of the gauge and wiring. The trouble has to be inside the tank. Probably your sending unit's float is sunk. Or, the sender could be electrically shorted somehow. My guess is it is the float. Time to pull the sender out. Good luck, and let us know how it works out. :)

Thank you! I will have to dig out the parts list and see if the number is the same. I see there was a nickel option all the way back in 1912, but none shown for 1913.

It is a battery box I think, and there is evidence that it was once there. Maybe a toolbox. I am looking for one. The bump behind the battery box is clearance for the front shackle or hinge of the elliptic leaf springs. It exists on both sides. If there is an access plate there, I do not believe I have it. If I remember correctly those points use grease cups. It wouldn't surprise me if the radiator corners are not original. It could be a recore, all I know is it was not done since we had the car (circa 1962). On the other hand I have seen one other Model 25 with radiator corners like that. The firewall strap attachment on the touring is part of the sidelamp bracket, and I have seen it on other tourings. Where are the dry cells supposed to go in your roadster?

I would really love to see pictures of the rest of your u-joint parts. I have a 1913 SA-25 with a very similar looking clutch, and a u-joint that is probably bad. I have not yet disassembled to look, but I'll bet it is the same design.

It is something I have wondered about myself. If I remember correctly yours is one of the newest Model 25's known, is that right? When I checked the HCCA roster back in the 70s, my car was not listed (surprising as my dad was a longtime HCCA member), but the serial number was lower than any of the Model 25s that were listed. I think it was built early in the model year. They started building these 1913 models in late 1912. I have a parts list for the Model 25, but it is a third edition, published 2 or 3 years later. Only one kind of sidelamp is listed. It would be interesting to see what the first edition said. Advertisements do exist that show the touring car with square 2-tier sidelamps like mine, and the roadster with the round ones like yours in the same ad. There are cars out there, most of the survivors IIRC, that have brass headlamps and round sidelamps like yours but with brass rings. It may be running changes, or not. I just don't know. Someday I would like to look all around yours at the details.

Thanks. It is bypassed and the engine does oil correctly. I verified that against a Model 25 in an earlier AACA thread. It has been running this way since the 60s. The Model 25 was my dad's, and when the car was assembled in the early 60s. It was in a hurry. My dad and his brothers stayed up all night putting it together for a parade the next morning. It ran the first time early on the morning of the parade. I'm not surprised they left the gauge off, especially if there was something wrong with it. I believe the gauge is around here somewhere, I think I even remember seeing it, but I have never seen it in operation. Is there a little stick in there that spins or do you just watch the oil drip?

Yeah, maybe not the easiest because it's so large. I would encourage you to learn to solder though, it is a very handy skill with old cars.

You do need a lot of heat. The trick is to get in, get it really hot, and get done before the heat spreads all over the place. I don't know if a gun will do it. It might but I have doubts. It would have to be a big powerful one. It might be easier to take it in.

A really big powerful soldering iron and some old school 40/60 or 50/50 tin/lead rosin core solder. The copper you are soldering has to get hot enough to melt the solder, in other words you can't just melt the solder with the iron directly. The solder will only flow on metal hot enough to melt it. You can cheat a little and feed a little solder to the iron to help get the heat transfer going, but mainly you feed solder to the parts you are soldering. If you can't get your hands on a really big soldering iron, take it someplace where they rebuild starters, usually called an "auto electric" shop and have them solder it.

Normal. That wire is the ground of the "hold in" winding of the solenoid. The other winding (pull in) gets its ground through the starter windings, until the disc kicks back. Then it is out of circuit. The disc and bolts (mainly the bolts) burn up in use and are typically the only thing wrong with a solenoid. As long as they still touch with the solenoid bottomed out, they work. What is the little clip laying on the starter body? Is that an extra? I don't have a solenoid handy to look at right now, but I think that clips on the moving assembly somewhere. Before putting the boot on, push back the solenoid plunger (only the outer edge, not the linkage), and check the clearance between the front of the starter drive gear and the starter nosecone casting. I don't know what the measurement is, but the manual should have it. It's 1/8" on 30s Buicks..... It needs to be right. There are threads at the plunger that will only adjust with the plunger removed. Not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean it doesn't work? The clutch (inside the drive gear) when the gear is turned by hand, locks to the shaft in one direction, and will move in the other. It usually feels a bit draggy as it moves. For a bench test of the starter itself you will need to use a 6v car battery, because a lot of current is required. Good luck! It looks like you are getting close.

Then most likely your headlamps are completely different too. The "Guide Multibeam" system used both headlights to create the beam pattern. They were aimed crosseyed, and had contoured reflectors and a vertical (yes, vertical) beam cutoff. I really don't see how they could have repurposed these for Australian traffic without making special lenses in reverse, and if they did you would have the 4 position switch. Yeah, I can understand that would not go well. I don't think the US manual is going to do you any good at all. It is going to take either an Australian manual, or maybe you could find information for another Australian car with the same headlamp setup. The markings on the lenses could be a clue. Are they locally made or Guide US? Look for a name on the lens (multibeam, depress beam, twilite, tilt-ray, liberty, guide-ray, twolite, etc.) In rebuilding the headlamps for my 36 Pontiac, I discovered there were some Chevrolets, possibly a different year, that used the same contoured reflectors as my Multibeam system, but had different lenses and dipped High-Low like a more modern car. If lenses like that existed for your 38 Buick, it would have been an easy out for GM to just use them and a more normal headlight switch. Yikes. I don't recall ever seeing one down really low. It was normal in the US to have a left foot switch for dipping clear into the 80s or maybe 90s, but it would be up higher. The factory specs would have to still apply. As others mentioned the filaments have to be in the right position or the light won't project. See if your globes have the filaments in the same position relative to the reflector as the old incandescent ones. That's what matters. Does your car use "American Prefocus" globes like a US Buick does? As far as I know, there is only one source worldwide for QH versions of those, and it is in Australia. I hear they work well. I have been meaning to try them. Let us know how it goes.

How sure are you the control unit is bad? I was a driveability tech in that era, so here's a bit of unasked for advice. Apologies if you are already miles ahead of me. Bad control units (we called them ECMs back in those days) were pretty rare. The verified bad ones I saw could probably be counted on one hand, excluding a couple specific makes/models that had known design problems. I did see a lot of cars come through my service bay where the ECM had been replaced, but the car was still broken. The remanufactured ECM business was booming in those days. Great work if you can get it. 99% of the ones turned in for cores probably had nothing wrong with them, and of course there are no returns on electrical parts. I imagine it is more common to see bad ECMs now, after all it is 1980s electronics, there's likely a bunch of electrolytic capacitors in there that have been deteriorating for decades. Nevertheless, "it's never the ECM" was an unwritten rule in my trade back in those days. Often factory service manuals had flowcharts that would lead you down the wrong path, especially if there were multiple problems. When you have come to the conclusion that the ECM is bad, in other words it is NOT doing something it is supposed to be doing. You have verified that, for instance, there is no injector pulse, or the unit is completely dead (wont flash code 12 in the case of GM), or there is one particular code that won't go away despite the circuit and sensor being checked, etc. The next thing to do is verify that all the power and ground leads are present and working. Get out the wiring diagram, and find a pinout for the ECM. Pull the ECM, and test every power and ground pin on the wiring harness ECM plug. There will be Power, ignition power (key switched), and ground. There will be more than one pin for each of these. Make sure to check each and every power or ground pin. Sensor circuits can be critical, and usually one or more sensor grounds from the ECM run all the way back through the wiring harness to the engine. Often one would break due to engine vibration, sometimes inside the insulation where you can't see. It will show up as a missing ground back at the ECM plug. Only when you have verified that the ECM is misbehaving and all it's power and ground circuits are good should you assume the ECM is bad. If the trouble is with one specific sensor or actuator circuit, it's wires should be checked for open or shorts all the way back to the ECM plug as well.

Don't bypass it. It's there to keep the generator from getting damaged. Some people like diodes because they have toruble with the mechanical cutouts sticking. Cutouts can stick, but the most common failure of a silicon diode is a dead short, and that would have exactly the same effect, so that route never made any sense to me. If it were the original I would be in favor of having a go at repairing it, but it isn't. I'm with edinmass, just get a new one. I vote for mechanical. Or, maybe someone over on the VCCA forums would have a correct one......

in addition to the ball and float in the little glass tube on the engine for oil level, there is supposed to be a flow indicator on the dash. Mine isn't hooked up, so I can't really tell you what it should do (I assume you should see the oil flowing through it). My SA-25 (picture is old, I've not had it out this year):

Another SA-25 owner here. I don't have any books other than a parts list. Dump oil in till you bring that little ball up in the glass. It's just connected to a float, so it tells you the level like a dipstick would. Sorry I don't know the actual oil capacity.

You didn't say which model. If you have the shift tower that is only about an inch high, usually found in small Buicks, there are parts in the tower that wear and can be replaced, however they do normally have slop even when new. If you are in a hurry at the stoplight to get into gear, touch second or third before you go for first. The synchronizer will stop all the gears.

I was expecting that it wraps around on top of itself and snaps with a clip. Maybe underneath? Or maybe a screw and it tightens like a hose clamp?

Don't mix the parts if they're different. Pick one and fix it. If you keep soaking that throttle shaft it will probably come loose.

The kludge (it's actually brilliant) is the resistor and the headlight switch wiring. I was wondering if it is master only. Thanks for clearing that up. Looks like your field wire is grounded. The generator should have tried no matter what. I guess the cutout could be burned out but that hardly ever happens. Most likely it is a generator problem. I would pull the dust strap of of it and have a look at the brushes. Maybe they are just stuck in their holders or maybe the commutator is just dirty. If it is out of brush length, you should be able to see that too. Might as well give the oil cups a little oil while you are at it.

Good to know about the balsa. If it floats better, than I agree you can make it work. If the balsa is more buoyant though, the setting will have to be different. As for the water, I think we will have to agree to disagree. The chemistry of a gasoline fire is what it is, and water is a main component of exhaust. Maybe the alcohol is causing it to burn cooler. I am in no way arguing in favor of ethanol gas, and I wish we could get rid of it. I set my cars up on 10% ethanol gas because I can't depend on getting non-ethanol gas on trips. Best Regards.

On a cutout system the only thing that causes it to kick in is when it tries to charge. It should have kicked in when it got up above idle no matter what. Current flows in a charging system from the highest voltage point in the system. When the generator is charging or at least keeping up, the highest voltage is at the generator. When the generator is not charging, the highest voltage is at the battery. The cutout just disconnects the generator when it is not charging so the battery will not try to run the generator like a motor, discharging the battery and probably frying the generator. When the generator gets turning fast enough to start charging, the cutout should see voltage at the generator and pull in, period. It won't know about the headlights or care. Whether it keeps up with them or not is another matter. What is the cutout actually connected to? Do you have a picture of the other side? The generator's armature terminal should connect to one side of the cutout, and the other side should go to the car's electrical system, probably the ammeter. It looks like one side of the cutout is not connected to anything? I see you have a ground on the generator case (good). If you have the headlight kludge with a resistor and contact on the headlight switch, then there will be a terminal for that. An open circuit in that system would cause it not to charge. Is that an extra terminal I am seeing at the right in the first two pics? More pictures would probably help.

Those probably got adjusted less than I might have implied. Things were much better with Chevrolet's light switch kludge, and even better yet when a voltage regulator was added to the third brush generator, as done in Buick, Pontiac Graham and some others in the mid 30s. With a voltage regulator, the third brush is factory set to the most the generator can take (still not very much), and is not adjustable. The voltage regulator takes care of things just like it would on a modern system. In the early 30s ("A" Fords etc. with no voltage regulator or headlight kludge), I don't think there was any expectation that you could drive forever at night without running out of battery. If the generator was set high enough for that it would boil the battery terribly during normal driving.

I have heard of Calli. The limitation was/is that they cannot make the whitewall go all the way to the bead. I just checked their site, and it is still true. Sounds like a good deal for people needing post-1961 style whitewalls on radial tires. Diamondback can go all the way to the bead for the pre-1962 look.