Bloo

For what it's worth, a better plan might be to get hose barb adapters for the double flare chassis line and the fuel pump, and just hook it up with some 30r9 hose and a couple of fuel injection clamps. I did my flex hose about like that when I didn't have a stock-type hose or enough threaded sleeve fittings. I have everything now but am reluctant to change it. 30r9 is bomb proof.

The first pic you posted looks like a double flare fitting to me. That much makes sense. The end with the seat goes there. On the other end, a piece of tubing goes in, as far as it will go (theres usually a little shelf to stop it, and the nut just tightens. It takes a bit of force the first time, just go slow and use a GOOD tubing wrench. The current producer of those fittings says not to use them on steel tubing, but thats what was done on fuel lines back in the day, and it works fine. The end of that fitting bites into the tubing and becomes a permanent part of it. If you doubt you went far enough, you can take it off and look. The nut stays with the piece of tubing forever, and once "bit" it cant slide off. The thing that confuses me is, I cant imagine what sort of fittings would be on the fuel pump that would leave a piece of tubing sticking out for that threaded sleeve to go on.

I don't doubt you, but I doubt that is the explanation for the two cars. When the Wash/Washington thing happened, the sequence continued. The "Wash" plates werent replaced. There were no duplicates. A pre 63 plate (not used after 62) could have the same number as a post 62 plate though. That could get sticky when they all get to YOM.

Oh one other thing, I don't know if you can tell in the pic, but one of those hoses is outside braided in brass! I suspect (but don't have the least bit of proof) that the original hose was like that, and that the hose served as the sending unit ground. Be sure to ground your sending unit.

The threaded sleeve goes in that end! There is still a missing piece to the puzzle though. I can't understand why it would have what appears to be a FEMALE double flare at the other end. I would love to know what kind of fitting the chassis line has.

Continuing along that line of thinking, I dug out a couple of NOS/NORS Pontiac hoses. The idea being that maybe, instead of being threaded sleeve at both ends like mine, maybe yours is double flare at the chassis end, and threaded sleeve at the fuel pump end. Here you can see the threaded sleeves that were screwed into the chassis end, although in a normal replacement procedure there would already be a threaded sleeve on the chassis end, and you would use the new one at the other end. What female threaded sleeve looks like: Other end of the hose: And a threaded sleeve in its natural habitat, permanently married to a piece of tubing. It shrinks and bites into the tubing. To replace it, you would have to carefully cut the nut off, or shorten the tubing.

I think there is an incorrect combination of parts there somehow. Are you familiar with "threaded sleeve" fittings? I thought Buick got rid of them by 41, but maybe not. I rebuilt a tank sender for a 37 Roadmaster and it had a double flare fitting that soldered on. If I remember correctly, that whole car used double flare on the fuel system. My whole 36 Pontiac was threaded sleeve (tank sender too). The Pontiac, as built, used a hose about like that, and it had a threaded sleeve fitting on one end. The threaded sleeve fitting slips over the steel gas line and then the whole mess screws into the end of the hose. The fitting, once tightened, becomes part of the steel gas line and stays with it no matter how many times you disconnect it or change the hose. The other and of the hose was a piece of tubing for another threaded sleeve to go on. Looking at the steel gas line on your 41 where it connects to the fuel pump hose will tell the story. Is there a threaded sleeve there? Or a double flare and nut? Or nothing at all? As for that hose, it just looks wrong. Does that fitting even screw into the hose right? The female half of a threaded sleeve setup is a large open taper (instead of a seat like double flare would have). I believe the threads are different on double flare as well. EDIT: What does the other end of your new hose look like? Could that sleeve belong on the other end?

I am going to have to dissent here. As far as I know, copper does not care if you quench it or not, it still gets soft if you heat it to a dull red. Steel is much more picky. As for Delrin, I wouldn't use it on a fuel system. In another group I participate in, I learned that Tektronix used to make various parts out of it many decades ago when it wasn't a common material. That ended when one of the engineers discovered it burns with a pretty blue flame, emitting noxious gases as it does. A minor underhood fire could open the fuel lines. I think I will stick with copper. For what its worth, if copper is not soft enough, there is always aluminum.

Disassemble it and clean it. Check that the ball is round. It should not bind when you turn, The tighter the better as long as it does not bind. If you get it as tight as it will go with no binding in turns, and it is still sloppy straight ahead, something will have to be done.

Hey Turbosl2, How round were the tires? Did they balance up easy?

I found that non-asbestos shoes worked for me better than asbestos ever did. I sure wouldn't get wound up about it. Arc grinding is one of the best things you can do to sort out drum brakes quickly, After the arc grinders were gone, you just had to let the shoes break in, and it took a while before things really started working right. Now that so few people daily drive their old cars, I suspect the shoes might never break in. IMHO find somebody to arc-grind the shoes to fit your drums. I know it isn't easy. I know you will probably have to mail the shoes and drums off somewhere. I would call either Brake and Equipment (Minneapolis MN) or Brake and Clutch (Seattle WA). Probably one of them can do it. If not, they might know who can.

Always lube up the new seals and bore with the little packet of brake lube that comes in the kit, or some Sil-Glyde. Brake fluid alone often isn't slippery enough when the seals are brand new.

That plate looks terrific to me, Snohomish County too, to go with your Everett license frame. Do you suspect it is a reproduction?

If you use a relay for the ignition, and the car has an idiot light for the charging system, the engine will not shut off. You can fix it by powering the idiot light from the relay, but then you are still running a wire from under the dash. While it is true that the ballast resistor does prevent point burning, particularly when the ignition gets left on and the points happen to be closed, that is not the main reason for it's existence. The coil is designed to run on less voltage, probably 8 or 9 volts. System voltage on a running 12V car is at least 14.2 volts and probably more like 14.7 volts on any GM car that had it's voltage regulator replaced in the last 40 years. While the starter is cranking the battery voltage will pull down to maybe 10.5 volts if the battery has a good charge, and probably a lot lower if the battery is low and the starter barely cranks. The wire coming up from the starter bypasses the resistor while cranking and puts all available voltage on the coil. Remember normal voltage for the coil is about 8 or 9 volts. On that bad day that your battery is almost dead, and you are only going to get a chug or two out of the starter before it is all over, you will have full normal voltage (or more) on the coil. Eliminating that feature is a downgrade, no matter what someone selling fancy ignition parts may tell you.

The Cadillac EFI (late 70s) was Bendix. As I understand it Bendix sold the rights to their 1950s "Electrojector" system to Bosch, for all countries EXCEPT the United States. In the 1970s when Cadillac came calling, Bendix dusted of their patents and went to work. Bosch had been using and improving EFI all those years, so some of the parts were off the shelf Bosch stuff, but the control unit was all Bendix. IIRC the Cosworth Vega also used the Bendix system.

I saw your posting the other day but didn't respond, because I thought someone else would have a better answer. What follows is generic for mid 60s GM cars. The circuit runs from the ignition switch to the coil. It passes through the firewall at the bulkhead connector. What I cant remember is if the resistance wire begins or ends at the firewall. It might be under the dash or it might be under the hood, but it ends at the firewall. The color of the wire should give it away. Do you have a shop manual for your car? It should have a wiring diagram that would show you what colors the wires are. There is also a wire, not a resistance wire, that comes up from a terminal on the starter and goes to the coil. Ignore that one, it isn't what you are looking for.

There's also a spot at the back of the water jacket that is below the level of the plug, so it doesn't get drained.

Manual steering boxes don't really lend themselves to "kitting" like some other components do. The seal and bushing are a big deal. There are a couple of tapered roller bearings in there I think, that probably interchange with a lot of GM cars. You see them on Ebay occasionally. The gears themselves are really expensive and aren't replaced unless bad. You just get the manual, and follow it. Figure out what you need, then check the parts dealers and if they don't have it, get the factory part number and troll Ebay. The sad truth is most manual steering boxes in all makes are shot because they leak and were not kept full of oil or grease. You may have to buy another box or two to get parts. Typically a "good" manual steering box has a tight spot in the center so you can hold the steering straight as the tires try to dive all over the place when they go over little bumps. Do the adjustment by the book and see what you have. Usually adjustments are made with a pull scale (like a fish scale) at the outer edge of the steering wheel. The worm is tightened up to some specified drag (with no engagement), and then the sector engagement is adjusted until it takes a certain amount of pull to go over the tight spot in the center. Do it however the service manual says to. Pull scales were used in school science departments for the last 70 years or more, and surplus ones are all over Ebay for very little money. They come in a bunch of ranges, so make sure you get one that nicely covers the ranges you need to measure up in the top part of the scale. One brand is Ohaus. If the ends get tight and there is no tight spot in the center, either the worm or sector (or both) are shot, and you will have to troll Ebay for NOS/NORS, or buy another box or two for parts.

The 1936 Pontiac users guide suggests starting with the clutch pedal down, so GM must not have been that concerned. It reduces transmission oil drag when cranking. They may have been more concerned that someone left the car in gear and forgot. The bearing is carbon, and is oiled with a little oil cup under the cover just like what TexRiv_63 describes. You have to remove the toeboards to access the cover. I start mine with the clutch pedal up, and also stand on the clutch as little as possible at stoplights. I don't know if it is an old wives tale, but the carbon does wear out, and it cant hurt to use it less. As I understand it, the two grooves on the face of the carbon are wear indicators. You can see them in the last picture. TexRiv_63's bearing looks to be in good shape.

Yes. Neither of those graphics depict what is going on here. The one on the left is a locking ring rim, and the one on the right is the sort of rim used on trucks in the 3/4 ton - 1 ton range (and possibly larger) when tubeless tires first became available for trucks like that. The weird sloping bead gives it away. The rims on that Buick's wheels, and mine also, are ordinary drop center rims, still used on passenger cars today.

Thanks for posting this. They look terrific on the car! Do you have any close ups after you washed the blue stuff off? Like maybe how the outer edge of the whitewall looks on the outer edge? Is there a raised black ridge there? It is kind of hard to tell from the pics. Silicone huh? I was just staring at rivets like those today and wondering if they were going to leak or not, and what I would do about it if they did. I already have tires. I wanted Diamondback Auburns, but there were still no 16" Diamondbacks available when I bought them. Yours are the first close-up pictures I have seen of the Auburns. I was also wondering how they measure the whitewall. Now that yours are mounted, are they about 3-1/4" measured from the edge of the rim?

My guess is the reason everyone is steering you to cables and connections is that we have all been there, spent money on stuff we didn't need, and eventually found the trouble in the cables or connections. Check the following with a multimeter set to a fairly low DC VOLTS scale. The freebie-with-coupon multimeter from harbor freight will do fine. All these readings are taken with the engine hot and starter dragging. All of these readings are taken while the engine is cranking, so you will need another person to help. 1) Battery voltage. Put your probes right in the center of the battery posts, not on a terminal or cable. How many volts? 2) Put one probe on the center of the positive battery post and the other on the copper bolt on the starter that the battery cable attaches to. What is the voltage? 3) Put one probe on the center of the positive battery post and the other on the starter case. What is the voltage? This will either solve it or tell us where to look next. The measurements have to be made while cranking, and while the car is screwing up (hot). Electric motors are less powerful when hot, so any non heat related problem could theoretically show up only when the car is hot. Too much timing could do it. The engine will chug and nearly stop turning, as the firing impulse happens too early and it tries to push back against the starter.

DONT try to hone to the bottom of any pits. Then it will be oversize and leak. Moderation is the key. You are cleaning up the original surface, that is all. Any rust or crud sticking up from the original surface gets honed off. Pits below the surface get to stay. That's just how it is. If the pits are in a place that the seal does not wipe in normal operation it will be fine. It is truly amazing how bad a cylinder bore can be and still not leak as long as you do not overdo the honing and make the bore too big. Back in the old days you just had to try it, and if it did leak, you wasted a kit. They weren't that expensive. The track record of "kitted" cylinders like this was still much better than the "remanufactured" cylinders from the parts store. Today sleeving is readily available and cheap. I would sleeve it if there is any significant bore damage.