Bloo

Yes. Figure out the exact capacitance needed first. Drive the car enough with a capacitor you might use, and see about metal transfer on the points. When you know the value that makes points last then do it. It looks soldered together. The antique radio people call that a "bathtub cap" and people have restuffed them.

Take the cover off and unstick the points.

I was wondering about that. A Buick Special transmission (and the similar Pontiac transmission) have the shifter offset to the right. It isn't by much, but definitely not centered. I was wondering about the big car transmission, if it was also offset. Thanks for confirming. Did you have to cut the hole off center in relation to the pattern?

The trouble is, it often doesn't show at 1.5V. At a higher voltage the leakage resistance goes down rather dramatically. Now put the VTVM, a high voltage power supply, and the capacitor all in series. Set the power supply to something close to the working voltage of the capacitor, and the VTVM on the highest DC voltage range. After the initial spike, flip the VTVM voltage range down lower until you see the voltage not dropping any more. If you know the internal resistance of the VTVM (usually 11 megohms) you can calculate the rest......

Is that a Bob's floor mat, and if so which one?

For what it's worth, a capacitance test on a multimeter will mislead you on old capacitors/condensers. If you have an old fashioned capacitance bridge, or know someone in the antique radio world who does, that will tell you the actual capacitance. It can also test for current leakage at a higher voltage. Any current leakage that a multimeter can see will show as extra capacitance, and you can't tell which is which. If the leakage does not occur at the voltage the multimeter tests at, it just won't show up at all. You'll think the capacitor is good when it isn't. A few decades ago current leakage was the most common way for a capacitor to fail. Not so much anymore.

I helped a friend do one of those on a Crown Victoria. The new manifold came with new, but different insulation already on it. I don't recall whether it was a Dorman one or a Ford one, (probably Ford) but both brands look a little different, less fat, than the original with all that foam on it. Edit: One thing I do remember is that it wasn't taken apart because of a manifold problem. There is a sheetmetal water pipe under there, and it had rusted out. You might have a really good look at that pipe if you suspect the cooling system hasn't been maintained. The manifold had some serious defect, but we didn't notice until it was off of the car.

Thank you both! It is done (finally lol). I'll get a picture up soon. The last thing left was making a handle. It wasn't as easy as it should have been. The biggest hurdle was the fact that I do not have the right materials, and it is hard to pick out leather online. What I had here was black deerskin, and its not a good choice. It is also a pain to work with. I got a usable handle on the third try. I was going to hand stitch it, but it is held together with shoemaker's glue, and probably won't fall apart. I decided to leave it plain. One more thing that could be done is a custom scale, so that it has the correct numbers (6v - 9v) on the meter face. The graduations are correct, so it is usable, but it is marked 0-300 right now. There is a little program called "Meter" that helps you generate meter faces. I just might do it. http://tonnesoftware.com/meter.html

EMF?

I don't recommend thinking about it like that. It isn't quite like that. Circuits snake in and out of the headlight switch on multibeam systems, and worse, theres more than one kind. I believe in 39 its 1) off 2) park 3) dimmer switch dims right and left lights 4) dimmer switch dims the right light ONLY. Don't take my word though, check the book. The dimmer switch is just a single-pole double-throw switch. You can check it's basic function with an ohmmeter or continuity tester. One terminal, probably in the center, is connected to a second terminal. Kick the switch and it will connect the center to a third terminal, disconnecting the second one. If you could post the wiring diagram (I have not seen the 1939 wiring diagram Online), and also post exactly what functions don't work, I might be able to come up with some idea about how to test it.

FWIW I have been using RedLine CV-2 synthetic grease on all sorts of things for over 20 years. I have not yet had an issue like you describe. I am rather surprised you had that trouble with the Mobil 1.

There are three triangular-shaped contacts in there. They are not all the same (but possibly 2 of them are). It is pretty common for people to get them in the wrong order. That said, I don't recall ever hearing about the exact issue you are having. Does your switch have a circuit breaker? Any fuses? I don't think thats the problem, I'm just trying to get my head around which switch you have.

I doubt a resistor plug delivers a lower energy spark. Maybe a little lower. The resistor would raise the firing voltage by a little but probably not a lot. The old standard advice was to never use both resistor plugs and resistor wires on the same car if it had a points ignition. Once resistor wires became available, anything that had a radio probably had them for interference suppression. That meant non-resistor plugs always for old cars. Looking back with more understanding of how ignition systems work, I think that might be an old wives tale. From a practical standpoint, in 2020, almost all non resistor plugs have been discontinued, and some heat ranges discontinued altogether, even in resistor plugs. What plugs are they offering to fit a 39 Chrysler? I too would run non-resistor plugs if I could get them. My Pontiac has lawnmower plugs in it. Where theres a will theres a way.....

How about this one? https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/d/marysville-1948-oldsmobile-coupe/7102627934.html

Also, don't put too much stock in what the fuel gauge is doing. There are all sorts of causes. Some electrical, some due to float problems, some mechanical due to corrosion in the tank, but none having to do with the fuel system sucking up crud. It is probably best to view that as a separate issue. If you are going to pull the tank anyway though to deal with fuel problems, maybe do a little troubleshooting of the gauge ahead of time, so if there is a problem with the sender you can deal with it while the tank is out. Fuel system cleaner is snake oil. The trouble is there is no way of verifying what it does. Even if it works and does exactly what the can says it should, you will never know for sure. If there is a little improvement if might be the cleaner, or it might be that the temperature or humidity changed, or it might be a coincidence. The trouble, whatever it was, might return. Best to stick with fixes you can verify. It does wonders for your peace of mind. Other things to think about with the fuel system are the fuel pump diaphragm (really old ones cannot deal with ethanol in fuel), any rubber hoses (use only SAE 30r9 fuel injection hose for replacement. It is expensive and kind of a pain to use, but is impervious to any fuel). Also, cars of that vintage needed a minor carb overhaul or "kit" about every 5 years to be at their best (much like 1960s cars). They could run a lot longer if some flaws could be tolerated. You might also look over the ignition, make sure the vacuum advance on the distributor does not have a hole in the diaphragm, that the centrifugal advance weights are not sticking. Make sure your spark plugs are clean and gapped, inspect your distributor cap and wires for bad insulation or other damage. If the insulation of the plug wires looks ok, you can check the center conductor with an ohmmeter. Flathead Chryslers are great cars. Have fun! EDIT: While I was typing I see you posted you are running non-ethanol fuel. Good idea. I would still plan for ethanol, as sometimes it cannot be avoided.

Yes, a marketing agreement. Studebaker did not make their own gasoline cars until late 1912, and called them 1913 models. Before that there were marketing agreements with Garford and later EMF. Studebaker hung Studebaker radiator scripts on at least some of them, possibly all. I also think the car in the picture is a Garford.

It sounds more than a little flimsy to me, for a couple of reasons. More years ago than I care to remember, I was talking to a tire engineer. At the time, popular daily-use musclecar tires nearly all had white letters (BFGoodrich Radial T/A, Goodyear Eagle GT, Dunlop GT Qualifier, Cooper Cobra, etc.). The newest premium tires coming out (BFGoodrich Comp T/A, Goodyear Gatorback, etc.) had no white letters. I asked why white letters, still wildly popular at the time, were not on the premium products. He said that the rubber compounds needed for a whitewall or white letter tire were different, and not performance oriented (by the standards of that time). Higher performance rubber compounds would turn the whitewalls or white letters brown. Much more recently I was at a big automotive swap meet. Coker was there. Their booth was HUGE and dwarfed everything around them. It wasn't a booth so much as stacks upon stacks upon stacks of wide whitewall tires. All of them were coated with the blue stuff. It washes off with soap and water. The claims of the ad sound dubious, not only about the coating used, but also about the reason white rubber turns brown. It would be interesting to hear what Coker themselves have to say about it.

I don't recall the pointy thing, unless it it the piece that goes in the end of the return spring. The pointy aluminum thing points up into the master cylinder return spring, and I don't even see how it would fit backwards. It might be the residual pressure valve, but I sort of doubt it because I don't recall a seal on it. There has to be a residual pressure valve somewhere though. It might be under a tube seat where the line attaches, or maybe even in a fitting on the outside. Residual pressure valves are about 12psi, and only the valve (or a leak) affects the pressure. Shoe adjustment would not change the pressure. The shoe return springs are so strong the residual pressure has no effect on the shoes either. I don't know. I don't recall how to set up that bellows-type brake booster. I can tell you how to do it on a more modern can-type booster, and maybe you can sort it out from there. Does the Shop manual have anything? I have a sneaking hunch this might be pretty hard to do by eye on Melanie's car. On a can type booster, the idea is you want the cup as close to the discharge hole as possible without being over it. Any pedal motion going from rest position until the hole is covered is lost motion. Can-type boosters usually have either jam threads on the pushrod, or some shims. The idea is, with no fluid in the cylinder, and a bright light, adjust out (you have to keep taking the cylinder on and off, and bolting it back on solidly) until you see the edge of the rubber cup in the discharge hole, then back off until it just disappears, then go a tiny bit more to account for heat expansion, weather, bad luck, etc. You don't want the cup covering the hole because the brakes won't release. You don't want the cup hanging out in the hole at rest because it would harm the cup over time. You wan't a tiny bit extra, so than no matter what happens, the hole cannot become covered at rest. The key word is tiny though, any extra distance is lost motion, and it is multiplied by the pedal ratio. On manual brake Chryslers of that period, the pedal pushrod is attached to the piston by some rubber. I recall there is a height adjustment on the pedal pushrod itself. Some of those new hydraulic brake light switches engage at a lower pressure than the old ones. I wonder if it could be on the wrong side of the residual pressure valve somehow?

The last little secret in this, in case anyone in the future tries to duplicate it, is what to do about the current drawn by the lm4041-ADJ. It would normally cause the meter to drift up at the low end of the scale. Since I wanted this not to need a battery to go dead and leak, the current to power the lm4041-ADJ had to be drawn through the meter. The meter movement is not zeroed on zero, the needle is adjusted further left, to offset the current drawn by the lm-4041-ADJ. Here is the circuit again from an earlier post: The circuit really should be looked at as 3 parts. 1) A 0-3 Volt voltmeter. This consists of the 1.0k resistor, the 1.8k resistor, the 1.0k trim pot (adjustment), and the meter. 2) A circuit that drops exactly 6.00V, in series with the meter so that the meter reads from 6 Volts to 9 Volts (instead of 0 volts to 3 Volts). This consists of the lm-4041, all the resistors below the meter, and the trim pot (adjustment). 3) The 9.1V Zener diode and the .01uF capacitor. This is overvoltage and reverse polarity protection only, and does nothing in normal operation. The lm4041-ADJ, when it does not have enough current to work right, draws a few microamps. As the voltage, below 6 Volts is applied to the test leads, the needle will float up. As you raise the voltage, the current drawn by the LM4041-ADJ remains relatively constant until it receives enough current to start working. Then current rises dramatically as the circuit starts to work as intended. The 10K trim pot adjusts the spot where current (and the needle) dramatically rises. It needs to occur with 6.00 Volts applied to the test leads. The mechanical zero is used to then move 6.00 volts back to the bottom of the meter scale. The 1.0K trim pot adjusts for 9.00 Volts full scale.

When you crank up oil pressure using the starter, remove the spark plugs. Your battery and your starter will thank you. Vaseline, grease, assembly lube, or oil are all fine to pack the pump with to help it prime. Oil is not preferable unless you are going to do the cranking right away, as it will slowly drain out of the pump. Be sure to put something in though, it saves a lot of cranking.

It is almost never a good idea to remove EGR. EGR effectively raises the octane of the fuel. There is more timing advance at part throttle when EGR is active than there would be on a car without. Under power it is about the same. At part throttle the timing will be too advanced without the EGR. It will probably ping and stink. A bad valve will not shut off completely. The pintile and seat no longer seal due to erosion and rust. That causes problems at idle and low speeds, surging, stalling at stoplights and so on. If there is a question about the EGR valve's condition, consider replacing it while you have it off.

Paint them or plate them or something. Given any leeway, they will rust again.

According to the information that used to be posted on the Early Times Chapter website, it is normal for these cars to run fairly hot. There is a steel water tube to cool the exhaust valves. It inserts from behind the water pump. It can rust out causing the engine to run too hot. You can probably figure that out with the thermometer gun.

Looks like 1935 Pontiac Deluxe (6 or 8). No fender lights in 1936.