Bloo

Congratulations!

IMHO don't use a machine. Lacquer is thin, and soft, and there is just too much chance to go through or leave swirl marks you can't get rid of. It is not comparable to what you could get away with on modern catalyzed paint. Start with an inconspicuous area. If it works, move on and work on about a foot square area at a time (or less). Don't get in a hurry.

I don't know how the radio is in there. Keep driving it. It gets better the more it runs. Get your timing and dwell set right before you worry about any driveability issues. Pontiac often gives you a range on the timing. Make sure the engine doesn't ping, and that it is not exhibiting the "random miss-like" roughness of too much timing advance. If neither of those are issues, the advanced end of the "normal range" is better. Almost everyone runs a bit more timing today due to the higher octane gas. I am an exception, i had to actually shorten the advance curve on my 36. I can't explain it, AFAIK nobody else has reported having to do that. I don't know how transmission band misadjustment would play here, but I do know that correct band adjustment is extremely important for long transmission life in an automatic with adjustable bands. If there is any doubt at all, adjust them. Keep after it. Things are looking up! EDIT: For what it's worth on many radios of the period, you pull the knobs off and there are thin nuts around the control shafts holding the front of the radio tight to the dash. Also, if the radio is one piece (no separate control head), there will be at least one bolt at the back or sides for support. Probably more like 3 bolts on a big heavy tube radio like that if it is one piece.

I have a guess. This comes up on VCCA frequently, and if the Pontiac is wired the same as a Chevrolet, the flasher could definitely make a difference. The third pin on a flasher is for a dash indicator, one dash indicator. If you think about it for a moment you will see why that exists. There is no place to hook a single bulb. Ahead of the switch it would pull current from the flasher when everything is off. After the switch, you would have to pick a side... or just have 2 separate bulbs. If you have 2 separate dash indicators, it's easy. You just connect the dash indicators to the front signals. Why the front? Because the back, in many systems, it tied into the brake lights. The dash indicators would come on with the brake lights if you used the back. In 1953, Chevrolet did something inexplicable. They put in 2 dash indicators, but instead of grounding the bulbs, they connected the wires that would have been bulb grounds to the third pin on the flasher. Remember this third pin is a separate hot wire that blinks a single dash indicator, when any signal is on, on cars that use only one dash indicator. This certainly begs the question how it could have ever worked as we expect it to. I wondered if the flasher could have been different. Parts books confirm that it is the same flasher used in 1951, when there was a single dash indicator connected to the third pin, as normal. There was at least one brand of aftermarket signal switch that had 2 indicators, and always blinked both of them. If one went out, it indicated there was a signal bulb burned out on the outside of the car somewhere. I have wondered if Chevrolet was cooking some similar scheme, but have not been able to confirm. Or maybe the dash indicator connected to the correct side is OFF, and the OPPOSITE side finds a ground through the signal bulbs that are not on, and the two indicators are reversed in position in the dash? I suspect this might be the case. If so, a flasher with a third contact that flashed out of sync with the signals would break the scheme. So, check the Pontiac wiring diagram, and if it is indeed wired like a Chevrolet (probably), grounding the third wire instead of connecting it to the flasher third pin will cause the dash indicators to behave like you would expect. You might have to swap the positions of the dash indicator sockets.

Whatever you do, don't skip this....

I have one of those too. Maybe not the same brand, but long enough ago they all looked like that. They are pretty dim. You might have to check in the dark, particularly if the marks are down in some little hole. Great for 6 volts!

After a career as a mechanic, I still have no idea. I never could make any sense out of it.

WIth your multimeter connected as you stated, and 0.424A showing, (or better yet a test light connected that way and glowing, easier to see a light when it's just one person), pull fuses one by one until the light goes out. Once you know what circuit it is, get out the wiring diagram.... At least you know what circuit to look at. If no fuse makes the light go out (or meter go down), then get out the wiring diagram and start disconnecting things that are unfused. Common causes of a key-off draw, no matter the make or model: 1) Borg Clock with stuck points 2) Trunk light staying on (cant see with trunk shut) 3) Glovebox light staying on 4) Shorted alternator diodes (or maybe a stuck field relay if one exists, should be in the voltage regulator on a 65 Riviera) 5) Automatic courtesy lights screwed up (if you have them), but since you have the fuse pulled, probably not that.

Try this. 3M #39060. Try it in an inconspicuous place, and by hand, but try it. Others in the thread have mentioned Prefect-It, and I guess thats what this is. However, I wouldn't go by the name as my previous bottle of this exact product was oval, black, and had a different name on it. The part number was the same.

Somewhere around here, lost, is a white paper on bearings that claims one of the biggest contributors to bearing failure is contamination by extremely tiny particles and dust from grease not being manufactured clean enough, or contaminated from lid left off the grease in open air, etc. It argues that a sealed bearing will last longer if kept sealed with it's original lubricant. One other advantage to a sealed bearing, in theory, is that if you put a little sealer on the case and shaft, you could plug the oil drainback port with a gasket, and the front of the transmission would be actually sealed by a seal (until it failed). I can't quite bring myself to try it. It is interesting to think about.

If it is NOS I wouldn't trust it across town without a new diaphragm. A 30s Buick I know of, stored since 52, only made it a few blocks. The diaphragm inside was a whole bunch of layers of thin cloth that appeared to have been doped with something, probably a shellac compound. Traces of the doping were only present where the edges of the diaphragm were clamped under the rim. All layers of the cloth had been washed completely clean, and the gas was literally pouring through it. Alcohol is the solvent for shellac. There was no alcohol in gasoline in 1952, but there sure is now. I would expect if the diaphragm is rubber instead of cloth it would not be alcohol resistant either, and probably also perished from age.

Not bad. I like it. In the 80s I had a 6 volt Allen setup similar to your Sun, except the individual instruments pulled out of the rack and could be portable. I think it was from the 40s. I miss it. The Dwell/Tach was the best I have ever used.

I just use brake clean on a strip of printer paper to clean the points after they're in. The grease should come with the points. If it is not there, I use Redline CV-2, since I always have some around (its SO slippery). Anything would probably be fine. I think it may have been Vaseline back in the day.

Traditional would be to glue the gasket to one side with shellac (like Indian Head). Its slippery when wet, and that makes it easy to destroy the gasket, so depending on what gasket and where, you would either stick it to a pan and weight it overnight, or put it all together, barely snug it, and let the shellac partly set up before really tightening good. The advantage to gluing one side is that the gasket should stay with one side when you take it apart, dramatically increasing the chances of being able to re-use the gasket. The disadvantage is it is extremely tough to scrape off if you need to. Beyond that, you will probably hear almost as many methods as there are regular posters in here. There are plenty of ways.

It does not really resemble an American Ford ahead of the cowl, either. This article offers a little insight on what may have been in production in Europe at the time. https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/historically-rich-1938-ford/

This is one to not miss. Plenty of 50s and early 60s cars.

That looks like rust damage to me. I feel your pain.

Lacquer is by nature THIN! Even when built up, it is pretty thin. Be really careful. I doubt you have enough thickness to colorsand. If when you run your hand over it, it does not feel silky smooth like a new car (probably), start with a clay bar kit, to get all the embedded dirt off. Avoid edges and crowns. Do inconspicuous places first to see.... After that, if it needs more, there is a 3M compound that sometimes works miracles. It is pretty expensive, but 3M has cheaper ones in similar looking bottles that just do not have the same effect. It is probably going to be $25 or $30 a bottle. I am not home and can't check the number (maybe 39009?) EDIT: 39060, not 39009. I will check later. If I don't make it back to this thread tonight, shoot me a PM to remind me. I would still be very careful, even with this compound. Only do this by hand. Start small in an inconspicuous spot. Like with the clay bar, avoid edges of panels and high spots, they go through easily.

I just barely cover the plates. If I had a car that tended to abuse the battery and need water all the time I guess I would put more in, but I would prefer to just barely cover the plates. Optima 6 volts don't make a mess like that, so thats an option, but I am still currently using a conventional 6v battery like you are. A little acid does get up on top, but not near as bad as what you are getting. I clean it up semi-regularly, and use anti-corrosion washers to help protect the terminals from the acid.

And you have probably noticed how few pictures get uploaded since the new restrictions. Threads these days are mostly complaining about Elon Musk, millenials, electric cars, the government (of more than one country), automakers, vendors, etc. Why so few threads about restoration or driving the cars? Maybe it is just too big of a pain to upload the photos. Many have outright said so. This doesn't affect me personally because I upload my pictures to imgur.com, and just link back to them from here. Still, it is impossible to miss how the photo limits have put a damper on things around here. If covering the cost of more photo space caused my AACA dues to go up a little I would be fine with it. Thoughts?

I did when there was something to check. Not so much anymore. I believe when Craigs started charging, everything moved to Facebook, and I am not a member. I don't blame Craigs, as the spam was really getting out of control. Nevertheless, they killed it.

Yes. All of that. ^^ Also, some batteries have a ring inside or "fill to triangle" or something to indicate what the water/acid lever should be. If you fill to that, water/acid is going to slop out. The battery needs the plates to stay completely covered to avoid plate damage. Any more than that, like filling up to the fill mark, and it is going to slop acid everywhere and make a huge mess. I don't know how it could continue to leak out after the charger was disconnected. That part makes no sense.

Sorting for 1941 and older on Seattle Craigslist currently yields half a page in list view. A few months ago it was several pages. This includes all the hot rods and incomplete projects. It's a wasteland. https://seattle.craigslist.org/search/cta?max_auto_year=1941

The old cars have largely disappeared on Craigslist. I used to read it every day. Now, not so much.

My attempts to use modern test gear on the 36 Pontiac have been 100% failure. In the case of the timing light(s), one modern wire was not enough to make them work. I have not tried a whole set. When I first bought the car it ran lousy, and sounded to me like the timing was too advanced. When my Snap-On digital dial-back timing light refused to work, I just assumed it had died of old age (it hails from the 1980s). I didn't really have time to fix it so I went out and bought a new Bosch dial-back light. The Bosch didn't work either, though it did work on another car. Further tries with the Pontiac apparently killed the Bosch light. I figured out later that there is nothing wrong with the Snap-On light. All this was done with a 12 volt battery sitting on the ground next to the car. An old Craftsman analog light with no dial-back feature worked fine. The distributor had to be put on a distributor machine to figure out the advance curve.