Bloo

I guess it depends on how you want it to look, and whether it's for show, and if so whether it's a points issue. I like natural aluminum castings, old ones too, warts and all. To me, aluminum paint looks bad more often than it looks good. It doesn't age well either.

I daily drive a 36 Pontiac on 6 volts. I don't even own a trailer. It is true I don't drive it in the winter, but that is because I am trying to preserve it, not because there is any trouble with the electrical system. I have had several 6 volt winter cars over the years. I drove a bathtub Nash for a couple of winters. What a great car. They go in the snow better than you would think, and the heater is amazing.

True. A 1936 Buick charging system, IIRC, is a third brush setup with a maximum output of about 17 amps. I don't know how much full scale is on the ammeter, but probably not near enough for a typical alternator conversion. You would probably have to add a shunt to the ammeter if you wanted to use it.

So would I, (probably cut some other way because I don't have access to water jet). That assumes the extra thickness wouldn't push some other flange too much out of line.

The trouble with 12 volt conversions is that getting 6 volt accessories and gauges working is a chore. As a tech years ago, I never saw one single converted car come through my service bay that had everything working. To this day I have never seen one. I have heard a lot of guys protesting "But it worked before". Reducing voltage in the traditional way (resistors) requires that you burn exactly as much energy in the resistor as the accessory uses. They won't work for everything, and they get really hot in use. There are other types of converters. You'll probably wind up with a gauge or 2 under the dash. For the horn, try a Chrysler (ignition) ballast resistor. It wont get too hot just honking the horn, but mount it with plenty of space around it, and nothing flammable. On that bad day when the wire in the steering column shorts out and you can't shut the horn off, THEN it will get hot. You might need a separate resistor for each horn if the voltage falls too much.

I can't imagine that a little heat leaking through a passage would hurt anything. Manifold heat is necessary, and was used on nearly every car made with a carburetor (or throttle body injection) right until the end. If the factory overdid the amount of heat, the idea would be to turn down the heat, not completely eliminate it. Yes, with those manifolds so close you might get too much heat just from radiance, but my guess is you will wind up up drilling little holes in those plugs before it is over. The hot spot belongs right under the carb. FWIW If you want to seal them, Walker Acousti-Seal would do it and can take the heat. It is brittle when set up, but that shouldn't matter in threads. Wear gloves. It makes a mess.

Thanks for posting that video. That is one of the best ones I have seen. Here is another one I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIKQ-FL96uU There was once a video showing that on something round, you can form the hard solder into a ring, pre-flux the parts, and just lay the ring in place and heat the base material up. Here is a video showing someone doing that, but in this video he is using soft low-temperature "silver bearing" solder, like you might use on plumbing. Still, it illustrates the technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzRQpKVSrbg Another trick is to use Milk of Magnesia as a "resist" coating to keep the silver solder from going somewhere you don't want it to. Cant wait to see that window frame all polished up!

One choke and one accelerator pump would be for progressive linkage. I can't imagine how that could ever work well with the carbs tied together by a solid linkage. For one thing, the accelerator pump exists because gas is heavier than air, and takes longer to accelerate than air. On tip in, the squirt of the accelerator pump covers the time that it takes to get fuel moving through the regular fuel circuits. Without it, you would just get a big ball of unmixed air, and probably a backfire. With only one choke, and the carbs tied together, one carb would just let pure air in when the car should be on choke. That can't be good. Also the throttle would be open while cranking on an autostart Buick. There is no reason for the single choke to even work, let alone work right, because the other carb has the manifold open to the atmosphere. There are 3 states of the choke(s) to pay attention to. 1) Closed cold (this is the thermostat coil setting). On most carbs this is almost closed or maybe just barely closed at room temperature. If you do need less for starting with 2 carbs (I doubt it), then set less. 2) What happens immediately after startup. This will often be called "choke pull off" in the setup tables for carburetors. If the engine is too rich after it starts on choke, then you need more pulloff, in other words a wider opening of the choke when the pulloff pulls. It is probably a vacuum piston on these carbs. 3) Choke unloader. This pops the choke partly open at full throttle, and you might never clear a flooded engine without it. Car wont un-flood? Set this more aggressive (more open). If the carbs are tied together, the choke settings should match on both carbs. Fast idle will need to be set less with 2 carbs to achieve the same fast idle speed. Slow idle screws and idle mixture screws also will need to be set less. It may not even want to idle as slow before, due to the extra air leakage of a second carb.

Do you spin it 4000 very often? I was advised by more than one Eight owner to keep it under 3000 for extended periods. Nevertheless, I did not mean any sort of slight to the Pontiac 8. I am a fan of that engine. Even at 4000 rpm on an 8 cylinder I can't imagine having too much trouble keeping a decent spark with a single point ignition. Over 5500rpm it might be really sketchy. I'm not arguing against dual points either. If one of those dual-point aftermarket breaker plates were ever made for my 1936 Pontiac 6, I would be very interested. The 6 cyl. kits I see only fit the distributor Pontiac used from 1937 forward. What I am suggesting is that it is unlikely to fix anything that setting up the stock ignition wouldn't fix. Also, that if you miss somehow setting up the new dual points setup, you have added a second problem and may not know it. If you start with a good running car, you can instantly tell if something is not quite right with the new setup. To paraphrase (heavily) 1990s ignition guru Christopher Jacobs, "The best thing an ignition system can do for you is light the fuel on time, every single time. If the engine is running well, you are already 98 percent there." In other words, beware of any claims of large percentage gains in horsepower, gas mileage, or driveability from an aftermarket ignition system. This coming from a guy who, by the time he said it, was selling aftermarket ignition systems.... All the best.

I blame Porsche. They started it.

If it were me, with the confirmation from Harold that you can remove the ignition lock cylinder without a key by just pushing the pin, I would bring tools and a steering wheel puller, take things apart as shown in the Allpar article, and then twist/push whatever the lock cylinder twists or pushes to unlock the steering column. Then you can both steer and take it out of park.

A Pontiac 8 doesn't turn fast enough to really take advantage of the extra coil charging time, so the chief advantage of dual points will be that they will run a lot longer between tune ups. That would be a good reason too do it. On the other hand thinking dual points might solve driveability problems is a recipe for disappointment. It wont help, and it might complicate efforts to find the original problem.

As an American I have only heard the "L" pronounced by people from other parts of the world, so I guess it's an American thing. Never a hard "O" here either, more like "saw-der".

Is the blue car the same car as the 1935 Dash picture? The last picture appears to be a Six. 1933 could very well have had a starter button for all I know. My 1935-36 shop manual shows the Buick-style autostart setup for all eights, and mechanical engagement via a pedal for all sixes. My 1936 Six has mechanical starter engagement via a pedal. It has a round pedal sticking through the firewall pad, up and to the left of the gas pedal. There was a 1935 Six at both the 2018 and 2019 Flathead Reunions. It had the same starter pedal setup as my Six. There were a 1937 Eight and a 1937 SIx at the 2019 Flathead Reunion. The Eight had autostart, and the Six did not.

Is that the same car? Here is the 1934 Eight at the 2018 Flathead:

On the intake manifold, halfway between the carburetor and the back of the engine. Here's Aristech's 1936 Eight:

1935, and 1936 Pontiac Eights have Buick-style autostart (step on the gas pedal to start). The 1935-36 Pontiac shop manual dedicates a page and a half to adjusting it. Aristech has posted a picture of his 1936 Deluxe Eight engine compartment showing the vacuum switch, as well as pictures of his starter solenoid (that he is looking to replace). It has the little relay in the back like a Buick. I had the privilege of driving a 1937 Eight at the 2019 Flathead Reunion. It had autostart. Looking through my pictures from the 2018 Flathead Reunion, there was a 1934 Eight present that had the vacuum switch as well.

IMHO get it running right on the single points first. More levels of complication just make your life harder when the car is not running quite right yet. Dual points (and electronic ignition) do have advantages, but nothing you would notice in normal driving if the points ignition is working properly, and just set up. Thats especially true on something like a Pontiac Eight. It doesn't turn fast enough to show the driver a difference. Dual points (and electronic ignition) will run more miles without any adjustments to the ignition or carb. Dual points should be an advantage over the long term. Electronic ignition, while theoretically better, seems to produce nothing but bad reviews on 6 volt cars.

The more direct the better from an electrical perspective.

Yes it appears to be a European-style club badge, probably a reproduction, or maybe just a fantasy item. IIRC the Buick tri-shield dates from 59 or so. That seems kind of new for that type of badge, especially for a Buick, but I could be wrong. The horse heads could be to avoid trademark infringement. What was it originally? Deer? Antelope?

Pontiac Eights had Buick's gas pedal starting system in the mid 30s. I don't know how long Pontiac kept using it.

The master of the art was Hank Brazeal, probably retired now. Here are some possible sources, but I haven't used any of them. https://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=259926

On second look it is not an 8 inch Ford. Possibly a Chevrolet passenger car rearend from about 1955-1963. I'll bet it is a passenger car axle of some sort, and is meant to go above the springs rather than below. It is probably in upside down because thats where the spring mounts wind up when the axle is below the springs.

Are you sure? And that is with no damage, right? I haven't been into one of those columns in years. I found this. https://www.allpar.com/trucks/dodge/steering-column-fix.html Good news for bloodowl89. THIS ^^ As a Washingtonian, nothing less than a title transferred into my name will do. You guys in Oregon might have it a little easier than we do. A bill of sale by itself doesn't do anything here. IMHO establishing ownership in your state, whatever that entails, should ALWAYS the first job.