Bloo

30x3-1/2 is the Ford model T size, and goes on a 23" clincher rim. The size was also used on several other makes of car (Chevrolet, Maxwell, Studebaker, etc.). If the rims are indeed 23" and clincher (not straight sided), then 30x3-1/2 will be the only economical choice, and maybe the only choice. Measure the rim from where the bottom of the bead sits.

This is the same car? Why 3 taillights now, was the fourth a later modification?

Oh thats easy... 1937 Graham Supercharger!

Thanks!

Never mind the brand, that particular exact battery in your post above will not leak on anything, and a first generation Toyota Prius vent fitting/hose will plug into it to vent the battery to the outside, if you wanted to do that because you mounted it in common airspace with the passengers. It is also deep cycle, though I don't think it would need to be. Tiny alternators are available. The Geo Metro one is real small, and a Kubota tractor one is even smaller. You could run a whole separate system, negative ground (never mind which ground the 6v system uses). I have considered doing this in the past, but I just don't need any 12v negative ground accessories anymore, so I haven't tried it. I've a hunch that it would be a much better solution than a 12v conversion (those are almost always crap). YMMV

One question.. If the stock heater is under the seat in 1948, how did they handle defrost?

I dont know about 1948 specifically but in 1936 heaters were optional. My car doesn't have one. Admittedly it's not a deluxe, but deluxe wouldn't have got you a heater in 1936 as standard equipment. It would have got you independent front suspension and some brown dash knobs. On some makes and models heaters were optional into the late 60s and maybe longer. Non-factory heaters in old cars are pretty common. Allstate was a Sears trademark in those days for their automotive stuff (tires, batteries, accessories). You could date the heater if you could find some old Sears catalogs. Unfortunately I don't think the catalogs are online anymore, other than Christmas "Wish Books" that probably don't include auto parts. Maybe a Library? It boils down to what you are going to do with the car. If it is going to be a showcar, you have to get rid of it. They would have punched holes in the firewall to mount it, and to get the hoses through. You would have to patch that. My cars are all drivers, and if it were mine I would keep it if it can be made to work. It is a nice looking piece. It sure looks in-period to me. The guy who bought that car new might very well have driven it across the street to Sears and bought a heater for less money than the dealer wanted.

I rejoined earlier this month and got a welcome letter in a standard envelope a few days later. Are you sure it didn't get tossed with the junk mail? It didn't look like much.

SIx doors on a convertible or coupe then and one door on a sedan?

That heater says "Allstate DeLuxe" on it, making it a Sears heater, and not original, although the original owner could have had it put in. I would just leave it there and use it. If it is a points restoration you might have to get rid of it.

Sort of. I was really curious what the voltage was. With the system revved up and actually charging, and the battery full, charging voltage should be something like 7.5 or so (book would tell for sure). The regulator BAT terminal is the output terminal of the charging system, similar to the big terminal on the back of the alternator on an alternator charging system. All of this voltage (7.5 or whatever) should make it to the battery, but in the real world there is a little loss. Hopefully not much. If the battery voltage is real close to the BAT terminal voltage, and both are up where they should be that proves everything is ok through the ammeter and back to the battery. Since the light is dim, the voltage at the light must be low. Obviously not 7.5-ish or even close. Voltage would be supplied probably from an ammeter terminal (which we may have just proven ok). It would be the ammeter terminal that connects to the regulator BAT terminal. Power for stuff on the car is tapped there so that power used by accessories (lights etc) will not register as charge on the ammeter, only current that is charging the battery. Assuming the ammeter circuit is ok, current flows from the ammeter terminal, through the light switch, which usually has a circuit breaker (that introduces some loss), through the dimmer switch, and on out to the lights. On the other hand, yes, you could have just lost the ground to the headlights. If that is the problem, the headlights find their ground through the unused filaments in the headlights. If you look inside, you will see both filaments glowing. Should be only one if the ground is ok. Good luck. Sorry for the thread derail guys... back to bargain Mopars.

Just curious, are your lug nuts reverse thread on the left side of the car? Pontiac did that, and I often wonder if any other GM divisions did.

I didn't know the answer to that (although I thought 37 Specials had a retainer). I just thought in light of Jeffh's post that no bolt holes would point to 38 rather than 37. It looks like 1937-44 has cleared that question up.

The holes to mount the bearing retainer are not present.

You will probably need a wiring diagram, Do you have one? Here is how I would start looking for clues: With the engine running and the headlights on, High beam if you were using high beam when they went dim. If you were using only low beam on that trip, then use low beam. Run the engine at 2000 rpm or so enough to make it charge real good, and hold it there. With the engine running like that, check the voltage from: 1) Battery positive to negative. Go right to the middle of the post (not the cable clamps). 2) Voltage regulator "BAT" terminal to regulator ground 3) Headlight positive to headlight negative, measured at the socket, for whichever beam you are using, Leave the bulb in the socket and probe from the back side of the socket if you can. This should provide clues about what to do next (I hope)....

If it were mine, the very first thing I would do is take the spark plugs out and spray penetrating oil in the cylinders. Get it soaking as soon as possible, because it is going to take days, maybe months. After that, just start cleaning it up and seeing what is bad and what is good. Figure out whether the doors are floppy, and how much wood work it is likely to need. I like it. It looks like a great project, and it is extremely cool that it has been in your family so long. Welcome to the forum!

I would be extremely surprised if those are from 1929. about 10 years later there would be about a zillion brands of light similar to those, some round, some oval,, some arrow shaped like yours, all with a black mask over the glass to give the arrow shape to the light. Guide introduced theirs around 1936-37 I think. They were intended for trucks where a hand signal might not be visible to other drivers. Similar units continued to be produced into the mid 50s. Turn signals of various sorts did exist in the 1920s aftermarket, but I have never heard of any as "normal" as these, in other words arrow indicators on all four corners. Did they all blink in the 20s? I'm guessing not, but I don't know. My best guess is the ones in your pic were added just before or just after the war, and were probably intended for use with a flasher. I could be all wet, so I'll sit back now and see what everyone else thinks. I sure like them.

Are you missing the whole glovebox lock? Lack of key might not be a big deal. There should be a number stamped in the lock cylinder. Have you by any chance joined Early Times Chapter yet? Last I heard the club president was dabbling in original type keys. He and his wife have a 1937 8. The glovebox lock cylinder itself is used in a bunch of GM cars. The knob is some sort of brown woodgrain or brown plastic on all Deluxe 8 and Deluxe 6. Master 6 had a black bakelite knob. The idea here is that it matches the window cranks and dash knobs. There are chrome glovebox knobs from other GM makes that will fit and function, just look wrong.

I don't really agree with the characterization that a minor overhaul (without boring) was simply a "cheap" option to keep an old junker alive. Yes it cost less. The example I gave above where a couple overhauls occurred before 100k miles was pretty typical in the 20s and 30s. Then the war came. Don't forget how completely worn out most prewar cars are due to the unavailability of new cars (and parts) during the war. Can you imagine if everyone re-bored every time? There wouldn't be any usable blocks left today.

This^^. An .010 oversize ring is for a bore that is .010" larger than standard, it is not an .010" difference in ring gap.

The nut usually used on a choke like that looks very much like the one in your pic. I'm not sure if it is right, because of that ferrule sitting next to it, but it LOOKS right. The nut is slid on the tube, and then the tube is flared (or maybe double flared if it is a steel tube). Then, the flare goes right up against the seat on the choke, and the nut holds it in place. No ferrule.

For clarification, when the #1 cylinder is on top dead center on OVERLAP, and you can rotate the crank a little forward or back and feel one valve opening and the other closing, the rotor should point directly AWAY from the #1 plug wire, not toward it. Stated another way, when the #1 cylinder is at top dead center on the COMPRESSION stroke, the valves will both be completely closed on #1 cylinder, and the OPPOSITE cylinder in the firing order will be on OVERLAP. The opposite cylinder will be found halfway through the firing order. For instance, on a car with a 1-5-3-6-2-4 firing order when #1 is FIRING, #6 is on OVERLAP. Similarly when #6 is FIRING, #1 is on OVERLAP. Another example: On a car with a firing order of 1-3-4-2, when #1 is firing, #4 is on OVERLAP. This is for ignition only, and assumes the valve timing (timing chain or gears) is correct. Valve timing must be verified by the manual.

Bearings in those days were typically babbitt with shims. Those would have been checked and adjusted at the same time. For cars with inserts .001 and .002 undersize rod bearings existed for cranks with a little wear. The crank had to be checked for roundness. You can't fix out-of-round with a bearing. You have the rods out if you have the pistons out. I guess you could skip the mains (I wouldn't), They are less likely to be screwed up than rods.

Yes, thats the small body, but did they make a Century version?

This OLD method needs to be taken in context. It is not necessarily a halfassed job. Old cars required more frequent overhauls. Old cars used a LOT more oil normally than current ones do. You only get so many bore jobs before you are all done. If it were me, and the block were out of spec (the manual will give a wearlimit for taper), I would bore it and put in some high-quality Ross, Arias, etc. lightweight pistons with a MODERN low-tension ring package that will control oil better, and not wear out the bores right away. On the other hand If you are going to shove some period-correct NORS four-ring pistons in there, with rings as thick as a yardstick, it is certainly questionable whether to waste one of your potential bore jobs on that. On the old prewar (and early postwar) splash-lubricated Chevrolets, as an example, it was pretty common for them to have TWO minor overhauls before they got to 100,000 miles. Read the archives over on the VCCA forums if you don't believe me. There is at least one regular poster over there with dealership experience going back to 1950 or earlier. Would you want to give up 2 of your allotted bore jobs to get 100,000 miles? Even one? I wouldn't. No doubt someone will say "But I'm not going to drive it enough to wear it out!". To each his own, but that makes me bristle. That excuse has been used to justify some of the crappiest work I have ever seen. Cars that don't get driven have MORE trouble, not less. It is extremely unlikely that I will ever find myself file-fitting rings. On the other hand, If I had some engine in front of me with the ORIGINAL pistons, and they were in excellent condition, and the skirt clearance was ok, and the groove clearance was ok, and the taper was only a couple of thousandths out of spec, and when I shoved a new ring down the bore, the gap was way too wide..... Yeah, I'm not going to rule it out. Why trash original parts over a couple thousandths of bore wear? Back in the day, they use to let things go much farther than a couple of thousandths over wearlimit. The sky didn't fall. Puppies didn't die The sun still came up in the morning. They used to knurl pistons, too. Context is everything.