Bloo

If you haven't already, ask Kurt Kelsey. He's KornKurt on this forum. Send him a PM.

The Seattle metro area has been an expensive place to live for much longer than any $15 minimum wage. Tech drives real estate and it is through the roof. Some cities took matters into their own hands. As someone who grew up on the dry side of Washington, I recommend the wet side, although the dry side is popular with some folks as a place to retire. Snohomish, Gig Harbor, etc. sounds better to me. One issue could be traffic from Snohomish if you intend to drive into Seattle much. Highways 9 and 522 are notorious bottlenecks. YMMV.

I also use Redline in transmissions. They were making Synchromesh oil that works correctly back in the 90s when basically no-one else was.

I don't know. Any tube will fail if it chafes. There have been a barrage of complaints in recent years about the quality of tubes in general, from any source. Thinness, leakage through stems, and just plain failure. Radial tubes are thicker, and there is no downside other than weight, they would be fine in bias-ply tires. In some other thread, Edinmass mentioned French tubes of better quality. Maybe those are the Michelins? You might PM him and ask what the source is.

It is a Pontiac of some sort..... The heat riser is Pontiac-ish and the choke stove plate is Pontiac for sure. Someone in these forums recently had to duplicate that plate. I vote it is 1954 Pontiac 6, as the 6 is a 10 port block, and they had 2 barrel carbs in 54. Every exhaust valve has a port, and 2 of the intake ports are siamesed.

Good luck finding that if you happen to live in the US.

I have seen that as well, although what I have not seen is anyone actually selling Rexine, or for that matter any pyroxylin-based "leather cloth" of any sort. I did look around the web pretty extensively the last time we had a thread about this (someone was looking for upholstery material for a French car). Have you seen it turn up anywhere? Rexine is a trademark, so other sources probably wouldn't be calling it that. Additionally, nothing would be stopping the trademark owner from slapping the name on something else. As for India, I have come to the conclusion that "Rexine" in India has become a word for any artificial leather, much like some Americans use "Kleenex" for any facial tissue, or "Frigidaire" for any refrigerator. If that is not true, then Rexine must be available everywhere in India, including some street markets and Amazon, yet still not surface outside India's borders. It seems unlikely, but I really don't know. Do any of you know?

If I ever do fakes again (and I might), I'll paint them. I did it with vinyl dye back in the day, on radials. It wasn't perfect. It cracked. It looked OK from a few feet away. The pattern it cracked in closely resembled the roughness that occurs on wide whites when the white rubber gets old and hard. Quite a few bystanders were horrified, thinking I was driving around on decades-old wide whites. I guess you wouldn't want that, but as tires, they were completely trouble free. There are a bunch of different threads on the HAMB about ways to paint whitewalls, probably better than what I did. I saw more complaints about turning brown than cracking.

That is a double edged sword. Coker probably does you a favor by leaving that off (if they still do), as the way public opinion is swinging these days, you probably wont be able to get a flat fixed anymore even for a showcar. People tell themselves age doesn't matter on a bias tire (nonsense IMHO), but probably won't be able to convince the guy at the tire store of that when their tire is flat. The guy at the tire store has probably never worked on a bias ply tire. As you say though, caveat emptor. Some tire vendors will try to pass off tires as new that have been in the warehouse too long. I have heard Coker date codes everything now. I have not bought any recently so I cannot confirm. I don't really buy into the date code stuff. It's great for tire companies, and not so great for restorers who might have to band together to get a run of some particular tire, and then maybe never see it produced again. Replacement every 6 years would be a fantasy for something like 35x4-1/2. Tire rot is highly variable based on storage, climate, and the initial quality of the tire. IMHO use common sense about the age, inspect tires often, and check the pressure! As for the wide ovals, yes I know those weren't original equipment on first generation Rivieras. I figured the car in the picture might have been wearing recent reproductions rather than decades old tires. The available sizes go only to G70-15.

They may have made a comeback (if theres a size you can live with here). https://www.cokertire.com/firestone-wide-oval-raised-white-letter.html

Bump.

They call them "baby teeth" on the miata forums. I would guess only about half the remaining cars still have them (mine does).

Neither have I, and I am the son of a west coast carpenter....

Well maybe that does exist. I have always bought clickers (or beams) instead of more exotic torque wrenches, not because I am crazy about them, but because they could be used in both directions. The clickers generally have a reversing lever on top just like a regular ratchet.

Actually no. All else being equal, it takes twice as many amps at 6 volts as it would at 12 to do the same work. .Watts DC (Power) = Volts x Amps

What on earth were they using for a torque wrench? I would have expected a clicker, in the interest of speed. Those work both directions.

Take it out of there, figure out what is wrong, and fix it. Did you say the tank is in the cab? How hard could it be? You can probably find the range of ohms for a 40 ford sender online. Test it with a multimeter when its out. Make sure it isn't stuck. If the float is cork, replace it, and be sure to use a sealed one. If it is brass, sink it in hot (near boiling) water and look for bubbles. If you see a stream of bubbles, replace it (or solder it up, but thats not as easy as it sounds.

I have seen so much trouble with cutoff switches on smaller 12v cars, that I hate the idea of using them at all let alone on 6 volts. Yes, because it is the current that matters, and you need twice as much of it to do the same work at 6v (when compared to 12v). Big Cole-Hersee switches are used in fire trucks. Thats about as good as it gets. However, the one in the link is not so big and is rated 300A continuous. The 2000A rating, while plenty, is for intermittent duty, and while starting is indeed intermittent duty, the rating makes the switch sound a lot bigger than it actually is.

In some other thread Rusty O' Toole suggested looking around for hotspots on the block (water jacket) with a thermal temperature gun, indicating uneven cooling due to a rusted out distribution tube.

That was 1935 (I think). The transmission in question was a Warner. I believe the pickup transmission was yet another type in 36, similar to 36 Master, but having some bosses cast in to support pedals or an e-brake lever or something.

Yes, completely different. The Master had synchromesh on second and high. I think the master transmission is physically larger as well, but I can't swear to it.

Light pistons reduce load on the rods and bearings. When having custom pistons made, the possibility of a modern ring package also exists (inquire). Modern ring packages can result in less wear on the bores and less oil consumption as well. I am not advocating doing this to every car. I wouldn't do it if the bores were still good and the pistons still fit, but if the pistons need replacing anyway, the only downside is cost. It isn't just throwing money. It is throwing money where it might actually do some good.

Thank you!

Countrytraveler: Nice machine! I have a Sun 404, but mine is getting really tired. It still works in a pinch.

That looks completely normal to me. Is that distributor Chrysler or Autolite? It can be fairly common for there to be trouble with the advance, but usually due to drag from rust or crud. A drop of oil goes down under the rotor at tune-up time. There should be an oil wick on top. I don't see it. Super-accelerated wear in the mechanism can come from spark energy leaking down through the center of the rotor, so replace it if there is ever any doubt as to it's condition. (Distributor caps, on the other hand can go on almost forever as long as they don't crack or carbon track). Those slots for the pins may need to be smoothed if they have a spot that can catch. Dont over do it, and don't screw with them unless they actually catch after being cleaned up. The one loose weight is a compound curve. That is how you get an actual "curve" instead of a straight line. One spring has a long loop in it (usually). The whole mechanism pulls on one spring for the first part of the curve, and goes pretty fast. Later on (somewhere around 23-26 crankshaft degrees on a lot of more modern V8 powered stuff), it contacts the other spring, and the advance rate slows way down for the rest of the curve, now that both springs are in play. The length of the slots or maybe the ANGLE of the slots determines how much centrifugal advance you get. Have you disassembled it and cleaned it? If you do, and you should, mark EVERYTHING. You want to keep each weight with the same pin it came from, each spring with the weight it came from and each pin in the slot it came from. Don't stretch the springs or their ends, carefully move them around and unhook them, maybe with a pick. Some or all of these things can be adjustments, depending on the design. This is much older than the Chrysler distributors I am used to looking at, so there may be differences but the adjustments are as follows: 1) Start point of the mechanical curve: the preload on the small spring (tightness of the ends) and the drag on the pins and slots and upper shaft. On some distributors, one leg the spring is hooked over may be bendable to set this. If the weights have oilite in them, soak them in something fairly harsh (lacquer thinner or MEK), and then soak them in light oil at least overnight. Getting the curve to start consistently can be the most frustrating part. In the late 60s and 70s, Chrysler put super-thin spring steel wave washers on the pivot pins the weights move on. They help a LOT. They would probably fit yours, but you might have to part out a 70s distributor to get them. 2) Rate (steepness) of the first section of the mechanical curve: This is set by the spring itself. Fortunately, this is almost always close enough. If not, nothing but a different spring will help. 3)Rate (steepness) of the second section of the mechanical curve: This is set by the combination of both springs. If wrong, only a different second spring will fix it. Almost never wrong enough to require a different spring. 4) RPM at which the advance curve slows way down: How far the mechanism can move before slowing down is set by the open loop of the second spring. Bending the anchor pin can do this on some distributors, on others the loop must be shortened on the spring. 5) Total Mechanical Advance: This is set by the slots. Some distributors have a third pin and slot below for this, but I don't think you will see it on Chrysler. It will be set either by the LENGTH or the ANGLE of those slots. Adjustment is by substituting a different piece, or by brazing the end of the slot and filing it to the correct length. Whew.... and now the vacuum..... If it is one that can be disassembled then..... 1) Starting point (in/hg to start moving): Set by preload of the spring (shims under the spring). 2) Steepness of curve: Set by the spring itself (no way to change it without a different spring). Almost always close enough. 3) Total vacuum advance: Set by whatever washer limits total travel. This is the only thing that likely ever needs screwing with on a stock-type vehicle, although anything is possible. If the can cannot be disassembled, sometimes adjustable ones are available from NAPA that have an adjuster screw up inside the vacuum port. It adjusts preload and total travel with the same screw. Sounds like a kludge, but almost always can hit factory spec. I doubt you can get this for your car but who knows? On normal non-adjustable cans, the only thing you can do is limit total travel by gluing something, usually a washer, under whatever the can uses for a stop. It is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that one year is going to make enough difference that the distributor wont work, high compression or not. It probably just needs work. Cleaning, oiling, maybe smoothing down the "notch" a little if it is bad enough to catch. EDIT: Always remember that Crankshaft degrees are twice distributor degrees, in other words 8 distributor degrees is the same as 16 crankshaft degrees. Distributor RPM is half crankshaft RPM (400 distributor rpm = 800 crankshaft RPM). Service manuals can be EXTREMELY obtuse about this, sometimes neglecting to tell you which it is, sometimes even specifying mechanical advance one way and vacuum the other, sometimes mixing crankshaft RPM and distributor degrees and not telling you. You may need to figure it out by process of elimination.