Bloo

Check the system voltage at the battery with the engine running above idle. 7.4V is typical on 6V cars. The voltage is what should remain more or less constant, except maybe at idle, and probably even at idle with an alternator. Fully charge the battery first if it is even a little low. If it is about 6.3V or a little higher with the engine off, it's full or close and you will get a good voltage test with the engine running.. When you have a voltage regulator, the battery will draw current significantly while it's charge is a bit low, and then taper off it's own current demands from the generator (or alternator) as it gets full. The current shown on the ammeter should go up at first and then taper off. My guess is that the voltage regulator isn't working at all, is stuck high, and the voltage is going crazy and boiling the battery. A constant level of charge current is only normal on prewar cars with a simple cutout (no voltage regulator), like model A Fords and such. It was hell on batteries, but they got away with it because maximum charge current was set by a third brush in the generator to only about 8 amps. That can't be normal unless the headlight bulbs were something huge and aftermarket. Just about every generator system from 1940 on has enough current available to run a pair of sealed beam headlights on high beam forever with some current left over, as along as you are moving. My guess is a Buick probably had a 45 amp system. A pair of new halogen 6v sealed beams draw about 16.5 amps on high beam, the old incandescent originals drew a little less.

I am no expert on metalwork, far from it, I am just telling what I know. That repair does look a bit over my head. I do know that to get rid of rust, generally speaking any deep pitted metal that is adjacent to the holes has to go, or the rust comes back, because it is down in there deep and might be impossible to get rid of clear to the bottom of the pits. Sealing it in is somewhat futile. I also know that I don't have a shop full of metalworking tools, and if I had to do it I would need to drop back to the traditional old methods to make a patch, like probably a sandbag. Maybe just the anvil and a ball peen hammer, but I think a sandbag might work better. That is assuming there is no parts car to cut a patch out of. There are people in this forum far better qualified in this area of repair than I am, but nobody was posting about that particular thing so.... here we are.

Well.... An old fashioned way of making curved patch panels is to use hammers and a leather sandbag. The leather sandbag was also used for banging dents out of hubcaps back in the day, so not uncommon, but probably harder to find now. You might have to make one. Additionally, a piece of wood like a stump to hammer on could be useful. Also, an anvil. You'll need to cut all the way back to good metal with your patch or it wont stay fixed. At some point you are going to need hammers and dollies if you don't already have them. Hint: NEVER buy hollow dollies. They don't work. The heavier the better. If you see a hollow dolly in a set, keep looking, because the hammers are probably crap too. You see stuff like this all the time in Harbor Freight, but you also see some really good hammers and dollies occasionally in Harbor Freight. The metal on these old cars is thicker and harder to bend, and so the heavier and longer the better on body hammers, and bigger is better with dollies. You might need a big ball peen hammer too.

I think those are radials.

From the 1941 Master Parts Book: "41" (first two digits) is the year. 4409 is a model 41 (four door touring sedan). 4409D is a model 41SE (four door touring sedan). Now whats the difference between a model 41 and a model 41SE?

I'm not sure that exists (someone in here will know). I don't think it does. If I remember correctly it came in Chevrolets first, so it is possible and even likely it was never made in the BOP pattern. That was the early 80s, and whould have been about the tail end of production for any of the BOP V8 designs. The 69 Pontiac should be a BOP pattern, and the 700R4 should be a Chevy pattern, and four of the bolt holes line up. Adapter plates exist to take care of the rest. I don't know what to do about the speedometer.

Oops, I thought he meant the one sticking out the furthest. Either way, as you say, the stator support doesn't turn. It won't stop the engine. We might need some clarification from @GasWorksGarage .

That's why it's grinding. That doesn't work. If you want it to work, you have to come up with some way to disconnect the ground from the starter relay whenever the engine is turning. That appears to be the center wire on top. You could conceivably use an oil pressure switch, although that seems a little shaky to me. Maybe you could use the idiot light wire from the alternator to trip another relay to take the starter relay ground away.

That's a Chrysler product of some sort.

But that won't stop the engine from turning. Anytime you are in gear at at stoplight idling that shaft is stopped cold. Both the torque converter and the transmission itself would have to be seized to make that happen if the input shaft were responsible. There has to be more to this story.

What do you mean "pump shaft"? There is no pump shaft. There are three things or steps you need to engage the torque converter to, the input shaft, the stator shaft. and the oil pump. The outermost spline is the input shaft and should be able to turn with the transmission out. The second spline is a support for the stator and is attached very solidly to the transmission. It cannot turn. The oil pump drive is two slots and is completely out of view, way behind the torque converter seal. If those slots weren't engaged, things would bind up and probably damage the pump if you bolted it together and tightened the bolts. In my opinion, don't try to stab the transmission into the bellhousing like a manual unless there is something about a 58 Packard that REQUIRES you to do that. I don't know if you did that or not, but it would raise the complication for getting all 3 steps engaged by a lot. If possible, assemble the bellhousing and torque converter to the transmission on the bench so you can feel the oil pump slots drop in. Then install the whole thing to the engine like a more modern transmission with a bellhousing that you cannot remove. Has this transmission ever worked while it was in your possession? If the answer is "no", I would HIGHLY recommend dropping the pan (don't flip it over, keep the transmission right side up until the pan is off), and having very close look at the center rib of the case. They break in use, especially older ones, and if the center rib is broken you won't have any reverse. Fixing that requires complete disassembly to replace the case. You definitely want to know it's OK before putting any work into the transmission. If it's OK, adjust the bands while you are in there. That is normal maintenance and is not optional. You have to have the pan off to adjust one of them. You also need a precision steel spacer, I believe it is 1/4". See the shop manual. If you don't have the shop manual, get one. Many of these transmissions use the same settings but not all. You definitely want the correct settings to avoid damage. Yes, because the front pump is the first piece to come out through the front. If I were doing it I would clean out the pan, put it back on for a dust cover, and then arrange to tip the transmission nose up. The input shaft stays with the transmission (push it in) because it is part of the front drum, and if I remember correctly, the stator support comes out with the front pump. See the shop manual to know for sure. Cleanliness is everything. Don't open it up in a dusty area. ***Absolutely don't use shop rags***. Every clean part you have been working on gets blasted with solvent, blown off with air, and dunked in clean transmission fluid or transmission assembly lube as it goes together. You wouldn't believe how much havoc a tiny bit of shop rag lint can cause.

It depends... No "normal looking" 6 volt coil wants a resistor. The 6 volt coils that do want a resistor are all odd shaped things that are for very specific systems, like the the Buick "mailbox" coils of the teens or 20s, or early 30s Fords and Lincolns with a flat distributor at the front of the camshaft and odd shaped coils, or the Dodge Brothers coils with the high tension lead on the side of the cylindrical part, more or less like a Buick "mailbox" coil, but round instead. There are probably others. No 6 volt coil in the round form factor we have come to recognize as the default (a vertical cylinder with 2 terminals and a tower on top) is made for use with a resistor. At least I have never seen one, and I have posted that observation in this forum many times. No one has ever called me on it, and I do not believe 6 volt coils in that shape for use with a resistor exist. I don't know what a 1930 353 Cadillac had originally for a coil. If it had a resistor before, use it if you are still using an original type coil. If you are using a typical 6V coil from the parts store, don't use a resistor.

I would say "fortunately" for you . While I am not doubting your assessment of this Buick chrome as vacuum deposited aluminum, metallic chrome over plastic is a fairly common thing. It is truly awful stuff, and Ford products are full of it. It is as thick as you would expect chrome to be, and it peels like a cheaply plated bumper. When it does, it leaves sharp edges and a step. It feels bad, and might even cut your finger. Vacuum deposited aluminum on the other hand just powders off exposing the beige plastic underneath.

Hudson's car-bodied pickup in any version is commonly referred to as a "Hudson Big Boy" by enthusiasts, although as I understand it only some of them had that title from the factory. I don't know what the difference is. You might have one of those. They were 6 cylinder powered. You have a "Commodore EIght" hood, and that would be from some sort of a sedan probably, or maybe a coupe. I have to wonder if this is a Commodore Eight sedan that has been cut down into a truck. More pictures out in the light might reveal more about what it is. I think I see a V8 engine, if so it was not born with that. Trucks had inline flathead sixes, and Commodore Eights had flathead inline eights. @Xander Wildeisen will probably know something.

Two things keep it from re-engaging, vacuum and generator charging. There is a little relay on the back of the starter. It needs hot and ground to engage the starter. Hot comes from the pedal switch and a vacuum switch. Ground comes from the charging system. @MCHinson has it right. Look in the shop manual and see what has been changed or miswired. The fact that it comes in under acceleration sounds like the charging system side. The factory setup is sort of a double safety. If the car is idling or running under light load the vacuum is high and the vacuum switch disables the starter. It doesn't matter if the generator is charging or not. If you are under acceleration vacuum is low, but the generator is charging, and that disables the starter. The little wire coming up from the relay on the starter originally connected to a "GRD" terminal on a 5 terminal regulator. "GRD" isn't exactly ground, it is a contact in the regulator that is only grounded when the generator is NOT charging. If you have a 4 terminal regulator you should still have this "GRD" terminal. If you have a 3 terminal regulator, you could try hooking that little wire to the GEN terminal. Buick did it this way on some newer models. It might work. I strongly suggest looking closely at the wiring diagram in the shop manual so you can see exactly what I am talking about.

It's probably a spark gap to raise the firing voltage. Not 100% snake oil, but definitely leaning in that direction. You could just widen the plug gaps. There are also resistors that look about like that to fight radio noise, although they probably would have mentioned radio noise in addition to the other claims.

It's just Borg Warner overdrive, but with a different second gear ratio so you can use the overdrive effectively as a gear splitter. Lots of gears, and a 327. I like it.

Points close then but do they open? I do not mean a visual check. Take a test light and hook between key side and ground at the coil and crank the engine. the light should be on. That shows you have ignition power. I know you do because the coil is hot, but this proves you still do while you are making the test. Then connect the test light between the points side of the coil and ground. Crank the engine. The light should flash. Does it? If the light stays on while cranking, the circuit is broken somewhere between the coil and the points. Look for a broken wire as @61polara suggested. They can break inside the insulation. Hint: an electrical wire should never stretch. If it's not that, it indicates the points cannot ground the wire. Either they must not be closing, or maybe there is a broken ground wire inside the distributor. If the light stays off while cranking, the wire is shorted to ground somehow. The points are not electrically opening. If they are physically opening, look for some metal on the hot half of the points touching ground or a bare spot on the wire touching ground.

Which scrubbing bubbles though? For most of my life, that referred to Dow Bathroom cleaner "with scrubbing bubbles!", a cleaner with some amazing capabilities, one of which was the ability to remove ball point pen ink. Last year I went to buy some, and at the store I saw 6 or more completely different products with "scrubbing bubbles" on the label. None of them were from Dow Chemical. Apparently they sold the trademark to someone else. I think it was SC Johnson, but I can't be sure. They had a scrubbing bubbles website and contact form, so I emailed them to find out which one of the many products was the old "scrubbing bubbles" formula. They could not answer the question.

The Merc-O-Matic may very well be the same. If it is aluminum and 2-speed, it is the same, or at least the same transmission family. There were probably minor changes yearly. Once upon a time there were cast iron 2 speed Ford-O-Matics and Merc-O-Matics. They weren't really 2-speed. They were 3-speed automatics that never normally used first gear. If you selected manual low, you really got first gear, and that would be one way to tell. I'm pretty sure those were all gone by 61. Cast iron transmissions from 61 that I have seen have 2 drive ranges. One range shifts 1-2-3 and the other shifts 2-3. On Fords, they are marked with a green dot and a white dot. Mercury is probably marked differently but I can't remember for sure. Later, Ford set up C4s and C6s like that (with the green dot and the white dot) until 1967.

It's in central Washington State, about 40 or 45 miles north of Wenatchee on old highway 97.

Oh look, it's this thread again.

36x5 could probably be stuffed on the 26" rims then, even if the rims were a bit narrow. No telling what the oversize tires might interfere with.

On anything with a 94 running too rich, the power valve is suspect.

Bearing?! If it was a bushing originally, I hope it's not a bearing. I realize you don't seem to have a lot of options, but if at all possible use a sintered bronze bushing, and make sure a magnet won't stick to it.