Bloo

I'd set that clearance. I don't think the starter motor should be coming on until the gear is engaged. Where does the small black wire from the right small terminal connect? I'd have to see inside that relay to make any really good guesses about whether having those wires reversed matters or not. As for the sparking, maybe it has hit the contacts befure the gear is fully engaged and sparks? Other possibilities are that a winding is burned out in the solenoid. It can spark like that but wouldn't be intermittent. The contacts might just be worn out too. Probably not a short though.

Pretty hard I imagine... on the other hand, it wasn't large. One bay. How bad could it be? I don't think we will find any pictures of this one assembled. The reason I think so is when we had a thread about old gas stations a while back, this was an obvious one for me to post. I think I dug to the bottom of the Internet and never found a picture. Surprising at the time, but knowing that, I'm not surprised that all we get is a grainy picture behind an ambulance. I have noticed buildings like this have become interesting to some collectors who have the land, money, and ambition to deal with such a project. That's why I posted. I sincerely hope somebody swoops in and saves this one from the scrapyard.

I don't know how you adjust that for sure on Autolite, but on the nearly identical looking Delco's, that means the clearance between the tip of the pinion and the starter nose casting with the solenoid pulled all the way in. For instance, the measurement is 1/8" on some mid 30s Buicks. If this is similar, there are threads on the inside of the solenoid plunger. You pretty much have to have the boot removed to check it. You pull the solenoid plunger all the way back, pulling on the outside edge, not the linkage. With it all the way back, measure from the tip of the pinion to the inside of the nose casting using a round gauge like a drill bit. Take out or disconnect the plunger to screw/unscrew the threads and recheck until it is correct, then reassemble with the boot. EDIT: From the book link you posted, yes it is the same. P.S. Not to keep harping on this but.... I'm still harping on this. The starter motor shouldn't be able to come on until the gear is engaged. The switch is at the back of the solenoid. How can it grind? I guess it could, especially if that linkage described above was way out of whack. I am still extremely suspicious of your starter clutch. EDIT 2: This is a Buick Illustration, but shows where the measurement is taken. Look at the lower left.

NOT MINE I don't know where to put this, so here it is. https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/pts/d/wenatchee-1929-signal-gas-station-30-30/7610312029.html From ad: _________________________________________________________________________ Email: 93ad81eb0d413e3a920fc8427bfa06c1@sale.craigslist.org This Steel Panel Building is Dismantled and in a Pile. The Picture is for Reference Only. The building is another project that I will not get to. Sorry But your imagination is the best I can provide. I dismantled it 30 years ago and took lots of pics only to have the rolls of film be destroyed in a fire before I got them developed. All panels are in 2 piles and pics of the piles are of no help. The building was tall enough as it had a hydraulic car hoist in the floor. You can see the building behind the ambulance is Lyles Used Cars. I know how you feel and I am laughing as I write.... The building was sitting on a 6" curb poured with the floor. I was going to pour the floor and curb and install a 6 " steel channel atop the curb and build the building on the channels that is not connected to the curb. Unatached to the curb and on skids (channel iron) the building is PORTABLE and requires NO BUILDING PERMITT ................. C@@L DB _____________________________________________________________________________ Based on a close read of the ad, and local knowledge, IGNORE THE PICTURE OF THE RICHFIELD STATION. It is not like that. Signal gas was a thing around here, so that part could be right I guess. It was a landmark for decades here as a used car lot. I remember this building well, and it is not the same shape as the Richfield station. It was a polygon. See the diagrams. Those look about right to me.

Are you sure of the measurement? 0.1 micro amps is nothing. Also, one wire alternators, GM based ones anyway, draw all the time. It is a miniscule amount, but unavoidable. They are never completely "off". I would expect more current than you are measuring. Systems that can shut clear off include generators, GM, Ford, and Chrysler alternators with mechanical voltage regulators, and Chrysler alternators with the 3-pin electronic regulator. I suggest putting it on a battery maintainer. The self-discharge rate of an Optima is less than a regular battery, but still probably far exceeds what 0.1 micro amp would do. I wouldn't want to lead you astray. Can you verify the measurement? 0.1 Amp = 100 mA (milliamps) = 100,000 uA (micro amps). EDIT: @Gary_Ash posted while I was typing. He nailed it.

I do wonder if those markings are required on Model A tires in the US today? Does anyone know? Not that long ago one of the major collector car tire manufacturers was taking a lot of heat for not having date codes. I think the rules (in the US) may be different for pre-1976 cars.

That is the only magic goo I know of that seems completely unaffected by gasoline. It dries to a clear somewhat brittle film. I am a bit skeptical it would stay attached to a float in the long term but maybe. I don't think the gas will soften it or wash it off. I never used it on a float, so don't know how heavy it is. I think I would be more inclined to try the airplane dope @cudaman suggested.

I think he means "load range" or maybe "maximum load at (xx) PSI", things that would be marked on modern tires. I suspect that in 1985, markings like that probably weren't required on a specialty tire that would only fit an antique car. With Denman out of business, that is going to be very tough information to get.

Now I'm confused. Does this 48 DeSoto have a Bendix? I assumed not because @marcapra said his solenoid was mounted on top of the starter. I guess that's possible if there is no linkage and the "solenoid" is just a relay like the one on a Ford, and happens by coincidence to be mounted on the starter. It *cant* have a mechanical linkage from the drive gear up to the solenoid *and* have a Bendix. The two are mutually exclusive. They would fight each other. Which is it? Can we see pictures?

It ain't easy.....

I Look closely at the shape of the good teeth. Is there anything special about them? More cars than you would think have flat faced teeth from the factory on the ring gear. There might not be much to do. If there's burrs hanging out into the gap between the theth it couldn't hurt to file them off. Hard to say without any pics of what we are working on. USUALLY Chrysler products have a machined hole for the starter to locate in, and mounting bolts that run parallel to the armature. If Chrysler got things machined right in the first place, and they almost always did, there is nothing to do. My knee jerk reaction is there is not going to be an alignment problem. Look at the drive pinion and compare it to a new one. Pinions usually have tapered teeth on the engagement end. That's important. If they were tapered and they are ground flat now, it would explain intermittent engagement. They WILL look all beat up. That's normal, and part of the job. Look mainly at the shape of the tips, on the side that crashes into the ring gear. I hate to belabor the point, but how sure are you the teeth are grinding? A slipping starter clutch makes a horrible grinding noise, and almost always intermittently works when it fails. Fast forward to 2:20, and don't ever test by locking up a starter like this. He's lucky it didn't throw that prybar and break his jaw or something. It might have if it engaged. Also, that's not a Bendix in the video.

The sockets in the front need to be dual contact, and must have the shell well grounded. The bulbs need to be dual contact, with one large and one small filament, essentially the same as tail/stop light bulbs. None of this would be true originally if the car did not have signal lights originally. Has this been changed? Another approach is to keep the original single contact parking light sockets and put brighter bulbs in them. In that case you have to abandon the parking light feature altogether, because there is no filament for them. If a dual filament stop/tail bulb will not fit under the parking light lens, dual filament stop/tail 6 volt bulbs with a parking light sized glass bulb do exist. They were not used in American cars ever as far as I know, so the parts stores won't have any. I believe eastern European motorcycles are the reason those bulbs exist. You can find them on Ebay.

Glad you found some.

It does need to be grounded well. mainly for the indicator light.

If it is correctly wired, the flasher could not have any effect on how many bulbs come on.

That's an air pump at 7:00, so 9:00 is probably a muffler. 3:00 looks like cruise control.

Look at the rear hub.

I do that more or less. I drain my 1913 Studebaker anytime it needs to sit unused for more than a day. I don't think you would get away with leaving an unsealed cork carb float in gas for a whole driving season for instance. The problem would show up a lot faster than it does with something like a gas tank float, and my Pontiac gas tank float sunk completely in a few months. Fuel level in a carburetor is critical. I doubt you would get more than two weeks, but I haven't tried it so your mileage may vary....

I can't help with value, but from what I see here probably not 1955. Red Ram doesn't help much except that it nails down that it is Dodge (not Chrysler/Plymouth/Desoto). It has a 12 volt generator on it, so if that really goes with the engine it is 1956 or newer. The transmission appears to be a Powerflite, but I don't think that helps. This entire engine family was discontinued for 1959. That leaves us with 1956-1958 Dodge. Now about what it is.... It is a polyspherical headed engine based on an early Dodge Hemi block. There were 3 sizes of early Hemi. I mean physical size, not displacement. From small to large they were Dodge, Desoto, Chrysler. Polyspherical heads were made for the Dodge and Chrysler Hemi blocks, never Desoto as far as I know. An engine with Polyspherical heads on the big Chrysler Hemi block would have been called "Spitfire" (not Red Ram). The new Plymouth V8 was not ready until 1956, so 1955 Plymouth V8s and some 1956 Plymouths have an engine from this family. This isn't one though, or it wouldn't say "Red Ram" on it. I hope you find a good home for it . Good luck with the sale.

And an unbelievable reference piece. I wouldn't change a thing about it.

It is comical how bad it has become.

Are you sure the gears are clashing? Generally speaking, cars with a solenoid mounted on the starter have no Bendix, but have a one-way clutch inside the starter's drive gear. The one-way clutch can fail, and the starter makes a sort of grinding BJEEEEEEEKKKKkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! noise when the one way clutch fails to engage. It is often intermittent. If that's the case, replace the drive gear. If the gears are truly grinding, take the starter off and look at the starter's drive gear. Usually the teeth have a ramp shape at the tip to help engagement when the teeth are not aligned perfectly. See if the front of the gear teeth are ground flat from failing to engage. Replace if so. Then, take the spark plugs out and rotate the engine with a wrench to look at the ring gear teeth. The wear will not be even. The engine stops in just a few places (three or so) when you shut the engine off, so the starter will be engaging in those same few places most of the time. You'll have plenty of good teeth to look at, and if the teeth that are actually used all the time by the starter have a lot of damage you will need to replace the ring gear, or in some cases you can flip the ring gear upside down.

And if you put a part number in your search, be sure to tick the box for "search title and description".

1932 Pontiac -"Fits" -"For" Then select ebay motors in the sidebar. Then you probably have to tell it NOT to "streamline" your results. If there's still too many christmas ornaments, galoshes, ceramic figurines and anodized aluminum shift knobs, try limiting condition to "used". I'm so tired of this. I feel your pain.

The first time I did it, it was easy. After that I could never get them to seal up, as the coolant soaks it's way out. The secret might be to tack it down so it doesn't follow the hose... uhhh.... COOLANT hose..... all the way out. One time I used shellac. It made the sort of sticky mess you might expect, and still somehow didn't tack up enough to do the job. Not recommended, but when it came time to take it out it was OK. Lately I've been using Permatex anaroebic gasket sealer. It is absolutely godawful to get rid of when it is time to take the sock out. Not recommended either, but for the moment I don't have a better idea. Maybe someone else in here has an idea. Cut off pantyhose worked best on this car (which has a screwball cross flow radiator).