Bloo

Check out the vapor pressure in that chart. They are higher numbers than current fuels. If that is true vapor pressure (TVP) rather than Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) as used today, 10psia TVP is approximately the same as 9psi RVP at 100F (a common test pressure), according to the charts in the link below. http://www.jmcampbell.com/tip-of-the-month/2016/02/correlations-for-conversion-between-true-and-reid-vapor-pressures-tvp-and-rvp/ And in the US, according to this EPA source, you can expect about 9.0psi from summer fuels, while some areas must meet 7.8psi RVP. There is information going back to the early 90s, and it's all about the same numbers as now, the differences being who had to meet which standard where. That and there used to be a 1.0psi RVP allowance for ethanol. Scroll down to the bottom for the 2020 changes (current rules). https://www.epa.gov/gasoline-standards/gasoline-reid-vapor-pressure Maybe I'm missing something, but it sure seems to blow up the idea that modern fuel is highly volatile compared fuel from the mid to late 1930s. I have been suspicious of that claim for a long time.

No. That's not how you select a plug. Heat range will only make a difference for starting in the most minimal roundabout way, and in that case hot would be better. Fresh *clean* gapped plugs, either new or used but with the center electrodes filed flat so there are nice sharp edges like a new plug can help with starting quite a lot. In your case, I think more troubleshooting is needed.

That was a problem in the mid 30s, too. 36 Pontiacs have an "anti-percolation valve". If adjusted absolutely right, it prevents the fuel from winding up in the intake manifold, but the fuel still boils. I think by 1938 Carter (who made my Pontiac carburetor) had gone to some other way of dealing with percolation. Not sure about other brands of carburetor. Was it still Marvel carburetors on Buick in 1938? Mid 30s Buicks have an automatic fuel drain on the bottom of the intake manifold. Flooding from percolation is probably not the only reason for that, but I'll bet it's one of the reasons.

You will probably need the shop manual for that. I don't recall what year they started using a seal. My 36 does not have one. It has a slinger and a drainback pipe and I need to not park on steep hills like the ones they have in San Fransisco. If it has a seal, it is most likely a rope seal. You can indeed change a rope seal in the car. There is a tool called a "Sneaky Pete", probably still made, that allows you to pull in a new top half of the seal with the crank still in place. Pontiac flatheads also have "seals" along the sides of the lower main bearing cap, another possible source of leaks. On my 36, they are wooden sticks. I believe Pontiac was still using the wooden sticks in 1940, but that is another question for the shop manual. If there's a seal, and you change it, you will also be doing the sticks because they come out with the main bearing cap. If the main bearing is too loose, that can cause more leakage. I'd plastigage it while I was in there. Main bearings can be changed in the car too, one at a time. My 36 manual shows how to make a tool from a cotter pin to accomplish it. Also, later Pontiac flatheads have a centrifugal(?) oil filter in-between the oil pickup and the oil pump. It just causes the oil to change direction suddenly and particles of crud keep going straight into a trap. When the cars were new, that filter was meant to not need service until the car got to 100.000 miles. You probably have a filter like that on a 1940, I think. If you have the oil pan off, be sure to remove the filter, disassemble as necessary, and clean it out. Good luck with it, and welcome to the forum!

The owner probably has no idea. You may have noticed a lot of folks on this forum still don't grasp how these scams (and similar scams for parts on the forum) work, despite all the threads about it, warnings in red at the top of the forum page by Peter, etc. I worked in IT for a few years and am extremely skeptical and cynical about things like this, but sometimes I still don't see these things for what they are. I bought the Pontiac I post about all the time on Craigslist. The former owner was a great guy but not so good at Craigslist. I can't complain too much as I have also been guilty of being lousy at Craigslist. The car was listed on 3 or 4 other sites with the same pictures, including one that mainly deals with international buyers and sellers. I downloaded and saved all the ads complete because it was my car. I assumed the former owner had put all those up and then just never went back and took them down after he sold the car. In fact that might be the case. He wasn't great with technology. A more likely explanation is that they were all scams, and the scammers scraped his pictures from Craigslist. Most former owners probably don't usually go around looking for their previous old cars online. They probably don't know. Current owners might not be looking either, and may only tumble to it when someone else tells them their car is listed and asks about it. If I remember correctly @Matt Harwood has seen his pictures scraped and used in scams, and has gone after the website hosting the ads. I believe this happened more than once. One potential issue is that the entire offending website could in some cases be a scam. Others on this forum have discovered cars they own are "for sale" after being notified by eagle eyed forum members. The simple answer is that most current and former owners don't realize it is happening.

It probably wouldn't work. The most likely scenario is the scammer has no connection to the car, only pictures, probably saved from previous ads.

Yes, that's correct, but heat is a smoking gun. The worst spot in the circuit is likely to get hot.

I dunno about the Amsoil. From their blurb: That sounds like exactly what you don't want in a synchromesh transmission. Maybe they have a different one. In my opinion, SAE250 is far more likely to be close to the deprecated SAE160 than SAE140 is. A lot of the evidence is anecdotal though. I have never been able to nail down exactly what range SAE160 covered. The standard has been dead a long time. I would guess maybe we have some SAE members in the forum who could get hold of that? Do we? That seems like an awful lot of contamination for as little as you have driven the car. Best of luck with it.

Well... This is not the way. I don't believe it. I have even seen the clothespins work, repeatedly, on 2 different cars and I *still* don't believe it. There is no possible way those could help, and it has been discussed and gone over ad nauseam in other threads. There has to be another reason. Correlation is not causation. To fix tough cars you absolutely have to stick to the laws of nature. You can't fool mother nature. She can fool you though if you let up your guard and ignore her rules. Intermittent things like vapor lock can drive you crazy if you allow it. You'll think you fixed it and then a week or a month later it's right back at the worst possible moment. A better way is to make the whole fuel system good. Test things, fix the ones that are obviously bad, and see if you still have a problem. A few hints: Most intermittent problems are not truly intermittent. Most are broken all of the time, and just cause problems that can be noticed part of the time. Once you know that, it's easier. Don't try things at random. Test parts of the system and prove whether they are bad or not. It would be a waste to spend a bunch of time troubleshooting and still not know anything. If you know one or two or three things the problem isn't, you are well on your way to knowing what the problem is. You haven't wasted your time. I see people throwing darts (or parts or clothespins) at a problem randomly and I want to bang my head on the table. There was a time, long ago, when I fell into traps like that fairly regularly. It's painful to watch. Even discussing vapor lock is tough because a whole bunch of different thermal problems get lumped in together. The causes and solutions are different, and you might have more than one. Some examples are 1) Fuel boiling in the supply line under the car due to radiant heat from the pavement, supplying vapor faster than the fuel pump can pump. This is "true" vapor lock... I think. 2) Fuel boiling in the fuel pump preventing it from pumping. 3) Fuel boiling in the fuel pump forcing liquid fuel in the fuel line to the carb past the carb's float valve, running the float bowl over and flooding the engine, at the same time there is no more fuel available right away should the engine clear itself and try to start. The lines are empty. 4) Fuel boiling in the fuel pump, leaking backward through a marginal check valve and blowing the fuel line empty clear to the tank. The pump that allowed this to happen won't have an easy time picking the fuel back up. 5) Fuel boiling in the carburetor when the engine is shut off hot, escaping through the bowl vent, leaving the fuel bowl and the accelerator pump empty. This should start, just not easily and quickly since the fuel bowl needs to refill. 6) Fuel boiling in the carburetor and "percolating" when shut off, emptying the bowl into the intake manifold, leaving the engine flooded and the carb bowl empty at the same time. I've probably missed a few other possibilities. Don't fall into the trap of blaming the fuel right away because troubleshooting "vapor lock" is hard. The fuel could be absolute crap, and today it probably is crap, but that changes nothing. The odds are against it being the root of the problem. The most reliable fuel delivery system by far for a carburetor is a fuel tank with a sock in it, a mechanical fuel pump, and a filter of some sort near or in the carb's fuel inlet. There are good reasons this system and variations of it were used for decades. Use a sock filter in the fuel tank if it is at all practical to do so. Water will collect in balls and bounce off of it. Water is less of an issue these days with ethanol in the fuel, but it can't hurt. Debris also falls off of a sock rather than getting pumped, especially heavy debris like rust. Some gets stuck in the sock but not much. Most falls off into the bottom of the tank. The fuel line to the front of the car absolutely must NOT leak. Avoid adding more hoses to the system and fix or replace any that do belong. So many cars have a rotten hose back at the fuel sender that has not been looked at in 50 years or more. Small leaks despite what you might think will not usually show wet, but will prevent the fuel pump from recovering quickly from a "true" vapor lock. The check valves in the fuel pump must seal. They must hold vacuum, just like the fuel line must hold vacuum. If the check valves leak, if the fuel pump needs to be "wet" to prime, you can be sure when it is full of vapor it won't do anything except sit there like a stupid stone. On the other hand if the fuel pump can pull vacuum without any fuel in it, it might recover from a vapor lock before the carburetor even gets empty. You might not ever know it happened. Keep fuel lines away from radiant heat as much as possible. Usually the factory got this as right as it can be, but maybe the last guy who replaced the lines didn't. Once in a while you may have to change the routing. Adding an electric push pump to prime things is not something I normally default to. I'd rather not because it adds extra stuff to the critical fuel line from the back to the front of the car. If you do, follow the advice of many on this forum and put the electric pump at the back of the car, and on a switch. It's the best way. Make sure any fuel lines you add cannot possibly leak air.

If it is getting hot it is probably inadequate, or bad, or both. Some 6 volt cars had 1 gauge originally. 00 is far more desirable in my opinion. If you replace any cables, get 00 (or equivalent straps). From small to big it goes 6-4-2-1-0-00-000-000-0000. 12 volt cars typically have 4 gauge or worse, and so that it what most parts stores stock. I would interpret "2-0" the same as "00". If it was a connection on the cable that was getting hot, like where it was clamped on a battery post or something, take it apart and have a good look inside the connection.

The issue with starters cold or hot, ignoring any possible issues with car's engine for the moment, is that electric motors get less efficient when they get hot. If the starter can do it's job and more, you will never notice when it gets weaker hot. If the starter just barely does it's job cold, it probably won't be able to do it's job hot. It is true that you don't want corrosion on the strap, but out in the middle, if it's not deeply damaged, it may not be the problem. The current flows in a circle from the battery to the starter an back. The connections are the most important part, like where the outside of the battery post contacts the inside of the terminal. Or where the metal is pressed together where the end of a cable bolts to a starter terminal, or to an engine/transmission, or a frame. It's the hidden part of the connection that matters, where the current actually flows. Corrosion on external surfaces is highly undesirable, but won't stop things from working, at least not until it spreads to a place that matters. Follow the circle to the starter and back. It all has to be equally good. If the ground cable goes to the frame instead of the engine/transmission, then there needs to be an equivalent heavy cable or strap from the engine/transmission to the frame to complete the circle. It's just as important as the other cables. Hint: If any connection gets hot while cranking or trying to crank, it is bad.

I think that's not quite it (that one is lighted, and so one pin has to be to make the light work). What is needed here is SPDT (single pole double throw). It's the right series of switches though. EDIT: This is a likely suspect, though the hole size would need to be verified. https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electronics-54-061-Miniature-Polyester/dp/B007Z7OYH6/

Well you can probably get a switch. There is a company in the US and another in Canada who stock more battery charger parts than you would believe. A whole bunch of different brands take the same parts, and Schauer is a common brand. If you are interested I'll try to find the name of the company. But to answer your question as best I can, look at the back of the switch in the pictures above. The switch connects the center wire to one outside wire, but never both. The trouble is it has been so many years since I had one of those switches apart I can't remember which way the contacts go inside, so I can't tell you which outside wire is 6 volts and which one is 12 volts. I guess you could hook the charger to a 12 volt battery and try connecting each outside wire to the center wire. Whichever outside wire makes the ammeter go higher is probably 12 volts.

My condolences to his family and friends.

If you have an original setup with the armored cable, also known as an "Electrolock", the condenser is not the main problem. The condenser is to prevent radio interference from the ignition, and would probably exist only on a car with a radio. You could leave it off if you wanted to. A condenser for that purpose from a more modern car would work fine if you could get it attached in there and you probably could. I don't believe they are still made. I needed one a few years ago, and even though very similar radio interference condensers were used on new cars into the 80s (US Chrysler products like K-cars, etc.), no replacements were available. A film capacitor from an electronic supplier should do the job. The electrical spikes go high, so I would get a 600 volt one or more for longevity. The trouble is I have no idea how many microfarads you should get. This condenser is only to suppress interference and has nothing to do with the function of the ignition system. The bigger problem is that the binding post you see that condenser connected to also connects the electrical supply wire for the coil. It is on the bottom of the coil, and the coil you linked has that post up on top. The one you linked will work electrically, but will not physically fit. None of the correct type are made today. Only NOS, NORS and used coils fit correctly if you have an Electrolock.

Due to the era this appears to be from it is going to be a "dumb" charger. I'll bet there are no sensors of any kind in it. It is also what would have been called a "trickle charger", as the front panel says it is capable of 2 amps. A normal battery charger of the time was usually more like 6 to 10 amps. These trickle chargers were intended to be not watched as closely as a regular battery charger, and you could leave them on a lot longer, like a few days without worrying about it too much. The downside is they take a really long time to charge a battery from completely dead. It might take a week or more.

Because no matter whether they cut the high beam hole or you do, it's still going to be wrong. It's also going to move after the carpet gets used a bit, so if it is right today, it will be wrong after a couple months of use. They have offloaded the responsibility for getting it wrong onto the person installing. You can try to estimate the distance and direction it is going to move and cut the hole where you think it needs to wind up. I do that. I sometimes miss, but it's better than doing nothing. It can help to look at the original carpet and see what direction the original carpet pulled away from the hole. Yes, the factory gets it wrong too. No one is immune. I don't know about the brake pedal. Source: I worked in an upholstery and auto trim shop when I was a teenager. I have laid a lot of carpet in cars.

I don't think the part about the EPA is true. In my opinion, someone was giving you the run around, and making excuses without enough information. Selenium rectifiers are extremely controversial in forums about antique electronics, and I do not wish to bring that fight here. Nevertheless the subject has been discussed ad nauseam and I have never heard of any kind of a ban. The most likely reason they are gone is simple economics. Silicon diodes that can do the same job with higher efficiency cost about 6 cents each, and even less in bulk. As of 15 years or so ago, I believe there was one company in the whole world still making selenium rectifiers. They were expensive and not readily available through electronics parts suppliers. I strongly suspect the rectifiers in battery chargers are NOT selenium. Selenium was almost never used at low voltages because it is far too lossy. Copper oxide rectifiers usually look about like selenium rectifiers and are better suited to the task. That is probably what you are seeing in battery chargers.

If they can complete a cycle, they're working. I would take it apart and lubricate all the pivot spots in the linkage or shafts. Replace anything that is obviously shot. Every little bit helps. If it works at all it can't be too bad. Probably. You want that pump absolutely the best you can make it. My guess is no. What a booster pump buys you is wipers that continue working when going uphill or accelerating, albeit slower. You don't have to let the gas pedal up to get a wipe. They have been a good source of parts for me. I rebuild my own so haven't used their rebuild service. I would in no way ever want anything to do with a "remanufactured" unit. These pumps come apart and are meant to be rebuildable in the shop. Letting a good core go to "exchange" for some badly rebuilt parts store unit is a mistake. You'd just be taking on someone else's problems. The quality of that remanufactured stuff was so bad in the 90s it was very difficult to even make work. No doubt a lot of the dead stock for sale now is from that period. The way to go is to either have a professional rebuild yours, or do it yourself. Sounds good to me. Most likely nothing. I could have answered this 35 years ago but I just can't remember. I do remember that the 61 engine has the earlier setup at the front with the cam retained by a spring. I had a 59 Police 352, and to the best of my recollection the stuff on the front of the engine was all identical. Extremely unlikely. Booster pumps don't make as much vacuum as the engine and what they do make is never enough. If one year booster did somehow make more vacuum than another, it would be because of some mechanical limit, not because the designer wanted it that way. You would want the stronger one no matter what.

Yes.

I don't recall if you said what kind of cam you had ordered. Is it a stock grind? Do I understand there is no ETA? On my 390 I had the original blank reground at Delta Cams (Tacoma, WA). If I remember correctly it took about a day or two. It surprised me how fast they turned it around. I could have walked out with one on the same visit had I wanted to exchange, as it turned out to be a fairly common 390 grind. They do custom grinds too, and have been a go-to for that here in the PNW for decades. Maybe worth a phone call if you aren't getting what you want from your normal sources.

In my 1936 Master Six, a very closely related engine to yours, I am running 20W50 in late summer when it is getting over 100F constantly. According to the shop manual, I shouldn't need to be doing that. I probably wouldn't need to if the engine was fresher. Since you have a temp gun, check at the back of the engine. Your temp gauge is most likely at the back of the head, and that is the hottest spot in the engine. The most common cause of overheating in these engines is a rusted out water distribution tube. The symptom is the back of the engine runs too hot, and that's where your gauge is. If it's not boiling over, it's probably fine. It was @Rusty_OToole who advised me to check mine with a temp gun, and it was marginal. I replaced the tube and... yeah, there were rust holes.

I'd like to see a 5588 as well.

I stand corrected. 👍

To the best of my knowledge, the light six never had wheels like that. My dad restored a 1924 Special Six touring back in the 50s, and it had a distinctive stylized radiator shell that looks quite a lot like a Packard or maybe a Buick. The Big Six has a more rounded (at the top) radiator shell. No problem to tell them apart from the front, even in a picture. You could almost tell from this angle by the shape of the hood if there was more detail in the picture, but there just isn't.