Bloo

It is 3/16"? You can change that if you want. The fitting is typically threaded into pipe thread. Since it is unlikely the distributor end has changed since the mid 30s (it's just like mine and @Gary W's), the carburetor probably just has the wrong threaded sleeve to pipe fitting screwed into it.

I wouldn't necessarily replace the head bolts. condition is everything. If they are not damaged, I would leave them alone. Postwar metallurgy is better though. They will have modern markings and possible a different thickness of head. If you replace them get alloy steel, grade 8 or similar. Studs are better because you are not removing them every time the head comes off, so the threads in the block won't get damaged. They have one distinct disadvantage though, corrosion can and often does cause the head to get permanently stuck to the block. It's a real headache. I wouldn't use them on this. Are you sure that horn is wrong? I don't think this is the first time I saw something like that on on Oldsmobile. The horns themselves look a lot like the optional dual horns on my 36 Pontiac, except for the fact they are mounted to the engine, but an Oldsmobile does not have a "silver streak" between the halves of the hood to mount them to. I'm also looking for that coil and have been for years. Good luck. Store brand NORS shows up occasionally on ebay. Delco? Never. Some will tell you you shouldn't be running the original anyway and that they don't work well after all these years. I am going to keep the original setup until I am forced to change. Mine works fine but is physically damaged. I don't see any armored cable or metal cap hanging there, so there is probably more missing than just the coil. The armor ran all the way to the key switch, so chances are it is wrong too, or too hacked up to use the original way. If the fan is damaged, don't run it. I can't see that in the picture. If there's doubt about an original fan, get it magnafluxed. I need to do that too, but don't know where to go. I believe the water pump if original has a packing nut. I wouldn't condemn that off the bat. It should seep very slightly and is adjustable. If it has a modern seal, and this is quite likely as GM and others offered retrofits for older cars, it should not be leaking at all. Those are pretty easy to fix if you have a press and if nobody has hacked up the pump body. Kits show up on ebay, but inspect your internal parts and compare to a seller's pics carefully. There might be several versions. That 3-relay voltage regulator doesn't belong either, but might represent a worthwhile upgrade if the generator that goes along with it is there.

Well, that's too bad. 1913 Studebakers are still RHD, but the fleur de lys thing probably kills it.

Is there any chance this part continued into the new 1913 Studebakers?

That's probably true, however most people who do know how to adjust a wheel bearing today probably only know how to adjust a Timken tapered roller wheel bearing. The New Departure ball bearings used in older GM cars (and some others) liked to be run tighter than Timken tapered rollers. They ran with a very slight preload. New Departure's own instructions from 1952 are on https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com . Well, that was easy to do, because the topic was originally about front wheel bearings, but @Shootey's post, the first post that is not 2 years old, appears to be about rear wheel bearings. And I won't speak for him, but I think that is what @Shootey was talking about. I know some Buicks had that as part of the maintenance schedule, in contrast to Chrysler, who had (you can still buy it) a special Boron based grease that was intended to go on basically forever, and only be packed only when you replaced the rear wheel bearing. I have had to repack the Chrysler ones on occasion when they got washed out by a leaky seal. It's a real PITA. I wonder how that grease would work in a Buick? Hmmmm..... I had no idea you could get that today. Thanks to @hook's post I learned something today. I do recall around 1979 or so searching far and wide for some. I was finally able to source about 3/4 of a tube but that was all. "I know what you are talking about, but I haven't seen it in years" was something I heard a lot of. In any event, it is probably time to ask if we are all on the same page about which end of the car we are talking about, and whether we are talking about ball bearings or tapered rollers (Timkens). As a reminder, @Shootey's question was:

The 1936 Pontiac Shop Manual has you pulling those loose and lubricating them with graphite grease at some specified service interval. I don't recall offhand how often. The graphite grease referred to in that book is the old type used on leaf springs, with a very high graphite content. It is not what you usually see today with a small percentage of graphite as an additive. In more modern vehicles, I don't think anything was used. Maybe a tiny bit of oil to keep the rust at bay. You sure wouldn't want it getting in the brakes. Maybe anti-sieze.

Is that one turn just with your fingers? If so it might be OK. I'm not going to tell you to force it, but these do have to compress around the new tubing and bite into it, so it's going to have more threads after it is put together. In fact, with a new nut you have to tighten it more than you normally would to make the nut bite into the tubing. Maybe it might go in a lot before it starts to bite? I wouldn't reef on it with only one thread though. The Pontiac is miles away and stored for winter or I would just go look. I do know the tuning has to go in that hole a little beyond the seat. A normal used fitting has just a little bit of the tubing sticking out beyond the seat. It has to fit in that hole. Where else could it go? Here is a pic of one on a piece of butchered fuel line that might have come off of my car. I think a maybe little bit less tubing than normal is sticking through here(?) but the tubing that sticks through is straight and at the original diameter. No squishing or bulging like in picture of the fitting you posted. EDIT: @Gary W posted while I was typing this. It works exactly as he has shown, and stellar pictures too! 👍

That's how it's done, but you would have to lose a little metal at the top of the bore. Obviously they try to take mostly from the bottom to minimize that. It does alter the distance from the camshaft slightly, and if there is a timing chain, it will probably run loose. For super common engines like a smallblock Chevy, you can get a slightly undersize timing chain set meant for engines this has been done to. With timing gears, I don't know and I don't recall ever hearing it discussed. You might need to lap them.

Maybe, but it is also true you can't just throw another main bearing cap on. An automotive machine shop should be able to fix that, but 99% chance it will need align boring. Back in the day any block with a missing cap was considered scrap, but back then it was easier and cheaper to just get another block. Nobody wanted to add the cost of align boring to an engine overhaul. Today it may be worth doing. That said, any automotive machine shop knows all this, and the fact that these guys lost one is a really big deal. I wonder if they even know which one goes on which saddle and in which direction? I think I would cut my losses, get my stuff, and find someone else to clean up this mess. Yes that is probably more expensive, but I just couldn't trust them to do anything right after this. Sorry about the rant. This makes my blood boil. Anybody got a scrap 263 block laying around with some caps still hanging on it?

Hmm. I wonder if you might be missing a part? If the car was here, I would take it apart and look. If it's threaded sleeve, the tubing that fits down in the hole is going to be the right one I think. Damaged threads?

The sizes you see them listed by don't go by thread, they go by tubing size. 5/16" is for a 5/16" gas line. For what it's worth, I think it takes a threaded sleeve (and probably originally steel bundyflex), and that end in your pic is just unexpainably mangled. I guess the tubing must have not fit in the hole and it got squished. My 36 Pontiac has a vacuum advance that looks exactly like that, and it takes a threaded sleeve. It's a tiny one though, definitely not 5/16". Maybe 1/8" or 3/16". I learned on this forum that in Australia they commonly call them Dole fittings, but that will get you blank stares in the US. The small ones for vacuum advance lines were commonly used a lot more recently than the others, so maybe you would get lucky at an auto parts store (but not where I live). https://blackhawksupply.com/collections/plumbing-brass-fittings-double-compression

I thought the center pin and wire on the 3 pin switch was neutral safety, but wasn't sure. The diagrams in the link @60FlatTop posted confirm it, it is the center wire. The other 2 pins and wires are a backup light switch. You might not even need the backup light switch, but if you do, it's there. I don't know what that other wire by itself is, but I'm guessing a lockup torque converter. I would ignore that for now.

36-2819 = 1936 Deluxe Eight 4 door Touring sedan 9601 = Body serial numbers don't really tell you anything useful as far as I know. 30-V = Taupe Plush (in other words taupe mohair upholstery) and an optional right side sunvisor. 17-D = Weynonah Maroon paint on body, molding(?), and wheels. Optional Duco (lacquered) fenders, probably also in Wenonah Maroon. Carteret Red pinstriping and wheel striping. Information is from this document by @Bob Shafto and Andy Lee. http://www.earlytimeschapter.org/36_restoration_guidebook_feb_06.pdf

Is the only problem that you aren't seeing oil in the valve boxes? The only place I think you might see pressure feed is on the lifters themselves, definitely not the guides or stems. I highly doubt the lifters are pressure fed. Isn't there an oiling diagram in the Oldsmobile shop manual? Other GM divisions always seemed to put that in. If it's there, you should be able to tell if the lifters are pressure fed.

I believe GM radios were made by "United Motors", a subsidiary of GM at that time. United Motors also owned Delco and several other companies you might associate with parts of GM cars. Whether Delco was actually making radios is unclear (to me anyway). It wouldn't surprise me too much if Delco radios were from the same source, whether Delco made them or not.

Growing up in central WA, 30 year old cars were all over the place. 20 years old was more common. I wouldn't rule out 40.

You don't slow it down with the mixture screw. Use the throttle stop screw. Does your new carburetor have an automatic choke? The choke might be too rich or the fast idle screw might be set too high. If it runs way too fast, the throttle is probably too open. If there's an automatic choke, with the engine off, sometimes you can finagle the choke open (while holding the throttle open) and finagle the fast idle cam (if there is one) out of the way (with your fingers) so when you let the throttle close it is as closed as it ever gets, and the arm is resting on the base idle screw. Then unscrew it until the throttle is completely closed and the screw isn't touching anymore. then screw it in until it touches, and then just a little more, maybe half a turn. Open the throttle and let the choke and fast idle snap back (if it's automatic). You may be on a fast idle screw now (for a cold engine). If so, and if it's too much, back it out a little after you start it again. The mixture screw affects speed, but it's no way to set speed. It has a sweet spot, and you will be adjusting it slightly every time you tune the car up or reset the idle speed. It also needs to be set after the engine is warmed up. EDIT: Also, if it has an automatic choke, it is normal to be on a faster idle, maybe too fast if you didn't kick the throttle after you started it. In a normal situation you kick the throttle once before you start it to set the choke. Then, after it starts, the choke pulls itself partly open, but you are still on high fast idle. The first time you kick the throttle after the engine is running, it will drop to a slower fast idle. Later on it will drop all the way down on the base idle (normal low idle) screw. It will only do that however after the engine is warm and the choke is fully open.

None were sold looking like that. It's a one-off, from modern times.

This system appears to be a third brush generator with a cutout. The system has some fairly large limitations by modern standards, but will work fine when set up and adjusted correctly. They ONLY regulate current (Amps). Current ls like flow. They do not regulate voltage. Voltage is like pressure. One thing I want to get out of the way before going further (and before I forget to say it). NEVER run a system like this (a third brush generator and a cutout) with the battery disconnected. The unregulated voltage will go really high and try to burn out the field coils in the generator. It might also burn out other things that happen to be turned on (lights, etc.). The current is regulated by the position of the third brush. It is adjustable. The brushes are under that band you see on the back. If you move the third brush (small brush) closer to the big brush it is closest to, the generator charges more (Amps). If you move it away from the big brush it is closest to, the generator charges less (Amps). Generators in general, with very few exceptions don't charge much at idle. On a third brush generator, due to the limitations of the third brush regulation, the generator has some particular RPM where it does it's best. Maximum charge is at some particular speed (in high gear) and if you go faster or slower than the ideal speed, it charges less. The next thing to understand, and this is really important, is that since there is only current (Amps) regulation, and no voltage regulation, the generator will keep doing all it can for the particular speed and the particular third brush setting no matter what. When the battery is fully charged, the generator does not know or care. It keeps charging as if nothing has changed. This is why third brush systems have such low output current (Amps). If the systems were really big and had more current available the battery might just explode. As it is, the battery takes quite a bit of abuse. A battery is just essentially a storage tank for energy. Car batteries used to be rated in "amp hours". Many still are if you read the fine print. For instance if you start with a fully charged battery and take 10 amps out for an hour, you'd have to put 10 amps back in for an hour to charge it back to the same level, or 1 amp for 10 hours, or 2 amps for 5 hours... etc. This isn't 100% true, there are losses, and there are limits to how fast you can charge a car battery, you can't just throw it 10,000 amps, and so on. It is mostly true though. The ideal way to have a third brush set, is so that when the person using the car gets home and shuts the car off at the end of the day, the battery is just full. If the car runs longer the battery will overcharge. If the battery is still undercharged when he gets home, the battery will get a little deader over the course of a few days. In practice, batteries had to take some overcharging, and filling station attendants had battery water readily available. The batteries had often been running hot and needed it. Batteries of the era needed water added anyway, but overcharging stresses the battery and makes the situation a lot worse. There was no expectation in 1930 or so that you could drive all night with the lights on without the battery going dead. The reason goes back to the maximum current the third brush is set to. Lets say you have two 21 candlepower headlight bulbs running. That's about 5-1/2 amps, and you've got a tail light, and some dash lights, lets say (just pulling numbers out of the air) 7 amps total with no radio or electric wipers or anything like that. A normal third brush setting is meh... maybe 7 amps. If you add the lighting load to that, you'd have to run the third brush at 14 amps or so to keep it the same at night. That's completely impractical unless you only drive at night. If you set it at some compromise setting, the battery will get hotter than normal at some times in the day and go slowly dead at night. If you get bigger bulbs, the problem only gets worse. I believe this is a reason, probably one of many reasons, the folks who owned these cars when they were new seemed to never want to drive at night, even later on, in more modern cars. Of course, If you were planning to drive all night to get somewhere quickly you could always move the third brush yourself, or have the guy down at the filling station do it. There's the background, some of it anyway, that you need to understand the generator. I have to go now, and probably wont be back for several hours. I imagine by then you will have plenty of hints from others on how to troubleshoot. I might have some hints of my own when I get back here.

I've always liked these, and this one looks really nice. One thing I see here that confuses me is the water pump mounted on the front of the engine. I did not think that existed on this engine series until 1955. I'm a bit surprised it fits in the engine compartment that way. Did Rambler get the "up front" water pump a couple years earlier than the big Nashes?

The electrical switch, if it has one threaded binding post, is the neutral safety switch @JACK M mentioned. The starter relay, from approximately 1962 forward (including 1978), has a floating winding to trip it. The power comes from the key switch (in the start position) to one of it's pins. The wire from the neutral safety switch goes to the other pin to provide a ground, but only in Park or Neutral. A 1956 Savoy probably has some Autolite starter relay or solenoid, and it probably works the same way if the car had an automatic transmission originally. A factory wiring diagram would be needed to figure that out. Things changed a lot on Chrysler products every year in the 1950s. If the switch has 3 pins, and it probably does for 1978, one of those pins is the same as the binding post in the example above, and the other two are a backup light switch. If by cables you mean shift cables, those won't hook up to a 1978 727 transmission. Automatics in 1956 if I remember correctly can be a Powerflite or a Cast Iron Torqueflite. They were both shifted with cables. There was no "Park", and the parking brake was used instead. The parking brake was mounted on the back of the transmission, so when the original transmission is gone, there is probably no parking brake. For the 1978 727 transmission you need a shifter that shifts using a linkage. The kickdown linkage matters on the 727. It's not just kickdown, it also does the job a vacuum modulator does on some other transmissions. Make sure it is all there and hooked up. There's probably a sliding linkage in it somewhere, but the factory linkage always adjusts so that it bottoms out (but just a tiny bit) at full throttle.

Maybe. I've heard "inverted flare" a lot too, but double flare seems to be default around here. Yes, same thing. The "Imperial" terminology has become common because of the Internet I think, mostly when contrasting inch dimension parts against metric. They probably say that in the UK and maybe other countries that were more closely tied to the UK than we were, but now it has spread worldwide. A Swedish friend of mine has also used "Imperial" to refer to inch-based things for as long as I can remember. I tend to shun "Imperial" because even though it isn't technically wrong, it implies that it is an alternative system to metric when in fact it is just everything that isn't metric, and that includes a lot of different systems. I usually say "SAE" when talking about American stuff. Unfortunately that is technically wrong part of the time, but at least it leaves no doubt you are talking about American standards based on inches, US gallons, etc. I don't really know a better way.

It might be. I have a 1913 Studebaker SA-25, and that view looks very familiar to me. I immediately thought Studebaker when I saw that picture in another thread, and the SA-25 is the only one with gas lights. The part I can't get my head around is the cowl. Something about it is just wrong. My touring car is not like that. The roadster is different, but I don't think the roadster's cowl matches either. Maybe it could be a 1911 or 1912 EMF roadster like the one below, but with no windshield. They are quite similar to 1913 Studebakers.

That makes more sense. What does the end of the line (on the chassis) that you are going to hook your hose to look like? Is it double flared? Straight? I can't see enough in the pics to tell for sure, but it looks like one end of the hose you have is for a double flare and the other end is for a threaded sleeve. Yes, it is all 5/16" American-type steel brake tubing aka "Bundyflex". I suspect CuNiFer could work, but have not personally tried it with threaded sleeves. The plastic coated brake line that parts stores seem to favor sounds like a bad idea to me, but I haven't tried that with threaded sleeves either. At some point, you will need to get a picture of what happens at the front. You connect from the piece of steel bundyflex tubing to pipe thread at that end. It could have been a threaded sleeve on the tubing or a double flare, I don't know which. I would guess double flare. Either will work. The pipe thread on the fuel pump will be female tapered pipe thread, probably 1/8" NPT. Brass fittings exist to go from either type of tubing end to the pipe thread of the fuel pump. The fittings for double flare are typically easier to get. If you need right angle for threaded sleeve, the 5/16" fitting is discontinued, and is a swap-meet-only sort of item. The straight fitting for threaded sleeve, and also the threaded sleeve nuts, are available at Blackhawk Supply. The equivalent double flare right angle and straight fittings (to connect double flare to NPT) are relatively common auto parts store items.

Just bring it up to torque gradually, go through the pattern in at least 3 passes. The modern head gaskets for older engines seem to require more re-torquing, not less. After you start driving it, recheck it every few days until you are sure it has settled down. I don't have the torque pattern but someone in here probably will. If not, I doubt you could go too wrong with the spiral or criss-cross method. Nice little engines. I once had a 1951 Statesman. Great cars!