Bloo

I don't think Chevrolet doors are the same as Pontiac? Beltline doesn't line up. Somewhere on a misplaced hard drive I have pics of a coupe door that some guy with 3 1936 Pontiac coupes bought. It was sold to him as a 1936 Pontiac door but wasn't. It was probably Chevrolet Master or Standard.

Master or Standard is a big difference in Chevrolet. If you are comparing to what was offered in Canada (I think?) I am going to have to plead ignorance. In the US models Chevrolet Master and Chevrolet Standard is a big difference, and hardly anything interchanges, like hardly anything interchanges between a small and large Buick. Standards have smaller rear axles, torque tubes, a smaller transmission with no synchromesh, weird 5 lug wheels that don't fit anything else, different frame, and in some years the engine is different enough parts won't interchange. The Standard was typically made with the previous year's body dies so it looks completely different as well. The one exception is 36, where the Standard body looks about the same as Master, but maybe that's because any 36 looks about like a 35 Master. It still can't be quite the same thing even though it looks like it in 36. The 36 Standard wheelbase is shorter than the 36 Master. They had to take that out somewhere. The 36 engines are finally all the same despite Chevrolet trying to pretend it was still different, but the 36 Standard still uses all the weird undersize drivetrain parts. I think the car I have this loose windshield out of was a 3 window coupe, but I can't remember for sure. I am sure it was a 36 Standard. EDIT: Maybe not. I was just looking around online, and every 1936 Chevrolet 3 window I can find appears to be a Chevrolet Master. EDIT 2: Since this is a Pontiac thread, I should point out that that this is completely different in Pontiac. In 1935 The car with a straight axle (the cheapest model) was called a "Standard Six", with some very early references just calling it a "Pontiac Six". In 1936 the straight axle car was called a "Master Six". By the time the 1937 parts catalog came out, Pontiac was calling all the 1935-36 straight axle cars "Master Sixes" in the parts catalog.

Nice.... The first thing I noticed was the super-lite. You are right on about the rear quarters, although rusted out rear quarters on a C body don't mean much. That's a dirt trap and in theory the rest of the car could be fine. Got a pic under the hood of that beautiful white car? @The 55er pegged the red car as originally white. I think the contrast could be enlightening. That funny chrome thing on the red car is stock? Well, today I learned. I've never seen it before that I can remember. I would have guessed JC Whitney. I don't like it at all.

Yeah, you'll find more of the old car crowd in Early Times Chapter than POCI, even though it is technically part of POCI. Even then there are more postwar cars. You occasionally see some 35-36 stuff for sale in the "ETCetera". In the realm of 35-36, I have been to ETC's "Flathead Reunion" national event once in my 36 Master. Last year a black 36 Master coupe was coming but had mechanical trouble. There was a black 35 Standard Six there I hadn't seen before, and there is gray 35 Standard Six that almost always shows up. Most of the prewar Pontiacs that show up are older or newer. Good to know that the Buick windshield is the same.

My rear window is definitely safety glass. It is delaminated 2/3 of the way across. That is the reason I am changing it. I am surprised to hear of so much plain glass in 35s. I am pretty sure there's trouble with that wood below the rear window, but I might need to tear a bunch of upholstery out to get to it. Is it possible to change the glass without getting into that? I've had all the gaskets for the windshield for a while now, no glass yet. I have a 36 Chevy Standard coupe windshield here, but it is too tall. It wasn't in great shape anyway. The back doors are a whole other matter. In my car, the wood is literally gone. Yes there is bad glass in them too but now is not the time....

I don't know of a way to change the cam bearings in the car. You'll probably just have to live with them, and they may leak enough to cause low oil pressure at idle. That might or might not be a big deal, but I would just be really careful when you roll the cam out and hope for the best.

You should probably know about the Early Times Chapter as well. They cater just to the 1954 and earlier Flathead Pontiacs. http://www.earlytimeschapter.org/

I can't really tell from the pictures how bad the glass is. I can see that some of it is delaminated. I have already decided not to replace my wing windows in my 36 that have only slight bubbling along the edge. They look old... The trouble is new glass is going to obviously not match. I'll be replacing my windshield and back window in spring as they are just too shot to continue with. If any of you guys @aristech, @Kingdomtraveler, @pont35cpe or anyone else has any pieces of usable original 36 Pontiac safety glass left over, shoot me a PM. Especially windshield panels, but anything.

That cam is toast. Replace it. It's not usable. It is already gone. If it weren't toast, you can replace one lifter with some caveats. What people have told you about the cam and lifter breaking in together is true, so never mix them up. They need to go back in the same holes they came out of. It is also true that it would be technically better to clean out or repair the old one if you can. It broke in with the cam. To replace one, isolate the bad one, and get a new one (preferable) or a handful of undamaged junkyard ones. Make sure the wear surface is still convex. You then need to start the engine with the valve cover off, rev it up to 2000 RPM or so and see if your new lifter spins. Look for the pushrod to be turning. Hold it up at that higher speed for a minute or 2. It better keep turning when you let it down to idle. If it won't turn or keep turning try a different lifter. It doesn't need to turn much, but it does need to turn. Most engines will throw oil everywhere. You will need to control that somehow. I don't know how that's done on a Nailhead. The chevy guys have clips that help with the oil mess. Once you know the lifter turns you are good to go. Unfortunately none of that matters here because that cam is shot. That lobe is going to be completely round in a few miles, and if it is an exhaust lobe you will need to be towed. Replace the cam, lifters, and probably the timing chain now. I would not grind on the tips of the rockers or the valve stems. Unfortunately to the best of my knowledge, Buick never had selective pushrods for the nailhead, preferring to keep a bunch of parameters exact in the valve job (stem height, etc.). That way the geometry was correct and the pushrods could be all the same length. To fix that right you need to pull the heads and have the valve job done and the rocker feet fixed or replaced by a machinist who either understands the nailhead well, or who can read a book.... If you grind on them, best case it will make no difference. Worst case, it will lessen the lifter preload, which is already less than stock because of the wear, and therefore might cause more valve noise. I wouldn't do it on a simple repair of a car that ran OK. Now since that lobe was hosed, and the lifter was concave, that is probably where the extra clearance that made that made the noise was came from. Most likely after you replace the cam and lifters it will be fine. If you must be sure before you start it, you must divert into Ford territory. Some Fords set lifter preload with selective pushrods, rather than nitpicking every little detail about the valve job like Buick did. On a Ford you check preload by collapsing the lifter with a lever tool on the rocker arm, and measuring the valve clearance. There will be no specification like this for the Buick probably. When I set this all up in a high mileage 390 Ford a couple years ago, I was advised by the cam grinder to use .040"-.090" preload rather than the Ford spec, which was much higher (.225"?). This even though I was using re-ground original Ford lifters. The takeaway here is that you don't need very much preload. If you want to check it, what I would do is collapse a new lifter on the bench and measure how much throw it has with a dial indicator. Assemble the engine with the break in lube on the lifters, but don't soak them in oil. You want them empty. Then collapse each lifter with a homemade lever tool on the rocker arm. Check with the dial indicator at the pushrod end of the rocker, so you don't have to worry about rocker arm ratio. If they are all at least .030" less than the number you got on the bench, they will be fine. Buick most likely used a lot more preload than that originally, and they will all be fine even with the rocker tip wear. On cars that specify preload, it is usually a huge range. The main thing is that you have some preload.

Wenatchee, WA. About 230km south of the BC border. I've had a thing for the 53 Canadian Pontiacs for years. My first car was a 53 stickshift Chevy, and I'm sort of a flathead Pontiac nut now. Pathfinder might be one of the greatest car names ever. It's a Chevy chassis with a flathead Pontiac engine. It is the cheap end of the Canadian Pontiac line, but that's OK. I think I even like the cheapest one with only the little chrome dart on the side best. I am not in the market right now, although It is on my bucket list. I'd have to find one that is mostly together, as I no longer have the ability to tackle a complete restoration.

33x4 as I imagine you figured out is another 25 inch tire like 34x4.5 . The wheel is probably the same for either of those 25" sizes. Rims could have been wider for the 4.5 tire originally. Dykes Encyclopedia might have something to say about that, as might the Chandler parts book if one exists. In any event, the wider tire will almost certainly stuff on the narrower rim if you want. Chandler may have even done it that way(?).

OK now you have my attention LOL. I'd like a 53 Pathfinder with stickshift someday, though I imagine that would be a sedan. Are these 2 doors in derelict shape?

For many years my default daily driver was a c-body that was special ordered with a 3 on the tree and got built with an automatic anyway. If this is real, somebody had a brother in law working at Hammtramck. I remain highly skeptical. Ford would still happily build you something like this in the mid 60s if you asked for it, maybe even with overdrive. It isn't exactly common, but I have seen several V8 3 speed full size Fords from this period. Chrysler not so much. According to the source @58L-Y8 posted it is technically possible. I'd like to see another one..... Chrysler engine compartments were body color. What color are these inner fenders? Might be blue, black, gray or brown. I can't tell, but it isn't red. 1969 B engines are turquoise. This one looks Chrysler blue doesn't it? Or is it just a trick of lighting? What exactly are we looking at here?

Good question. I have a windshield out of a 36 Chevy Standard coupe and it is taller than Pontiac. I wonder if a Chevy Master sedan would be the same as Pontiac. I doubt it, but I would like to know. No Pontiac didn't have that. They are all wood. Chevy only had it in the Standard and only late in the year. This car is an early 36. I am referring to @Kingdomtraveler's car, not @aristech's. There were a ton of mid year changes at Pontiac in 1936. The four softplug block and the tail lights put this one definitely in the early part of the year. No doubt more pictures will show more early 36 details.

@TheCatOfAges, I like your 57. My parents had one when I was really little. A close friend has one now. Which engine and transmission do you have?

It depends. A Cadillac of that age might have mechanical issues far too expensive to tackle. It probably isn't just valvetrain. There are a lot of fish in the sea. I would not be in a hurry to buy that.

Yes it's possible. As much as I would like this to be real I don't believe it. I have seen exactly one 383 two barrel 3-on-the-tree C-body in my life. It was an even weirder build than this one. This car has manual brakes and power steering, the right way to order it in my opinion.

The short answer is older folks who may have been in the market for a full size car in those days may not have looked at that the same way you or I might. That is the least surprising part of the whole deal to me. Also a floor shifter may not have been available.

@1912Staver pretty much nailed it, but I would add that far fewer parts were intended to be replaced back then. As time rolled on you would clean, adjust, and re-use until the part was no longer serviceable. At that point, you would search for another or enlist help from a machinist, blacksmith, rebuilder, or whatever specialist is appropriate for the part. Join a club for the marque. That will put you in touch with all the guys who may have a stash of parts in their garage for your particular model. Some of those guys are probably not accessible via the Internet. If the part is missing, or if nobody has what you need, you make the part from scratch. Sometimes that is a big problem and sometimes it isn't. A lot of things were made with human hands, and you just need to learn a new skill. If the part was made with some obsolete no-longer-existing mass manufacturing technology you may have a bigger problem. Very little is impossible if you are willing to learn new skills.

The two are not interchangeable. If Chandler offered both, they offered a different wheel and rim option along with the wider tires. 34" is the outer diameter, in theory. Aspect ratio is 100%. Subtract sidewall twice to get rim size. 34" - 4.5" - 4.5" = 25". 34 - 4 - 4 = 26". If they are 26" the 34x4 should fit. If 34x4-1/2 fits, you have 25" rims. 25" rims are way more common than 26". Rim size is measured at the bottom of the bead surface, not the outer edge of the rim. If you wind up with any 26" tires you can't use, please send me a PM.

I think it would have been like pulling teeth to get that out of Chrysler no matter what the dealer wanted. I like this stickshift convertible a lot, but if I were a buyer I would definitely want to see the build sheet. I am skeptical beyond words.

At 9000 miles I think it more likely you could educate the rest of us. I doubt Alpine Green matches anything Pontiac, but I don't know for sure. It would be nice if it did, because Duplicolor engine paint is great stuff. Welcome to the forum!

Another source you need to know about is KornKurt, right here on the forums. He has a lot of NOS parts.

Steele is probably the only source for the rubber parts. I've been told you can get a better price from California Pontiac Restoration than ordering direct.

Just looked. They still list it. I wouldn't bet on it being in stock. https://www.cokertire.com/tires/34x4-bf-goodrich-cord-blackwall.html