Wheelmang

I have a couple spares. Let me know if you need one.

It is a fairly easy job to do yourself. Guessing you can get the lining and rivets from someone like Myers.

Just think of the time, fuel and pollution savings if they spent more money on smart signal lights. A lot of that stopping and starting can be eliminated!

Rebuilt or remanufactured distributor? Did they replace the centrifigal springs in the distributor or reuse old weak ones? Not even sure if yours has them but just a thought.

The structure of the heater base is pretty robust. The circulation from the exhaust is through really thick metal. Heavy enough that the car would have totally rusted out long before the heater circulation tubing. I have one that was in with a load of parts that was picked up earlier this year and did not realize, (after figuring out what it was), it is for a DB. I though it was for a Desoto. The manufacturer label has patents all the way back to 1916. There does not however appear original to my 26 DB.

First - This restoration is not dead! A number of factors have led to the difficult decision to back burner this until what is likely the first of next year. I really appreciate all of the input and guidance from everyone out there. The post will be revived as soon as I am able to start it up again. Paul

I see these kind of projects and get all excited. Then I think I better get moving on my numerous restorations before one of "my kids" makes a post like this.

Hi Ron: I need to get back to the engine builder. I loaned him my manuals as he needed specs for future work. I will post pictures as things progress. Certain to be more questions. Thanks for the guidance. Paul

Thank you Ron. I will attack it tomorrow. Paul

Sorry Ray - I should know better than to try and send messages from my cell phone. Here's the scenario. The axle housing that is still in my car has threads that are badly messed up on one end. This is the refurbished one on the replacement axle. So I have a complete spare rear axle assembly that is now in my shop. I am trying to completely disassemble and refurbish it. The ring and pinion are all set. (Much cleaner now that what is pictured.) What I am trying to take apart now is the front portion of the diff housing. It has six pins three top and three bottom that appear need to be removed in order to get the housing portion off. I thought they may have been swedge pins but they did not budge even with heating up around them. It also looks like the ring drive gear (no picture, I am maxed out on uploads for the day) on the end of the driveshaft cannot be pulled until this housing is off. It is pressed on with a key way. No way to a get a two or three jaw puller under that I can see. Your help is greatly appreciated. Paul

Finding plenty to do while waiting what will be months before engine reassemble. One of the axle nut threads on my housing is screwed up. I have this spare that I started on yesterday and cannot how to get it disassembled. Anyone have experience with this?

I just finished the rebuild on my 26 DB transmission. Gaskets and cork seals were easy to make and my local parts store was able to get the bearings. Probably could have completed it in a day or so but got persnickety about cosmetics. All and all a pretty straight forward job.

If you feel prices on antiques and our cars has crashed - take a look at philately. I spend time collecting stamps when my old bones hurt too much from crawling around under a car. I recently offered a small collection of approximately 3000 different Russian stamps, from 1860's to 1990's, for sale on Ebay. The collection has a catalog value of $3500. Catalog value is now a total misleading number as the honest real value of this is probably about 10% of that at $350. I had no interest at $85. Ten to 15 years ago this would have sold quickly for around a $1000. Fortunately I think most of us collect for shear appreciation of our whatevers and do not plan to supplement our retirement from the income of sales. The generation today, and I am not saying they are wrong, need instant gratification for the expenditure of their time and money. That just seems to be the way it is. PS: If any of you have stamps for sale for .01¢ on the $ send me a PM. ?

Don't forget to take it by Keiser's house so he can report seeing it! ?

I looked for the other post but it no longer seems to be there. You were questioning the nut on the front of the fan and I did not remember mine looking the same. Following are pictures of what is on my 26 DB 6V.

Knew I had a spare fan and thought I was going to be able to help. Unfortunately it was incomplete. Please send a PM if it is something that will help.

I will have to take some better pictures showing what is causing my confusion. It looks like the steel valve guide, as show from Myers, is recessed into the cast opening in the block. The top of the guide is not visible from the top of where recesses. The hole where the valve stem goes through is the same size as the ID of the valve guide. The book of information says to use a chisel when removing the valve guide. I question now if the chisel is to be used to knock the cast top portion of the guide off in order to get to the actual steel guide. Sounds very drastic to me though. Better pictures later. Paul

My 26 DB 4 cyl was all over the place. The top radiator hose was at 178. I tried to post that picture as well but had exceeded the 9.77 meg picture limit.

Good afternoon or whatever time of day it is where you are. I guess I am being a little thick headed on the valve guide removal process. Ray I started to use the process you described but cannot see any way to press or pull on it. I have a 5/16 bolt that is plenty long but the top of the valve guide is actually part of the block casting. It looks like the bottom half of the guide that is exposed is made of a different material. It is similar to the pictures of 4 cylinder valve guides on the Myers site. That one is obviously not cast. I tried tapping on the top of the guide and promptly broke a small piece off. (Don't pay any attention to the broken water inlet stud. That is for another day.) Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. Paul

Ray - The counter shaft washer is in back in place on mine! I cannot imagine trying to do any internal work on this in situ. Amazing you did not have any gear tooth damage with that much movement on the idler gears. That washer is at least 1/32" (.80 mm) Lucky guy! I have to wonder if the bushings on yours were used to replace the roller bearing set up like I found on mine? Spinnyhill - Thanks for the input. I just decided that for the $40.00 cost of the new bearings it was cheap insurance. The transmission was noisy but is sounded like the old oil delivery truck I drove when I was in my teens so that wasn't the reason for the change. Paul

I started to reassemble the transmission and decided it best to replace the transmission input and output caged ball bearings. Neither felt real bad but just enough question to go ahead, especially given the need to pull the engine should they go bad any time soon. I am not sure if it will hold true with all bearings on the DB but this is now the third time that bearings were readily available from my local parts house. Should you find you are in need of bearings you may be able to save some money by knowing a little more than the part guys. When I originally tried to get them to interchange the 3080 "it didn't interchange". A little research on the SKF site with size and dimension found that the original Fafnir 3080 is a fairly common and readily available 308. The same was true on a 2070 being a 207. I had one other instance for the pilot bearing. If you happen to need a sealed bearing, a suffix of "S" is sealed on one side and "SS" is sealed both sides. The counter shaft bearings were unlike any bearing that I have seen before. Kinda neat the way the spirals on the rollers force feed oil in all directions. Now on to the question for the day. Is there a secret in removing the transmission lock. The wedge easily punched out from the underside of the top cover. I tapped lightly on the underside of the cylinder but it does not appear to be moving at all. Better to ask before I get any more aggressive on the punching. Thanks for looking. Paul

I had the same thought but it is the reverse engagement gear so the worn side will still be in use on the larger gear. I decided to go with the one that had the most metal left even though it showed some pitting. Hope to reassemble the trans today and will post some pics when done.

You may wish to try a NWRA (National Wheel and Rim) supplier. Some of the old houses hang onto parts like these. You will need to speak with an older employee as the parts will not show on inventory any more.

I used a combination of petroleum based products for close to 50 years. Mostly it was a 50/50 mix of diesel and gas. It worked great. I finally had to break down and buy a new parts cleaner. This is a personal home shop. This new water based product stinks in comparison! I am using 1 - 1 cleaner vs water ratio. It foams like crazy. Most of what is being cleaned needs to set overnight and then it comes out with a slimy residue. That still requires significant scrubbing and then a rinse down with more water. Then it needs to dry before anything more can be done with it. I did two identical components today. One my old way, in a bucket, and the second in my water based parts washer. (It set overnight) It took more than twice as long (15 min vs. 35) to get the second piece to paint (not counting the overnight soak). Is anyone using a petroleum based product in their home garage, water use only, parts cleaners? Will I get arrested by the EPA? ? I am about ready to drain the new washer and put a couple of 5 gal buckets in it and go back to my old way. It will make a great stand for the buckets. Apologies to any environmentalist.

Wonder if, with all that lead, it wore out the tires on the side repaired?