sportroadster

Appreciate the recommendations Took the vacuum tank apart again and verified mechanical and valves operations worked properly, they were In the process the top plate gasket broke so I build a new one and low and behold after reassembly everything now functions properly Did a 10 mile test run and no fuel supply issues so gasket must have been leaking slightly. Still need to fix the contaminates in the fuel tank, anyone have an idea how to remove the tank from a roadster, does not appear like I can drop it down Again thanks for the help.

Having some problems keeping my 28 master roadster running After I fuel up vacuum tank manually car will run for about 5 mins then dies, interesting thing is that it starts right back up and then run for a minute or 2. What appears to be happening is that there is some vacuum and fuel flow to put some fuel in the upper vacuum chamber but not enough to trip the switch to dump the fuel to the lower chamber. once engine dies vacuum is lost and fuel gets dumped. Took tank apart and mechanism seems to be working fine. Vacuum is good enough to run my windshield wiper and I blew out the fuel line back into the tank (there are some very small particles that come in with the fuel') Car did fine on a 50 mile tour we took and then this started. Any hints on how to resolve this, thanks

Thanks for the suggestion, no broken springs so far, but as I mentioned I suspect springs are not performing as they were originally designed How did you figure out what springs to replace them with? Will

Finally success, figured out a way to gain access to the evener and was able drill another brake pedal rod position hole The evener is a bar to which the brake pedal, the front brake rod and the rear rod are fastened. the brake pedal is connected in the middle and the front and rears coming from the opposite side on the ends Coming from the factory are 3 positions for the brake pedal rod, dead center and 2 with about a 5% offset on each side of center so allow from more power to one side or another. I was already on 5% more towards the front but that still did not lock fronts, so I drilled a hole about 15% towards the front That gave the front brakes about 65 % of the effort applied by the brake pedal and 35% towards the rears That seemed to do the job as all 4 wheels now lock together, which is defined as car with wheels up in the air and me not being to rotate the wheels by hand Before fronts had some drag but never locked. Of course on the road with 4000 lbs pushing the wheels I don't expect them to lock up So the question still is why did I need that much more effort towards the front with all of the drag in the system removed? Best guess is that the brake band return springs on the front have stiffened over time or that rear return springs have relaxed more than the fronts Who knows but am glad I am back to equilibrium Road test next, as soon as get my windshield from plating and it quits raining. Thanks for all of the help, Will

Well tackled the first suggestion which was to reduce the friction in the overall braking system I disconnected all the brake rods and levers close to all 4 wheels and also the brake pedal. I now had a brake system where because of the evener in the middle I could independently verify the perceived friction in both the front and rear brake control system Found that I could easily manipulate the rear system with a single finger and barely any pressure, not true for the front. Front took two fingers and firm pressure. After lubricating the swing levers and also backing off the nut on one of the levers most of the friction was removed Front still takes more pressure than the rear but both well in the acceptable range I would think Net result after hooking everything back up was no noticeable difference at the wheels, with car on stands I can lock the rears and the fronts while having resistance can still be easily moved with two hands. So next I think is still adding an additional offset hole to the brake pedal connection on the evener further towards the front wheel side. Pain to get to, and cant get a drill on it so need to figure a way to remove it To be continued...

I followed the instructions in the Buick manual for the right model and year line by line and the result is still not acceptable Then I thought I would go to this forum to get expert and practical input as to how to proceed. Am I missing something

Agree, should not complain, at least the rear brakes work, but there is something inside of me that wants everything to function as it is supposed to. To be continued....

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I bought the car from an estate sale, so I cant ask the previous owner about the brake lining. The Buick has external band brakes so easy to see the linings and they look almost new on all 4, and they do work on the rears. As an aside the parking brake are internal shoes on the rear and easily lock up the rear. Did all of the adjustments per the manual and I can get the fronts, and rears. to lock up by manual pulling on the brake cable/rod of the individual wheel. Did the recommendation of loosening the rears and tightening the fronts which did nothing. After studying the brake system some more notice there is an "evener" in the system which as the word says is supposed the evens the brake load front to rear. I also have draft horses and wagons and we use eveners on all of our wagons to even the loads between 2, 3 or even 4 horses so I am familiar with them. By offsetting from the middle you can lighten the load for the horse which has the greatest moment arm, same would apply for front and rear brakes which is why I am considering offsetting from the middle of the evener. Do model A's not use a evener in the brake system? Guess I'll just try to drill some new holes in evener to see what happens, removing floor does not seem too bad to gain access to evener. Thanks again. Will

I am new to pre-war cars and to mechanical brakes is particular. Bought a 28 Buick a few months ago, it is in nice shape but braking seemed to have only 1 wheel that was braking and locking up. Got all wheels adjusted per the manual now have both rears that can lock but front barely have enough leverage on them. I can still turn the fronts by hand with all four wheels up in the air and rears locked Checked the evener and rod from pedal is connected to hole closest to front wheel brake rods Checked for friction and found some issues but all are resolved with same results So what is next, drill a new hole in the evener closer to the front brake rod side? Open to any suggestions Will