pmhowe

Some winterish storms came through and all the leaves are now down, with the trees all bare. The first picture was taken a week and a half ago, when fall was still in full swing. The video was taken about the same time. The video quality is awful, as I attached my iPhone to the car mirror without realizing the mirror was somewhat loose and I was driving over some very lumpy roads. However, you may enjoy the scenery if you can get past the wiggles. The second picture was taken today, and is intended to get you into the mood of Thanksgiving. There were thirteen turkeys in the flock, but my camera didn't have an adequate field of view. Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/kQ244JOh0Ug

Grimy, How would you compare the Model 80 with the 1929 and 1930 * cylinder cars? I had a 1929 PA - a coupe, not a Victoria - which I loved, but had to sell. I doubt I will ever be able to afford another, but might be able to get a Model 80 or 81. Would I be disappointed? Thanks, Phil

That does look like tough work! The Henley roadster is, to my mind, one of the world's most beautiful cars. I have seen one up close to look at, and it was just as lovely as when seen at a distance. I'll bet the ride was lots of fun. Phil

"AJ.....your car? That’s Miss Universe 1932." "The wheelbase is 15 inches longer, the windshield is 2" lower, the hood is 5 inches longer, and those are the obvious differences." Phoo! Other than that, they look the same. Good grief! Cut him some slack.

I learned to drive on a Ford 8N tractor, when I was twelve. When I was 18, I bought a 1938 LaSalle sedan and drove that regularly several years. It was a very nice car to drive.

My second car was a 1938 LaSalle four door sedan. I drove it through college. A great running car. I repainted the fenders with a brush. I think the most charitable observer would say that it only looked OK at twenty feet. That was when I was in my 'teens. Having restored lots of furniture since then, I think today I could paint a small car with a brush and- with lots off elbow grease and sandpaper and rubbing compound - make it look good from a few feet. However, my next car will be done with a sprayer, and not an Earl Scheib (is that the correct name?) flit gun job.

Here is an example of wheel weights on a wheel for a 4.25 L Bentley. The wheel is a Dunlop wire wheel and has three weight locations, with lead washers inside the containers.

and, since you didn't mention it, probably doesn't have any hardened grease. If that is the case, I would try cleaning it with CRC electronics cleaner or throttle body cleaner(or a similar brand). They come in pressurized cans so you might not to have to disassemble the part.

Congratulations! I'm envious. What year is it?

The Bentley would top my list, too. I was intrigued by the white Packard convertible coupe. Would that be a conversion from a fixed roof coupe? The three hinge door arrangement looks strange to me.

I finally made my first video, which is attached. It shows some fall scenery on a road nearby. The eastern continental divide is within a mile from here, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is nearby, also. If you decide to watch it, turn off the volume, as it is nothing but wind noise and the sounds of a few bad shifts. The video is a bit disappointing, as there are many sunlight reflections off the windshield. I find them distracting. Also, I had hoped to mount the camera so that its long axis was horizontal, but my cheap mount wouldn’t allow it. The video flattens out the road a bit, as the camera tilts with the car’s axis rather than remaining vertical. The road is really quite steep in spots - it gave my car’s brakes a good workout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRNkNWjBGY

So, A mix of crooks and honest mistakes. Either way, it can cost us. Pays to be careful. Thanks for the posts. P

A bad coil can definitely cause an engine to quit running. I have some bad memories of it happening to me. Not on an MG, but on a 1941 Dodge truck.

Many thanks to each of you for your comments. I have learned a lot. My first step is to order a phone holder with a suction cup base. It should arrive later this week. Since rain is predicted through the weekend, I probably won’t use it until next week. However, as soon as good weather and sunshine arrive, I’ll give it a try. If successful, I will post the result. My next step will be to consider a dash cam of the sort ply33 used. That should meet my needs and also be very useful on long trips with my daily driver. I really like TTR’s suggestion of a plug-in external microphone. I have watched numerous sports car videos (mostly British - Jags, Morgans, MGs, etc) where the wind noise was annoying and the superb sound of sports car exhausts was lost. On my list to get is a 6V positive to 12V negative converter. Thanks, Marty and ply33, for the suggestion. I didn’t know they were available. However, that opens up lots of possibilities for my car. It will be a week or so before I re-post with a video. Meantime, stay safe and keep driving. Phil

I have seen some very nice videos on this site of the views from inside the car as it is traveling down the road. I have enjoyed them immensely, and would like to try the same with my old car. I have some questions: What kind of camera has given you success? Is it silly to try and use a smartphone? My car has a six volt system. It is really, really short on USB outlets. I think most dash cams require a power supply. How do you work that? Please provide any other advice (to include; “Oh, no! Not another amateur car video!” if that is appropriate). Thanks in advance for the help. Phil

I like the idea of spray painting to make the pattern. Thanks for sharing. Phil

Leomara, I second the use of JB Weld. Mix up a little bit, use a tooth pick to introduce as much as is reasonably easy to do into the interstices between the two pieces of metal. Wipe off all the excess. It will very likely outlast you and the next owner, too! P

This past Sunday I set some time aside to get my car ready for fall. It is a 1935 Cadillac, Fleetwood bodied town sedan. I greased the chassis, cleaned and reset the points, cleaned all the wires in the ignition circuit, greased the water pump, oiled the distributer, checked the lights and light circuits, adjusted the brakes, and checked the coolant level in the radiator. I took it for a brief ten mile ride to get everything warmed up, returned, and changed the oil. (Didn’t change the filter - there is no filter). I then took it for another ten mile ride, with the excuse that I needed a final check, but mainly because I wanted to take it for a ride. She ran beautifully and stopped politely when asked. The vacuum assisted brakes on this car are quite good. However, I like to leave lots of space between it and any vehicle ahead of it. There was lots of traffic. The good news was that traffic was moving between 45 and 50 mph, which is a range where my car is very comfortable, guzzling gas happily as only a car with a 30 gallon tank and an updraft carburetor can do. It quietly hummed a nice smooth V8 song. Oil pressure stayed at 40 psi. Water temperature crawled up into the low “Normal” range. I got home and was thrilled that everything looked good for fall. I took the time to wash and polish it. Then, of course, it rained. The rain stopped soon, the sun came out through mixed clouds. I dried the car and put her away. It was a great day, and I felt good. Just wish there were other people with old cars to join me. Phil

I'm with you on the old and the back problems. The fenders are probably not that heavy. However, they are large and awkward. For me, that means I would want to place myself very carefully when moving them, to avoid getting my back into the wrong position. I have seen YouTube videos where people have taken fenders with damage like your and made them look like new. Therefore, you - and maybe I - can do it, too. The nice thing is there appear to be no big tears in the metal. Good luck with it. Phil

I'm with Bloo: I'll bet you a salami sandwich the impeller has been installed upside down. Phil

Hi Matt, You have established that Water gets to the water pump, The shaft to the pump spins, but the pump doesn’t push water. I think you also determined that the impeller actually spins when the shaft that drives it spins. I come up with the following possibilities The pump is missing a part. The pump clearances are wrong. The pump was assembled incorrectly (unlikely). I think Plan B should be to find someone who has a car with the same engine with a working water pump and persuade him to let you examine it. That would be a big, big favor, I know, but it should put the problem to rest. Maybe one of those owners had his pump rebuilt and the rebuilder could be queried. Long shot, but I think it is worth pursuing. Phil

I like this approach and have done it on three cars: Posted by Fred Winterburn on MogGroup ( a site for Morgan owners). “If you want to make a bulletproof condenser, I suggested a modern retrofit to an MG owner and it is being used by more than one MG owner and a guy with a Porsche. It is a 1000V rated ceramic capacitor rated at 125 degrees C and if potted inside an original condenser shell works even better than the paper/foil crappy ones when they are new. It tested significantly better on my test rig than an equivalent condenser with the same μF capacity. It's quite small and fit easily inside the Lucas shell. I potted it in place with JB weld (it has to be potted in epoxy to be reliable). One lead is soldered to the inside of the can and the other to a piece of teflon insulated wire. See the pic of the standard condenser and the retrofit condenser on my Morgan. This is not hard to do if you can solder and worth doing in my opinion. The capacitor that I used can be bought at many electronics parts stores. Just google it: Kemet brand, 1000V, 0.22μF, part # C350C224KDR5TA If you go this route it would be the last condenser it ever needed. I put mine through a considerable amount of abuse during testing with no degradation. Fred”

From what i have read, pump clearances are critical. The pump may look fine, and all parts may be assembled correctly, but if clearances aren't right, it won't work properly. Maybe that is the problem. However, you are at the point where it appears you have two possibilities: 1) bad pump 2) plugged water stream. I would rig an experiment where I tested the flow rate of the pump, off the engine. Another day of work, but you will at least know; is it pump or plugged engine. For what it is worth, you should know that you have set a new standard for me in sorting out crazy car problems. For me, that has already paid off in sorting out some problems I had long given up on. Thanks for sharing your experiences, and good luck. Phil

What a great looking car! I would have enjoyed meeting the owner and hearing him tell me about it. Also would have loved to hear it run. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Phi

I have been told that using an impact wrench to loosen a frozen bolt is far less likely to cause a problem than using a breaker bar. I think the caveat is that the socket must be a good fit to the bolt head. I'd like to hear from the experts on this. I think impact wrenches have gotten a bad reputation from inexperienced users using them to over tighten things like wheel lug nuts. Phil