Bill Stewart
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Posts posted by Bill Stewart
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My car has been converted to a push button start so I think the five pole regulator's extra protection against activating the starter while the engine is running is now unneeded. It makes sense that the extra thing in the clip probably was a condenser to suppress radio interference.
I would actually prefer to have the original accelerator operated starter but for now, at least, I'm going to stay with what i have.
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Thank you Jon. Your article showing conversion to a three pole regulator is exactly what I needed. There were indications of trouble with my five pole that I likely would have not been able to solve. Perfect.
Bill
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The regulator on my car is apparently original. It has the 5 electrical connections shown in the shop manual but does not have the "thingy" attached to the GRD tab in the manual that looks like it could be a condenser. The clip to hold the item is still present.The guy who rebuilt the generator for me has never seen such a thing on a regulator and doesn't know what it could be for. Must have been a reason for it.Can somebody inform me?
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Thanks for sharing your experience Matt. I'm excited to get it on the road. It is a "driver" and all it needs is the engine finished.
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I removed the gasket between the heat valve body and the intake manifold as directed by the shop manual. That results in better alignment of the manifolds at the head, but I think not good enough to expect the manifold gasket to seal. It seems to me that Buick's original intent must have been to depend on the ring between the heat valve body and the intake manifold to seal---not depending on any gasket. So I used valve grinding compound to lap the ring and groove, hopefully to improve the fit. I notice that the faces of the heat valve body and intake manifold do not quite meet, but rather, the two pieces are slightly held apart by the ring between them.
I recently read about Remflex exhaust gaskets, that they compress from 1/8 in. to 1/16 in., conforming to warped or otherwise irregular manifolds. I ordered a set. I would sure like to know if anyone has experience with Remflex or if anyone has any ideas about this project.
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Today I took exhaust manifold apart and cleaned joints. The joints now work perfectly so the end sections can be easily oriented to face the head perfectly. They are, however, farther away from the head than the intake manifold and I'm sure they can't be pulled in without messing something up. An equally serious problem is that the center section of the exhaust manifold, when attached to the heat valve body, is forced into a position that is not parallel with the intake manifold. I don't see how any adjustment can be made to correct that. The shop manual says that no gasket is used between the heat valve body and the intake manifold, and that only graphite lube should be used. In spite of that, a gasket (which seems to have a graphite surface for this location is actually available. I did decide to use the gasket. If the gasket is eliminated it looks like the problem would be reduced, but not enough. It's hard for me to believe that just graphite would really close that joint. Is there a graphite lube with body to it? I'm only familiar with the powder.
Somehow I need to get all the intake and exhaust attachments in the same plane.
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Kyle and Matt, good ideas. I'm off to loosen things up carefully and get them reoriented. The 36 shop manual also has a sensible approach consistent with your ideas which I should have read earlier.
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I have just installed my newly overhauled 36 Roadmaster engine in the car. On startup the intake and exhaust manifolds both have serious leaks. When I originally took the engine apart I removed the manifolds as a unit with the heat valve body and I put it back that way (with new copper gaskets and the proper torque). I expected that everything would line up properly as it seemed to be originally.
So now with the manifolds off again, I note that the intake manifold flanges are farther from the mounting surface of the head than the exhaust manifold flanges. (So they are not in the same plane.) In addition, the exhaust flanges are at a slightly different angle, being about even with the intake flanges at the top but at least 1/16in. off at the bottom.
Help! I'm sure pulling everything up tight would be a mistake and I've noticed the price of manifold replacements. My first idea is to separate the manifolds from the heat valve body, assemble everything loosely, tighten the manifolds on the head first and hope that tightening the heat valve body to the manifolds last actually works (maybe by magic and a little cheating with some kind of "goop"). Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. This car is the long awaited replacement for my college car from 1956.
h
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i haven't had any problems with carburetor or tank floats, even very old ones, but for those who have, maybe coating with epoxy resin would be an idea. I built a gas tank for a boat about 25 years ago using West System epoxy. It's still perfect. Resin mix should be tweaked very slightly short on activator to increase resistance to gas. West System (Gougeon Bros,) site may have more specific mix info.
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Thanks Ben. I thought that design was unique to the 36. It's obviously unbalanced. i should think it might cause vibration or rapid water pump wear.
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I marvel at the weirdly asymmetric fan on the 1936 Roadmaster. Does anybody know why they were made that way? Was it used only one year?
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Thank you very much Stuart and Matt. I still have one question. I can't see the picture well enough to understand exactly how the water line is plugged. My water line is just a tube which could simply be cut/ pinched off. Would that suffice?
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I believe the water line through the rocker arm shaft in the 36 was omitted in 37 and in all following years. It was apparently unneeded and I have seen a recommendation that it be disconnected in the 36 to avoid the possibility of a water leak to the crankcase. I have plugged both water connections in the head. Do I just pinch off the water tube at each end of the rocker arm? It doesn't seem necessary to actually remove the (now inactive) water line and it appears that removing the water line would just allow oil to escape. Anybody"s thoughts please.
Bill Stewart
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Thanks Matt. I'll do that.
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Thanks everybody. Sounds like 36 firewalls were painted the body color just like all the other years.
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Could somebody who has an original 36 let me know whether their car was built with a black firewall (on a car that is not black)? Somewhere I read that 1936 is the only year where all cars (or maybe just Roadmasters----but that doesn't make much sense) were built with black firewalls. Restored cars that I have seen invariably have body color firewalls. Could everybody be wrong!?
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One of the pushrods in my 36 Roadmaster is different than the others! Length is the same but diameter of lower "ball" where it rides in the lifter is larger. Apparently it's been working ok but I sure don't want to put it together that way. The part number for 1936 pushrods is different than all following years and I have not found any for 1936. Can anybody help?
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i read somewhere (can't find it now) that 1936 firewall color should be black, not the body color. Can anybody confirm that?
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Ben, I was only able to run my engine for a few minutes (and wouldnt have done it at all if i'd known what it looked like inside) but timing did not seem too advanced. The carb is a typical downdraft Stromberg.
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Robin, thank you. Now I'm trying to confirm that 38 pistons will also work in my 1936 320. Anybody know for sure?
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KongaMan thank you for your ideas. I've had computer hassles so haven't been able to respond.
I don't know why only some pistons (#1,2,7,8) were damaged. All eight come up almost exactly flush with the top of the block. A tiny amount of carbon buildup could then cause the pistons to hit the head. At any rate, I don't think it makes sense to risk using that head. The block needs to be bored and i am having difficulty finding 36 pistons. 1938 pistons are everywhere in various sizes so I think it seems sensible to use a 38 head and pistons if that does not introduce other complications. I note that exhaust manifold part numbers are the same for 36, 37, and 38 but intake manifolds have different numbers. Anyone know what the differences are? I have a Stromberg carb.
There were no chunks in the oil pan. Apparently all pieces went out the exhaust valves!
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KongaMan thank you for your ideas. I've had computer hassles so haven't been able to respond.
I don't know why only some pistons (#1,2,7,8) were damaged. All eight come up almost exactly flush with the top of the block. A tiny amount of carbon buildup could then cause the pistons to hit the head. At any rate, I don't think it makes sense to risk using that head. The block needs to be bored and i am having difficulty finding 36 pistons. 1938 pistons are everywhere in various sizes so I think it seems sensible to use a 38 head and pistons if that does not introduce other complications. I note that exhaust manifold part numbers are the same for 36, 37, and 38 but intake manifolds have different numbers. Anyone know what the differences are? I have a Stromberg carb.
There were no chunks in the oil pan. Apparently all pieces went out the exhaust valves!
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KongaMan, Piston damage on both pistons (and two others} all where piston comes up under spark plug. That flat area is on the same level as the rest of the head surface as though its been machined. Additional damage in other places is probably from broken rings or piston parts banging around in there. No compression ring pieces from the really awful piston were still in the engine when the head was taken off. So----did someone take way too much off the head? I'd like to know what a head looks like that has not been altered. I'm getting used to the idea that i will probably be getting a different head. I can hardly imagine that the pistons are too tall. Surprisingly, cylinder walls are great and rod bearings are between .0015 and .002
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You sure are right. I'm having trouble dealing with pictures on my computer. When i figure it out I'll do that right away. Thanks.
36 Roadmaster manifold problem
in Buick - Pre War
Posted
I installed the Remflex manifold gaskets. Still leaked badly--- not the fault of the gaskets. I finally realized that the manifolds were so far out of plane that no gasket could possibly accommodate. The manifolds have now been machined, look beautiful, are all lined up and will go on tomorrow. The machinist told me the exhaust manifold was new, not just cleaned up, and could not possibly have worked together with the intake manifold. This car ran so poorly when I got it that I only ran it a few minutes before realizing it would need to be all torn down.
I bought this car sight unseen after a professional inspector found the engine to be "smooth and quiet". Considering that it also had four broken pistons, that could not have been true. There must be a lesson here. But we can't always inspect a car ourselves------
This forum is a wonderful service to newbies such as myself. Often the information is right on, occasionally it's just in the ballpark but it gets the thought processes going. Thanks to everyone who contributes.