Str8-8-Dave

I put a NAPA battery in my 31 Buick and it has been trouble free for 4+ years now. I maintain it on a Deltran 6v battery tender. I have yet to have to add water. NAPA has an extensive list of 6v batteries in their online store, most have complete specifications, Length/Width/Height, cold cranking amps, etc. I never thought to take a specific battery picture, below are what I have which were taken as I restored and installed floorboards. Once the floorboards and floor mats are installed access to the battery is thru a lift out door in the passenger side floorboard which allows access to check water and top up. If the battery has to be replaced the floorboard has to be removed. For that reason I tried to find a battery that would live for awhile, lotsa work to replace the battery.... Once the main floorboard is installed access to the battery is through the lift-out door in the foreground. It's big enough to service the battery but the entire floorboard must be removed to replace the battery.

Tom- My float in my 31 Buick 60 was fabbed from balsa and coated with SIG Supercoat Butyrate model airplane dope. This is the stuff. The finish on my float has never softened and it floats like a champ after 2 years in service. Your best bet is to fab another float, do not try to strip and re-coat with SIG, you don't know what you will get. Bad news- you picked an inferior product, good news, you caught it before you had a bigger problem. Supercoat – Clear High Gloss Butyrate Dope – Model Merchants

We always vacationed in East Tawas MI at Jerry's Marina when I was a kid. Having acquired the neighbor's old non-functioning Clinton powered reel lawn mower and rebuilding the engine enough to make it run reliably at age 8 my parents got the picture I was interested in mechanical things. This was cemented at Jerry's because I was never out fishing with my dad, I was too busy helping assemble trailers, rig boats and repair outboard motors. I also bailed rainwater out of rental boats for 50 cents apiece. In 1967 the owner of the resort asked if I would like to go to the Johnson Service School over the winter and come work at the marina the following summer. My mother accompanied me to 701 South Sand St., Waukegan, IL because I wasn't even 18 yet and Johnosn Motors required her to sign a waiver to limit their legal exposure for hsting a "child". Christmas of 1967 my main Christmas gift was a Craftsman 80pc mechanic's tool set in a nice metal toolbox in anticipation of my working for Jerry's the following summer. That was the first major tool acquisition I can remember. I bought a lot of Snap-on and Mac tools the following summer (1968) including a Snap-on box-open wrench set and a model TQ150L dial indicator torque wrench with tell-tale light to announce achievement of the torque setting. By 1970 I had a Craftsman oxy-acetylene torch set made by Harris and a 2hp air compressor made by Campbell Hausfeld. The torches were sold years ago but the compressor was just sold off with our summer home this spring.

Yeah- that's a constant problem. Try searching on 1931 Buick and see what I look at every day. The best thing you can do if you don't want to risk missing a mis-listed part is filter on All and set the sorting to Newly Listed and look every day. You will see a bunch of unrelated garbage but if you scroll down until New Listing no longer appears next to the items you have seen what is new for the day. It's become part of my daily morning routine. I have also found parts by searching on 1930s which will bring up a couple of suggested searches, one is 1930s automotive parts, and the other is 1930s clothing. I have complained to E-bay for years about seeing pages of tilt steering columns and seat belts etc. that are not appropriate. Filtering on vintage auto parts doesn't get rid of much of it either. The good features for buyers on E-bay is stuff shows up there that you would never find otherwise due to the popularity of the program and if you buy something that isn't right you can usually get it shipped back and a refund, all paid for by the seller.

Ahh- at least you are still getting back up off the floor Phil- I'm 72 so I share your pain. I'm also facing the possibility or having to remove the fuel tank on my 1931 8-66S to replace the hydrostatic fuel sending unit, a component of the King Seeley Tele-Gage fuel gauge setup. Dave...

Rusty is on the right track with his instructions above. Particularly, the preventive measure of storing with clutch disengaged so the fiber friction disc material off the mating flywheel surface. Rust is the culprit, the fiber material gets stuck to the flywheel. I've had several Japanese compact tractors in the past that had a built in lever arrangement to store the tractor with the clutch disengaged. Never had a clutch stick to the flywheel with those.

I just failed a battery in an electric start generator, an 18 amp/hr. sealed, valve regulated lead/acid battery with a plastic case. It took a charge just fine but when I hit the start button it went "click" and that was all she wrote. I discovered this while readying the generator to sell to my stepson. I didn't even test it after, I'd seen this movie before. The battery sat in the generator for a couple of years with no attention and became discharged leaving it a sitting duck for freezing in a cold garage. That distorted the plates in on cell, the case was locally bulged adjacent to cell that failed. Hitting it with the starting load was the last straw, it broke a connection in the cell causing the battery to fail. A few days and $38 later the E-bay replacement battery showed up, was installed and made the starter happy again. My stepson that bought the generator is particularly proud of the arrangement, he won't have to stress his Arnold Schwarzenegger body pulling the ripcord on the 11hp OHV Briggs motor-vator...

Chassis serial number only, no intelligence built in. You may find serial number lists showing ranges of serial numbers associated with model years but you need firewall tags to identify model number. On early Buicks chassis serial number did not match engine number and chassis serial numbers were numeric only. In 1932 or 33 Buick chassis serial number tags went alpha-numeric. Pictures of my 31 Buick 8-67S tags, Buick model number and production year on the small firewall tag, Fisher Body Job Number on larger firewall tag and chassis serial number tag on right front frame.

My almost new used 2015 Porsche 911-4S had 5900 miles on the rather expensive Pirelli tires. I asked the seller if the tires had ever been changed and he sent pictures of the date codes on the tires which verified they were original issue but he took pictures of the sidewalls of the tires, good closeup pictures to convince me the tires were still good. Mind you- Porsche has 2 settings for TPMS monitoring of tire pressure, a "comfort setting", about 4PSI front and 6PSI rear lower recommended tire pressures than the "standard" setting. The owner's manual goes on to say the comfort setting is good for speeds up to 165mph and above that you should use the standard pressure... So, let's see, who is m life insurance agent? Should I trust 7yr old tires on a car like this? Do I still enjoy life north of the green green grass? I bought $1800.00 worth of new tires from Tire Rack BEFORE the car was delivered to me. I paid an additional $300.0 to have the Porsche dealer evaluate the TPMS system operation and mount and balance my new tires. And when those tires are 4 years old, not 7 years old, If I still own and drive the car the tires will be replaced.

AC had numerous issues with their oil filters when I was still messing with GM 60s muscle. Milt Schornack built a 406 roller stroker motor for my 68 GTO and he told me to stay away from them. His son Jim worked at the Warren tech center and they had a big screw up with the vendor that made the check valve components for the filters and after they ruined a couple of expensive experimental engines on the dyno there was a recall. Wix and Purolator had good reputation and I used them on the Pontiac and my 63 max wedge Dodge 330.

Getting the exhaust diverter valve off the car shouldn't be too risky, it's thru-bolted to manifold and exhaust pipe. Use good penetrating oil like Aero Kroil to see if they can be wrenched off. If not that a die grinder could be used to cut nuts or bolt heads off or grind flush with valve casting flanges and tapping bolts out. JB-weld for this job not a good solution due to heat limitations. Once off the car it probably could be successfully welded. Another idea- PM Pete Phillips to see if he has one. I bought one from him a while ago and it had been repaired by a good welder.

stands for Birmingham Small Arms BMW Bayerisch Motoren Werke I had 4 BMW's, none had more than 2 cylinders or 2 wheels... My 1977 R100S that I bought new from Oren Glassel at Howell Cycle was the best motorcycle I ever owned. SN 616012, I bought another 1977 R100S from the then president of Bell Helmets on the left coast when I had a flashback to my youth. It was a disappointment because someone filled and ran the transmission on ATF and destroyed the smooth shifting I enjoyed with the first bike. 1000cc, 429lbs dry, 456lbs wet with 6 gals of gas, 45-50mpg, 127mph at 7200rpm. This is the bike I bought new parked at our cottages in Barton City, MI. I got on that thing rain or shine in Dearborn, MI and rode 208 miles to the cottages where I was working weekends to make one of the cinder block bomb shelter cottages into a year-round retirement home for my mother.

The one acronym I really liked best was the one they put on the trunk of Cadillac cars for awhile, ETC was supposed to designate Eldorado Touring Coupe, I just called them Cadillac Etceteras....

It seems those badges are acronyms... Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino- FIAT Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili- ALFA Why is Alfa Romeo Called Alfa Romeo? | Rewind & Capture (rewindandcapture.com) Anything else? I also queried Google for pictures of REO radiator badging and they are all caps....

Ok- they have it both ways on one authentic old piece of paper so I agree with your point. Never say an old dog can't learn new tricks though LOL... A quick Google on Willys did confirm what I thought on that. It is pronounced Willis by the man who owns the name. J.N. Willys pronounced his name `Willis,' local Jeep historian says | The Blade (toledoblade.com) This is an edit to my capitulation on capitalization. Advertising agencies do a lot of funny things with their ads. There is no doubt Reo- the word, was adopted by the ad agencies so it did sound better like Reo-Royale. It also defers to the fact owners and fans commonly referred to cars badged with the initials REO as Reo. That said, the man who owned the initials AND the company that owned the brand capitalized the initials because at the root of the name is the man, Ransom Eli Olds, who actually owned the initials borrowed by the company and had a significant reputation for his engineering prowess. GM capitalized on his engineering prowess. Looking carefully at the Reo Royale ad when it came time to do the legal stuff the advertiser used REO, not once in the ad but twice. REO Motorcar Company is all caps, REO The Gold Standard of Value badge at the bottom of the ad, all caps. When GM decided to go elsewhere with the branding on vehicles blurring the association with Ransom Eli Olds they went to the name Oldsmobile. Buick isn't all caps because Buick is a name, not initials for a name, same with Cadillac and Chevrolet.

REO is an initials acronym, not a name. Ransom Eli Olds. That's why it is capitalized.

I doubt it is a valve lifter. It is more likely a motorcycle primary or timing chain tensioner that screwed into a cast housing and had a slider that actually contacted the chain. I'm still guessing but looking at the design that's what I would guess.

Peter- Very sorry to hear of your encounter and wish you a speedy recovery. Amen to wearing a helmet, I was more of a motorcyclist, rode them for just over 50 years and would not go near one without a helmet. Over my lifetime I had 3 such incidents I was keenly aware of. The first was a local bicyclist in his 50's who was well known for travelogue movies shown by George Pierrot on TV and at our local high school auditorium. He hit a curb and fell off his bike and was killed by closed head injury due, likely, to the fact he had no helmet. One of my brother's classmates was riding his bicycle to grade school on an icy morning, without a helmet, and rode into the path of Mrs. Harris, our 6th grade English teacher's 1956 Olds and was hit, knocked down and slid a long way on an icy road. He was ok until he got to school. Mrs. Harris nearly took his head off for riding on the road which was a violation of a school safety mandate and not looking before cutting across the road on a day when cars just could not stop. The last was a story of the loss of both a brilliant Ford engineering manager who happened to be my dad's boss, and his wife. He and his wife did have helmets on and were riding on a shoulder bicycle path in Edward Heinz Park in Westland Michigan, well off the road, when he and his wife were hit by a drunk driver. They both died in the accident. I regarded safety as the number one goal while riding motorcycles. On the hottest of days I rode with armored jacket and pants, boots, gloves and the best helmet I could find. I adopted the attitude while riding that I was a ghost, no one else had responsibility to see me or give a rip about my safety, that was all on me. I also NEVER did anything to provoke an incident such as riding between lanes or riding on the shoulder of a road that had stopped traffic. I stayed in my lane in a traffic jam and waited my turn to move just like the car behind and in front of me had to do. I also tried to move with traffic knowing speed is not as likely to kill you as differential speed is likely to kill you when a car pulls suddenly into your lane not knowing you are there. If the car is doing 70 and you are doing 90 and you collide going the same direction that's a 20mph impact. Get well soon Peter. Dave

This is a quick update on my interior seat project. Today I finished installation by tacking the valance that fills the open space between the seat back and the package shelf to the top of the seat back frame, then concealing the edge of the valance with a matching cloth covered molding similar to the Randall molding Buick installed. The molding was made by Shelby Trim. The interior of my car is essentially done. The 8-day Waltham clock I installed in the car at one time needs to go back in the car. Currently it is sitting on my computer desk. Dave This is a picture of Dave Dunton's original seat and valance. The Randall molding covers the joint between the front edge of the folding valance cloth to the top of the wood seat frame. I managed to find the original valance for my car in a trash bag full of interior parts removed by the previous restorer. I tried my best to make an accurate copy seen in the pictures below. This is my reproduction valance installed on the package shelf frame. This is what the valance looks like with the seat adjusted all the way forward in Dave Dunton's car. These pictures are of the seat adjusted all the way back, so the valance folds over onto the seat back cushion. The cover over the package shelf compartment on my car is a different color because it still wears it's original mohair. I may or may not recover it with the modern material used in my car today.

Happy Easter to you too, Mark- Did you dye your Easter Eggs yet?

Sure are a lot of 31 cars with 2 bar bumpers. My Buick for 1931 original sales brochure pictures all the cars with 2 bar bumpers. My 1931 8-66S is much earlier than Dave Dunton's 1931 8-66S, has 2 bar bumpers and we came to the conclusion only the later 31 cars got 1 bar bumpers. No argument on 32's they did all have 1 bar bumpers.

Hell- they're on my 31 Buick steering wheel, bottom lever is light switch, straight down for off, one click to right- parking lamps, one click to left from straight down, low beam headlamps and running lights, 2 clicks left- high beams...

Ford had another pedal on the floor for the windshield washers and washer fluid was in a bag hanging on the fender apron under the hood. Some hot rodders used this setup with a little clever re-routing of hoses to pump funny things into the intake manifold...

Shelby Auto Trim in Sterling Heights, MI was a godsend find for this project. They are top-flight and only 50 miles from our home in Port Huron, MI. I had the seat in line for Matthew Larder Upholstery out west of Lansing, MI but he was up to his eyeballs in early brass car upholstery jobs and just couldn't get to my job which was small potatoes compared to the museum jobs he is working on. Shelby Trim took my job right in and would have completed it in 2 or 3 months, but we had trouble scrounging up enough material to complete the seat. Then, Steve Baker had to set my job aside for a bit to take care of an Autorama car. We had trouble coming up with appropriate welt and Steve made the welt and several cloth-covered trim moldings for the job. Bottom line- Shelby Auto Trim is just an excellent resource, Steve Baker, who is the lead trimmer and Ann Ditri, the owner, were just super to work with.