[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

 

Dear all,

Last week I worked day and night to complete the Oakland. Put on a temporary 'make shift' muffler. That went well, but we got visited by friends so it took more time than I hoped for. Thursday I tried to start the engine, lots of smoke and very loud bangs. May be an Ignition problem? The p.o. had an electronic ignition installed, but as no schematics where available, the only thing I could do to fire up the old SUN 1120. Hooked the number one cylinder pick-up and looked at the picture on tube, and that did not looked good. Only irregular spikes. The p.o. used an Bosch DU4 magneto and rebuild it with an pick-up sensor and some kind of (for me) unknown electronics. The high tension was disabled and the direction of rotation changed from CW to CCW. Must say, very clever done. When I got the car, it ran nicely on the electronic ignition, no idea what happened. Instead of spending a lot of time tracing the information about the electronic ignition, I decided to remove it, and install the original Remy ignition which I had on the shelf for some 25 years. Spent a lot of time to get the timing right, forgot that the Oakland engine rotated CCW 😡. But after a lot of tries I got it running (on battery not yet on magneto). No smoke and no fuss, the engine starts fast and runs very well. The original magneto for the car is a Remy model S, I used an RL.

 

Today (Monday), Ann and I pushed the car out of the shop and mounted the car 😊 (34" wheels, so its a bit tall). I started the engine and put it in first gear, slowly released the clutch and off we go. Just a small run just about 50 yards, no problems so far. Brakes functioned more or less, put it in reverse gear no problems. Well, after some coffee and apple pie, what to do next? As it is still early, 9:00 o'clock, and there are no biking tourists on the road  at this early hour, we opted for a 6 mile drive. Now I could try the second and third gear. Conclusion: after this 6 mile test, the clutch behaved perfect, no shuddering, no jumping no slipping. The car is a very strong runner, during the test drive we drove up a small hill, no problem at all. No whining of gears, no temperature increase of the gear box, clutch and rear axle. So I guess all the adjustments of the gears worked out OK. Changing gears went well, no crashing sounds, clutch behaved silk soft.

 

Fluids used:

Rear axle 85W140 Hypoid (Mineral oil).

Gear box: 80W90 GL4 Gearbox oil

Clutch: ATF 220 (Red)

Engine: 10w45 Classic (Half-synthetic)

Coolant: Universal coolant ready to use  (Pink)

 

In the excitement of the run, I forgot to take pictures 🥵. Next run I will take pictures.  Things to do: fixing the windscreen (upper part wont stay up), buying a muffler, repairing and fitting the dust pan. Furthermore, there are lots of small chores to do. As there are: repainting some scratches, assembling accessories (spare tires holder, fitting the speedometer, fitting the horn and head lights and so on). Making a new top, the existing one is white and dirty and beyond repair. Besides that black looks much better on a green car. Making a tonneau cover and side screens. Relining emergency brake bands.

 

One last remark, Ann is very happy how the car behaved 🥰. And as the saying goes: Happy wife, happy life ☺️.

 

Regards, Harm

 

PS

This is not the end of this story, I will keep you informed about the progress 😉.

 

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Yesterday and today, I spent a lot of time to assemble the rear axle and third member. Made all the necessary gaskets, and some special nuts and bolts. Many original were not usable anymore 😡. After nearly 3 years off and on, I hope to put the drive train Saturday under the car. The things left to do, is installing the battery, battery switch, starting switch and electric wiring. My goal is to have it running on Sunday.... but as the saying goes: Even the best laid plans of mice and man often go awry . 😉

 

 

 

 

Drive train ready for the car!

 

Regarding the cluster gear: as the manufacturing will need a lot of time and preparation, I decided to postpone it to November. At the moment the tour season starts, so Ann and I are a lot "underway". Furthermore, gardening will absorb a lot of time and energy.

Regards,

Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello gentlemen, thank all you for your advice and interest for my struggle with the Oakland.

.

@Joe, the gears are DP6 with a 14.5 degrees PA. The central shaft on which the cluster gear runs in the gear box has a diameter of 1". Below is a quick sketch, I did not yet draw the bronze bushings with the outside flanges (all dimensions in mm).

 

Inspecting the existing cluster gear, i saw some traces of rough welding between the gears. Further more, the large riveted gear is also welded at 4 points at the flange (belt and suspenders ??). Conclusion: its not a very precisely made piece of cluster gear, a bit rough I would say. Making the gears would be not much of a problem.... (I am an optimistic person 😄), I have the needed profile cutters and an horizontal milling machine. Would be a nice adventure.

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

There is one thing which worries me a lot, and that is the cluster gear. For test driving the Oakland I will use it as is, but for longer distance driving a good one is needed. Finding a better used one is impossible, as the are not many 1910 model K's left. So as a first shot, I asked around what it would cost to make a new one, well to make a long story short: a lot.  But that is of no concern for me, because no one would take on the job. So what to do? I have an idea to make one as an assembly of keyed gears on a shaft. Just to know what I am talking about, I made some drawings of the cluster gear. I think it can be done, but I can't find much on the internet about it. Also my books don't help me any further.

Gentlemen, do you know if that approach of making a cluster gear has be done successfully before?

 

Below pictures of the object of my sorrows.

 

 

To me it looks that the cluster gear is not hardened very well. Further it seems that the missing teeth of the main gear went through the gears on the cluster gear. Also a lot of wear on some of the gears.

 

Regards, Harm

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

I decided to broach the existing key way in the hubs. Made them 10 mm, that is right for an 1.378" shaft size, according to the SAE instruction for key ways. First I made a tapered bushing for broaching the hubs. 

Tapered bushing for key way broaching the hubs.

 

Milling the key way for guiding the broach into the tapered bushing.

 

Bad picture of the tapered bushing into the hub (backside).

 

Picture of the tapered busing into the hub (front side).

 

At last: broaching the hubs with a widened key way.

 

Then I milled the key ways, widening them to 10mm into the 2 shafts. Used a level and some tapered shims under the hub, to be sure the widened key way is made horizontal. All went well, lost only one small tooth edge of the broach. Broaches are made to use the whole width of the  teeth, not just a small part. The keys fitted nicely. I am satisfied, no clonking noises for the wheels anymore (I hope).

Regards, Harm

 

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello gentlemen, thank you you for your advice. Below are some pictures of the half shafts (yesterday I managed to delete them on my telephone 😒).

 

Both finished half shafts.

 

Shaft end with key way

 

Shaft end with differential gear.

 

Drivers side hub with the tapered hole and "offending" key way, the passengers side hub is even worse.

 

First option would be: widening the key way to 10 mm (my old 3/8" broach is missing some edges on the teeth 😒, delivery time of a new one -6 weeks..-). My doubts are, that this key way will be much wider than the existing one, I have no idea what the mechanical implications are.

Another option would be: leaving the key way at the shaft as is (5/16") and broaching a new one at the opposite direction of the existing one, and filling up the existing one. I am still pondering what to do.

Regards, Harm

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello, today I ran in a nasty problem. Last week I finished the half shafts, milled the key ways (5/16") and fitted the keys to test it with the hubs. At first  glance the keys fitted nicely into the key way of the hubs. But I got a bit suspicious because on the end of the hubs (at the brake drum end so to say) I saw about 3/64" play. Taking the half shaft out and measured  the key way at the hub, the hub key way seems  tapered over the full length (about 5"). I guess this wear is caused by non fitting keys or lose half shaft nuts. To rectify this there are some solutions: broaching a new larger key way (3/8") or turning out the core of the hub brazing a new core in it, turning a new taper and broaching the correct key way. But I am a bit stuck now, what to do to repair this? Gentleman can you give me some advice what to do?

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

On 3/20/2024 at 6:53 PM, alsfarms said:

Hello Harm, Has spring sprung in Holland? We are having a little taste of spring today. Your update is appreciated as you have overcome yet another obstacle. You will likely have a running driving car this summer.

Al

Hello Al, Spring came slowly but went away very fast, may be next week its getting better.... It seems Spring has a bit of a starting problem 😄. Yesterday I took the mower -John Deere X740- out, came half way (1 acre of the 2) ran very hot, V belt broken, well, not a good start of the mowing season 🤬. I hope to have the Oakland running end of April.... The brakes need some attention too.

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello,

I started last week trying to assemble the multi plate clutch. That went well, till I tried to move the clutch plates against each other. Sometimes it went more or less smooth (but with a lot of force), but most of the time it get stuck and they wont' move at all. After trying the same with the broken hub, the movement of that one went very smooth. Inspecting the slots in the hub it dawned to me that the slots in the reproduction hub, that are the slots with the fixed pins were to small and had a wrong angle. So, putting the hub into the milling machine and made the slots larger and on the right angle. The consequence of all this was that I had to turn new bigger pins. After some fiddling and small adjustments, the mechanism now works very smooth.

 

 

Multi plate clutch mechanism, with the modified slots enlarged pins.

 

Parts of the multi plate clutch. Left side: assembled clutch plates with inner hub and clutch movement mechanism.

Middle: Universal Joint

Right: clutch plates outer hub, bearings and driven gear (in side the gear box)

 

Same parts as above, pictured at the back.

 

Yesterday I painted the clutch and gear box housings.

 

 

Painted clutch and gear box housings.

 

To morrow I hope to start with tuning new half shafts. The current half shafts: one to short and the other one to long and with a botched screw thread (not repairable). Furthermore the square part for the differential gears is just to small (on both half axles).

Regards,

Harm

[WTB, left hand steering arm and front axle backing plates Auburn 1935]

Hello,

Found the parts I needed.

Regards,

Harm

[WTB, left hand steering arm and front axle backing plates Auburn 1935]

Hello, I am restoring (very slowly) an 1935 851 Auburn cabriolet. I am looking for a left hand steering arm and front axle backing plates.

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Just now, alsfarms said:

I am curious how you set the rivets in this application? Did you hear close to white hot, insert, and hand hammer against a clamped backing bar?

Al

Hello Al, yes I did it that way. But Ann assisted me, as you have to work fast. The rivet cools rather fast. The last action (after hammering) is heating the hammered head to a white / yellow heath and using a small pneumatic hammer with a rivet tool to make a nice round head.

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello all, thank you for your kind words. I consider the upholstery part as done. Just left some small chores to be done when I put the hood on the car. Last Monday I send the ring and pinion to a Steel Hardening Company. I used this company in the past, they will Nitrading the gears. Hope to receive the gear back at Thursday next week. To day I riveted both parts of the outer shell of the multi-plate clutch together. The riveting went well, see pictures. So, at last, I can start with assembling the clutch, gearbox and third member.

 

 

 

Regards, Harm

[1934-1936 Auburn door handles for sale]

Thanks.

[1934-1936 Auburn door handles for sale]

Hello sir, are these handles still for sale or sold a long time ago?

Regards, Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

19 minutes ago, alsfarms said:

Very nice Harm. How much horse hair did you use?

Al

Hi Al, about 10 - 12 Lbs. So that is quite a lot. I think you will need the same amount for your Locomobile, maybe less if it is not diamond tufted but straight.

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

I have not been much in the shop. Last weeks were very cold 🥶 (for a Dutch point of view). As I keep the shop heated with a pellet stove, the stove was this time not up to the task. Instead I took the passengers rear seat into the nicely warm house, and upholstered it (the seat that is 😉). Fitting the back slab on the cushion was a bit hard in my fingers, pushing the half round needle through 6 layers of leather and some burlap is a heavy task. Thinking this over, and contemplating how large the back seat cushion really is, I thought that there must be an easier way to do this. So I looked at a website for horse saddle makers, tips, tricks and tools. Long story short: those people using a special tool for it.

 

 

I ordered one at a leather shop. Its not expensive at all, I payed $35 for it. Well that was quiet a revelation, I don not say its easy, but its really a much less though job now.

 

It works like a small hand sewing machine. You push the needle trough all the layers you wish to be sewn. Retread it a little till it forms a small loop on the end of the needle, and feed a sew thread through the loop. And then repeat it, to sew the back slab to the side slabs took me 6 hours. But on the end, my fingers were not nearly as sore as when I made the front cushions.

 

Here is the result of my labor:

 

 

Regards,

Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Today I competed the sewing of the back slab to the side panel of the passengers seat cushion. Put it into the car, not unhappy with the result. Only thing to do is: investigate what causes the wrinkle on the right side of the seat.  Same happens on the drivers side 😡.  On the picture it can clearly be seen, in reality not so much, but I can unsee it anymore, very annoying.

I started covering the back seat with hessian. Next thing to do, sewing side panels.

 

Passengers cushion, ready for installation into the car.

 

Detail of the cushion back slab sewn to the side panel.

 

Completed front seats.

 

Hessian on the rear seat.

 

Regards,

Harm

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

20 hours ago, alsfarms said:

I am hoping to give a try at upholstery work. My wife has a good skill with pattern work and could be my resident expert, If I can sweet talk her!

Al

Hello Al, good luck. 😉

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello Al,

The answer to your question: the Singer can not be used as the amount of material is to small to use the Singer sewing feet. Maybe there are sewing machines for this, but I am not aware of them. Below are some detail pictures to make it more clear what I mean.

 

Cushion upside down, with underside cover slab.

 

 

These two parts should be sewn together.

 

I use a curved strong sewing needle for sewing together the bottom slab and the cushion side panel. And this is

where the fun begins 😉

 

All the layers are sewn before, so holding all the layers in position is easy. For regular leather work I use thread number 20, plenty strong for these cushions. For sewing the back slab to the side panel, I use thread number 10. To make it a bit more easy to get the threat through all the layers, I use hard leather wax on a small rag. (swiping the thread with the waxed rag)

Al, thank you for your kind words.

 

Regards,

Harm

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Today, I finished the drivers seat cushion. Sew the underside slab (artificial leather) to the side panels of the seat. Did it by hand with a canvas needle, that is a half round needle. As the artificial leather is quite stiff, I used pliers to push and pull it through 2 layers of leather and 4 layers of artificial leather. -Have now sore hands 😫-.

One remark: the front of the seat is about 4" high, the rear of the seat is 2 3/4" high. The difference in height is necessary to keep you seated without sliding out of the seat, when the brakes are applied 😉.

 

Cushion top side.

 

Cushion bottom side.

 

Driver side cushion at its final position.

 

Hope to continue to morrow with the passengers side.

 

Regards,

Harm

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Today Ann and I worked on the front seats. We are sewing the side pieces on the seats. As these side piece are sewn on at a 90 degrees angle, it is a very difficult job to do it with a 'regular' sewing machine. Years ago I bought a very old Singer leather workers machine. It took the greater part of the day to get it running and sewing again. But now it works perfect, after searching the web, I found and could download PDF manuals for it. Bringing such an ancient machine back to live you really need some kind of manual. Its a Singer type 29K71, its manually driven by hand wheel or by treadle. We use the hand wheel, start and stop is easier to control.  Ann and I managed to get one seat sewn, Ann turns the wheel and I guide the leather seat, went well -still happily married 😉-. One problem I encountered, sewing in a straight line is rather difficult with this type of machine.  The reason is the transport mechanism is simple, just the upper feet is transporting the leather. After a few inches it tends to put the leather of line. But on the other hand, you can rotate the upper feet 360 degrees horizontally. For this kind of job, a very useful machine. BTW it goes straight through 1/3" leather (be careful with fingers and nails, they are no match for these machines 😲. I hope to do the other seat to morrow.

Ann turning the hand wheel of the Singer sewing machine. The pink dots are sewing pins. As it is rather cold

in the shop, we keep our body warmers on.

 

Left side new running board. Bought he brass edge trimming at the Restoration Stuff Company.

 

Finished right side rear door.

 

Finished left side rear door.

 

Regards,

Harm

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

Hello,

After a nearly 6 month gap, I started again restoring the Oakland. The reason for my absence are some family matters. Ann has one sister, now 82 years old, who participated successfully, this year for the 18th time the 'Nijmeegse Vierdaagse'. A world famous 4 days walk event. For her age group, you have to walk 20 miles a day, during four consecutive days. Ann participated successfully 8 times, but did not like it anymore. Nearly 40,000 participants, just too many people to her liking. So all went well, but after two weeks my SIL went ill. Long story short, we nursed her and stayed with her. She slowly recovered, but no work on the Oakland could be done (my SIL lives 80 miles away, it takes at least a 3 hours round trip, very busy roads over there).

 

Interesting part of this story:

As Ann and I stayed at my SIL's place, my SIL asked me to start with the clearance of her estate (with is huge -for Dutch standards-. Well there are a number of sheds / shops / and garages.... Filled to the brim with car parts, to me most of unknown cars and lorries. So a lot of work is involved, not easy for two 70 year old humans😏. I will not bother you with the details, but there is one very nice 'detail' to mention. As my brother in law, collected and dismantled many cars 😭 (he was a bit of a hoarder) he also dismantled a.o. a 1935 Auburn 851 cabriolet. The icing on our cake: we found nearly all the important parts of this car, Engine+gearbox, dual ratio rear axle, frame, steering box and wheel. Furthermore, 2 complete doors, front fenders, 1 rear fender, complete hood and so on. And a complete undisturbed wind shield, boy is that thing heavy! But sadly no front axle nor wheels. Also the sheet metal after the doors is missing. But I know why, I will write about it in another installment.

But most important, I found all the paperwork and some pictures belonging to that car, in the archives of my deceased BIL. That means a lot of less trouble with the authorities -if I ever get living long enough😉 to restore this car-. Having all the numbers and papers, i did a quick scan and could tracing the history back to the second owner. I guess with a bit of more effort, it must be possible to find the first owner.

 

Back to the Oakland.

To boast morale, I started to assemble all the parts on the Oakland. Just to see it as complete as possible. The running boards are junk, the PO cut of all the bolts and screws. So I made new running boards, that went well. But, I could not get the drivers side horizontal. The running board sagged about 6 degrees,  and that shows! After a lot of thinking, I came to the conclusion, that the weight of the very heavy Prest-O-Starter tank + the two spare tires, was just to much for the running board brackets. After more than 100 years they sagged a bit. So, with the help of some heath and a a large Bahco key (monkey wrench?) I got them horizontal. Progress: the front fender did not fit any more 😡. Seems that in the past the 'restorers' made it fit, by putting the front fender 1 inch more to the front and relocated the bracket for fitting the fender to the running board. That caused the head lamp to rub at the fender, they relocated the stanchion more to the middle of the car by cutting it of and welding it 1/2" more to the middle of the car, using a big nut as reinforcement.

I removed all this hacking and installed it as the car left the factory. The running board, fenders and head lamp are now fitting properly.  Today I started (again), with finishing the upholstery. Made the door panels. (no pictures, phone empty).

To be continued soon.

Sincerely, Harm

 

 

[We acquired an Oakland with a "little" work.]

26 minutes ago, alsfarms said:

Nice work Harm.....

How hot is it in your neck of the woods?

Al

Hello Al,

Thank you. Where I live its 70F and rainy, that is rather cold for the time of the year. We had a cold month of July. But in Italy, France, Spain, Greece and  Portugal (that is to say, the whole south of Europe), it is extremely hot. 118F at some places, and very dry, terrible. Because of the wild fires, most of the tourists at the Island of Rhodes are now being evacuated. Maybe you heard about it on the news?

Regards,

Harm