Otto Cycle

I don't have any grease fittings on my car. They weren't invented yet. I have a small door made of sheet metal on the front of the distributor that swings to the side for filling with lube, and snaps back in place. But my original question still remains. The modern grease that I injected in that door might mix with the Vaseline they originally packed the starter clutch with back in 1916 (or thereafter if they repacked it following the manual). Some different types of grease are not compatible, when mixed with each other they turn to liquid. I'm going to answer my own question by mixing the grease that I used with Vaseline in a paper cup or my mother in law's best china, (RIP mother in law) and see if it liquefies. I'll post the results here.

This is incredible. That Vaseline is 100+ years old and still looks good. I don't get more than 2 or 3 years out of my "all purpose wheel and chassis grease", maybe 5 years in a sealed bearing once I take the plastic wrap off, before it gets hard and sticky (right before the bearing goes out). Now I'm worried. I squirted about 10 squirts from my grease gun into the starter generator (in the opening in front of the distributor). If they filled the starter clutch with Vaseline at the factory and repacked it back when Vaseline was called for, is this grease going to mix with the Vaseline? I hear not to mix different types of grease. The manual says to fill the distributor with soft cup grease (Vaseline). And the wheel hubs too. I unscrewed the plugs and squeezed about 10 pumps of grease in them too, and the manual calls for cup grease so does that mean they have cup grease in them which is not compatible? I'd hate to have to tear apart the 4 wheel hubs just to clean out all the "cup grease" Here is what my manual says about the starter and wheel hubs...

6 cylinder with a cone clutch.

Grease cups

I live in Lake George New York and will take my digital camera up there tonight, my regular camera still uses film!!

My heat riser is missing. The previous owner took it off, he told me it was because gasoline was almost kerosene in those days and this was needed to heat the fuel. He said it's not needed with modern fuel. My car runs great without it, don't know what will happen during cold weather.

This is funny....my 1917 the brakes pull to the left but the parking brake pulls to the right. If I use both at the same time it brakes in a straight line. If I stop on a left turn I use my brakes. If I stop on a right turn I use my parking brakes!!!!

Are those numbers normal for the compression on these engines? That's not too far off from mine (1917 "light 6")

Same question about a 1917 6 cylinder. I'm getting from 45 to 60 psi on all of them......that seems kind of low.

I just bought a 1917 Buick Roadster and the clutch slips a little, I'll be back to this forum with questions when and if I can find somebody to take on this job. Until then I can drive down hills and slow on level ground. Even a little up hills.

My real name is Otto believe it or not. I just bought a 1917 Buick Roadster, it's fully restored thank goodness because I sold my machine shop with most of my tools. Kept just enough to get by. I'll be taking pictures of the car soon if people want to see them