Jack Bennett

While I am not familiar with the term “flowable grease”, that in itself is not surprising. But what is surprising is the number of types of grease manufactured, the multitude of uses grease is prescribed for, and the singular word “grease” is used to describe it all. My books prescribe “steam oil” and “semi-liquid grease” for general use in my antique cars, which vary in age from 1923 to 1929. But, I have had conversations with t some highly placed individuals in the lubricant business, as well as talking to the folks at places like Meyers Old Dodge and Snyder’s regarding the purchase of “steam oil” or “semi-liquid grease” and the reply has been unanimous……..”Stick with 600W or 1500W and you can’t go wrong regardless of the age of your collectible cars. Of course only a idiot would think it’s OK to put 600W or 1500W in the transmission of my 1951 Plymouth, but, any idiot who thinks it is OK deserves to have their transmission destroyed. I personally think that the cost of a quart of 600W or 1500W has a lot to do with the tendency of “frugal” antique auto collectors to stray into untested territory regarding the type of lubricants to use in their antique gear boxes. I have heard that mixing some number of tubes of grease, mixed with some amount of 90/140 gear oil will stop the leaks from a 1923 Dodge transmission or differential. I also understand that hominy grits and a diet of ground cork will stop leaks from a perforated ulcer……….and I believe these solutions to a problem, one not so serious, and the other very serious, are both equally laughable. When in doubt stick with a time proven product and hope you outlast your 100 year old car. https://www.valvolineglobal.com/en-ksa/grease-101-different-grease-types-and-when-to-use-them/ Jack

I have always had a place in my “awe locker” for you folks who managed to make that much steel floatable. It must be wonderful to be able to find a battleship in the middle of the ocean……..and I am still having problems finding a Phillips screwdriver in my tool cabinet. Jack

😂

And your reflections regarding my reflections served in the Army are priceless. Boredom is a bugger, and a three month stay in the field, with 24 hours a day of “attack”…..”delay”……”retrograde”……..”reorganize”……….”attack”……is essentially the same thing as having biscuits and gravy, three times a day, for three consecutive months. The mod said if I wanted to go off topic, stick to my own threads……..well? Anyway, what a lot of people don’t know is that the military training exercises, like Reforger and Team Spirit brings together the armed forces of many nations to train as a single entity. And, the days I trained with the Aussies, Limey’s (and I know it may be offensive until you’ve shared a slit trench for three months), Gurkha’s, and some nationalities I didn’t even remember was a member of NATO, was a invaluable, no, I’ll go a bit further and say “precious” part of my real military training as well as some good lessons on simply being human. Thanks to you and your country for being the first to commit to service in Korea. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/07/31/national/diplomacy/korea-australia-korean-war/20230731172945165.html Jack

I have heard that corn head oil works good in bevel gear transmissions. I also recall the same person telling me to dump a quart of automatic transmission fluid in my cars crankcase to stop valve noise. I have, and will always use 600W aka semi-grease lubricant,or steam oil in my transmissions. For years I have used CV joint lubricant in my steering gear boxes, and have yet had one to leak or fail. Jack

Thanks for your service Paul. I watched the A-10 Thunder Bolts, aka the Warthog, fire the gunnery ranges in Korea. I don’t know whether or not they fired on targets you had charted, when they finished, what remained of the 12” thick battle ship iron targets placed high on the mountain side, sure made a believer out of me. Jack

No, not personally. But I remember they had some problems with gas tanks exploding during a rear end collusion. But, I suppose a semi-tractors fuel tanks would explode if hit hard enough, and the circumstances favored an explosion. I have had mucho experience with a Vega, and I bought one, with a seized engine about 1973, and I learned a whole bunch about their aluminum head and Teflon coated cylinder bore. I just chose a Pinto here because it gathered a reputation as a junky car….perhaps rightfully so if compared to a LTD or Gran Torino, but worth the money as a economy car. The Vega, well, history says it all so I will let a sleeping dog lie. Jack

Gotta remember that rocks and rust were invented several years after I took science classes in high school. But, while thinking of a similarly matured AACA member “Rusty O’Toole”, I recalled that “fe” was in some way related to the way metal acts, and I now suppose your use of fe203 must allude to the natural decomposition of steel while returning to its natural state. I must apologize on grasping the meaning of the second elemental symbol, but my bet is that it lives close to the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. (TNT) though. Jack

I’m not sure what you’re saying here so I’ll insert my own opinion of why so many old machines are removed from the sales floor in the most un-sanctimonious ways imaginable. The monetary and sentimental value of anything is often based on its rarity. And the rarity of the object is mainly determined by two things. 1. Some things, like the Pinto, the Vega and the eight track tape player were junk from the day they were invented. They are “rare” because they all died early in their existence and so few have escaped a early grave. 2. “Rare” may also describe a well made, highly desirable and much desired object. But, using the “Ming Vase” or a Samurai sword as the example, millions may have been made, and under normal use, should have lasted forever. So, as was the “two hundred mile per gallon” carburetor, the demise of the “too many” part of the items number must be artificially hastened….thus making it “rare” and “valuable”. My only example for this was to imagine everyone in the USA owning a Rolls. Royce Silver Shadow or a Porsche 911. Jack

Gee, what a good thought. And, I would think it would add to the horror if one remembers that those destroyed by the military were probably arbitrarily selected, and destroyed as found….i.e. “barn finds”. And then, if you consider that those destroyed while filming a single movie scene may have been completely restored, or were formerly of “collectible” condition, the horror becomes unbearable. Jack

Never, ever, has anyone appreciated the all engrossing exhilaration of doing an awe inspiring speed of thirty five miles per hour……until it is done on a no speed limit Autobahn in Germany. A 60 ton, M-60A1 tank, rolling on a track of rubber blocks simply was not designed with the intention of being driven, on a hard surface road, at any speed. I don’t know if “fish-tail” is a good word or a proper noun, but I do know it is a prominent part of the tankers vocabulary after a three year tour in Deutschland😱. Jack

The scale we participated in this deletion of history, as land based soldiers , pales considerably when compared to those responsible for the development and testing of atomic weapons. While I knew it was a unavoidable price we had to pay for the maintenance of our nationality as a sovereign nation, it still knots up my stomach when I think of a complete fleet of naval ships, each loaded to capacity with military and civilian vehicles of every size and sort, being intentionally reduced to scrap metal and sunk in the oceans. Some people have nightmares about some scary movie. I still have nightmares about the beautiful 1940’s Ford, 1 1/2 ton, wrecker, covered with 55 gallon drums of gas and loaded with dud artillery rounds, being incinerated and its bright red paint disappearing in a flash of fire as the High Explosive Plastic round from my tank scores a direct hit. I sometimes wonder if this doesn’t play some part in the seemingly complete absence of some of the more exotic European cars……I.e. the luxurious sedans shown as being used by the German and Italian military elite in WWI and WWIi movies. Jack

Having restored several antique cars of various makes and models, I have learned that most parts for any car or truck is limited to a single purchase. And, say it is for a carburetor float or a model specific light, the search for a replacement ends when the needed object is found. I.e., it really doesn’t matter if the objects are literally falling from the tables at Hershey, or only a single one remains in all of everywhere, so long as you find that one, you are good. Many of the parts, such as gaskets, bearings, seals, covering and upholstery materials is generic, and available at many merchants on eBay and Amazon. The needy articles, such as tires, windshield and side glass and nice to have knobs and handles can be fabricated of found after some amount of searching. And, a immense part of restoring these old machines, in my stead, is the search, acquisition and finally owning the harder to find stuff. Again…….owning my old machines is the 97% pleasure of working on them, .02% pleasure of looking at them and the .01% pleasure of actually driving them. Perhaps it is the journey, and not the destination, which determines the real value of our old cars. All that said……if a Dodge DA-6 talks to you, in a language you like to hear, get it and make its restoration a work of love and not a labor of necessity. Jack

In the fall Of 1964 I re-enlisted in the Army, and switched my Army career field from electronics technician to armor crewman. My initial training at Fort Knox, KY was on the M-48 tank with a 90mm main gun. During the next twenty years I served in seven different countries and on several models of tanks ending with the M1 Abrams tank with a laser guided 120mm gun. Throughout this time a constant requirement of tank crews, as well as any other military arm which relied on demolitions and explosives, was the effective use of their weapons against real targets. Recalling the adrenaline rush of a successful run on a well organized tank target range is pure pleasure. However, in retrospect, remembering some of the targets used to hone our skills on the main, and machine guns brings pain to my mind. Today little attention is paid by the general public regarding the immense amount of vehicular history which was collected, assembled on gunnery ranges, and routinely destroyed as tank, artillery and air craft targets. It was a matter of professional pride to see the 1944 Ford fuel tanker or the formidable half track evaporate into a cloud of smoke, fire and debris as my tank main gun returned to battery from the well placed shot. Now, I look back and wish these irreplaceable machines were still available to the antique vehicle collectors who could still enjoy their place in history, both technically as well as sentimental 😢.

Thank you Ben. Just a note for any spatially impaired eighty year old guy, who still thinks they occupy a 18 year old body, and decides putting a massive four speed gear box, in a tiny truck intended for a three speed box will be easy………think again because it isn’t. There was a time that I considered cutting out the frame cross member which runs under the seat because the pickup truck emergency brake operating mechanism doesn’t have clearance to fit. Thankfully, I still had a can of MGD left and decided to drink it instead of grabbing my zip tool. Then it occurred to me that the emergency brake on the transmission was intended to fit a 1951 Dodge pickup, which apparently uses a banana shaped pull handle located under the left side of the truck dash board. I plan on fabricating a floor mounted lever, which I suppose is more original to a 1929 Fargo than a 1951 Dodge Pilothouse pickup, Fortunately I have a couple of transmissions left over from building the 1923 Roadster, and one of them has a complete lever operated emergency brake, with the lever and the little toothy piece which mounts on the gear box and keeps the handle engaged in the hold position. The new voltage regulator should arrive in the mail today or tomorrow and the cutout switch on the generator will be updated to a voltage regulator. Meanwhile, I have a old friend who does plasma cutting as a hobby, and I will see if he will cut me a new mount to adapt the emergency brake handle to the Fargo. I’ll post a bit more as “Mite” returns to life……..thanks for your input and encouragement. Jack

The weather here in Washington State is a daily mix of WOW! and wow……but it is finally warm enough by mid-day that I can get a few hours work done on the Frgo. Today was a pretty good day in Fargo terms, and I made some noteworthy progress toward the reanimation of the old man. Exchanging the original 1929, 25” six cylinder engine for the 230 cubic inch, 1951 Dodge pickup six cylinder, 23” engine posed a few problems with the brake, clutch, starter and gas pedals, which complicated cutting and installing new floor boards in the cab. At the close of the business day in Fargo Land, many of these bumps have been smoothed out. The transmission, clutch have been installed and the pedals have been cut and bent to fit the Dodge bell housing and the Fargo firewall. This put me to a point I was able to measure the length of the drive shaft I need to connect the Dodge transmission to the Fargo rear end. A new master cylinder has replaced the unserviceable one in the truck so this leaves only the rear brake cylinders to worry about. A guy on Facebook marketing advertises he has Dodge driveshafts for sale so maybe a trip to Puyallup is in the offing over the next few days. Bottom line to all this ambling is that “Mite”, the 1929 Fargo Express Panel just may be able to move under his own power, for the first time in at least fifty years, by this time next week. Jack

The OP was made on August 22, 2022. By my calendar this was nearly two years ago, and I am hoping the problem was solved, the engine runs, or the car was junked. I read the posts on the AACA forum, not only to acquire information on the current projects I am working on, but to acquire information on any project I may ever work on. The problems are pretty evident, and knowing that a engine won’t start is pretty self identifying as a problem. Why the engine won’t start just may be what the subscriber to the forum may be looking for, and it bugs me to no end when it is important enough to post the problem, but it isn’t important enough to post a solution. Please……please……..please……show a bit of respect for those people who respond to a problem, offer a solution, and, apparently are more concerned with your issue than you are. I like follow-up, and, personally, I believe it is what makes the forum worth reading and AACA membership a better investment than any other car club. Jack

I wish I knew how to “quit”, but even that takes a lot of effort. Before I was “humaned”, that is a became a viable entity with two eyes and one nose instead of two noses and one eye, my heart started beating and, although floating in a bubble of amniotic fluid, my lungs were being prepared for my first breath. And, miraculously, without a set of complicated plans, or even a minuscule amount of human intervention or instruction, I became me. And I have spent nineteen years in prison, as a correctional custody official, and I assure you that people serving a prison sentence needs a productive outlet to keep their brains from calcifying and their hands from doing some pretty reprehensible things. It is how we are made, and it is what separates us from a earthworm or a bat, both of which do some pretty remarkable things, but have yet to stop a Detroit Lubricator carburetor from leaking or remind a Skinner vacuum tank that it doesn’t need a electrical circuit to work perfectly. As I work through these old machine projects the most rewarding part is that nothing other than forward motion can be realized. And, when it seems like I am slowing down or slacking on doing some particular thing, I pause and remember that last week the thing I am now fretting over “taking too much time” was long dead, and had I, among every other human ever born on earth chosen not to rehabilitate it, it would still be dead. Jack

Throughout my life I have had numerous hobbies, and have acquired some skills which lends themselves to each. However, I suppose the saying “Familiarity breeds contempt” bleeds over into our recreational lives as well as influencing what we do as a profession. Personally, I take pleasure in doing things that presents a challenge, as well as providing the opportunity to learn new, and to me anyway, unimportant things. The number, and diversity of my old machines will assure that I never run out of unnecessary, and unimportant things to do until the day I die. And there is no single thing that has to be done today, tomorrow, or ever, and there is never a rush to finish any particular thing, within a deadline, on a 100 year old car or a 76 year old tractor which was given up for dead 5 or 6 decades ago. i have no hopes of ever “finishing” anything to do with my projects or, as a hobby, they have failed to do the job for which they were purchased…..and that is to keep me entertained, stimulated, and out of trouble. The things these old machines allows us to do, without haste, competition, contention or unwelcome/unnecessary human input is, literally limitless. For example, the Fargo panel I adopted will never be used as a primary means of transportation, I probably will never license it for Highway use, it will never be resold or showed as a “show car” or part of a testicular enhancing “collection”. Yet, it provides a great number of things I can do, regardless of weather, attitude or body aches. I am trying to reproduce the graphics painted on the truck while it was actively being used in commerce. I am trying to stabilize the body into a condition that it is protected a few more years from the rust and rot which have tried to destroy it for years. I have re-engined the truck to keep it mobile, as well making the mechanics sustainable using more modern parts. I have, am, and will continue to replace the rotting wood which makes u a large portion of the truck’s superstructure. The upholstery is a major project, and it will continue to keep me occupied until the cows come home. And that, Sir, is a good hobby project, which, along with my other old cars, my old tractor and old motor scooter, keeps me from smelling old and getting a fat butt😜. Jack

A couple of days ago I began the arduous task of cleaning up the mess and debris accumulated as I stripped the Fargo down to the essence of being a panel truck. About half way through the task I realized that I actually had more waste wood and scrap pieces of rusty metal than I had remaining of the original truck. We have trash pickup once every two weeks, and my allowance of trash is governed by the amount of trash I can fit into a thirty five gallon waste material container. At the rate I am now filling this container I would estimate, beyond the two fillings I have already made, I will need another three, or possibly four, more trash collection days to put the deceased pieces of the Fargo to rest. I have acquired enough minutes and hours, as a aging human being, that I fully realize how very boring this must seem to a avid foosball player or addicted computer gamer, but, as I age I realize that the even the smell of newly cut, long rotted, flooring material from a nearly 100 year old truck has immeasurable value when mingled with the smell of the newly cut floorboards made of white oak. Whether it is immense pleasure, with some pain, or some pleasure, with immense pain is left for the person who experiences it to determine and evaluate as the minute in time dictates. Hopefully, the immense pain of disposing of 94 years of accumulated art, and history, is offset by the expectation of the equally intense pleasure those who experience the opportunity to view a 1929 Fargo Express panel truck for decades to come will be. Jack

I am at the point with the 1929 Fargo Express Panel truck project that I am ordering the material needed to put a new top on him, and replace the non essentials like window channels for the door glasses. In the past “sticker shock” was normally applied to endeavors like buying a new car or having to replace a major appliance. Now I find that this term, which used to be manageable through budgeting and careful spending, has became a way of life, and is a expected part of buying daily essentials as well as parts for a ninety four year old truck. I also find myself living in the earlier days where the same money was spent for job essentials, such as uniforms and costs related to driving to and from the work place. And, there was always the V-10 engine in the motor home, which drank a gallon of gas for every ten miles, travelled and then paying another several hundred dollars to have it serviced even when the traveling was done. The real difference between then and now is that then I was thirty-forty-fifty years old, and now I am not. Then it was a respite from the daily grind of a job, during the years after I retired from the military, and the expense of travel was off set by the time spent with the wife, and not dependent on the number of fish caught or how awestruck we were left by seeing a monument or a mountain. Yep, now, instead of dumping hundreds of gallons of burned gasoline into the atmosphere to see the Grand Canyon (for the third time) or Niagara Falls (awesome….but a non-event otherwise) I spend the same amount of money for a windshield and frame for my 1923 Dodge and a new fuel pump for my 1951 Plymouth Cambridge…….and at the end of the day it all equals out. Probably, in a few more months I will have the Fargo completed to the state of………”Well, it runs”……and once again feel the anxiety to buy another project. And the stimulus to do so will will be the ever present reminder that I am going to experience the effects of aging, regardless of how I spend money, and the quantity of rewards given for leading a long life can be achieved in equal proportion to the miles travelled to see a canyon, or the ease of rolling up a recently replaced side window in my old panel truck. Jack

I could neither have said it better, nor added anything to make what you’ve said more poignant. I have my old Fargo parked in a space near my downstairs patio, and the place is easily seem from my upstairs bedroom window. It is property tax and income tax time again, the season change always brings on seasonal aches and pains, and the weeds and grass are going crazy. I had envisioned a few more years of travel in the motor home and many more nights watching the sunset on a Washington costal beach. But, those plans, as well as the urgency to do anything other than sleep and have an occasional drink, took over when the wife suddenly died and I was left without purpose. Now I spend my days with my little mechanical family, and they return my attentions by staying relatively consistent by always needing something done to keep them alive and running. The Fargo, being my current project is the last thing I see before I go to bed, and the first thing I see when I rise in the morning. This routine gives me something to get my mind off the daily tasks associated with living, and gives me a capsule view of whatever it is I hope to accomplish that day. It frequently crosses my mind in wonder what people who don’t have a hobby such as ours do with all the spare thoughts that can only be troubling. Jack

It may be a bit difficult to see them, but my 1951 Plymouth Cambridge has “eyelids” with red marble markers which glow when the headlights are on. Since I have not driven the Plymouth on main roads after dark I don’t know if the eyelids help with upward reflected glare from the headlights. Regardless, they look pretty cool……huh? Jack

The stereotype of a pirate boat captain is a shaggy haired, bearded guy with one eye patch. Well, I suppose if I spent most of my life on a ship at sea, with a crew of smelly and rowdy pirates, I may not visit my barber or manicurist as often as society dictates. However, to explain the eye patch I have to go a bit further. One story goes that when asked if he’d lost his eye in a sword fight, the old captain replied that he’d lost his eye because of a sword fight, but not during a sword fight. Asked to explain, the old pirate captain went on to say he’d lost his hand in the fight, and that it was replaced by a hook. Still curious, the other fellow asked what losing his hand, and having it replaced with a hook had to do with losing his eye in a sword fight. The old captain replied “Nothing, at least not until I forgot I had the hook and scratched my nose”. But this thread is about night driving so I’d better get back on topic….. When we actually talked, I mean face to face, it was understood that flashing your lights at a oncoming car was a way of reminding them that you were being blinded, and, just maybe, would hit them in a head on collusion. That was “culture”, and that is the way we were taught. Now we are in a different culture which allows people to learn, and practice, things that will never be discussed other than on a internet anti-social site. I was told by a younger member of my lodge that he will not flash his lights at a oncoming car for the same reason he won’t wave at someone in another car or on a motorcycle. It seems as there are non-verbal ways of communicating we don’t completely understand, nor do those who practice and react to others using this means of communications. Seldom a day goes by that we don’t see a newspaper report of a drive by shooting or someone being dragged from a car and physically harmed. The explanation given for the senseless act was misinterpretation of the hand gesture being a rival gang signal or something which implied disrespect. I may be off base here, but I have been told that having headlights flashed at them can be taken by some as a challenge to their status as a superior driver, or a threat that the persons in the car doing the flashing is transmitting a warning that a returned flash will invite retaliation. It’s a culture thing, we don’t need to understand the “why” it has evolved, but we have to appreciate the consequences of foolishly doing it. That leads me back to the pirate captain, and interlocks night driving with a eye patch. Logically, a pirate captain spends as much time below deck as they do on deck. And the eyes respond to sudden changes in the intensity of the light, and a pirate captain, coming from a darkened hold into the bright sunlight may be temporarily blinded…….the same as the night driver being confronted by oncoming headlights. The life expectancy of a pirate captain must be hard to sustain, especially a boat captain, on a ship manned by pirates, who is suddenly blinded as he opens the door and recenters the sunshine from a darkened hold. To minimize the chance of this temporary blindness becoming the epithet on his grave stone, the captain wears a patch which keeps one eye in the dark while allowing him to see with the other. When the reason for the captains stay in the dark is finished, and the time to return to the lighted deck arrives, so does the time to switch the patch from the blacked out eye to the uncovered eye. Thence, as he emerges from the dark, and recenters the light, he now uses the previously covered eye to watch for vandals who would want to harm him. If you leave this spiel with the opinion I’d suggest that you wear a eyepatch while night driving, and stay prepared to swap it between eyes when confronted with bright headlights, …………….. Well, maybe so………. Jack

That is totally true, and I am living proof. There was a total eclipse in January, and, even though I was born seven months later, I still came out ugly as sin.. Jack