49 Streamliner

I've lubed the speedometer cable on my '49 Streamliner due to the needle jumping back and forth. You may have already done some of these steps, but after several tries, here's what worked best for me: Unscrew the cable housing/sheath from the back of the speedometer. Be prepared to twist yourself into awkward positions. Pull the cable out of the the sheath. If I remember right, the two ends of the cable were slightly different. Take a look at that because you want to put it back in the same way it comes out. Clean the old lubricant and accumulated dirt from the cable and let it dry. I think I used gasoline. You can check to see if there are any kinks in the cable by holding it with one end in each hand, letting the cable hang down in a U-shape. Roll ends back and forth between your thumb and finger tips. If the cable jumps around, it probably has a kink in it and would need to be replaced. The lubricant that works best for me is graphite. I actually used both the spray can type and the kind that is in a plastic tube. I tried grease and oil that were suggested on various websites, but they just didn't work for me-- the speedometer needle still jumped back and forth and I had to repeat the job several times. Lubricate the entire length of the cable except for the last couple inches on the end the goes into the back of the speedometer. Reinsert the cable into the sheath. The end going into the transmission will line itself up pretty easily. Reattach the sheath to the back of the speedometer. Lining the sheath threads up with the threads on the back of the speedometer was the most difficult part for me. The picture below shows the cable after cleaning. I used the spray can graphite and the kind in the squeeze tube together with good results. Bill

The original plan was to clean the tank and have it sealed, but it had some weak spots that were almost rusted through. I haven't had a problem with gas coming out of the filler tube. The cap is a locking one that was on the original tank when I bought the car in 2004. It does allow some venting of fumes. It is probably not original to the car when it was new.

Here's a couple pages from the 1949-50 shop manual. The six and eight cylinder rear seals are different. Mine is an eight and has the setup in Figure 6-6. Your six cylinder is probably more like Figure 6-5. Bill

I had the engine rebuilt last year at a local shop that specializes in old cars. He did the cleaning while everything was apart. The car was in the shop for about 2 months. The block and crank shaft were sent out to a machine shop. They were backed up quite a bit and it took about 3 weeks to get them back. He also did a fair amount of work besides the engine; brakes, clutch, new gas tank and fuel sending unit, etc. Replacing the tank was decided when the metal around the opening for the sending unit crumbled apart when he took it out. The sending unit itself was toast. Bill

My '49 also has the slinger and a drainback pipe and wooden sticks that Bloo mentions. If yours is a 1940, it probably does have the same features. Replacements for the sticks came from California Pontiac Restoration. Mine also has the internal oil filter. When the oil pan was off last year during some engine work, the filter and pan were filled with crud. Here's photos before and after cleaning the filter. Bill

The engine has reached the reassembly stage. I asked them to clean up the headbolt heater and reinstall it instead of replacing it with a regular headbolt. I think it looks pretty good. Bill

It's been a few years, but I have definite info on this part. Fitz was right. The engine on my 49 Streamliner is being rebuilt. The photos below show what it looked like when removed from the engine. It is a "headbolt heater". It was electric and would heat up when plugged in. I found an article about the inventor of the device. It was produced by Five Star Manufacturing in East Fargo, Minnesota. My car spent part of its life in Minnesota, so this heater was probably put to good use. Here's part of an on-line article about the heater and it's inventor: Freeman concluded that he needed a way to get heat directly to the water in the engine block. He discovered that in most cars the headbolts extended directly into the water. After much experimentation over a period of three years, Freeman developed a system that transmitted electricity via a brass tube through a replaced headbolt into the water. The electric lead extended from the heater through the radiator grill to the outlet. In 1947, with two colleagues, Freeman formed the Five Star Manufacturing Company of East Grand Forks to manufacture headbolt heaters. The company did not do well at first, not least because there was a manufacturing error in the first 25,000 heaters. But soon the product was refined and the manufacturing process mechanized until the company was turning out 200,000 heaters a year for sale in the United States and Canada. Altogether Freeman estimates that he sold as many as two million headbolt heaters.