steve@autorest.com

Metric and Multistandard Components Corp sells every type of fastener, fitting, tube, tool, etc that you could hope to find. They sell both british and metric. They are in New York, Illinois, and Texas and ship UPS to anywhere in the country. The NY number is: 800 431 2792. Highly recommended, I have gotten anything I have ever needed for all sorts of obscure European automobiles.

These units are fully open at 160 degrees. The shutters should be fully closed by the time the engine cools back down to 100 degrees. If this is not the case, the unit does not function properly. If it is the original unit, which it sounds like, it will not be working properly, they don't last that long. The material bleeds out eventually and the bellows work harden and stress crack. You did not mention what kind of car it is from, if you email me, I can help you with a replacement or rebuild your original unit.

The unit on the generator is called a Relay/Regulator. The wire coming from the brush goes to the terminal marked gen. This is the portion with the "points" and is the cutout. The wire coming from the field coils in the generator connects to the terminal going to the current regulator portion and will have a field fuse connected to it. It could be a connection on the bottom of the control unit, many of them are. Make sure the unit is grounded to the generator, and that the generator is grounded to the engine. Avoid paint build-up. Finally, make sure to polorize the unit.

The heater is actually the first Cadillac hot water heater, and was used from 1930 to 1933. In 1934, a new style heater was introduced, which was rectangular in shape. Your heater is very rare and quite valuable. Nice find. Steve

I never like to solicite work on this forum, and generally refrain from doing so, but I have done numerous honeycomb radiators and actually manufacture them in my own shop. I enjoy doing them, which is why I got into it 20 years ago. If you are interested, you or anyone can call me at 908 766 6688 to dicuss the particulars and price. Thank you, Steve

Pak-Age-Car was started in 1925 in Chicago and marketed with little sucess. In 1927, Stutz took over marketing utilizing its dealer network. By 1932, the Package Car Co. was no longer able to survive, so Stutz also took over the manufacting end. They continued to produce tha Pak-Age-Car until 1938. At that time, Auburn Automobile Co. bought out Pak-Age-Car and moved the tooling, machinery, etc to Connersville where the Cord was made. In 1939, Auburn sold the sales and service end to Diamond T, but continued the manufacturing end. In 1941 Auburn gave up the manufacting of them to concentrate on defense work. Manufacture was never resumed. <BR>The Pak-Age-Car was actually a delivery van much on the order of the Divco. Its claim to fame was that it was inexpensive to purchase and very economical to operate. Hope this helps.

LeBaron Bonney has taken over Hampton Coach, and has all the stuff that you need for your Chevy interior, including complete kits to do the job yourself. Reach them at 978 388 3811 Good luck.<P>

I don't know the proper protocol for responding to your question, and I'm not trying to solicit work using the D.F., but I rebuild on the average one of these units a week. Just about all of the Classics use a double disc clutch in that time period, and I am quite familiar with them, and have all of the necessary equipment to rebuild them. If you are interested, it is easiest to call me at 908 766 6688, days. Thank you, Steve

The LaSalle can't flood when shut off, it has an up-draft carb. Any gas the would run out under those conditions would run out of the overflow drain which is in the air intake of the carb. It then runs out of the drain in the valley of the engine. However, the 41 Cadillac can most certainly flood this way. I have seen it happen quite often, and many times can be due to a weak needle and seat. The residual fuel pump pressure will push the gas past when the car is shut off and combined with the gas boiling in the carb, will cause it to start very hard when hot. Packards were notorious for this problem and they had a check valve in the intake manifold to let raw gas run out when the car was shut off.

Mr. Scotland is totally correct, if the car is vapor locking, it is today's gasoline causing the problem. The LaSalle had no heat shields on the gas line or the fuel pump. Make sure that the gas line goes up the front of the engine to the carb and keep it as centered as possible in the valley away from the manifolds. The fuel pump should have the vapor dome on it, it might make a difference. If the pump is working properly with the proper pressure, you can put an electric pump on it with no problem. The mechanical pump will pull through it when turned off, with no problem. We put them on just about all of the cars we service that are used for touring. Make sure it is mounted as near to the gas tank as possible, they are made to push gas. It also helps greatly when your car has been sitting for quite a while. Diesel fuel should help, but as hvs has said, if all is correct with your engine, with the correct cables and a good starter motor etc, the car should start without it.

Mr. Scotland is totally correct, if the car is vapor locking, it is today's gasoline causing the problem. The LaSalle had no heat shields on the gas line or the fuel pump. Make sure that the gas line goes up the front of the engine to the carb and keep it as centered as possible in the valley away from the manifolds. The fuel pump should have the vapor dome on it, it might make a difference. If the pump is working properly with the proper pressure, you can put an electric pump on it with no problem. The mechanical pump will pull through it when turned off, with no problem. We put them on just about all of the cars we service that are used for touring. Make sure it is mounted as near to the gas tank as possible, they are made to push gas. It also helps greatly when your car has been sitting for quite a while. Diesel fuel should help, but as hvs has said, if all is correct with your engine, with the correct cables and a good starter motor etc, the car should start without it.

You are right, the Zenith, due to its age, is junk. The UU2 is a good replacement, I have used two of them on Stutz's, which were originally fitted with the Zenith. Some change in the jetting might be necessary, but make sure that the venturies are the same size or very close to the size in the original carb. You might have to do some machine work or make inserts to get it the same. The Stromberg is a good carb and it shouldn't be too much trouble to adapt linkage to work. Good luck, Steve

No offense, but a little knowledge is very dangerous in this case. First, you must get an old Motors repair manual or National Service Data manual, that has the section on rear end gears, and read it thoroughly. If the gears are not meshed properly, they will be destroyed in a matter of a few short miles. The backlash is not what's important, it is the tooth contact pattern that is important. You must put dye on the teeth, either prussian blue or white lube and then by moving the pinion in or out, and moving the ring gear side to side, get the pattern as the book shows it. The book will tell you which way to move the gears, depending on the pattern that you have. It will require disassembly and reassembly several times to get it right. It is imperative that you do this. Backlash is set last. Don't forget that all bearings must be preloaded too, or problems will also arise quickly. If you have a friend that has done this before, you should enlist his help. When properly done, the rear will be silent on both the bench and in the car. You should not have any problem getting one of those books, but if you can't, email me and I will copy the stuff and send it via snail mail. Good luck, Steve.

Todays gas has a very short "shelf life" and therefore many times the causative agent in stuck valves and bent pushrods. The other source of this same problem is also related to lack of use, and that is the valve actually rusting into the guide. When either of these two happen, and you try to crank over the engine, something has to give. In a flathead engine, generally the cam will be able to push the valve open, but it will not shut again. In an overhead valve engine, the pushrod is usually the weakest link, and will bend if the valve is shut. If the valve is open, the pushrod can fall out of the rocker arm, and could possibly catch on something and also bend. I have also seen rocker arms bend, especially the the stamped steel ones that Packard used. Valve float is very unusual, and even if the springs were weak, would only occur at very high RPM, and not at start-up or normal drving speeds.

What I don't understand is the amount of phoney or rebodied cars that show up, especially at Hershey, that aren't removed from the field. I know that the owner signs the card certifying that it is the original body, etc, and that it is nearly impossible for the judges to determine otherwise given the time available to judge, but this year at Hershey in one of the Classic Car classes [i'd rather not say which one] was a car that was not ever built by any factory or custom body builder. A judge qualified to judge Classic's should have known this, because an awful lot of spectators that were semi-knowledgable about the history of cars knew. What really amazed me is that the car was going for its Senior award. I don't know how to change this, but the AACA is helping to document something that never existed, and hurts the value of the real cars.