Grimy

Thanks @dodge28 I'd be interested in that for rubber lube purposes.

Please define "poly grease."

Uh yeah, isn't the door open while you're connecting the battery on that VW? Pull the bulb in the dome light.

If you take it out from the top side, I can almost guarantee that 6-8 foot length of cable will have a mind of its own and flop around including on your seat cushions. The previous graphite lube, whose stains are almost impossible to remove from upholstery, will be imparted to your upholstery. You can reduce that damage by draping the front seats with old sheets or a drop cloth -- which must be secured to the seats to be effective. It's MUCH easier to re-insert the speedo head end if the transmission end is not captive. I've done this operation at least a dozen times on various cars, and the recommended procedure in my previous post reflects some regrettable lessons learned the hard way.

Pierce-Arrow made travel *trailers* called Travelodge for about 6 months from August 1936 to about January 1937 in three series, A (can=19'), B (can=16.5'), and C (can=13'5') for a total of about 525 units based on highest recorded serial numbers for each series. There may have been a few light trucks converted to house cars after they left the factory, but I know of none that were factory-built. A superb restoration of a Model B Travelodge was shown at the 2023 PAS Meet in Glens Falls NY.

I'm messy and don't want to stain my carpet or upholstery so I withdraw the cable from *under* the car after disconnecting from the speedo head, and push it back in from under the car as well. It's easier to re-attach the speedo head end first, and then finish with the drive gear/transmission end. Again because I'm messy, I wear coveralls while under the car and remove them for the work inside the passenger compartment. You absolutely *will* get grease and crud on your outer garments under the car for this job.

You will use it more often if you mount it on the floor in the passenger compartment, rather than having to raise the hood twice each time (one to turn off, one to turn on). IIRC, your Buick's battery compartment is under the front passenger's seat, so I'd mount it in the center. Run one (preferably 00) cable from the negative (ground) battery terminal to one pole on the switch, and one from the other switch pole to a hole through the frame. Be sure to test-orient the switch before finalizing its mounting so that you have unobstructed on-off range of movement. There are rubber/plastic caps for the switch poles available, or just add protective "goose grease" (vaseline etc) of your choice to protect them from water.

See attached photos of "crank turds" from oil passages in a (not mine) Pierce-Arrow crankshaft. "Detergent" oil is a misnomer; it has the magnificent benefit of holding small solid contaminants in suspension so they go out with oil drain. "Non-Detergent" allows contaminants to settle out wherever the oil is when the engine stops, not just in the pan but in oil passages in the crank and elsewhere. With detergent oil, the contaminated oil left in the galleries last change will almost certainly come out the next change. In the early 1950s, there may have been SOME "detergent" oils which turned stuff loose, but not in the last 50 years at least. Thirty years ago I believed what you do now, so I weaned a worn 1925 Pierce 80 engine off non-det by partial detergent changes: (1) 3 qts det + 6 qts non-det, (2) 6 qts det + 3 non-det, (3) all 9 detergent. I had pulled and cleaned the pan and copper lines feeding the mains before the first. Didn't have any oil analysis done, but I pulled the pan 15 years later and found it clean. My advice: Pull the pan, clean it out--and any accessible lines, go to 100% detergent all at once.

I have a Flot-o pickup in my 1934 Pierce 8, which had been overhauled before I acquired it. After about a year, I observed a drop in oil pressure when climbing a significant grade. I dropped the pan and found that the Flot-o was hinged on a cotter pin which was just a tad too thick. I surmised that either wear on the cotter or a couple of specks of grit on the cotter kept it from truly floating when the engine was no longer level. Installed next smaller diameter cotter which has served well the next 15,000 miles. So if your floating pickup is hinged on a cotter, check the diameter of the cotter and go for the Goldilocks "just right" fit.

That's minor compared to the non-original -- and CHEAP -- upholstery material. The 60S came with either (1) leather with brocade cloth (we called it "panty cloth") inserts or (2) leather with perforated-leather inserts. I had a 1964 60S for quite awhile and put 100k miles on it, and the brocade was just fine when I sold the car at about 135k miles.

Our 6V batteries were dead or dying because we were in the habit of leaving the tube-type amp-sucking radios on while we were necking. I had excellent VanAuken front (only) overriders on one of my DeSoto Suburbans.

Wellll, the "Grim" part is the first four letters of my middle name which is actually a British surname, and that middle name has been bestowed on the eldest son on my British father's side for multiple generations--but that ends with me as I am childless, not by choice but by circumstance. When known to others, that middle name is often the target of levity.... but it was the surname of two brothers targeted (one brother was hanged, drawn and quartered--a particularly ugly way to go) for harboring priests during the Elizabethan persecutions of Catholics (Liz the First of course). And even further back, Sylvester DeGrym..... was the standard bearer for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 when the Normans kicked the Celts' behinds and took over Old Blighty. More than 50 years ago while I was stationed at the long gone Fort Holabird in Baltimore (Holabird was strategically located between the malodorous Fleischmann's Yeast plant and the American Standard toilet factory), we had organizational pewter beer mugs which needed to be engraved with a nickname selected by one's peers, not by oneself. And because I spent many if not most evenings at the auto craft shop, my colleagues came up with the name "Grimy" as appropriate to both my distinctive middle name and to my avocation. The mug is in a display case these days. So here we are.... Cue Tevye singing "T-r-a-d-i-t-i-o-n"

As an indication of how bored I am this rainy day, I googled Fort Firelands and found that it's a frontier-fort-theme RV park in Lakeside-Marblehead, Ohio, BUILT IN 1968.

Oh my.....

@Trulyvintage do you know whether buyers are permitted access on the May 3 move-in day? That is, I fully expect to pay admission through pedestrian access points. Will pedestrian access points be available on move-in day?

Yep! Previously, Friday has been an active sales day and my preferred day to shop. Saturday was for leftovers and bargains, and the meet was done by noon. Does anyone have solid info on this year's meet?

Jack, I too have tenants who pay by Zelle, and it is indeed easy for me. Note that NEXT year it appears we'll have to account for payments made to us by Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, etc and assign them to a particular activity covered by Sch C, Sch E, etc. Perhaps one of our CPAs can explain further....

My good friend Tim has a T-shirt reading, "I do whatever the voices in my wife's head tell me to do." Perhaps I can get you one....

@edinmass we're all looking forward to you being able to "get a grip" again....on "whatever".....

Yes! Your 600W lube will be fine.

Once again, maroon as a repaint color would have acceptable; RED is not....

Can you work a little faster, Mike? 🙂

Pierce-Arrow switched to hypoid for 1929 and following. Lubricant definitions are very different now, and "fluid" *might* at the time be a distinction from "semi-fluid" such as John Deere Corn Head Grease (00 lubricant) which we use today for leaking steering boxes. If you have a non-synchro trans it would indeed use 600-W. I don't know whether EP gear oils were available in 1931, but I deem them essential for my 1930 Pierce with hypoid diff. But please check to see if the pinion enters at the bottom or the center--that will guide us.

As a rule of thumb, if the pinion enters the pumpkin (differential housing) at the latter's bottom, it's HYPOID and requires Extreme Pressure (EP) gear oils. If that's the case, use GL-4 which is friendlier to any yellow-metal components than the more common GL-5. GL-4 is available from NAPA. Unless you're frequently driving the car in cold weather, I'd use SAE 140 viscosity. On the other hand, if the pinion enters the pumpkin at its center, that's a NON-HYPOID for which 600-W would be my choice. In any event, check to see if the Owner's Manual sheds any light on whether the diff is hypoid and any recommended lube. Due to felt seals of the day, I fill only to 1/2" or so below the filler hole, to prevent flooding the seals on a cambered street.

Until you find a 949F, run a pair of Optimas in the battery box with only one hooked up at a time. When one dies, switch to the other....