1913Moline

Carleton's process is basically assuring that the compression ratio of each cylinder is the same. That would be a complicated process with the blind bores of an engine with non-removeable cylinder heads. Since the compression ratio is the cylinder+clearance volume at bottom dead center divided by the clearance volume at TDC, any variations in the clearance volume (volume of Comb. Chamber at TDC), will affect the C/R of that particular cylinder. Another key performance issue is cylinder to cylinder spark timing. This is something that most anyone can do. Mark your TDC marks to a reference pointer on the crankshaft for each cylinder. Then take an inductive timing light and attach to each plug wire with the engine running at constant speed. Check spark advance on each cylinder and note the differences between 1,2,3,4.... Depending on the grind accuracy of the distributor cam, timer rollers or magneto cam, you will see quite a lot of variation. Dont be surprised if you see 5-10 degrees of variation. greg

This discussion certainly does not apply to the Model T Ford type of magneto which has totally different construction than the Bosch, Remy, Splitdorf, Berling or other "unit magnetos". I would never argue that the Ford magnetos are unreliable.

I have no argument that magnetos can be made to be reliable. Lots of airplanes airplanes still use them- and they carry a spare, mounted to the engine and tested every time one starts out. If you dont mind carrying a 40lb spare rebuilt magneto, then using a mag is not a bad option. I have spent a lot of time rebuilding magnetos- in fact, I wrote a two segment article in 1992 for the Horseless Carriage Gazette on Bosch magnetos which people still contact me to discuss. I dont think that many of the serious brass era car tourists use magnetos though. The inherant flaws in "spinning" a two sets of windings have been addressed in many ways. The big problem is when your magneto condenser fails, or windings fail, they are not easily repaired on the road. If I fail a coil in my battery ignition system, you can buy one at the nearest NAPA store. The very least reliable of the magnetos are the two spark systems. Since both ends of the secondary windings are connected to plugs, if a wire comes off the plug, there is no safety gap and the insulation will break down since there is no path to ground for the secondary current. Like you, I dont want to start the debate on magneto vs. battery type ignition, but I would guess that 40% or fewer of the cars originally equipped with magnetos, are touring with them today. Greg

I think that the suggestion on just using the magneto as a distributor is a good one, but I would make the suggestion to remove the windings from the armature. If the varnish is old and you end up running on a very hot day, you can melt the varnish and have it flow out of the windings. When you stop the engine, the molten goo will set up and harden. It can lock the armature inside the magneto, requiring lots of torque to get it turning again. When you fire up your big old Entz starter system the next morning, you could strip your magneto drive gears. If you decide to do this, you will need to find a DU6 dual distributor cap- it has a terminal in the center of the cap which you would feed back from your remote mounted coil. Otherwise, you could hook it to the High tension pick up at the rear of the mag and feed it to the back of your cap via the original pencil inside. The risk in that is that you could short to ground or to the armature unless you do a good job of insulating that terminal. Greg

Your Chalmers has the same engine dimensions as my Kissel. My 6-48 will go 60, but I havent been there often. It really likes 45-50. I certainly have never been in a Model T at that speed. Just thinking about the T steering gear at 60 miles per hour makes me think of life insurance. Before trying to increase the RPM much on the Chalmers, I would consider changing rear end ratios. You probably have a 3.75 :1 and could probably drop to 3.25. With your 4 speed transmission, you probably dont even need 1st gear now. Luckily, my Kissel has a 4 speed with overdrive in 4th. Only Winton, Kissel and a couple other cars used these 4 speed overdrive boxes. I am at about 3.3 drive ratio in overdrive with 27" tires. To be honest, I have never measured or calculated engine RPM at various speeds. If you change gear ratios, then you can focus on getting more power out at the speeds that you engine was designed to run. Ignition is a good place to start. I put a Delco "two spark" system on mine and it definitely helps power- even on my L-head. With a T head, power can go up 15-20% if you RETARD the timing for best power. I have some articles and test data on engines similar to your Chalmers. With two simultaneous sparks, one over exhaust, one over intake, you can reduce the burn time. If you reduce burn time, you can retard spark and get more power. I am pretty sure that your Chalmers has 3 main bearings with splash lube to the rods. The Hudson 6-54's seem to hold together well with 3 main bearings. When you see one of those big long crankshafts laying on the floor with only three small bearings the words "hell for stout" doesnt jump into your mind. Over revving should be done very very carefully. Good Luck, Greg

Cat does use all high tensile strength bolts, although all new designs are metric (that is my day job). One thing that you wont find anywhere within Caterpillar is a lockwasher. I regularly re-use old bolts, even in very critical bolted joints within engines, but I ALWAYS replace the lockwashers with hardened flatwashers. Whether rebuilding a flathead Ford, or a straight eight Packard or Pierce, you should never use a lockwasher on a head bolt or stud. The bolted joint requires bolt stretch, and a lockwasher will give an inaccurate torque reading and an improper clamp load on the head gasket, exhaust manifold gasket or other critical joint. Sure they worked when they were new, but if you just spent thousands of dollars on a rebuild, why risk the mess of a blown gasket. As far as strength of cheap import bolts- even a Grade 2 bolt has a tensile strength of 50,000psi. A grade 8 bolt will exceed 160,000 psi tensile strength. The reality is that most bolted joints on a car dont require a high tensile strength bolt. Wheel studs, head bolts, main bearing bolts, spring shackle bolts, rod bolts etc. are places to be careful.

I would really like to find a junk radiator to try soldering this stuff. I dont think I have ever used a "low temperature" silver solder. Whenever I have used silver solder, it is an oxyacetylene job, not a propane torch. I am paranoid about pouring the heat to it and creating an unrepairable mess. So, I look for someone that has actually done this type of repair. I have done the google.com searches and German Silver is a rather generic term for copper nickel alloys. Has anyone out there actually put a torch to this stuff????? German silver Related: Metals name for various alloys of copper, zinc, and nickel, sometimes also containing lead and tin. They were originally named for their silver-white color, but use of the term silver is now prohibited for alloys not containing that metal. German silver varies in composition, the percentage of the three elements ranging approximately as follows: copper, from 50% to 61.6%; zinc, from 19% to 17.2%; nickel, from 30% to 21.1%. The proportions are always specified in commercial alloys. German silver is extensively used because of its hardness, toughness, and resistance to corrosion for articles such as tableware (commonly silver plated), marine fittings, and plumbing fixtures. Because of its high electrical resistance it is used also in heating coils. It was discovered (early 19th cent.) by a German industrial chemist, E. A. Geitner.

Lots of cars in the early teens used German Silver in construction of the radiator top tanks. A friend has a car with a very very slight leak between the filler neck and the top tank. The original joint has a crack in the solder. Any recommendations on specific flux and solder type to fix this? We dont have any parts to "experiment on", so the concern is that we dont make a small problem into a big one. This is on a teens Pierce-Arrow, so there isnt another radiator at the local junk yard. Suggestions??

This car was at Hershey in the Choc Annex along the end row toward the main Chocolate field. It was formerly in the Sam Scher collection and I think it was in the Seal Cove (Paine) Museum after that. I spent some time lusting over it during the meet. If only one had the power to move decimal points to the left- even one space.

I have seen a single light made by Trippe which mounted to the cross bar between the springs. It has a large cast support bracket which is plated. My comments about Trippe lights were referring to the dual lights which mount of the bumper brackets which have a strange knurled nut to clamp them on. Look in the Kimes Packard book. It is full of Packards back to the 1920's with these on them. Somewhere, I read that these were produced as truck fog/driving lights and were popular in the 1940's. Maybe I am wrong and some auto makers offered these as accessories. I am quite sure that Pierce-Arrow did not. Greg

I attached a scan of the original article to my initial post. Not sure if you can see it well enough, but the A-K Radio was mounted in the dash. When I saw this article, I felt pretty sure that it might be the first factory installation. Greg

Has anyone ever seen a photo of any 30's era original car equipped with Trippe Lights. These babies were made for over the road trucking as an aftermarket addition. Now it seems that they are accepted as "stock equipment" on classic era cars. Am I off base on this? I have seen Pilot Ray lights in Auburn factory photos, but have never seen a Trippe light on any company photos. Greg

I know that there were some posts on this topic a while ago. I just found an article in Motor Age April 1, 1926. It details a 1926 Cleveland model called the Honeymoon Special Coupe. I has a factory installed Atwater Kent Radio set "cleverly mounted on the instrument board" Anyone know of an earlier factory installation of a radio. Greg

The 1918 Series 4 48HP Pierce cars used a conventional type thermostat. Not sure if there were others before, but I cant think of any I have seen. They incorporated tstats to warm up the 525 cubic inch engine quicker.

The Antique Auto Parts Cellar sells them. They have ads in Hemmings. I think that they are in Massachusetts. Pierce used an AC Model A fuel pump in 29. Good Luck, Greg

I think Lexol works great on modern leather, but personally, I have had better luck with pure neatsfoot oil. I just put a small amount on my hand and then carefully rub it in. Then wipe off with clean terry cloth. McGuires leather conditioner seems to work pretty well too. Some guys just swear that lexol is the best, but I dont think I would agree. Just one opinion. Be patient and dont let anyone sit on the hard leather and crack it. Greg

The Moyer cars used Herschell Spillman engines. In 1913 and 1914 I think that they were 6 cylinder cast in triples. I am sure they later went to monobloc construction later. I think that they were produced in Syracuse, NY if my memory serves me correct. Greg

I agree that this is a Series 80. Pierce built two different 80 Series touring bodies. I believe that this is the 7 passenger touring. These had a fixed position top. The five passenger touring had a folding top and had the same cowl and front doors as the runabouts(roadsters). I learned these details the hard way (buying a 7P touring cowl thinking it would work on a roadster). Greg

I would guess that there are lots of forum contributors which have been assisted in their restorations and research by Ralph Dunwoodie of Reno. I just learned that Ralph passed away this past month. Ralph forgot more than most of us will ever know about automotive history. I feel lucky to have gotten to know him really well over the past 7-8 years. He loved cars of all kinds, but had a particular soft spot for KisselKar. His passion was collecting and indexing automotive periodicals. He had one of, if not the best collections in the country. Hearing what D-Day was like from someone that was there is something that I will never forget. Here is a copy of the text of his OBIT from the Reno paper: Ralph Harold Dunwoodie Longtime Reno resident, Ralph Harold Dunwoodie, passed away at his home on May 1, 2003. Aged 79, he died unexpectedly of heart failure. He was born in Jamestown, ND, April 16, 1924. A D-Day veteran, Ralph was a member of the Navy from 1942 to 1947. He was a signalman & was a prolific source of information for anyone interested in World War II history, often speaking at schools & being interviewed for war documentaries. We was a brilliant & caring man who was able to do what very few of us get the opportunity to do -- live his dream. His infatuation was antique automobiles. He spent most of his life pursuing that dream, becoming world renowned as an expert on antique automobiles. He played a leading role in the growth of the Harrah's Automobile Collection, the greatest in the world. The entire industry has lost its' mentor. He will be dearly missed by his family & friends. He will probably not be equaled in his profession. Ralph is survived by his son, Steve Dunwoodie, Steve's wife, Jeanne & their son, Cory, of Reno. He was preceded in death by two grandsons, Trevor John Dunwoodie, who died in 1986 & Ian Pace Dunwoodie, who died January 28, 2003. He is also survived by his daughter, Linda Dunwoodie & her husband, Charles Wattenberg & their daughter, Aleah, of Petaluma, CA. He was a wonderful stepfather to Cami Sizemore of Reno. He is also survived by his sister, Hazel Mullins of Torrance, CA & his brother, Earl Dunwoodie of Fargo, ND. Ralph is also survived by his beloved aunt, Grace Miller, age 98, of Redding, CA. A memorial service is being planned & will be announced at a future date. Greg

I looked around a lot for window channel for my 29 Pierce. Found lots of stuff at various suppliers, but found what I needed at JC Whitney. They have a lot of different channels. They have a website, but I dont know what it is. Good Luck, Greg

I buy aftermarket seat belt kits sold at local auto parts stores. I bolted in an angle iron bracket across the frame (into existing holes). I welded the belt retainer to the angle and it has worked very well. The straps come very long so you can cut them and adjust the length. These are not retracting type, but they can fit under the seats of both my Pierce and Kissel if you dont want them showing. I have three little kids which ride in car seats wherever we go- old or new cars. The car seats generate some interesting comments from people. Interesting note along these lines.. I work for a large construction equipment manufacturer- The seat belts used in off road equipment are a maintenance item- to be replaced every 3 years. In parts inventory, they have a 5 year shelf life. All are date coded now. Greg

Last year at Hershey, there was a guy which was buying and selling Bosch "A" coils. He was rewinding them himself. His space number at Hershey was CW-20, but I can't find his name. It is a tedius process, but you can look through the Hershey Meet listings and find the name. Good Luck, Greg

My huge Delco book states that the K-31 horn is for a 1932 Chevrolet. Might fit others.

I would likely be one of the Midwest contacts which Bruce mentions above. I have over 3000 early auto magazines, but not all of them are indexed... yet. It is fun to help out on odd marques like Burns. If anyone out there has any pre 1904 issues of Automobile Trade Journal please let me know. I have posted wanted ads for early magazines on this site several times, but have never gotten any response. Filling in early issues is pretty tough. Good Luck Bruce. Greg

I did not look at the Marmon one on Ebay, but you must be very careful when buying these to make sure you get one that works. I have had good luck dealing with a guy in Canada named Mike Kleba. He deals in radiator mascots and motometers. He has original units and has the repro plates for many types of cars. He sold me an original one with original logo for Kissel. Greg