Guffin

A multigrade oil is better than a single grade because the single grade oil tend to be too thin at higher temperatures. A Texaco oil expert advised me to use 20W-50 in my Hupmobile 1929 and 10w-40 in my other prewar cars. All modern oil is much better than the old stuff. Just chose the correct viscosity. However, you have to be careful with one thing: Most old cars use some yellow metal (e. g. bronz) in gearbox and differential. Some modern hypoid and other heavy duty oils are harmful to yellow metals and should be avoided. In the specification for the oil you can find information about if it is harmful to yellow metals. You can get best advise by talking to one of the big oil companies oil expert. Jan

No seal on 1938 series 40. Just the oil collecting grove. All other years and models had a seal as I described above. Jan

The pushrods on my 1932 and 1940 Buiks are not rotating. The 1940 engine is recently restored. In each rocker arm there is an oil passage for carrying oil from the rocker shaft to the push rods. Check that these holes are not clogged. You have to remove the ball stud and locknut in order to clean the oil passage. The oil passage consists of a larger drilled passage from the rocker shaft and ending at the ball stud. A smaller hole is drilled 90 degrees to the larger passage. Oil fed to the push rods makes the mechanism less noisy. Jan

Shims are standard on these types of bearings. 1935-38 Buick series 40 had no cork oil seal and one oil collecting grove as in your photo. 1935-37 series 50, 60, 80, and 90 had a second grove for a cork seal. 1938 series 60, 80, 90 and all 1939-53 had a braided fabric seal to the rear of the oil collecting grove. Be shore to put back the same thickness of shims when you put back the bearing cap (if you are not going to adjust the bearings). Jan

My Hupmobile Century 8, 1928-29, came with a full flow oil filter. It also have all bearings pressure fed, including the piston pins. I changed the old filter to a modern screw on filter. Jan

Linseed oil is inexpensive and protects the sheet metal against rust. It dries slowly but when old can be painted over. Petrol products are difficult to remove completely when times come to restore the car. Jan

I finally managed to get out the pin after drilling part of it out. The pin came out bent so the hole was not straight!? After getting out the pin it was easy to take off the stump of the drive shaft with a puller. I will make a puller similar to your's, Willie, to take off the drive shaft that is now in the car. I think using a puller is the only way to take it off. Thanks for the help. Jan

Isn't the stress taken up by the bearings, or do I misunderstand the function? Is this OK for the bearings. Nice and clear photos, Willies. Another question: How tight should the differential adjusting nut be? Jan

Thank you Willie. After grinding off the peened end I cant se the contour of the pin! It seems to fit so snug so I can't where the pin is. I will try to etch with something. On the new diff the driveshaft is cut so I can use an standard puller. To take the old driveshaft off I should appreciate if you could post some picture of your tool. I guess I have to use some heat to get it off?? Jan

I am trying to remove the drive shaft from the pinion shaft on a -53 rear end to put on my 40-56s. I can' even get the rivet out which is the first thing to do. Please, someone who has done this, help me. Jan

The bumpers are typical for a 1929 Buick. The body looks very much like Model 44 sport roaster. Jan

The amp meter you can use as it is because it only shows the current. I have a Buick 40-56s converted to 12 V and I used a 58 Ohm resistor from 12 V to the gas gauge. It works fine with a standard 6 V tank sender. I think the design of your gauge is similar to Buick's and it will probably work for your car. Jan

NTX5467, your words are good but you should also have mentioned wear on the bushings. On cars made before approx. 1935 you had lube the distributor regularly. If you didn't the play in the distributor bushings soon got large and the cam could move somewhat sideways. On my cars I can't see any were on the cams and i believe uneven fiering on the cylinders most often are caused by this play in the bushings. Best way to check the fiering is with a stroboscope. If you can paint marks on the flywheel for each cylinder in top position, and use a stroboscope, triggered by the coil, it is easy to see if the fiering is at the same distance before top for all cylinders. A worn bushing will cause the firing point to wander back and fore. The same will happen with dirty or burned points. You can also check how the fiereing will advance with the rpm (and vacuum). With my primitive electronic device on my Hupmobile the fiering is very even. The Hupp has dual points which are difficult to adjust without a stroboscope. Jan

I use a very simple home-made "electronic ignition". It uses a special semiconductor buffering the points. It uses the standard coil and breaker points and the low current through the points keeps them clean (no burning). It gives a longer duration spark due to a big condenser across the coil. This makes idling of the straight eight smother and clean points makes it easy to start. The car is easy to start even after standing during winter. Before it took long time to crank it up in spring and it was misfiring for some miles. You still have the mechanical wear on the breaker but they will last very long. I have used it for some years now. A good thing is that it is easy to turn it back to standard. It is just to disconnect the circuit, connect the original condenser (it is still on the distributor)to the points and make a direct connection to the coil. All parts are there - just to connect. Jan

Attached is my favorite hood ornament. It was put on my Hupmobile Century 8 when is was sold in January 1930. The car was a left-over 1929 model and the ornament came from an older car the owner had before. Can anybody tell from which car the Lion originally was made for? Or is it some aftermerket ornament? Jan

Radial tires are said to have lower roll resistance. Does this show up in the gas consumption? How much? Do you save enough gas to motivate changing new bias to radials? Jan

Caster should be increased when changing to radials Found this at: http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm#Cas "Caster Positive caster improves straight line tracking because the caster line (the line drawn through the steering pivot when viewed from the side) intersects the ground ahead of the contact patch of the tire. Just like a shopping cart caster, the wheel is forced behind the pivot allowing the vehicle to track in a straight line. If this is the case, then why did most cars have negative caster specs prior to 1975 ? There are a couple of reasons for this. In those days, people were looking for cars that steered as light as a feather, and cars back then were not equipped with radial tires. Non-radial tires had a tendency to distort at highway speed so that the contact patch moved back past the centerline of the tire (Picture a cartoon car speeding along, the tires are generally drawn as egg-shaped). The contact patch generally moves behind the caster line causing, in effect, a positive caster. This is why, when you put radial tires on this type of car, the car wanders from side to side and no longer tracks straight. To correct this condition, re-adjust the caster to positive and the car should steer like a new car." Jan

After failing to find a front seat cushion for my Buick 32-87 I finally decided to make one myself. Fortunately I had the bottom part of the cushion so I only have to make the spiral spring part and the upholtery. First I tried to find a furniture repair workshop to make the job, but they only had spirals for furnitures with a fixed length. As the cushion is sloping backwards every row of springs has to have a different length. I finally found a company making springs. I used my Huppmobile cushion as a pattern. The company has a machine where you can set wire diameter, number of turns and length. You then push a button and out pops springs. The springs has to be heat treated before they can be used. Each spring has to be enclosed in cloth so that there will be no noise when riding on it. Now I have put in all the springs and tried the cushion in the car. Next step is to make the upholstery. Now I dont have to borrow the Hupp cushion any more when I want to drive the Buick Below is a photo of the partly finisheh interior More can be seen on the Photo Pages http://photos.aaca.org/showgallery.php?ppuser=9904 Jan

Here is one more.

There are still fans using gasifiers in Sweden

Radials need a slightly larger positive caster angle. Any other difference I don't know about. Jan

Thank you Mem and daydreamer. I have some information about the number produced. In 1932 1800 model 86 and 4089 model 87 were made. There were more series 90 made that year. Perhaps we can expect around 40 to be left. I made a google search and found only a photo on Prewarbuic.com and one in a car club. 1933 was the worst year for Buick and only 1545 model 87 and 758 model 86 were made. In 1933 a few models 86C, 86S and 88C were made but I have never heard about any survivors of these. Mem, how much do you have of the 86? It is difficult to find these large engines and drive trains. Are you going to try to restore it? Jan

I believe nobody knows what make of car it was. I have never found any reliable reference to the car make. Here is a copy of the New York times article: "PARIS, FRANCE -- Isadora Duncan, the American dancer, tonight met a tragic death at Nice on the Riviera. According to dispatches from Nice Miss Duncan was hurled in an extraordinary manner from an open automobile in which she was riding and instantly killed by the force of her fall to the stone pavement. Affecting, as was her habit, an unusual costume, Miss Duncan was wearing an immense iridescent silk scarf wrapped about her neck and streaming in long folds, part of which was swathed about her body with part trailing behind. After an evening walk along the Promenade de Anglais about 10 o'clock, she entered an open rented car, directing the driver to take her to the hotel where she was staying. As she took her seat in the car neither she nor the driver noticed that one of the loose ends fell outside over the side of the car and was caught in the rear wheel of the machine. Dragged Bodily From the Car. The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk suddenly began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid immediately was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly. This end to a life full of many pathetic episodes was received as a great shock in France, where, despite her numerous eccentric traits, Miss Duncan was regarded as a great artist. Her great popularity in France was increased by the entire nation's sympathy when in 1913 her two young children also perished in an automobile tragedy. The car in which they had been left seated started, driverless, down a hill and plunged over a bridge into the Seine River. [The article continues.] Copyright © New York Times, Sep 15, 1927" Jan