edinmass

On many cars a change from wire to wood wheels requires drum and spindle changes also.

More Buick progress………Obviously when we took it home, we expected to put ten hours in it and have it running. Figured 80 hours total to get it reliably down the road. One hundred hours in……….and we should be running in another 25. And figure 250 more to cross the finish line. So much for an easy make it run, and get it sorted quick. Valve job is finished. Was surprised to find the head had been off in the past, and some but not all valves were replaced. The evapo rust heated flush treatment worked well in the head. While not perfectly clean, it was very decent. We have done a bunch of very temporary repairs just to be sure it will run and have a good lower end. Had our confidence shaken a few times. Now have it all figured out. With Hershey coming up, and a tour right afterwards, it may not be till late October before this thing goes down the road. The head is surprisingly heavy for a small engine. Nothing on this car has been easy…….and I expect it will fight us the entire way to the finish line. Here are photos of the head reassembled with the valve job finished. In keeping with a HPOV vision, we only moderately clean things so they won’t look out of place in the future.

Wave with your middle finger! 😎

But here is a new topic, any best practices on adding turn signals? Total waste of time. Unless you go modern LED and modern fixtures, people are too busy texting, talking, and watching Wayze. All it usually accomplishes is making the car look crappy.

Phil and I took a brake today. Took the White and the Stearns to a local show. They said there were 1000 cars on display……..I actually just sat by our cars and never walked around. The crowd looked like it was Hershey on show day. Cars were a big hit, and I met a bunch of new pre war people. A fun day, and now back to the grind this week.

904 is an eight, not a 12.

FYI- for years tire companies used the same size mold and just changed the numbers on the side of the tire……..thus the cars that really needed the half size would suffer an undersized or oversized problem. It was more prominent in the 70’s and 80’s. Seems most tires today run “large”. It might be my imagination but white walls seem to be wider for the same size than black walls. For all our stuff 1929-1938 we run Firestone except on the Auburn. I see lots more defects and problems with the actual tires the last five years. And with the company having changed hands, supply is still an issue. I was told two years minimum for 650-16 black walls last week. And 700-16 are out of stock for over a year, and due in November………which really means a year from now. Word of warning………..inventory extra tires or entire sets if you drive. This year at Pebble tire rules were relaxed as there was no supply for most of the cars. Tire availability is going to be an issue from now on.

The answer is easy……..all the choices suck. I have installed no less than 25 sets of tires on our own cars in the last five years. All the cars but one have dual side mounts, the exception is the Auburn speedster. Depending on if you are running side mount covers your options are: With covers: Run a smaller tire inside the cover, and it’s probably going to be inflated to ten or fifteen pounds so you don’t tear the cover apart. Without a cover……..carefully jam an identical size tire in the well, and inflate to ten pounds. Also be sure NOT to go oversize on the tires if you have side mounts. I won’t use spares on 100 point cars with covers……they suck to deal with. You will need to do paint work if you take covers on and off. What is the best option? Rear mounted spare………………..I don’t like them and won’t own a CCCA Classic without dual side mounts. I actually have spare wheels for all the cars in our collection as well as my personal collection. We take them along on tours and have them in the trailer at the hotel. Many tours have trouble trucks, so I toss the guy some cash and have him carry my spare with him………that way there is a floor jack as well. The good news, in the last 25k miles, only had two flats while on the road…….and a bunch in the shop or trailer. Also, tubes today are trash………never assume the tube is good until 3 months or 500 miles. On the very serious tour cars, I make modern wheels……..IE replace snap rings with drop centers. It’s expensive, and worth every penny.

89 was my last year of college………I can remember sleeping in the back of my pick up truck. Back then I was lucky to have gas money to get there. The good old days when traveling ment a Big Gulp, steamed hot dogs, and some potato salad from 7-11………lunch for three bucks all in.

What are people bringing? 90 percent of the same stuff they brought for the last 20 years. That said, it's always a great time at Hershey.

George, the 836A is nine inches narrower in the front seat and body It’s like sitting in economy on an airplane. There is no comparison between them. I wasn’t referring to chassis length.

I’m familiar with the car for sale in Connecticut. It was owned for decades by a good friend of mine. Nice car.

The 836A is a tiny car, and not a club sedan. That said, club sedans are not too hard to find…….I think I have had five Pierce club sedans over the years. This is my “keeper” a parts car when I bought it at 24 years old. I can’t believe that was 32 years ago. It’s been a great car. Photo is a 800 mile tour in Maine about seven years ago.

My 38 Special has quite a bark. That’s because I uses +P+ ammo. Just saying, 👍

Nice Loco album. I have seen similar in Duesenberg J, Leyland Lincoln, Series 80 Pierce, and a few others. Rare and unusual.

Who says having owned more than 50 pre war cars means you're addicted? 😉

I’m guessing my mistake is identical to yours…………I was in the garage by five years old, building mini bike engines by the time I was seven with adult supervision. Running a boring bar ten hours a week by age eleven, at the family motorcycle dealership. Becoming the “tire guy” at the same busy shop at age twelve. I’m certain I have changed several thousand tires by hand, as there were no machines for them back then. I figure I have 15,000 or more hours in the shop/garage by now. Half of that time spinning wrenches. Go figure a guy with a masters degree likes Snap-On wrenches better than anything else………now that IS stupid! Overall, no complaints as I have had mostly fun and great days in the shop. The last fifteen years only enough bad days to count on one hand. Makes me a lucky guy. I get paid to do what I would do for free.

Here was last week’s project……..fixing a Model JN Duesenberg oil leak. Got to do it twice. Such is the way of the gasket gods. No one is immune……..it’s just not letting others see it. As to doing hack work when I was young? Nope……did my best with the tools, time, and money I had. That said, most everything was much better after I had my hands on it. I did use shortcuts to fix a block once…….due to poverty, not from trying to avoid a correct repair. Last I knew, it was still holding 40 years later.

Any restorer that works to a price quote IS doing hack work. I do this for a living and still my time estimates for 80 percent of the stuff I’m doing are two to three times longer than I think they will be. Part of it is me getting old, the other are outside suppliers and vendors.

I’m curious as to the total time, and number of obscenities spoken. A great example of a very difficult project, on a car who’s valve could be far exceed by repairs if done in a professional shop that charges in the 200-400 dollar per hour range. Yes, that is normal numbers today in large metropolitan areas. Our local Rolls/Bentley dealer is at 385 per hour flat rate five months ago. Dave’s craftsmanship shines through the whole project. Bravo Dave…………a difficult job physically for a teenager……..and you pulled it off in your retirement years fighting with physical issues. We won’t mention the psychological issues! You get the very rarely awarded three thumbs up. Great work. 👍👍👍

If any poor workmanship surprises you, you haven't been in the hobby very long. I simply REFUSE to work on junk. Why? Because it's never just one thing, and everything keeps falling apart. When I open a hood or trunk and see penny pinching....which is 90 percent of all cars, it's simply a no can do. It's taken decades to figure out what to work on, and what to pass. Skilled mechanics on pre war stuff are in severe shortage..........so they can now be the picky ones. Besides the car, we also interview the owner. Difficult owners are worse than cobbled up cars. We simply don't have time to hold hands of people that "don't get it."

EmTee, correct, as well as incorrect springs. Communication and experience are also issues, but after going over it I think it's all covered. We shall know soon.

We covered a bunch of issues, including incorrect shoes, reversed shoes, and limited information was available. It's probably a half frozen wheel cylinder.

Looks earlier to me. Probably truck, and I would guess no newer than 1936…….but that’s a shot in the dark. Cable brakes were quickly disappearing by 1935.

Spoke to him on the phone. I think we have him headed in the right direction. We will know more in a few days.