jrbartlett

Best results I've had came from washing with powdered laundry detergent, letting it soak for a while (up to a half hour with re-wettings) before scrubbing. I have also used rubbing compound to polish off the spots and streaks, but the scrubbing seemed to work just as well.

I've successfully used the razor blade method several times to remove dried concrete from paint, as well as an unidentified residue. The tape and angle methods sound like good suggestions.

Now that you mention ignition problems contributing to overheating, it reminds me that some years back a fully restored 64 Lincoln we have starting running hot for no apparent reason. I could not find anything wrong. Finally, one day it stalled and could not be restarted. The coil had burned out. After I replaced the coil, the overheating problem disappeared as well. On the '29 DeSoto, the plastic bumper on the points worn down, narrowing the gap. That's why you have to put a small dab of grease on the distributor cam.

If you cannot find a higher-speed factory gearset, you might check with Phil Bray, I think in Michigan. He can manufacture ring gear and pinion sets.

I've had some experience that might help you out. We restored a '29 DeSoto roadster when I was a kid, with the 6-cylinder Silver Dome engine, which was probably a bit smaller than the engine on your car. Following restoration, the car tended to run hot despite a cleaned-out radiator and engine block. We ultimately determined that the water was passing through the radiator too fast. A round block of wood in the radiator hose, with a half-inch hole drilled in the center, solved the problem. I don't remember if there was a place to install a thermostat, but perhaps that would have helped just as much. When you did your work several months ago, was there a thermostat present that perhaps you did not reinstall? Also, be sure to check your ignition timing and points settings, as these were contributing factors on our car -- but not as much as the rapid water circulation. My own opinion is that the radiator paint you added is not a factor, provided that you did not stack it on too thick. I've painted a number of radiators, but always try to keep it really thin.

You might try adjusting the brake shoes. They may have worn down enough to result in a low pedal. I used to fight this issue on a '66 Volkswagon with non-automatically-adjusting brakes. It I didn't adjust them every few months, the pedal would sink to the floor.

Out of curiosity, what body style is a Special?

Surely someone out there knows something.

How is planning for the Glidden coming along? Any idea where they tour will go from Golden, and how much mountain driving will be involved? Thanks.

One of the old Indy car race drivers, I think maybe Wilber Shaw or Mauri Rose (both multiple winners), once wrote about losing an engine during testing at high speed. The crankshaft broke so catestrophically that it broke the engine block in half, and also broke the motor mounts. The engine fell out through the bottom of the car, with the rear end of the car leaping into the air as the engine rolled underneath. Must have been quite a ride.

What about the antique auto insurance implications?

What I have read is that pot metal was used originally because it is ideal for casting intricate parts, and accepts plating well. The problem comes with age, as the pot metal eventally deteriorates causing pits to form and the plating to bubble. Of course, this is usually 15 years down the line.

What replacement transmission fluid are you guys using for a '66 Riviera (Turbo-hydramatic 400)? The dipstick says to use "Type ATF." Thanks.

Although you put the plug wires on one at a time, did you have the distributor cap off? Is it possible to install the cap 180 degrees out? It is possible on some cars, not on others.

Can anyone recommend a manfacturer of attractive wood, or wood-look, garages and barns, or are all these custom-built at the site? I am looking at a house in a wooded neighborhood and would like someting a little rustic in the 6 to 8-car range in order to blend in. Photos of your garages would be welcome too.

If it's any help, I own a '64 Lincoln convertible that back in the 70s had an under-dash wiring fire when my late mother-in-law owned it. According to the parts book, there was a ballast resister wired into the ignition system between the coil and the ignition switch. When the dealer repaired the damage, they apparently eliminated the resister (which may have been what caught fire, but I don't know for sure) with a high-resistance lead wire from the ignition switch to the coil. This wire gets warm when the car is running. I've run the car on the present setup for roughly 100,000 miles over 25 years.

There is an easy solution for 6-volt cables. Go to an auto supply in an industrial area of town, one that deals with alot of truck customers. The better shops will have big, heavy truck battery cables, typically in a half-dozen or more lengths. They will also have cable and cable ends so you can make your own to fit. I use these cables on my 6-volt cars. Also, you could try going to a first-class battery shop (not an auto supply) and have them test the readings on your cables for resistance and voltage, and the voltage and amp draw of your starter.

I think it will help if you determine what make and model your fuel pump is. A lot of pumps were used on multiple applications back then. Also, I think I would just send your pump off for rebuilding by one of the commercial services. That way you know you will have the right pump. These rebuilds are inexpensive and reliable. Look in Hemmings for their ads.

Warm cable is indicative of a problem. Either the cable has broken down and is heating up from resistance, or the cable terminal is loose or corroded, or there is a problem with the starter pulling too many amps. Back when I worked on trucks, if there was an electrical / starting problem I used to hunt down the problem by looking for a hot cable, such as you described. By the way. it's easier to fix the problem than to switch to 12 volts and have to deal with all the changeover challenges (guages, lights, regulator, etc.). I have several cars with far-larger engines (525 cubic inches in one case) that start just fine on 6 volts. But they all have new, big cables and bright, clean terminal ends.

Hey, I don't think it's any different than displaying at Hershey. Haven't been to the Eastern, but have displayed at others.

What you are trying to do, particularly with wire wheels where you cannot get into the many tiny spaces in order to fill the rust pits and sand the filler or primer, is to get the paint to flow over and fill them, then dry to a glass-like state. A heavy coat seems to work well for this. Access is clearly not a problem with wood wheels, which are much simpler, but the rotating and heavy coat method does eliminate a lot of extra work with them as well. Plus, it helps keep overspray to a minimum. At least, that's been our experience. We've also disassembled them and spray-varnished the individual spokes and painted the rim and hub, then reassembled everything. That worked too for that application.

So how did they get all this mess off the driveshaft? My brother has seen a piece of fibreglass wall insulation for a house fly out of a pickup bed and get entangled in a front-drive halfshaft so tightly that it locked up the wheel. The car had to be hauled away by a wrecker.

My brother and I have painted wood and especially wire wheels by rotating them slowly. We bolted them to a rod and attached a pair of vice grips to the rod, then one of us spray painted while the other turned the rod. The wheels were vertical; the rod horizontal. You can mount the rod very simply -- we've put in the U-shaped bracket on top of jackstands, or even just rolled it back and forth on parallel boards. Paint heavily to fill in the pits, and the rotation eliminates runs and helps the paint flow out evenly. We used hardener in the paint -- after 10-15 minutes the paint is hard enough that you can stop. On the wire wheels, I find that our paint jobs look far better than powder coating.

This has been an interesting read. I have a friend with a '21 Bulldog and back in the '60s I remember he had the same problems with the cam follower bodies and the starter end plate. He had new pieces cast at that time. The original cam follower bodies not only swell, they will also break sometimes, which of course shuts you down.

Be aware that the problem on the right rear top could be related to a lead joint where separate body panels come together. Might have to take some specialized steps to seal off the lead. Had this issue on a '29 Packard sedan back in the '60s.