Erndog

Hoods are not Buick

Thank you, Bob Petters, for supplying us with the cam plunger and spring! What a show-stopper that would have been. We rebuilt the carburetor using a kit we bought at the Hershey. Worked fine, except the needle valve was wrong. The old one looked fine, so we are reusing it for the time being. Installed a new timing chain and heat riser spring. Rebuilt the fuel/vacuum pump. What an experience that was! Never done that before. Not for the faint of heart. Rebuilt the distributor and nstalled it along with the oil pump. I hope we got them pretty well geared in right. Thought the water pump was going to need replacing, but it seems to be water tight. Took it apart and cleaned it up. The engine is just about ready to return to its home now. Just need to get the bell housing clutch, starter and generator ready. We have a new front end wiring harness on the way from Rhode Island Wiring. Bought some NOS motor mounts, so that won't be an issue. Mom repaired the oil pick-up screen with a little metal sewing magic. Another headache solved! Photos to follow when I can get them posted.

Maybe this could be the start of a new forum category similar to "Name That Tune". It could be "Name That Vehicle", with claims like "I can name that truck in three components!" Might be fun.

1948 Dodge?

Diamond T?

Yes, thank God. My tech advisor had a spare plunger and spring for $20!! What a guy! We have a lot to update here, but I haven't had the time to do it. Hope to soon.

I am desperately trying to find a camshaft plunger and its associated spring for a 1940 Oldsmobile 230 cu. in. engine. Also used in GMCs. Both for many years. New or used is fine. GM Part numbers 396048 and 396942<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I disagree with F&J. The car in the photo was made after the trunk became an integral part of the body. Probably around 1938.

I am desperately trying to find a camshaft plunger and its associated spring for a 1940 Oldsmobile 230 cu. in. engine. Also used in GMCs. Both for many years. New or used is fine. GM Part numbers 396048 and 396942<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I am deserately trying to find a camshaft plunger and associated spring for a 1940 Oldsmobile 230 cu. in. engine. Also used in GMCs. Both for many years. New or used is fine. GM Part numbers 396048 and 396942

Got an original replacement floormat off of eBay. It has a couple of small cracks here and there, but will be fine for this daily driver. Sure wish I could try it out, but still waiting desperately for a camshaft plunger unit so I can put the engine back in the car.

Yes, the first thing I did was contact Bob Petters, the 1940 Tech Assist, and he put feelers out on it. Nothing, as of yet. I think if I haven't got a hit yet, I'm not going to.

:confused: I have been trying for about two months to find a replacement for the lost camshaft plunger and spring in my son's 230 six cylinder. It is the only thing keeping the engine from going back into the car and continuing his first restoration. The time has come to have it custom made. Can somebody please tell me the exact dimensions for the plunger and details on the spring?

What I have is a 1940 four door sedan, but '41 parts should fit. Right now, what I really need is the spring and plunger that sit in the front end of the camshaft. An oil pick-up screen and heat riser spring are desired, too. Other than that, the big trim piece at the trunk lock, running board rubber, if you have it, gas tank, and maybe bumpers, depending on condition. ernie email me at erndog72@cox.net

Head is installed; three passes on the bolts. Did a cold adjustment on the valves. So far, so good. Finished searching the garage. It's official now, the cam plunger and spring are seriously missing! Bad, bad, bad. I am really hoping one of you has a replacement or specs to get it custom made.

Would you have any parts for the 41 6 cylinder engine?

Nope, it was just as I thought. Tightening up the front pulley pushes it against the timing gear, which in turn presses against a steel thrust washer, which rides on the brass thrust washer, which is pinned in place against the number one main bearing. There is no thrust bearing, per se, as we know them. Different, but it works. After tightening, the endplay is within the .004 specs. Had a minor setback today. The new piston came and I had changed out the rings, so it was ready to go. I figured I would pull all of the pistons back out to double check them for damage, since the #5 had broken. Also, I was not satisfied with the smoothness of rotation. Turns out that number #4 and #6 both had a broken lower oil ring. The cylinders and pistons were ok, though I had to work the lands where the breaks had occured. Not sure if it was something we did or old metal in the NOS rings. Probably the fact that we were installing the pistons with the block horizontal. Stupid idea on my part. Never did it that way before and never had any issues before, either. I found two of the old oil rings that looked good and got the pistons ready to install. Decided that this was a good time to do things right and drive out all the wrist pins and apply assembly lube, as they had gotten pretty dry over the last 40 years. We then reinstalled the pistons, checking rotation after each installation, and found no issues. Then, just to be safe, we double checked the torque on the mains. Installed a new timing chain and verified rotation again. Tomorrow we will install the head.

Dog ears are possibly for tightening old fire hose nozzles, which did have round ears sticking out from the bases on opposite sides. We had these on the firetruck we had when I was a kid. Ironically, it burned up in a big fire.

thanks for trying

Thanks, guys!

I got all four sets of shoes for my '40 Olds relined (I supplied the linings from eBay) for $50 total at Automotive Manufacturing in Richmond, VA. That included sandblasting and drilling the recessed rivet holes in the shoes. Great job, too!

I still haven’t found the cam plunger and spring, but I still have half of my garage to go over with a fine tooth comb. We were putting in the pistons yesterday with new rings and bearings and #5 somehow broke the second land from the top and part of the XS500 compression ring (neat set of “period” rings with special names for their rings). It was my son’s first time installing pistons and I think he may have been a little heavy handed in conjunction with my letting the compressor slip a ring out. I ordered a new piston from Kanter and I have most of the old rings, so I will substitute one of the old fire rings for the broken one. Since it uses two compression rings and two oil rings I think we will be ok. Now for my technical question… While we were installing those pistons, my son noticed that the crank seemed to be sitting a bit to the aft. This morning I applied some pressure and discovered that the endplay on the crank is about 1/8”. The specs call for .004”. The thrust washers are in the right places at #1 bearing; one in and one out and lined up with their pins. The only thing I can think of is that we have yet to install the small timing gear and pulley and cinch them down. I think that will pull the crank in, as the gear rides on the outer thrust washer that sits against the brass thrust washer. Am I right or am I looking at a major problem?

:confused: Still wondering if anyone out there has one of these. These engines were also used in GMC's.

Cracked blocks at the bottom of the water jacket are very common. Mine has a 27 incher. Of three engines, I have had three cracked blocks.

I believe that picture is of the center door hinge pillar, not the front.