scott12180

Anyone have a feel for when the torque wrench became a common tool for the home mechanic, or small-scale shop? When did the concept of tightening bolts to specific pre-determined values become used in factories on assembly lines?

Great looking tires for a big Classic.

For sale --- Four used Bedford Famous Coach tires, 700x19. Tires have good tread left but are 30 years old. An inexpensive and great looking set of tires for a car that you don't drive too much . . . . or your call. Brand new Bedfords are $250 each from Lucas. This set is $250 for all four plus shipping. Figure on $100 shipping but I will let you know the exact amount before you send a check. --Scott dwyer12180@gmail.com

Only in the very early days. 1910 and earlier. If you need exact years you could look it up in ACN.

I haven’t looked up your rivets specifically but McMaster Carr has just about everything you could want. Their online catalog and mail order service is the worlds largest hardware store.

Ed Wager in Montpelier, Virginia has a car for sale on the HHFC website. I've tried to contact him but there is no response from the e-mail address and the telephone number listed has been disconnected. Does anyone know Ed or Sarah? Any way to get in touch? --Scott

Just to throw in my two cents, I've found the original Wilkinson carburetor to be very nicely designed. It works well, is very efficient and gave me no troubles. I love the adjustable needle valve for you can not only finesse the mixture while running but you can shut off the car that way, and restart it on hot days very easily. Like a vacuum tank and six volt starter, don't give up on the original equipment. It works well when properly adjusted.

Those of you using an overdrive, what brand are you using? And how or where is it mounted?

You get more visibility and better Response in the general technical section. I also thought this problem may be relevant to similar L-head engines.

Can the cam followers be removed and more importantly replaced without removing or disturbing the associated valves?

I have a 1932 Packard Standard Eight. I've set the valves several times to everything from slightly loose (0.006 each) to factory specs of 0.004 each. And I always have one noisy valve. *Tick* tick *tick *tick*. . . . In an otherwise quiet engine it is annoying. I think I've located the valve --- number two exhaust. But why is it noisy? When I rebuilt the engine, the valves were all new from Egge, seats ground. Any suggestions for quieting this one out of 15 other well behaved valves ... without closing it up too much?

You know, I'm just asking the question if the gears are available. I don't appreciate the insult. If you can't answer the question, please don't tell the world about your opinion of me. There is a reason why I am considering high speed gears. I have tried an overdrive in the car and it didn't work out well. For this particular car given the weight and the engine size and the rear axle gearing, in overdrive made the engine lug too much in my hilly country, and out of overdrive made the car too slow. Out of overdrive was 4.69. In overdrive was 3.47. What seems ideal for my car with my engine with how much it weighs and where I drive it, is something intermediate like the 4.07 gears that Phil Bray used to make. I appreciate all of your opinions on how overdrives are the way to go, and if you do a search you will see that I was a big proponent of overdrives based on a 1926 Packard I used to own. But the current car just doesn't work well with that set-up. So I am trying other options. If I lived in Kansas or Ohio or somewhere flat, I'd go with a different option. Where I live in western New England that option doesn't seem to work for this car with this body style with this engine with this gearing and where I want to drive it.

Without explaining all the reasoning, here's a hypothetical question. Suppose you have a circa 1930 large-car Sedan. Packard, Cadillac, Buick, Pierce, etc. Could you put larger tires on the rear to get better speed while leaving smaller tires on the front because they look better . . . . or because you don't want to buy four large tires. The large tires on the front really would look truck-like. But on the back they are mostly hidden under the fenders. The question came up to put say, 650x19 on the front and 750x19 on the rear. The two-inch diameter increase on the rear gives about a 10% better speed for the same engine rpm. If the answer is "no, you can't do it", then why? What would happen? Have you done it to know for sure? No flames or insults to my intelligence or ancestry, please. This is just a question.

I'd like to find a set of Phil Bray's high speed ring and pinion gears which would fit a Packard standard eight, 1932. Specifically a 1932 902. That or any used, older ring and pinion gear set that would fit the '32 but have a lower ratio (higher speed) than 4.69. I'd be interested in the gears, the differential or an entire rear axle. Thanks -- Scott Troy, NY 1932 902 5-p Coupe dwyer12180@gmail.com

I'd like to find a set of Phil Bray's high speed ring and pinion gears which would fit a Packard standard eight, 1932. Specifically a 1932 902. That or any used, older ring and pinion gear set that would fit the '32 but have a lower ratio (higher speed) than 4.69. I'd be interested in the gears, the differential or an entire rear axle. Thanks -- Scott Troy, NY 1932 902 5-p Coupe dwyer12180@gmail.com

My 1932 902 has a two piece driveshaft. Does anyone have any experience rebuilding the center carrier or know of someone who has and can do the job? The bearings seem worn with plenty of slop, but more importantly the rubber vibration insulating section is all boogered up from age. I don't know how to replace that. The driveshaft runs OK, but there is vibration presumably coming from that center carrier. Thanks -- Scott Troy, NY 1932 Packard 902 5--p Coupe

If you are considering putting old tires on a car, how old is too old? Say these are brand new never been on a car. Say these have been stored well with no issues. Do tires go bad simply due to age? Could a 40 year old tire, for instance, that’s never been mounted and has been stored well still be good as new to drive on?

Please tell us how you want to install it ... and why Mitchell doesn't like it.

I rebuilt a 1926 Packard straight eight years ago and did have the head surfaced before assembly. But I had a terrible time getting a good seal. Went through three headgaskets if I recall right. Anyway a friend who rebuilds professionally said that it is tough to get a good seal on long engines like that Packard. He recommended Hylomar spray as a gasket sealer. Worked great and I always use it on everything. --Scott

I gave the car a good run to get it hot then checked the clearances with the engine running. The exhaust valves which I set to 0.004 cold were now generally about 0.004 or 0.003. Intake valves which were also set to 0.004 cold were 0.007, 0.008 and 0.009 hot. So the exhaust valves got a tiny bit longer hot --- clearances smaller--- but the intake valves got alot shorter when hot --- clearances bigger. Any ideas?

I'd still appreciate any other ideas for what's going on, but this afternoon I set all valves to 0.004 COLD. I'll give it a good run and then check them hot. See where they are. If this is true then they ought to be more than 0.004.

I've always been under the impression that as the engine gets hot, valve clearances would decrease. I've a lot of experience with Franklins where you set valves cold, but admittedly never measured clearances both hot and cold. On my 32 Packard standard eight, I've been setting the valves to factory spec 0.004 with the engine hot and running. No easy job. With the engine stone stone cold this morning I see that all intake valves have essentially zero clearance and exhaust valves are 0.001 or 0.002. In other words clearances get bigger when the engine is hot. Is is this the way it's supposed to be on L head straight eights? If so then shouldn't valves be set when the engine is cold? --Scott 32 Packard 902 5-p Coupe

I discovered that I must have parked under a messy tree a couple of months ago. My paint is hazed with billions of tiny misty droplets that I can't get off. Many suggestions for removing baked on treesap from a lacquer painted car?

Could someone post the article or post the details of this test which resulted in more than 75% failure on AC spark plugs? I'm not a club member as I don't own a Cadillac-LaSalle, but I am very interested in how the test was done and which spark plugs were effected. I think we all could benefit from these results. Thanks

Curious what guys are using in their early 1930's Standard Eights for spark plugs. These are 14 mm and originally AC-K9, K10, K12, etc. This would cross into about AC-45, 46, 48 or so for various heat ranges for NOS plugs from the 1940's and 50's. But it's been pointed out that many of these NOS plugs have high failure rates due to manufacturing problems sealing porcelain at the time. So I'd like to know what you are running now, either older NOS plugs or modern off-the-shelf plugs. Name brand and model ( heat range). I have Prestolite 147 but they are too cold for me. Looking for something else. Thanks -- Scott