danhar1960

15 inMg isn't great. Could be you have lousy compression. (No can compressy, No can sucky :0 ) Did you try advancing or retarding a little to see if it when up ?? (Around 17-20 would be nicer) The jitters is usually a dud valve. I'd do as per Grant's suggestion and pull 1 lead at a time and note any change. You may just have a dud plug or lead. Thankfully, I've never had to deal with Vacuum pumps. Holden bodies went electric motor. For some unknown reason, they didn't mount them in rubber and they give of a shocker of a noise. Grang, grang, grang....... Danny

All this talk of adjusting rockers inspired me to by one of these gizmos. Never used one nor needed one to date but thought it would be a nifty thing to have around. Anyone had any experience with one ?? Danny

Someone flogging iPhones and such crap. I must have me a bug. First one ever. BUGGER !! Danny

Greetings BJE and welcome aboard. Glad to see you decided not to part with your coupe. Always nice to have another '39er in the mix. Danny (Come on Jolly John, sign up !! )

Am I the only person here getting all these popup ads when reading posts. They're a bloody nuisance !! Seems that there are certain words that are underlined and if you run your cursor over it an ad pops up. Or is it just me ??????? Danny

Oops, sorry Wayne, I did mean to get back to this. Just a thought: The pump piston stroke on Strombergs has 3 setting positions. It could be that the stroke is set to long and delivering too much fuel. Is the rod to the pump piston currently in the middle hole ?? Danny

I'm afraid I couldn't say what amount at what pressure over what time is good or bad other than to say none at all would not be good. The important thing is that there is oil getting through every rocker keeping the rockers and rods constantly lubricated. It certainly shouldn't poor out and is usually just a trickle. Danny

In the past, I have taken the fan belt off to eliminate all the noise associated with the belt, pump, fan and generator. It's only for a very short time and won't cook the engine. You'd be surprised and all the noises that become apparent. It might help to localize where the vibration emanates from. Danny

Are they Carter or Stromberg ?? Danny

The problem with Kiwis coming over here is that a lot of them just can't seem to find their way home. (but hey, can you blame them) Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi ! Oi! Oi! Danny

Motor's Auto Repair Manual says 450 rpm. If you don't have this book, I recommend it. Goes into great detail about all makes and models and is full of specifications. Danny

Done it a few times mate. I could even understand what you were saying. (Well, most of it ) Got to love digital radio. Danny

It must have been a crappy job being the bloke hanging out of the hood while going down the road and adjusting the idle screw yelling at the driver : "Are we doing 7-8 MPH yet ?" Danny

Yep ! What Ben and Grant said. Danny

Could it be that the new carbs are jetted to small and it is running lean?? You say "I've 32 degrees advance at 3000 rpm" Going by the book, full advance should be 13@1500 rpm. Did you check the springs in the centrifugal advance ?? Danny

Good to hear Ron. Now you have to make sure your thermostat is working or you'll have an engine that never warms up. :) Danny

Interesting to hear about different oils. These problems most times come back to a partially blocked radiator. When you say "a new block in the radiator", do you mean you had a new core fitted ?? Danny

ABG, If I recall rightly you have a Century. Century and Special radiators are different. I don't have a '39 Century radiator to compare with my '38 Century. If you want to take some measurements (in millimetres) of yours and give me what your reference points are, I can compare it with my '38. Danny

Unfortunately Ron, Grant is right. It's a sh!t of an exercise but if your radiator is partially blocked, the effort will be worth it and at least you'll be confident that the radiator is good. Danny

I have a couple of '38 Century radiators and a few '39 Special radiators. I don't have a '38 Special radiator to make a comparison. I have a '39 cowl and tried it with a standard sized fan. It did improve the air flow through the radiator. Air flow improved by about 15-20%+. I tried the bigger diameter and 5 bladed fan wihich gave a greater flow. Danny

Tim, I would have thought that a valve problem would have shown up when you had the vacuum gauge on. Vacuum gauges can tell you a lot about how your engine is running by the amount of vacuum and how the needle is reacting and moving. No harm in putting it back on and having another look see. If you don't already know how, you can Google how to read a vacuum gage and what signs to look for. I also would suggest doing a good compression check as well as taking off the rocker cover and checking the gaps on all the rockers. When you changed the points etc, did you check that little lead that runs down to the points ?? Those little buggers tend to fray and break inside the sheath. Danny

Seeing this inspired me to go have a look at a few of the body tags I've kept. I love how on the second tag they made no attempt at all to try and stamp anything in a straight line. Must have applied the 'She'll be right mate" policy. Danny

Mike, You'd only have to worry about me if I had a red light on. :) Danny

G'day Dave. Nice to have you aboard. What part of N.S.W do you hail from ? It looks like you have a great start to a project there. Nice to see another Holden bodied Buick here. Be warned that there is not much from a Fisher body that fits a Holden body so be wary of buying parts in from the states. Best of luck with it and come back if you have questions. Danny (P.S Just because we live down under doesn't mean you have to put the nose badge upside down :) )

I put mine on from the bottom up and not over the foot tread but I had my pedals off the car. They're not really that big a deal to remove. I would imagine that there isn't much difference between left and right hand pedals. A little soap helped. Danny