danhar1960

G'Day Billy I know just how you are feeling at the moment. I'm not that much ahead of you. I hope your rear end is in better condition than mine was :) Its been a fun learning curve. Danny

Barney Did it make any noticeable difference to the beam pattern after you changed them ?? Danny PS The "highbeam flashes at night " was humour. I've travelled hundreds of miles in a '39 at night here in Australia with the Multibeam lenses and don't remember being flashed.

Lunch over. Measuring the lenses across from side to side is 7 1/2". From top to bottom is 7 1/4" and as per Barney, 7" round at the ring. If you have the reflector buckets, the lenses are the same shape and size. A couple of pics. 1st pic: Back of lenses. Note the recesses for the clip. ND pic: Front of lenses. Note Multibeam_Headlamps_Guide If you look hard you can just see the Right and Left above the Guide Multibeam. 3rd pic: Main bodies with slotted holes for clips as per pic 4. 4th pic: Lens in retaining ring with W holding clips and alignment clip. Good Hunting, Danny

The link provided refers to a need for a difference in lenses for Right hand drive cars as opposed to Left hand drive cars. Logically it would make sense to me that there would be a different set of lenses for each but I think that the part numbers referred in the link do not relate to what side of the road one drives on, hence the comment "it seems that there is no Left hand versus Right hand drive lenses" given that US and Australia used the same parts.<O:p</O:p There is a left side of the car lens and a right side of the car lens. They are different and as such carry different part numbers followed by the LH and RH. I don't believe that the LH & RH in the info supplied refers to which side of the road one drives on.<O:p</O:p Each side lens has a recess that is off centre at the top. One side is to the left of centre and the other is to the right. There are slotted holes in the bodies at the top and off to centre. One side is the left of centre and the other side is to the right of centre. There is a clip that locates the lens to the body such that the correct lens only will go on its correct side. The correct side lenses recess will correspond to the correct side slotted hole.<O:p</O:p Anyway AirbrushGuy, after Xmas Dinner, I’ll dig out a set of bodies and lenses and take a few pictures of it all and post them. (Anything to avoid helping clean up the mess) I’ll measure them up and hopefully answer the original question. The above means didly squat with out the correct sizes.<O:p</O:p Merry Xmas All !! Danny:)

Going by the part numbers quoted it seems that there is no Left hand versus Right drive lenses. Maybe that explains all those highbeam flashes at night from oncoming traffic here in Australia Danny

I don't have a set of lenses in front of me but from memory they should have GUIDE MULTI BEAM" on them at the bottom. There is a flat across the bottom of them and there is also a Left and a Right that can be found at the top of the lense. If no one else has chimed in by tomorrow I'll dig one out and measure it. Danny

I was reading the 38 service bulletin the other day and noticed that there were locks for the battery to (try to) prevent it from being stolen. Has anyone ever seen these fitted to a battery in a car. Danny

Maybe the sealed beams are original ??? I'm reasoably sure they were introduced in '39. Danny

Thanks for that. Much appreciated. Danny

Hi Nickelroadster. Any chance I could have a copy of that article?? Danny

I'm not sure about '53 but my '39 ring gear has a square back and a leading edge on the front to help engage the starter pinion. Not sure how that would go turning the ring-gear around. Might be a bit harsh on starter pinion and ring-gear engagement. If I remember rightly, the '39 ring-gear increased the angle over the '38 to help reduce harsh gear engagement. If it's buggered, replace it. Standing on the side of the road trying to turn a hot engine by hand with the fan blade to get past the buggered bit is no fun. Danny

Didn't the original radio only have 5 buttons with B.U.I.C.K on the buttons ?? Sonomatic ?? Don't have a pic to hand, just from memory. Danny

I can attest to the fact that the flywheel can be misaligned. I had my engine reconditioned by a local engine reconditioner. I went to him as he was in the local club and was "SUPPOSED" to be the man with Buicks. I did the head myself but didn't want to even attempt to do the bottom end. Got the short engine back home and went to assemble the head to the block only to find that something didn't look quite right. When the No. 1 piston was at TDC there was no timing mark to be found. I also noticed that the cam follower for No.1 Intake was in the fully up position at TDC. I rang the engine rebuilder and questioned him about this. He laughed and told me I was young and just didn't understand old engines and that I didn't know what I was on about and to stop worrying. That night I received a series of frantic messages at home and work saying that I was not to touch the engine before it was returned to him, the rebuilder, and if I did, HE WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE that "may" result from trying to start the engine. Not only did he put the flywheel on back in the wrong place but he had also put the camshaft in 180 degrees wrong. My crank, balancer and flywheel had apparently been final balanced as a unit so I now have chisel marks for timing marks. Take off your flywheels and BEWARE !! Most flywheels I have removed had staggered bolt patterns or location dowels. '39 engines don't. Danny

Allan I hope you mean "I hope he doesn't mind" I have 2 heaters but they didn't come with a switch. Often wondered what an original looks like too. Danny

My fellow Australians in Victoria. I sit and watch the nightly news and see the scenes of total devastation and horror. I'm sure the hearts and thoughts of all Australians are with you. It's hard to imagine that somewhere out there, there are scumbags that would deliberately start these fires. What to do with them if and when they are caught? I would give them to those affected by their actions and let them sort it out. I see the Greenies Mr Brown has attributed it to "Global Warming". What a scumbag! To use this tragedy at this time to push his own political barrow. I think his crowd will have a lot to answer for after this. Do know that the rest of the country is with you. I hope the aid and money is getting to you quickly and there is no further loss of lives. Good luck and stay safe down there. Danny

I thank all for the feedback. Might have to invest in a copy. Danny

I'm interested in getting a copy of "The 1937/38 Buick Story" and "The 1939 Buick Story". I see they have an add on the Prewar.com site. Does anyone have these books ?? Are they hardback or softcover ?? Does Bruegger's Buick Books have an email address ?? Any info would be appreciated. Danny

G'Day Janne Your pictures do inspire. Every time I see a '39 I get back out in the shed (garage) and do a bit more on my '39 8/40. Thankfully, I have finished the engine rebuild, gearbox, brakes, shocks, rear end and everything else on the chassis and drive train. The fun part is now the body. I’ve just finished modifying the body from a short chassis to fit the long chassis. Thankfully, over the years I have collected enough parts to build 2 cars. It’s now just a case of getting on with it. Unfortunately, life, work and family keep getting in the way. G'Day 1939_Buick Your comment re the extra support over the chassis got me wondering if my car had this brace. I had always assumed that all had it as the 3 chassis' I’ve had have had this brace. 2 were the short chassis and the chassis I’m using is the long chassis. I got out my 1939 Service bulletins and read up on it. They refer to it as a “Z Bar”. All 3 had all been welded in place. Always something new to learn !!! Danny Note to myself…… Must put atleast 1 hr aside today to work on my Buick. Bugger the house ! Let it fall over

Oh, The dreaded short chassis. When I first took the body of my '39, I did wonder what the angle bar supports were all about. Never thought much about it until I became the subject of snipes and cheap shots from fellow club members for having bought a '39. Many a smile and stupid comment like "Hope the bum don't fall of it", "Better carry spare jack shafts with that thing", "Those things are boilers" Yada yada yada.................................I've since read the books too... Strangely enough, the self appointed experts had never owned a '39, just read the books. I am not phased by any of the hooha. I hope to have mine back on the road in a few years time. I have though since got a long chassis and have done the modifications necessary to fit the body from a short chassis to a long chassis. Any time I see another '39, I too find myself down on hands and knees for a look see and then enquire if its ever caused problems. From what I can see, the real problem with the jack shaft would be the rubber supports holding the torque tube in place. I can see that if they were to fail the thing would wobble about and cause problems. I have they later type grilles so "IF" airflow was improved in these I have the benefit of it. I have a new bigger capacity radiator for it and it has been pressurised to 7lbs. If this creates a problem, no trouble to change the cap. I'm not overly fussed about keeping 100% original but I'll try to keep it reasonably close. The nutters that stand and argue about if the firewall grommet is the correct shade of black are beyond me. The whole restoration is a bit of a learning curve. Hopefully I'll have learnt the tricks for when I start on my '38 Century. Danny

Hey John I'd be interested in that info also. I'll need to do that too one day........One day.... Is it in the Bulletins I got from you some time ago?? Danny

G'Day Dave I think you mean CRANKSHAFT Dave. The conrods connect to the crankshaft. I remember seeing your '38 in a thousand pieces many years ago. It truly is a beautiful beast. Danny

G'day Dave, Thanks for the info. I do have the service bulletins. I should sit down one day and read the things from front to back. I've gone through 3 parts cars to "TRY" and put 1 car together. None of those had these brackets. 2 of the 3 had the wings you speak of. I've asked a couple of other blokes here in Aus and they said that theirs also didn't have them. Maybe they just got lost over the years. I think I will try to hunt a pair down if not I'll make them. They don't look to difficult. G'Day 1939_Buick I have done up a long chassis but fitted a short chassis body to it . It took a few minor modifications and fabrication of a couple of body mount brackets but nothing to difficult. It's a Holden body so I think there is only 1 type of wiper tower. Re the photo: Yes, I seen that. It was a car that was for sale so I went and had a look at it.(CURIOSITY ONLY). He was asking a bit much for it as it had its problems. He was emphatic that it was an original and I didn't get into it with him as he did let me eyeball the car knowing I had no intentions of buying and graciously allowed me to take a lot of photos for my future reference. It had a ford carby, 38 manifold and head. Air filter of a??.. who knows. 38 parking lights. 46 steering wheel.........Bla bla bla Thanking you for the replies. Danny

G'day to all, I have a '39 Special I'm restoring and was curious about the brackets on the firewall that seem to support the hood. They have rubber bumpers on them. I have seen some '39s with them but a lot without. What was the go with these ? Are all cars supposed to have them?? It doesn't seem to be deleterious to not have them. Danny

Check out this ebay item 180219357789 Hurry !!! It wont last long. Danny

Has anyone here ever put a body from a short chassis '39 Special onto a long chassis? If so, apart from removing the strengthening rails in the wheelarch, was there any other differences ? Danny