hchris

For what its woth I have a 25 Maxwell with 20A fuse, been there forever no problems

Usually a refigeration effect when fast flowing air carrying fuel comes into contact with warm metal (same as a cold beer on a hot day). Often seen as carburettor ice when it passes around the throttle valve whilst the engine is cold, most noticeable on cool humid mornings. Modern fuels seem to exagerate the problem, usually disappears when the engine warms up. Rough idle or stalling engine whilst cold is a good indicator, have a close look around the carb base and often you will see a ring of ice or touch the metal and it will be ice cold. Exhaust manifold heater valve should prevent this if fitted and operational, other than that perhaps a change of fuel type or warm up the carb base with her hair drier ??

OK you will need to remove the tail shaft and you then need to undo a big nut which holds the brake drum to the rear of the transmission. Ease the drum away from the trans - careful bits dont drop out !! oh and you may need a puller to get this off. From here you should see the internal workings and assess the problem

Are you saying when you restart the warm engine water comes out ? Where do you see the water ?

Interesting, yes I can see how a leak on the suction side of the oil pump could cause problems for both vacuum and oil pressure. What I dont understand is why you wouldnt just fix the leak, after all its only copper pipe and a dob of solder would do the job. I am a little confused by the fuel pump terminology, there is no pump as such, merely the vacuum created by the oil pump, directed to the vac tank, draws the fuel from the fuel tank and deposits it into a holding reservoir within the vac tank where it gravity feeds to the carb.

I am curious as to how the oil pump could be affected by the fuel side of the vacuum system, any further details ? I have been driving a Maxwell for over 10 years with this sytem and have yet to experience a problem.

In answer to the lead issue, it was only ever put into fuel to raise the octane rating thus avoiding detonation, which came about with increasing engine compression ratios. A side effect was the lead residue coated the valve seats and guides which reduced the wear rate of these components. So depending on todays usage you may want to modify valves/seats by hardening to overcome wear or alternatively use an additive to your fuel. To avoid detonation with high compression engines then you have a choice of fuels or octane booster additives. The failure of pump seals etc. is a factor directly attributed to the content of todays fuels, they are generally not compatible with the materials used in flexible hoses, diaphragms, pump seals and the like found in vehicles built when leaded fuels were the norm. The options are replacing the hoses etc. with modern materials or shop around for compatible fuels. .

As to the vacuum fuel system you will find a 1/8" copper tube runs from the suction side of the external oil pump, this tube runs to the top of the vacuum reservoir and is the source of suction to draw fuel from the fuel tank to the reservoir. A design advantage with the oil pump creating the vacuum rather than the inlet manifold, is that you can drive uphill all day without running out of vacuum, also if you run out of oil pressure the fuel supply will stop. Regards the engine number, it is on a pad at the upper front side of block just under the head joint surface.

What size is the carb throat ?

EGGE Machine Company - Parts and Services for Nostalgic Motors will have all you need

Unfortunately this era of car was notorius for fuel vaporisation, or vapour lock, as its more commonly known. The issue stems from high under hood temperatures heating up the fuel delivery line from the fuel pump to the carburettor, and particularly when the engine goes back to idle and fuel flow is reduced. Modern fuels add to the problem as they are more prone to vaporisation issues. The only effective way to deal with it is try and insulate the fuel lines and pump from heat, there should also be an insulator block between the carburettor and inlet manifold and there are heat shields which can be fitted over the fuel pump; you may also want to establish that the fuel pump is putting out a reasonable pressure as low pressure in the fuel delivery line will increase the risk of fuel vaporisation.

Your memory is good - the original material laid between the body and chassis for many vehicles of this era was a hessian web strip. An acceptable alternate these days is to use insertion rubber, usually around 3mm ( 1/8" ) thick. As to guards and tank cover etc. there are rolls of welting ( rubberised / plastic material )available from most uphosltery suppliers which will serve as chafing strips between these components.

Or you will probably find the pins/sleeves which form the hinge totally worn out in which case you will need to fabricate new ones

I have a 34 Chrysler frame and I know that the bottom corners are different to 34 Dodge frame, so I would be very wary

With Distributor cap removed and ignition turned on you should be able to manipulate the points open and closed with a small screwdriver and see a spark at the points. If you have spark at the coil then you can assume this to be the case, next step is the cap itself, is the little spring loaded carbon brush making contact with the distributor rotor ? Is the rotor turning as the motor spins over on the starter ?

The water distribution tubes appeared around 1935, easiest way to distinguish between these engines is to note the starter motor side of the block; pre tube will have the outer portion of cylinders exposed, post tube will have flat sided block ( full water jacket )

Martin thanks for that, I was wondering if there was something missing from my installation but it would seem not. There`s not a lot of this era to compare with down here. chris

Have been following this thread with interest as I restore a 34 CB Chrysler fitted with vac clutch and freewheel. Marty - I have not encountered anything electrical with this system, can you explain more ? :confused: thanks Chris

Early to mid 30s Dodge / Plymouth / Desoto by the look of them, other views and dimensions would help

Maxwell

Dont have specific figures for a DR engine, but most of this era started at TDC and maybe went to a maximum of 5 degrees advance. With a 4x4 I cant imagine the revs would get too high.

Quoting from 70 Years of Chrysler for 1934 : " The Imperial line now had three distinct series the CV;CX;and CW - the smallest the CV with 8 cylinder 323.5ci - using the same engine was the Airflow Custom Imperial Series CX - The largest was the Airflow Custom Imperial Series CW with 384.8ci engine " Perhaps one of these are being offered?

I am in the process of restoring a 1934 CB Town Sedan, apart from the above what other details are you after ?

Guages - such as ammeter - will just read backwards if you changed the polarity, swap the connections and they will read whichever way you want.

And then halve it, if you are concerned with ignition timing, as the distributor rotor turns at half crankshaft speed.