Mark Shaw

This guy is right on the money! I also recognized similar happenings in my current (non-automotive) company in his article.

Ken, This is one of the advantages of Babbitt bearings. When new bearings are made at the factory or during a rebuild, shims are added at the ends of the bearing caps to allow removal later; thus allowing for wear. The shims are held in place by the bearing cap bolts. Upon removal of these bolts, you should find very thin sheets of metal between the bearing cap and the rod. Usually only one or two need to be removed to make the Babbitt bearing fit tightly around the crankshaft bearing journal.

I suggest you just fabricate a car dolly.

If you are referring to the oil cooler, yes it is common to see these disconnected. The little heat exchanger inside probably has a leak that would add water to the oil. I really don't know if these are necessary, but it couldn't hurt to get it fixed and re-installed correctly.

Well, I had a similar problem and found a crank pin re-turning tool that I used to remove the taper and out of roundness of my #6 bearing journal with the engine still in the car. You may see a two part shop article in the bugle in a couple of months. Meanwhile, send me your email address and I will send you part 1 about the re-turning tool. Part two will be about pouring babbitt and line boring the rod bearing.

Michael, Check out this site before you hook up your vacuum gauge. http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

1937 Buick Series 41 Sedan with radio, heater, clock, in running condition. Easy restoration, $6000. Call Jim Brown 503-284-6455 or email at jimbrownorch@msn.com

Check your high speed jet for cracks. This too is a common problem with old brass parts. Just remove it, plug one end and put some pressure on it with air or water to find any leaks. I little solder on the outside will seal it again if you find a crack.

Good advice from Buicksplus. My 31 is still OK without modification as long as I remember to put 30W oil in it before each touring season. But I agree that modern bearings and seals will eventually be needed. I recently found an original spare fan hub for a 1931-57 Buick while doing my spring cleaning. Let me know if you need one...

Sounds like you still have a vacuum leak. My 29 Buick had the same symptoms & I ran for over a year with the choke part way open to make it smooth out. I discovered that since I had removed the vacuum wiper motor, the disconnected tubing created a significant vacuum leak. I plugged the tube at the top of the windshield, and it solved the problem. (I still need to fix that wiper motor.)

Brian, I am really glad to see your posting with photos of your tour. Hopefully, it will motivate others to do the same. The BCA PWD is planning an after-tour starting the day after the 2007 national meet. We would be interested in any tour routes your group might recommend north of Seattle. We are currently considering tours via Anacortes ferries to one or two islands in Puget Sound as well as to La Conner and other small towns in the area. Please contact me with any info you may have on good hotels, destinations, etc. Thanks!

Bob, Your best bet is a parts car. Last year I bought a 1931 50 series chassis complete with all running gear except the radiator and gas tank for $750. It was just 150 miles from me and I bought it on Ebay.

Awesome!

Send a note to Thriller on this site. I believe he has one. Mark Shaw

Derek, Just over three years ago, we moved from a three acre place with a car barn. I don't miss the barn anymore. It had no heat, only a 15 amp electrical connection good only for lights, and I had to walk in the rain to and from the garage where all the tools were kept. It took two years of searching to find a house in a neighborhood that my wife liked and one that also had enough room to add on a 26' X 34' shop with parking for five cars (four on the floor and one on a lift). I had a contractor build a pole building shell, and my son and I installed a two loop radiant floor heating system just before they poured the floor. The contractor's portion cost about $20K. I had the contractor use double roof trusses that span front to back to make a 20' peak midway to provide room for a lift. I also specified the pair of trusses next to the house with 2"X10" bottom joists to allow me to add 8' of loft storage with 10" I joists between the house and the trusses. We used recycled deck lumber for the loft floor to make it strong enough to store my spare engines & transmissions. I also installed a 1 ton jib hoist to lift heavy stuff into the loft. I have not finished insulating yet, but my plan is to keep the work area warm enough to work through the winter, while keeping the car storage area just warm enough to keep the cars happy. I also plan to install a bubble wrap curtain to keep the heat in the work bay. The bubble wrap is relatively cheap, and it will pass light & should hold in the radiant heat like a greenhouse. I like the idea of using white peg board to finish the insulated walls, but I will loose the nice 2"X6" shelves the pole building construction provides when I close it in. I will post finished photos when I get the shop cleaned up a bit. I do have some progress photos if you want to see them. Mark Shaw

Paul, There are basically two types of rod bearings. Babbitt and insert bearings. Babbitt bearings are made by pouring molten alloy into the bottom opening of the rod, letting it cool, and machining a hole in it that matches the dimension of the bearing journal(s). This is called line boring and is uasually done for all the rods at one time (in a line) after the crank has been machined (reground) to make all the bearing journals even, polished and the same size. Insert bearings are C shaped "bearing liners" or bearing shell inserts that fit & lock into rods made specifically for this type of bearing. This more convenient design made insert bearings the modern way to make engines. If you can't wiggle a rod bearing, it means that it is probably OK, or at least not badly worn. Measuring with plasti-gage is a more accurate way to tell. But you will be able to find badly worn bearings using the wiggle method. If you do find one or more that wiggle, remove shims to tighten them and then use plasti-gage to measure your clearance on each bearing. Sorry, I don't have the rod cap torque requirements for your engine. Mark Shaw

Paul, I may have been the one who suggested that a piston rod bearing may be making the tapping noise. I had exactly the same symptoms in my 31 Buick (the first straight 8), and it turned out to be a badly worn bearing on the #6 piston. I am about midway through fixing the crank bearing journal, and will be pouring a new babbit bearing this week end. Since the straight 8 pisons are so small, they will not make the typical low knocking sound that bigger piston engines make with the same problem. I suggest you save yourself a lot of time, worry and potentially $$ by removing the pan and just wiggling each rod bearing. If you have been hearing a loud tapping sound, you will soon feel and hear which one(s) may be loose. If you do have loose bearings, you should be able to remove shims (very thin flat metal pieces) from between the bearing cap and the rod. If you have no shims, it may mean that someone already removed them. Mark Shaw

Try this: http://www.sparkplugs.com/default.asp Mark Shaw

Michael, I did the same thing to my 1931-57 Buick by using Freeze plugs. They easily press into the openings on the heat riser and exhaust valve without any special machining. Works great! BCA members who went to Rochester may have seen a lot of work going on under the hood of a 25 Buick Truck on the front lawn of the convention center. Part of the job was to replace the inner heat riser tube that was severely rusted and passing exhaust into the intake. With help from the local Midas Muffler shop, who cut some standard exhaust pipe and pressed it into the heat riser body for only $25, we got it running in time for the BCA PWD dinner on Friday night. This kept it original and solved the same problem. Mark Shaw

All the previous suggestions are good ones. I can only add that high speed jets in Marvel Carbs sometimes develop a crack or split that must be soldered to operate properly. Check it by removing it and apply water under pressure to find the crack. Also, check to see if advancing the spark (turn the distributor about 1/8" opposite the turning direction of the rotor) to see if it performs better at high speed. Mark Shaw

Tom, How about an engine number to ID the straight 8? These started in 1931, but the radiator is not from the thirties. Mark Shaw

That looks like a packing follower wrench. The round tab at the end fits into a hole in a round threaded gland (like a nut) that compresses packing around a shaft inside a tubular gland. Tighten or loosen the gland follower by pulling the handle away from the tab end. If it is for your car, it most likely is for adjusting the water pump packing gland. Mark Shaw

What a busy week! I attended a fall social sternwheeler dinner cruise last Saturday night for my HCCA Portland Goup and was on a local BCA Portland chapter day tour on Sunday with my 29 Buick. I then toured Monday and Tuesday in the HCCA Skagit Group tour with my 13 Buick here in Vancouver WA. It showered both days, but it just slowed us down a bit. Wet brakes don't work as well, so we kept more spacing between cars. I also learned that my top is missing the flap between the top of the windshield and the front top bow. That open space allows a lot of rain and wind to drench me and my nagavator (spelled correctly)! Time for a new top anyway. Tomorrow is Saturday, the weather will be good, and I will be taking the 13 Buick to Hood River Oregon for a tour through the historic Mosier Twin Tunnels. What a busy week!! http://www.a2zgorge.info/area/Mosier_Tunnels.htm Mark Shaw

The cap for artillery wheels is small, but the cap for the wire wheels is much larger. Mark Shaw

Tom, Your Buick wheels appear to be from a 1931. The hub caps will have a B in the center. Mark Shaw