50Traveler

I won't be playing in the garage today because I have some more eye surgery due but I was wondering if the Champions of this era used any sort of weatherstrip or welting between the rear edge of the hood and the cowl. There are no holes there and no longer any evidence that anything was ever there. My other cars of the same era had the same lace in place as my '28 Durant. Thanks again, Justin

The '46 system doesn't have a govenor and the kickdown switch has only one wire instead of four, so it is a bit different. I agree though that I should be able to back up without pulling out that knob. Thanks for your input. Justin

I have the car running and stopping now. It seems as if reverse will not work unless I pull out the knob that locks out the overdrive. Since I am missing the kickdown switch and believe that my solenoid is bad I am not surprised, but I wonder if a complete and correct OD system will let me use reverse without pulling out the knob. THis is a bit different from the OD that they used beginning in the '47 Models and I don't find as much info on it. Thanks for any input, Justin

The fumes are getting to me. The former owners name was Alex Wiley from Tonganoxie, Kansas.

I am getting waist deep into my new Champion. It was and will be a lovely car that has been neglected for many years. I did get it running today. It was off with a roar because the linkage was hung up and wouldn't let loose without my assistance. Does anyone know the most correct points to attach the return spring? On the bell crank the tab for the lockout switch was bent out of the way. I found I only had 2/3rds of the switch and saw no terminal to attach a wire. What makes 46's switch different from a 47's? I am a long way from needing overdrive but want it to have all the correct parts and work well eventually. By the way, this car used to belong to Alex Tonganoxie and was on the back cover of the April 1989 issue of Turning Wheels. He did some terrific work on it. I believe that everything that is good about the car is his doing. Thank you, Justin

Thank you so much for your response and pictures. Now if only I can talk yo into visiting from Seattle for an afternoon of garage fun. I'll keep you posted. Justin

Before I break something that I can't replace, does anyone have advice on how to remove the u-joint jsut ahead of the differential? I have removed the retainers and have been tightening up on a c-clamp between one end of the joint and an amply sized socket to receive the other side, but nothing budges in the slightest. Am I missing a step? I am trying to replace the pinion seal and haven't gotten that nut to move either, so this project is taking a bit longer than expected and fall is headed for winter any day now. Thank you for any info, Justin

Oh! Thank you! Thank you! I thought I'd never know this and now I'll see if I can put it to memory. I hope it wasn't too much work to find, but I really appreciate it. Justin

Would you like credit for saving me from certain insanity? For years I have been searching off and on for a poem used in an ad for McFarlan. All I remember is that it rhymed darlin' with McFarlan in a line that went something like "You'll always be my darlin'...." This was reprinted in a book I must still own but I can't find it. I doubt I have ever thrown out, sold, or passed into other hands any car book, but I can't find the one with this ad in it. Usually I come to the forum with more important mechanical questions that reveal my ignorance; now I return with a question that reveals my fading abilty to recall anything at all. Thank you so much, Justin

Thank you for that very enlightening response. The solar charger is rated at 1.8 watt / 125 mA (milliamps?) I have several other battery chargers of the plug in kind but hoped I could use this on sunny car show days when I am doubtful of the cars charge. Maybe I'll attach a clamp to each end of a hotdog and get ready for lunch. Justin

I am not talking about a big metal box that hums and can push a steam-roller by the starter, but one of those low amp solar chargers that sits on the dash in hope that the clouds will part. I bought one some time ago and have used it successfully on low batteries that I wanted to give an extra boost. Since the amps are so low I wondered if they would harm a 6 volt battery. Are there any electrical gurus out there that can interrupt their chanting of "Ohm" long enough to answer this? Thanks as always, Justin

Thank you so much for this excellent information. I'll give it try tomorrow and let you know what I find out. Justin

The starter spring gave up on my 1928 Durant this weekend. My question is what direction should the replacement spring be wound in? From my web searches I learn that a Model A or T spring will do, but they look to wind in the opposite direction. Then again, who knows if the part I had was the correct part to start with; that one seem bigger/wider than what the shaft would require. Ones sold on eBay that claim to be for '28 Durants are wound the opposite way too. If I look at the broken one with the ends on the top and the coils running perpendicular to my body, then the end that is on the right resembles a slightly incomplete lowercase letter b. Ones I have seen for 1928 Durants are reversed with that end looking more like a lowercase letter p. Facing the engine from the front the flywheel runs clockwise. The starter is mounted to the block on the passenger side and pulls the gear to mesh with the ring gear from the back and turns counter clockwise to spin the motor clockwise. As usual any info and advice is greatly appreciated. I just can't wrap my brain around how this would work and how the different spring directions make a difference. Justin

I have been having trouble with my ‘47 DeSoto being hard to start and hard to keep running at the prescribed rpm. I have been all over the carb and ignition and here is my latest source of confusion. <o></o> When the piston is at TDC and the timing mark is also at TDC, if I set the points to spark at just that moment the rotor is past the number 1 terminal on the distributor cap. If this was the type of distributor where the shaft had a helical gear at the bottom I’d think it was off by one tooth. All this has been checked manually when there is no advance action by either weights or vacuum. <o></o> The car will run sometimes so the spark has to be able to jump the gap from rotor to cap if strong enough. I don’t always get that spark through In dissecting the distributor I see that the position of the rotor is ultimately determined by the how the distributor shaft is mounted to the bar that the advance weights pivot on. It looks like this area of the shaft is splined and would let me lift and move over one notch for better alignment between rotor and cap. <o></o> Could this have been wrong all this time? Is the shaft and weight bar OK to separate? Why are the weight springs so different? I understand that different springs allow for a different degree of advance at different speeds, but the heavier spring seems slack enough to not do anything. <o></o> Any ideas, input, and advice is welcome and very much appreciated

Here we go again. As I said previously: Today I found at an estate sale a new, in-the-box floor mat for a Buick. It is the full replacement meant to be used instead of carpet, from back when all cars did not have carpet on the floor. Some makes didn't have carpet in the front seat area but did in the back set area. I don't know how Buicks were equipped back in the early 50s. It is still a nice rich green with clean jute padding applied to the back. The box was in better shape than it is now since I split the box's seam as I tried to get the rolled up mat back into the box. It is labeled as fitting a 1950 40 series or the series 50 and 70 for 1950 - 1953. I believe that 40 is the Special, 50 the Super and 70 the Roadmaster. Installed this would be so much more interesting than another set of acrylic replacement carpet so I am passing it along to Buick owners here. It is too cold here to unroll it but I will take the best pics I can if anyone is interested. I paid very little and I don't expect to get rich off of it, but I'd rather get it to a Buick owner who would use it than sell it cheaply to someone who only wants to resell it and make the money. If you are interested you can respond here or e-mail me directly at jfssch2@frontiernet.net. Send along a pic of the Buick you are thinking of using the rubber floor cover in if you can too. I'd love to see it. Here are the pictures I have just taken in my very warm basement bathroom. It was not stiff at all but needs time to relax in the heat. The holes for the dimmer and the gas pedal are there, but the holes for the clutch or brake are only scored on the back so you can only cut what you need. The color in the pictures seems to add a bit of blue when it is undeniably green. Sorry for the poor quality. I did better with my old Brownie. Please make an offer and let me know your zip code so I can figure shipping. Of course if you are close to Rochester, NY and can save me the hassle of packing and shipping I'd be thrilled. Justin

I have had a few inquiries about the rubber carpet. I didn't have a price in mind so I am open to offers, but before I do I will take some pics and post them here. Sorry for the confusion, I was trying to avoid the eBay route. More soon. Justin

Today I found at an estate sale a new, in-the-box floor mat for a Buick. It is the full replacement meant to be used instead of carpet, from back when all cars did not have carpet on the floor. Some makes didn't have carpet in the front seat area but did in the back set area. I don't know how Buicks were equipped back in the early 50s. It is still a nice rich green with clean jute padding applied to the back. The box was in better shape than it is now since I split the box's seam as I tried to get the rolled up mat back into the box. It is labeled as fitting a 1950 40 series or the series 50 and 70 for 1950 - 1953. I believe that 40 is the Special, 50 the Super and 70 the Roadmaster. Installed this would be so much more interesting than another set of acrylic replacement carpet so I am passing it along to Buick owners here. It is too cold here to unroll it but I will take the best pics I can if anyone is interested. I paid very little and I don't expect to get rich off of it, but I'd rather get it to a Buick owner who would use it than sell it cheaply to someone who only wants to resell it and make the money. If you are interested you can respond here or e-mail me directly at jfssch2@frontiernet.net. Send along a pic of the Buick you are thinking of using the rubber floor cover in if you can too. I'd love to see it. Justin Schiess

I saw a product like this in a catalog and thought it was a good idea. It is a much better idea though when you can make the same thing for free with a plastic coffee can and a knife. It is a hose guide that wedges under the tire so the hose won't get caught. Here are some pics:

Eureka! There are several things are work here which keep the piston in the lower wheel cylinder from retracting enough. this is the cylinder that was so gummed up that I couldn't get the piston out for evaluation. Compared to the upper cylinder, the spring is a different design and can't compress as far. The upper one is hourglass shaped and compresses down to almost nothing. The new one in the lower cylinder is straigt bodied and at it's tightest is a lot bigger. The piston and cup is a lot bigger too than the top one. Luckily, the new shoes are a perfect fit for the drums. If it wasn't for my paralyzing fear of the IRS and the immediate need to do my taxes I'd have it all back together today. Thank you all for your help and please stay tuned. Justin

Both seem to be good ideas. I once again have confidence that I will be back on the road again. I welcome any other input, especially if you have had experience shortening the rods or filing the shoe slot. Justin

The eccentric anchor bolts have been adjusted, by feel, by sight, and by following the arrow markings on them. Each way leads to the same position, but the drum still doesn't fit. I also carefully slotted them and marked them so I can adjust them from the back when the drum is on the hub. The shoes are also so close to the cylinders that I can't imagine a different piston would allow for any difference in diameter. The more I think about it I have a feeling that the linings are too thick, but then I wonder how I got away with driving as much as I did on the old ones. If I don't have to really drive the car I usually push it out of the garage for some jobs, and I wonder how I managed that too. I hope that last night's dump of the wet and heavy stuff was the last of the snow but it saved me from further frustration in the garage today. Keep the input coming. I really do appreciate all and any. Justin

Hopefully this will add a picture too. You can see where the paint goes and how it is reflected in the conical piece above it. To the left of the painted area is the housing for clear plastic wedge that beams the light through the color. By judging where the needle was among the speedo numbers I figured what areas of this should be what color. speedo pic

I am going sightly crazy after working on my brakes, off and on, for the better part of the winter. I have a lot of back problems that make it difficult to work for long periods of time in the tight space in the garage, and the creeping arthritis makes it hard to type without a typo in every other word. At the end of the season last year I thought I noticed dribbles down the tire that could have been from a leaking wheel cylinder. Earlier last year I rebuilt the leaking master cylinder and replaced all the hard and soft brake lines. Everything had been fine while driving after that, but since I wanted to do the wheel cylinders anyhow all I needed was the tire dribble to prod me into it. When I took off the wheel, this is the left front, I noticed that the drum was so tight that I could barely move it. The bottom wheel cylinder was indeed leaking and was so corroded that I couldn't budge the piston. I ordered four new wheel cylinders from Roberts and cleaned up the backing plate while I waited for the shipment to arrive. I matched up the cylinders with the old ones and installed them. When I got it together I discovered that the piston pin on the bottom cylinder was so long that it never allowed the shoe to retract enough to meet with the adjusting cam. Turns out that this was a pin from a rear cylinder, and those nice guys from Roberts sent me the correct pin. Despite this fix, I can't get the drum mounted without it being too tight for any adjustment. It is suggested to me that perhaps the linings soaked up fluid and have swollen. I take measurements and find that they could be a little bit big, so I order new ones. I have heard that Chrylser used linings that were thinner than what is standard today so I check with Roberts again to make sure that these will be OK. Something is still wrong. Everything is installed, correctly I believe, and I still have no room for adjustment. I have followed instructions from an ancient Motor guide for adjusting these without the Mopar specific tools, and this advice is simplified on other websites for Plymouths, Dodges, and Imperials. No luck. I haven't attacked the right front wheel for any clues and will do so when I can stand up straight again. I also no longer have the old wheel cylinders to scrutinize, but I did check them when the new ones arrived, even noting the shape of the pistons. I know that the bottom anchor bolt is from a rear wheel as well, but it retracts the heel the most at the same positon of the arrow as the regular one would. Has anyone had similar experience with front brakes on these postwar beauties? Am I naive to think that new linings from a hobby vendor would be good to go straight from the box? Help!! Thanks for any advice or info, Justin

I had luck in repairing my DeSoto Speedometer using translucent red green and amber paint from a hobby shop. Before I used it on the car I tried it on a light bulb and now over a year later there is no deterioration of the paint on a very hot frequently used 100W bulb. When I started this project I found an illustration of the guts of this wonderful gizmo here: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bojeta/indexpage2.html Let me know if you need any other info. It really is a joy to have this working, but then it set me on the search for an affordable deluxe radio that changed color based on the tone setting. Justin

I thought I had seen this topic in earlier posts, but I can't find it now that I need it. Isn't that always the case. I haven't been able to reassemble the brake drum on to the hub of my front left wheel because even at the shoe's most retracted position there isn't enough clearance to push the drum over the shoes. I can force it somewhat but not enough and I never think forcing anything on an old car is a good idea. The drum does not have a ridge worn into it. It was snug taking it off. I replaced the wheel cylinders with ones that matched exactly from Roberts Motor Parts. I discovered that the pushrod on the bottom cylinder was incorrect and belonged on a rear wheel. It was long enough to never allow the cam to reach the shoe for adjustment. Once that was resolved I thought I would be OK, but it still is too snug for assembly. I thought I might have swollen shoes from leaking fluid, but two tests from a NYS DOT mechanic friend of mine were inconclusive, revealing no evidence of soaked lining. I think I am missing some trick for reassembly and don't want to order new shoes if that isn't likely to solve the problem. Does anyone have any ideas? Does anyone know what thickness the lining should be when new? Thanks in advance for any info or for just reading this far. All ideas are welcome. Justin Schiess