MCHinson

Welcome to the AACA Discussion Forum. There is not a specific category on the AACA Judging Sheet for an incorrect electric fan. As such, it would be up the the Engine Judge's judgment, perhaps in consultation with the Team Captain. There are a number of other inauthentic items that are specifically declared subject to a 10 point mandatory deduction on the judging sheet. The fan you are talking about is not mentioned as such but it would certainly be similar so a judge might reasonably decide to take a similar deduction. Under the Judging guidelines, no judge can tell you exactly how many points are deducted for anything on your car, so there is not way to specifically determine how many points that you have lost for any particular item when it is judged. I will say that if I saw an aftermarket fan on such a vehicle, it would probably make me look very closely at that car for other incorrect items that might result in other deductions. I would encourage you to properly repair your cooling system on your 1948 Oldsmobile instead of adding an aftermarket fan if you plan to have it judged in AACA.

Today, I received another box of items purchased from a fellow 36-38 Buick Club member. I also had a little bit of time to work on the early stage of bondo repair of the second running board.

From what I have read, there were several different methods used over the years. To better understand the manufacturing process, when it was done via a "Dy-noc" transfer, the transfer was applied to the flat steel sheet before it was formed into the dash panel. After it was applied to the steel, the steel was then pressed to make the dash panel. The process used was fast for production purposes.

Gary's link seems to take me to the start of his restoration. To make it easier to find, the pertinent section is on page 43 of his restoration story. I am glad this subject came up. Somehow I either missed this or forgot about it in Gary's restoration story. This is helpful to me since I will need to do some lock switching between handles in the next few weeks.

36 Special, I too prefer them as originally manufactured. I hate to tell you but I think that one is going to take quite a bit of work to restore to original. From the steering column and what I think I see of the pedals, I suspect the body may have been placed on a different later chassis. It should have come with a Straight 8 engine. I know much more about 1937 and 1938 Buicks than I do 1936, but if a 1938 248 Straight 8 out of a 1938 Buick Special will work for you, I have most of a rebuildable 1938 248 Straight 8 here that you can have for free. I am not too far down the road from you in Wilmington. I would also suggest that Dave Tachney is the best source for parts for any 1936-1941 Buicks. You can best reach him at 763-427-3460 between 4 and 7 pm Central. I would also suggest you consider joining the 36-38 Buick Club. You can find out more about the club at: http://www.3638buickclub.org/. If you are interested in a .pdf copy of a recent 36-38 Buick Club newsletter, you can contact me through the contact the webmaster link on the 36-38 Buick Club website, or send me a PM on this site with you email address, and I will email you a copy of the newsletter.

Today I stopped by and got an update on the metal repair and paint. I took a few photos but there is a lot more work that has been done that probably does not really show up in the photos. Previously, I had chipped off all of the loose rubber from the running boards. I have been working on one of them. My plan is to replace all of the removed old rubber with bondo, to bring the contour of the board up to where it was originally. I will later apply a small coating of rubber over the existing rubber and the bondo patched areas. I am nearly finished with the patching of one running board. I still have a small amount of additional bondo to apply and a bit more shaping with files and a sander, but figured I would add a photo to show the work in progress. As soon as I find the time to finish patching this running board, I will move to the second running board. When I am finished with the patching of both running boards, I will attempt to cover them both with rubber.

I am curious about these transmissions. I have never seen one. From the Chassis Parts Book, the self shifting transmission was apparently only available in 1938 Left hand drive 40 Series. I have read a bit about them over the years, but don't know much about them. I have no idea how rare they are but as the newsletter editor for the 36-38 Buick Club, I would be happy to help you advertise it in our newsletter. I have no idea how many of our members have cars with these transmissions, but suspect that some likely have them. Any chance you can post some photos of the transmission? I would like to learn more about it.

Today, my replacement trunk hinges from http://www.vintageandclassicreproductions.com/buick.htm arrived. I painted the black recesses in the hinges and let them dry. I will drop them off at the painter's on Monday so he can use them to reinstall the trunk lid.

If I understand Jim's data correctly, it sounds like you need to stop by your friend Brian's house on the way to pick it up and borrow some extra wheels.

I am on this forum as well as numerous antique car hobby facebook pages. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. I am probably one of the guys who can be described as having a love/hate relationship with facebook. Some things about facebook really irritate me, but it is also the best way for me to keep up with a lot of friends, family, and fellow hobbyists who do not live near me.

My recent purchase from Dave Tachney arrived today. The bumpers are perfect, apparently rechromed in 2008 based on the newspapers that were used in packing them. The grill halves have been rechromed, but are just as Dave described them. They have some obvious pitting on the areas of them that are not that prominent. Most of the pits will be covered by the black paint but until I paint them I won't be 100% sure if I am going to be happy with them, or if I am going to have to have another pair chromed.

I feel fairly confident about my plans on the running boards, but will wait until I have done it to post the details. Unfortunately, this might be delayed by a couple of weeks due to some unexpected medical issues that will keep me from being able to get on it as soon as I would like. I got a call from my metal worker/painter today. I am going to stop by and see him on Monday to get some photos and an update on his progress. UPS delivered one long cardboard tube and one box from Steele Rubber today. I will have to go through it all later to make sure I ordered everything that I need, but that too will probably be medically delayed a bit.

I have a few different options that I plan to try for patching the broken areas of the running boards. I am going to try to do it as economically as I can. If the cheap method does not work, I can always switch to the more expensive body panel adhesive. I have used a rustoleum primer to prime the bare metal areas of the running boards. Hopefully I will be able to get to work on those soon, but am having trouble finding time due to a recent injury that my wife suffered on December 26th. She needs fairly constant supervision and assistance and will need that for several more weeks. While there are no photos, today I took some action that will contribute to finishing the project sooner than I was thinking. I finally bit the bullet and ordered the glass and what I hope is all of the various pieces of new rubber that are going to be needed from Steele Rubber. I have waited as long as possible to order the new rubber as it is more expensive than the original purchase of this car, more expensive than the body donor car was, and to be honest, it costs more than my current daily driver Buick as well as each of the other various cars that I have purchased in the past few years. I am not used to paying that much money for what is going to arrive in a fairly small box. I also got a call from Dave Tacheny today. I need to send him a check as I have two NOS bumpers and a few other parts on the way from Dave for this project.

http://www.runningboardrubber.com/ http://www.runningboardrubbermats.com/home.html

Actually there are two companies in Canada who can redo them. I got a quote from one of the companies. I have sent a second email to the second company but have not yet received a reply from them. From their websites, it looks like both do really good work. They are not fast and they are certainly not inexpensive. These running boards are not in that bad of a condition. If I can fix these myself, I would prefer to do it, since it will probably mean that I save about 3 months time and about $3000.