37_Roadmaster_C

Hi Aaron, I hope there is a mistake somewhere in your description above. When the points are closed this creates the ground to the '-' side of the coil. If you are indeed reading 6.3 volts on both sides as stated you have an open circuit between the '-' terminal of the coil and ground through the points. Now if the points are actually open, your readings are correct. With the points closed you should read 6.3 on the + coil terminal to ground and basically 0 on the - coil terminal. Let us know and we will try to help 😁.

@Flivverking, Good for you!! I hate to see antique parts destroyed before every chance has been attempted. I am surprised you had that difficult a time finding a locksmith to have a try at it. A 5 pin Yale is a beginners practice piece for an apprentice locksmith. Now that assumes that the lock is not frozen because of rust, corrosion or damage. In my smaller town there are at least two locksmiths that would at least try to help. I guess the younger guys are not willing to even try something to help a potential customer. Times have changed and not always for the better.....

@Bush Mechanic I am glad you chimed in with your experience. As a hobby machinist I am very aware of tight tolerances and how it is actually very easy to deform pieces of steel and cast iron and all materials. You can easily deform parts with a hammer even with very light blows. A press is even more damaging if the parts are not aligned properly and the pressure applied evenly and true.

First off, I am NO front end expert. With that said, looking at the configuration and replacement part pictures, I see no way to over tighten the ball joints without breaking something. It appears that the lower ball joints may be a press in type. If that is the case it is very possible to do damage if they are not pressed in properly. Hopefully your mechanic would not try to install that type of ball joint with a hammer. Others please chip in.

Bill, my 60 is the Electra 4 door hardtop. I honestly do not know the actual model number. The amazing thing about my car is that when it was bought new in early 1960 by my grandfather it was titled to my father. Right now it is an original stock one owner car with about 70000 miles.

Thanks everyone for the insight. It shines a very bright light on the details of the Nailhead heads. @Bill Stoneberg, the 37 is not a Nailhead but the 60 is a 401 .

Hi @Bill Stoneberg, Would you explain why putting seats in a head ruins it, assuming the job was done properly by a qualified shop.

@Matt Harwood you are very right... this will teach me to look before I type. In any case the rest follows what I have been told.

I just wanted to add a YES to the above statement. I have no in person knowledge, but I have been told by old time racers from the 50's that many race teams used the Buick 320 straight 8 as a preferred race engine. This motor is a small bore, long stroke engine. As an owner of a 320, I have been warned over and over by my father and late uncle (who was a very knowledgeable machinist/mechanic) to not over rev that engine or you risk a thrown rod. The stock Buick 320 red lined at about 3000 rpm. The stories about racers modifying the 320 often revolve around more carburation and rpms in the 6000 range or even higher for drag racers. The down side was frequent rebuilds and rod failures just like @edinmasssaid. Now back to the actual topic ...

@Frank DuVal fair enough . @Jubilee has an excellent way to test these switches!!!

I have never tested this type of switch, but I think you would need to actually put brake line pressure on it to test. Compressed air MAY be enough pressure. The brake line pressure is very high. According to online source, manual brakes at full lock would be as much as 1000 psi and power brakes 1400 psi and up. With this in mind, compressed air is normally between 125 and 175 psi. The electrical switch connection for the switch you describe is most likely between the two terminals with OHM reading being low when brake applied. I say low because many ohm meters display something like 0L when probes are not connected. Some people refer to this as "0" ohms incorrectly. It actually means "Over Load", which in terms of an ohm meter is "more ohms than it can measure". To be sure, short the probes on your meter together and this will be low ohms (switch closed/on). When the probes are NOT shorted together is very high ohms (switch open/off). The other connection possibilities mentioned above are also possible, but unlikely. In any case measure all three possibilities to be sure! I hope this gives you some help.

The article below was copied from a document I found on the web with a simple search for Nash Healey fuel gauge or sender. Anyway you can most likely research the Stewart-Warner D-384C and get the resistance range. Now reversing the direction of the wiper action is all on you . It does appear that you found one of the oddballs I mentioned.

The year and model of the vehicle will tell almost everything. With a very few exceptions the senders fall into a short list of values. As told above what you need to find the sender range manually is a lower value pot and an ohm meter. A 1K (1000) ohm pot should work great. Hook up one edge terminal to ground and the center terminal to the sender wire. Apply power (ignition On) and adjust as said above for both empty and full. You will then have an accurate range and you can pick the sender that most closely matches the measured range. Do not be overly concerned about the measured and specified values matching exactly, they won't! Just get it close and live with the small error.... One other thing. If the measured range is way different than a standard sender you most likely have a bad fuel gauge or wire or connection somewhere. Fuel gauges are simple meters, but the system can drive you nuts on an old car with old wire and connections. Also, NEVER forget the grounding!! A lot of fuel tanks relied on the straps for grounding. That may have worked when the car was new, but not so much with years of dirt, grime, rust and corrosion. Just saying..... Good Luck, Robin PS: Just a tidbit of information for those that want absolute technical accuracy... The sender is actually a Rheostat and not a Potentiometer. The difference is that a Rheostat only has two connections, one to the fixed end of the resistance element and the second to the moveable contact. A Potentiometer has three terminals, one to each fixed end of the resistance element and one to the moveable contact. Just a bit of overly technical detail. (I would call it a pot in either case and I am retired from the electronic field so I should know better ).

I am a little late to this post, but when we put the 320 AND transmission in the 37 roadmaster our engine man made a lift "tube" out of 1 1/2 square tubing. He drilled it to fit over the valve cover studs. He also drilled it in several places for a lifting eye-bolt to be put in. We just chose the best place for the eye-bolt to balance the assembly where we wanted it. In our case it was way to the rear because of the transmission. I was VERY skeptical about the valve cover stud locations as they seem to small to lift over a half ton of iron. My guy has over 40 years experience so I went with his idea. All went very well. No slips, tips or damage to either the car or engine and trans. We did use new, longer bolts in the valve cover stud mounting holes. The assembly was a bit tipped towards the driver side because of the intakes and carb, but it was not really a problem in the big picture. If I were to do it again I would think twice about doing the engine and transmission as an assembled group.

I do not need the instructions, but I tried to enlarge it for reading and I had the same issue as @23hack. The posted image is just a tiny bit to low in resolution to enlarge. If @Tinindian would be so nice as to repost the images with a slightly higher resolution or better yet post a link to high resolution images it would be a big help. I know that not everybody has the resources to do what I mentioned, but email works also for exchanging images with individual members. Not being snarky, just pointing out some options 😉.

I have no experience with vacuum cylinders, but I would try graphite impregnated cotton "pump packing". It is available in many sizes and is square or round. I would use square and plan on cutting it for "Chevron" alignment. That may not be needed, but it may help a lot with vacuum sealing. The packing material would be available at any motor/pump repair shop. Hope this helps.

This post made me want to add to my earlier post.... Like @MikeC5 said, there are other variables in torque values. Torque on a nut or bolt is really a way to set constant clamping pressure on an assembly. To get a repeatable clamping pressure you need equil torque pressure from the fasteners. The only way to do this is to have known and repeatable values for all variables that effect clamping pressure. With this in mind, all nuts, bolts, studs and threaded holes should be clean and lightly lubricated. The fasteners should be free of any resistance to tightening. IE, be able to finger tighten until the nut/bolt contacts the part to be clamped. The surface that the bolt/nut contacts must also be clean and lightly lubricated so friction is at a minimum. With this in mind, any friction locking method, Nylock or interference thread or similar will cause false torque and therefore improper clamping forces if torque is the method used. In the rare event a locking fastener is used in a torque tightening method it is absolutely mandatory to use NEW factory fasteners. This is the only way to have a known variable resistance to start with because once used the interference is less than it was when new. Torque is just a measurement of friction and resistance. This is why everything must be smooth and fresh and clean to allow consistency.

A lot of torque specs show a range like 40-45. Torque to the lower spec and then tighten if needed to allow the lock wire/carter pin to be installed. I also agree never loosen always tighten to fit. Once a bearing cap, rod or main, is tightened the bearing can be very slightly deformed. In this case loosening the nut/bolt can allow the bearing shell to move slightly. I do not know if this is an issue, but it just seems wrong. Slightly tighter aligns the lock hole and does not allow for bearing movement. Just my $.02 and maybe not worth that .

@c49er Would you please explain why DOT5 fluid CANNOT be used with ABS brake systems. I know and understand that DOT5 fluid cannot be mixed with older fluids, but I have never heard not to use DOT5 with ABS. I am not being critical, I just want to learn why .

I find it sad to see rare and restorable cars turned into something they never were. With that said, the car is the owners and the owner has every right to turn it into a Hot Rod or a flower pot if they wish. What really is a shame is that there are many old cars that are truly not restorable and could be turned into just as nice a Hot Rod with the same amount of work and time invested without destroying a piece of our history. Hot Rodders drive in a different race than us Stockers for the most part, but "To each their own."). Drive safe in either case !!!

Hi Drew, No first hand experience, but I would put one from the block to the body at a minimum. One from the block to the frame would not hurt either.

Damn, I didn't know Harley made cars...

JFranklin has one way to get the part required. Another way is to look at an electronic parts supplier. My favorite is Mouser Electronics www.mouser.com or Digi Key www.digikey.com . Either one will have a suitable diode for less than $10 and they will sell to anyone. I know Mouser has no minimum but I am not 100% sure about Digi Key. I used both suppliers when I had my industrial electronic design and service business. There are many things to consider when sourcing components, but for this application the important ones are current (amps) and Peak Inverse Voltage. I would want amps to be 30 or more and peak inverse voltage to be 100 or more for this use. Added: I checked both for part numbers and stock and only found parts that are not real obvious about how to use. Sorry.

I hate to be a party pooper, but if those diodes are indeed in parallel they will NOT work as a single 20 amp diode. The reason is that no two diodes are exactly the same in regard to breakdown voltage. Because of this the diode with the lower breakdown will try to carry ALL the current and will fail because it is over its ratings. It may seem that the diodes are "close enough" to being balanced, but in electronic terms if the diodes are out of balance by even .001 volt or less that will cause the above failure. In the rare cases where diodes are used in parallel there are series balancing resistors that take the abuse and allow parallel operation.

My 60 Electra was bought new by my grandparents. Long after grandfather passed my grandmother drove the car and religiously had the speed buzzer set for the speed limit on the highway she lived on. She did not drive much when she got over 80 in 1979 so my father started driving the car from time to time just to keep it moving and reliable. I would ride into town with him just to ride in the car. Now dad tended to use speed limits as a "Recommended Speed" and often viewed it as a low recommendation... The one thing I will remember forever is how when that "damn thing" would buzz, dad would actually hit the dash with a sliding motion to the speed buzzer setting wheel and actually spin the adjustment all the way to the high end, often with only one hit!! One of these days I will get the car on the road again and set the buzzer low enough to buzz when I take dad to town. I can hear the profanity already .