Rusty_OToole

Marmon gets credit for the first rear view mirror on their Wasp which won the first Indy 500 in 1911. 1911 Marmon Wasp | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Who first put one on the passenger side is unknown but it was probably not long after. I have seen brass mirrors that clamp onto the side of the windshield frame of brass era cars (pre 1915).

There were many gimmicks sold over the years to improve gas mileage, power, etc. including magic pellets to drop in the gas tank. Maybe it was one of those. Or, maybe a previous owner used the slugs to cheat pay phones back when they took nickels and stashed them in the gas tank one day when the cops were snooping around. Who knows?

Cylinder head, 65 -70 manifold bolts 25-30. Tighten bolts from the center of the head outwards toward the ends. Go over them 3 times and tighten in stages.

According to Coker Tire's web site, your car came with 735 14 or 775 14 bias ply tires (if it is a V6 model) or 775 14 or 825 14 if it is a Gran Sport model. They recommend 195/75 R14 (V6) or 205/75 R14 (Gran Sport) as being the best or most correct modern size tire for your car. Coker's web site Coker Tire - Your Source for Antique Tires and Wheels

His Corvair is confusing because when you lift the hood, you notice it has no motor. Luckily they put a spare in the trunk.

Some of those cars didn't shift into high until you hit 60 on full throttle.

Sounds like a bent steering wheel. Possibly due to an accident.

Do they have engines in Finland? Are there machine shops that rebuild engines? They must be getting piston rings from somewhere. Possibly Germany or some other country that is closer than California. You need to find an auto parts dealer or engine rebuilder that can order the rings for you. The manufacturer or wholesaler probably will not have a listing for a REO engine but they can match them up by the measurements.

3/4" of bondo? Amateurs. You aren't really trying until you put it on 3 or 4 inches thick. I am not joking or jesting. Here in the rust belt years ago you used to see it. They lasted forever too. If plastic filler is thick enough it will not fall off and of course, will never rust. I have seen accident damaged fenders with that much fill that had obviously been fine for 10 years or more. Have also seen cars in junkyards with solid bondo fenders still in perfect shape with shiny paint while the rest of the car rusted away around them. My favorite was a prewar Cadillac Sixty Special. It came in for restoration work and a paint job. The driver's door was made of solid lead. No kidding, at some time in the past the door had been crushed in badly. The repairman took a cutting torch and cut a big X from corner to corner, pulled out the metal as straight as possible, tack welded it together with bronze and levelled everything over with lead. There must have been 2 to 3" of lead in the center of the panel. It must have taken 3 men to install it on the car. We cut out bad part and made a new door skin. I have seen other "amazing" repairs done back in the good old days of lead fill that were almost as bad. Don't tell me the ability to work lead automatically means better quality work LOL.

Solid lifter engines do not feed a lot of oil compared to hydraulics. As long as the rocker arms are getting oil it should be OK. You have good oil pressure and have cleaned all the oil passages. By the way I hope you are not using good ol' straight #30 motor oil. That alone could be the problem. Switch to 10W30 or Rotella 15W40 and do your motor a favor.

You could use a small hinge from the hardware store and screw it to the pedal and to the floor. Many cars had this hinge arrangement. But really, the best answer is a new pedal if one is available.

There has been a lot of discussion of octane being "too high" for low compression engines. Some have reported their engines run smoother and cooler, are less prone to vapor lock, and produce more power, on a mix of gas and diesel or kerosene. This mainly applies to very low compression engines of the twenties and thirties, 4.5:1 to 6:1 compression engines.

I'm looking for sales numbers and prices of Chrysler and DeSoto Airflow models compared with non Airflow Chryslers and competitive makes. For years I have read how the Airflow was a flop. I believe this to be a lie spread by rival car makers. My view is that the Airflow was conceived as a radical, range topping specialty model that was never meant to be a mass seller. As such it was very successful. In fact every car made after the Airflow, was more or less a copy of the Airflow. Making it a technical ground breaker as well. To prove or disprove this thesis I need to look at Chrysler sales and price figures for the period 1930 to 1940. Does anyone know of an online source for this information?

Was the lead or filler bubbling or peeling?

From research I have done on available octane vs compression ratio over the years, the rule is the octane should look like the compression ratio. In other words if you have 6.5:1 compression you need 65 octane gas. Naturally this is not an exact rule but it is pretty close. In other words, for the above car the ideal gas would be 60 to 70 octane. Today's cheapest regular at 87 octane is plenty high, in fact the car might well run better with some kerosene or diesel fuel added to the gas to lower the octane. http://books.google.ca/books?id=3toDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=1936+octane+gas&source=bl&ots=mTEUn5zP8p&sig=-qU8V7T511aJ1NibwLJEs2f5qN8&hl=en&ei=pvfbTaqSJov5sgaik6XODg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=1936%20octane%20gas&f=false Here is an article from a 1937 magazine about new super power gas. If you read down far enough it says in the last 15 years, car engines have increased in efficiency 23% thanks to the improvement of hi test fuel from 60 to 80 octane. Your Pontiac was probably made to run on regular gas which was 60 or 65.

Why not advertise for a steering column first? They can't be that rare.

The reason the top looks funny when folded down is that the Germans and Swiss make such great tops. They come with a full headliner inside and lots of padding. They look good, are quiet and are very well made. But all the extra padding and material means they do not fold down into a small space. Incidentally, in those days there was a big import duty on cars in Switzerland. But if 40% of the car was Swiss made, it was considered a domestic product. This meant that a Swiss motorist could buy a custom body car for practically the same price as a standard model because of the savings in taxes.

Ask your local engine rebuilder. Rings of all sizes are available from the piston ring manufacturers. If they do not know your engine, you will have to measure the rings and order by size.

Your local NAPA or other good parts store should be able to get the seals or brake parts in 2 or 3 days. If there are no good parts stores in your town, there are bearing supply stores that have amazing stocks of odd bearings and seals. Take the old one in so they can get the number off it.

I saw some discussion of the correct color for Ford Model T engines. They came grey from the factory but what shade of grey? Opinions varied. Then someone pointed out that the factory painted engines, transmissions etc from a big vat of paint and any time they had some leftover paint from some other part of the assembly line, they dumped it in the engine vat. When you mix random colors you get grey. So, the color could vary from day to day. Wonder if any other factories got rid of leftover paint this way?

Could also be something loose or out of adjustment inside the door. Suggest you take off the door panel and fix it while you can. If the door refuses to open you can't get at it to fix. Do not lube a door lock. The only thing you should use in a door lock is graphite. Anything else will gum it up.

Does the vacuum pump have 2 hoses to it? If so I would assume one goes to the wipers, the other to the manifold but you would have to check your factory repair manual to be sure. Unless the hose fittings are labeled.

Another thing that might work is oven cleaner. Have not tried it on brass but it is great for cleaning and degreasing iron and steel parts. On the lye mixture I would start with a tablespoon full to a gallon of water. If this does not work you can add more lye. The lye will cut grease remove paint and clean the metal but it wears out after a while. The more grease and paint, the faster it wears out.

Try filling the master cylinder and gently pumping the brakes for a few minutes. Barely depress the pedal. The idea is to work the air out of the master cylinder. If this does not work you may have to bleed the whole system. And, as Albert said you should inspect the system for leaks. But in some cases the fluid seeps out very slowly in storage and once you put the system back in service it is fine. It depends on the condition of the cylinders. If you have not done a brake job in say 5 years or more it may pay you to put kits in the cylinders.

When you have a vacuum pump on the fuel pump the vacuum hose is supposed to go from the wiper motor, to the fuel pump, and then to the intake manifold. The pump itself should be marked in and out, or wiper and engine. Normally the vacuum pump is held open by engine vacuum. Only when the engine runs out of vacuum, should the pump kick in.