Rusty_OToole

Most likely suspect is a bad ground then the sender unit. Next is the wire from the gauge to the sender, but if the gauge works at all it is most likely OK. What do you mean way off? Always full, always empty, bounces around? Does it move when you turn on the key?

I'm a Dinky Toy man myself. Wish I saw more cars that remind me of the old Dinky Studebaker, Hudson, Austin, Hillman, Plymouth woody and Nash models from the fifties. http://www.sinanju.ca/dinkypage/North%20American%20Cars.html

Skip what exactly was done to your car? Or do you know? If you don't know anything about cars did you get an itemized bill?

How about just using a Zener diode? Or even easier, buy a voltage drop device from one of the hot rod suppliers. The Hot Rod Company - Electrical, Lighting, Ignition

Just how badly did your 12 volt genius bugger the car up? Did you save the old parts? It may not be too late to change back to 6 volts. You will have to use 6 volts for the coil, transmission, wipers, and radio anyway plus the lights unless you replace all the light bulbs. That means the only thing on 12 volts will be the starter unless you install a stereo. If all he changed was the generator and battery it may not be too hard to change back.

You can jack up the car and use the front hub as a truing jig.

All right. The change to neg from pos ground shouldn't stop the solenoid from working. If you have 6 volt power to the system you should be OK. This could be the problem, the power MUST go by way of the ignition coil because the coil is cut out during the shifts. The engine must be "stalled" this way momentarily for the shift to complete. So, wiring must be stock for the system to work. You say one of your solenoids has burned out, that will need to be replaced. If you can't face changing everything back to stock you will at least have to be sure all the transmission wiring is stock and running on 6 volts including the coil. Polarity shouldn't matter. Then the idle must be set to stock specs of 400 RPM. Too high idle will inhibit shifting. The transmission must be filled with the correct oil, if the oil level is too low it won't work. Those are the basics. Check those things and get back to us if they do not solve the problem.

As you clean up I suggest you keep EVERYTHING even bits of metal or rubber that don't look like car parts. They may be a hard to find part for your Buick. I also suggest you box up the parts and sell them with the car. They will be more value to the buyer than anyone and may help get a better price or faster sale. Especially if they are parts the car needs right away. You can sell unwanted parts on Ebay but frankly, it is usually more trouble than it is worth.

Chrysler did make a number of show cars around this time. Chrysler's efforts were generally street legal unlike those of their rivals and many were sold and are still around. There were 2 kinds, one kind with one off bodies made in Italy, others were modified standard models with special trim, paint jobs, and custom modifications. There may be a 3d category. Show finish meaning catalog models specially prepared for car shows with every detail perfect and optioned to the nines. I can't say for sure if Chrysler made such cars but I know other car makers did. If you provided some photographs or details I'm sure the Chrysler mavens could figure out what you have. Focus on upholstery, options, and special body mods as well as full car pictures. Here are some examples of Chrysler show cars from 1954. http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1954/specs.htm More on Le Comte and La Comtesse show cars. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1955-1956-dodge-la-femme1.htm Show cars of this type are well publicised. If you have one it should be possible to document its authenticity.

Talk about pathetic. Last week I saw an immaculate rust free 1959 Olds 88 sedan scrapped. I don't know how it got to the junk yard, by the time I saw it, it had been picked over for trim, carburetor etc. but you could tell it was a good car when it came in. No dents and no rust on the body. I suspect it was part of an estate garage clean out. The trunk was full of Ford transmissions from the flathead era, old carburetors, generators and other old time parts.

I have seen this many times. These days a seemingly small repair can condemn a car to death. Did you know a water pump for that car costs $325 if it is the one I am thinking of? It is an aluminum casting about 2 feet wide with an arm extending off to the side.They have an idler pulley rivetted to the end of the arm, if a $2 bearing in the pulley burns out they put on a water pump @ $325 + 2 hours labor @ $85 per. Just last fall I saw an immaculate 1995 Cadillac in a junk yard. I asked the owner, he said it was traded in because it had a bum starter and a leaky head gasket. The repairs would have cost $3000 so the dealer junked it.

You need a new mechanic. See if you can figure out what he buggered up and change it back. Or, at least get a 6 volt power source for all the 6 volt stuff he has not ruined. Hot rod shops sell power reducers or you could take a 6 volt tap off the center of the battery. By the way all 12 volt systems are negative ground and your car is supposed to be positive ground. Don't know what all that will bugger up. Go back to your so called mechanic and get all your 6 volt parts back quick. it could cost you hundreds of $$$ to buy new ones.

Last Fluid Drive was 53, first 12 volt Chrysler was 55 so no, they never made a 12 volt governor. Why don't you use 6 volts? It may be the problem is not what it seems. Give us the symptoms and maybe we can help.

1) This is impossible to say for sure. It could be only 4 are known to the Packard club. But that does not mean there are no others stashed away. 2) Cars back then usually had 1 tail light with a built in license plate light. No turn signals. Don't know why they used a gas tail light, some cars had headlights and tail lights powered by acetylene gas back then but normally would have all gas or all electric equipment. 3) Before 1921 cars only had brakes on the back wheels. What you saw on the front wheel may have been a gear to drive the speedometer.

Try your local NAPA store. It may take a day or 2 to get one in but they can order them. Price should be under $20.

The best thing you can do is pick a theme and stick to it. The theme you have chosen is a good one. It will allow you to fix up a beat up car without worrying about originality too much and when you are done you will have a car that you can enjoy to your hearts content. One thing that makes a car like that is the right stance. You should get a dropped front axle then put stock size tires on the front and oversize on the back. You can make your own wide wheels for the back, by cutting the center of the rim loose and welding it to a wider rim. Cut or drill the rivets to separate the center and rim. Put the new rim on the center and bolt it to the front hub. Spin it slowly and tap with a hammer to get it true. It must be within 1/8 or preferrably 1/16. Tack weld, then remove from the car and weld it solid. In the old days they used to "reverse" the rim or put it on backwards, to get more body clearance. This was the origin of "Chrome reverse rims".

Old Cars Report Price Guide says #4 Good $4200 #3 Very Good $9450. Yours should be in there someplace depending how good it is and how much more work it needs. I only live about 80 miles away in Cobourg so I am very tempted but afraid it is out of my price range.

I know what you are driving at. How would a savvy teenager have fixed up his 40 Ford in the fifties? Possibly the best thing you could do would be to keep the body stock. Do some mild dechroming if the chrome is missing anyway. Give it a nice paint job in 53 Buick Ruby Maroon, Chevrolet Corvette Bahama Blue or just plain black. If you go black paint the wheels red. Add a set of Fiesta hubcaps. Tuck and roll vinyl upholstery. Dress up the hood and trunk with a little pinstriping. Under the hood, the usual dress up and speed items on a hot flathead. Aluminum heads twin carbs and beehive oil filter for a start. Do not go 3 carbs unless you also use progressive linkage. You really don't need 3 carbs unless you have a real radical motor, and 4 are overkill on anything but a race car. There are a lot of hot rod mags on the newsstands today, that feature the old timey cars and even original pics taken in the fifties. Or, a web search may give you some ideas. In any case, throw the fuzzy dice as far away as possible. It is also worth bearing in mind 2 things. You can no longer buy a car like that off the back row of a car lot for $50 bucks. They are scarce and historical. So it behooves the owner to show some respect, and do as little modification as possible, and done in such a way it can be returned to stock. Don't throw away any parts you take off. Plus, you can have a lot of fun with a car like that but the more radical you go, the more it costs and the less fun you have.

I put Walmart tires on my 51 DeSoto. They are the narrowest tire for their size of any brand I know of and they have the narrow whitewall. Brand is Marshall 721. They may not be available anymore, I got mine a couple of years ago.

There is no need to think of an engine rebuild. Normal engine life on those cars is 80000 to 100000 miles. 30000 is low mileage. If the car was left with the air filter on and the hood closed it should be OK. With the air filter off and the hood open, probably rebuild time. Don't worry about engine rust at this time. You might clean the engine by blowing it off with an air hose. Especially clean around the spark plugs, so dirt does not fall in the cylinders when you take out the plugs. Fill with oil as discussed above, and see if you can turn the engine by hand. If not leave it sit for a few days and try again. You may have to remove the starter and pry against the flywheel teeth with a pry bar to turn the engine. Sometimes you can put a wrench on the front of the crankshaft but on Chrysler sixes the clearance is pretty tight not much room to put a wrench in there. My policy when getting an engine running is change as little as possible. I assume it ran when parked and go from there. Do not go tearing things apart you don't have to or you will soon have a mess. Check out one thing at a time. Diagnose first and only repair or rebuild a part if it is faulty. Do not trust the old gas, it will be no good. Disconnect the gas line at the fuel pump and connect to a motorboat gas tank. If the fuel pump is shot you can connect right to the carb. You will probably need to rebuild the fuel pump and carb in due course because today's gas rots the old rubber parts. If you get it running you can worry about that later. It is not hard to rebuild a carb or a fuel pump IF you are careful and IF you have the factory manual and follow it exactly. Do not go getting ideas of your own or you will get in trouble. Once you get the engine turning over, turn it over at least one complete revolution by hand. Then spin it with the starter. Watch out, if you filled the cylinders with oil it will squirt out very forcefully. Best to cover the motor with rags. This will make a little mess. Check the distributor and carefully clean the points. Give them a squirt of electrical contact cleaner or brake cleaner spray and drag a strip of white paper between them until the paper comes out clean. In extreme cases use some fine wet or dry sandpaper 600 grade or finer. As you turn the engine the points should open and close. The gap should be .019 or about the thickness of a dime. As long as they are opening and closing do not disturb them, if you do have to reset the gap you should check the timing as well. But usually the timing will not change enough to worry about. Clean the inside of the cap with contact cleaner or brake cleaner and wipe with a clean rag or paper towel. Now the spark plugs should spark. If you have good spark at all the plugs you can now see if the gas is getting to the carb. If it is the engine should start. Once it starts rev it up to a fast idle, about 1000 RPM not too fast. Let it run for 10 or 15 minutes until it warms up. It may run a little ragged and blow out oil smoke but should settle down as it warms up. If this all works you are lucky. You may have to clean the carb tinker with the ignition or who knows what. By the way if the rad is dry check the drain taps on the bottom of the rad and on the left side of the engine. Close them and have some water handy to fill the rad. This is too obvious but if you fill it with water be sure and drain it out before winter. Or, if you get it running and the rad water pump and hoses are OK you can put in antifreeze. But you will probably need to replace all the rubber hoses under the hood because it will be shot by this time.

A pump type oil can works good too.

Fill the shocks with jack oil and drive around. Check after a week, the level may go down as bubbles work their way out. Also check for leakage around the seals, a little leak is normal just top them up. You should notice a soft ride, possibly too soft and floaty. This was normal for cars of that age especially Buicks with their soft coil spring suspension. Motorcycle shops sell fork oil in different grades. A thicker grade of oil may stiffen the shocks a little.

"Anyways any suggestions, comments, hints, ideas would be great." For a start, your car has left hand thread bolts on the left hand wheels, and the electrical system takes a 6 volt battery, Positive ground. Those 2 things alone have caused a lot of greif to those not in the know. Buy a repair manual first thing. They turn up on Ebay and at auto flea markets and are not expensive. $20 or $30 for a reprint up to $50 for an original factory manual. At one time every dealership had one so there are a lot of them out there. They are a sturdy well made car. Not many cars could sit in a field for 40 years and be worth fixing up but a Chrysler would be one of them. Try taking out the spark plugs and squirting some oil in the cylinders. Then see if you can turn the engine by hand. If it won't budge fill the cylinders with penetrating oil. A good penetrating oil is made by mixing kerosene or varsol with automatic transmission fluid. Others swear by Marvel Mystery Oil. Let it soak for a week or 2 and try again. Would also suggest you start by cleaning out the car. You might be surprised by what you find. Owner's manual, spare parts etc. Warning do not throw anything away. That odd bit of metal or rubber that can't possibly be a car part, will turn out to be some obscure part they don't make anymore, and the car can't run without it. Have a box handy and some plastic zip lock bags for storage. You can throw out the dried up ballpoint pens and McDonald's wrappers lol. Get a clip board or pad of paper, go over the car and list all the parts it needs and all the repairs. Take your list and figure out how much it will take in time and money to put it in commission. Double it. Double it again. That is your estimate for what it will take. If you cannot commit to that, STOP do not do any more work or take the car apart. Sell it or pass it along to someone else. Too many old cars get ruined by someone with good intentions who starts working on it but can't finish and the car ends up junk. Ok that is enought to start with, if you have any more questions come back and ask. But please, get the manual, and try to look up the answer yourself first or do a web search. We don't mind helping and answering questions but appreciate if you do as much as you can for yourself. If you notice I just spent more than twice as much time answering your question as you did asking and barely touched the surface. Open ended questions are like that. For the best results ask specific questions and give as much detail as necessary to help a diagnosis.

1979 vehicles were not as well built as newer ones. Max life was around 100000 to 120000 miles. So with 92000 miles it is well on its way to being worn out. The chance that it has 192000 or more is practically nil unless it was a taxi. On the plus side all parts are available to keep it running, from your local parts stores. So if you get it cheap enough you can have a lot of fun, and learn about cars, without a big investment.

English motorcycle manufacturers began using Unified thread bolts in 1969.