Rusty_OToole

Reminds me of an analysis I heard of, concerning the cast aluminum door hinges used on VW Karmann Ghias. The guy who was trying to reproduce the hinges said "wow that is the most complicated alloy I have ever seen" a metallurgist friend laughed and said "that is what you get when you throw all the scrap you can find into the pot along with some floor sweepings and a few old turnips". Then there was a prewar German racing car, I think an Auto Union, that needed a new cylinder head. A British firm set out to reproduce it with the help of the Reynolds Aluminum company. Their metallurgist analyzed the head and remarked "this is the kind of stuff we use for lawn furniture and lamp posts". But it was the best aluminum alloy available in 1937.

"One wire" alternators were originally made for tractors. Also called "self exciting" alternators because they do not need a separate power for the field. But you do need to rev up the engine to get them going. So long as you know that, it should work ok. I would rather have a car type alternator with 3 wires. Main feed to the battery, field, and a 3d for a warning light. As to whether it will kill your ammeter I would go by the maker's recommendation. If it does ruin it - unlikely - you may have to adapt a new ammeter. I have seen this done where someone took a new ammeter apart and fitted the works to the original instrument panel. So it looked original but with a new high capacity ammeter.

Could it have anything to do with a drive to the cruise control?

Blow air into the tank and smell what comes out. If it smells like gas ok. If it smells like old stinky varnish STOP do not use the gas it can damage your motor. Or you could get it running by disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel pump and putting a line to a small gas can.

The priming plugs are made so you can give the cylinder a shot of gas for easy starting. Some cars had priming cups built into the engine, but these were usually the more expensive makes. There are spark plug collectors who could give you a line on rarity and value. Or you could look them up online.

There is an interesting discussion in engineering circles as to whether it is better to have a short stroke, high revving engine or a long stroke, slow revving engine. I suspect in 1904 this was an open question and they thought power would be about the same for a given bore, regardless of stroke. In practice, most engines had about equal bore and stroke up until 1910 or so, but after 1913 the long stroke engine came into fashion. Largely because of a falling off in the quality of gasoline. Short stroke engines did not come back until high octane leaded gas became common in the fifties.

Possibly the best advice in this thread. If you don't know what you are doing, and most people don't, even if they think they know old car - you will do more harm than good and devalue the car the more you work on it. It always makes my heart sink when I see an old car someone tried to fix up, or get going, knowing it will be far more trouble and expense to undo what they did, than if they left it alone. If you want to clean up the car here are some suggestions. Carefully clean the inside with whisk broom and vacuum but be careful, the old material may be delicate. DO NOT throw away any odd bits of metal or rubber that can't be part of a car, they always turn out to be some irreplaceable part. Have a box handy to save any parts, tools etc. You can throw away the old ballpoint pens cigarette packs and McDonalds wrappers. To wash the outside get a big spray bottle and fill it with warm water and a spoonful or 2 of car wash soap. Have a 5 gallon pail of warm water handy and a couple of towels. Spray the car, one panel at a time, with the soap solution and let it soak in. Then wipe off with a wet towel, refolding frequently to expose a fresh surface. The last thing you want is to grind a lot of dirt into the paint. Rinse the towel and when the water gets dirty replace it. You can wash a car this way without even getting the garage floor wet and do no harm to the finish. Give the windows a final polish with newspaper dampened with water that has a little vinegar added. This leaves glass sparkling clean. If you really want to get busy you can polish the chrome with Simichrome Flitz or other good quality chrome polish. DO NOT use Brillo pads or SOS pads no matter what Goober down at the filling station says. If the chrome is rusty try cleaning with copper scrubbing pads and Pledge. This will clean off rust and not scratch the chrome.

The front of the Corvair was considerably lighter than the rear. I think it was about 40% of the weight on the front wheels and 60% on the back wheels. So, the front tires needed less air to work correctly, for the tread to be flat on the ground and to flex the way they were supposed to. While the rears needed to be pumped up to carry the extra weight. In addition they wanted the low pressure front tires to cause understeer so the handling would resemble a conventional, front heavy front engine car. I had Corvairs and VWs and always had less pressure in the fronts but not as low as the factory recommended. The 2 ply, bias ply 6:00 X 13 tires they used, handled different from modern radials.

Sales wise the Corvair was always a disappointment. It did not do as well as the Rambler Falcon and Valiant which were much more conventional. It turned out that is what people want in a compact car. The sporty Monza did comparatively well. It turned out a lot of sports car fans with small budgets saw it as an alternative to a Porsche. Meanwhile Chevy quickly came out with the Chevy II, an utterly boring car right down to the name. It was the car they wished they had made in the first place. Corvair had its place in the Chevrolet line for 9 years which is about as long as most cars last. It was replaced by the Vega as their smallest model.

If you remove the spark plugs there is no compression and the only resistance is friction. With the trans in neutral It should be possible to turn the engine over by hand with the crank, or a wrench on the crankshaft. If it is stuck or refuses to turn past a certain point it indicates something is wrong. Early thirties cars all had a hand crank, by the late thirties many did not but some did. If it turns over it should be safe to spin it on the starter. It may not start but it should not hurt anything. But, if it turns by hand, apparently that answers the question. They do not need to waste money on a battery or any further work. By the way a serious buyer will not object to the car not running for all those years. He will come and inspect the car himself, and make a decision, provided the price reflects the unknown condition of the car. In other words a running driving car could be worth thousands more, but could also cost thousands to put back in commission. You can't expect a buyer to spend a lot of money and do a lot of work for nothing.

If it was mine I would remove the spark plugs and squirt a little oil into the cylinders. Check the oil dip stick. Generally look over the engine to see if any parts are missing, or anything is obviously amiss. Then try to turn the engine by hand. Either by pulling on the fan or fan belt or with the starting handle (crank) if there is one. Only if will turn over more than one full revolution would I try the starter. Then, I would prefer to remove the oil pan and clean out any sludge and check the oil pump before spinning the engine. This based on messing with old cars for 60 years. I will leave it to the experts if anything else is needed as I am not familiar with this model, I am only speaking generally. For a car this old and valuable it might be worth while to hire a mechanic for a day. If you can find someone familiar with 30s cars.

It's not supposed to move. It is supposed to have enough resistance that if you try to move it by hand it will move but slowly. Mineral spirits too thin not enough resistance to do anything.

You used to be able to buy special shock absorber or "knee action" fluid at any auto parts store. Not anymore. It may be available from specialists who make oil for vintage cars. But, most everybody uses hydraulic jack oil. If you want to get fancy you could use motorcycle fork oil. Try the jack oil first and see if it leaks out. Don't know how much to use, just fill the reservoir to about 1/4" below the top. Check it after a week or so, level may go down as bubbles work their way out or fluid leaks out.

You mean the engine? Looks like someone adapted a V8 Ford distributor to the A engine possibly to get a hotter spark. They also put a pair of 2 barrel carbs off a V8 on there.

Before Nader the Corvair was tested by all the leading auto publications and road testers. None of them found it unsafe. Tom McCahill remarked that it had some unusual handling characteristics in extreme conditions but that the ordinary driver would never encounter them in normal use, and that conventional cars would also be hard to handle under such conditions. On the other hand he criticized the VW beetle for its rollover tendencies but added that it usually rolled gently and the round shape made it easy to roll back onto the wheels. Even though on the whole he thought highly of the VW and was one of its early boosters he accepted that it had its bad points as well as a lot of advantages.

Nader was a late comer to the auto safety racket. Other politicians had been working it for at least 10 years. Far from being a crusader, he was more of an opportunist. He made a fast buck and did his part to destroy the auto industry, once one of the pillars of the economy, and was as responsible as anybody for the wreck of the American economy in the seventies.

As a former owner of a Corvair and numerous air cooled VWs you are 100% right.

I may be the only person who actually read his book all the way through, twice. The first time ticked me off, the second made me laugh. Not many people know that he had no engineering training, did not own a car, could not drive and did not have a driving license. Some auto safety expert. They also don't know that he got all the information he used in his smear job from General Motors files. They gave him access to their service and recall records not knowing what he intended to do. Another thing few people know is that the US government tested the Corvair's handling and found it perfectly safe, if different from front engine cars. This information was quietly buried and never reported in the mainstream media. Not that it would have done any good as the report came out 3 years after the Corvair was replaced by the Vega.

I give you Hudson's Electric Hand, the latest thing in 1935. It was developed by Bendix and used by Hudson and Cord. Postwar Tuckers with Cord transmissions used the same system. It combined electric switch gear with a vacuum powered shifter and clutch. Note the advantages - easy and convenient shifting, no gear lever or brake lever cluttering up the passengers' leg room.

The chart of tune up specs above, gives the gap with the note "H" which I presume means Hot. If it was my car I would set the valves cold and recheck when hot.

You might find better experts at the Durant Motors Automobile Club https://dmacweb.com/

One big reason for getting rid of the floor shift was that as car bodies got wider, it became possible to seat 3 on the front seat. This made it desirable to get the gearshift and hand brake out of the road. Different companies experimented with gearshift on the column, on the instrument panel, even electric or vacuum shifters. The column shift turned out to be the most practical and popular.

Aussie I wish I could help but I don't know why I do half the things I do, let alone some bush mechanic half a world away 90 years ago. If it was mine I would change it back to the way the factory made it, if possible.

You've got to hand it to E L Cord, he knew how to think big. First the Duesenberg J now this. Wonder what kind of gorilla you would need to chauffeur a 16 cylinder front drive limousine with no power steering.