unimogjohn

It is Monday morning, July 19th. Yahoo! Success! Greg worked all weekend to finish the installation of the vent windows and the windows too. Now she is starting to look like an Avanti again. Greg sent no report, he let the pictures do the talking. So here they are.

I have heard good things about this company. I have not used them so you might want to check their references. Welcome to Antonini Radiator

Catrinus, you might want to start a new thread about what you need rather than tagging it along with another so it does not get lost and go unanswered. But, clutch materials are available from FORT WAYNE CLUTCH and DRIVELINE and you can always send them your clutch and they will re-line it for you. Bobs Automobilia www.bobsautomobilia.com has some parts for 1923 cars, but not much. You can download his catalog. The best source for parts and advice I have found is to join the Buick group on Yahoo Groups. Go to Yahoo! and join, it is free. Then go to "goups" and sign up for the 1927Buick group. 1927buicks : 1927 buicks I am sure that they know where you can get the woven material for the brake lining, and a lot of other parts too. I have also found many small parts for my Buicks at Restoration Specialities. restorationspecialities.com You might want to contact this company about the brake lining. http://allfrictions.com/home.html I hope that the contacts above will give you a start. Start new thread about your car, post some pictures, and I am sure that you will get a lot more help. Finally, Leif Holmberg is a member on these forums. He is in Sweden, and he knows much about the old Buicks. He knows most European suppliers. So send him a message through the Message Board. http://forums.aaca.org/members/leif-holmberg/ Glad you posted to the forum. Welcome. We would love to see your car. John

Roger, enjoy watching you work. How many hours do you think that you have in that one valve cover so far?

A question. A friend is going to have his Corvette soda blasted at his home garage, and has invited me to have the Avanti done at the same time. I am leaning to having this done. My metallic green (not original) is really beat up, and I know that the red under it is not much better. At this point we think we will stay with the metallic green so we will not have to fool with the door jams, painting of the trunk, etc. I do not have a timeline yet, or a cost. More to come. So the question, is soda blasting the way to go on a fiberglass car?

Ernie, I will check the amp gauge tonight when the sun goes down. Still Saturday, farm chores done so headed to the Avanti garage to put in the electronic regulator. I have done this so many times now it is second nature. Started the car and got out the trusty meter. I am getting 12.3 volts at each of the regulator connections, 12.4 at the alternator main power, and 11.2 at the exciter push in terminal. The amp gauge still shows a minor discharge, and when I turn on the lights and blower motor, it is even more. Here are some pics. Guess I will just wait a couple of more weeks until I can pick up the new alternator in Canada. We are taking up the 1923 McLaughlin Buick for a week of touring. Will be back the second week of August. The Avanti will have to wait until then.

It is Saturday, June 17th. No report from Greg yet, I am going to assume that he did not do any work last night as Friday is usually tango night. We all need some free time. Got the electronic regulator yesterday from Dave Tbow. Will install it today. Also cleaned up the front bumper of the 1928 Buick. Looks pretty good. And we got the solar panels installed on the roof for our new HVAC unit. Generating 520 watts yesterday at 3PM. Here are some pics.

It is Thursday, July 16th. Hot, hot, hot! 100 degrees with the humidity about 90%. So hot it is hard to get motivated. The morning times goes to the animals with hay distribution, lots of water buckets to be cleaned and filled, and hosing off those that want it. Also have to make sure that all the fans are working (ten of them) so the llamas can crawl under them. But I did manage a couple of things. On the Avanti, replaced the ground wire on the alternator, no change, still not charging. To tell a short story about my 1928 Buick Town Brougham. I bought it in 1984 with a missing front bumper. It has taken me all these years to find the brackets, but I did have a redone bumper found about ten years ago. So yesterday, I managed to get the brackets installed and adjusted. And then a few hours later I was able to dig out the bumper and get it installed. Looks great and makes the car a lot longer. I do have to clean up the bumper so it looks a bit grungy in the pics. Also looks like I have sold my Mercedes Benz Unimog 404. Just not using it much, but I will have to figure out how I am going to haul hay. Maybe a car towing/hauling hay pickup is in my future. Greg continues to move forward. Got that pesky screw in for that vent window. Here is his report. "Short story: got the screw in for the vent window. Longer story: in the light of day and with a flashlight I was able to see that the first few threads were missing from the pivot screw hole. Had just enough time to make it to the hardware store to score a 1/4-28 helicoil kit and restore the threads. Then the screw installation was successful. Took both frames to store in the car in anticipation of the next skirmish. Vent and window installation. Oh yeah, the quarter panels arrived today. Nice job. Notice that the pleats are not stitched but molded in like the original method. Bonus photo: Bill pulls his Steaman engine through all cylinders before startup. This is done to make sure oil hasn't pooled in the bottom cylinders after standing idle. This to prevent bent connecting rods."

if it is leaking out of the stem/line then it is not sealing against the top of the bulb. You need to carefully and bit by bit tighten the the nut until the weeping stops.

It is Thursday, July 15th. On my Avanti front I am still working on the "not-charging" issue. Got a call from Dave Tbow that the new electronic regulator will be here on Saturday. It will take just a couple of minutes to put that in. At a forum members suggestion I have made up new wiring for the main power and the exciter on the chance that they might be broken/melted, etc. So did that and replaced them. No change. I will check the ground wire on the alternator today. Won a couple of Avanti side mirrors on Ebay last week, and they arrived yesterday. One is perfect, the other is driver quality, but really both are pretty good. I took the best one and put it on. It replaced the Hawk mirror that was on the car. I took some chrome polish to the driver quality one, and it cleaned up pretty good. Have not decided if I will drill holes in the passenger side door and mount it. Greg told me that there are hard rubber screw inserts that do into the drilled holes to avoid cracking/stressing the fiberglass. I have to locate a couple of those before I start. Here are a couple of pics of the mirrors. And of course, Greg continues with the vent windows. He is getting close to getting them back on the doors. "The driver's side vent glass is in. Went fine. The passenger side, well, I've been an hour and fifteen minutes trying to get the pivot screw in. No reason for it not to go in. I've isolated the window and the frame, screw fits, tried various methods of alignment, but so far I haven't lost my temper, slipped with the tools to scratch the stainless, chrome or chip the glass. But I'm not done yet."

Bob, could be one of several cars, but as to year it sure looks like mid to late 20s. We will see what other have to say.

It is Wednesday, July 14th. Dave Tbow called me last night and the regulator for my Avanti has been rebuilt with new electronic components. Going back in the mail today so I should get it on Friday. Meanwhile, Greg continues his quest and is about ready to put the little vent windows back in the car. He is getting close. Here is his report. "Tonight I fitted the runs to the frames, rivetted them in place, and also rivetted the little rubber stops to the upper inside of the castings. Here's the trick to setting these pop rivets, since they bed deep inside the glass channels where the nose of the rivet gun won't reach. Slide a piece of steel tubing over the shanks. With the runs now attached the rubbers were soaped and pried into place. I left that upper flat head screw out until last. Both sides are to this point. Although the vents are patient, I just can't wait to get them installed."

Thanks all. Appreciate all the nice comments. Received the award from the AACA today. Here are a couple of pics. Now, I have to finish the last few things on the car, and she will be done. But before I can do that we will be off to Canada the first week of August. Thanks again. And I hope you are all working on your cars. and driving them too.

It is Tuesday, July 13th. The roofers did not show up to install the solar panels, so the Lennox guys stood around for fours hours waiting. Sometimes I do not know why things are just too hard. Included is a close up of one of the four panels to be installed. But Greg continues to press ahead. Here is his report for Monday PM. "Today began with another rescue. Another Coopers Hawk loitering around in the yard. This one was younger and unlike the other one, had all of it's feathers. That first one was missing tail feathers. Lethargic, it allowed me to pick it up without any struggle. Again the sherriff's dept sent someone to pick it up. A quick lookover, they said that it was probably the runt and they often are kicked out of the nest by the others. One less mouth to feed, more to go around. It did look malnurished. Hope it makes it. Otherwise, I did more rivetting tonight. There's a bracket at the bottom of each run that allows adjustment of window frame fit. Next will come buffing of the chrome casting, then rivetting of the run to the casting. Haven't touched the vent window itself as of yet."

I usually use the white teflon tape. There seems to be a lot of play in the threads of those fittings, so you have to really wrap it to the point where it may be a bit hard to start. If so take off a couple of wraps and try again. Also, it is important to have a clean hole and fitting. I use a Dremel tool with the right size diameter brass wheel to clean up the threads. Hope this helps. John

It is Monday, July 12th, and early start for today. The HVAC guys are coming to finish up installation of our new system to include solar panels to run the heat pump. Should be interesting. On the Avanti charging issue, my Canadian mechanic told me to by-pass the original primary wire, and run another large gauge wire from the alternator to the regulator to see if that wire has shorted out. So will do that today. Greg had a busy Sunday, and here is his report. "Today was busy. Included a trip to Rob's Automobile Repository to lend a hand on his '09 REO. The rebuilt transmission is in place, new and tight. Pushed it outside to start and run it in a little. Reluctant to start, we eventuallly shove started it in his hilly yard and locked in gear, he all but disappeard out of sight. But it did free up enough to start on its own and shed numerous parts somewhere in his lawn. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the vent window seals did get rivetted in place and Barb got a lesson in rivet bucking 101. I might have these vent assemblies done in a couple days. Woo hoo!"

It is Sunday, July 11th. Before I take out the alternator and regulator I decided to take a couple of readings with my electronic tester. So at the battery I get 12.48 volts. At the alternator, with engine running, I get 3.4 volts. At the regulator I get the same reading except for the last screw I get 0. I passed the numbers along to a mechanic friend in Canada to see what he thinks. And a friend of Greg's took some video today of Greg and his projects to include the Avanti. Here is a link. At least now you know what Greg looks like.

It is Sunday, July 11th. Greg came over yesterday to drop off his two regulators since mine is off to Dave Tbow for an electronic infusion. He said again that the alternator had been rebuilt and never on a car. So after Greg left, put on the regulator, no difference, not charging. Looks like it is going to be a month before she gets back on the road. Greg continues to work hard on his Avanti. Here is his report for Saturday. Do I sense a little frustration? "Why do I bother. Like the rivets for the door vent window seal. Special fussy little semi-tubular rivets. Called the dealer and yes, request them from the parts department. That was the order I missed placing by ten minutes. Called first thing the next morning. Got them coming. Waited most of a week. They got here last evening. Accompanying pic shows left to right: * Sample rivet removed from vent *What they sent * What I just machined from a piece of stainess steel bar stock. The vent window project can nowl resume. Could have been finished if I hadn't tried to take the easy way out and buy the rivets. Also arriving last night was the replacement carpet. Began that installation by glueing the insulation to it, and also removed the handbrake assembly for rehab."

It is Saturday, July 10th. Received a letter from the AACA office on Friday, but did not open it until this morning. Well, I guess we did not hear our name being called at the awards program because the letter said that we had received the Second Junior Award for the class. I was surprised to say the least. This was inspite of several blunders on my part which resulted in more deductions than necessary. I am not a trophy person, but in this case I think I will send off for it, for the car of course. Thanks to everyone for reading this little blog. We will be going to Canada in early August for the McLaughlin Buick Club tour in Ottawa, Ontraio. This is a non-judged event, based on just touring around the countryside for three days. They do give out a member's best car award, and the 23 received it last year. I think due to the fact that we took it up every year during the restoration so they saw the evolution from a box of parts, to a static display, and finally running down the road. Maybe I will do a short blog on the meet too.

It is Friday, July 9th, and the weather is a bit cooler this morning so put in the borrowed alternator. Got everything all connected, installed the battery cable, and hit the starter. She immediately roared to life. BUT, the amp gauge still shows a discharge. So shut off the motor, pulled the regulator, packed it, and off to the Post Office we went. So the regulator is off to Dave Tbow. He will get it on Monday, and I should have it back by Friday or Saturday. On the Unimog front, a friend is leaving the area for a few months and decided to park his 416 diesel truck at the farm. Best thing is that I get to use it. It is a beast! Thank goodness it has power steering. It makes my Unimog 404 look like a compact truck. I have included pics of the alternator, amp gauge, and Unimog 416. Greg sent me a note this morning, and it sounds like he has figured out his window regulator assembly problems. Here is his report. "OK, so today I spent studying the illustrations and still couldn't find Waldo. Looked the same to me. So after work I tried the window regulators again and they fell right into place. All I can say is that for years I've suffered with bouts of rectal cranial inversion. Must have been one of my nights. Now to work on the other door window itself."

Here you go, but do not remember the size. But it is small and not very long. A good mom and pop hardward store should have them also. And yes, it does have a cup or conical end. McMaster-Carr

Wayne, thanks. Your experience mirrored mine as we took the same route. I was surprised that traffic was so heavy going up 81 and in parts of West VA. My little 6 cylinder did a bit better (14.1) on mileage, but not by much. I use the same shifting technique too. Thanks again. Sorry we missed each other at the show. Next time for sure.

It is Thursday morning, really early, like 4 AM. Cats are walking across my head, oh well, might as well get up. Good thing I did, I bid on two correct Avanti mirrors, and won them with a "make me an offer". He wanted $50 for two, and I said $45 for fun. He accepted the offer, and now they are on the way. I have a Hawk mirror on the car now. It was just too hot to put on the Avanti alternator yesterday, and will be today also. I spent most of the day hiding from the sun, it was 103 degrees at 6 PM last night. I spent the day watering the animals and making sure all their fans were on. They are not liking this hot weather. Even the ducks were panting, and they were drinking more water than splashing around in it. Friends are leaving the area so they had a bunch of stuff they wanted to sell so picked up a nearly new Club Cadet garden tractor, snow blade, chains, and a cart. But the big find was a new engine crane, now that is going to come in handy. Well, Greg continues to be busy. He wrote me that he must have the window winding/regulator assembly put together wrong. They do not work in the door. If anyone has a pic of one he would appreciate it. Here is his report from last night. "Well, all in all it hasn't been a bad day. A surprise first thing was the eighteen wheeler with seven thousand pounds of airworthy spruce to be unloaded board by board. Got the rivets and stuff ordered for the vent window seal project. Friend Bill called to say the Stearman (airplane) was running and had spent an hour over the airport with its newly overhauled engine, doing fine. UPS arrived with the Avanti R2 cam done by the boys at Delta. They also enclosed the assemby lube and oil additive of their choice. Tonight I started the installation of the inner door parts. The tracks went back fine. Then I tried the driver's door window regulator. For a long time. I just couldn't find the right combination. Then I began doubting my reassembly of the reassemblies. I've sent out a couple requests to see if anyone has a regulator out of their door that they might photograph for me. With that on hold, I began the conservation of the driver's door window. The steel frame is very rusty, so I taped everything else up and bead blasted and primed. Friend Dave called and in the course of the conversation mentioned that he had no idea that the doors/windows would require so much effort. A major project for "Haven't you got the windows in yet?". No, I haven't . And with so much more to do, I remind myself of my motto: "If it's new enough to have front doors (let alone windows), it's just a used car.""

Hi everyone, I was just given this pair of horns. I have no idea what they fit. Do any of you? They both say Robert Bosch Germany, one is UK6 and the other looks like U186, but the impression is very light so it may be something else. One has its mounting bracket, the other does not. One has a patent date of 1925. Here are some pics. Thanks.

Wrennch, all of them are probably low on oil or have none in them. To fill take off the little filler bolt on top and refill to the top. I use hydraulic tractor transmission oil from Tractor Supply. On the one that is stuck it is out of oil and probably rusted. Spray in some PB Blaster, Kroil etc and let it sit overnight. Then with your hand start to move the arm up and down little bits at a time. Slowly it will or should break free. Take your time. Keep spraying it. They all do leak, some more than others. I check mine at the beginning of every driving season and top off if necessary.