unimogjohn

It is Friday, December 11th. 10 degrees here this morning, 20 degrees by 10 AM, and now it is now 28 at 11:30 AM; time to head out. First thing I decided to check out the throttle/transmission linkage setting. No wonder the engine/transmission would not work correctly. It is way, I mean way, out of adjustment. And I do have the linkage hooked up incorrectly. According to the workshop manual the little ball joint should be pointing down versus up. Here are a couple of pictures. First, as it exists; second, with the correct size drill for spacing purposes; and third, the manual, which shows the correct spacing/adjustment between the two arms. You can see that I am at least three times out of adjustment. Have animals to take care of this afternoon, but will try to get back to it this PM. Wonder what it will be like after adjustment? One can only hope.

Bruce, if the car has not been used on a long time, I would bypass the gas/vacuum delivery system to make sure that you are getting fuel to the carb. Remember that this is a gravity feed system, so just disconnect the line coming out of the vacuum tank to the carb, insert a new rubber line and make a small remote tank of a quart or so and hang it higher than the carb so the fuel can drain into the carb. But, if you are sure the fuel is OK, then... 1. make sure the vacuum tank has fuel, check by taking out plug on top and filling it with fuel. 2. make sure the fuel shut off to the carb is open (mine is at the glass bowl filter) Now usually you can see some fuel weeping from the top of the carb so you know you have fuel. 3.Transmission in N 4. I fully advance the ignition 5. pull choke all the way out 6. turn on ignition 7. push the starter pedal Make sure you have a good, charged battery too. If problems, you can give me a call 540-364-2454. I am in VA.

Stude8, yes I do have the manual and am looking at it now. Will do as you suggest. I will make sure that I still have the linkage, and it is hooked up correctly. The carb on the car was not correct when I got it, and the linkage was adjusted and move around to make it work. I suppose putting it back to the supercharged carb caused some issues. I will take a look tomorrow. Suppose to go into the teens tonight, so it just depends how fast it warm up tomorrow. At least I have something to check. (PS, thanks, I did not even know about this mechanical connection.) I did start and run the car today for about 30 minutes, I did check for vacuum leaks and found none. All the rubber lines are brand new and tight. I can see fuel being sucked out of the main venturis. I did use some carb cleaner on some of the parts and that seemed to help a bit. I think I will take the manual and read up on the carb and its adjustments to see what I can learn. Will report when I have some more information to share. Comment Added: Stude8 and Ernie, after reading the manual I realize that the throttle/transmission linkage is more than likely set up totally wrong. Who knew...... Anyway will do some investigation in making sure all my piece parts are there, and they are set to spec. Looks like there are several adjustments to make on the transmission and may require some special tools and gauges, will have to see what I can figure out. Would it be nice if this throttle/transmission adjustment is the cause of my problems? Ernie, will set the throttle at 650 rpm, it is running at about 1100 now. And I should have said that I can see the gas coming out when I goosed the engine, but I could also see a trickle at my high idle.

I would be interested in the rear foot rest. Appreciate it if you can give me a price and maybe a picture so I can decide. Email me at unimogjohn@aol.com

It is Wednesday, December 9th. "We have power Captain", as said often by Scotty on the old StarTrek TV series. The big ice storm gave us a glancing blow last night, lots of rain and some sleet, but that is about it. So as soon as it got above freezing I headed out to put in the Alternator. All went great, charging just fine. Max about 30 amps at start up, and then going immediately to about 5 amps or so. But not is all happiness. I started the car, attempted to put it in gear, and it died. Did this several times, until one time I got her not to stall the engine, and it raced through the front lawn, digging out like we were on a drag strip. So I have a couple of problems that I think are carb related. Remember that I earlier had the carb rebuilt, drained the fuel, it was still dirty so drained it again and flushed out all the lines. But I did start it after I drained it the first time, and there was a lot of gunk in the lines. I think some of this gunk got past the fuel filter and now my carb is plugged. But what do you think? These are the two issues. First, if I turn off or stall the engine when warm, it will not restart unless I physically put the high idle toggle back into the cold position. The engine will not start if it is at operating temp. It starts immediately when it is in the cold position. Second, the engine immediately stalls when I put it in gear (remember it is an automatic). If I manage to keep it running in gear it will not idle down or it will stall and quit. So it is like give it high rpms, drop the lever into drive, and hope she moves forward and keeps running. The fuel pump seems to be OK, I can see it flowing in the plastic fuel filter. And I just put in another filter, and the problems still exist. I do not think that it is the transmission at this point, it seems to drop into gear just fine, the fluid is nice and red, and where it should be on the dipstick. If anyone has any experience with these condition pls. let me know what you think. You can email me at unimogjohn@aol.com if you wish. This is my confession for the day.

It is Tuesday, December 8th. Ran into town this morning to get more gas for the generators. We expect an ice storm tonight, and if it comes, we are sure to lose power. Just one of those things about living outside of the big city and in the woods. I was told that the middle color of the outside of the alternator is incorrect. It should be silver rather than oxide red. So since it is 20 degrees outside I decided that this would be an easy fix from the kitchen table. Also the little plastic tab for the field wire is still loose, the tech could not find one that would fit. So rather than have it pull out at some inopportune time I took a little JB Weld and made a small bead around the outside of the tab and the frame. That should hold it fine. I also ran outside, threw off the over, charged up the battery, and then put in the new transmission dip stick. Done for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit nicer, and I will be able to get out and put the alternator on. Sorry for the short report, I had great intentions.

It is Monday PM, December 7th. At what cost? I have received several emails on how much this "refresh" has cost so far. Since so many have asked I am going to assume that there is a general interest. So this is it. Remember, this was/is going to be a refresh and not a restoration. We wanted a reliable driver that still had its original patina. And believe me, it has a lot of patina even now. Car Purchase: $ 8500 Pick up car cost: 500 Parts, re-builds, etc: 5074 Total: $14074 Now parts, etc includes some big ticket items, and the supercharger is still estimated. They are: Jon Myers supercharger rebuild: $700 Jim Turner disc brake kit: $704 Universal radial tire and installation: $630 Dave T carb rebuild: $300 SS Exhaust (partial): $260 and many over a $100 cost such as the alternator rebuild, radio rebuild, insurance, sales/registration fees, etc. If there is interest I will be happy to share the spreadsheet I have been keeping of all items. I was prepared and budgeted for this refresh, but I am over that by about $1500. The brake and supercharger costs were really not anticipated at the time of purchase. And I did not realize that so many things were just worn out or rotten. For example, the entire brake system was beyond saving except for a few pieces for the rear brakes; and every piece of rubber including every hose needed replacement. I have also budgeted some monies for 2010/11 to finish the car to driver status. Body work and re-paint $4,000; refresh interior $2,500. These cost are in line with keeping the total car costs to about $20K. Am I upside down, sure, but I did not go into this with the idea of recouping all costs. I am having a great time and that is worth lots. That is my cost to date report. I do not foresee any major costs right now to get her back on the road. However, with that said I have no idea as to the overall mechanical condition of the engine, transmission or rear axle. Only a few hundred miles on the road will tell me if I have to do anything there in the near term. I do recognize that if any of the major mechanicals are bad, I am looking at large dollars to rebuild/repair.

It is Monday, December 7th. Not much progress on the Avanti. It started snowing early Saturday and continued all day. Our first snow of the season. We got a total of about 4 inches. It has been cold too, 20 degrees at night, and maybe 36 to 40 degrees during the day. We spent Sunday winterizing the farm, and putting in heating elements in all the animal water buckets to include the duck's little pond. But today we got a call that the alternator was ready so we decided to take a couple of hours and headed out. When we arrived Bill showed us the stator, some of the copper wiring had fused together and others had burned through. So we now have a new stator, brushes and bearings; good as new as they say. The cost was $123. Bill also said that I should bring the regulator next time I am in the area. He said that he could check it out and repair as needed. So I think that next week I will pull it and take it out to him for inspection and testing. This would be the final piece of the electrics to check out and repair/replace if required. We also got in a NOS transmission dipstick to replace the one that had broken at its neck/hood/cap. So it will go on tomorrow too along with the alternator. Another storm is coming, freezing rain, sleet, and then rain tomorrow. So I hope it holds off long enough for me to put the alternator in. I think I need about 30 minutes. I do have the shroud for the radiator/fan, but will hold off putting that back in until the supercharger comes in, no word on that yet today. Here are a couple of pictures.

David, you are right. It does look really nice, much too nice for a daily driver. Maybe I should trade him? You better move a car down the hill you live on. You could be in the eye of the storm.

It is Friday, December 4th. Snow still expected tomorrow, now they are saying 2 to 4 inches, starting around midnight tonight. It does "taste" like snow is coming. Better get to it. So spent the morning finishing ripping out all the burned wiring, which had been bypassed, but still in the harness. In the end, two hot wires (ignition and alternator) were fried, and one ground wire. I used tie-wraps on the wiring bundle inside the car, but did use wraps and black tape in the engine compartment just to make sure everything looked the same as the other wiring. I am satisfied that the electrical system is safe, and will not not burn up the car. I still have a wiring issue with the horn and the turn signal system working against each other, but I believe that problem is in the steering wheel. I will tackle that problem as time permits. I do have rear turn signals if I manually use the stock as an off and on switch. I guess that half a system is better than none. I also put back in all the light bulbs in the dash, so now most of the instruments have lights. There is just hardly any room to work back behind the dash. Wow, just listen to that music! The radio and new speaker are now back in the car, thank you Dan Skidmore. It took about an hour to get it back in, and I had to enlist Alice to help hold the speaker in place while I did a little "by feel" work to attached the speaker nuts to the dash. Could not have done it alone, you need at least three hands to install everything. Oh, and the radio, it does sound great, and I actually get a few stations. Ahhhh, the 60s, remember them well. But, glad my time working under the dash are done for now, my hands are all skinned up from trying to make them fit into tiny places. Took a few minutes to vacuum the carpet and then put back in the driver's seat. Oh, naturally it looks like the seat mounting system as been welded back together. Done for today. I have actually run out of parts to put on the car. It still needs another heavy cleaning inside to get rid of the moldy smell, but the old girl is starting to look pretty good to these old eyes. Next week hope to have the supercharger and alternator back. May even tackle repairing the hood hinge pocket. So with any luck we may have a running car that we can take on the road by the end of the week. It has been two months since we have started this madness. We have had a lot of fun and spent a few bucks too. Great to see the Avanti starting to rise from the dead. Thanks to everyone for their kind words, suggestions, and encouragement.

A couple of weeks ago I posted that our local restoration guru was doing a frame-off restoration of his 1964 Avanti R2. Greg sent me a couple of pictures this morning so I thought I would share them. This is going to be his daily driver, I could only wish.

It is Thursday, December 3rd. Nice day here today, about 64 degrees, but snow is expected on Saturday. Suppose to have winds of 35 to 40 mph tomorrow during the transition period, so went into the Avanti garage and made sure all the tie downs were solid and tight. This will be a little test for the garage. Then had to dig out a 1922 Buick engine/transmission out of the hay barn. I sold it and pickup is Sunday. This little four banger is heavy, the Kubota tractor is straining to lift it. I called Jon Meyers re the supercharger. Jon said that he has not gotten to it since the holidays. It is on the bench; all painted, cleaned, with new parts on the shelf. He just has to do it, but has not had the time. He said that he might get a few hours on the weekend to work on it, but made no promises. So I said that I understood, and that I could wait a bit longer. Actually, I have no choice. Looks like the alternator and supercharger will be done about the same time, the end of next week. Just in time for Christmas. If the weather holds tomorrow I plan to complete the inside wiring work and put back in the seat.

It is Wednesday, December 2nd. Cold, around 30 degrees, and rain is forecast. Ran into the pasture this morning and drove the Unimog out before the ground became too muddy. So before the rains, I decided that I would put everything back from my little week long oil pressure line repair/replacement. So in about 30 minutes I had everything back on. Started the car, she roars to life instantly, and watch the oil pressure climb to 75 lbs, then I run over to the new oil line and check for leaks. Nothing, everything is good. Sure wish I had that rebuilt alternator so I could take her for a run at least around the driveway. Oh well, maybe next week. So turned her off as she has no water pump due to the alternator being out. I found the other SS spark plug wire cover and put it on. Did not connect the little nut way below the power brake vacuum unit, got to have a very small hand to get down there for sure, or you have to take off the bracket and remove the entire assembly. Going to leave it for another day. I also found the SS box that goes over the distributer/coil. Now I can see what can cut the oil pressure line. Put it on just as a test fit. I want to change the dual points some nice day soon, so it did not make sense to put it on right now. Oh, great..... freezing rain. I am done for the day. Just too cold and wet now to do much more. Guess it is about time to get her into the Avanti garage. May do that tomorrow. Or, may move the 1928 Buick to the Avanti garage and and move the Avanti into the real garage. Decisions, decisions.

Chris, I assume that it is a "hard top" covered in a rubberized canvas. Actually, on such a small roof area you could actually do it. The material is available, it is called long grain cobra. Bob's Automobilia as well as other restoration vendors sell it by the yard. It is nailed on the wood frame, and then the nails are covered by a lead/soft metal welting/drip rail. Now if your wood is damaged, that is another issue. Usually, you will have to fill nail holes, inspect and clean the wood, perhaps put a good sealer before putting on the roof. You also have to make sure that you have all seams sealed so no water can get in. It reminds me of putting on a house roof.

Chris, the car should have a data plate on the firewall, passenger side. What does it say?

Stude8/John and Ernie, thanks. The new line is about an inch longer than the original, so it has a better radius for bending/flexing so I do do not think that there will be little, if any, strain on the ends. And I will check that the shield is no where near the rubber oil pressure line when I reinstall it today. Suppose to rain hard here today, starting mid morning, so do not know how much I will get done. Will keep you all posted.

It is still Tuesday, getting dark, but decided to see if the new fitting screws in correctly. Well, it went right in, so put on some Permatex 2 sealer and screwed her in four and a half turns. It is tight so just going to let it sit for the night and not start the engine. The hose installed nicely too. Pic attached. I also got the newly serviced AM radio back from Dan Skidmore. He replaced a light and some components inside the radio, and rebuilt the speaker. So we are ready to install it and listen to those AM airwaves. I will not put it back in until I get the wiring issue completed, which should be in a few days. I have to trace a couple of wires and lights to see where they go in the cluster and then I can declare victory.

It is Tuesday, December 1st. Cold here this morning, 25 degrees so did not venture out until it hit 40 or so. Had to pull off the two rounds of hay on the Unimog. The mog is now is the pasture stuck in the mud, no problem, just wait for the morning freeze and drive her out. I could drive her out now, but that would just tear up the pasture and make more mud. While waiting for the sun I decided to install the roll up feature on the Avanti garage. Works like a roman shade. But I hated to cut a couple of slits in the cover. Works good, and easier to get the car and/or tractor out. So, now my courage worked up, I decided to run the new tap. All went well and it went in straight and true. Made sure everything was clean and no debris. Nope, that new fitting is just too bunged up from my previous attempts to go in smooth. I then tried a good threaded fitting, but not the right one, and it went in great. So decided not to force the fitting and will head down this afternoon and get a new one. So tomorrow will be the day for the installation. I have no doubt that it will work OK.

Yes, I would also recommend that you go over to the Buick pre-war forum. Your car looks to be a Master Six 4 door DeLuxe Sedan (seven passenger), model 28-47S, which appeared this year only. Buick made 16,398 of them. This was also known as the Town Brougham. Olsons gaskets are at Welcome To Olson's Gaskets! Six volts works just fine, for running and starting. My 23 and 28 start easier and faster than my modern cars. There are several things not original on your car (carb and coolant pipes to radiator). Parts are available for wheels, brakes, etc. So until you decided what your goals are with this car, do not do anything crazy. Also you might want to join our 1920s forum on Yahoo groups. There are quite a few of us on this forum and all would be willing to help you. It is groups.yahoo.com/group/1927buicks/

Wrennch, we are here to help. First, you still have a head gasket issue, which you have figured out. I would drain the oil and coolant, and remove the head again. I would get a new head gasket from Olsen's gaskets in VA. They are not much money in the grand scheme of things. Usually, head gaskets torque are in the 100/120 ft lb range. I am sure that someone would have exact recommendations for you, if not I will try to find out what is correct. Welcome To Olson's Gaskets! There are manuals available for the 28s. You can get them from several sources, Bob's Automobilia in CA, Faxtons Auto Lit, Crank-en-hope out of PA, and EBay. Also there are general service manuals for this era of cars, the most used ones are from Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia. These are available on Ebay too. The book will give you general repair and specs for all types of car to include Buick. It has info on brakes, engines, wheels, etc. If you tell me what you need I can scan pages from what I have and email them to you. Send me your email address. Unimogjohn@aol.com

It is Monday, November 30th. Took the kids back to the airport, a five hour round trip, so the day is almost shot. Cold, wet, and windy here today too. I did take the opportunity to head into town and hit the local Home Depot for a tap. They did not know what I was talking about, and had nothing. So headed to a local hardware store, they had individual taps, but nothing in the pipe grade. I was ready to leave and looked into their junk bin of one "somethings" and found what I was looking for, the 1/8 27 thread pipe tap. I was happy and only $5. The cheapest thing on this Avanti so far. So if the weather holds tomorrow I will see if she works. Thanks to Stude8 this might do it. I included a pic. Called Bill the alternator man, and he said that the stator was suspect so he has sent it out to be rewound. He expects that it will be back at the end of the week so probably it will be next week before he gets it all back together. Boy, at this rate it is going to be winter before we get her back on the road. While at Home Depot I picked up a workshop lamp and put it in the Avanti garage. Looks like it will do the job of having a little light in there, and may even get another one. The cost was about $30. Oh, and we do have the garage anchored down with the six three foot screws that came with the garage. It is not going anywhere. I am also certain that at some point this winter I will replace the valve stem seals so picked this tool up on Ebay. Also bought air fittings that will go into the spark plug hole to hold the valves up while I am replacing seals. Have never done this before so it should be interesting. Included is a pic of the tool. Going to call Jon Myers tomorrow. Where is that supercharger?

Vern, we do not get much snow here, but the cover is three layers thick. Here is their web site for garages. You might want to just give them a call and ask what the snow load is. I see a lot of these type of covers in Canada too, so they must be able to handle some heavy snow. The metal framing is beefy so I do not think that would be an issue either. ShelterLogic - Garages: Barn If you call, let us know what you found out.

Stude8, thanks for the info. I will take a look at what I was using tomorrow, and if need be will head down to Home Depot and see if I can pick up what I need. Could not wait so ran to the tool box in the garage, so took a look at what I used, and it was a 3/8 24; and you are right, should have used a 3/8 27 at least or NPT as you recommend. So tomorrow I will see what I can get and re-thread. So much for my "complete tap and die set".

Stude8, thanks we tried all your suggestions. We were kinda successful. It is Sunday, November 29th. We spent a few hours finishing the Avanti hotel. I have included a couple of pics of the final reveal. Will be a nice winter home for the "Green Hornet". I am impressed with the fit and finish of the Garage in a Box. Then Chris and I turned to the broken fitting. First we heated the heck out of it with a propane torch and used an easy out. It did not move. We let it cool down a bit and tried the easy out again. Nothing. So off to plan B, we drilled out to the next smaller size than 3/8th. That got the majority of the old fitting out. We made sure that we had lots of grease on the drill, and we used q-tips with grease down into the gallery to pick up all the debris. Tried then to use the easy out, nothing. On to plan C, slowly worked the drill to each side and observed the removal of brass, finally we worked the tap and were finally successful in making new threads. We started to thread in the new fitting and it got hung up somewhere and popped out. So we gave up for the day, as the threads on the new fitting a bunged up a bit. So rather than force in the fitting and messing up the new threads we will use an old fitting to see if we can clean and chase the threads before we try again. Plan D I guess is tomorrow, whatever plan D is.

It is Saturday, November 28th. The Avanti motel. No work on the Avanti, but we did build a garage for it. A few weeks ago we won a bidding war at Habitat for Humanity for a tent garage. So today, my son, Chris, and I decided to put it up. He read the instructions, figured out where everything went, and we went to work with a little tree clearing. The instructions said that it would take two hours, well, 8 hours later we were done almost, have the back and front doors to do tomorrow, and fasten down the sides of the garage. Looks great and will serve to keep the Avanti nice and dry during the winter. I will put down a blue tarp as the floor so we should not have any moisture issues. We are happy. The attached pics are of our little project. Oh, I did pick up a new oil pressure fitting yesterday, so maybe tomorrow we will be able to get back on the Avanti. But company is here so it is difficult to just break away. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.