nsbrassnut

Hi Gary As you noted. Selection of wood is like the discussion on what oil to use. Anyway, speaking from my experience I would suggest that you may want to reconsider what wood you are going to use. The Cadillac frame and chassis is flexible like the model T Fords and when driving a lot of strain is also placed on the body framing and panels. The original side panels were thin planks barely 3/8" or so thick. And with driving, flexing, age and drying out they are known for the side panels to crack. And once that happens lasting repairs are very difficult to do. Plywood was just starting to be used back then. Most of the early plywood was different than modern plywood in most of it used a thick wood core sandwiched between thin outer layers (think model T dashboards and many similar period ones). Today good plywood is available and cost effective. And using quality plywood will for the panels will result in a stronger body which will be far more resistant to cracking in use and over time. When I restored my F I laminated 3 layers of door skin plywood (three layer panel) with the good finish to the outsides. To get good flat laminated sections of the right thickness I sandwiched the three layers of 1/8" plywood between full length sections of 3/4 in plywood. The resulting panels are flat, somewhat flexible and very strong. And the wood finish is flat and sooth and ready for sealing and painting with little additional work. Like many others I also used West marine epoxy as a sealer for the wood and when it was fully dried blocked sanded it and then had it painted with regular automotive primer and topcoats. Also, in case you haven't already seen the body framing under the paint, these cars used oak for the structural framing and for some of the key toe board panels below the front seat that hold the two sides of the body together. And something for you to consider. The body was built with full length oak rails at the bottom behind the exterior panels. The oak is about 4" by 3/4" and runs from the front body bolt to the rear of the body and hold the three body mounts on each side. Your rear body section has been cut through these sills which reduces the strength of the body. There could be a point where its easier to build a complete new lower body and only reuse the seats than it it would be to try to do good structural splices of of the main oak sills. Here is a picture of my F body after restoration and just before paint. The front seat section is original, the rest I reproduced from original remains and measurements of an original DBW body. Good luck with project. Jeff

Hi Jeff Well those are interesting drawings. Now and then its amazing what bits and pieces of period information show up. Something to think about when looking at the drawings. Not all drawings produced would represent actual parts made. Most every manufacturer then and even today produces study drawings of different options and ideas which may not make it into production. At least most modern drawings do note the version, study, draft, released for production, etc.. It may not have been as common back then. I note this as the first drawing shows front view hood profile which I think has yet to be seen on any surviving car or period picture. The hood top has a "wavy" shape. Where the later hood front profiles have the "rounded" shape" which we see in pictures and survivors. And you may already know that of the '06-08 Cadillac hoods there are version that have a dummy radiator cap and ones with functional ones as shows in the later drawings. I forget which year has which radiator cap design. That information was covered in a Cadillac Single Cylinder Register Bulletin newsletter in the past. And the change in the company name later in '05 is likely indicative of when the business portion of the Leland Falconer / Cadillac merger started to be registered and filter through company documents. And a period picture with the company officials may be in an early prototype of the new model Cadillac, which may have used some prototype parts, such as the hood, that didn't last into regular production. It would make some sense for the officials to be out testing the new model and have their picture taken doing so. If not already done so, perhaps you could also post copies of those drawings on the Early Cadillac IO forum files section for future easier reference by other early Cadillac owners. And for Gary. The original '05 Pontiac bodied F was featured in an issue of the HCCA Gazette some time ago (late 90's perhaps) in Cadillac focused issue. That issue also had several period Cadillac pictures included in it. If you can find an index of the HACC Gazette for that period you should be able to identify which issue to look for. Drive Safe Jeff

Hi All Some more information on the ’05 Cadillac owned and displayed by John Hershey. John’s one was previously owned by Skip Carpenter who toured it beside Don Rising’s ’05 for several years around the 2000 to 2010 period. I was fortunate enough to ride along with them as a passenger on a few of the tours back then. I think Don’s Cadillac will be staying in the family as his sons are also in the old car hobby. I spent some time looking closely at John/Skip Cadillac a few times as I was collecting information for my ’05 F project. Don’s car had been “restored” way back in the 1950’s or 60’s and had long since lost it original finish details. The John Hershey Cadillac has the factory finish on the body, dash and hood, while the chassis and fenders had a “restoration” some time previously. It could also be noted that both of these Cadillacs are running with replacement later crankcases. Don’t crankshaft failed on tour and the one in John’s may have been replaced back when it was still fairly new. I looked over John’s car closely and did not see any signs of cloth on the exterior or interior wood of the both that Jeff Domer’s mentions. Where the original paint had flaked off, there was bare wood underneath. The original paint in some areas was well age cracked which may appear deceiving. Of the two original F sets of front seat skins that I have personally stripped to bare wood, neither had any cloth over the wood. Mind you, both were DBW bodies, and made from single plank steam bent panels. And it was interesting to find that the body builders used window glazing putty for body fill to fill in gouges and dents in the original wood during the painting process. Some additional notes about the ’05 hood designs. The early hoods may not have had louvers. But if you examine the construction of these cars closely, including the wood panels under the hood, you will find that without louvers, the upper third of the radiator would have little or no airflow when moving. The under-hood area is actually enclosed with side and back panels and a solid ramped panel under the water tank that is shaped to fit closely under the hood. The solid ramp under the water tank helps to direct air behind the radiator down under the chassis. But above this panel, the louvers are needed for the air to get out from under the hood area, otherwise warm air would be trapped there along with the warm water in the expansion tank. I believe that the panels in this area were redesigned for ’06 and later to ensure that air passing through the radiator would not be trapped under the hood. Cadillac did offer a Model C in late 04-05 which was basically a Model B body with the later ’05 style hood. There has been some thoughts that this was done in part to help sell some left over or excess Bs with an appearance update. Cadillac did also offer the ’05 hood as a refit option package for the earlier cars. But it would only really fit the Model B which also had the separate flat dashboard. To retrofit a Model A would require cutting the body and modifying/replacing all the forward portion of the car as even the frame was made differently. Here are a few pictures of the Skip/John Cadillac F, with DBW body for additional information. These were taken in the 2010 – 2012 period. By the way. The Edwards restoration shop in Ontario did some sand castings of the Pontiac body elaborate rear door hinges about 20 years ago. They needed a lot of work to finish and machine. I purchased a set of castings at the time and later sold them to another collector restoring a Pontiac bodied F when the Edwards made and sold some sand castings of the earlier DBW rear door hinges. Those ones took a lot of work to finish up, but they did end up on my F eventually and worked OK. The Edwards restored a ’05 F Pontiac bodied Cadillac at the time, and ended up using the DBW style door hinges on it as it was missing the original ones. Even though they had originally cast the more elaborate Pontiac body hinges. That Cadillac was sold years ago to a museum on the islands and later sold when the museum broke up its collection. Happy New Year Jeff

Hi Gary Finding the green on the steering box is not much of a surprise to me. I did a lot of research on the chassis painting when restoring my ’05 several years ago. You need to think a bit about how the factory did things back then. Such as to use two or more colours on a part took very little extra effort, consisting mainly of picking up a different paint brush. :^) The ’05 Cadillacs have a “busy” colour scheme overall with a lot if busy work in the details. Busy enough that some of us start to call it a “circus wagon” amount of flash. The factory appeared to tone down the colour schemes later on. The frame alone actually had 5 colours on it originally. Primrose yellow on the outside visible areas, Brewster green on all the inside surfaces, black highlights on the ends of the fender irons, step plate irons and step plates, and red pin striping. And the fifth colour was originally a clear varnish finish over the outer areas. The clear later tends to darken to an almost honey colour. This can make the original bright but pale primrose yellow start to look like golden rod yellow. There is also some variation in the details of what colour was applied where on the chassis. They were generally painted after most of the assembly work was done and it appears that different workmen and different times applied some differences in the details. There are at least clearly different chassis pinstriping patterns that can be seen period pictures and on surviving original finishes. And likely some additional variation in some of those details as well. The wooden battery box is similarly done, yellow with red striping on the outer visible side, and green on the other three sides. The information that I have suggests that most had the steering box painted yellow as it was visible from the outside of the car. But some could very well also have been green. I also found Jeff Domer’s comments about fabric on some of the ’05 bodies interesting as well. Of the four ’05 F original bodies that I have examined, including two with original factory finish, none of them had fabric over the wood (and under the paint). Mind you, they were all DBW bodies, not Pontiac bodies. Although of the two, I would think that the use of fabric would have been a better fit on the DBW bodies. DBW bodies use single steam bent planks for the seat backs and single thin one-piece planks for the lower body panels. Both are prone to splitting over time with flexing and age. The later Pontiac bodies are made from plywood seat backs and may also have used a form of plywood in the lower body panels. Plywood would be less prone to cracking with age and use. Back in the 1990’s, pre-digital camera era, a friend of mine saw an all-factory original Pontiac bodied ’05 F at Hershey one year. He took several pictures of it to help document the paint scheme details etc. and later share copies of many of the picture with me. A few years ago, I scanned most into .pdfs that could be shared electronically. Below is one page from the album which shows a bit of the front axle on the right side and the steering box is mostly in shadow so colour is not clear. However, you can see that the guard tube that goes over the steering rack on the outside of the steering box is yellow, with a red end. You may be missing the tube cover for that side of the steering box. Its thin tube and is intended as a dust cover over the exposed end of the rack. Many are missing. As for the step plate brackets. Yes, the top at the frame is yellow and the lower parts either black or dark green, with a red stripe where the yellow ends. The is some difference in opinion and information on whether the step plate arms are green or black. The step tops themselves were likely black as they are in line with the black fenders and the factory did have a sense of keeping colours grouped. More of these pictures are posted on the Early Cadillac .IO group site under the files section. Drive Safe Jeff

Two instances that come to mind in the days before cell phones to call for help. Back in 1982 I had a summer job helping around a Funeral Home. The owner liked old cars and had a 1930 Durant that I got to service and drive in the odd parade. Near the end of the summer he asked me to take it to a parade and show about 50 miles away on a Saturday and the next day I was due to fly out on a family vacation. On the way back after about 10 miles I was stopped at the stop lights and when I when to pull away there was a bang and rattle from underneath and a failure to proceed. One of the end caps from the rear U-joint broke off and dropped the drive shaft on the road. I was able to push it over into a parking lot on the corner. I was lucky the U-joint didn't fail going at any speed. Well no cell phone, didn't know anyone in that area, and no sign of a telephone booth nearby. What to do. A couple weeks earlier I did some work on the car and replaced one of the U-joints and put some left over bits in my tool box, which I happened to carry along just in case. By the way, it was a replacement rear end at the time and used a standard cross U-joint with 4 bolt on caps with needle bearings. Well I found an end cap, two bolts and a couple of greasy needle bearing rollers. Just enough to put the U-joint back together and get the car serviceable. Got home a bit late, but made it, and got to fly out on time the next day. A few month later a more correct rear axle was found and installed on the car. But the one that I will always remember. A few years later I was asked to drive a friends '62 Nova convertable as a follow car and follow the owner in his 1926 Dodge Fast 4 Sedan to a show about 60 miles from his house. It was a long day and getting dark when we headed back after supper. That evening we were driving along on a 4 lane divided highway at dusk with me behind with the better lights. That Dodge really ran well down the road and could cruise around 40 mph. About half way home his Dodge started to miss then quite entirely and he coasted to the side of the road. That time we had a minimal tool box with us, but forgot to carry a flash light. And again, a few years before cell phones were available. Manouvering the Nova around and shining the headlights only partially illuminated the engine bay but left most of it in dark shadow. We couldn't see well enough to figure out what was wrong. So we got into the Nova and drive to another collector's place a few miles away to borrow a light and some tools. We got back to the Dodge around 11 pm when it was completely dark. Shining the light in the engine bay didn't show any problems. But when we took the distributer cap off the problem was obvious. The point breaker arm had snapped in the middle into two pieces!. Well, where to do you find a breaker arm for a 1926 Dodge at 11 pm? Well some humming and haaing and brainstorming later we came up with an idea. Out of desperation we broke out part of an aluminum pop can and crimped it around the breaker arm. Then wrapped it with some solid copper wire and crimped and squeezed it together with a set of pliers. Then put it in the distributer, replaced the cap, said a prayer and turned the key. It fired up and ran! Not well, but it ran. It ran well enough to limp home at about 30 miles an hour for the next 30 miles until we got it back to his house. After that adventure I took the breaker arm and the dash plaque from the car show and mounted them onto a piece of wood for the owner as a trophy and momento of the trip. Drive Safe Jeff PS. And carry a flash light in the tool box when driving at night. Try those repairs on any modern car and see how far you get. 🙃 Drive Safe Jeff

Hi Ken Some updated information on the Packard rear end. I took my '36 out for a last fall spin before putting it away for winter storage on Friday. I happened to think about the rear end clunk issues and tried out some additional checks. This time there were no "clunks" when normally shifting between forward and reverse an moving the car, although they have happened on occasion. I then crawled under after it was up on stands and looked closer at the rear axle. From underneath when turning the driveshaft back and forth there is an audible clunk when each "end" of the free play is reached. An approximate measure of the play by looking at the outside diameter of the shield behind the u-joint (and in front of the pinion in the axle) the free play measures about 1/8 to 3/16 inch rotation. The Packard 120 data book does mention that there are two nuts inside the rear end that can be used to adjust the pinion to crown free play. It says that there will be more information in the Packard shop manual, however the 1936 manual doesn't say much about the rear end at all. It does note that pinion to crown back lash should be .003 to .005 inch free play. I have never had mine open to check and by the amount of driveshaft play I suspect that it may be a bit more than that now. The hypoid gear design is a "steeper" (semi-worm gear design) angle gear than the standard design so a small amount of back lash may equal a bit more shaft rotation than you would find on a standard gear tooth design with the same amount of back lash. My car runs down the road fine with no sounds coming from the rear axle. So I will be leaving mine alone. But I did notice that I have some oil leakage out the pinion seal so a spring chore will be to drain and refill the rear axle lubricant as a precaution. Note sure if this will help much, but it may provide a reference for comparison with yours. Drive Safe Jeff

Hi JV I have been following your work with interest. I think that there was a question about which other manufacturer's may have used the Lemoine style front axle. Well, one was Hudson in 1914 on the 6-40 model. But they flipped it over and called it "reverse Lemoine" where the retaining nut is on the bottom. Here is a picture of the left front of my Hudson 6-40 axle. The car is running and driveable, but really needs a proper restoration. The design isn't great and was only used for one year. And the Hudson service bulletins put out a notice to change the bottom thrust washers to two washer and thrust roller bearing design within a couple months of starting production to make steering a bit easier. One of the early "hidden recalls". The design used two large bronze bushings in the axle of two different sizes. The spindle itself fitted with replaceable wear sleeves where it fits into the ends of the axle. The design may have been intended to be easily serviced. But it really isn't and there is a lot of play in this axle at present. The funny looking top of the spindle is a hollow section where the special speedometer drive goes. It used a shaft inside the spindle, driven by a plate under the hubcap. Then double right angle gears in the spindle and an output on the top. Needless to say, another one year only poor design. Mine is long gone. Enjoy. Jeff Nova Scotia Canada

The factory didn't provide for lamps or lamp mountings even. The dash brackets for the dash lamps could be ordered and I think was an extra $5 for the pair. Headlamp brackets, tail light brackets and all lamps and/or generator. And no tops or top mounting irons either. Although the factory would install "top irons Many of the period pictures show only lights on the side of the dash board, and usually bail handled ones. I don't think a lot were fitted with headlights back then as night driving likely wasn't very common yet. The original owner of mine and at least one other picked Neverout 71 bail handled kerosene lamps for the dash. Myself, I do think that they look better with only the dash mounted lights and no headlights. 😉

Hi Ken Not sure if this will help or not. I have a '36 120 which I first got back in 1978 when it had 69,000 miles. It now has almost 105,000. During that time it has had a rolling mechanical restoration and cosmetic upgrades and is mainly a driver, not a show car. Like you I have had the rear springs re-arched (back end sagged), replaced U-joints (one wore out) and replaced the rear spring rear shackles (also worn). But the only actual work on the rear axle has been to replace the outer oil seals when redoing the brakes. Mine will also "clunk" when shifting from forward to reverse and back. There is similar play in the pinion input shaft that does feel like more than you might expect. These Packards use hypoid rear ends which have the pinion input shaft mounted lower relative to the crown gear then most cars which also requires a different spiral on the gear teeth than most. This allowed for the flatter floor inside. It may be a side effect of this different design of gear set that they may have or develop a bit more "play" between the pinion gear and the crown gear. I don't know what the original gear setting specifications are, the manual is sometimes a bit vague about some of that data. So far I have not tackled my rear end, In part I don't really want to open it up as the "clunk" is the only issue. There is no gear whine going down the road and no other issues that have given me any concern. So unless there is a change in the sound of the rear end, I'm not planning on taking it apart any time soon. I just take my time when shifting from forward to reverse and don't over rev the engine when starting off. Once going forward and the play is taken up in the gears there is no further sound from the rear end. If there is no other issue with yours you may want to consider leaving it alone until such time as the sound changes. Drive Safe Jeff

Another important item to check is the crankcase pressure relief valve that I mentioned earlier. If its missing, sticking and/or the hole is plugged, then the crankcase will pressurize. And it can pressurize enough to blow the oil out of the main bearings and also reduce the ability of the engine to develop power. Here are a couple poor pictures of the one on mine to try to show where to look on yours. The top of your engine may be hard to inspect with the mechanical oiler installed right over the spot where the relief valve is to be installed. And another note about the muffler in case anyone looks close at the above picture. There is a deflector on the inside of the muffler where the exhaust fitting enters the tank to direct the exhaust to the front of the muffler, while the vent holes and cut out valve are located at the back end below where the exhaust enters muffler. This is the correct orientation and it can be seen in the illustrations in the Cadillac manuals. Drive Safe Jeff

Congratulations on getting the Cadillac running. Here is some information on the muffler. The original muffler is very simple and little more than an expansion tank. consists of little more than two ends and a rolled and riveted steel cylinder. There are no internal baffles or other bits. The muffler exhaust is smaller than most, only a series of 1/8" holes at the back end which only go about half way around the cylinder. That is the normal exhaust for this year. The muffler should also have a fitting with a relief valve on the back end. This doubled as both a pressure relief to prevent to much back pressure, but its main function was for the foot actuated cut out valve control. There should be a small pedal in the floor by the driver's heal which has a cable (or wire) connected back to the relief valve end where there is a metal hoop (called a staple in the parts list). The muffler holes need to be clear and face down to the ground and the relief valve needs to be free to move. A lot of Cadillacs have lost their original muffler through the years and yours may not have all the parts still on it. Here is a picture of the underside of mine. Drive Safe Jeff

Hi All Here is one written by an old car guy up our way a few years ago. https://www.eastcoasttester.com/a-spooky-roadside-encounter-the-tale-of-zeke-and-molly-hill/ Enjoy. Jeff Nova Scotia

Hi JV Yes, many of these early Cadillacs came with that style of wheel. I believe there were at least two different makers. That was the standard Cadillac wheel and rim, but Cadillac would also supply the type of wheel and tire that the customer ordered if they wanted something different. And looking a the early parts catalogues, tires were expensive. The car sold new for about $950 and a set of replacement tires could cost up in the range of $100 to $200 for a set. And on a different note. I have some Hyslop auto accessory catalogues from the mid teens. They must have sold a few Cadillacs as they also listed quite a selection of parts and accessories for the 4 cylinder Cadillac models when they were still current autos. Drive Safe Jeff

Hi Gary Another note for you. When you have time could you take a closer picture of your wheels. From what I can see in the above pictures it looks like your wheels have bee "re-sized". They appear to be original 22 inch rim for 28 X 3 tires which was common for the touring model. They appear to have had an additional spacer ring added outside of the original wood fellow to allow the installation of the 23 inch rim currently on them. Cadillac used several different style rims during this period. Including the early Fisk mechanical bolted demountable rim style which became obsolete very early resulting in wheels being modified to more common clincher rims and tires. Regards, Jeff

Hi Gary The late Art Hart was one of the first to prepare drawings and even make some reproduction parts for the single cylinder Cadillac. Many of us still refer to his sketches when making parts for our cars. I have uploaded Art Hart's drawings for the Cadillac single primer linkage on the Early Cadillac site. They can be found under the Files, Technical folder on the site. Look for "Art Hart Cadillac Primer Rod" in the titles. There are 3 separate sheets with the drawings. They are .pdf files that don't like to load here. He also make some good ones on the 04, 05 ignition switch assembly too. As for the front wheels. Most of us have also switched to modern taper roller bearings in the wheels. In most cases to fit them special adapter collars need to be made to fit into the hubs to allow the modern bearings to be used. But nearly all still use the original bearing retainer that threads into the end of the spindle. This is the part that is often damaged and can fail in service. Those parts if they are still original or original style need to be inspected carefully before use. In the case of mine I also added an additional allen set screw to prevent them from rotating out if the internal locking fingers fail. There should still be some discussions and pictures in the older postings on the Early Cadillac site on the topic. There is also a full page and illustration on the front wheel bearings for the E and F in the Cadillac manuals of the period. The front spindle issues were also covered in an article by Don Rising in the Cadillac Single Cylinder Registry Bulletin news letter (page 200 and 201) in the numbering. You may be able to get a copy of it on the Early Cadillac site. And if you think its greasy and dirty now. Just wait, an hour of operation requires hours of cleaning. That total loss oil system covers the bottom of the car in oil which quickly collects dirt. Something to check that also makes a difference. There should be a vent/check valve on the top of the crankcase near where the cylinder oil line is connected. It is a ball bearing spring loaded check valve designed to let the crankcase air out on the piston down stroke and stop the intake of air on the up stroke. Ideally resulting a slightly negative crankcase pressure to reduce oil spewing out everywhere. Then the main way that oil leaves the engine is out the lower hole for the exhaust valve push rod. If that valve is missing or plugged the crankcase will pressurize and blow the oil out everywhere and faster than you can add it. I saw it on a friends Cadillac. You want to check for it. Regards, Jeff

Hi Gary Bring a long stored car back into service is not a simple or fast task. Something to check on the fuel valve shut off. There is a packing and packing nut that compressed what was an asbestos packing around the shut off valve shaft to keep the gas from leaking out of it. It and the old packing could be part of the problem with the sticking shaft. Also, you may not be aware, but that shaft is threaded behind the packing nut and threads into the sediment bowl casting in the gas tank. If you force it, you could strip the thread out of the sediment bowl and/or the shut off valve shaft. When I restored mine, the shaft was actually missing so I made a new one out of brass to reduce the chance for corrosion and seizing of the shaft in the sediment bowl. You may want to consider removing the packing nut and trying some penetrating oil down the shaft to see if it can get into the threads on the shaft. Go slow and be careful or you could end up with a difficult repair. Your Cadillac looks like a car that was subjected to a so-so amateur restoration. That is enough to worry me to be very careful about servicing and inspecting the drive train in detail before making any attempt to actually start the engine. These Cadillac can be reliable and fun cars to drive and tour with, but they have several serious period design issues that today would be considered major design weakness. If you are not aware of them you should start asking about them and what to inspect in more detail. I could go on with a much longer list and description of what to check and why but here are some highlights to learn about if you are not already aware of them 1) Connecting rod big end bearing a. These cars use a hinged rod design similar to many old stationary engines. The rod design was made for frequent adjustments to keep the bearing fit fairly tight on the crank pin. b. These rods are a know weak point and several cars have experienced failed rod bearing caps which usually also result in blowing up the crankcase. 2) Main bearing caps a. Again, designed like early stationary engine bearings. b. Easy to adjust, easy to remove and replace. c. Must be checked for fit and adjusted regularly. d. If they are not correctly installed and adjusted the bearing fit will become loose and the crank will bounce, potentially leading to failure 3) Crankshaft a. The radius corners on the main and connecting rod journals is smaller than current practice resulting in stress riser than can lead to cracking. b. Several owners have experienced broken cranks which also frequently blow up crankcases c. The sun drive gear in the planetary transmission is held onto the crankshaft with a dowel pin that goes right through the middle of the crankshaft which creates a significant weakness in the crankshaft. d. Excessive chain tension, hard/sudden shifting of gears can put a high load on the pin and the crankshaft. Another spot that crankshafts have broken at. 4) Oiling System a. As you know, it’s a total loss drip oil system. b. The oil lines need to be clean and clear so that the oil will drip through the lines easily and freely. c. Any sludge at all and the oil won’t get through properly and damage will happen quickly. d. The connecting rod oil line needs to be inspected with the top inspection cover off to be sure that the internal tube is still in place. The rod bearing oil line goes into a fitting on the side of the crankcase. That fitting has a tube soldered into it that goes inside to almost touch the crankshaft. The crankshaft has a stamped steel collector ring into which the oil line drips oil. The collector ring then feeds the oil through a hole in the crankshaft with an oil outlet to the inside of the connecting rod bearing. All these passages need to be clean and free for the oil to flow through. e. The piston wrist pin is lubricated by a drip hole in the connecting rod bushing. The drip holed is also supplied with oil scrapped off the cylinder wall by the piston which travels down a feed tube in the piston to drip onto the busing to make sure it gets oil. Otherwise, it would be depending on a small amount of splash oil moving around in the crankcase. This oil feed can only be cleaned and inspected by actually removing the piston which also requires removing the cylinder. f. Removing the cylinder would also allow you to inspect the oil holes in the cylinder casting that lets the drip oil from the drip tube get from the drip tube through the cylinder wall to the oil the piston wall. 5) Differential a. The differential is a straight spur gear differential with 6 spur gears and two ring gears. The ring gears are integral and part of the brake drums. b. The chain sprocket carrier “floats” on the drum hubs and carries the spur gears. c. The bearing surfaces are all steel on steel and a known wear point that has caused failures and seized rear ends. 6) Front wheel bearing retainer a. The front wheel bearing retainer is a special design using an internal locking screw and wedge similar to a lathe collet. The “fingers” on the main retaining screws have been known to break allowing the bearing retainer to unscrew and allow the wheel to come off. A people have been seriously injured by this part failing when driving. 7) Brakes a. Like most of these early cars, the brakes are best described as marginal and generally just consider “bad”. b. A few other drivers taught me to carefully use the reverse lever as a secondary (and sometimes main) brake when driving. However, you have to be very careful doing this as a sharp pull on reverse when going forward can either break the chain or even break the crankshaft at the sun gear pin. 8) Wheels a. Many of these cars use a form of lock ring wheel which a hollow pressed steel rim. b. They work well, provided they are in good condition. They can be damaged by rolling on flat tires to the point that the wheel rim can be ruined. c. The ones with lock rings use a form of lock ring with a turnbuckle to tighten the lock ring into the groove on the rim. These turnbuckles need to be in good condition and free to adjust or you could have a tire/rim failure. d. Many, including mine, have been converted to regular clincher rims which are more fail safe. So, some suggestions before starting and driving the car. My full list is longer, but this may help you start making a pre-start and pre-drive check list. 1) Get a copy of the owner’s manual it provides more information and some pictures of the main points listed above. Scanned copies are on the Early Cadillac site in the files section. 2) Remove all the oil lines, flush, clean and inspect. 3) Rotate the engine until the timer came is either straight up or straight down. Then remove the engine bottom case which holds the camshaft as well. Clean and inspect the inside of the case as it also contains the oil holes for the camshaft bearings. The bottom case should have two down pins still installed for alignment. The makes sure that the camshaft is in line with the crank shaft. 4) After re-installing and before starting the engine pour in about 1 –2 cups of engine oil into the engine. This needs to be enough to get some oil in the bottom of the cam gear casing so that the came gear can splash the oil around the inside when running to help with engine oiling. 5) Put the rear end up on axle stands. Hold one wheel still and rotate the other. Then listen and feel for any unevenness, clicking or sticking in the differential. If it doesn’t turn smoothly and easily with one wheel still and one turning, then it needs to come apart for a detailed internal inspection and potential repair. Otherwise, it could fail and cause a lot of damage. 6) While its on axel stands, I would also take the plug holder out and turn the engine over by hand with the crank and test all the gears, neutral, low, high and reverse to ensure that they all operate without making noises that could be the sign of worn gears or gear bushings inside. 7) And be sure to add some heavy-duty gear oil to the transmission to lubricate the gears and bushings inside there. I use 460 weight industrial gear oil for that purpose. 8) And since you have a mechanical oiler. Open it up and clean and flush it too. Then operate it either manually on the bench or when turning the engine over with the crank and check to make sure that it feeds oil easily out of all the oil feeds. And its better to start with a bit too much oil in each line rather than not enough. The only oil line that doesn’t like too much oil is the cylinder line for the piston. Too much oil there results in hard starting and smoky exhaust. Good luck with your Cadillac project. Jeff Nova Scotia

Hi All I picked this pennant up at a flea market recently. It appears to be an original Gray Dort advertising pennant from the mid-twenties. Gray Dort was the Canadian version of the US Dort. It used Dort mechanical components and Canadian body and trim. It was a good selling car in Canada, but couldn't survive once the US Dort company shut down. Has anyone seen anything similar for Gray Dort or can they add any information on it? Thanks Jeff Nova Scotia

Hi Gary Here is a picture that shows the original style ignition switch and oiler box. Jeff Nova Scotia

Hi Gary Good luck with your Cadillac project. A few starting point notes that you may already be aware of. The mechanical oiler currently pictured on the car is not a '05 Cadillac oiler. And it doesn't look like one of the usual later mechanical oilers for the '06 to '08 models. The correct oiler for '05 is a cast aluminum four drip gravity drip oiler. They are very hard to locate as spares these days. The '05 style ignition switch is also missing. It's mounted on the bracket on the side of the gas tank and the handle protrudes through the heel board. The original switch both selects either one battery bank, the other or both as the batteries wear down. It also has a mechanical interlock (a simple square came on the back of the shaft) that turns the oil drip feed in the oiler on. That way ignition cannot be turned on without turning on the oil as well. Both are pictured in the '05 Cadillac owner's manual. Scans of the manual, and I believe good drawings of the ignition switch can be found on the Early Cadillac Group on Groups.io. Have fun. Jeff Nova Scotia

You might want to compare it to sedan panels. It looks a lot like a panel for the back of a front seat from a 1920's era sedan. Many of those had a single steel panel between the door posts that supported the back of the front seat. It looks a lot like one of those panels.

I am in admiration of the speed of progress of your wood work. That is a lot of hard work and a lot of progress over a short time. It puts many of us to shame. There used to be a 1928 Pontiac sedan in our neighbourhood here. It was restored many years ago from a good original by a master mechanic and body man. It left his ownership several years ago and has deteriorated since. Here is a picture of it from a few years ago to show the colour scheme. It is black with dark blue body and turquise highlights. Not quite original, but it looks very good. There is also a nice 1927 Pontiac coupe in our club. Recently finished and almost fully sorted out now. Its was done with black fenders and green body. The idea being to present some ideas for colour options and how they have turned out on other cars. An addition note, when the 1928 was restored, the owner found it to be rather slow with a high rear end gear ration. Capable of pulling stumps, but the engine would run fast around 40 mph. If I remember it correctly, he figured out that 1932 Chevrolet rear end gears could be installed in the Pontiac rear, lowering the rear end ratio and making a big difference in top end speed. When it was done, the Pontiac could easily cruise at 40 mph and was even run at 50 mph for a long run one day when he was "mad at it" after the fan came loose and ran into the back of the radiator damaging the fins on the core. Good luck with your restoration.

Hi Jorge Thank you for the identification. I wondered if it might be Barney as the picture did remind me of him and one of his race cars. The picture also came with a small trophy that looks like a sugar bowl. But I suspect that it may be from an athletic competition such as "Toronto Athletic Association Competition". But if you end up identifying the trophy as automotive, that would be very interesting. But I do like the picture and it came framed and ready to hang so thats good. Thanks Jeff

Hi Gunsmoke Yes, I did try that. We removed the front and second bow completely and then folded the irons to "nest" better, but not ideal. I think that they may have become a bit twisted with the replacement bows. And yes, when that was done, the irons would suggest that the front bow should be 2 to 3 inches narrow than it currently is. And if the second bow was a bit narrower as well, then the top should fold down better. Thanks Jeff

Hi All I picked up this period print recently. It appears to be a printed picture not a photograph. Up close it has that dot matrix look of prints so its not a regular photograph print. The picture is marked "Ontario Motor League" in the lower right corner. Thanks Jeff Nova Scotia

Hi All I’m trying to help out another old car person with some issues with the 1930 Chevrolet phaeton. The top was mostly missing when the car was acquired and the restoration started. As the work progressed new steam bent oak bows were made and have been installed on the top folding mechanism. However, the top assembly does not fold down well and the metal guide arms catch on each other. The four bows were all made the same with, and it doesn’t help that they have also started to relax a bit and are trying to move slightly open. The metal folding mechanism appears to be made so that the mounting bar goes on the outside of the front/first bow and then on the inside of the 2nd then the 3rd and 4th bows are tapered to go into the oval top sockets. When the front bow is removed, the mechanism appears to fold better and suggests that the front bow should be 2-3 inches narrower than the second bow. The parts book list the four bows with four different part numbers. I’m not sure if that is indicating that all four bows should be different widths or that the four bows would have been factor pre-shaped a bit different. We are wondering if there is anyone out there with a 1929 to 1931 Chevrolet touring car with original sized top bows that could measure the bow widths and let us know if they are different sizes and if so, perhaps what the correct width should be. Some pictures below to try to show the issues. Thanks in advance. Jeff Nova Scotia Canada