martylum

Hi Ceejay-I'm restoring a 53 Buick Roadmaster and had quite a problem with the original transmission. When we removed the transmission oil pan the fluid inside was black with powdered aluminum particles on the floor of the pan. The transmission rebuilder advised me to find another transmission as the oil had deteriorated due to poor maintenance causing so much wear on the moving parts they were trash. I ended up buying a good used transmission from a rebuilder in Ohio and having the rebuilder do the rebuild job. So before you spend money shipping your unit anywhere you might have a good mechan

Hi Tim-My wife and I installed a 53 Buick Skylark windshield in the last year. Yes the stainless trim moldings must be installed in the gasket before installation and the gasket must be installed on the edge of the glass before installation. We used the old string method to pull the gasket over the pinchweld with good success. However there was a problem with the gasket fit on the vertical pillars-when the gasket was completely seated in the pinchweld it pulled away from the glass leaving the glass side of the gasket just touching the outer edges of the glass. Ended up pulling or prying the pi

RW-on my 53 Skylark the hood hinges were definitely painted black with black springs. The attaching hardware is cad. plated Martin Lum 53 76X

Lew-I don't believe I ever photoed the rear pieces after riveting on the 18 GA steel stiffeners. I make up the stiffeners on my sheet metal brake and bend then to match the curve of the pieces. My stiffeners extend about 12" each side of the joints. A good hardware store stocks the allen screws but you may have to go online to get the extra 1.125" length. I'm not sure I stock these screws in that length. I'm planning to do a 57 convertible top later this Spring. I could make you a set of stiffeners when I do this top. If you original metal frame for the tack strip on the rear deck is in good

Hi Lew-I've restored 4-5 softtops over the years and have found that top frames from high mileage cars often had worn pivot pin holes in the soft frame material. Enough wear can make it almost impossible to fit the top frame to your car over the windows. If this is a problem drill the pivot holes oversize and install bushings to bring pack a tight pin to frame fit. The Trim and Sealer manual available from parts vendors or the Club has excellent instructions for fitting the frame to your windows and body. This should be done before installing a new canvas. The rear tacking strip which is encas

Hi Glenn-I sent you an e-mail and here's that photo of the stencil I mentioned. It's on the LH outer frame rail under the door. Martin Lum 53 Skylark restoration

Duncan-I had a 29 Model 75 in my shop some years ago and the FEDCO plate came loose from the dash while we were working on the interior so i made a mold of the plate just in case it became lost. If you want the look of a FEDCO plate without having necessarily having the correct number I suppose we could make a copy of the plate from the mold. If my memory serves the letters were somewhat obscured by rust. The plates were originally nickel plated but could surface rust if subjected to enough dampness and I think this one did. On another early Chrysler product we could not determine the # on the

Duncan-Chrysler Historical Museum has files of delivery invoices on many early Chrysler cars. I've pad their fee to get a copy of the invoice on a number of early Chryslers. Perhaps they can trace your car's engine number and get a serial number and delivery invoice. I got the delivery invoice on a 29 Desoto using the engine serial number. The missing FEDCO plate was spot welded on and can come loose. Check out Chrysler Historical's website for contact info. Martin lum

You got it. 6 oz of paint for each ounce of each additive Martin Lum

Hi-I wrote in last May about problems upshifting and downshifting with a 49 Chrysler 6 fluid drive unit. I replaced the wiring harness which was only partially hooked up at the carburetor (and in bad shape) and rebuilt the carburetor cleaning up the pushbutton downshift mechanism. Readjusting the bellcrank link on the carb and then adjusting the throttle linkage coming from the gas pedal eliminated the no downshift problem. The new harness helped the no upshift problems. The trans. had not been working well when I first looked it over as the wiring on the carb was disconnected. Bad wiring, mis

Hi-I suggest contacting a local electric motor repair shop for a new solenoid assembly fro m one of their suppliers. Martin lum

It sounds to me like we have some experts on the fluid drive and I need some advice. I'm working on a 49 Chrysler 6 cylinder with the 4 speed fluid drive also called an underdrive.I have a 48-50 shop manual for references. The problem is the trans. will not upshift from 1st to 2nd dear when you let up on the throttle. It will shift from 3rd to 4th but only at about 30 mph. The shop manual states it should upshift to 2nd at 8 mph and 3rd to 4th at 14 mph. It also will not kickdown into 3rd when you floorboard the throttle. I have installed a new wiring harness and wired up the carb's 3 connecti

Hi---I'm probably not going to be much help but I have a 30 Desoto roadster with lift off doors ad hidden door hinges. When i restored my car I had to rebuild the worn hinge pins on the hinges and had some new hinges made on a laser cutting machine out of heavy steel stock. Both the door and jamb parts of the hinges were made. This Desoto body is a coach built body with wood framing. If your body is an all steel Budd body as many Dodges had in that period these probably won't help but they should be adaptable if yours is a coach built body. I can send pictures to your e-mail address? Marty Lu

Hi-In a recent call to the DuPont Color Library I was told they have no chips going back beyond 1933. I then called a Ditzler vendor locally and he was able to come up with a mix formula for a 1929 Chrysler Co. color which we sprayed on the car's bead molding for a very pleasing effect. I had only a color name so I have no idea how closely the Ditzler color matches the original. Many of the color chip charts from this era are so badly oxidized you have to wonder how accurate the color chip is when the surrounding paper is oxidized to a dark ivory color. Martin Lum

Hi-I'm a CK roadster owner for many years. Sounds like your K had an engine swap. The CK engine very similar to the K with a fuel pump rather than an vacuum tank. The pump mounts on the lower RHF side. I think most of the other mechanicals are much the same except the CK had the brake fluid reservoir on the master cylinder rather than a remote can on the firewall. I guess your brake remote tank must be on the RH side along with RH steering beside the vacuum tank. Your car also came with an oil filter on the LH side of the firewall for which there is a pretty good reproduction available. You m