Roger Barrett

Look for one from a 1928 engine. That year the cam profile had superior performance and was less noisy than the earlier cams.

When we restored our 27 model 24 we made seat cushions out of foam from the upholstery shop rather than springs. If we had used the original springs my father would have been jammed up against the steering wheel and I would have been looking straight at the front top bow instead of out the windshield. Using foam allows people of modern profiles so sit lower and farther back. Worked well for us and very comfortable.

It’s a 1929 or 1930 if it’s a six cylinder car.

Just replace the electric pump and you will be better off in the long term. They can be had in either 6 or 12 volts from Napa parts stores. These cars are parked for long periods of time and an electric pump make them much easier to start when tour season begins.

It’s possible, even likely, that the steel tube inside your Marvel heat riser jacket has rusted through. This causes a massive vacuum leak that is undetectable by normal procedures. Remove the intake manifold and look down the riser with a penlight and a pick looking for holes in the tube. If there aren’t any, there will be at some point in the future. The tubes used to be available but now I have to make them. I have done a bunch of these for Buick guys. It’s not a project for the average person. It takes equipment and a machinist.

If you are losing that much fuel you will have to find the leak. Be advised that even if everything else is perfect the porous castings for the float bowls of these carbs are so crude that modern high volatile petrol will seep right through them. Install a shutoff valve at the carburetor.

One possibility is the thin steel sleeve in the Marvel heat jacket between the carburetor and intake manifold is rusted through which creates a vacuum leak that can’t be diagnosed with conventional methods. It will drive you crazy trying to get the engine to run. The only way to investigate it is to pull the heat jacket of and inspect it, trying to punch holes in it with a pick.

I have repaired rods like this with helicoils.

It sounds like you have the transmission in two gears at once. With the clutch released you should be able to pry one and then both of the gears into neutral. Will your engine turn over if you hold the clutch released with a stick, or a helper?

Standard or Master series? I went through this years ago with mine.

Is this Gary’s roadster? I put the overdrive in it for him. Anyway, I don’t think the golf door had a lock. On our car we used door handles from about 1925 vintage Chevrolet open cars that are available in stainless steel from the Filling Station antique Chevy parts house. I used then on the doors, rumble seat and golf door.

Well that is a neat custom bodied car, looks like the smaller series. The wheels are not Buffalo, possibly Dayton or Houk. You will just have to compare your hubs and drums to those on the wire wheels. All things are possible with sufficient time and money.

It’s anything but a simple matter. I put Master series wire wheels on our 27 Standard roadster. The model 54 is of the larger series than the model 26 so everything is going to be bigger and the rear wheel bearings will be entirely different. I solved the problem by using the Master series front and rear ends. There are some simple bushings to be made to attach them to the springs. They have the same track width and you get bigger brakes in the deal too. The driveshaft had to be shortened so I took the opportunity to put in an overdrive.

I built a 27 master with new pistons for a guy and they were either Ross or J&E. They were works of art and it was a shame to hide them in the engine. I expect they will still have the CNC program written for them.

Ross and J&E make beautiful custom pistons.