Welcome Pontiac Flathead Fans

[tin_indian 10]

Hmmm...Thanks, Tin Indian. I think that would completely compress the coil springs inside, right? Then back off for slot alignment, just giving the springs the least bit of rebound/compression as steering inputs and road shocks are transmitted. It's a funny old system. And funny that it isn't covered in the shop manual. The picture of your 54 reminded me of the 51 Ambulance, body by Meteor(?-hazy on that) I got back in '79 or '80, on its very last legs, as an engine donor for my 53. And telling you that reminded me of the 57 Pontiac hearse I bought around then, in the hope that its Hydramatic would replace mine. Big disappointment - little in common but the name.

Is that vertical chrome ahead of the rear wheel a simulated air intake, like Caddys of the era?

In my '49 - '54 shop manual it has a blurry photocopy of the centerlink that's a cutaway. It says, (with an arrow pointing at the end cap) "Adjust end plug by turning down tight and backing off to nearest cotter pin hole" When I had my centerlink disassembled to clean and re-grease, I remember noticing the springs looked heavier than a valve spring. I highly doubt turning the plug in would even begin to compress it. You'd have to really crank it.

The vertical chrome is to cover the section of the front of the rear fender that was cut off. There was a rounded front to the fender. To accommodate a straight vertical edged rear door, the fender was chopped and a chrome piece was fabricated to cover the raw end.

Heres a shot of one side of the centerlink guts. Note how heavy the coil spring is?

[Tinindian 898]

There is a special screwdriver that exactly flits the slot. On my car I tighten it down as tight as I can using a 1/2 inch ratchet (approx. 60 ft/lbs) and then back off to insert the cotter pin. You have no idea of the road force shock that is put on those springs and seats when your wheel hits a bump, pot hole or the wheel drops into a rut. Adjusted right and lubricated those pieces will last 500,000 miles.

[stelor 10]

Thanks again, Tin Indian. I should have taken a closer look at the manual. Great pictures of your project. Wow, a lot of work to this play, isn't there? Some of the sheet metal and heavier metal work you had to do seems painfully familiar to me for some reason. My 57 hearse furnished an electric wiper motor for my 53, in an easy installation. It still uses the cables to run the pivots, and they're looser than they should be - another situation where I'm tempted to say the manual doesn't give adjustment instructions. But I'll recheck before saying that.

[stelor 10]

My thanks to you, too, Tinindian. Years ago, I flattened the shaft of a 3/8" extension for use as an adjusting tool. It has since gone the way of all the earth, and was not among the goods and effects present on our trip south. I improvised using the tire iron. "Some fun, huh, Bambi?" When the apprentice asked the old pro for the torque spec, O.P answered, "As tight as you can get it, plus a quarter turn."

[tin_indian 10]

There is a special screwdriver that exactly flits the slot. On my car I tighten it down as tight as I can using a 1/2 inch ratchet (approx. 60 ft/lbs) and then back off to insert the cotter pin. You have no idea of the road force shock that is put on those springs and seats when your wheel hits a bump, pot hole or the wheel drops into a rut. Adjusted right and lubricated those pieces will last 500,000 miles.

So, you really tightened yours up? How many extra turns did you get after the screw/plug initially contacted the cup?

[Tinindian 898]

At least one full turn. It needs to be tight to be right.

[stelor 10]

I have another problem - windshield wipers. The cables are off the drums that drive them at the motor end. (Long story) Which one goes where, and how is slack removed, so the wipers sit down nicely when parked?

[pontiac1953 105]

I have another problem - windshield wipers. The cables are off the drums that drive them at the motor end. (Long story) Which one goes where, and how is slack removed, so the wipers sit down nicely when parked?

what year pontiac do you have ?

[pontiac1953 105]

i see now that stelor has a 53 pontiac, i will take pictures of mine and post them here. charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.

[stelor 10]

Hello, Charles, and thank you. I got my wipers sorted out - I used the muddle through, trial and error, take a stab in the dark, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again method that has served me so well, so long. I've admired your impressive (understatement) Pontiac, having seen your posts somewhere. Love the spoke wheel covers.

[pontiac1953 105]

hi stelor, i went out to my 53 (not much room around the car in the garage) and tried to take some pictures with my sony digital camera, lol, the air conditioning hoses up inside the dash kept me from getting good pictures. i am glad to read that you sorted it all out. thanks for your opinion of my olds/pontiac wire wheel hubcaps, that was a fun project, i ended up doing two more sets of four for other people, and one for a friend's man cave wall decoration. let me know if you have any other 1953 pontiac needs. charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.

[stelor 10]

Thanks again, Charles. I appreciate the effort you made, including an advanced application of contortional gymnastics, to get those pictures. You da man. And I relate well to the not much room thing - those two doors take a lot of it to get them open far enough for inside work. I removed one defroster duct, after removing the dash speaker, after removing the glove box, and then I could get my hand (singular - not that I don't have two) in there. Needed light, but the light kept getting knocked out of focus, speaking of which, working at that distance I have to peer over the glasses. The pull-up cable goes on one drum, and the pull-down cable on the other, for each wiper. Simple, once you know how. I suppose that's in a body manual or a wiper supplier manual somewhere.

I found another use for those rear fender emblems. I used one of mine as a mold, melted aluminum rod into it, and for a second one, solder, to make a head for my grille center. Sandwiched it between plexiglass circles, put a light behind it, and get along pretty OK until a correct one shows up in my price range of, well, low.

[pontiac1953 105]

Thanks again, Charles. I appreciate the effort you made, including an advanced application of contortional gymnastics, to get those pictures. You da man. And I relate well to the not much room thing - those two doors take a lot of it to get them open far enough for inside work. I removed one defroster duct, after removing the dash speaker, after removing the glove box, and then I could get my hand (singular - not that I don't have two) in there. Needed light, but the light kept getting knocked out of focus, speaking of which, working at that distance I have to peer over the glasses. The pull-up cable goes on one drum, and the pull-down cable on the other, for each wiper. Simple, once you know how. I suppose that's in a body manual or a wiper supplier manual somewhere.

I found another use for those rear fender emblems. I used one of mine as a mold, melted aluminum rod into it, and for a second one, solder, to make a head for my grille center. Sandwiched it between plexiglass circles, put a light behind it, and get along pretty OK until a correct one shows up in my price range of, well, low.

i'm leaving today on the truck (cross country truckdriver), when i get back home, i'll look in my stash for a 51,53 pontiac grill lucite emblem, i like the 52 emblem with the head in gold instead of silver. charles.

[TheGerman 10]

Hello together,

i am glad that i found this forum and want to say hello. I just registered myself and hope that you can answer some questions that i will have in the next months during the restauration of my "brandnew"

1950 Pontiac Chieftain Silverstreak 2 Door Sedan.

I bought the baby last month here in Germany with an US-Title from Virginia.

The condition is not too bad, motor running, not too much rust, chrome bad.

The next days i try to upload some photos.

Have a nice day (or night)

( Sorry for my english, hope it is not too bad )

[mokelsen 10]

Hi everybody! Nice to meet you!

Please allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Thomas, another european german with the virus for flathead Pontiac!

My automotive adventure is just about to start:

Leaving Miami this car is now on its journey to Europe!

After arrival (How long might this take?) I will post a bit more about this 1954 Pontiac Starchief Catalina 2Dr Hardtop.

I am almost sure that the description of its seller is correct: A beautiful and solid car, nearly original.

(To my knowledge the colors on that car are non-original, but look very, very sharp!!!).

She will need some minor modifications to get a german registration.

I think this forum will be very helpful for me in near future!

Thanks for being here!

Thomas

[pontiac1953 105]

hi thomas, congrats on getting the 54 starchief custom catalina hardtop, i can help you with lots of factory information from my 53-54 pontiac library. i have own my 53 chieftain custom catalina for 42 years, and i've been the 53 pontiac tech advisor for 30 years. if you are on facebook, please look up the pontiac chieftain club, i'm on there quite a bit, helping others like you and me. you can also email me directly at charlessdv8@yahoo.com , look forward to hearing from you and helping you.

charles l. coker

1953 pontiac tech advisor

tech advisor coordinator

poci

[mokelsen 10]

Hi Charles,

it is very exciting to get involved with these nice old cars from the 50s for the very first time!!

Hope I will not regret it...:cool:

Thanks for offering your advice!

This is a picture from its former owner.

New ones will be posted in another thread (and -as I understood- automatically in my gallery...)

Thanks again

Thomas

Edited March 4, 2015 by mokelsen (see edit history)

[GARY F 246]

beautiful car

[DABJR 1]

Picked this 51 up a few months back,I guess I will have to get a pro mech.to get it running right. It's a 6cyl., 3 on the tree.It has about  111  to 115 lbs of compression in the cylinders,all plugs out . I really cant find out  what normal compression is in the 239...has a light  to medium noise  in the middle of the eng. carb side.Starts  idles, doesn't rev good , most plugs turn black . I might be off when I brought the no.1 cyl. to top dead center..guessing which plug it pointed to and then went counter clock wise with the wiring.

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by DABJR (see edit history)

[Bloo 665]

Compression is ok if it is like that on all cylinders. Most, maybe all flathead Pontiac sixes have a piece of pipe inside the intake manifold that can rust through and let exhaust from the heat riser into the intake. It is directly under the carburetor if you have it. I would look for holes in there. Welcome!

[DABJR 1]

Thanks for your quick response.Sorry if I posted too many pics., but I thought some one else could compare and reference with them .My heat ex changer was rusted shut.....Thank you.... I changed a lot of gaskets along with some broken exhaust bolts.I used every thing to break the shaft loose  and I think the torch and wax  was best.With a pipe wrench,slowly,don't get to discouraged.Stopped the noise but it was fatigued point spring that was cracked and would cut out when reved up, and smoked..Feels good to overcome different problems,even thought I'm not a good mec. It's ready to drive.100,000 mi. and very little smoke now. Ins. will be super cheap...$175 a year,full coverage for $5000 RIG.

[Randiego 99]

Gents,

Since this is a little used site, I was wondering if there was another site for the "Flatheads"  (other than the POCI Early Times Division) that one can go to for help in parts and service for the 1930s Pontiacs?   You show a lot of 40-50s cars and with little use of this site, it would be helpful if one could find another source for help.

 

Randy

[Tinindian 898]

1 hour ago, Randiego said:

Since this is a little used site, I was wondering if there was another site for the "Flatheads"  (other than the POCI Early Times Division) that one can go to for help in parts and service for the 1930s Pontiacs?   You show a lot of 40-50s cars and with little use of this site, it would be helpful if one could find another source for help.

I only look under the "welcome thread" every year or two.  You would get lots of responses if you started your own thread (click on "start new topic") either here under "Pontiac Flathead Owners" or under "Oakland Pontiac".

[Bloo 665]

I wish there were more activity in here, and I refer to the whole Pontiac section here (2 forums). I suspect there are just not enough of us.

[Tinindian 898]

My wish would have been for my Grandfather to have been able to afford a Buick rather than his Pontiac.  Then I would be driving a car that seems to have the busiest (most active) forum on this site.