WTB:1928 Dyke's Automobile Encyclopedia

[John Gelfer]

Does anyone have one of these for sale? I just missed one last week on ebay. It sure would help me out in getting my 1928 Gardner running. Gardner shop manuals are near impossible to find.

[JFranklin]

I think you may want to find one a little later than the year of your car because a 1928 book probably would not cover 1928 cars. why not ask your questions on these forums and see what kind of help might be forthcoming?

[Ivan Saxton]

John, for the sort of knowledge you wll need from Dykes, you will find that the 1927 edition I have directed you to by private message will be quite adequate. Cars like Gardner would not have changed greatly between 1927-8, and if there were any differences I can cover that for you mechanically. You will probably have either a 4 litre or 5 litre straight 8 engine, similar to those used by Auburn, Roamer, and Locomobile among others. There is a trick in these which was quite important at the time, and will make quite a differnce in the performance of the cars surviving today. The final demise of Roamer, for instance was partly due to the fact that they had stock of the earlier GU and HM Lycomings which did have other changes; but the main reason that Auburn with ostensibly similar engines had notably better performance and economy was that the corresponding GT and MD engines had a higher compression ratio because of the Rickardo patent combustion chamber heads that were less prone to detonation. I have a head from an 8-90 Auburn to use on my earlier 8-77, and most people would never pick the difference. (You can duplicate the effect by making corebox and pattern for a suitably domed head on the pistons to give the same clearance with the old style head.) Let me know what other information you need and I shall try to dig out what I have for you.

Ivan Saxton

[hddennis]

Speaking of Dyke's books here's a trick I was shown: Go to Google-across the top- click on- more- click on- books- type in what your looking for and pick the books that say- full view. Dyke's has the 1911, 1916,1919,and 1920 editions you can view and download or copy online for free.This works on many older reference books that the copyright has expired. I have found many items listed here and nowhere else. The search works for specific items as well as titles. Have fun, Howard Dennis

[John Gelfer]

The engine in question is the smaller Lycoming 8 @226 cu. in. which translates to about 3.7 litres. I believe it is the GT series, same as used in some of the Auburns. It originally came with a Shebler SX-222 carb, which was replaced by the former owner with a Stromberg SFM-2. I'm told this was a blessing, as the Sheblers had a reputation for being "incendiary devices disguised as auto parts" by some people.

I'm still trying to locate the Dyke's, most likely a 1927 according to Ivan.

[Guest 32stude]

I have original 1928 edition of Dykes Automobile Encylopedia

All pages good, Front cover separated. $40 + shipping

917 562 8369

[John Gelfer]

Hi I tried to call your 917 562-8369 #, but it asked me for a mailbox #, which I didn't have. I want to buy the '28 Dykes. How do we proceed? I could send you a money order, bank check, or personal check.

Thanks,

John Gelfer