1923 buick questions

[Guest tom pre]

just bought this 23 buick. has not run in 10 years.ist ques. how do i know if the water pump works?,should i just flush it out? 2nd ques. the carberator is stuck on the front heat pipe. how does that come off? 3rd im missing the cover for the starter/generator & the side panel that covers the plugs. where do i go for these parts? last ques.where do i find a fan belt?

[unimogjohn]

Tom, great car, you will get it running again. You will not know if the water pump works until you get the engine running. I would not attempt to take it off now. Does the engine turn over by the starter or crank? If it turns over the pump is free and probably works. Disconnect the rod that goes to the flapper, it is usually just a fine piece of wire that is inserted into the rod, or a very small cotter pin; or you can disconnect it at the carb. Re the covers, watch ebay, they come up every so often. Actually, I think I have a cover for the starter generator, I will look for it. Fan belt, Bobs Automobilia has them in leather, about $40 plus shipping. www.bobsautomobilia.com He will want to know if you have a master or standard, four or six cyl.

OK, now tell us about the car and its condition. What model do you have? We will help you. Also you might want to joint the 1927Buicks group on Yahoo.com Lots of owners of 20s cars there. Just go to yahoo.com, join up, look under Groups and you will find us.

[unimogjohn]

and if you do not know how to start it. I have a video.

[Guest tom pre]

hi john, thanks for the info.you are quick. my 23 buick is the tourer, 6 cyl. she is pretty complete. another ques. my carberator appears frozen to the single heatpipe. what do you recommend? so far i have removed radiator & gas tank [both leak]

Edited May 14, 2010 by tom pre (see edit history)

[jbbuick22]

Tom,

The carb. is frozen to the "single" heat pipe, the 23 should have 2 ???

A little heat and pb blaster should release it. Be very careful of the valve on the

exhaust, they crack easily and are hard to find. You may need to rebuild the water pump, the shaft gets rusty and destroys the seal. You can get new seal material, but the shaft will have to be made.

I am restoring a 22-6-55 Sport Touring, I can help if you have questions.

I have the parts , and shop manuals. You also need the Dave Chambers article

in Antique Automobile March/April 1971.

Post your frame and body # and Dave Corbin can give you a little more info.

[unimogjohn]

Tom, heatpipe? Do you mean the pipe that goes to the control valve on the exhaust down pipe? A pic would be helpful. The pipes are usually a slip fit held in place by a single small bolt. Or do you mean the heat riser than goes up from the carb to the intake manifold?

Getting things apart is always an issue. You will break many bolts, screws. The key is getting replacements of like kind and quality. They are available new or NOS. I personally use Kroil on everything. Others have found a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF fluid works just as well or better. Your choice. Some things you will have to soak for days or weeks to get it apart without damage. You just have to take your time or pay the price.

Gas tank leaking, and good radiator shop can clean and seal the tank. You will pay from $150 to 700 to get that done. The radiator is a different matter. You have to have an old school rad man do that or you will destroy the radiator. It takes low heat, a lot of skill, and no pressure testing.

NOS gaskets are available from Olson's Gaskets in WA. They have a web site. Be prepared to send stuff back and forth for the correct ones. Better to send you old beat up ones to them so they can match them up. With that said I have been able to make gaskets from modern engines, you just have to look and see what works.

Post some pics.

Edited May 14, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[Guest tom pre]

hi folks, yup one pipe ,approx 1 inch in diam. does not want to move & i think the carberator needs help. im sending pictures as soon as i can figure out how. your dealing with one very slow if not too bright a person. thank you for your patience. tom pre

Edited May 16, 2010 by tom pre (see edit history)

[jbbuick22]

Tom,

With one pipe this car may not be a 23. 1920 had one pipe, I think 1921 had two

like 1922, and 1923. The only way to tell is the frame #. 1923 also has a locking

transmission top cover.

JB

1922-6-55 S Touring

[unimogjohn]

Tom, this is a pic of my 23-45 engine. You can see two heat pipes. Does your engine look like this? You have JB and me confused as to what you have.

[Guest tom pre]

gentlemen, sorry for me being confused. firewall identifies her as a 24-45. only one pipe to carberator from eshaust pipe,& still stuck. my vacuum is mounted on firewall. different than johns. once again as soon as i have i will foward to you. ques. where can i find a hand crank ? thanks for your time. tom

[JerryVan]

A model designation of 24-45 means your car is a 1924, Model 45. A 1924 would have only one heat pipe. For 1924, your car should also have 4 wheel brakes and a radiator shell that vaguely resembles that of a Packard.

[unimogjohn]

There is usually a small bolt on both ends that hold the pipe semi tight. The one on the carb side I think is behind and not easily seen. Other than that, they are just press fit. So they are just stuck. Use Kroil, PB Blaster, ect and some heat to get it to break loose. Let us know how it goes. You may up ending taking apart the exhaust at that point so you can rotate the pipe.

[Guest tom pre]

Hi folks, moving ahead on trying to get my new 24,45 running.a couple of questions[ again]. i got the marvel carb finally off & it needs to be rebuilt. who would you recommend ? next ques. i dont want to reassemble everything without knowing that the engine is free. will the hand crank turn it over ? ive taken off the oil pan. if so, where can I find a crank?

[JerryVan]

While you have the carb off, be certain that the liner in the heat stove, just above the carb, is free from rust holes. Mine had some pretty big holes in it and it actually ran fairly well but with little power.

[unimogjohn]

Tom, yes, you should be able to turn over the engine easily with a crank. You might try to contact Fred. He has a lot of stuff for the 20s cars. fred.rawling@live.com Watch Ebay too, they come up from time to time.

Also, you can get a tool that turns the flywheel also if you just want to rotate the engine. Your local parts deals should have one. They look like this. SNAP ON A-144 FLY WHEEL TURNER: eBay Motors (item 280510819778 end time May-29-10 18:30:59 PDT)

However, our flywheels are large, and the tool will only move the flywheel an inch or so before it pops off the tooth. But it does work. Yes, you do have to remove the bottom bell housing cover, but I am assuming that you have that off already.

You can rebuild your own carb. Only two gaskets to make, and there are only two places that usually get clogged, both are the metering jets. Both jets or tubes are easily gotten to. You just have to be careful that you do not force things too much or you will break things, which is very bad. Here are some pics of my 28s carbs. The two tubes on mine were clogged with old gas and debris. You just have to put in some carb cleaner and blow them out. Rebuilding is just a case of taking everything apart, use the spray carb cleaner, and reassemble. So rebuilding is easy, just takes a bit of time; and there is not a lot of parts either. Here are the pics. Caution: do not soak the carb body in cleaner. It will eat it up. Use the spray, let it dry and you can use a dremel tool or small scraper to get the old deposits out of the bowl.

[mrspeedyt]

i used a cheap spark plug socket by grinding in slots to engage at the front of the crank and 1/2" drive speed wrench gives me just enough leverage to crank over... but, it is a 4 cylinder....

[unimogjohn]

Tom, forgot. The gaskets between the heat riser/stove and then the to the manifold also probably need to be replaced. You can send pics of them to Olsons gaskets in WA for NOS ones, and they should be able to match them up. However, I took mine to the local Carquest part place and was able to look through their stock to find a couple of gaskets that were close. So bought them, and trimmed them to size. Worked great.

Saw that you were looking for the CarbDoc. Here is his contact information. 800-945-2272.

Jeff Dreibus

The Old Carb Doctor

Edited May 26, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[JerryVan]

If you rebuild/clean the carb yourself use great care in handling the odd looking spring that puts pressure on the air flapper valve. It's located inside the brass, knurled adjustment screw that goes into the carb at an angle. The spring has a wider, more fully compressed mid-section and narrower, more expanded ends. To some, it looks like someone stretched it out at some time but, that's how it's supposed to look.