1932 Ruxton, or how I became an unwitting restorer.

[Guest BillP]

I had a '55 F100 a few years ago, had a loose steering box. Took it apart and found the mating gears were worn in the middle of travel only, out at the ends there was no wear. I concluded that that was where you typically drive and you twitch the wheel back and forth a little to keep going straight, hence the greater wear.

The point is, there is a lot more motion in the steering assembly than you might think, and as an old Farmall guy, I reckon corn head grease is just right.

[Guest BillP]

BTW, Barry, great and interesting post. You're a busy and talented guy.

[Barry Wolk]

Thanks, Bill.

Tonight's task with Greg was to torque down the head. He wanted to use a spray copper Permatex sealant on the head gasket. I cleaned the cylinders again in anticipation of Greg's arrival. We sprayed both sides of the gasket and let it tack-up. Installed the gasket and then the head.

I ordered the exact size chrome acorn nuts, but we ran into a problem with some of the studs being too long. The studs were bottoming out in the acorn nuts and not compressing the gasket. We found 4 studs, for sure, that would have had to have been ground down. I then realized that I had a batch of chrome washers I was planning on returning because the were barely bigger than the nut, but made perfect spacers, allowing us to finish the procedure.

Re-gapped the spark plugs to .032 from .035 for a smaller, but hotter spark. Greg reinstalled the spark plug wires as a guide for the new ones that are on the way from Restoration Supply.

Earlier in the day I put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and flipped on the hidden electric fuel pump, just to get a few drops of gas in the glass sediment bowl. I shut off the pump and cranked the engine as the rotation of the cam filled the rest of the sediment bowl and the bowl in the carb. I flipped on the fuel pump again and it made the sound of the pump meeting resistance. No gas was coming out anywhere so the float and seat must be functioning.

I wasn't aware, but I should have guessed that the hood sides will need to installed in their proper position so that the lines all match. I also wasn't aware of how Jocko was going to apply the shades. Instead of applying stripes with two pieces of tape only one pieces is used, at the bottom of each stripe. The top of the stripes are simply faded into the metal above. Once that sets another tape edge is applied and everything below that tape line gets masked off. The new stripe is applied the same way. That greatly minimized the buildup associated with painting to a tape line. The only line requiring two pieces of tape are the 1" stripes.

The last of hood pieces got hung from my rolling scaffold and got sprayed with primer. Remarkably, the louvered sides had no flaws. The hood tops were a mess from being ground in an earlier respray. The insides are sanded smooth, as everything shows.

I figured out why the transmission support was missing. The bolt hole in the bottom of the casing was stripped out. I could have threaded it in the next larger size, but decided to use a helicoil instead. I cut two rubber mounts to go between the mount and the trans and one to go below. I use a blue thread locker and installed an appropriate length bolt that went in as deep as possible without bottoming out.

The radiator guard had been damaged at some point. I couldn't make it perfect, but I made it a whole lot better with my new crimper. It was badly smooshed on the ridge and NAPA is clean out of Ruxton grill guards.

With that installed I was able to install the radiator in the grill shell. The painter needs the shell installed so the hood can be mounted to it. I need the radiator installed and the water jacket cover on and water pump working before Greg will let me start it. He says it needs to have circulating water to run it for the required period. He understands that it's tempting to want to start it, but he wants to break in the cam properly and way to do that is at speed for 20 minutes. In the meantime I'm expecting the copper fittings tomorrow for the crossover pipe. I'm disappointed, but it makes sense to wait.

I installed an inline thermostat in the upper radiator hose. Cars of this era didn't have them, but are easy to add, The unit is designed to be an interference fit on an 1 1/2" radiator hose. Every part I add to this car makes it lower and lower.

The car will be dry sanded followed by black sealer and then immediately by gloss black, lots of gloss black.

Spark plug wiring and a fan belt are in my near future. Headlight and running light assembly has begun. Water pump drive parts have been shipped, too.

[ply33]

… I installed an inline thermostat in the upper radiator hose. Cars of this era didn't have them, but are easy to add, The unit is designed to be an interference fit on an 1 1/2" radiator hose. ...

Interestingly, the Plymouth parts book calls out thermostat assembly numbers for all models starting in 1930.

I find your thread on the 1932 Ruxton fascinating as automotive technology was evolving at a rapid rate in that era and the mixture of relative modern and relatively ancient technology varied from manufacturer to manufacturer. It is interesting to see where a car like the Ruxton was way ahead of the others and to see where it lagged behind.

[West Peterson]

Many luxury cars had thermostats by 1929-30 for adjusting cooling, but they didn't have anything to do with water flow. It was to operate the grille shutters. Packard continued to use the the thermostatically adjustable grille shutters through 1942 on its Senior models, without the use of water thermostats.

Interesting that the grille of the Ruxton is just a radiator guard. I had always assumed that it was the radiator itself.

[Barry Wolk]

This is what I've been waiting to see. They proceeded with wet sanding and the results are pretty incredible, considering the mess he started with. If you recall I welded up over 200 pop rivet holes in the roof from previous butchery. I'm sure the welding didn't help, but it now glistens and is highly reflective. The roof didn't seem so important when I couldn't see it. It barely comes to my shoulder now.

The crossover pipe replacement is perfect. I'm having a 1/2" thick flange made to receive a stock 1 1/4" copper fitting, which is the same OD as the ID of 1 1/2" radiator pipe. While the three 90s were stock it took the use of 2 45s to perfectly mate up to the pump's surface. I have a friend that's a whiz at silver soldering. I think I'll ask him to do the honors. I'll have him solder on a port for a drain valve.

I didn't order enough black spark plug wire. More is on the way.

I have 5 extra links that I'll leave in the tool box. I think it looks great.

The brass T-handles are greasers for the water pump. As you twist the knob you are making a grease-filled chamber smaller forcing grease out of a port under pressure. You'd give these a twist every once in a while.

I was able to replicate the pump drive shaft couplings using a material specific to this use. It cut well with a table saw and a power miter box. I was able to punch the holes. Drilling the material is possible, too. The original coupling came with a cotter pin hole in the end. I had to replicate two on my drill press. You can drill Grade 5 bolts, I found.

I have spark, fuel and a rudimentary exhaust. The water jacket cover will be here Friday. That, and the crossover pipe, will complete the cooling system.

[Barry Wolk]

The chrome water jacket cover is supposed to be at my place tomorrow. In preparation I checked the threads of the stainless studs and found a number marred. Stainless is easy to gall so I chased all if the threads. I found 4 bent studs, likely knocked during the machining process. The engine concrete is still in place. I don't think it's going anywhere.

The water bypass tube I took off the car could not have fit with the required engine pan. That's apparently why they weren't installed. With the pan properly in place the tube has to pass over the exhaust pipe and under the clutch linkage, and has to mate with an angled surface of the water pump. Positive tool came through once again with a custom pump flange made out of a block of copper. I don't think I could have made a bent steel pipe in this configuration. Even soft copper gets tough to bend at an inch and a quarter.

[Lahti35]

Greetings from Bay City, I love this project, keep up the good work!

[Barry Wolk]

I received the new chrome water jacket cover, cut the distribution holes and installed the cork gasket. I tested all of the studs and the Chrome nuts spun on freely. I had to do a little grinding to make the new cover easily slide over the studs. Greg instructed me to install Bar's Leak tablets in the water jacket before closing it up.

The next step was to finish off the crossover pipe that takes cooler water from the bottom of the radiator to the intake of the water pump. My friend Rick spent an hour doing what it would have taken me much longer had I done it. It helps to have the right tools, too.

I didn't realize how terrible the picture was, but I wanted to show the 1/4" pipe tap I added for a petcock. I shaped a brass 1/4" coupling to fit the radius of the pipe and had Rick weld it in place. I used a bit that just fit the threads of the coupling and drilled through the pipe.

Aside from making 4 new spark plug wires and reattaching the exhaust the engine is done. I just have to fill it with antifreeze and start it.

Wish me luck.

The insides of the hood panels are getting black paint tomorrow. I always wondered how you got a good paint job on louvers. Now I know.

[Barry Wolk]

I was so confident that it would start that I set up the camera. Here is a 2 second video of nothing happening.

http://vid244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/barry2952/MVI_2685_zps46b33ff1.mp4

I spent the morning filling the radiator, only to find that I had a substantial leak. It appears, once again, that the new crown nuts are not drilled as deep as the old ones. The studs bottomed out which failed to compress the gasket. By 1:00 pm, I called Greg to come over as I had finished tightening the gasket bolts and making new plug wires and was ready to go.

Greg manned the carb controls, I turned on the ignition and hit the starter button. Nothing. It turned over like a new tight engine, but never made a sound. We tried so much that we had oil pressure, but it never fired. We tested the ignition switch and proved that we had spark. When you hit the accelerator a bunch of gas ran out through the drain tube, which made us think fuel wan't a problem. In fact, we pulled a plug and didn't see or smell gas at all. It clearly wasn't getting fuel.

I took the carb off, which is no easy task, and took it apart while Greg took a break. While he was gone I made a new gasket. I didn't see anything wrong. I was kinda crushed. Greg came back and examined the float and determined it was working fine. He asked for an air gun with a fine nozzle. He took off one of the venturi and blew air through the small tubes. Sure enough, we both saw something fly past us out of the jet. I think we've found our culprit. We will try again tomorrow.

This is how it sits.

Jocko put final color on the insides of the hood panels. They are a somewhat reflective finish, which should make all that chrome jump at you.

Now the louvers get retaped for a base coat of gloss black as a base for the striped paint job. Things should move pretty quickly now.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Barry Wolk (see edit history)

[Barry Wolk]

Quite possibly the worst weekend of my life. We failed to get it started. After numerous attempts and double and triple-checking our work we believe we've found the problem. I may be coming back to change the story, but it looks like the wrong cam was supplied to the engine builder and none of us noticed. When we rescued the engine from the first engine builder we had been told that the cam was OK. When it went to the other builder it was quickly discovered that the cam had a badly worn lobe from a stuck valve.

Greg ordered a cam from EGGE, but when it arrived it looked like the exact same cam, except the gears for the oil pump drive was cut in the opposite direction. He sent it back and they responded that they didn't have the correct one. I reminded Greg that the owner had purchased engine and transmissions parts as a package, in addition to the car. The cam look new, but was covered in surface rust. In fact, it had a paper inventory tag on it, but it was illegible. Greg took the cam to the engine builder where it was compared to the other cam and was found to have the correct cut to the gear. It was cleaned up and ground smooth and installed in this engine.

Well, it isn't the right cam. While the spiral cut of the oil pump drive gear was correct the rest of the cam was sequenced for a different rotation. I can't think of a single situation in the combustion cycle where the exhaust valve would open just after TDC. The only way this could happen is if the cam is wrong for the application. I never saw the two cams side by side, but I can't imagine I would notice that the intake and exhaust lobes were in a different position on cam shaft. Even if they were side-by side, I think I'd have focused on the beveled drive gear.

I've been working on the motor for a month, it seems. We're hoping that the engine builder still has the old cam, as it's our only hope of getting this thing running. A new lobe can be welded on and reground, but not if it's already been scrapped.

Woe is me.

This is why it has a removable firewall.

[Aaron65]

Ugh...what a letdown!!! Sometimes, finding parts for my Joe Average cars is tough...a Ruxton? I hope this doesn't set you guys back too much.

[Barry Wolk]

I'm crushed at this point. The only hope I see is if the engine builder kept the old cam.

[Restorer32]

It's always the unanticipated that comes back to bite you in the butt. You have run up against some little known corollary of Murphy's Law. I sympathize but it's all part of the game. As I read your posts I thought you were going to find that the cam timing was 180 out. What you found is far more challenging it seems.

[Barry Wolk]

I just got word that the engine builder had had the original cam repaired and reground. It's not over yet.

[West Peterson]

That's good news. Curious, though, as to what he was going to do with it?

Edited July 14, 2014 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[Barry Wolk]

OK, I’ll try and sort out some misinformation.

The rusty camshaft wasn’t used. The engine builder still has it. The original cam shaft, with a repaired lobe, is still in the car.

Since neither of the timing marks work we suspect that the timing gear was changed at one point to one with its marks in the wrong place.

I’ve already pulled the cover. Greg is bringing a degree dial tonight so we can set it up while ignoring the timing marks.

There’s only one position for the crank to bring the #1 piston to TDC. Once that’s done the cam just needs to be rotated to the proper position and marked accordingly.

Wish us luck tonight.

[West Peterson]

Well that indeed sounds like the best possible news for what I'm sure made your heart sink. Hopefully you'll have spark tonight (in the shop, I mean). Good luck!!

I might be in the area Saturday. If so, would love to stop by.

[Barry Wolk]

You're always welcome at my door. I may not let you in, but you're always welcome.

[Bleach]

I've been following this thread from the beginning with lots of interest especially since there are very many of these cars left.

Aren't these cars powered by Continental engines which might have been used by other auto manufacturers of the time?

Either way since the cam problem looks to have been worked out.

Good luck firing it up.

[Barry Wolk]

Serendipity is a funny thing. I was too busy working on the Ruxton to chase down a problem with the '55 Porsche starting. I contacted a friend with a number of 356s and he told his mechanic to drop what he was doing to get me rolling. He came out to the house, tightened a few things and it started. The next day I went to get gas and it wouldn't restart. He came out at 9:00, while I was still at the shop, and prepared to do a thorough diagnosis. I got home around 10:00. While he was working he required my assistance to proof that the starter button and ignition with worked. We started talking and I told him the problems I was having and he assured me that he could solve my problem. I met Dave years earlier when he installed a rechromed bumper on my Mark II at a very high-end restoration concern. We arranged to meet today.

I explained that I thought that the timing marks were to be ignored as they clearly were not right when they lined up. He said that this is not uncommon for an 80 year old car with an engine that used common parts with different timing marks for different rotations and applications. It would have been nice if the old build had had this little bit of information. The first thing he did was repeat what Greg did in finding the centerline of the distance between the exhaust and intake valves and TDC of the piston in the #1 position. The only thing Greg, nor Jocko, nor Dan, nor anybody else who has been following this has ever said, "Valve timing is done by the #1 cylinder and ignition timing by #8." NFW we couldn't get it running without that bit of information. Raise your hand if you knew this and didn't tell me.

Look at where the timing marks ended up. The cam gear circle is pointing directly at the centerline of the idler/generator drive and the circle on the crank is pointed off onto space. They aren't even 180° out, as one might suspect. The cloverleaf symbol ended up were the timing mark should be so I stamped "T" into the cam gear and took this picture. I'll add notation for the paperwork that goes with the car.

Once we got the valve timing done we had to install the chain cover as oil was flinging everywhere every time it chugged. Once we got it together we tried and it still wouldn't start. The starter was overheating and I was about to have a panic attic when Dave said, "It's going to be running in a few minutes". We pulled the plugs and Dave dumped a bunch of oil in each cylinder to increase vacuum and help speed up the motor. The new motor is still quite tight. That got it spinning faster, but the oil fouled the plugs. After a bath and some air to dry them we installed them and tried again. It chugged and chugged, but the starter kept cutting out. I didn't want to burn out a starter that likely turned the wrong way, too, so I called it and let it cool down. In the meantime Dave found that three of the spark plug wires were out of order, and that probably didn't help much.

After the starter cooled down we tried it once more. Jocko stood by with a fire extinguisher and a 12-volt battery and jumper cables. He only connected as we tried to start it. The increased rpm helped. It started to sputter and smoke and it finally started. The smoke was horrendous, but it was running!

http://vid244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/barry2952/1931%20Ruxton/MVI_2731_zps478f808e.mp4

It ran much better after arranging the wires for the last three plugs to their proper order on the distributor cap. D'oh!

http://vid244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/barry2952/1931%20Ruxton/MVI_2734_zpsa9f70f5a.mp4

The 1300°oven paint is crap. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do about this.

The car gets paint tomorrow. The first coat is a sealer, followed by several coats of black. Let the striping begin.

[ply33]

Congratulations on this milestone! I've been waiting with baited breath to hear this cam issue being resolved. The engine sounds pretty sweet in your second video!

[West Peterson]

Dave needs a reward! It really does sound good.

Have you thought about ceramic coating the manifold? We did that with our Speedster. What's nice about that is the inside and outside get coated, making for a very smooth (and slightly less resistance, I'm told) exhaust exit.

[Barry Wolk]

I don't think I have time unless it can be done locally.

[West Peterson]

Powder coating shop should be able to get it in and out quite quickly.

[Dandy Dave]

Glad to see you have it sorted out Barry. I haven't looked here in a few days. It is hard for me to fathom that the engine builder did not check the valve timing with the piston position during assembly. I never trust timing marks on any engine I put together. ( I've been down that road in the past. ) I always watch the valve movement and sort intake from exhaust to see that everything is correct. It is not hard on a flat head engine. And then, if in doubt, also sort the firing order and distributor rotation before the head, pans, and covers are installed. You fellows have been though the wringer trying to back track and sort the mess left for you. Good to hear it run. Sounds like you have an Ace helping you out. Give that man the Golden Wrench Award. :cool: Dandy Dave!

[Barry Wolk]

West, It was ceramic powder coated, but the owner didn't like the matt finish.

[Barry Wolk]

Dave, the builder didn't have the cam gear or timing chain so I can't blame him. I blame the person that did the older rebuild that didn't remaar the timing gears once they had it sorted out. That cost many sleepless nights.

[West Peterson]

Maybe it's time to see what a powder coater can do. Seems like they're adding different stuff all the time. I believe ours is more semi-gloss than matt.

[Barry Wolk]

I've been taped out of the car for the short term, maybe 5 days. In the mean time I've started on the windshield and headlights.

Now that the tires are off I can clean them up and install the chrome hub rings.

This is an epoxy sealer. These are likely the last pictures I'll be able to show of the paint job as the owner wishes the color scheme to remain a secret until its debut at Pebble.

All I can say is that it's come a long way. Jocko stood back and said, "Worth every hour".

[keiser31]

I can't wait to see the final results of this work! And the color(s).

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Most Ruxton sedans are restored with multiple shades of colors, fading from the bottom up. This is in the Nethercutt.

[Dandy Dave]

Dave, the builder didn't have the cam gear or timing chain so I can't blame him. I blame the person that did the older rebuild that didn't remaar the timing gears once they had it sorted out. That cost many sleepless nights.

OK, Understood. Dandy Dave!

[Guest counterpoint]

I have really enjoyed reading through this thread and watching the progress you have made with this car. I cant wait to see it at pebble. Hope the finishing touches go without a hitch. Good luck to you.

Allan L

[Barry Wolk]

This is as far as I can go with body pictures. The owner has allowed me to show the striping process, but none of the other colors past the black base.

The bottom 12" of the car was painted a black base coat. No real gloss. The gloss comes from the clear coat.

At the same time as the lower section was painted the rain gutter was painted black, too. It's a very prominent line in Joseph Urban's design.

All of the measurements for the stripes come off of the body line. The side lines are straight, but the rear has a gentle curve that mimics the rear window curve.

This is a specific edging tape. Everything below it gets masked off while the color above gets sprayed and fanned into the higher part of the panel. That way there is only one tape line per color, and, the paint ledge from the tape is at the bottom of the overlap, easily covered with the clear coat. If the tape ledge were on top it would be more noticeable.

This is the last body picture until its debut. The next color will be too telling to show, but I have to say that it looks historically correct. A great deal of study was done using high definition factory photographs blown up to 16 x 20. The side view was most helpful as it was an easy 10:1 scale, but there are nuances that they're trying to match.

I ordered new pan and timing cover gaskets. We had the chain cover off so many times that it may just pay to replace all of the gaskets. I ordered authentic knurled knobs for the spark plugs instead of the modern tube nuts and ordered new sockets for the head lamps. I ordered all new light bulbs that match the original specifications. Brighter bulbs would be nice, but not at the price of burned switches and wiring.

[paulrhd29nz]

Barry, only for curiosity can you explain the decision to use base/ clear for paint.

Also would it be possible to continue to post photos in Black and White ? We all know the scheme but this would hide the colour.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barry Wolk]

The paint was not my decision. The owner and I left that to the painter. I will ask, though.

I had thought of B & W photos, I'll ask about that, too.

[Barry Wolk]

The paint job proceeds. This is the reference picture we derived the measurements from. It's the factory photo of the original Joseph Urban paint scheme. There has been a lot of talk in my shop about how the original paint was applied. So far, the paint is flawless with three colors applied. You can really tell how much work went into making the roof straight. It's perfect. I wish I could show you.

My task today was to power-wash the powder-coated wheels and tires and chase the 5 5/16" threads in the wheels for the hub cover bolts.

I did a major shop clean-up and created a clean room where we can do final assembly of chrome bits.

[Barry Wolk]

Here you go. Thanks for the suggestion.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Barry Wolk (see edit history)

[Barry Wolk]

One light color stripe and two black stripes to go.