1934 Chevrolet DC 3-Window Coupe Preservation

[TexRiv_63]

After a four year absence I have returned to the ranks of prewar car owners with this 34 3-window. I had sworn off prewar due to some disappointments with previous cars but I always wanted a 3 window and when I saw this original survivor I could not let it go. I posted an introduction of the car in the General forum as:

Now this preservation thread will allow me to introduce more detail about the car and my efforts, and especially my many questions. At this point my intention is to leave the rough original appearance as is and concentrate on making it a reliable and capable driver. Once that is done I may look at some cosmetic issues. Before going any further let me make this statement:

 

I CURRENTLY HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH 30S CHEVY'S! I WILL BE DOING LOTS OF RESEARCH INCLUDING THREADS ON THIS FORUM BUT I WOULD LOVE TO CONNECT WITH ANYONE WHO HAS OWNED OR RESTORED A 33 OR 34 AND IS WILLING TO SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE.

 

In my research so far I was rather surprised to see that there doesn't seem to be much support regarding stock repair parts or reproduction items, nothing like a 34 Ford, but I am still looking. I have joined the VCCA and their forum and will be contacting their technical advisors once I am more familiar with the car's needs.

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by TexRiv_63 (see edit history)

[keiser31]

If the doors don't sag, the wood is probably very good. What a great little car!

Edited November 5, 2019 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[TexRiv_63]

1 hour ago, keiser31 said:

If the doors don't sag, the wood is probably very good. What a great little car!

That was one of my first questions for the seller! No sag, the doors and trunk open and close perfectly. All the wood I can see looks original and in good shape.

[r1lark]

Hi TexRiv, good to see you posting here! Great looking car, looking forward to see what you do to this car to preserve it.........and how you do it!

[TexRiv_63]

I have become a big fan of original cars in the last 8 to 10 years, I was fortunate to find a completely original 34 Packard 1100 in 2013 that really locked me in. I sold my last restored car a couple of years ago and replaced it with a 90% original 66 Dodge Monaco station wagon, then I decided to sell the refurbished 63 Olds Starfire I have owned for 9 years. My plan was not to buy anything else until the Olds was sold but when I saw this coupe that plan went out the window! So now I am renting a storage garage which will interchangeably hold the Olds or the Chevy until the Olds sells.

This coupe is definitely "Patina Central" with lots of normal wear, dents, scrapes, and surface rust but no rot or structural issues. Part of what drew me to the car is that you see so few 20s and 30s Chevolets compared to Fords due to the heavy dependence of Fisher Body on all-wood body structure. As mentioned to Keiser above the body on this one is very solid so it must have been from a dry climate area or carefully stored over the years. The dark green Duco paint on the upper body has been buffed a little and is actually in very good shape for its age. The black fenders and running boards did not fare as well and have a lot of surface rust. What little chrome trim there is looks pretty decent. The tan mohair interior looks all original down to the rubber floor mat. There are a few small holes in the headliner and some lumps in the seat cushion but it's not bad and matches the exterior appearance quite well. It's all going to remain as is for now.

[STEVE POLLARD]

 Looks like a really nice car... good luck with preservation, I'll be following along !

 

 

 

Steve

[alsfarms]

Nice car......

[chistech]

Great Car! The guys on the VCCA are very knowledgeable. I'm currently restoring a 34' Pickup that appears very similar. What I like about the chevys over the fords is there's more of a brother hood because parts are not as easily found. There are guys who know guys, who know guys who have the parts. Ask the right guy and you'll most likely find what you need. You car doesn't look like it needs much.

[TexRiv_63]

5 hours ago, chistech said:

Great Car! The guys on the VCCA are very knowledgeable. I'm currently restoring a 34' Pickup that appears very similar. What I like about the chevys over the fords is there's more of a brother hood because parts are not as easily found. There are guys who know guys, who know guys who have the parts. Ask the right guy and you'll most likely find what you need. You car doesn't look like it needs much.

Thanks. I've put a newbie post on the VCCA forum and will get more involved there once I get more used to the car. I will need to meet some guys that know guys that know guys!

[TexRiv_63]

So the story of the car is... I am the fourth owner, the PO bought the car in 1992 planning to chop it up for a hot rod. When he saw how original and complete it was he decided to keep it as it was. The engine was frozen so it was rebuilt along with most of the other mechanicals including brakes, steering, suspension, gas tank, gauges, and transmission. He went out of his way to leave everything visible in original patina and even "aged" some new items like the tailpipe. Here are some chassis pictures.

[TexRiv_63]

I spoke at length with the previous owner yesterday who answered all of my many questions and gave me a much better picture of the car's history. It was bought new by a lady in Wisconsin who used it sparingly then put in a barn in 1952. It was sold to the second owner in 1975 who moved it to Florida and stored it but never did anything with it. The guy in Ohio I bought it from acquired it in 1993 planning to hot rod it but found it was too nice to cut up. He stored it until 2009 when he did the mechanical work over about a two year period and got it running and driving. It had 36,802 miles when he got it and has just under 38,000 miles now. He says all the parts on the car are original 1934 except the wheels and the gauges which were swapped from a 35. My take from this is that those 58 years of storage explain the both the good condition of the upper parts of the car and the heavy surface rust on the bottom.

[TexRiv_63]

I have established contact with Dave Sylvain who is the VCCA Tech Advisor for the 1933-34 Chevy Standard models. He decoded my tags and engine number - the car and engine were early builds from April 1934, the engine was number 28,000 out of 126,000 made and the car was the 508th coupe made out of 16,765. The upper body color is Arcadia green with black fenders, cream medium pinstripe and wheels, and a brown mohair interior, so he confirmed the car's originality. Those pinstripes are long gone but I can see a few very faint traces here and there.

[TexRiv_63]

Question for the experts: How do you check the kingpins and steering linkage for wear on a 34?

[Bloo]

You check kingpins by jacking a front wheel up, grabbing a tire at the top and bottom, and wiggle. I would pack and adjust the wheel bearings first. According to New Departure's 1952 instructions the bearings run with a small preload (no slop). Servicing the bearings first will make it easier to tell what is loose.

 

Grabbing at the top and bottom, shake the wheel. You will no doubt feel some slop. Put a finger barely touching the brake drum and backing plate at the same time and wiggle with the other hand. This will make sure there is no looseness still in the wheel bearing. A worn spindle could cause there still to be slop with the bearings adjusted.

 

Now lay a finger so it touches both the spindle and the axle at the kingpin and shake again. Your finger will verify that the slop is coming from the kingpin. You want NO slop, but on any car that has been running there will be a little. They need to be pretty tight to keep all the darting around that bias-ply tires do in check, and also to prevent fast uneven tire wear. All kingpins are extremely tough on grease and wear out too fast. Give them an extra squirt of grease now and then between lube jobs.

 

Steering linkage is usually a serviceable socket that runs around a ball, and is adjustable with a huge screwdriver. The trouble comes if the ball is not round anymore. Tale a couple of measurements with a mic or caliper 90 degrees from each other. Replace any shot (oval) balls, and new or old, adjust with the steering off center and make sure it doesn't bind.

 

There is a spring inside the socket to take up tiny irregularities, but don't try to use that to compensate for a worn out (oval) ball. If you do it will be loose in the straight-ahead position, and wander. Balls are available but might need to be welded on. Rebuild kits for the sockets are available if the parts inside are shot. The old stuff in the sockets is more than likely OK. Adjust as tight as you can get with no binding.

 

There were probably leather or rubber gaiters originally to keep the dirt and small rocks out. Maybe not. I don't know where to get any. Grease it often.

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)

[chistech]

I believe that the 34 and the 31’ use the same king pin, if so, I have the correct reamer and you can use it. For the $60 for a new kingpin set, I always replace them  when doing a restoration or a tune up service. Nothing worse than bad or even slightly worn kingpins.

 

[chistech]

Is that 1952’ bearing recommendation for round ball type bearings used on the early cars or for tapered roller bearings.

[Bloo]

44 minutes ago, chistech said:

Is that 1952’ bearing recommendation for round ball type bearings used on the early cars or for tapered roller bearings.

 

Ball bearings. The whole scoop is here:

 

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/manuals/1952sbb/52bb12.htm

 

 

 

 

[chistech]

Great thanks. So about 5 pounds of preload. Learn something new every day!

[Spinneyhill]

The other thing to check on the king pins is end float, or up-down motion. This checks the thrust bearing and its shims. I was rejected a WoF on one. The shim had disintegrated and half gone into the bearing. The test is to just get it high enough to get a jemmie bar under the tire and lever it up. Get your assistant to operate the bar while you look at the knuckle from behind.

[TexRiv_63]

Thanks for the kingpin advice, I will check them out this week.

Let me back up now and start telling you what I have done so far. First I'll share a YouTube video of the car coming off the trailer the day I received it:

 

 https://youtu.be/z4vnNpJCv1o

 

I took my 63 Starfire to its new storage garage home the same day and got the Chevy situated in the garage. Wow, it is so small! I haven't had a car this tiny in very many years, it makes it easy to work all around it even with the other two cars in the garage. A couple days later I unpacked a very large parts cache that was included with the car which filled the entire trunk to the brim plus a spare steering gear, column and wheel inside the car. As mentioned, the PO had bought a bunch of 35 parts left over from a hot rod project, the only items he put on the 34 were the wheels and gauges. The cache includes all the original 34 wheels, brake parts, window regulators, splash pans, engine parts, kingpins, shock absorbers, 5 carburetors, and more. I quickly moved it into a corner of the garage but still need to sort and catalog it.

[STEVE POLLARD]

The engine sounded great !

 

Steve

[TexRiv_63]

38 minutes ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

The engine sounded great !

 

Steve

The engine runs really well. It starts easily, has no clicks or knocks and accelerates great. I'm not too sure I like the teeny glasspack muffler though....

[TexRiv_63]

After emptying the spare parts I gave the car a good inspection. I did find a crank in with the parts but there is no jack or tools. I opened the floorboard up and found the battery had a piece of tape on it showing it was more than 6 years old so that was the first thing I replaced. I was glad to see that all the cables had been replaced with new large gauge versions, this included the addition of a heavy duty floor mounted disconnect switch with a removeable key. The other thing I found was that all the tires were absolutely ancient. The spare had never been on the ground, it was a Sears Allstate. The tires on the car were Montgomery Ward Riversides with great tread but all seriously cracked and very out of round. If I was going to drive this thing new tires were needed!

[John S.]

 TexRiv_63, That is a real neat Chevy. Definitely get new tires. John

[Laughing Coyote]

 I really like the lines on that car. What a nice find and in such a good condition too. 

[JamesR]

I also love the looks of that car. I'd have to say that looks  as good as the best Fords of the '30's...and is cooler because it's more unique - (rarer.) My Dad remembered the Chevys of the '30's when they were new - when they overtook Ford in sales. A couple years before your year of car,  Chevy offered a model with chrome engine louvers on the hood and Dad said the car buying public was very impressed by that. Hope you can sell your Olds...that's beautiful, too. 

[TexRiv_63]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

I also love the looks of that car. I'd have to say that looks  as good as the best Fords of the '30's...and is cooler because it's more unique - (rarer.) My Dad remembered the Chevys of the '30's when they were new - when they overtook Ford in sales. A couple years before your year of car,  Chevy offered a model with chrome engine louvers on the hood and Dad said the car buying public was very impressed by that. Hope you can sell your Olds...that's beautiful, too. 

The rarity factor definitely figured into the purchase but the looks were the main draw for me. The 31-32 Chevs used a lot of scaled down Cadillac styling features which probably carried over to the later years too.

[chistech]

7 hours ago, JamesR said:

I also love the looks of that car. I'd have to say that looks  as good as the best Fords of the '30's...and is cooler because it's more unique - (rarer.) My Dad remembered the Chevys of the '30's when they were new - when they overtook Ford in sales. A couple years before your year of car,  Chevy offered a model with chrome engine louvers on the hood and Dad said the car buying public was very impressed by that. Hope you can sell your Olds...that's beautiful, too. 

That was the 32' Chevy with the chrome hood doors. Many of the 32" GM cars offered them. Chevy outsold Ford in 31-32' with Ford getting it back in 33". Many people believe because the V-8 ford came out in 32' that Ford outsold Chevy that year when in fact they didn't. On the Olds, I can't for the life of me understand why it hasn't sold. I showed my brother who bought a 67' Cutlass last year that's he's currently racing though the car is basically stock, and he wished he hadn't bought it as he would have tried to buy TR63's. Bad timing but that's how it goes sometimes. 

[TexRiv_63]

15 hours ago, chistech said:

 On the Olds, I can't for the life of me understand why it hasn't sold. I showed my brother who bought a 67' Cutlass last year that's he's currently racing though the car is basically stock, and he wished he hadn't bought it as he would have tried to buy TR63's. Bad timing but that's how it goes sometimes. 

I of course would love for the Olds to sell but I haven't had a car yet that sold quickly and easily. The biggest issue is that there are not that many people that are into full size Oldsmobiles. Every show I take it to a lot of guys compliment it but have no idea what it is. I've also picked the worst time of year to sell, etc. Patience must be a virtue...

[chistech]

3 minutes ago, TexRiv_63 said:

I of course would love for the Olds to sell but I haven't had a car yet that sold quickly and easily. The biggest issue is that there are not that many people that are into full size Oldsmobiles. Every show I take it to a lot of guys compliment it but have no idea what it is. I've also picked the worst time of year to sell, etc. Patience must be a virtue...

It seems Oldsmobile’s get very little love and I don’t understand it. Even with my 32’, it seems mainly the Classic car guys with the expensive cars were the only ones that would give a reaction when I’d tell them what I had. Of course there are others but the average Chevy and Ford owner I’d tell, couldn’t be interested in hearing about it. It seems if it’s not a 442 or Hurst, no one really give them a second thought. I believe a lot of that goes back to GM who never really liked owning the Olds brand. Olds had better innovation and in many cases, firsts in the industry that GM just took from their development and spread it among the other brands, highlighting those features on the other brands like it was sliced bread. They squashed the corvette killer, the F88 which was faster, better equipped, and better looking, because the Chevy executives cried. When they bought Olds and Ransom went out and got right back in the business with REO, it soured GM because now they were stuck with the purchase and the name, but the reals “olds” were being built by REO. The GM executives never got over the taste of that bad pill!

[TexRiv_63]

After doing some research on here and elsewhere I did buy 5 new tires, tubes, and rim strips. I bought the Lucas Olympic style from Lucas Tire because I liked the vintage style and reasonable price, and they shipped quickly. I found a local tire shop that does a lot of truck and agricultural work and I loaded up my Dodge Durango. The shop mounted and balanced all five including cleaning the rust and old masking tape (?) off the insides for $140.00 including disposing of the old tires. I did keep all the old tubes just in case. They are all back on the car and it rides quite a bit better.

[Matt Harwood]

I don't know why I love new tires so much. They look great!

[TexRiv_63]

One of the things I asked the previous owner was what type of lubricants he used. The oil was Shell Rotella 15w-40 which had just been changed, that sounded fine to me. The alarm bells went off when he said he had used 80W-95 Synthetic blend gear lube in the transmission and rear end which had made the torque tube seal start leaking. I checked both and could smell the sulfur - Oh Oh. I ordered some GL-4 straight 140W on amazon and changed out the transmission. I did not see any brass flecks in the old fluid so hopefully OK. The trans is now much quieter and shifts much better. I went to change the rear end fluid but found there is no drain plug so I will have to remove the rear cover. I need to source a new gasket if available before I do that, I assume there is yellow metal used in the rear end?

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

The bottom cover bolt MAY be the drain.

 

  Ben

[keiser31]

Try here for the gasket....https://www.olsonsgaskets.com/

[billorn]

Just use RTV for the rear end cover. Most modern card dont have gaskits. Sounds like shoddy work but is acceptable for most new cars. Should be ok for this car and might work better then a gasket anyway.

[Bloo]

57 minutes ago, TexRiv_63 said:

I need to source a new gasket if available before I do that, I assume there is yellow metal used in the rear end?

 

Most likely there is not, but I would ask over on VCCA.

 

Also, 15w40 oil is pretty heavy for a car with low pressure oiling.

 

You can probably drain the oil through a cover bolt if you are patient. I would just take the cover off and clean it out. Be sure to specify Standard if you order a gasket. They're smaller (and rarer).

 

 

[TexRiv_63]

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 12:29 PM, keiser31 said:

Try here for the gasket....https://www.olsonsgaskets.com/

Always my first stop.

[TexRiv_63]

23 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

Most likely there is not, but I would ask over on VCCA.

 

Also, 15w40 oil is pretty heavy for a car with low pressure oiling.

 

You can probably drain the oil through a cover bolt if you are patient. I would just take the cover off and clean it out. Be sure to specify Standard if you order a gasket. They're smaller (and rarer).

 

 

Thanks Bloo. Would 10W30 oil be better?

[Bloo]

 

8 hours ago, TexRiv_63 said:

Thanks Bloo. Would 10W30 oil be better?

 

I am no expert on this, but I strongly suspect that it would. My first car, an old Chevy, oiled the rods with squirt nozzles that shot across the oil pan. I defaulted to SAE 30 because I though the engine might be sort of tired. I was cautioned by an employer at a gas station job (who had a bunch of experience with old Chevys) that SAE 30 was too heavy, and the nozzles might not squirt far enough to reach the rod dippers when the oil is cold. The original recommendation was 20W, and 10W30 was a common substitute at that time.

 

I think your 1934 might be too old to have the squirt nozzles, but still oils with dippers and dip trays. A problem with dip tray oiling is that the dippers tend to scrape a trough through the oil, and if the oil is thick, at high rpm, it might not flow back down into position before the dipper comes around again, and the rods might starve. That is probably the reason for the squirt nozzles.

 

If it were me, today, I would ask Gene over on the VCCA forum, and do whatever he says.

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)