The Car Which Shall Not Be Named III (1935 Lincoln K)

[Matt Harwood]

Well what do I do now? Not quite enough room to get packing in there past the nut.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Not at all in my area of expertise, but am I guessing correctly that the nut seized on the shaft and backed out? If so I would think that the shaft/nut clearance needs to be a little bit larger, which will require disassembly and a bit of polishing perhaps? While it might be irritating, compared to everything else you have done with the car, that should be a fairly minor irritant and a relatively small job. 

[Matt Harwood]

No, I backed the nut all the way off with a wrench. The problem is that there's still not enough room to put in any packing. When the water pump was rebuilt, they made a new brass packing nut and must have made it too long. Also: a big FU to the Lincoln engineer who thought that tiny area was enough room to work--replacing packing was regular maintenance in 1935. Why make it easy, right?

 

Here's the original nut. Compare to the photo, above. Not a lot of room to work, but enough to slide in a few rings of graphite.

 

 

 

So I went and got some string graphite from Home Depot, which--I KNOW, I KNOW--is the wrong stuff. I jammed a few wraps of it in there then tightened the nut. When I started the engine, the packing melted and started oozing out along the shaft. But it doesn't leak anymore. Good enough. If it burns up, it burns up, but it doesn't seem to be any hotter at the shaft than anywhere else on the pump while the engine is running. It only has to last another six weeks or so, then it'll be winter and I won't be driving it anymore. I'll take it apart again and see if I can get the nut off with the generator out of the way.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[old car fan]

Matt,feel your pain, but there is never enough room to repack.Can you use a 1 peice split?

Edited September 3, 2023 by old car fan (see edit history)

[edinmass]

Matt…….good news. The Lincoln is almost half sorted! 🤪

 

Sorry, can’t help myself………..I’m thinking you’re more than 90 percent of the way there. It’s all down hill from here. Take a break, and just drive the dam thing till February. Then chase the rest of it. We just bought a big boy toy…….it’s been off the road for about 20 years. It ran when I looked at in in February. In a few weeks I need to tour with it and don’t have any opportunity to do anything to it ahead of time except check oil and gas. It’s going to be interesting……and it’s a crazy exotic power plant. 🤞

Edited September 3, 2023 by edinmass (see edit history)

[Grimy]

(I was pulled while answering this; now I'm back)  Short of removing it, try using circles of 3/16" or even 1/4" packing.  After each circle, note where the break is so you don't put the next break in the same place.  Compress the gland nut after EACH circle individually.  Of course, diagonal-cut each circle.  Several of mine have 3/4" diameter shafts, so I keep a short length of 3/4" broomstick with my bulk packing materials.  I put the broomstick in the vise horizontally and wrap the packing into circles, cutting with a razor blade.  I carry several pre-cut circles with me in a ziplock bag.

 

I also use a rounded end dental pick to push each circle into the best position possible, before closing the gland nut.  One of those picks rides with too.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Grimy
added 2nd para (see edit history)

[Bloo]

I thought the Lincoln had a sealed beam kit in it?

 

Well, if not, the things that seem to matter a lot for headlight performance are reflector silver (or aluminum), and the voltage getting to the bulb. I believe the Lincoln already has relays, doesn't it? As for the 2530 bulbs (50/32 candlepower) that @AB-Buff is recommending, I use them too but I use new production ones because I drive the car enough I don't want to burn through a bunch of NOS.

 

For what it's worth, it seems all new production 2320, 2330, 2530, etc. bulbs like these are REALLY 2530 (50/32 candlepower) no matter what number the sellers are calling them. It's no problem to find some (at Amazon, California Pontiac, Ford V8 parts houses, etc.). New ones may have one or both filaments straight instead of V. That is a cheapening, but can be an advantage in some lights if the focus is too sharp and the lenses aren't spreading it out enough. On others its worse. Your mileage may vary.

 

Carry spares.

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

Yes, sorry, I got distracted. I do have sealed beams and relays in this car. It uses H4 bulbs now. The LEDs don't put down much usable light although they seem bright. I have some 35W halogens that I'm going to use instead. They should focus much better in the sealed beam housing and have a better pattern that should illuminate the road better. Check back a few pages to see details on the sealed beams that were on my car.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[AB-Buff]

15 minutes ago, Bloo said:

As for the 2530 bulbs (50/32 candlepower) that @AB-Buff is recommending, I use them too but I use new production ones because I drive the car enough I don't want to burn through a bunch of NOS.

That’s pretty interesting. I have bought the new ones from China on Amazon and I tend to burn them out, even had a couple it didn’t work out of the box. So nothing like good old made in the USA even if it’s 70 years old. I’ve had the two in there for a couple of years and they still burn bright and haven’t had any issues. I do carry a couple of spares, but I haven’t had to put them in. Maybe I am just fortunate?

L

[Bloo]

1 hour ago, AB-Buff said:

That’s pretty interesting. I have bought the new ones from China on Amazon and I tend to burn them out, even had a couple it didn’t work out of the box. So nothing like good old made in the USA even if it’s 70 years old. I’ve had the two in there for a couple of years and they still burn bright and haven’t had any issues. I do carry a couple of spares, but I haven’t had to put them in. Maybe I am just fortunate?

L

 

NOS is definitely better. I had one modern production bulb that had the filaments in crooked, and though other than that one I have never had one bad out of the box, there are some quality problems. Also, they are not all the same like you would expect. Bulbs I bought at Hagen's when they were still around were different from Amazon ones which were different than California Pontiac. I may have had some from the Filling Station too. I have lost track of which is which, but might have notes somewhere. To be completely fair, a lot of voltage loss was acceptable in those days in the wiring, and in the NOS bulbs the high beam is rated at a lower voltage than low beam. I have a scan saved somewhere (maybe from Dykes?) explaining what was acceptable for voltage drop. I believe that was almost a volt(!) on 50 candlepower bulbs. When testing bulbs a few years ago, I had one type of modern 2530 that could not take 7.5V (full generator voltage) without burning out. It would never get that in a real car, but the more you improve the wiring the closer you get. I was doing this on a bench with a variable power supply. When I say they couldn't take it, I mean they couldn't take it long enough to read the current drawn on the multimeter. Other imported ones were better.

 

My car has excellent grounds (i did them last year). The lights are bright, but more voltage could be available if I put relays and or enlarged the generator. They seem better than typical 6V sealed beams by quite a bit right now. They might be brighter on high beam with some 2330 (32/32 candlepower) bulbs because the generator would be able to completely carry them and the voltage would rise. I've not made a comparison.

 

I'm pretty committed to the idea of not burning through a bunch of NOS as much as I use the car a lot. It's academic anyway because the correct bulbs for my car are 2320 (32/21 candlepower), 2320L technically, and the NOS stocks are all used up. Apparently 2320 is also correct for Harley Davidson. I have a couple pairs ratholed away for someday, but for now it's imported 2530 because the supply is unlimited.

 

Anyhow... Back to Lincolns with H4s (and packing nuts).

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

4 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

No, I backed the nut all the way off with a wrench. The problem is that there's still not enough room to put in any packing.

 

I agree with Ed, Drive it. I would think that your water pump rebuilder should be able to easily replace the nut with one that is the correct size to make maintenance  easier in the future.

[MCHinson]

3 hours ago, Bloo said:

I thought the Lincoln had a sealed beam kit in it?

 

Well, if not, the things that seem to matter a lot for headlight performance are reflector silver (or aluminum), and the voltage getting to the bulb. I believe the Lincoln already has relays, doesn't it? As for the 2530 bulbs (50/32 candlepower) that @AB-Buff is recommending, I use them too but I use new production ones because I drive the car enough I don't want to burn through a bunch of NOS.

 

For what it's worth, it seems all new production 2320, 2330, 2530, etc. bulbs like these are REALLY 2530 (50/32 candlepower) no matter what number the sellers are calling them. It's no problem to find some (at Amazon, California Pontiac, Ford V8 parts houses, etc.). New ones may have one or both filaments straight instead of V. That is a cheapening, but can be an advantage in some lights if the focus is too sharp and the lenses aren't spreading it out enough. On others its worse. Your mileage may vary.

 

Carry spares.

 

Sorry for the continued diversion of the topic, but Bloo, in my experience the new production bulbs that I bought were all cheaply made in China. In about a dozen, I found a few with filaments that appeared to be correct and the rest were crooked enough that they really did not work as well as they should. I found that you can easily find NOS original production bulbs in quantity on Ebay cheaper than buying the new cheap junk ones. I have several dozen NOS ones on the shelf and so far, the first two that I installed in the car are still working fine. I am fairly sure I have a lifetime supply for my cars. Try Ebay for some NOS ones and I think you will be happier with them in your car.

[Bloo]

Yes. they are crap. No argument there. They aren't all the same though. At one point I was bench testing 3 different kinds of them, but never really got enough useful information to post a thread. The landscape has changed since then anyway. One set came from Hagen's in a Mac's bag, and I believe both of those companies are gone now. I've only had one with a misplaced filament, and it was from that pair. The import bulbs are also 50/32cp which are not just laying all over, and if a 50cp high beam is wanted, Imports are a lot easier than finding originals. Original 50/32cp aren't impossible to get yet, but not that many cars used them.

 

32/32cp is all over the place NOS on ebay, and might be better than 50/32cp in cases like mine (36 Pontiac). I'll have to try it again at some point. 32/21cp is original (for me) and expensive and close to impossible to find, but I got some. Those went in a box of unobtanium parts I am collecting in case I ever get around to restoring the car. I imagine your Buick generator could carry the 50/32cp no problem. In fact that's what my bench testing was all about. You have 10 more amps in a 37 Buick than I do.

[Matt Harwood]

Continuing my pre-Hershey checklist on the Lincoln, I went to the shop and replaced the headlight bulbs. The LEDs were bright, but diffuse, and didn't put much light on the road. I thought maybe they would work due to the nature of the sealed-beam housing, but alas, no. They drew virtually zero power, which was nice, but even though I don't do a lot of night driving, I'd still like the headlights to be effective. I also didn't like that you could see the LED through the lens--it looked a little odd and made the headlights look yellow inside when the lights were off.

 

I bought a pair of 6V H4 halogen bulbs with 35-watt high and low beams, hoping that I'd have enough juice to run them (they also make 50-watt versions which I thought might be too much). I have 12-gauge wiring in there, so I'm not worried about burning up the wires and my headlights are on relays, so the switch isn't going to get hot. Let's see how they work, shall we?

 

Halogen vs. LED bulbs. Both are H4, which

take about 20 seconds to change and

require no tools. Nice!

 

Bulbs replaced. What else is different?

Ed? Ed? Anyone?

 

Even shining up against the garage door, the

halogens are noticeably "crisper." The LEDs

just threw diffuse light without any sharp

edges. Hopefully that translates to more

light on the road.

 

The halogens obviously drew quite a bit more current but bumping the engine slightly above idle allowed the generator to catch up easily. I thought about taking it for a drive to see how it handled the lights, but decided I just didn't feel like it. Meh. Also, the floor-mounted dimmer got stuck again, although before it died I was able to verify that the high-beams were working (they did not work with the LEDs). I found another floor switch on eBay, so I'll install that later this week and while I'm working on the floor boards I'll also adjust the throttle pedal and [hopefully] be able to get more than 70% throttle from the engine. The sucker is already impressively strong, I'm interested to see how much more powerful it might be at full throttle.

 

Now about those pesky sidemount covers...

 

 

[Milburn Drysdale]

Car wen from nice to great looking  now that the extra lights are gone! 

[alsancle]

54 minutes ago, Milburn Drysdale said:

Car wen from nice to great looking  now that the extra lights are gone! 

This!

[JV Puleo]

Matt...I  have a lot of NOS string packing...I'll never use it all. Send me an address and I'll send you some.

[Matt Harwood]

Got my new hi-beam switch and installed it without issues. It clicks a lot easier than the first one and doesn't get hung up between positions. Problem solved, now I have hi and low beams, which may be needed in Hershey if we're driving around at night. 

 

I also figured that if I'm going to have it judged, it should be complete. My power brake system is inop so I didn't bother hooking up any of the vacuum lines, but since they're visible on the steering column control unit, I decided to make some new hard lines. Fortunately I have some 1/2-inch cunifer tubing that I bought to make heater lines (which I ended up not using) and it was ideal for this application. I salvaged my original fittings and bent up some new lines. The big stuff is REALLY hard to bend and I was disappointed that my bender left a little dimple in the surface, but not much I can do about that. I polished it up and bit and installed it.

 

Hard line for the power brakes made

and installed. It's not as crisp as I'd like

but the 1/2-inch tubing doesn't bend easily.

 

Then I started making a line to go between the intake manifold and the control head and wasted about an hour and a half making it just right. Then I realized it was a hose nipple, not a flare fitting--ugh. There's a length of hard line from the intake but it transitions to a rubber hose behind the block, and that connects to the control head. So a lot of work for nothing. I cut the metal tube and added a rubber hose to make it look right. I don't have any small wire hose clamps that will hold the hose, so I ordered some and will install them later. At least it'll look right for Hershey and the judges.

 

Tomorrow I think I'll tackle the sidemounts again. I need to figure out how to get them centered in the wells, which theoretically should eliminate the squeaking and rattling. I have a plan, but I'm not sure how it'll play out. I'll find out tomorrow...

[Steve_Mack_CT]

I am sure I am not the only one looking forward to seeing this car next month!!  Been 7 years or more Matt but we met briefly at Hershey.

[AB-Buff]

A few pages back there was a discussion on rear view mirrors, I cant remember who suggested this suction cup type mirror but I have to say it has been the best $20.00 I have spent in a long time.  My Lincoln coupe is really hard to see out of, especially on the right side.  I stuck this on the passenger window and have driven the car probably 400 miles of more and it's fantastic!!  I can see very well on the right, I can even park it! Sooo Thank you!!

Lynn

[EmTee]

12 hours ago, AB-Buff said:

I stuck this on the passenger window...

That's a great idea - I like that much better than sticking it to the paint! 

[Matt Harwood]

Finally tackled the squeaky, rattly sidemounts today and had some success. I've tried everything except the primary bracket, which is a big tubular piece of steel attached to the frame by a pinch bolt. That tubular mount can be moved up and down and I simply put it in the lowest position. Well, I decided to move it up a bit and see if that would affect the alignment of the tire in the well. I simply loosened the pinch bolt and used a floor jack to press it up--I didn't even remove the tire or cover. It moved easily and sure enough, it gave me enough play in the mount to push the tire closer to the center of the well. I used a rag to hold it in place while I tightened the pinch bolt. Repeat for the other side.

 

Loosen pinch bolt and press the sidemount

bracket upwards. Reposition tire. Tighten. Done.

 

Then I took it on my usual test loop and it's 80% better. No squeaks or rattles except over the biggest bumps. I'm going to call it a win. The car feels more solid, which is an illusion but I'll take it--it's just not squeaking all the time. Relief.

 

As for the test drive, well, it's pretty redundant at this point. A final run gave me the expected result: this car consistently runs 100 degrees above ambient, doesn't get fussy when it sits idling, and cools off quickly when it's rolling. Running the numbers through a spreadsheet, I can draw several conclusions. One, the restrictors had exactly zero effect, and two, adding anti-freeze didn't make it run notably hotter. That's a bit of a surprise but also a relief.

 

I don't think I need any more testing. The

results are all good news.

 

I finished the drive by adjusting the idle speed a bit and tightening the water pump, which is still leaking. I'll spend the next few weekends detailing the car and getting it ready for Hershey. See you guys there.

 

[keiser31]

EXCELLENT outcome of your journey through the car's quirks!

[95Cardinal]

Wonderful news,Matt! I'm looking forward to seeing you and the car at Hershey.

[EmTee]

18 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

I'll spend the next few weekends detailing the car and getting it ready for Hershey. See you guys there.

I think you should have a 'Name this Car' contest at Hershey.  Provide slips of paper and pencils for people to submit their suggestions.  Person who submits the the name you select wins a set of Trippe lights! 

[MCHinson]

4 hours ago, EmTee said:

I think you should have a 'Name this Car' contest at Hershey.  Provide slips of paper and pencils for people to submit their suggestions.  Person who submits the the name you select wins a set of Trippe lights! 

I can't make it to Hershey this year but I have the perfect name for it. After essentially rising from the ashes, I would suggest "The Phoenix".

[West Peterson]

While we're making comments on what to name it, I suggest not naming it.

[alsancle]

9 minutes ago, West Peterson said:

While we're making comments on what to name it, I suggest not naming it.

 

This.  Please.   Cars are not boats.

[Grimy]

5 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

This.  Please.   Cars are not boats.

But cars often have human-like personalities, especially Matt's Lincoln...  🙂

[Bloo]

 

[HarryLime]

Hopefully those Tripp lights were thrown in Ladue reservoir .

[Laughing Coyote]

I'm pretty sure Matt had all kinds of names for the Lincoln as he was working on it.

[alsancle]

7 minutes ago, Laughing Coyote said:

I'm pretty sure Matt had all kinds of names for the Lincoln as he was working on it.

 

Naming a car "the POS" will not help you distinguish it from the others as a general rule.

[neil morse]

Have we forgotten the title of this thread?  This is the car which shall not be named!

[edinmass]

15 hours ago, Grimy said:

But cars often have human-like personalities, especially Matt's Lincoln...  🙂

Yup……..Matt’s Lincoln has many human qualities. It’s a paranoid schizophrenic with delusional tendencies of overheating while driving, the operator hears voices in his head……. being well medicated to operate it is probably a requirement. 🤔

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by edinmass (see edit history)

[EmTee]

8 hours ago, neil morse said:

Have we forgotten the title of this thread?  This is the car which shall not be named!

Neil is on the right track.  My tongue-in-cheek naming contest was really a backhanded attempt to get Matt to consider changing the name of this particular discussion thread.  I understand, however, that "The Car Which Shall Not Be Named" has pretty much become this car's trademark... 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

He hath faced thy car that shall not be named and came away something more than a man...

[Matt Harwood]

I appreciate the sentiment, guys, but I think the car will remain nameless. I don't name my cars. We just call it "the Lincoln." That's good enough.

 

Anyway, it was Tuesday night and that means a drive to the local cruise-in that we've been attending for years. We received a postcard in the mail this week informing us that the Lincoln had been selected as a finalist for "Car of the Year" for tonight's event, so instead of taking a few cars from inventory, Melanie and I piled into the Lincoln (see how that works?) and drove over to the show.

 

A good turn out with about 300 cars and some interesting stuff:

 

 

These guys showed up, which would have made my 

kids excited about 10 years ago.

 

This week's Harwood Motors award winner was this

1930 Model A pickup. I pick cars I like as

well as cars that maybe haven't won awards

in the past. The owner was thrilled!

 

Ultimately, the Lincoln did win Car of the Year. I had a conversation with Dennis, the president of the club that puts on the event, explaining that there could be some pushback if a sponsor won the top prize--it would look like you could buy the award. He insisted that our car had earned more votes than any other car this year and that five other club members had certified the results. It was a legit win. Besides, this was my personal car and not a car we were trying to sell. Reluctantly I accepted, although it was definitely a big honor.

 

They had me move the Lincoln to a 

special spot in the middle of the show

near the awards area.

 

Even though a lot of people had already gone

home, there were still quite a few sticking

around to see who would win Car of the Year.

 

And the Lincoln was definitely popular.

 

This is my placeholder award until they make

the custom award that goes with the

Car of the Year. Apparently it's a clock

with a photo of my car on it. Cool!

 

By the time the awards wrapped up, it was after 8 PM and getting pretty dark. I was glad that I had replaced the headlights and was eager to try them out. The low beams kind of suck, but the high beams are satisfactory and we had no problems getting home. The generator seemed to hover around 0 or maybe even showing a little discharge. That was puzzling. It wasn't draining and I'm not really concerned, but the Lincoln has a primitive regulator that should have been able to bump up the amperage a bit to keep up with the lights. It showed a charge when I first tested the lights in the shop, but admittedly that wasn't a warm engine on a warm night. Meh, I'm not going to worry about it, I don't drive at night very often or for very long, and with two Optimas, it's not like I'm going to run out of electricity. 

 

New bulbs throw plenty of light.

 

LED dash lights work well, too.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

Congratulations on the award. You and the Lincoln deserve it. Mike

[95Cardinal]

Congratulations, Matt!