1936 Chrysler Airstream C-8 Convertible Restoration

[Professor]

Fog light success.  The only issue I ran into was that the lights did not work when I first powered them on with the switch.  I checked the switch output voltage and it was good.  Checked the voltage at the fog light connector, and it was good.  I took two alligator clips and grounded the light mount on each light and they burst on.  I ended up having to remove the bumper mount, clean the paint off the bumper mounts, and then bolt both lights back on.  If I can find a way to unobtrusively run a ground wire to each light, I will.  I have added ground wires to both headlights, both tail lights… why not the fog lights 🙂. 

 

A couple of images:

 

 

[VW4X4]

2 hours ago, Professor said:

Fog light success.  The only issue I ran into was that the lights did not work when I first powered them on with the switch.  I checked the switch output voltage and it was good.  Checked the voltage at the fog light connector, and it was good.  I took two alligator clips and grounded the light mount on each light and they burst on.  I ended up having to remove the bumper mount, clean the paint off the bumper mounts, and then bolt both lights back on.  If I can find a way to unobtrusively run a ground wire to each light, I will.  I have added ground wires to both headlights, both tail lights… why not the fog lights 🙂. 

 

A couple of images:

 

 

I see you have a front license plate.  Of everything designed into the Chrysler Airstream couple the license plates, both front and rear, always looked to me as if they were an after thoughts.   I originally did not have tail lights for my couple and found tail light off of a sedan, which does not have the proper mounting for the plate.  This lead me to mounting the rear license plate in the middle of the trunk.  Since then I have found the proper tail lights but never moved the plate.  I don't think I'm going to move the plate.  I just don't like it hanging out as a parachute, and I'm sure in my tight garage it would be bumped into constantly.  Fortunately, here in PA, we don't need front license plate.

 

ERIC

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by VW4X4 (see edit history)

[Professor]

Hi Eric,

 

I managed to find a matching original (unrestored) pair of 1936 NC plates so I purchased and used them.  My rear license plate is above the left rear tail light and is lit by a window in the left rear tail light that allows the rear tail light (not the brake light) to shine on the license plate.  It is pretty bright.  I would be willing to bet that while the rear license plate location and lighting were different between the sedan and convertible, I would bet by looking at my front license plate mount that all front mounts on Airstreams were the same.

 

Let me know if you want a close up image of the front license plate.  I am certain it is original.

 

Joe

 

43 minutes ago, VW4X4 said:

I see you have a front license plate.  Of everything designed into the Chrysler Airstream couple the license plates, both front and

rear, always looked to me at if they were an after thoughts.   I originally did not have tail lights for my couple and found tail light off of a sedan, which does not have the proper mounting for the plate.  This lead me to mounting the rear license plate in the middle of the trunk. Since then I have found the proper tail light but never moved the plate. I don't think I'm going to more the plate.  I just don't like it hanging out as a parachute, and I'm sure in my tight garage it would be bumped into constantly.  Fortunately, here in PA, we don't need front license plate.

 

ERIC

 

ERIC

 

[Professor]

By the way… The fog lights I have appear to be sealed beam… but not in the traditional sense.  If I look inside the yellow lenses, I can clearly see what appears to be a standard Mazda headlight bulb.  In fact, the dark circles you see inside the lenses in the above photograph with the fog lights on are the dark top of the standard headlight bulb.  In my mind, a traditional sealed beam headlight has the filament encased in the lens and reflector.  When one of the fog lights burn out, I will take it apart to see if I can replace the bulb.

 

If the headlight bulbs are sealed normally, and then Chrysler encased the bulb in a sealed reflector lens assembly, what was the purpose?  To make sure people bought the more expensive lens assembly rather than just replacing the bulb?

 

Odd…

 

Joe

[Professor]

07 June Update:

 

Well, I got to find out how fog lights were put together more quickly than I expected.  My driver’s side fog light burned out yesterday evening on a job so I decided to take it apart to see how it ticks.

 

Essentially, the fog light is a standard light bulb soldered into a silver coated brass reflector, and then the reflector is rubber cemented to the lens and a metal rim is clamped around the lens and reflector assembly.

 

I removed the lens assembly and cut the clamp band  in one place so that I could remove the band.  I removed the band, and then used a razor to separate the glass lens from the reflector.  The rubber cement was still pliable and was easy to remove from both the lens and the reflector.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the reflector was almost completely oxidized black.  After using a propane torch to heat the bulb where it was soldered to the reflector, I pulled the bulb out of the front of the reflector and tossed it.  I then took a standard Mazda 2331 headlight bulb and cut off the metal mounting ring so that it was a bare bulb just like the original fog light bulb.  I used a small file to file down the solder bumps from the Mazda 2331 headlight socket and from the inner ring of the reflector where the bulb mounts.  I then cleaned the reflector with lamp black and then slid in the new bulb and  soldered it to the reflector at the correct depth using a small propane soldering iron.

 

I used RTV in a 50cc syringe to lay a thin bead of RTV around the edge of the lens, sandwiched it to the reflector making sure it was clocked correctly, reinstalled the now cut metal clamp band then put it in the retaining ring which clamps the assembly to the chrome bezel.  I checked to make sure that the MoPar TOP symbol was at the top of the chrome bezel opposite the chrome bezel retaining screw.

 

Because the 2331 bulb does not have a screw type connector, but rather, has a high beam and low beam solder bumps, I soldered a cloth insulated wire to across both solder bumps so that both the high beam and low beam would be on at the same time.  The wire I used can handle the current easily, but the bulb may not last long with both filaments running.   I love a good experiment.  🙂. 

 

I then used a bullet connector on the exposed end of the wire to the bulb and another bullet connector to the wire coming from the original power feed and then connected the two bullet connectors with a female female bullet splice connector.  I screwed everything back together and tested it out.  The bulb looks great and is a bit brighter than the “factory” bulb in the passenger side fog light. I will do this upgrade to the passenger side fog light when it fails.

 

By the way, replacement lens assemblies NOS are around $130 shipped and I get my Mazda 2331 bulbs for $2.21 each, shipped free.  I would say that this simple modification can save folks a substantial amount of money if they have non-functional fog lights.

 

On to the images…

 

Joe

 

[Piaras]

At least you can date it to Feb 10 1948!

Pierre

[Professor]

Yup… 11 years before I was born.  🙂

 

1 hour ago, Piaras said:

At least you can date it to Feb 10 1948!

Pierre

 

[Professor]

I drove the Chrysler last night and took an image of what the lighting looks like with both the headlights and fog lights on.  I turned off the headlights and checked to see what the fog lights alone looked like on a dark country road; in the unlikely event I had an electrical failure that lead to both headlights being out, I could easily drive on the fog lights alone.

 

Today’s work will be rebuilding a double action fuel pump and plumbing the vacuum lines for the windshield wipers so that they run as they were designed to run with the fuel pump’s vacuum assist pump.

 

I hope everyone has a great day.  Thanks again for all your support.

[VW4X4]

2 hours ago, Professor said:

I drove the Chrysler last night and took an image of what the lighting looks like with both the headlights and fog lights on.  I turned off the headlights and checked to see what the fog lights alone looked like on a dark country road; in the unlikely event I had an electrical failure that lead to both headlights being out, I could easily drive on the fog lights alone.

 

Today’s work will be rebuilding a double action fuel pump and plumbing the vacuum lines for the windshield wipers so that they run as they were designed to run with the fuel pump’s vacuum assist pump.

 

I hope everyone has a great day.  Thanks again for all your support.

Cool picture.   One of the issues on my car(s) that I never figured out is the mounting of the windshield wiper gears and rubber.

 Have you ever taken these part off your car?  Although, a convert, is somewhat different, in the fact that it has to vacuum motors

rather than one.  I sure what like to figure mine out.

ERIC

[Professor]

Eric,

 

There are no linkages or gears on my car’s windshield wipers.  The motors drive the wiper blades independently, and the only connection to the wipers is a single vacuum line to each one.  My wipers were running slow, so I took them apart to clean them and now they do not work.  I had to use the old gaskets since I cannot find a gasket set for them.  Once I rebuild the fuel pump, I will figure out what is going on with my vacuum motors.

 

Not having working vacuum motors is not a big issue for me since I use Rain-X on all my windows.  Rain-X works WAY better than any windshield wipers I have ever seen since the water beads off the glass and does not occlude the view out.

 

Have you tried posting an image of your wiper linkages here so that people can help you?  This forum is amazing when it comes to figuring things out.

 

2 hours ago, VW4X4 said:

Cool picture.   One of the issues on my car(s) that I never figured out is the mounting of the windshield wiper gears and rubber.

 Have you ever taken these part off your car?  Although, a convert, is somewhat different, in the fact that it has to vacuum motors

rather than one.  I sure what like to figure mine out.

ERIC

 

[Professor]

Good Evening All,

 

All I did today was perform a lube job on the Chrysler today.  While I was under there, I took a close look at my exhaust pipe and it is in terrible condition.  I searched the forum here and found praise for Waldron’s Exhaust and wondering if anyone here had experience with them.  They have a factory exhaust system with all pipes and muffler for my C8 in aluminized steel and stainless steel.  The price for the aluminized steel is $450-ish and the stainless steel is roughly double that price.  My local shop wants $378 end-to-end, however, my exhaust system is not factory and they do not know how to route the exhaust the same way the factory did.  The additional $72 would be worth it to me to have an exact factory replica.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Joe

[Laughing Coyote]

I used them for my 1961 Mercury restoration and the fit was right on.  

[VW4X4]

2 hours ago, Professor said:

Good Evening All,

 

All I did today was perform a lube job on the Chrysler today.  While I was under there, I took a close look at my exhaust pipe and it is in terrible condition.  I searched the forum here and found praise for Waldron’s Exhaust and wondering if anyone here had experience with them.  They have a factory exhaust system with all pipes and muffler for my C8 in aluminized steel and stainless steel.  The price for the aluminized steel is $450-ish and the stainless steel is roughly double that price.  My local shop wants $378 end-to-end, however, my exhaust system is not factory and they do not know how to route the exhaust the same way the factory did.  The additional $72 would be worth it to me to have an exact factory replica.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Joe

Is Waldron exhaust in FL? Back a long time ago, I purchase a factory exhaust system from (I think) it was them.  I remember the name but I just can't remember for sure from back in 1988 when I did mine.  IT was a good fitting system, for the six cylinder that  is routed thru a difficult frame. The head pipe is actually captive to the engine.  At least on the six cylinder.  You have to remove the manifolds, or lift the engine to install the head pipe.  After finding this out I wasn't about to install anything less than stainless, for the head pipe. Then I found they had sent the wrong, muffler. So, the only part I could use from there system was the tail pipe.

     On  the six cylinder cars its blatantly obvious how the exhaust routes. The head pipe routes thru the frame to the muffler. All one piece.  The muffler is under the pass. side floor.  Then a second single piece exits the muffler then goes back up over the axle and exits the rear. The fuel tank is off center to accommodate the rear exhaust pipe to the rear of the car.  The original system had crazy, flanges that hold the pipes to the muffler together, which I did not use.  I'm sure the 8 cylinder and convert will have some differences.  

One of the biggest problems that I have not solved is with the location of the muffler.  The muffler is very close to the floor, and it causes the floor to get very hot.  If this is the case in your car, now is the time to install a heat shield, of some sort.

 

ERIC

[Roger Zimmermann]

It was Kepich in Florida; this company is no more in business. Sometimes it was good, sometimes bad. Waldron is way better; over the years, I bought many parts from them. The inconvenient: they have usually a long delay.

[VW4X4]

8 hours ago, Roger Zimmermann said:

It was Kepich in Florida; this company is no more in business. Sometimes it was good, sometimes bad. Waldron is way better; over the years, I bought many parts from them. The inconvenient: they have usually a long delay.

BINGO..... that's who I got my system from.... Obviously your memory is better than mine.... thanks roger.

 

One of the unspoken coolest things I found back in the 80's when I was building mostly antiques cars, was all the interesting places that specialized in stuff like this.  Lots of it was "right under your nose" here in PGH.    You would never know about these specialized businesses unless you asked around, and finally someone else told you about them.    I was all over W. PA getting stuff done.  Unfortunately, time and the car cruise type people killed most of these businesses .

 

ERIC

[Professor]

By the way, the bulb in the fog lights was a T2404. I need to look up the specifications on the part to see how many watts it is.  It doesn’t matter much since I used larger wiring both internal and external to the fog light, but I am curious none-the-less. 

[Professor]

Hi Eric,

 

Waldron Exhaust is in Michigan now, but they may have moved.  I have ordered stainless steel exhaust systems on two of my past cars, and as far as I am concerned, it cannot be beat.  The downsides are expense and lack of originality.  The lack of originality bothers me more than the expense, but ultimately, I am building a car to drive not to show (in any serious way) so perhaps originality does not matter too much for a part that almost no one will ever see.  I installed an electric fuel pump and used the same rationale… the benefits outweighed the costs.  My current muffler was installed so that it hangs below the frame rails on the passenger side and I do not think it is routed correctly.  There is a fairly substantial air gap (maybe five or six inches or more) between the muffler and the floor.  Maybe the convertible coupes were different?  With respect to heat shield, I really should insulate the floor and firewall area with a high quality heat insulating foil designed for automobiles.

 

I think I may have posted a previous image of my muffler assembly… let me see if I can find it in this now, quite long thread.

 

Joe

 

 

21 hours ago, VW4X4 said:

Is Waldron exhaust in FL? Back a long time ago, I purchase a factory exhaust system from (I think) it was them.  I remember the name but I just can't remember for sure from back in 1988 when I did mine.  IT was a good fitting system, for the six cylinder that  is routed thru a difficult frame. The head pipe is actually captive to the engine.  At least on the six cylinder.  You have to remove the manifolds, or lift the engine to install the head pipe.  After finding this out I wasn't about to install anything less than stainless, for the head pipe. Then I found they had sent the wrong, muffler. So, the only part I could use from there system was the tail pipe.

     On  the six cylinder cars its blatantly obvious how the exhaust routes. The head pipe routes thru the frame to the muffler. All one piece.  The muffler is under the pass. side floor.  Then a second single piece exits the muffler then goes back up over the axle and exits the rear. The fuel tank is off center to accommodate the rear exhaust pipe to the rear of the car.  The original system had crazy, flanges that hold the pipes to the muffler together, which I did not use.  I'm sure the 8 cylinder and convert will have some differences.  

One of the biggest problems that I have not solved is with the location of the muffler.  The muffler is very close to the floor, and it causes the floor to get very hot.  If this is the case in your car, now is the time to install a heat shield, of some sort.

 

ERIC

 

[Professor]

All,

 

Given that the engine is running well (my last fuel mileage was an astounding 14.2mpg), I am going to go ahead and finish the firewall back in the color that it was originally.  Based on chipping away at the green paint on my firewall, It appears that my firewall was finished in a semigloss black paint, but I have some questions for the experts here:

 

1.  Did Chrysler publish the paint code for the engine facing side of the firewall?

2. Where did the firewall paint end and the car color begin on the cowl?  Since my car is black, it was impossible for me to tell when I stripped away the green paint on the cowl.

3.  Was the inside of the engine hood painted firewall black or the body color?

 

I have attached some images of almost five hours of work today.  No wonder body shops charge so much.  I did all of the stripping using a citrus based paint peel and then sanding with  220 grit sandpaper.  The work was tedious to say the least.  This said, if I continue to do small sections at a time, I should be able to get the car completely stripped on my own and then decide whether or not to pay a professional for the body work and paint.  Part of me wants to learn to paint, but the other part of me does not want to learn on this car with black paint.  None-the-less, the more work I do, the less I will pay for somoene else to do the work.

 

One final note.  The paint on this car was configured as follows:

 

Base Metal

Red high fill primer

Black factory paint

Silverish low fill primer

Green repaint from the early 70s

 

My plan is to completely finish the under hood areas and then start stripping the main body.  This will take long enough that I will need to put a light coat of paint or something over the bare metal while I strip the various parts of the car.  Any ideas on what I should use?  Whatever I use, I can use it to define high and low spots in the paint for the person who does the final paint.  I could use some expert guidance here.

 

Thanks so much!  Images attached.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Professor (see edit history)

[VW4X4]

2 hours ago, Professor said:

All,

 

Given that the engine is running well (my last fuel mileage was an astounding 14.2mpg), I am going to go ahead and finish the firewall back in the color that it was originally.  Based on chipping away at the green pain on my firewall, It appears that my firewall was finished in a semigloss black paint, but I have some questions for the experts here:

 

1.  Did Chrysler publish the paint code for the engine facing side of the firewall?

2. Where did the firewall paint end and the car color begin on the cowl?  Since my car is black, it was impossible for me to tell when I stripped away the green paint on the cowl.

3.  Was the inside of the engine hood painted firewall black or the body color?

 

I have attached some images of almost five hours of work today.  No wonder body shops charge so much.  I did all of the stripping using a citrus based paint peel and then sanding with  220 grit sandpaper.  The work was tedious to say the least.  This said, if I continue to do small sections at a time, I should be able to get the car completely stripped on my own and then decide whether or not to pay a professional for the body work and paint.  Part of me wants to learn to paint, but the other part of me does not want to learn on this car with black paint.  None-the-less, the more work I do, the less I will pay for somoene else to do the work.

 

One final note.  The paint on this car was configured as follows:

 

Base Metal

Red high fill primer

Black factory paint

Silverish low fill primer

Green repaint from the early 70s

 

My plan is to completely finish the under hood areas and then start stripping the main body.  This will take long enough that I will need to put a light coat of paint or something over the bare metal while I strip the various parts of the car.  Any ideas on what I should use?  Whatever I use, I can use it to define high and low spots in the paint for the person who does the final paint.  I could use some expert guidance here.

 

Thanks so much!  Images attached.

 

 

Joe,      YOU DID IT NOW....  If i was you I would not have touch the body until late Nov.   These car, unlike a lot of vehicles, have to be dismantled a lot to do a paint job properly.  Therefore your going to be off the road, and as I have said before likely why a lot of these cars never make it back on the road.

 

That said, to the bast of my knowledge, everything body panel was painted the same as the exterior: firewall, under the hood, inter fenders, etc.  All the same on both of my cars.

 

The best body shops follow PPG industry automotive product usage:

-Strip to bare metal.   

-weld repair/replace all metal issues

-Immediately prime with PPG Epoxy paint.

-body work, finish work

- sealer

- finish paint

           

                SO, when you get the first parts sand blasted, (which is a much better way of stripping paint) the first thing is a epoxy two part primmer.   The last time I purchased paint products for a car, about 6 months ago, prices were unbelievable.  IF you have a local automotive paint store they are a very good source for info.  But be warned, they are also going to push there products.  PPG is the best you can get.   Doing a paint job is actually very easy, as long as you follow  some simple instructions.

The hard part is getting the body work right. (the prep work).

 

ERIC

                         

Edited June 11, 2022 by VW4X4 (see edit history)

[Professor]

Thanks Eric,

 

I had to open this can of worms sooner or later, and since I have three months off over the summer, I need to get as much done as I can now. I am certain that I can paint the firewall area, which is all I am after right now.  I will finish the entire engine compartment off before I start working on the external surfaces.  I think starting small will be fine… what’s the worst that could happen? LOL.

 

Joe

 

 

[Randiego]

Joe,

 

Great work on the temp guage.  When I was installing my temp bulb in the block of my engine, (and mind you I was very  careful)  I was "gently bendig the wire wrapped copper tube to conform with  a friend's picture of his 36 engine compartment that was original.  The horror of the day.....the tube cracked ! ! !  😞  One must remember that 84+ years is not kind to ancient copper.  I ended up very lucky.  I got a NOS guage/tube/bulb assembly from a gent who has many parts stockpiled for later use.  Saved the day.  But IF I had seen your detail of how you restored your temp bulb, I surely would have done the proceedure that you have detailed here. 

 

On to your topic about the driving lights.   Tripp was one of the premier companies that made driving lights for the industry back in the day.  Buying a pair of 6" lights in NOS or excellent condition will set you back a small fortune.  Are your lights "sealed beam" or do they have the provision for bulb replacement?  I'm not sure of the year that they all started supplying sealed beam lights but I think that it was post war.  At any rate, I am sure that you want to keep those as they were on the car when you got it.  Surely, there is a source in the club that has wiring instructions for wiring in the lights.  Some member (somewhere) should have  paperwork regarding the Mopar lighting kit and how the wiring was to be "run".

 

That  is a great idea about using two batteries for extra reserve.  I wonder if anyone has mentioned to you about increasing the output of your generator?  A friend and my "guru" regarding the older vehicles, informed me that you can also increase the amperage ouput of your generator by adjusting the regulator (inside).  You take off the cover of the regulator and there is an adjusting screw that you can screw in or out for amperage adjustment.  He said that you have to be careful or the downside of that is that you will "boil" the fluid in your battery.  He said that you can hook up a guage and increase the output to a safe level that is above what is factory spec.    I am sure that you can achieve the same results with your system without going to the expense of altering what you have.   Make sure that your brushes are in good condition and if needed, you can take the generator off of the car, dissasemble it and clean the armature.  That is an easy fix. 

 

I took my 36 Plymouth generator apart when I got the car, cleaned it up chucked the armature in my lathe, took a fine grit carborundum paper and sanded the "varnish" off the copper armature.  I also lightly sanded the brushes, removing the "glazed" surfaces. The bushings were in good shape and were not worn.  I put a good lithium grease in the bushings (both ends) and reassembled the generator.  I painted the housing with Dupli Color "satin" black engine paint.  (It stands up to 400 degrees).   it works well and withstands the rigors of the heat in the engine compartment.  Ditto for the starter too.  That was 5 years ago and my generator and starter look as nice as the day that I serviced them.  My starter and generator are original along with the engine.  72K miles and it still runs very strong. And Chrysler, like GM, has a provision for oiling the starter with an oil port.  

 

Now that you have sorted out the problems with  your Airflow, it will give you YEARS of reliable service.   The first thing that Walter Chrysler built into his vehicles.........quality.    My first glimps of an Airflow was in St. Louis back in 1973.  I was cruising on the freeway going to work.  I was motoring along at 65 mph.   Suddenly, in my rear view mirror, I saw this black vehicle coming up on me a a very good clip.  I moved over a lane as this streamlined "bullet" went by me.  I floored my Dodge Coronet (with the slant six) trying to catch up with that car to see what it was.  At 85  mph (about the max that my old Dodge could muster)  I finally caught up to read the script on the car.   A I R F L O W.   The  car and driver looked very comfortable at that speed.  What a car ! !    Joe, you are in rarified air with the Airflow owners group.  We are all in respect for you doing as much as you can yourself to put this beautiful car back on the road after so many years of sitting.  I look forward to your next posting.

 

Randy

 

PS:  Attached are pics of my 36 Plymouth P2 Touring Sedan.  I did a lot of work to get it up to driving condition.  Now it is a reliable roadworth cruiser.   It is anticlimatic to finish the work.  THAT is most of the frustration and fun.  Restoration gives me satisfaction  when chatting with fellow car nuts and their projects.  When you put your own toil and sweat into the project (AND DOLLARS), the pleasure of hopping in and driving down the road makes the journey sweeter and transports me back to a time of leisure and uncomplicated machinery.   This is a distant cousin of your Airflow with the same engineers drawing up the specs for the different models.  But with the same bloodlines.   

[Professor]

One side note… the screws that hold the welting (sp?) on the cowl are odd little buggers.  Not at all what I expected when I started trying to “unscrew” them.

 

 

[VW4X4]

1 hour ago, Professor said:

One side note… the screws that hold the welting (sp?) on the cowl are odd little buggers.  Not at all what I expected when I started trying to “unscrew” them.

 

 

Those are exactly what was on my car....  I have to assume these are original.   These must have been hammered in originally?

 

ERIC

[Dan Cluley]

I put a Waldron's exhaust on my 1965 Chrysler last year and have also been quite satisfied.  As said above, they are not quick, but they were up front and accurate about how long it would take.  I ordered early in July and was told it would be 10-12 weeks.  They called the beginning of week 11 and let me know it was ready.

 

[Professor]

That’s what I would think. If I were a betting man, I would say that they did not even drill holes in advance. My welting is anything BUT evenly spaced and the holes look like punctures and not like drilled holes.  The area around the holes is dented suggesting some significant force was used during the installation of the welting. Once the “screws”  are seated, they spin freely since the top of the shaft of the screw is not threaded.  To get them out, I use a pair of wire cutters underneath the welting and twisted.. they came right out.  Trying to unscrew them was virtually impossible.  I screwed them back in when I reinstalled the welting.

 

Yet another small detail that may help someone in the future.

 

Joe

 

18 hours ago, VW4X4 said:

Those are exactly what was on my car....  I have to assume these are original.   These must have been hammered in originally?

 

ERIC

 

[Steve9]

New welting screws are available from Roberts Motor Parts. 

[Professor]

Greetings All,

 

An NOS original (for my Chrysler) fuel pump I am rebuilding today has rounded brass screws holding on the vacuum diaphragm, but a second used fuel pump appears to have more squared steel screws.  I cannot tell from the parts manual what is appropriate.  Anyone have an idea?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Joe

 

 

[Piaras]

I suspect that could be either different suppliers over time or the round heads were replacements. I find most older equipment use Fillister head screws and bolts instead of the round heads. 
Pierre

[Steve9]

I’d polish up the brass ones and go with those.

[Professor]

They would certainly look neater.  Interestingly, the brass screws are only on the vacuum portion of the pump; the fuel side of the pump has the same steel screws as the second pump.

 

4 hours ago, Steve9 said:

I’d polish up the brass ones and go with those.

 

[Professor]

Fuel/Vacuum pump is rebuilt.  Pictures are worth a thousand words.

 

 

[Professor]

More…

 

 

[Professor]

Last one…

 

[31 LaSalle]

beautiful car a piece of automotive art

[Professor]

Next task:

Rebuilding the vacuum wipers.

By the way, the rebuild kits were wrapped in wax covered cloth that completely sealed the kit.  It appears that they wrapped the kits in wax covered linen and then dipped the package in wax to seal the entire package.  Better than a ziplock bag!

 

 

 

 

[Professor]

All done with one motor:

 

 

[Professor]

And a short couple of videos of the motor test:

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/ifJaL8pBSW0

 

https://youtu.be/idWCrBn2Kbs

 

The only issue that I ran into was that the convertible has a built in travel limiter (that upward pointing tab on the vacuum paddle) that neither of the rebuild kits came with.  I had to drill out the rivet holding the limiter on, install the limiter, and then rivet the whole assembly back together.

 

These motors are easy enough to rebuild if you can find the correct kit.  I will rebuild the second motor tomorrow and then install them back in the Chrysler.

 

By the way, the reason that the motor in the above images failed is that the bottom rivet broke allowing the paddle to separate at one end.  I am not exactly sure how this could happen given that there is very little force on the rivet… but it did.  It will be interesting to get into the second motor and see why it is not working tomorrow.

 

Joe

Edited June 16, 2022 by Professor (see edit history)

[Professor]

Installed both rebuilt vacuum windshield wipers today and went for a test run.  Everything works great.  Here is the installed test video:

 

https://youtu.be/koULRXes654

 

Joe

[Professor]

Someone left a comment asking for the version of the video with varying engine load.  Well… here you go.  LOL:

 

 

 

Joe

[VW4X4]

3 hours ago, Professor said:

Installed both rebuilt vacuum windshield wipers today and went for a test run.  Everything works great.  Here is the installed test video:

 

https://youtu.be/koULRXes654

 

Joe

That's the fastest vacuum wiper I've ever seen.  You better sloe it down. Open the valves up a lot less!  Otherwise something is going to breaks.   Nice job..... I suspect that's becasue you just rebuilt the pump also.

 

ERIC