JV Puleo Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 (edited) I don't think that machines for dynamic balancing had been invented in 1925. The best they could have done is some sort of static balancing but the usual method was to make all the parts to very close tolerances. If it has a hollow tube for a drive shaft this would have been made from precisely controlled tubing...maybe with the inside reamed smooth and the outside turned so the wall thickness was uniform. The ends would have been machined all over as well. Combined with the relatively slow speeds it would be rotating at, balance should not be an issue unless it is bent. Edited February 6, 2023 by JV Puleo (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 6, 2023 Author Share Posted February 6, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, JV Puleo said: I don't think that machines for dynamic balancing had been invented in 1925. The best they could have done is some sort of static balancing but the usual method was to make all the parts to very close tolerances. If it has a hollow tube for a drive shaft this would have been made from precisely controlled tubing...maybe with the inside reamed smooth and the outside turned so the wall thickness was uniform. The ends would have been machined all over as well. Combined with the relatively slow speeds it would be rotating at, balance should not be an issue unless it is bent. I'm thinking along the same lines... The driveshaft itself is a solid piece of round stock with splined ends with short hollow passages to feed lube from the zerks directly into the u-joint. It must weigh 40lb without the u-joints attached! It's not bent so I think I'm going to assemble it and road test. Good info, thanks! Edited February 6, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Yes...like the drive shaft I'm making right now. A straight, heavy bar. That would be "in balance" naturally. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Harper Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Hello Jason, In way of an update we scanned the water pump impeller today. Its certainly has seen better days! Next step is working with it in SolidWorks. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 6, 2023 Author Share Posted February 6, 2023 42 minutes ago, Terry Harper said: Hello Jason, In way of an update we scanned the water pump impeller today. Its certainly has seen better days! Next step is working with it in SolidWorks. Now that's cool! Thanks for the update, I appreciate your help! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 The pinion seal was next on the list... I took me a week to gather all the supplies I'd need to make this work. I got the felt and rope seal from Mcmaster while the exhaust connectors came form the local auto store. I'd read some info on here about using exhaust tubing to cut felt seals so I sharpened up my tubing and went to work. I backed the felt with wood in my vise and pressed the tube unto it. It worked well, nice clean edges. I made a few different sizes and while it was a bit of a bear getting the new seal installed it worked. Next up was the outer seal and this was a bit frustrating... I purchase 3/16 rope seal and it turned out to be too big. Since it was a square shape and stuck up out of the groove I tapped it down which worked nicely to make it conform to the rounded groove in the part. However when I tried to install it it was already packed down to it's limit and would not go into the pinion housing. Not wanting to crack the housing I shaved it some with no success. I had some 1/8 square graphite rope seal here so I tried that instead. I would have liked it to be a bit larger but did stick up some and offered some decent resistance when I installed the seal carrier. If it leaks I'll redo it but for now it stays. I can definitely feel the difference between the new felt seal and the old. There was no resistance to turning it with the old seal, now it takes some decent force to turn it. I oiled the felt before install to hold it until the gears fling some lube around inside the housing. Next I installed the two pinion nuts and locking tab. There was some end play in the pinion shaft before I took it apart so when I put it back together I tightened that out. I ran the nut up tight and then backed off just slightly before locking it in place with nut #2. I did the locking tabs then and also cleaned and set the pinion seal retaining bolt at the top of the housing. The drive flange was cleaned and painted and then placed in position. Lastly the nut was installed and torqued down with the keeper placed over the end. We're all set for the driveshaft now, which needs some minor work before install. One of which was re-remaking the splined washer in 16ga vs 20ga steel. The 20ga one was too thin and got beat up in all this driveshaft shenanigan going off/ons. Tomorrow I'll get the shaft installed and take care of some other bits that I've been waiting for a sunny day to do. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 Weather was lovely today, in the 40's with no wind or clouds... Not your typical February day here and I took full advantage of it, our 4th actual sunny day in 3 months. A welcome change from working under fluorescent lights and work lamps. First up was installing a gasket in the rear u-joint. The books show no gasket was present from the factory but I figured it couldn't hurt, anything to keep the lubricant in is a good thing! I also made a new retaining pin for the u-joint also, the old one was bent before I removed it and only got worse. Once I blew all the chips out from drilling a new retaining pin hole I assembled it on the drive shaft. Lastly I pulled the zerks out and cleaned the crud out of them... With the zerks back in the driveshaft was done. This thing really gave me fits, I was glad to see it ready to install. Hopefully it works as well as it looks! I prepared for the installation battle by lining up the leather and steel washers with the splines in the u-joints. I lubed the inside of the transmission splines and brought out my rubber mallet to show I meant business. It was all a big buildup for nothing though... The driveshaft slide right in with no issues. Connecting the rear axle to it's joint was also a non-event, no issues with fitment or positioning. The original bolts had cleaned up well and were reused. It's been some time since the whole drivetrain was connected, July or August I think. I must have moved these parts around the shop 50 times since, glad to see them back in place! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) I'd been doing some research on 20's u-joint lubrication and found some lively debates about what type is recommended. When I cleaned the joints out they were full of old, heavy grease which is NOT suitable for that application. The Nash owner's manual calls for a heavy weight oil or medium weight cup grease for joint lubrication. After some looking around I found that Restoration Supply had semi fluid grease and I decided to go with that. Installing it would require the use of the Nash's Alemite gun, which had to be emptied and needed a good cleaning. I cleaned out the old mystery grease and did an inspection of the tip assembly, also cleaning the the old grease out there too. Everything looked ok once cleaned so I put it together and filled it with the new grease and went to town filling the u joints. I did the rear joint first and was unsure how much it would take but after 1.5 "guns" worth of grease it oozed out the slip joint. I would have caught it sooner but my head was on the opposite side and I didn't see it right away. The front one went smoother since I knew about how much to pump in. Right on schedule it started to leak out at the slip joint and this time I caught it early! It would have been much easier with a modern grease gun but I didn't have an Alemite adapter so I did a lot of cranking on the old gun instead. I suppose I could have prefilled the joint but then I would have missed out on all the fun! Edited February 13, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 Since the driveshaft was back in place I could move forward on some other stuff, the taillight assembly for one... It wasn't restored well and it shows... Some goofy stuff too... Re-restoring it also gives me the chance to convert the taillight into a stop light with a dual filament bulb. In typical fashion the plug is only a single contact unit. The connector was the typical era type with a screw on cap that unfortunately was stuck solid and broke into pieces easily upon removal. No great loss as the cap threads on the body were stripped anyway. I'll need to locate a two prong connector of the appropriate type, I know model T's use something similar so I'll start there. In the meantime I'll strip the paint off the parts, prime, paint and gather the correct hardware for reassembly. All the lenses are in fantastic condition, they just need to be cleaned so no problems there. I'll probably upgrade to red LED bulbs for maximum effect when braking... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 The clutch cover belly pan had been kicking around the shop for months now and it was time to put it back. It has two felt seals that mate up under the bellhousing. Both seals were saturated with oil from the leaking camshaft cover plate. The 3/8" felt I used for the pinion seal was the perfect width for this application also. I removed the old strips, cleaned up the oil and slid the new ones in place. Once it was ready to go I installed it under the car with the four original fasteners. Another part out of my hair that I don't have to move anymore! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 You have been busy. Glad things are starting to go together for you. Nice work. What shop manual are you using? I can't seem to find one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, 31nash880 said: You have been busy. Glad things are starting to go together for you. Nice work. What shop manual are you using? I can't seem to find one. I've got a copy of the owners manual for my 161 along with a copy of the parts book for the 20's and several supplemental tech bulletins from Nash on the car. I got all of this stuff copied from the Nash club library, they've got a lot of resources available for copying. The parts manual was about $50 if I recall, it's a lot of pages, but the rest only cost a few bucks here and there. The one I don't have is the body book as I didn't really need that so far. Edited February 13, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Thanks, still need to join. Sounds like they have info just not many members. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viv w Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 Just a heads up, the book for Seaman bodies has nothing about the touring or roadster bodies. I learnt this fortunately before I bought the book. I was told the touring and roadster bodies were NOT built by Seaman, but were built in house by Nash themselves. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 On 2/5/2023 at 9:15 PM, Lahti35 said: This driveshaft is a bit of a mystery to me... I've been all through my manuals and supplemental tech publications through the late 20's and I can't find anything about balancing it or issues related to balancing. I have found no evidence of balancing (spots drilled out) on the castings and it has those giant zerks both sticking out on the same side. I had a discussion with someone previously on the forums about those big Alemite fittings hanging out of a driveshaft. My 32 Oldsmobile has a very similar driveshaft as the nash and my driveshaft had modern zerk fittings installed. I didn’t think much about until I was able to pickup a spare chassis with complete running gear. When I looked at the driveshaft it had flat slotted threaded plugs barely 1/8” thick instead of zerks or Alemite fittings. Looking at my manual it listed lubrication procedure as “removing the slotted plug, applying grease, then replacing the slotted plug”. Those plugs are a PITA to get in so I assume most owners and mechanics thought it a better idea to leave the grease fittings in. In that previous discussion the owner of his car found the lubricating directions of adding grease through the fitting so the large Amelite fittings were there from the factory and not replaced with any plugs. His car was also an earlier car, mid twenties I think, so I don’t think they felt balancing of the driveshaft then was of any concern. At least by 32 they figured it out and one would assume it came with the higher speeds. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 On 2/18/2023 at 10:19 AM, chistech said: I had a discussion with someone previously on the forums about those big Alemite fittings hanging out of a driveshaft. My 32 Oldsmobile has a very similar driveshaft as the nash and my driveshaft had modern zerk fittings installed. I didn’t think much about until I was able to pickup a spare chassis with complete running gear. When I looked at the driveshaft it had flat slotted threaded plugs barely 1/8” thick instead of zerks or Alemite fittings. Looking at my manual it listed lubrication procedure as “removing the slotted plug, applying grease, then replacing the slotted plug”. Those plugs are a PITA to get in so I assume most owners and mechanics thought it a better idea to leave the grease fittings in. In that previous discussion the owner of his car found the lubricating directions of adding grease through the fitting so the large Amelite fittings were there from the factory and not replaced with any plugs. His car was also an earlier car, mid twenties I think, so I don’t think they felt balancing of the driveshaft then was of any concern. At least by 32 they figured it out and one would assume it came with the higher speeds. I think that was me you were talking too, I remember the discussion well. I'm very interested to go for a spin and see what kind of vibrations I get on a smooth road (smooth-ish as I live on Michigan... our roads are worse than bad). My driveshaft is a solid bar of steel of smaller diameter than a modern driveshaft, we'll see what happens! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) I've had little time for the Nash due to some other unwanted work and the weather hasn't been great either! Winter finally decided to descend on us and it's too cold and miserable to work on or under cars in the unheated garage but the shop is still ok so I've been hitting at it a few minutes here and there... The taillight was in sad shape as I mentioned before. The taillight/license plate light plug threads were stripped and both connectors were very brittle with age. The lower plug broke very easily and revealed the inner spring loaded contact... Now the lower plug is a standard BA15S type connector. Originally I was hoping to convert the lower unit into a double contact light like an 1157 but the way it's built made that really tough. The single bulb in the light shined through a red lens and a clear lens all the time so whatever I did to the taillight would affect the license light. I thought about it for a few days but it ended up getting so complicated I shelved the idea and decided to restore it as original and opt for an addition brake light down the road. Trying to find connectors like I had got me nowhere, my search came up empty. I did remember that Model T's used a similar plug but with a different contact. My idea was to get the spring loaded contact from the original connector into the Model T connector. So I bought one and tried to take it apart and see if I could modify it... I found that the brass contact in the center of the Model T connector would press out if I was careful and not wreck the body of the connector. The only thing really keeping the contact in place was a small knurled bit and a press fit. The body of the connector is a firm material that's tough but not brittle like the originals. Armed with this success I went ahead and bought two more connectors and set to modifying them. The lower one just needed the original contact pressed in. The upper connector for the 'NASH" stop light needed more work. It needed the connector shortened as it just presses into the housing and is staked in place. I chucked it up into my lathe and shortened it 1/2" then pressed the contact into the connector. Group photo of all three connectors. I had during this process sand blasted and painted the taillight but I lost the pics on my phone. Since the parts were painted and dry I pressed in the upper connector and staked it in place. The lower plug just pushed in and was twist 'n lock so nothing crazy there. Both plugs were now in place. I went with LED bulbs for both lights, red for the upper brake light and warm white for the lower taillight. I'm still waiting for the white bulb... I had to order them as 6V positive ground LED's are kinda hard to find. I painted the interior of the taillight white as I do to improve the output and installed a incandescent bulb temporarily. After some trim and lens polishing it was all done. Taillight assembly is now ready to go back on the car when the weather permits. The brake light will be actuated by the switch I got once I fabricate a mount and connection for it near the brake pedal. Edited February 26, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 My other mini shop project was getting the water pump cover ready for the foundry to reproduce. They said they could use the original to make a new one but I have to build it up in spots to account for post casting machining in addition to replacing the rusted away sections. First up I had to remove the bushing in the center that the pump shaft goes into. I used the old "fill it with grease and press it out" trick with success. After cleaning up the grease and pulling off the big chunks of blue RTV I sandblasted the cover. I found that the boss around the bushing was cracked, another reason for a new cover. Now cleaned you could see the early repair attempt... Reminds me of putting a screen door on a submarine. You can also see how thin the neck has become from corrosion. I broke out the Dremel tool and shaved the blob of braze down on the inside. Last I primed it in preparation for Bondo and shaping to build back up the areas that need it for the foundry. The impeller is nearing completion so it will be time to send them both off soon... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Looking very good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) Today was the best weather we've had in two weeks so I spent some time in the garage working on the Nash among some other shop projects. I got the taillight assembly installed and continued on to the brake light switch. The brake light switch that the car came with was a chunk of cheap plastic junk and was not functioning. Someone had set it up so the pedal pushed the button on the switch when it came in contact with it, but only at the very end of the pedal travel. The switch mount was flimsy sheet metal and the wiring harness had been cut and spliced into this abomination with little care. The whole thing should have been thrown in the trash at birth, just an ill-conceived and poorly executed mess. In preparation for fixing this I picked up a nice quality switch this summer but it got set aside when the clutch issues popped up. The new switch is a motorcycle unit and features a cover and spring mounted hook. This switch turns on when pulled, I chose this so I could mount it off the side of the transmission behind the pedals. The switch has 1/2" of travel so it doesn't need a long lever to actuate it meaning I could mount it down low. I spent a few hours working up a new system with cardboard, cutting it out of 16ga steel, filing and testing. This is what I came up with: The new system works great. I tested it in place with my multimeter so be sure so aside from painting it's good to go. The switch now makes contact with the pedal depressed 1" and stays on from there. I can move the pedal bracket up or down for tension adjustment if required, no alteration of the pedal arm required. The switch bracket uses the transmission cover bolts to hold it in place so it can be installed/removed without permanent modification also. I'm planning on wiring the tail light/brake light/brake switch to a small terminal block. I'll place it inside the frame rail above the rear axle to give me the option to run an additional brake light from it in the future. I'll need to order some wire so I can hook this stuff up. Originally the wire was of the armored type but I couldn't find any last year when I looked at the wiring suppliers, seems it was all out of stock or out of production. If worse comes to worse I'll just use modern repro cloth stuff. Edited February 27, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFranklin Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Have you seen this? https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail/9935/Chevrolet_Armored_Wire_14_gauge.html 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 1 hour ago, JFranklin said: Have you seen this? https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail/9935/Chevrolet_Armored_Wire_14_gauge.html No I had not, THANK YOU! All the normal places I checked (YnZ, Brilllman, etc...) were a bust last year. I spent a bunch of time googling with no luck. I'll order some asap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Again, nice work and thanks for the detailed description. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Harper Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 On another note, we have the pattern for the water pump impeller and shop drawing all done. It should be in the mail to you by end of day tomorrow. Thank you for letting us contribute to this wonderful project! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 1 hour ago, Terry Harper said: On another note, we have the pattern for the water pump impeller and shop drawing all done. It should be in the mail to you by end of day tomorrow. Thank you for letting us contribute to this wonderful project! Look at that! Very cool. PM inbound... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 The cowl trim is a piece of aluminum that was pretty dull after 98 years... When the car was painted they just masked it off and sprayed, they did an ok job but it had some paint on it and it also really need a cleaning. The piece was held on by those twisted nails and there was no way they were coming out without wrecking the trim. I tried multiple methods but in the end I had to resort to a burr. I was able to grind the heads off and allow the trim to come free. Once the trim was off I glued tooth pics into the old holes and waited for them to dry while I sanded and polished the aluminum trim. For a comparison of the old trim and the new polished trim the following two pics do a good job of showing the difference. I ended up using stainless woodscrews in place of the old fasteners. I didn't know of any place that still makes the twisted nails, the screws will do fine. One neat thing I found under the cowl trim was the original body paint color, a darker blue than the repaint... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 I spent a bit of time where I could doing some odds and ends... I haven't had much time lately to work on the old girl. Odd job #1 was building up the water pump cover with bondo for shaping before casting. The casting company told me to put 1/8" on any surfaces that need machining and to account for shrinkage when cooling. Odd job #2 was modifying these aluminum cable ties to look more like the original ties that were on the tail light fixture securing the wires. I made a few extra to use inside the frame rail also. Odd job #3 was making a wire retainer for under the floorboards. I made it out of mild steel and then heat treated it to make it springy. This will go near the brake light switch to keep the wire loom up tight under the corresponding floorboard. Odd job #4 was modifying and installing a buss bar under the rear floorboards ahead of the axle to act as a connection point for a third brake light. It seemed a more simple option than running exposed wires from the current tail light assembly or running another wire from the firewall all the way back. When/if the time comes I'll just connect any additional lights there. I found a four post buss bar and cut the center out making it two sets of two, one each for the tail light and brake light. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 I was supposed to be out of town this weekend but due to unforeseen circumstance I was stuck home so I spent some time wiring up the tail light assembly. As much as I wanted to use armored wire I just couldn't get it. Everybody was out of stock or the price was steep, it would have been over $250 just for the wire to do the tail light! I may be crazy but I ain't nuts😃. In the end I used 14ga repro cloth covered stuff and ran it inside 1/4" asphalt loom. I don't feel too bad since asphalt loom was used by the factory in spots. I ran the wiring from the buss bar back to the tail light first and used the aluminum ties I modified to secure it. The wire ran through a grommet originally that had become petrified due to old age and then painted as a final indignity. I replaced it with a new grommet and wire encased in asphalt loom. Running the wire was straight forward, just meandering it through crossmember holes and tying it to the gas gauge line in spots for extra support. I did have to create a "T" where the brake light wire heads inboard to the brake switch but I put those wire inside of asphalt loom also to keep it neat. Connecting to the brake light switch was a simple affair, I tinned the ends of the wire and secured them to the connectors. The little rubber cover slid in place after making the connections and keeps everything covered. I'm happy with the way it turned out, very clean and tidy. I had to try it out before calling to quits to run errands... It's bright, should be seen without issue. The brake light comes on after 1/2" of brake pedal travel which is perfect. The LED bulbs work great, they were advertised as non-polarity units and work fine on 6V positive ground. I wish everything was this easy and turned out this good! 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 I spent some time in the garage this evening, now that it's staying light until later it's more fun to get stuff done during the week. Biggest news first... Even though the water pump is still in progress I started the Nash up for a minute and was able to test the clutch. It works great, nice and smooth with NO noise or vibration. It's a win for sure, we've come along way from the wreck it was last year... Just for old time sake here's the video of the original issue. I still get a kick out of watching the throw out carrier dance! I did have a little scare, when I put it in gear it seemed like it was working way too hard to move the car... Turns out the idiot in charge forgot to pull the blocks of wood at the rear wheel. I had placed them there while the transmission was out rendering the emergency brake inoperable, They were there so long I forgot about them even after the brake was back in and working, oops. I also did some smaller jobs... Like attaching the brake switch wire retainer I made to the underside of the floorboard. It would have been nice to keep it square but rather than force the wire into a shape I opted to let the wire dictate the placement of the retainer. Now the wire won't droop down onto the exhaust pipe. The other job I started was fine tuning the floorboards. The floorboard retaining screws themselves have always been really hard to put in or take out because the screws were a tad too big for the holes. I opened up the holes just a bit to allow the screws to drop in without the threads engaging until they hit the sill plate. I also drilled the holes in the sill plate all to the same depth, some of the screws were bottoming out just before the floorboards pulled down all the way. I should have done this a long time ago, much easier now to screw/unscrew the floorboards. The floor board that goes over transmission didn't fit very well around the transmission lock and was catching on the shifter retainer so it needed work also. You can see the wood and linoleum protruding into the transmission lock area. Since the floorboards are centered and the hole is off I decided to plug the trim screw holes and reposition the trim plate. You can see how there is no clearance around the transmission lock. There needs to be clearance here for a cover to fit over the lock and fit down around the lock body. I secured the floorboard in place and marked in pencil where I need to open the hole up to allow for the lock cover and shifter retainer. Tomorrows project will be opening up the hole and refitting the trim plate. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 I worked on the floorboard again, opening up the hole for the transmission lock and shifter retainer and finding the new position for the trim piece. It wasn't far from the old position but it was different. Not sure how it got this was as the floorboard still mounts in the original screws in the sill plate, weird. Like the other floorboards the cast trim was installed over the aluminum banding looking pretty cheesy... I spent some time removing material so the shifter and brake trim plates would sit flat. Once everything was fitting good I painted the freshly exposed wood black and polished the trim pieces for reinstallation. It turned out good, looks much nicer. While I had the bottom two floorboards up I made sure to do a final adjustment on the emergency brake, install the cotter keys permanently and tighten the shifter cover bolts. Last thing for the day was to put the floorboards back in and screw down the shift lever retainer that now doesn't catch on the trim. Plenty of room around the transmission lock for a cover now too, mine is missing but I can fab one down the road. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Perkins / Mn Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Endless superb illustrations and descriptions in this thread show a meticulous degree of restoration and are a real education for me. Can’t thank you enough for all the time you take to show the process in addition to the time spent working on the car. Looking forward to the finished product and the first drive! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibarlaw Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 15 hours ago, Lahti35 said: I worked on the floorboard again, opening up the hole for the transmission lock and shifter retainer and finding the new position for the trim piece. It wasn't far from the old position but it was different. Not sure how it got this was as the floorboard still mounts in the original screws in the sill plate, weird. Like the other floorboards the cast trim was installed over the aluminum banding looking pretty cheesy... I spent some time removing material so the shifter and brake trim plates would sit flat. Once everything was fitting good I painted the freshly exposed wood black and polished the trim pieces for reinstallation. It turned out good, looks much nicer. While I had the bottom two floorboards up I made sure to do a final adjustment on the emergency brake, install the cotter keys permanently and tighten the shifter cover bolts. Last thing for the day was to put the floorboards back in and screw down the shift lever retainer that now doesn't catch on the trim. Plenty of room around the transmission lock for a cover now too, mine is missing but I can fab one down the road. Lahti: I know under the plates on my Buicks there were felts made to fit around as dust shields also fitted around the pedals and steering column. On my shift tower surrounds there were rivets to hold the felts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinmass Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 The work is all first rate...........come on down to Florida and be my assistant. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 21 hours ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said: Endless superb illustrations and descriptions in this thread show a meticulous degree of restoration and are a real education for me. Can’t thank you enough for all the time you take to show the process in addition to the time spent working on the car. Looking forward to the finished product and the first drive! Thank you for the kind words, just doing he best I can! I look forward to the first drive also, the only thing holding things up now really is the water pump issue. The foundry has good reviews and a fast turn around time so hopefully within 4 weeks the parts are back here ready to machine. 6 hours ago, edinmass said: The work is all first rate...........come on down to Florida and be my assistant. You guys are going to make my head too big to get through the door... I'm going to have to turn out some crappy work to reduce the swelling, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 7 hours ago, dibarlaw said: Lahti: I know under the plates on my Buicks there were felts made to fit around as dust shields also fitted around the pedals and steering column. On my shift tower surrounds there were rivets to hold the felts. I was unable to find any remnants or info showing felt around my pedals and shifter openings but figure they were around the pedals so I did put felt there. I had not thought about the shifter openings, couldn't hurt and I do have felt leftovers! Great idea! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 The terminal block below and behind the vacuum tank needed some rehab. It's responsible for the headlights, taillight, horn and brake light. The upper wires come from the starter and dash switch... ... Which feed the lower wires that run through some asphalt loom and then forward or backward to the components. It was old and crusty just like the rest of the wiring on the Nash so it need to be replaced. I cut a new chunk of asphalt loom after removing the terminal block and friends from the firewall. The terminal block itself was ok and just needed cleaning, I gave it new screws also. I also sand blasted and painted the retaining brackets, once dry it was ready to reinstall. I pushed the wires up through the loom first... Note the two scuzzy wires on the right: those are the headlight wires which will be dealt with later. The other armored wire is the horn wire, it was ok with a new connector crimped on the end and some shrink tube. I don't know if I will be able to get enough slack on the headlight wires to put a new connector on them yet, if not I'll run new wires. I have one headlight way dimmer than the other which I have not looked into yet. It could be different wattage bulbs or corrosion, enquiring minds want to know! The cleaned terminal block went in ok and the connectors themselves got the lightest coat if dielectric grease. The loom and wires were hooked up and secured to the firewall, the headlight wires were just left loose for now. I spent some time a few weeks ago setting up the lights like I want them. Since I have a replacement light/ignition switch they setup is a bit different than with the original Delco unit. I wanted the brake light to have power without lights on as soon as power it turned on. I then wanted the running lights and taillight to come on in the lighting switch's first position followed additionally by headlights in the next position. The last position, which would have been high beams, is not unused. Originally there was a resistor behind the dash switch that the low beam position ran through but I chose to delete the low beam option. I don't need a resistor getting hot under the dash... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 You have been busy. Nice work as always. Interesting that I never found any asphalt loom around and of my wiring, just armored wiring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted April 4, 2023 Author Share Posted April 4, 2023 (edited) On 4/3/2023 at 7:00 AM, 31nash880 said: You have been busy. Nice work as always. Interesting that I never found any asphalt loom around and of my wiring, just armored wiring. I had a lot of armored wiring too, some of it run inside the loom. It's interesting that the old loom in 2x thicker than the new stuff, it's really sturdy stuff. Maybe they found it superfluous and deleted it on later cars? Edited April 7, 2023 by Lahti35 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted April 8, 2023 Author Share Posted April 8, 2023 I've been working in the water pump cover this last week... I had put enough bondo on it to build it up and reshape it but I had been trying to figure out how I could get a nice clean surface on the insides. I came up with this contraption to allow me to use the lathe and cut the flange. It took awhile to get it lined up with a dial indicator, I got it as close as I could with it being a casting with uneven sides. It turned out pretty good! Unfortunately what is left will be all hand work which reminds me a lot of body work, which I hate! I spent some time this evening working the bondo into a better shape... It's just something I have to do, even if I don't like it. We'll get there in the end, I've been stalling on this job but I can't anymore... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 Nice to see all your work coming together. Your an inspiration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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