32 Buick Model 97

[BuickTom87]

Little by little the car is opening up. Yesterday after changing the wires cap and   Condenser took it out for a ride it seemed to be a bit stronger and smoother. I guess by changing the oil and tune up kit as well as driving it for 5 days straight cruising at 50 it cleaned and opened  up the motor.
 

adjusted the carburetor a tad , by using the guide from the marvel guide . As I was driving it I started to mess with the choke going up hill and it accelerated harder . I got the car up to 65-75 mph . The car barely smoked at all. 
 

I’m guessing it has something to do with the choke sticking to make it seem as if it’s hesitating. 

[CTCV]

Do you notice any significant change as you adjust the timing at 45mph? I notice quite a difference on mine. Please consider I never drove one in original condition. Mine did not run when I got it. Decked block, decked head, bored out cylinders, thin head gasket, custom grind on the cam and an adapted 2 barrel carb may make a difference with mine. I run much more advanced timing.  I have nothing to compare to but I rarely use first gear and rarely need to downshift to second unless I'm stopping. I get a bit nervous running 55mph+ because I'm not sure my RPM. At 20mph , if I hit it and advance my timing it will pull hard til I get scared. My last though and this happened to me. I had one set of points grounding out. The motor ran smooth as one set runs every other cylinder. On my first drive in the car I was only running on 4 cylinders and it ran well. Then when I got back to the garage I could smell raw gas. Started moving my timing light sensor wire to wire and realized every other was not firing. Found the problem, small nylon washer fixed it, and there came the power.

[CTCV]

12 minutes ago, BuickTom87 said:

Little by little the car is opening up. Yesterday after changing the wires cap and   Condenser took it out for a ride it seemed to be a bit stronger and smoother. I guess by changing the oil and tune up kit as well as driving it for 5 days straight cruising at 50 it cleaned and opened  up the motor.
 

adjusted the carburetor a tad , by using the guide from the marvel guide . As I was driving it I started to mess with the choke going up hill and it accelerated harder . I got the car up to 65-75 mph . The car barely smoked at all. 
 

I’m guessing it has something to do with the choke sticking to make it seem as if it’s hesitating. 

65 - 75 MPH you have more guts than I do. I'm running on the compact spare tires from a Lexus RX350. They are new and can carry the load but are smaller diameter by a couple inches, so I worry about RPMs. BUT they are only 100 bucks.

[BuickTom87]

Hahaha, my 29 Buick model 27 is fully restored . I cruise it at 50 granted the gas mileage is trash but it moves well. I’m just glad there’s nothing wrong with the car . 

[32buick67]

Tom, did you happen to take any pics of the carb internals and can you post them?

Yes, the car should be able to start from 0mph in 3rd gear without issue, which appears to have been a common way of driving the sixes and eights originally - folks found they had the torque to drive in high gear all of the time.

 

If you find you need a little choke when in 3rd and driving higher speeds 45+mph, you may want to try adding a few more degrees of advance to timing.

Also be sure to 2x check the mechanical advance weights in the distributor are free to move.

What distributor model# is in your car, can you post a pic?

[BuickTom87]

I’ll take a picture of it tonight of that tonight . I’ll also try to take pics of the carb , data plates as well . 

[CTCV]

[BuickTom87]

Thank you at one point we’re you selling your 32 Buick tow truck ?

[CTCV]

20 hours ago, BuickTom87 said:

Thank you at one point we’re you selling your 32 Buick tow truck ?

Yes , I guess I go back and forth. On one hand it has great memories and on the other I want to get space in the garage to make new ones. Since it is dependable and fires up every time I have been enjoying it. If I have to go to the market, post office, diner, ice cream joint or local meet I just jump in an go.

It will never be much more than a unique and historical modification of a 1932 97.  The historical of course is local and I am not referring to our preservation of it but the efforts of the original modifier "Johnny".  Those were probably rough times. Still needs work...back window, wipers, interior work, horns, probably should find a hand crank. So yep I'll part with it , for a fair price.

[Grimy]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:39 AM, EmTee said:

Is there any evidence of rodent activity - particularly the exhaust system?  Has any debris been expelled from the tailpipe?  A plugged muffler can also cause poor performance.  Use your vacuum gauge to check for exhaust blockage by watching for a vacuum decline while holding a steady fast idle.

My technique for checking for clogged exhaust is this:  Attach a vacuum gauge to a warmed up engine.  Have an assistant hold the accelerator at about 1,500 rpm *for fully TWO minutes* while you monitor the vacuum gauge.  It will take about 15 seconds for the gauge to stabilize.  Make a (mental) note of the initial *stabilized* vacuum gauge reading, then note the reading at the end of two minutes.  If you have a clogged exhaust system, the vacuum gauge reading will continually decrease from the initial stabilized reading.  This technique obviates any need for disconnecting exhaust components unless and until you get an unsatisfactory result from the 2-minute test.

[BuickTom87]

Waiting on the carburetor shop rebuild kits for the carb, to see if that fixes the issues with fueling going on the hunt at hershey for some parts this year. The car is going to a local transmission shop to drain and refill all the trans fluids, rear end fluids, as well as drop the oil pan, the owner before said he had never dropped the oil pan. So who knows the amount of sludge in that thing. They have done all my other cars so i trust them with the work.