DonMicheletti Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 I have used the hand throttle to start the engine several times - no bid deal. I have run the '38 Roadmaster at 70 a lot with no issues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 8 hours ago, EmTee said: My Century will run 55 ~ 60 mph with occasional spurts to 65 mph without complaint. My car is stock (3.9) with 700-15 bias ply Firestones. I avoid interstate highways as much as possible, but it is very capable and comfortable on 2-lane highways which are mostly posted at 55 mph around here. I would agree that it is very happy at 55 to 60, but it will actually do fine at Interstate speeds of 70 and is capable of higher speeds than that. I have driven my 1937 Model 61 across several states at 70 mph keeping up with other Interstate traffic a few times when I needed to get to or home from tours. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 8 hours ago, EmTee said: My Century will run 55 ~ 60 mph with occasional spurts to 65 mph without complaint. My car is stock (3.9) with 700-15 bias ply Firestones. I avoid interstate highways as much as possible, but it is very capable and comfortable on 2-lane highways which are mostly posted at 55 mph around here. I would agree that it is very happy at 55 to 60, but it will actually do fine at Interstate speeds of 70 and is capable of higher speeds than that. I have driven my 1937 Model 61 across several states at 70 mph keeping up with other Interstate traffic a few times when I needed to get to or home from tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 15 hours ago, MCHinson said: I would agree that it is very happy at 55 to 60, but it will actually do fine at Interstate speeds of 70 and is capable of higher speeds than that. Speed isn't the issue for me on the interstate highways; it's the heavy truck traffic and other 'drivers' who consider 15~20 mph above the posted limit to be the new norm. That and the fact that the brakes, though very good, don't perform as 4-wheel discs w/ ABS when that idiot decides to cut in front of you... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 For me the concern would be more about the ability to stop from 70 MPH rather than the ability to get up to 70 MPH. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 My Super with a 3.9 rear end seems comfortable at 65, and a few times I have been surprised to look down at the speedometer and find I'm doing 70. But I agree with EmTee and drhach about braking. Given the behavior of other drivers, many of whom don't seem to understand the capabilities of 83-year-old drum brakes, I generally keep it between 55 and 60 on the freeway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 In my opinion, any time you drive a vintage car keeping track of the space between you and the car in front of you is the most important thing. You always need to keep that distance to provide adequate stopping distance, regardless of traffic. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 I was concerned about the brakes on my 38 so I upgraded the brakes to Century brakes, also added a power brake booster, Hydravac, which requires no alteration to the original brake system on the car. Wm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted June 28 Author Share Posted June 28 (edited) OK, it's time to put up or shut up, the installation of a '41 rear stabilizer bar on my 38 special has come to an end. None of the rear suspension change we made to the car, Chevy C10/20 trailing arms presented any problems. The only issues we encountered was the 41-48 Buick frame is two inches wider than the '38. The problem was overcome by making one inch blocks that were added to the inside of the frame at the attachment points. Since the rear portion of the frame at the hump over the rear axle is 'boxed' we used rivet head nuts that were inserted into the bolt holes.When the bolts are tightened, they collapse, locking the shoulder of the nut inside of the frame. A second issue was the link pins that attach the rear portion of the stabilizer bar to the axle housing. A small tab was fabricated and welded to the axle housing, then the link pin was shortened about an inch to maintain a straight line parallel to the trailing arms, eliminating a possible need to heat ,bend the bar. The lead mechanic 'Chris' took the car for a long test drive yesterday, he was quite impressed with how the car handles, said that the car is a pleasure to drive. Attached pix pretty well cover the installation of the stabilizer bar. The installation of the 41-48 rear stabilizer bar as show in fig 3-14 is slightly different that the actual installation in my 38. The shocks don't appear in my pix, they are original tube type on a 38, where-as the later model cars have hydraulic lever shocks. Wm Edited June 28 by Wm Steed additional info (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 Reviewing my previous story about the installation of the rear stabilizer, I noted an interesting anomaly that I did not include in the story. As the stabilizer was being placed into the chassis we discovered a 3/8" hole in the left/right side of the frame rails, the holes aligned perfectly with the position required for the stabilizer. The two new holes were drilled into the frame, rivet-head nuts inserted and bolts tightened up. The holes in the frame had the appearance of being factory holes in lieu drilled as an after thought. Wm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 During the past several days we have completed the general reorganization of the misc,switches, etc., the heater/defrost, choke, start button and the addition of an aux backup electric fuel pump. I can not imagine what the previous owner was thinking hiding all of these switches up under the dash, it fore sure was not to make the car user friendly. I have a very nice 39 Plymouth Conv Cpe that I spent sixteen years restoring. According to the POC there are only thirty-eight of these cars left out of the 5.k made. Chrysler is well known for their nice dashes so I barrowed a dash extension from some of my left over 39 Plym parts. Attached is a couple of pix showing the Plym dash extention attached to the bottom of the Buick dash below the radio. The switch lineup, L-to R is a modern start switch, a fog light (brown) electric fuel pump, and the matching heater and defroster switches. The majority of the switch are vintage 1930-40 Ark-Less with elumination built in . Wm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 The previous owner didn't do anything...that is where Buick chose to put them. And I agree it is a poor location. You cant see a thing. Your installation looks great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 Looks like it belongs there, Wm. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 I know that Buick put the heater switch on the bottom of the dash, however the start switch and choke were incorporated into the throttle peddle, not a pull cable tucked up behind the dash, with the start button attached to the same bracket..And, of course none of the switches were fused. The choke is now hooked up as it should be, automatic by pushing on the foot peddle which sets the fast idle. Giving the previous owner the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was trying to make the car theft proof . Wm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Steed Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 The last weak link, the original style of battery, decided it was done ! Won't take a charge. I was afraid that was going to happen, the battery was the one that came with the car, over five years old. I want to keep the Buick on 6v, don't want to mess with converting to 12v...We are looking into using an OPTIMA AMG type battery, maybe a pair of them hooked in a series/parallel that way I would still have 6v for starting, but with plenty of amps for cranking the big Buick straight 8. The battery tray will accommodate two OPTIMA in a line, then we could build a metal box to conceal them. 😏 Wm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 5 minutes ago, Wm Steed said: The last weak link, the original style of battery, decided it was done ! Won't take a charge. I was afraid that was going to happen, the battery was the one that came with the car, over five years old. I want to keep the Buick on 6v, don't want to mess with converting to 12v...We are looking into using an OPTIMA AMG type battery, maybe a pair of them hooked in a series/parallel that way I would still have 6v for starting, but with plenty of amps for cranking the big Buick straight 8. The battery tray will accommodate two OPTIMA in a line, then we could build a metal box to conceal them. 😏 Wm For what it may be worth, I run 2 6V Optimas in parallel in my three Pierce-Arrow 8-cyl cars (366 and 385 cid), primarily for additional reserve capacity for night driving (they have 3-brush generators), but the secondary benefit is that they *really* increase starter cranking speed. I wouldn't use an Orpin switch unless I had some 12V accessory I needed to run. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 I have been absent from the forum for several weeks,partly from a vision problem, that was mostly caused by a doctor that did not pay attention to the med's he prescribed for, doubled the proscription amount which lowered my blood pressure that resulted in high pressure in my eyes, and eye damage. Enough of this dribble, another pothole in the road of life. I turned 90 on July 18th... Life is good. I solved the battery issue on the 38, installed 6v OPTiMA batteries in parallel, two batteries fit perfectly in the original battery case. Added a coolant recovery system to the radiator. The system is of my own design using 2"ABS plastic pipe and clear tubing. A quick glance shows what the coolant level is. Wm 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Just to make sure I understand, it looks like you have removed (i.e., blocked) the vent at the top of the upper tank and modified the filler neck to use a pressurized cap with an overflow pipe. What is the pressure rating of the radiator cap that you're using? Are you running an original or modern ('high efficiency')style radiator core? Any modifications to the bypass valve in the thermostat housing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 (edited) The radiator in my car was an original that was pure junk in the core area, the upper and lower tanks were good. We used a modern three row core that for all practical purposes looks stock. Looking the original radiator over before the shop started the repairs, I noted that the neck would not accommodate a pressure cap. The original upper tank set back extension was used that would accommodate a modern 15lb pressure cap. I have an original '40 Buick Super that has an original radiator that has a pressure cap neck. Wm. Edited August 25 by Wmsteed (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 A few of the contributors to my comments about the modification to my 38 Buick have voiced questions about how the modifications have turned out: In the following is a summary of how the modifications have turned out. To start things off, it was not my intent to alter the car into anything more than a nice reliable, safe vehicle that could be driven, used as the Buick's were intended to be. The power train, trans mission and differential were modified from a three speed trans and a 4.40 ratio differential that was not user friendly and parts could not be obtained to correctly repair them. The trans was changed to a new 5 speed OD, which required an open drive line and a higher gear ratio. The end result was a ratio of approximately 3.00 in 5th OD. The trans is synchronized, shifts very smoothly in all of the gears. The car drives very nicely on city streets. At 25/30 mph in 4th gear is about equal to the original 3rd gear.. The car runs very well in 4th gear up to 40+. I have not had the car above seventy, it wants to go, the steering gears are worn out, they need to be rebuilt.. Next item on the list. The dual carbs work great, one press on the throttle sets the choke which holds a fast idle for warm up,returning to a smooth idle. The brakes work great they are Century 2" shoes with special drums and a vacuum booster mounted in the frame. Wm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 Thanks for sharing this. I would imagine those Optima Batteries would provide plenty of juice with that configuration. Please continue to post as you work on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 (edited) In reply to EmTee' comment about modifications to the '38 radiator.. The radiator in my '38 is mounted within the core support, therefore there is no room for a top mounted fill neck and overflow. The pix I attached clearly shows on offset mounted fill neck with the overflow exit in the neck. not the top of the tank. The addition of the fill neck to accept a pressure cap was very simple.. remove the original cap neck and soldier in a modern pressure cap neck in it's place. The overflow pipe still exits the radiator were it did originally except for removing the hard pipe going down the right side of the radiator, replacing it with plastic tubing. The clear plastic tubing acts as a sight tube to check coolant level without removing the cap. Wm, Edited August 26 by Wmsteed spelling (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 I did some checking around to see what my options were to correct the steering problem. The gear box is full of some kind of a lubricant, very thick, not gear oil. I looked through Hemmings and talked to a few people, LARES in Minn came up, seems to be a well thought of company. I was reluctant to take my gear box assembly out of the car, leaving it immobile for several weeks. I found a complete gear box out of a '38 Special, it is now in transit to LARES, should have it back in about four weeks. Wm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmsteed Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 (edited) I received my Re-manufactured steering gear assembly from LARES last Monday, the unit looks brand new.Many of the parts inside of the gear box were worn out, LARES had to make replacement parts. The shop started to dissemble the front end on Thursday.While the car awaiting the new steering gears we removed the radio and wiper motor. The radio hummed, but would not receive any sound. Took it to a of friend mine that rebuilds vintage radio's. The wiper motor was sent to a company in New York to be rebuilt. I have a huge collection of Vintage California license plates. Had a couple sets of 38 CA. A trip to the local DMV had a matched pair registered to the '38.numbers are 3's & 6's (30N366) two pair') YOM' Year of Manufacture. Wm Edited September 21 by Wmsteed typo's (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 YOM plates really help complete the authentic look of the car. I have them on mine also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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