Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[ButteMT61]

We did donuts in snow, rain, or dry weather. Often we'd go out to some of the local farms where the ponds/lakes had frozen over to do this with our studded snow tires. One night, we were doing this before a road trip to watch our school's basketball game. My 442 was enjoying the spinning on ice when it cracked and dropped about 12" into the water below. We didn't have enough guys there to get it out, so we took the booze from the trunk and hitch-hiked to the school to get a ride on the bus. After the game, we came back fairly intoxicated with a bunch of guys. We lifted it out and my girlfriend hit the gas...my gloves were caught in the bumper and she dragged me over the ice until I came loose. It was one of the funniest nights ever. Yeah, at 17 most of us are lacking great loads of common sense lol

 

[jamespowers]

We did donuts in snow, rain, or dry weather. Often we'd go out to some of the local farms where the ponds/lakes had frozen over to do this with our studded snow tires. One night, we were doing this before a road trip to watch our school's basketball game. My 442 was enjoying the spinning on ice when it cracked and dropped about 12" into the water below. We didn't have enough guys there to get it out, so we took the booze from the trunk and hitch-hiked to the school to get a ride on the bus. After the game, we came back fairly intoxicated with a bunch of guys. We lifted it out and my girlfriend hit the gas...my gloves were caught in the bumper and she dragged me over the ice until I came loose. It was one of the funniest nights ever. Yeah, at 17 most of us are lacking great loads of common sense lol

What would have done if you came back and the car was submerged? lol lol

 

[Carl Miller]

How did this thread fall off the first page? :eusa_doh:

Hey Big Man! Any updates on your Biscayne?

[video=youtube;lTFOav99FkY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTFOav99FkY[/video]

 

[nice hat dude!]

We did donuts in snow, rain, or dry weather. Often we'd go out to some of the local farms where the ponds/lakes had frozen over to do this with our studded snow tires. One night, we were doing this before a road trip to watch our school's basketball game. My 442 was enjoying the spinning on ice when it cracked and dropped about 12" into the water below. We didn't have enough guys there to get it out, so we took the booze from the trunk and hitch-hiked to the school to get a ride on the bus. After the game, we came back fairly intoxicated with a bunch of guys. We lifted it out and my girlfriend hit the gas...my gloves were caught in the bumper and she dragged me over the ice until I came loose. It was one of the funniest nights ever. Yeah, at 17 most of us are lacking great loads of common sense lol

You say at 17 well I personally know someone that doesn't have a lot at 53 won't mention any names but his initials are NHD.

 

[Big Man]

... Hey Big Man! Any updates on your Biscayne?

Loved the Chevy clip, especially the part about the school teacher. My aunt was a teacher, and drove her '61 Chevy to school every day. Her car (now mine) is a Bel Air, not a Biscayne, although there isn't too much difference in the two.

Nothing new to report on my '61 Bel Air. I try to drive it two or three times a week. It runs like a top now, and is a great pleasure to drive. I still need to have it painted, but just can't afford the extra money it will take right now.

When I was a child, my aunt would take me and my dog for rides in that car. Yesterday I loaded up my dog and let her ride with me. I told her that old "Tip" used to ride in the front floorboard, but not this dog. She had to ride in the front seat so she could look out the window. The dog I have now is a very good dog, just as good as the one I had as a child.

It was a special ride yesterday with that dog in the car. All those great memories are from a time so long, long ago, so having the same old car now helps to refresh it all just like it was yesterday. You can't bring back the past, but every once in a while, for a second or two, you can feel like you can.

 

[Carl Miller]

That is awesome to hear. Great to hear that the car is being enjoyed rather than sitting neglected in a field.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Went up this morning to the garage where the Plodge is getting its engine rebuilt to check in and see how they're coming along -- we're probably a week or two from being back on the road, and there still isn't any snow on the ground, so that should fit in nice. They showed me the piston that broke, and when they said it broke, they weren't kidding -- there's a three-inch-wide chunk of the skirt broken off, and yet it still ran.

They were mystified by a couple of the valves, which appeared to be bent -- they could think of no reason why they should be bent or how it could have happened, but they were clearly bent. There was also a strange, scalloped pattern of carbon deposits around one of the exhaust valves -- looked like a tracing of a gear wheel -- and he could come up with no explanation of how that happened or what had been going on in the engine to cause it. All the valves are getting replaced, and everything's been milled and honed and ground smooth, so hopefully there will be no further weirdness.

They've taken a mess of pictures, which they're supposed to email me today -- I'll post some when they arrive.

Meanwhile, while I was looking around the place, a 1930 Franklin sedan arrived for service -- quite possibly the most breathtakingly beautiful thing I've ever seen on four wheels. Two-tone brown and beige, with a leather-covered brown top and a wee replica of a Lindbergh-type monoplane for a radiator ornament. Just a gorgeous, gorgeous car.

This is the very car I saw -- it lives at an auto museum in Boothbay Harbor, and was in for a checkup.

 

[jamespowers]

Went up this morning to the garage where the Plodge is getting its engine rebuilt to check in and see how they're coming along -- we're probably a week or two from being back on the road, and there still isn't any snow on the ground, so that should fit in nice. They showed me the piston that broke, and when they said it broke, they weren't kidding -- there's a three-inch-wide chunk of the skirt broken off, and yet it still ran.

They were mystified by a couple of the valves, which appeared to be bent -- they could think of no reason why they should be bent or how it could have happened, but they were clearly bent. There was also a strange, scalloped pattern of carbon deposits around one of the exhaust valves -- looked like a tracing of a gear wheel -- and he could come up with no explanation of how that happened or what had been going on in the engine to cause it. All the valves are getting replaced, and everything's been milled and honed and ground smooth, so hopefully there will be no further weirdness.

They've taken a mess of pictures, which they're supposed to email me today -- I'll post some when they arrive.

Meanwhile, while I was looking around the place, a 1930 Franklin sedan arrived for service -- quite possibly the most breathtakingly beautiful thing I've ever seen on four wheels. Two-tone brown and beige, with a leather-covered brown top and a wee replica of a Lindbergh-type monoplane for a radiator ornament. Just a gorgeous, gorgeous car.

This is the very car I saw -- it lives at an auto museum in Boothbay Harbor, and was in for a checkup.

Good to hear that everything is going fine. I would imagine that the damage and bent this and that are likely due to the piston. I am sure it just didn't break free without doing anything else. Whatever the case, it looks like it is in the right hands to fix whatever ails it.
The Franklin sounds like quite the car!

 

[1930artdeco]

LizzieMaine, Congratulations on getting your car back soon. I bet you are just itching to get her back on the road! Please post some picks of the car and the broken/bent pieces as I am just curious to see what they look like. And you are right, the flathead engine is probably the toughest engine ever built.

Mike

 

[Stanley Doble]

Chrysler built engines were among the best engineered and best built of their time. It is astonishing how they continue to run without protest when in an advanced state of decay, after years of hard wear. Yours is perhaps an extreme example. I'm not really surprised it was still giving good service, without noticeable bangs and knocks, although down on power.

Would be interested if the rebuilder has any comments on the overall quality of the engine, its materials, precision of construction etc.

You have a treat coming when it is finished. I think I mentioned before that cars like yours, are not only fun to drive but also have a better performance than most people would believe in an old car with less than 100HP.

.........................................

That Franklin is one of the most spectacular examples I have ever seen. Most of them were rather boxy and dowdy looking. That one must have a custom built body.

Franklin had a very unusual design, with wooden frame rails and air cooled engine. The chassis was well regarded by experts, for giving a smooth quiet ride without sacrificing handling and road holding. Franklins were quite capable of covering a given journey, in less time than cars with more power and higher top speed.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I did a bit of reading up after I saw it today, and it turns out that particular model, the 1930 Franklin "Speedster," is the one driven by Charles Lindbergh and considered by him to be the best-engineered car of his era. It occurs to me since the Lindbergh family used to summer up this way that this might even be his own actual car. The current owner wasn't with the car when it was delivered to the garage, or I would have grilled him about it.

The interior is equally spectacular -- completely lined in rich brown leather. If there hadn't been half a dozen mechanics standing around I'd have hot-wired the thing and would be half way to Saskatchewan by now.

As for comments on my car, the mechanic still can't get over the fact that not only did it still run, but that I could get it up to 40mph. He said it had been apart at least once before, which jibes with records I have showing a ring job done by a gas station in Halifax in 1961, but the cylinders hadn't been ever been bored and there was amazingly little wear on the crankshaft. He thinks the piston failed because the rings were all shot -- all of them were in fragments -- and there was a lot of piston-slap going on, but other than that and the weird damage to the two valves, there didn't seem to be any leaks or cracks or excessive wear beyond the rusted exhaust manifold.

 

[jamespowers]

I did a bit of reading up after I saw it today, and it turns out that particular model, the 1930 Franklin "Speedster," is the one driven by Charles Lindbergh and considered by him to be the best-engineered car of his era. It occurs to me since the Lindbergh family used to summer up this way that this might even be his own actual car. The current owner wasn't with the car when it was delivered to the garage, or I would have grilled him about it.

The interior is equally spectacular -- completely lined in rich brown leather. If there hadn't been half a dozen mechanics standing around I'd have hot-wired the thing and would be half way to Saskatchewan by now.

As for comments on my car, the mechanic still can't get over the fact that not only did it still run, but that I could get it up to 40mph. He said it had been apart at least once before, which jibes with records I have showing a ring job done by a gas station in Halifax in 1961, but the cylinders hadn't been ever been bored and there was amazingly little wear on the crankshaft. He thinks the piston failed because the rings were all shot -- all of them were in fragments -- and there was a lot of piston-slap going on, but other than that and the weird damage to the two valves, there didn't seem to be any leaks or cracks or excessive wear beyond the rusted exhaust manifold.

Did they have to bore it?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, they did it to .020, so there's plenty of room left for whatever needs to be done to it again in 2083.

 

[nice hat dude!]

Yep, they did it to .020, so there's plenty of room left for whatever needs to be done to it again in 2083.

Morning Miss Lizzie,you wouldn't have wanted to drive that pretty car to Saskatchewan now it's about -20 and
snow on the way.

 

[jamespowers]

Yep, they did it to .020, so there's plenty of room left for whatever needs to be done to it again in 2083.

Twenty thousandths is not bad at all. You might get some more horsepower out of it too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's a few pre-overhaul pics they took for reference --

I've never liked the idea of that fuel filter being so close to the manifold, so I've asked them to try and come up with a better arrangement. That's an aftermarket setup anyway -- there was no filter originally other than the glass sediment bowl under the fuel pump.

The hoses, as far as he can tell, are the factory originals. He had to saw them to get them off. There's no leakage from the head gasket at all.

The transmission and clutch assembly rode up in the trunk. The spare tire is a genuine orignal U. S. Baldie.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Lizzie Andy Bernbaum in Massachusetts has the correct plug wires and Everdry spark plug galoshes. The Everdry kit is about $39 and a good thing to have, for sure starts in wet weather and an authentic appearance.

They also have original 6v battery cables which are quite thick. If someone puts 12v cables on, it can result in hard starting.

Did you find a manifold? I have one but not sure it is correct for your car. Mine has the exhaust outlet about 4" from the back of the manifold. 30s models had it at the very back. Not sure which one they used in 1940.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The guy doing the work said he was expecting to get the manifold this coming week -- that and a couple of valve springs are all he's waiting for before he can finish reassembling and get the motor back in the car. If for some reason he doesn't get it, I'll let you know and maybe yours would work.

Meantime, I'm having him do the rear brake cylinders, which should finally put my incremental brake job to finish.

 

[jamespowers]

The guy doing the work said he was expecting to get the manifold this coming week -- that and a couple of valve springs are all he's waiting for before he can finish reassembling and get the motor back in the car. If for some reason he doesn't get it, I'll let you know and maybe yours would work.

Meantime, I'm having him do the rear brake cylinders, which should finally put my incremental brake job to finish.

That car is going to be one heck of a nice car when you are done.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Some more shots of the disassembly:

The engine block, stripped and cleaned.

Bottom view.

Loose timing chain was probably the source of the "tick tick tick" noise.

Inside view of cylinders -- worn, but not horribly so.

Bottom of cylinder head before milling showing evidence of past gasket leak

Pistons and rings. "How long did you say it was running like this?"