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I have had an interest in PAs for many years. I have been a PAS member for many years as well and have finally been able to acquire a restored 1926 Model 80 rumble seat roadster.
I have a few questions:
The carb butterfly will open significantly further with linkage disconnected than with the foot pedal and car seems to top out at 50 mph. If someone can suggest proper linkage adjustment it would be much appreciated. Also the rich/lean control seems to move somewhat(vibrate?) while driving- how would one address this?
Can someone suggest a source for the leather straps to hold the top when it is in a down position?
I live where there is a lot of traffic. Can someone suggest a source of side view mirrors. I dont wish to make any modification in order to use them.
The speedometer is not working, I have verified the cable is not turning. How does one remove the cable from the trans?
Finally, where would the factory store the jack, just in the rumble seat footwell?
Hello James, congratulations on your new car !!
i’ll see if i can answer your questions :
The throttle linkage has a rod that connects an arm on the bottom of the steering gear box to the arm on the carburetor throttle shaft. You can adjust the turnbuckles on each end of the rod. Just be sure that the linkage adjustment you do, still allows the the carb to reliably return to idle.
A throttle plate can open about 85-90% of fully open and still provide full flow or very close to full flow through the carburetor throat. So if you can only move the arm on the throttle shaft an extra 1/4″ or so, it won’t make any noticeable difference in power from the engine.
50 mph is just about all that a Series 80 is able to deliver for top speed. The standard rear axle ratio of 4.45:1 and 33″ diameter tires give a road speed of 50 mph at 2300 rpm. The torque peak for the S80 engine is around 1500-1600 rpm. So the rpm is well past the engine’s ‘sweet spot’. I have driven and owned several Series 80’s with high speed gears, or an overdrive installed. Lowering the engine rpm closer to the torque peak results in a higher road speed.
The rich/lean lever has a small nut and bolt on the pivot of the lever, on the bracket that holds the lever to the underside of the instrument panel. Usually this small nut and bolt have a spring or ‘wave’ washer that exerts some force on the lever, creating some friction. This washer might have worn, be missing, or the bolt/nut could be loose and need a slight tightening. Be careful, the bolt is small, and if original, the bolt has been peened over to prevent it loosening, and it will break easily.
Karl Krouch in Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania makes leather straps for rear view mirrors that might be the right width and length for the top hold down brackets and the top bows/fabric. If not, look up leather working tools at hobby stores or craft stores, they have leather strips and buckles to make your own straps.
There are a few different types or styles of rear view mirrors, for a roadster, they have to be mounted to the windshield frame. Some mirrors use a clamping device to grip the windshield post. Restoration stores usually have a nice selection of rear view mirrors. A great store is Restoration Supply, in Escondido California, they are Pierce Arrow Society members and have a great selection of items. If I remember correctly, they also have straps with buckles that might fit your top bow saddles. http://www.restorationstuff.com
The speedo cable housing is a spiral-wound housing, allowing the cable to flex and be bent around various parts of the car between the trans and the speedo head. The last inch of the cable housing is a solid round steel rod, the cable running through the center, the flexible outer housing brazed or crimped to the solid end.. The outside of the solid end has a groove machined around the perimeter. The solid end fits into a socket in the rear of the transmission housing. In the side of the socket is a slotted-head screw that when installed fits into the groove, retaining the cable housing end, but allowing it to swivel some. Clean the thumb-sized sleeve on the rear housing of the transmission, you will find a ‘bump’ that has a slotted head screw in it. Remove the screw, it is a special made screw, don’t lose it !!.
The jack and handle and a tool bag, and a flat gallon-size can of oil was stored under the seat. The factory jack was a Morrison No.1. The wood floor boards under the seat have a hole drilled, and a slot cut for the base of the jack to slot into, and a protrusion for a bearing to drop into the hole, this keeps the jack from sliding around.
Most cars don’t have a tool roll any more, and the flat gallon cans are also collector items, so rarely found under the seat.
Hope this info helps, enjoy your ‘new’ car. The Series 80 cars are a lot of fun to drive..
Greg Long
Greg’s the one to go for on mechanical questions!
As for straps and top parts, if Karl can’t help you, try Antique Top Hardware Company, they have straps and buckles of all kinds, and can custom make what you need…
James,
I just looked at the website that David Coco mentioned, Antique Auto Hardware, and they look to be the place to go both for price and availability.
Peter
Congratulations on the recent purchase, James.
When the get the chance please post some pictures of your newly acquired car.
And since you’ve been around for quite some time now I’m sure you know to pay close attention to everything Greg Long posts.
He’s a legend when it comes to Pierce mechanical issues and knowledge.
Gentlemen,
I very much appreciate the quick and most useful responses to my several questions as I work to become familiar with how best to drive my new car.
James, as a follow-on to Greg’s comments, be sure that you move the rich/lean lever towards RICH when you’re going over 35 mph or so–assuming that you still have the original carb rather than a Series 81 O-3 unit. The S80 carb has an adjustable main jet, and if the car performs satisfactorily at, say 30 mph, on a particular setting, it will need a richer mixture at higher speeds. This is seat-of-the-pants unless you have an exhaust gas analyzer mounted in the driver’s compartment. Likewise, go richer when climbing a hill, and return to center-ish when you level out.
Congratulations on your acquisition, and HAVE FUN with it!
George
George, thanks for the additional clarification. I certainly did not understand how to use the rich lean lever. The car does have the original PA carb and not an 0-3.
I am trying to determine if the linkages are correctly set and are permitting adequate butterfly opening. I did some measurements and founds the bottom of the throttle arm is held off the fixed carb point by 0.340″. The foot pedal at max increases this distance to 0.750″ (0.410 delta) but with the linkage removed the throttle arm will move a total of 1.400″, a delta of 0.900″. Or using my sons plastic protractor the foot pedal only opens the throttle arm about 35 degrees and with the linkage removed the throttle arm opens about 45 degrees. I would have expected more. I will try to add a photo showing max opening with the pedal and one with the linkage removed.
Hi James. photos need to be resized to less than 1mg before uploading onto this site.
Greg
MG = Drugs
KB = Photos
Maybe you meant MB = MegaByte.
My experience is that a 25kb photo will upload.
Much larger may have problems.
Also, the image needs to be a JPEG – JPG photo
My thanks to everyone who has helped address my ignorance on properly setting controls for driving the car. I am now able to fully open the carb throttle arm. A single simple clevis rod end adjustment on the foot throttle was all it needed. It is always easy once one knows what to do 
Now that it is running as I had hoped and expected I will let you know that I bought the car from a fellow PAS member who is familiar to many of you. This is the 1926 black roadster which was awarded the Eric Rosenau award in 2017 and 2015. I suspect over time that I will have more questions. It is my intention to drive the car and to keep it just as it left the factory.
James,
SWEET! You bought the Wayne Hancock Runabout!
That is an excellent and well sorted Series 80.
I believe that his / her name was previously Roxy.
Will you keep that name or rename your new baby?
Congratulations and welcome to the Pierce-Arrow Society and the Series 80 Family.
Peter
Funny how, with such a limited number of Pierce automobiles extant, they’re known by previous owners.
It won’t mean much to a lot of you, but there are a LOT of Louisiana old car guys that know my ’31 phaeton as “Drew’s Pierce”, a tribute to a gentleman named Drew Navarre from New Orleans who bought the car in 1959,restored it 1959/1960, and toured it extensively through the 60’s and 70’s, and literally wanted to sell it to me in the 1980’s.
I’m forever thankful to him for letting me be the next caretaker….
So can anyone contribute to the car’s history prior to being owned and restored by Wayne?
James,
Post the Body Number and Engine Number and I can look it up for you.
Peter
The car was one of two series 80 roadsters bought as projects by Wayne from Craig Dennis. Craig bought the cars as projects from PAS member Greg Loftness.
Peter,
The engine number is 8014568 and the chassis number is 8014546.
I do not know where to look to find the body number.
James,
I’ll get back to you tomorrow via email with the info.
In addition, note the info that Tony provided, as it probably takes the history of the car back 15 to 20-years.
Further, you gave me the numbers that I need.
The body number is the chassis number.
Peter
James,
Here is the long term history of ownership from the historical record of known Pierce-Arrow cars.
I don’t know where Greg Loftness fits into the sequence, although I believe that he is a Minnesota guy, so maybe he bought it / them from Ken Leitz.
“1926, Runabout, 801456 / 8014568, Dennis Craig (Walker, MN), earlier owner – Ken Leitz (Hamilton, MT), Parts — engine and transmission only / (Info from Marc Ralston, July 1, ’88)”
Marc Ralston was an early PAS guy who wrote one or two books about Pierce-Arrow cars.
Peter
James,
BTW, all of the LAST info comes from the listings that Bernie Weis created many years ago.
In addition, I just spoke with my Good Cigar Smoking Buddy, Wayne Hancock, and he said that he bought Roxy from Dennis Craig, who may, or may not have, bought it from Greg Loftness and not the other way around.
I guess as with much of Life, it’s complicated. HA!
In any case, Congratulations on your very excellent Series 80 Runabout.
Peter