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Well, shucks, I see you an Amazon Prime, and raise you a McMaster Carr…
Seriously, get an account with M-C, usually order one day and arrive the next, although with the current issues with shipping more like 2 days or so…but they…have…everything! (well, a lot anyway…)
I may be looking for a pair of the wooden accent strips which go on front doors, in repairable condition, 1934 840 sedan. About 34 inches long I believe, with raised area and hole for vent window crank. Looking for them but at this point not found in parts with car.
You don’t need a fan. Just a hose that can clamp around exhaust, and cut an appropriate hole in garage door or wall to run hose out (3 inch or so). The engine is very capable of pushing the exhaust another 10 or 15 feet through the hose. This was, and is, the set up in a well known restoration shop, works fine….
“The 285cid engine has the same bore but a 5.00″ stroke crankshaft. So, it has a longer stroke crankshaft, as built by Pierce or later, by Seagraves”
You meant 385 cid?
I agree some casting numbers would be interesting.
I “Google Earth”ed that address, hoping to find a nice old house with a carriage house around back filled with Pierce Arrows, but alas, appears to be a church/school on one side of the street and apartment buildings on the other. Guess that would have been too easy!
Bob, does it still exist? Or rumor of existence? Or a victim of the war scrap drives?
I agree with Ed that restoration work is very expensive these days, and if you’re paying someone by the hour, think about it and remember how little actually gets done in an hour. Paying for restoration is not for the faint of heart nor the light of pocketbook.
My comments were directed at a bare block, no accessories nor chrome. We all know what chrome costs are, exceedingly high. For starters and generators, I’ve found a fellow in my area who does great work, and for about a hundred bucks apiece they are as new.
On my ’31 phaeton, I had John C. rebuild the carb and the fuel pump. Oh my, what a difference, the car runs so much better than it did before, his comments about that are true, not hype. Yes, it costs, but in my mind great value for the money.
Great information, thanks!
I believe the 15K to 25K engine overhaul is correct, if you don’t have personal contacts in the business. I believe those are the “drop it off and call me when it’s ready to go” numbers.
I’ve had straight eight engines rebuilt (Packard and Pierce) for well under 10K, but I have friends who help me, and I help them, on restorations. It really pays to have a good network of craftsman. I also do some of the reassembly myself.
The high cost of excellent mechanical restoration makes buying a “restored” car somewhat of a crapshoot, unless you really know who was involved in the work.
Interesting. Never heard of it until now, although I’m sure the old hands of the PAS are very familiar with it.
Chicago Vintage has always been interesting, seems they come up with some great cars, and a few years ago I remember that a car would come up, seemingly for sale from them, then all of a sudden it wasn’t for sale.
The bracket headlight ’32 convertible sedan that they show was, I believe, the one restored by my late friend B.B. Crump from Baton Rouge. I had a chance to buy the car before he restored it, but the bracket headlights made me hesitate too long….
http://www.chicagovintage.com/gallery/pierce/1931-pierce-arrow-dual-cowl-sport-phaeton/
As an engineer, and a trimmer, this is embarrassing. I always looked at the problem as a horizontal issue, thus the backrest was the issue. Never thought that the solution might be a vertical one, raise the seat (or, more hidden, make the seat cushion much more firm) to cure the leg length versus space issue.
Interesting!
It was a slow day at the Pierce Arrow complex. Charles Tittering, one of the Engineers assigned to ignition systems, was doodling on his drafting board.
The request had come from Corporate to design a redundant ignition system for Pierce V-12 engines, as there was some interest in a major contract for fire engines. And, of course, fire equipment needed to have redundant systems, ah well.
Charles was in the dumps, as they say, not feeling well at all. He’d been awake most of the night, crying baby, and changed diapers early that morning on their new born son. His wife wasn’t feeling well, no kiss on the cheek for him on the way to work. Then, the two mile cycle ride to the Factory. Going down the steps to his office, he guided his bicycle down the center small ramp of the step. He well knew that the Pierce bicycle he rode was now made in Angola, not his hometown of Buffalo, but proud nonetheless that he was loyal to his employer’s namesake.
As he conceived of a design for a dual ignition distributor, a mental picture came to mind, of his young son, as he changed the diaper. Central shaft, yes, and then a couple of appendages, although they would come later. So, if one would take the central shaft, let’s say, and add two offset….. wait, two offset distributors, only half the size thus easier to adjust…now the only issue is a handful of gears and working out the ratios, and finding caps and making a wiring diagram.
He grinned, and went to the boards to draw the mechanism in detail. His grin was a direct result of thinking about his best friend, Todd McAdams, a master machinist in the machine shop, who specialized in fabricating prototypes for such applications. Todd will crap a Buick when he sees this, Charles thought, and proceeded to finish the drawing…
I’m sure others have seen this thing on a vehicle, but first for me, and all I can think about is timing and setting points on this monster….wow…very interesting contraption….
I believe the solution is not in the movement of the seat, but rather an upholstery/trimmer redesign of the seat.
My ’31 Pierce has an adjustment for the driver cushion, but it’s meaningless in the context of the general body contours of our time, and specifically in the case of my body contour, although I’m on a diet.
I would urge anyone restoring an early car to develop a good relationship with the trimmer involved, and discuss upholstery needs. I do this as a hobby, trimming (early tops and interiors), and can tell you from experience that it’s one of the last things done and thought about in a restoration.
Just a little dialogue with your trimmer, and a little discussion about seating and such, can go a long way…….
Wow, beautiful car and well done restoration…and that top looks incredible for being almost 70 years old! What a handsome car….
The trimmer did a nice job of giving you plenty of padding to make a nice, comfortable seat. Unfortunately, with barely enough room to start with, this nice job takes room away for you to enjoy driving the car.
When I first reupholstered my ’31 phaeton, I added a little extra padding to the front seat. I had to go back and take the padding out, and am almost at the point that I want to take the backrest springs out and just have a thin layer of horsehair/cotton as a backrest.
Your only option will probably end up taking the upholstery off the backrest on the front seat, and reworking the padding and/or springs so you fit. It may not look quite as nice, but it’s better to be able to drive it than just have a 4500 pound paperweight.
Good luck….
Well, just like other car auctions, or any auction for that matter, there can be shill bids. In some cases that’s legal, having someone bid the price up, and I think it happens on Ebay often (though not “legal” in their definition).
I’ve always complained, internally, about Ebay and the dreaded PayPal. I will tell you, though, I paid a high price for a Pierce oil can, buyer sent me tracking and all seemed well, until three weeks went by, and no can. He wouldn’t refund, but Ebay/PayPal did.
So, be careful what you bid on, and keep all correspondence, via email or messages.
This is a mess of a car, but someone out there may love it…
A “barn find” that’s been in storage, wow, 20 years! Put away long ago in about 1996, in a modern day barn. That term is getting so old.
Shame what someone did to this poor car….
The debate that I referenced about taking it to the atomic level used the example of taking one atom of water (or more precisely one unit of H2O)and discussing how many times it was able to take and reject heat as it passed slower or faster through the engine. Sort of silly.
Foaming was mentioned above, except when running pure dihydrogen monoxide. The water pump must have a good seal, it can draw air into the system which can cause foaming.
Interesting discussion.
WMcD, will call you today, thanks! I’d forgotten about Godfrey, although not the stablemate…..thanks David C.
