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Greg answered your question, chrome only reflects about 60% of the light that silver does…if it was as good as silver, then that’s what the manufacturer would have done from about 1928 on when chrome was available…but the more expensive silver plate was done from the factory to give better lighting…
Silver gets to about 97% reflected light, so is an excellent choice, but will tarnish and requires occasional polishing. The Uvira coating, glass or whatever it is, is very close to that reflectivity and requires no maintenance whatsoever, and in fact I don’t think you’re supposed to do anything to it as coating is so thin….
On the Uvira, yes, you have the reflectors plated nickel first, then send them to that company. It IS an aluminized coating that is very reflective. Cost per reflector for Uvira is $60 to $80 each (exclusive of nickel plating cost), I believe, although it’s been a while since I’ve done some.
Yes, silver plating is correct original plating, but if you drive your car at night at all, it’s very minimal lighting, and Uvira and a good bulb makes a lot more light. All that said, I have yet to do the reflectors on my ’31, and they need it…
If you do go that direction, silver or Uvira the headlight reflectors. Chrome is an awful reflector of light for that application.
Fantastic story, that’s a beautiful car and you’ll enjoy it….you know, Ed is a pretty good fellow, considering!
Seriously, as you found out, Ed’s a great resource. Congratulations!
Nice, thanks for sharing! I’m going to send you an email, I have something that goes on a dual cowl phaeton, you may already have one…but my email will solve the mystery!
And let’s throw in the fact that vacuum wipers on a little open car windshield are a little bit of a joke to start with, in a heavy downpour they’re probably too slow, and you’re too busy with the towel on your lap mopping up water to help them along (mine are vacuum but have a small handle to operate manually). I Rain-x my windshield and ignore the wipers.
CCCA judging it may make a difference if they work or not. AACA judging they’d never know nor ask.
I have a Pierce “Special Racer” like the one shown in the advertisement. It came out of the Pedaling History museum in New York, and has one crank arm sawn off….when I asked the late Mr. Burgwardt why, he said he had pictures of the fellow who’d raced it, he only had one leg….I never got the pictures, and never understood the reasoning, the crank wouldn’t be in his way, and weight was minor.
Note that the Racer has no brakes and fixed gearing, or in other words, no “free wheeling”, if the rear wheel is turning then the rider’s legs are moving too….
My ’31 had a decent original radiator, that seemed to work OK. When I re-restored the car (it had first been restored in 1960), I took the radiator to a local shop. They found some blockage, and also a few pinholes. I believe the pinholes showed up because they put high pressure on the radiator, not realizing it was a no pressure system.
Short story long, they went in after the pinholes to try to fix them. By the time they called me, there were two places in the core that you could stick two fingers through, the core was ruined.
Replaced the core, aggravated that the car was losing “originality”. However, in the end, the car has run cooler and no issues whatsoever with cooling, save for the one time the water pump ran dry of lubricant and sucked in air, but that’s another story.
I’d recommend replacing core and being done with it, fighting cooling issues is never fun.
I’m also a believer in slowing down the flow through the radiator, since with both cores, when I was at speed and took foot off gas, water would overflow radiator. Took a freeze plug the outer diameter of the inner diameter of upper hose, drilled a 5/8 inch hole it in and installed in hose, problem solved.
Center rod is threaded to install the slotted adapter shown in your picture.
Thanks to the miracle having a stove, pot of water, and a meat thermometer:
Rod begins to extend at about 125 degrees F, is fully extended somewhere past 150 degrees F.
Full extension is 3/4 inch, from room temperature and then measured at 200 degrees F.
Bolt hole circle, center of hole to center of hole, is 3-7/8 inches.
Hope that helps.
Thanks. dc
another shot, this doesn’t fit a 31, correct? Someone?
Here’s one pic, I’ll post another, no, I don’t need it, if it’ll work for you email me and we’ll work out a price, it’ll be less than Bill Hirsch price of $370!!
I know this is an old thread, I specifically searched for it.
I have a brand new Sylphon thermostat/control device, it has two flat spots, top and bottom, in the flange.
Am I correct in thinking, from Tony’s above post, that this will NOT fit my ’31 Model 43?
Some sill plates had black paint laid down in the design, so that you see some chrome and some black. This might not be the case with your plates, just was asking if someone could confirm that fact on the forum. They look great as they are!
Very nice! Does the plate get a black paint “fill in” like some other cars, or does it stay all chrome? Question for the group I guess….
I knew by posting this I’d have some people scratching their heads. There was a question once on the AACA forum about tire pressure on a tiled garage floor, I made the above statement, and was called a fool by one individual…who later did his research and found it was true.
There is no “equation”. A car is supported not by the tires, but by the air pressure in the tires. There is a contact surface, or patch, between the tire and the ground. The area of this patch will vary with PSI in the tire, increasing as PSI drops, decreasing as PSI rises.
Ignoring any tire sidewall support, the pressure inside the tire must equal the pressure on the ground, in PSI. Imagine the tire supported on a column of air at the point of contact.
As far as tire sizes vs. footprint, that’s the whole reason we have different sizes of tires. A 30×3 tire can support a light brass car with appropriate tire patch, while a larger tire is needed for heavier cars.
I know from experience that some people have a hard time accepting this physical rule, but it’s a fact. That’s why you can run 30 psi in your modern large tired car, that’s why a large airplane may have 200 psi or more.
The pressure per square inch on the road is equal to the PSI in the tire, ignoring any sidewall support.
Thus, for your 4000 pound Napier, at 80 PSI in tires, the contact patch total is 4000/80 = 50 square inches. Thus, 12.5 square inches per tire contact patch on the road….
Congratulations, Bob, well deserved….
I think I put the top insert in that ’32 Club Brougham!
That was a really interesting experience. The fellow had done a top insert himself, and it was flapping in the wind since it hadn’t been stretched enough. I offered to fix it free, if he’d buy another insert, since he was a friend and local.
Took the “old” top off, noticed he’d used long nails, went to install the new one (in the hot sun to stretch!), but there was little to no wood to tack to…and looking further, all the wood around the edges was charred!
Taking the covering off, saw that the ENTIRE TOP wood framework was charred and half charcoal. The retired owner was a woodworker by hobby, he took a week and replaced it all in place, a beautiful job.
We could only figure that the dome light shorted, started a small spark, and the wood gradually surface burned.
One of the strangest things I’ve seen while working on old cars.
Another note, I like rear mounted spares, as it really cleans up the profile of a car, but the large trunk on this body style sure makes it awkward from the back.
Great body style, Edward, that will be a good car for sure! Make a list of what you need, and start looking now. Some things are easily available, some are harder to find. If you’re missing headlight rims and lenses, they should be out there but a little harder to find.
Best of luck with the new acquisition!
