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However, in late 1931-early 1932, PAMCC offered a factory-subsidized transmission replacement for 1929-31 automobiles, including the 1932 synchro. I know of one 1932 trans installed years ago in a 1930 Model B. The full details (as I recall, the text of the offer) are in a Service Bulletin issued within the last 20 years 🙂 but I can’t tell you which one. One could also get the 1930-only Clark 4-speed or the 1931-only freewheeling unit with the button in the knob.
Thanks for letting us know, Ed. Bob was indeed a legend and knew every nut and bolt and generously shared his knowledge and his reproductions of very obscure parts such as tiny vent window trim for 1934s. Does anyone have a link to an obituary to share? When one is published, please post here.
Perhaps he’s the reincarnation of John Stuart Mill, the British economist/philosopher and advocate of “utilitarianism”–all I remember from my college days 🙂
It has been well documented in the past that Pierce-Arrow aged their raw block castings for about one year before machining them. So the casting date of Michael’s block, Dec 2, 1928, is proper for a 1930.
Herb, no apology necessary; we’re all exchanging ideas here. Marine stores such as West Marine have pre-made magnesium and zinc anodes in various sizes and shapes. My 1918 came with a probably-zinc anode in place in the top tank: a cylinder about 3/4″ diameter and now about 2.5″ long, drilled axially with stainless wire through it, the end of which is formed into a hook similar to that on a Christmas tree ornament, slipped into the overflow tube and gently compressed against the tube to keep it in place. The anode rests on top of the radiator core.
Suggestion for your rad hose installation: In my experience, authentic clamps never seal new hoses properly, especially on cast iron. I’ve learned to put a pair of authentic clamps in the middle of each run of new hose, tightened just enough to prevent them from flopping around, then use modern worm gear type clamps for the initial installation–and leave them on for 20-30 heating-cooling cycles until the hose has had an opportunity to “bond” with the cast iron. If you have a lot of pitting on the cast iron mating surfaces, JB Weld smoothed and sanded will help. After a number of heating-cooling cycles, remove one modern clamp at a time, “breaking its circle,” and slide the corresponding authentic clamp into position. I’ve rarely been able to refit an authentic clamp once I’ve “broken its circle.”
For the radiator outlet to water pump hose run, I prefer have short lengths of straight hose (about 4″ of unsupported length) on each side of tubing to which a drain valve has been affixed.
What anti-corrosion fluid are you using? I’ve been using Pencool (formerly Nalcool) for years but have found on my 1918 that a too-rich mixture causes seepage and Pencool’s purple stain–which may mean that it’s attacking the solder. A leaner mixture for topoffs seems to reduce this effect.
Herb, a friend who has operated a boat repair facility for years insists on magnesium anodes for boats to be operated in fresh water, and zinc anodes for those operated in salt water. West Marine’s website provides the same guidance. Can you clarify why zinc, rather than aluminum, should be used in automotive cooling systems?
By the way, pre-1921 Pierce cooling systems have quite the mix of dissimilar metals: iron blocks, copper radiators, bronze water pumps, brass distribution tubes, and cast aluminum water manifolds carrying hot coolant to the radiator. From experience, the cast aluminum becomes the sacrificial metal in these cars.
George
Al Abrahamson put out a brief email this evening that Paul passed away at 5:25pm PDT today, April 5. RIP, Paul, the PAS greatly appreciates your sustained efforts, including four years as President, for about 60 years.
Rear lights: I use a #1133 (32 cp) spotlight bulb (mushroom head) for stoplight and reversing light, and #1129 (21 cp) for taillight. The original #63 (3 cp) for tail is impossibly dim for today’s driving.
Auxiliary/parking lights: As long as you are using them for turn signals rather than as parking lights, I’d use #1129 (21 cp) rather than #81 (6 cp). Another option is #87 (15 cp).
I have no info on LEDs.
Try Then and Now Automotive in Weymouth, MA. They are primarily known for their rebuilding of mechanical fuel pumps, but also have a warehouse full of mechanical parts. About 12 years ago, I bought S80 valve springs from them for about $7.50 each.
VERY nice people to deal with.
Carl, Wikipedia has an exhaustive article on Calif license plates at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_California
The mirror-less top clamp on the sidemounted spares is the same as on my 1930 roadster. A different clamp with mirror was in the 1930 accessory catalog. Mirrors-on-sidemounts require another person to adjust while you critique them, or about 30 times of getting-in-to-check if you’re doing the job by yourself.
Thanks to the late Lee Garoyan, a mirror product that works only on slanted-windshield cars (B roadster and tourings, A 7-p touring) is reproduction stainless mirrors for 1928-29 Model A Ford open cars–with a minor modification. The thread on those repro mirrors must be changed from 5/16-18 to 1/4-20, then remove the chromed screw on the side of each stanchion and thread in the mirror. It’s a 5-minute job to replace for judging. Perhaps others have some ideas for mirrors for closed cars.
It’s a 1929 or 1930. I can’t tell if there are courtesy lights on the splash aprons–if not, it’s a late-1929 133 (133″ wheelbase as appears proper from proportions) equipped with hood doors rather than louvers, OR a 1930 Model C (132″ wb). If you can see round courtesy lights, it’s a 1930 Model B (139″ wb). Those headlight lenses appear to be flat rather than convex which would be 1929. The auxiliary lights also look like the smaller 1929 units with flat lenses. The 1930 headlights are one-year convex “happy face” prisms, and the 1930 aux light lenses are miniatures of the HL lenses. The sidemounted spare brackets appear to be 1930.
I appreciate the extraordinary effort to capture movie frames, but I’m not sure someone who does not know the particular car can positively identify it. By the way, that’s a **1963** series of Calif license plate which has a current year of registration sticker only on the upper right corner of the REAR plate, and those plates remain valid today.
1133s are spotlight bulbs with “mushroom heads” and I use them by choice in my 1918 48. 32 cp is correct, and ampere draw (each) is 3.91 from an old chart.
The closest original bulb was the OLD 1129 (to early 1960s) which was more focused than today’s. 1129 are 21 cp and draw 2.63 amps each.
Bear in mind that these are single contact bulbs, and S80s dimmed the huge 21 cp with a resistor. Beginning in 1929, dual contact/dual filament #1000 bulbs were used.
Some of us, including me, are going to need the translation of “duffy plate.” I’ve been sheltered all my life 🙂
Just a guess, but your old spring appears similar to the one I found in my 1936 8-cyl that was far too strong once I had the rods rebabbitted. So I speculate that some previous owner or mechanic installed a much heavier spring in your engine to compensate for extremely loose bearings. With a rebuilt engine or new bearings, a much lighter spring is needed.
Later blocks are more difficult because one has to drop the pan to gain access to the spring. On my 1936, the first spring was too light, but I’d only put four bolts in the pan and six quarts of oil. The second spring was the charm–a good thing because I had three others of different tensions as possibilities.
Thank you very much, Herb!
The Shoberg-Oakes 1934 1248A has been in the same family since 1945.
Congratulations, Paul! I think you hold the current record. Anyone else?
I’d put 8 quarts in, start and run for 5 minutes, give it 15 minutes to drain back, and note the level shown on dipstick. You’ll need to add at least one quart. Run again, let it rest. Continue adding oil until you reach the FULL mark. Now you’ll know what 8 and 9 quarts look like on the dipstick for all future oil changes.
As I recall, Tony, they were $250 each but I bought other items at the same time so that may have been the quantity-discount price–four years ago.
Jim, my 1934 (virtually identical to your 1935) has its horn relay near the right front engine mount. You can (barely) get to the contacts over the fender, but I found it easier to detach the relay’s “can” from the sheet metal and poke it down under the radiator to facilitate marking the wires.
I had to ask Bob Jacobsen for this info because I couldn’t find the darned thing! So credit him with the answer.
