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My roster doesn’t show Mr. Hill as a member of the club. He likely has a wealth of knowledge that would be useful to us, and the club members have an incredible knowledge base for him.

Great post. Thanks for sharing!

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I finally had a minute to call Ramsey today. The lady I talked with tried to send me to Egge. I asked to use a local jobber, which was Applied Industrial Technologies here in the DC area. They are a bit like Grainger, from what I can tell. I called the local guy, who first thought I was nuts for asking him for a car part. He reluctantly called Ramsey, and was told there are four possible chains for the ’29 engine, and we should be running through Egge. He also said the best thng to do would be to send my chain and gears to Ramsay to help verify the correct parts would be available.

As I am confident there aren’t four chains for the ’29, I am skeptical of this information. While I bought the gasket set from Egge for the engine rebuild, I have heard some folks have had issues with Egge parts, particularly the pistons. Two of you have direct experience with Ramsey. Can you offer any suggestions? Does anyone have the part number for the Ramsey chain and gears for the ’29 engine?

Still working through the engine, the water pump is next!

Thanks all for your help thus far.

Bob

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Thanks for the suggestions, all of you! Do you have an address (web, phone number or snail mail) for Ramsey? Do they also sell the gears?

As for the tensioner, we always clean and, as necessary and/or appropriate, glass or shot bead everything. I also restore little Tbirds and Mustangs, they are often full of sludge from the old Quaker State oil, as it has (had) a lot of ash in it that tanking the block will not remove, so we wind up cleaning as much as possible with a pressure washer, air, putty knife, whatever works…

Rick, do you replace the shafts in stainless? Does it still look original when it is finished (grease cup, etc.)? This is a very early ’29 with the direct drive pump off the generator.

Bob

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Add fine furniture restorers to the list. Most top shelf furniture of this period was veneered with mahogany or birds eye maple over either oak, poplar, maple, or some other stable wood. My ’29 front floorboard is plywood, which I believe is original. The plywood is glued in layers, each layer’s grain is tangential to the next to ensure stability. As Ed and David have pointed out, these cars are similar to musical instruments of the day. I made the mistake (because it took two years and a full garage space, not because it isn’t beautiful) of stripping and restoring/re-veneering as necessary a 1913 player piano that had two coats of white french provincial paint on it. Until the latest movers got a hold of it, it looked great. The veneering process is pretty easy if you take some time and have a LOT of patience. Having said that, doing a curved piece of wood like a window surround adds a whole ‘nother level of complexity!

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Al,

Been thinking about the response to this for a while. It would be nice for the other engineers to step forward with their thoughts on this as well.

Before I answer, let me explain I am an electrical engineer, master electrician, and an ASE master. I have worked as an expert witness on electrical cases involving electrical fires, lightning, and voltage surges. Electricity is nothing to play with, and it is always a good idea to take every precaution to ensure the system is as safe as possible.

Having said that, your question relates to the replacement of the circuit breaker(s) in your Pierce. Before I would think about the breaker, I would first determine the condition of the items the breaker is designed to protect, namely the wiring and devices being fed the electricity. Circuit breakers in the early ’30’s were rare. Most auto manufacturers used fuses, as they were cheaper. Even into modern times, autos are usually protected by fuses. Circuit breakers, then and now, were used to protect devices, such as headlights, that were essential to the car’s operation, and where the complete loss of the circuit could have disastrous results. Breakers in cars were designed to trip in an overcurrent condition, and reset after some period of time. This was often done using a bimetal strip, which curved in an overcurrent conditon, and reset after the metal strip cooled. It is the same design in a flasher.

Assuming the circuit breaker is for an essential circuit, I would first check the wiring and the device for wear and safety. If it is still good (and I have found in houses, for instance, that older “BX” wiring can hold up to surges better than the newer “Romex” wiring), then you may want to leave well enough alone for a show car or one in the HPOF class. Be sure to check the breaker to ensure it is working properly. I have seen instances where a breaker was used and a fuse was installed in series with it. The fuse was usually rated significantly higher, say 3 to 6 times the breaker rating, and was used to prevent shorts in the event of a failed breaker. The best situation would be to replace the wiring and breaker with correct reproduction wiring from a harness manufacturer.

If the car is a driver, I would replace the wiring with new wiring of the same or lower gage (wire with a smaller number is a larger wire that can handle more current) and a temperature rating as high as possible (90 to 105 degrees C). Make sure to replace it in the fabric sleeves Pierce used (available at Restoration Supply and other places), and check to see the wiring is not susceptible to wear or heat. I always try to solder connections instead of using crimps wherever possible.

Hope this helps!

Bob

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Thanks. Mitch, the machinist, has already emailed them, but hasn’t gotten a response, to my knowledge. Perhaps you will fare a bit better. If you do, please forward it on to me.

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Picture of the cracked block after magnafluxing.

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I want to get a response in before we lose power here in DC for another 4 days… Thanks for all the responses thus far, and to Chris Diekman for sending me a great PAS article on the ’31 engines. It is excellent.

As for the throwout, I may try the original one as it really looks and feels good, but it is worth getting a new one as a spare. The only issue in this area is the grease leaking from the front of the transmission. Unless you all have any war stories to convince me otherwise, I will clean the tranny and replace the front bearing cover with a new custom made gasket.

Now back to the engine. As the work was done so well on the original block, we are likely to fix it. The cracks are on cylinders 2 and 3, and run between the cylinder and the valve. The fix would be to bore the cylinder for a sleeve, and the valve for a hardened insert, then use the LocknStitch method before final boring for the sleeve and insert. Thoughts are appreciated on this method. I am an engineer, and shy away from the welding process from past experience.

I will try to send a few pics of the cracks for you to view in a separate posting. The files are too big, and have crashed the post a few times.

Thanks again for all your interest and help!

Bob

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