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David is understating his capabilities, for sure. He is dead on with his wide temperature range for the exhaust manifold readings. The range is so wide based on a number of factors; ambient temperature, engine condition, carb settings, speed of the car, octane of the fuel, wind speed, radiator condition, and a host of other factors. While it would be fantastic to be able to correlate exhaust temp with a carb adjustment, there are way too many factors external to the “experiment” that enter into the picture. It is safe to say an exhaust gas check would probably be a better indicator of proper carb adjustment. In later cars, we adjust by vacuum and RPM as much as temperature, as these are easier to determine and “hear or feel”. Robert Brown can write a book on how to tune a Pierce engine by now.
There was a thread a year or two ago where someone mentioned a cheap but decent infrared thermometer on Amazon. I do expert witness work as a professional electrical engineer, and bought a very expensive infrared thermometer that isn’t worth squat, then bought the one recommended by one of the club members (help me remember who suggested this, guys!), and have been using it (until my kids lost it playing here in the house) on cases and at our house to tune up the new geothermal heat pumps. I believe the unit was under 20 bucks, and works beautifully.
I saw it too. The daughter or niece was very noncommittal on the sale of the cars, probably for the show. He must have had 40 open cars, and a Bunch of nice collectible stuff. That episode is worth taping so you can see the stuff inthe background.
Wouldn’t Jolson, Miller, or Satchmo be more timely?
Ed Minnie, did Pierce make any four wheel drive stuff? David Coco, John Wozney, James Powell and many others will be needing one in the next 24 hours here in Virginia. David promised Snowmageddon II pics, as he lives in the bullseye. Should be fun, Not!
Jak, you can always make us feel bad by giving a weather report from down under. By the way, can you get non-ethanol gas there?
Has anyone tried the feed molasses for rust removal? Would it also work on the tarnish? The best price I have found on line is around $26 for a 5 gallon bucket (cut 9 to 1 with water) plus around $20 for shipping.
That color better fits on the Cord or your Packard. I am surprised you didn’t paint the Pierce with LSU’s colors…
That’s passe. Chrysler already has them. Have you seen those disc brakes on airplanes? That’s something! probably won’t see it on cars in our lifetime, though.
When I had a weak moment and spent the three hours installing Windows 10, the Pierce log in was the least of my worries. It only took about four logons for the program to recognize the fact that I wanted the PAS first on my Explorer links, and to bring up the auto login. The real problem came when I wanted to link Word and the other programs together. Watch very closely where the program automatically downloads your digital pictures. It took me an hour to find them the first time, and I still can’t figure out how to put them in my real pictures folder. I also lost the ability to “dumb down” the pictures so I can download some to the PAS site. My pics are usually over 4 megs in size, which is way more than the site can handle. They say the system is faster, but I can’t see it. What I do see is a plethora of ads everywhere. Hope the security features are much better, because the devil you know (Windows) has taken center stage for the ads, which by the way you can’t get rid of. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were right.
Randy,
There is a whole thread about this car in this Message Board a few months back. You may want to find it and read it.
Bob
What a beautiful car! Tasteful colors, and a gorgeous interior.
What I need help with is how the passengers were arranged to ride in the car. I can’t see Mom riding on the front “passenger” side. She might have a bit of trouble getting comfortable in a hoop skirt. Was the front right seat left in the folded position, and Mom in the back on the right side? I imagine the mom rode in the passenger seat in my club brougham, as the passenger seat is standard size, only the back folds forward.
Thoughts?
Don’t forget, high end furniture of the day did use plywood construction. It was much more stable than regular wood, especially in humidity and widely varying temperatures. Check for Phillips screws, that may be a clue.
OK, so it is a Ford color, but Washington blue is truly elegant. That with black fenders really looks nice.
David does beautiful work. I’m trying to get him to cross the chasm (WWII) and do the top on my ’62 Tbird roadster. He is picky about the cars he chooses to do, and for good reason.
David,
I figured that was the case, as you needed a long wire for the antenna. It would work if you have wood floors or a high clearance to the ground. The antennas in the roof fabric worked better, of course, as there was no obstruction to the atmosphere.
Let me try that last paragraph again. Need to learn to proofread in the morning…
Best thing to do is try the radio when the car goes together, and test it with the engine running. If there is an interference problem, try turning the engine off to see if the problem goes away. If it does, first try the condenser route on the voltage regulator, then try wrapping the radio loosely in foil. You can’t wrap it as a permanent fix, as the tubes produce a lot of heat. (By the way, have you checked to see if your generator can handle teh extra load from the radio?) My guess is the issue will be at the antenna if there is one. On a closed car, you would try using a piece of coaxial cable, like you use for CATV lines, from the radio to the chicken wire. That should cut the majority of the RF from the engine. Let me do some research and more thought on this, and I will add to this later. Anybody else have any thoughts?
Spoken like a true mechanical engineer. Recognizing there is a problem is 99% of the battle. Of course, the last 1% is a real beast…
The issue is the shielding of the radio’s tuning and radio frequency (RF) sections from picking up interference that is in the air from all the external factors, like the engine, charging system, other cars, fluorescent lights, etc. Over the years, engineers have devised a number of ways to alleviate the RF interference. To cut down on the generator noise, they installed a capacitor (or condenser) at the generator or the voltage regulator. The plug wires can also be a big problem. In the 50’s and 60’s these were changed from all metal (usually steel) to a carbon graphite compound, as I remember. That created issues with teh spark, of course. Then they went the route of shielding the RF wires altogether, as you can see on 60’s vintage radio and television sets. The issue is compounded in your car because it has a lot of wood between the radio and the engine compartment, which doesn’t help with RF interference at all. Grounding is, as usual, very important throughout.
Where do you put the antenna on an open car? It is the chicken wire in the fabric roof on a closed car. Antenna location is critical to both reception and interference, especially for AM radios.
Best thing to do is try the radio when the car goes together, and test is with the engine running if there is an interference problem, try turning the engine off to see if the problem goes away. If it does, first try the condenser route on the voltage regulator, then try wrapping the radio loosely in foil. You can’t wrap it as a permanent fix, as the tubes produce a lot of heat. My guess is the issue will be at the antenna if there is one. On a closed car, you would try using a piece of coaxial cable, like you use for CATV lines, from the radio to the chicken wire. That should cut the majority of the RF from the engine. Let me do some research and more thought on this, and I will add to this later. Anybody else have any thoughts?
By the way, whoever did that restoration work is a true craftsman. Nice work.
Very few of us have a cool $4 Mill to put down on this car, plus a restoration! It must have gone to a museum or out of the country. Any ideas where it went?
Andrew,
Google “how to convert jpg to vector file” and a bunch of web sites pop up with free apps/instructions for how to do this. You will need a copy of the Pierce logo as large and clear as possible. Either scan it or take a picture of it. Once it is vectorized, you can send a copy to the sign company. They can take it and make a decal any size you want.
Jak, long time no hear! You are absolutely correct that it is not a conductor. It’s purpose is to prevent corrosion, especially in parts around the battery, where there are a lot of chemicals that react with metals (Lead acid) and where road spray or blowby from the engine is a factor. Any time you are joining two different metals, such as copper and bronze or steel, it creates an electrical reaction, electrolysis. Remember when you touched a spoon or fork to one of your amalgam metal fillings? Same idea.
Ed is right, of course, but the question is, are both headlights dim approximately the same amount? Are the high and low beams both dim? David Coco had a nice thread with sources for re-silvering the headlight reflector earlier, but the likely source here is a bad ground. One way to test it would be to remove the front lens, pull the reflector assembly with the wires still attached, and clip a jumper with a couple of alligator clips on each end to the light bulb ground on one side and a known good ground source, preferably the battery ground on the other. In this case, it is the positive terminal, as these cars were positive ground. If this improves the light intensity, the ground is the problem. If it doesn’t, try a new bulb, and/or check the voltage at the bulb terminal to a known ground, then check the voltage between the battery terminals. If there is a significant difference, more than a half volt or so, better figure the voltage supply, including the circuit through the headlight switch that feeds the headlights, should be checked further. I am a big fan of sanding terminals with some 400 sandpaper or spraying electric contact cleaner and applying dialectric grease for all terminals when maintaining a car’s electrical system.
Any questions, feel free to catch me off line [email protected].
Bob
It says full black finish. Matte or glossy? Does this apply to later cars, like a ’29, and to all tools in the pouch, or just certain ones? I know, another can of worms is opened…
Thanks guys. As this has been a three year plus rebuild, the memory fades. I do now remember calling Ramsey a couple of years back. They took a lot of information, including the chain specs, then called to tell me they could supply the chain, but wouldn’t sell to an owner, even though I am an ASE Master and restore cars for others. Taught me to say it was my car. It may have been the folks at Ramsey that sent me to Acme.
As they say, part of the fun of restoring cars is chasing down parts! You do get to meet a lot of nice and often interesting people.
David, feel free to chime in here. My engine is holding up your engine!
