I will send you pictures of the dash in mine, they match well considering that it is 88 years old and somewhat darkened with age.
Hi Greg, the book is a softcover with removable 8-1/2 x 11 page size, page number 186 is the last one, plus I have the introduction letter which is loose in the back. It’s dated 1933 in the front index page. 90% of the content is general shop equipment, that last 10% is specific to the usage.
As fascinating as that book must be, I think this one is more useful. It gives you a look at the specific special tools used for repair work. Not as good as an actual repair manual, but as they do not exist this is the next best thing.
I took my belts from a 31 into NAPA and they measured and matched them up with stock numbers. They even took back the first pair they ordered for me as they were 1†too tight.
I don’t know what they are for your car, but for my 31 Model 43 the belts were NAPA #B53
I tried with my borescope and all I could see was black but you couldn’t tell how thick it was. Looking back the thought that occurred was to remove the oil filler and stick a paint stirrer into the sump to gage the amount of sediment. For me it wouldn’t have mattered, my car has only driven 903 miles since 1954 going by an oil sticker in the door jamb so I knew darn well it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Ditto Craig’s comments on Facebook, I’m not really interested in it other than the curiosity factor.
Generator output is controlled by moving the third brush inside, the only knob like thing I can think of in that area is a grease cup on my water pump.
+1 on pulling the oil pan, I found 3/4†of crud at the bottom of mine and it was close to starving the oil pump, it is well worth the time and price of the gasket. Another suggestion I was given by several members here was to pull the side cooling cover of and clean out the rust, mine had been done at some point but I still pulled out a lot of rust sediment. I’m still pulling it out of the block by my valves by the cupful now I have the head removed. I should have saved it as I went, it would have filled a coffee can, and as I said it was done at some point before!
Pictures seem to be an issue here as there is a severe size restriction, there is also a Pierce Arrow section on the AACA site that allows you much larger file sizes and if you go over on one posting you can reply to the same one with more pictures.
Congratulations on your car, it’s going to be a wonderful ride…
And yes there’s something wrong with the forum… same thing as above, if my picture works y’all can see it…
David, That is a great story, with an even better ending. I’ve never had been a number matching fan until now, having the exact engine in such a fantastic rare car is incredible especially when it was pulled out so long ago. Good for you!
I hate hitting go too early…
As I was saying, never noticed one of these before and Tim, the previous owner of my car, asked if I wanted it for what he paid. So now I need to find one that goes under my seat.
Never heard of these before buying my car…
I would be very leery of those cars actually existing, there’s been several scam attempts on the AACA lately, the only difference is this time the prices can’t be called “too good to be true†but more on the optimistic side. I could be off base but there was a Lasalle on the HCCA and another on eBay where the “seller†used other pictures you could locate on a google search that were from legitimate sales around 5-7 years previous. Matt Harwood said the ad even used his exact wording from the previous sale but the car went overseas and the new ad said it was in California. These scammers are getting more refined with every online criticism, if only they put the effort into real work…
Thank you again Bill
Once done I planned on remarking them, but thanks for the suggestion as CRS is contagious and rampant…
Thank you David, the price I was quoted definitely scared me off. At some point I might have to get it done, but for now I am going through it myself. I pulled the fuel pump out and it is definitely not the right one for the car, that is something I might go looking for once I get through the engine and wiring but low on my current list. Still have not pulled the head off so a lot could change in the next couple weeks as the direction I will be going…
A public thank you to Bill for the spreadsheet which was exactly what I needed! Everything but my main jets match up and I will be reaming those up to work.
Keep looking for posts regarding Bill, he has a great reputation and he was willing to stand up for a referral he made to me when I bought the 31. I wish I had waited for him to be available for my haul!
Shafts have surprisingly little wear, and every plug came out after the second bath in the cleaner. Someone suggested that the ultrasonic vibrations would help loosen screws as it cleaned the passages, could not believe how easy it was to clean the front wheel bearings with it either. Definitely worth the investment.
Tank was cleaned out and sealed by Milton Schilde and it’s running an electric pump with filter now as I don’t think the fuel pump has the correct arm for a Pierce – at least it doesn’t seem to be running on the cam like it should be and it doesn’t look like it was ever hooked up to a fuel line. The carburetor was also hooked up with rubber hoses which is a huge No-No right next to a manifold! Another thing to correct along this adventure.
Took the valve covers off this morning and have been scraping oil turds out most of today. Funny thing that other than that usual crust of crud everywhere, the working parts look pretty good so far, but I haven’t written off a set of valves quite yet and rings are looking like a must with what I saw in the borescope. Might be a while before She is trustworthy, but I don’t have anything better to do with my time right now so back to scraping muck out…
If you happen to have a picture of the correct fuel pump it would help me see if this is worth rebuilding or just blocking off.
Thanks again
Thank you Ed, as I mentioned I spent a good amount of time with John and he went through the UU-2 specs with the book in front of him. The UUR is the correct one and was most likely used to replace the UU because of volume but I should be able to get this to run right. It spent a long time in use ultrasonic tank and has all the passages are cleared out which I think was a lot of it’s problem, plus it’s missing one idle channel hole washer which I can get from Cislak once I get my full list of parts I need together. The carburetor is in real good shape considering the pot-metal issues of that period and if I’m lucky enough to trip across the UUR at a reasonable price I might get it, but there again it might still have the same internal needs as a UU… fits Bugatti and Dusey, why couldn’t it have been Buick and Chevrolet?
Thank you for the useful information Karl, I appreciate it.
I spent a half hour on the phone with John at The Carburetor Shop and he went through the books with me to verify that my carburetor was right internally, he also sold me some literature I probably didn’t need but after being that helpful I didn’t mind.
The carburetor that was on my car is basically a factory setup for the 30 model which is a very similar engine and it seems that drilling the jets up should yield better results. Don’t know if 30 had the large air horn but this one does and lined up perfectly with the air cleaner and inlet tube connected to the engine pan.
I’ll still contact Arnold as it will be a while before I need it complete again, I plan on looking at the valves and cooling system plus anything else that jumps out while I have the head & oil pan off.
I didn’t think you would get offended, my apologies…
My plan is to make it right, and be able to close the choke all the way without it getting too lean. I asked what Cislak got for a rebuild and it’s 1/4+ of what I have in the car and he doesn’t do just a rebuild it has to be done to show quality… which would not look right on an original car IMHO.
My carb has 046 jets, the PAS service bulletin lists 050 jets. Has anyone else reconfigured a carb to run on a Pierce who will answer this without telling me I’m an idiot that should throw my money at it?
Thank you.