That is a new type of failure--have not seen that one in 40+ years of looking at these things. I could send you a whole controller perhaps. Really don't want to try and remove that contact as it is swaged on.

Our old two-stroke Saabs ( the only cars in 65 years of driving my mother said she loved) took a quart of oil for each 8 gallons of gas. Of course they made smoke, but then each Tesla battery represents MANY tons of mine tailings, so its about a horse apiece on the environmental impact.

The usual scenario with a stuck intake is that the engine will be clattering nastily til it warms up enough and the valve starts to move a little bit. Then in the space of 10 seconds the noise level diminishes and finally the engine picks up the two cylinders.

Would be interested to know what your voltage is whilst it is charging. Am at a bit of a loss as to why the charging does not start as soon as the engine revs come up but fair to say dirty connections are often the culprit. A dirty commutator or weak brush springs also come to mind.

Remove your fan belt and take the sheet metal band off the back of the generator. Poke a piece of scotchbrite in onto the commutator and then spin the genny by hand till the copper is bright.

OK, so #3 intake is stuck open; not even close to the end of the world. The rapping noise is the lifter coming up smacking it. The cure is starting the engine and letting it run on a high idle. I'd probably add a quart of oil to your tank of gas and turn it into the equivalent of two-stroke mix. There is an excellent chance after a while as the engine gets hot and with the lifter smacking it from the bottom the valve will let loose and come down. Just had this on a '53 I started that had not run since 1976.

#4 is not firing as it shares the intake port with #3 and the flow in and out of 3 is spoiling its mixture.

The grounds on the front lights on 53-54 cars are especially tricky as those electrons have to make it out of the base, through the bulb holder, through the reflector onto the light housing. somehow onto the chassis of the car and back to the battery. I have often soldered a ground wire to the bulb socket and screwed the other end to some of the splasher sheet metal.

Howard, those photos are so helpful for this very common problem that they should have some sort of easily reached folder or ??? on the website. I fear they might not come up with a search if the wrong words were searched.

It's easy to check the steering gear lube--just take the plug off of the top and refill it with 90W gear oil. Do not remove the fitting that has the star shaped washer beneath it.

Rather doubt that is your problem as your steering would be incredibly stiff. My vote would be loose sheet metal. Slight movement between panels will make a loud squeak when conditions are right. Check all of the inner fender and splasher bolts.

No the rubber is not supposed to be there. Just wire wheel the outside, rinse out the inside under the tap, and then blow some air through the oil passages and reinstall. Yours looks pretty good, usually the hose connections are far more corroded.

Looks like 51-54.

54s had just a simple piece of bar stock that ran over from the lower bell hsg. bolt to the tab on the exhaust pipe. Because of that the tab was welded on in a different position.