Not to semi-steal this thread, but it did get me off my butt as I've been meaning to rebuild the generator on my '51 for at least 6 months now. The car has been charging in a hap hazarded manner for the last year, but the rebuild was never at the top of the list.

When I saw AER & Jason names in this blog I knew the time had come, so I ordered an armature, bearings, and brushes for the beast from him. After receiving the parts I torn into the project. Got it all apart and cleaned up for paint, but had issues trying to remove the rear, pressed in bearing. So I called AER and Jason provided some helpful hints.

Therefore and wanting to give credit where it is due, I want to pass on my THANKS to everyone who has provided input on this thread and to Jason!

Bruce

Thanks for your input & thoughts. The person that I have been using has saved some pot metal parts for me that were in real bad shape. While I cringe at the price the quality has been very good.

By the chrome bars, is it correct to assume that you are referring to the 5 stainless steel (SS) bar that are parallel to the ground? If so, mine are SS and have never been chromed. Therefore, i was assuming that to chrome plate them would be incorrect, but certainly nicer looking.

Do you know where I can find the little clips that hold the bards on and the medallion that goes on the rack.

My chrome man picked up the two trunk brace joint assemblies last week. I did not get them apart, but went with O-D's suggestion about asking about having them plated while they were still together. When the plater does the copper plating, he'll do that with them open in order to minimize the amount of copper being plated inside the joint area. I should see them in a couple of weeks.

I also included for chrome plating both covers for the tool and battery boxes. Like they say it's only money and you can't take it with you.

Could the whining noise be your electric fuel pump? The problem is either fuel or electrical. After it quits do the 2 things below;

1) with the air cleaner removed look inside the carburetor & work the throttle - you should see gas being injected into the intake manifold. If not then your problem is either the pump (measure gas pressure at carburetor) or the carburetor.

2) remove a spark plug wire and check to see if you have spark while attempting to start the car. If there is none then look for a loose or bad connection and frayed wires shorting out.

I would clean the distributor first and make sure that I had a good battery before proceeding with anything.

Good Luck!

O-D,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check with him the next time I see him.

Twelve volt systems allow the manufacture to use smaller gauge wire, which represents a cost savings. Also, as already mentioned 12 v provides more power for cranking.

If your car turns over slow the suggestion, as mentioned, rebuilding the starter is a good suggestion. My '51 was a bear to start after it sat for a week or two and required a squirt of starting fluid. I traced the cause to lack of gas in the carburetor. The problem went a away when the electric fuel pump failed and was replaced. The new pump provided more gas when the key was turned on. Not sure where the gas in the carb. went when the car sat for awhile - maybe an indicator that the carb. needs to be rebuilt.

By the way the '51 came with an electric pump when I bought it. I may pull the mechanical one when I get the time and rebuild it and return the car to a more original look. However, the '32 that I'm restoring occupies most of my garage time.

I have a few questions about the trunk rack. Both trunk rack brace joint assemblies need to be chrome plated. I tried to push the pins out using a vice but ran into more resistance than I thought should be required. Has anyone out there done before and are there any thoughts on how best to do it (or maybe not do it)?

Also, the 5 stainless steel trim pieces have a few dents and two have areas where they have been partially crushed. It appears that I should be able to "un-dent and un crush" them. At that point, they should buff and polish up nicely. Another question that I have is what type of connector it used to install the trim pieces and are they available somewhere?

I unbolted the body and moved it forwards as far as possible. I gained maybe a 1/8 of an inch, but not enough that I would feel comfortable trimming the top panels. I'm concerned that the blades from the fan would be too close to the radiator.

Next I think that I'll work with the shell to see if it would be possible to move it towards the rea of the in order to gain some additional clearance for the fan blades, which would allow me to trim the top two hood pieces.

In the interim, I've been working on the trunk rack and the right & left frame brackets. They needed priming, body filler to take care of a few areas that were pitted from. The parts were then sprayed with base coat and then 3 coats of clear. The rack turned out nice looking, but I'm not happy with the right bracket, a run that did not look good after color sanding. So I'll give them a light sanding with 1200 grit Wet Or Dry paper and re-shoot the clear.

Both trunk rack brace joint assemblies need to be chrome plated and I could use some input. I tried to push the pin out using a vice but ran into more resistance than I thought would be required. Has anyone out there done before and are there any thoughts on how best to do it (or maybe not do it)?

Also, the 5 stainless steel trim pieces have a few dents and two have areas where they have been partially crushed. It appears that I should be able to "un-dent and un-crush" them. At that point, they should buff and polish up nicely. Another question that I have is what type of connector it used to install the trim pieces and are they available somewhere.

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Get a short length of flexible conduit (Like the electrical conduit found in houses) with an inside diameter a little greater than your aluminum strip. You might be able to slide the strip inside the conduit and bend both of them together.

The conduit should help in preventing the strip from collapsing on its self. Then of course you may need to cut the conduit off in order to get the strip out.

I those for my '32, but they need a lot of TLC before they go back on the car. It took me about 30 hours to straighten and install the gutters on my car.

I really appreciate your inputs. The car has a three speed transmission, the shell does not have a center bar, no vacuum assist, the radiator has been tried with and without the rubber, and the gap between the other various other parts has in general been a consistent gap (see photos),. Based on the car's engine number (343292), it would be near the middle of the production sequence.

I'll measure the panels and post the data here and maybe I can get some feedback as to whether or not I have the correct hoods parts. How can I determine if the shell is correct?

I can't work on the car until Thursday, but plan on moving the body as far forward as possible. Then, if I can get the distance between the fan blades and the radiator core greater than 1/2", I may decide to cut the two top panels to fit depending on how everything fits.

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