VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum New Guy On The Block

Good evening/morning everyone,

Well, where to start. My wife and I have a 1931 Chev Special sedan, that was her fathers. The old girl has not been running for a few years, and today we got her cranked up. She runs well, but there are a few things I need some help and pointers on.

One thing I picked up, was that the water pump seal was leaking. So does anybody know where I can get a correct water pump, or seal kit from?

The distributor leads and cap seals are all very tired and perished. Again the same as above. What would be the best places for me to look?
Lastly for now, are there any workshop type manuals out there with the various specs of the car in general? I ask this with the hope of very slowly getting the car into a more roadworthy condition, so that we can get out and about for weekend drives and picnics etc.

The more information I can get the better. Being so far away in the Pacific, finding the right information and/or parts is very very difficult, and anything we might find is seriously expensive. I figure, best go to those who love these old cars and would be a far better source of information that some shopkeep who just wants to make a sale :-)

I look forward to some great conversations and new friendships started.

Thank you all

Robert & Barbara

So some things you should be able to source locally. Find a local pump shop, or a well driller. They will have some packing for the water pump. There is a dimple, or a oil cup at the very cone of the water pump under the pulley that should get oil every 100 miles. The twist in water pump grease cup should generally only get water pump grease so it won't plug up your radiator. If you are a member of the VCCA you should be able to look up some of the specs at "The old car manual project" online. You should buy a real owners manual for your car from "The Filling Station" Their catalog is online. They have a lot of the things you will need. They have a sealed bearing water pump for 29 to 32 cars that does not need to be greased or oiled. Do not over tighten the fan belt because it puts too much pressure on the bearings. It just needs to be tight enough to not drastically slip. Only use wire cored spark plug wires, do not use the high tensile carbon cored type. For optimal tuning look up Bill Barkers 31 Chev site for tips on extra timing advance, and spark plug gap. Art

Welcome! There are lots of guys here who can help with your questions and offer advice. We also have quite a few members of the VCCA in NZ, so you should consider joining the club. You can do that here:

Join VCCA

The best and most complete supplier of parts, manuals and accessories for these cars is:

Filling Station

Their prices are fair and they routinely ship overseas.

As to your initial questions:

-- The water pump contains a packing, not a seal. To reduce leakage you simply tighten the packing nut -- the large brass nut through which the water pump shaft exits the block -- until the leakage is reduced to an occasional drip. If it bottoms out, you may have to repack the pump. Initially, I recommend that you buy three publications from the Filling Station: The Owner's Manual, The Service Manual, and the Parts book for your car. Later you may want to also buy the reprints of the monthly service news for 1929, 1930, and 1931; they contain lots of good information.

-- A set of replacement spark plug wires is available from the Filling Station. They are the correct black fabric-covered wires, already cut to length, with the proper wire conductor and right-angle connectors.


Again, welcome! Enjoy your car and we'll try to help out.

All the Best, Chip

A great place for information on your car is also available at www.1931chevrolet.com

Thank you Art,

You see, it pays to ask those who know. Straightaway, something I did not know was that the water pump seal was packing as opposed to a bearing. Now I know what to look for I can 'open' her up and check it all out.

Thank you for the link to The Filling Station. That is awesome. I see what you mean about them having a slightly more modern water pump setup. I will talk to the wife about what she wants to do about that. Does she want me to spend less and repack the with the original type seals, or spend a little more and get the complete thing all set up and ready to go. One question though. I see the Filling Station sells a 'baffle' to sit behind the water pump. Is this necessary if you install and more modern version water pump?

Hi ho and here we go :-)

Robert

Good morning Chip,

Thank you for your post.

Once again some more great info. I have already joined the VCCA, but I cannot seem to find a link or list of any New Zealand members.

With regards to the spark plug leads, awesome. $40 for a set plus the rubber caps. Yee hah!!!!!!

Also got a few of the manuals added to my shopping cart with them. Got some reading to do now.

As soon as I figure out how to post a couple of pics of our old girl, I will put them up. Can't seem to add them to these posts. Ah well, can't have everything all at once.

Cheers

Robert

HI Robert --

As a start, if you look at the banner at the top of this page and look to "User List", then do a search for NZ and for New Zealand, you'll find more than fifty people who are or have been active on this Chat Room. They will not all be VCCA members, but you can leave them a PM and see if you find any common ground Once you get your VCCA membership validated, you can access the VCCA website (at "VCCA Home" above)( and access the member listing which will give you a list of NZ members of VCCA. I'm sure you will find other owners of cars of your vintage nearby. Hope that helps.

All the Best, Chip

Well this is interesting.

I have been looking at some members cars in some of the forums.

It appears as though our car is a 1930 Sedan, NOT a '31. Assuming this by the front end layout/setup of headlight bar and the radiator grille.

It has been registered here as a 1931 though. I might have to see about changing the registration papers

The year difference may be attributable to couple of factors the 1st being the shipping time from Canada (where RHD vehicles were built) and the model change was not necessarily calendar year (more like May or September).
I have ordered several lots of parts from The Filling Station and until the Covid thing hit us I had the package on my doorstep in Aus about a week after ordering but Covid has slowed things down a bit.
Tony

Just to confirm, that is a 1930 rather than a 1931. Other giveaways, in addition to those you mentioned, are the front apron below the radiator with the ridges in it and the louvers in the hood only being half the length of the hood. If you can provide photos of the following, we can tell you a bit more about when it was produced and where, etc:

-- A tag mounted on the sill in the right front doorway (look under the floor mats. It will have a model name and a car number. These are frequently missing.
-- A tag mounted on the front of the firewall which will give a "Job Number" and a "Body Number"
-- The casting number of the engine block in raised letters on the right side of the engine.
-- The engine number, stamped onto a machined boss next to the fuel pump.

All the Best, Chip

PS -- Looks like a nice car. Enjoy it!
PPS -- The steering wheel is missing. (Oh wait, somebody just moved it to the wrong side.)

The baffle behind the water pump can rust away causing cooling problems. The baffle is required no matter if it is an original or modern type water pump. If you are ordering a new pump from FS, order the baffle as well. You may not really need it, but if you don't order it, Mr. Murphy says that you will need it.