VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 She Runs!!! - Update

Thanks for the kind advice. It sure helps us novices to have a word from experienced restorers on these kinds of topics. I'll probably keep mine on the "survivor" car until point where it begins to be used for anything but a 5 mile jaunt.

JYD
Pictures that I would be interested in would be.... a picture of the exhaust system and the actual length of the muffler, location of hangers and a view of the tail pipe from the rear. Also a pic of the whole from end of the vehicle showing the tires, grill and bumper more or less looking from the ground up. You have already taken a picture of the engine area from both sides so no need to do that again.
I wish I had business in Oregon so I could swing by and have a look see for myself.
Again a gorgeous car and definately a fine example of Chevrolet's baby cadillac.
Thank you,
Cliff

Great thread with great pictures! The 32 radiator bird has to be one of the sharpest radiator ornaments ever made. Amazingly, the original paint on that hood still has enough shine to have reflections on it.

I have heard that true synthetic oils don't smoke. I haven't tried it and it is hard for me to believe but it might be worth a try. Has anyone experienced this?

Keep the updates coming JYD!

Cliff: I will try to take those photos the next time I have Charlotte Mae out of the shop. On the exhaust system hangers, there are two: One is located right behind the muffler where the tailpipe connects and the other is located on the front flange of the rear cross member. Both hangers are available from the Filling Station.

Uncle Ed: I have heard the same thing about synthetic oil, however, a friend of mine who owns an oil distributing company says that is not true. He said that synthetic oil will burn but at a higher temperature than conventional oil.

thanks,
Cliff

Mr. Dog.

Thanks for the great story, updates, photos, and comments. It's always so nice to see a truly unmolsted car in all her glory!! Keep it coming!!

Now - if I may, would like to ask you a couple of questions about the tail-light issue. My 31 was more fortunate as the Chevy emblem just fell off the orig lens and was able to reuse it when I installed glass lens. On the bottom of housing there is a large hole with rubber gasket around it. At present, the running light is hanging half way through hole resting on this gasket. Therefore, am missing much of the light thru the lens and a lot goes to license plate. Looks like whomever worked on car bent the copper bulb holder down so the bulb is too low. I can, I think, carefully bend that tang back up to vert position so all of bulb shows through lens, if this is correct?? Now, is there supposed to be a clear lens at rubber gasket area at hole to allow light to go to license plate?? Thanking you in advance for your extremely correct advice.

Jim.

Great photos Skip. It's sure nice to see an original car on the road again.

About that smok'in thing. Did you sit Charlotte Mae down and have a long talk with her about the dangers of smok'in? If she can't quit there's always the Nicorette in the tank trick!

Have you had Charlotte Mae on an up hill run yet? How's the compression?

You are correct about those old new stock floor mats. I had one in my Coupe and inside of a couple of weeks it turned into a 300 piece puzzel!

I betcha you could wax that patina a little, ya know?

Good luck with Charlotte Mea, it's a winner.

Hey Jim!

The tail light/license plate light is a number 63 bulb. There is a rubber grommet that goes in the hole at the bottom of the tail light housing and about 1/3 to maybe 1/2 of the bulb is exposed through the bottom of the tail light housing to illuminate the license plate. That is how it is supposed to be. The pressure of the bulb pressing against the rubber grommet also holds the bulb in the socket.

If the socket is bent at the wrong angle you can carefully rebend it to the correct angle so that the bulb will fit correctly. That is what I did on Charlotte Mae and it worked fine.

There is no clear lens used for the license plate light...it is just the glass from the light bulb.

RGwiz: Ya, I told Charlotte Mae about the hazards of smoking but she just doesn't want to quit. But, I haven't given up yet. I have some stuff that I am going to shove down her throat the next time that I drive her, so maybe that will make her quit.

On the compression...what compression? I can start the car by turning the engine over by the fan blade with my finger!

Dog, two things I noticed after looking over the second set of pics.

Your wiper hangs straight down like mine did. The only way I was able to get it back up was to install a slightly thicker blade. What causes that to happen?

The other thing I noticed is that Chalotte Mae dose not have the interior trim pocket on the front passenger door. Is it on the rear door or was that pocket just on Sport Coupes?

And while I'm thinking about it, does your rear window roll down?

RayG

I would guess they were only on the Sports Coupe as that's where the rich people carried thier GOLF BALLS. Maybe the Dawg will sew one on his.

Golf Balls?

I thought they were for a kielbasa sandwhich and beer!

Dudes that drove a 1932 Chevrolet didn't go for that "hifalutin" golf stuff, therefore, they didn't carry stupid golf balls around with them in the car. Back then Chevrolet dudes were more interested in beer, broads and baseball!

Actually, the Special Sedan had the pocket on the back of the front seat, not the passenger side front door like the Sport Coupe.

The wiper blade hangs straight down because I have the wiper motor adjusted to do so. Some vacuum tends to leak around the pull knob on the wiper motor when the knob is either all the way in or all the way out. I have the knob pulled out partly which eliminates the vacuum leak and because of that the vacuum in the wiper motor holds the wiper blade in the straight down position.

Mr. Dog:

Great thread. As several have said, there is no better place to learn than right here. Thanks from all of us for getting her out in the sun, and sharing your treasure.

As you told me when asking on my '30, now I can see what you mean about the vacuum line to the manifold. Some rubber, a copper bend, then some rubber again. Is my '30 supposed to be just like your '32?

And there's that black painted steering wheel, just like you said. All these photos are great, and you won't bore any of us if you put twice as many on.

Give us a peek at those tools and the jack next time.

Thanks again.

Glad that you have enjoyed the episodes of Charlotte Mae here on Chevy Chatter II. I sure enjoyed doing the updates since so many dudes were interested in reading about what was going on to get the old girl back on the road. I will continue to do the updates as thing progress.

Sure, I will try to take some photos of the tools under the front seat the next time that I have the car out of the shop. Might even throw in a few extra photos of some other related "goodies" as well.

On the wiper motor, the 1930 similar to the 1932 as far as the copper tubing and rubber hose is concerned. I also have a 1930 Sport Coupe and the routing and positions of the copper tubing and the rubber house is about the same as that on my '32.

Yep, the 1929-30 wood steering wheel was definitely painted black as you discovered.

Mr. Dog.

Thanking you for your response. Appreciate it. My 31 stands as you suggested with the light bulb assy. Will leave it alone.

Jim.

JYD
If you plan on driving Charlotte Mae around, what sort of windshield protection do you plan if any ? I read a past forum subject about windshilds being just straight glass. Many people suggested at that time that it should be replaced with safety glass. What are you thoughts on this subject?
On another note.... how does everyone keep track of all the grease fittings on their cars ? I have read that there are 22 on a '32. It seems everytime I turn around I find another one.
Cliff

I'm curious about the '32 license plate light and the LCD replacement light elements advertised on this page. They don't seem to show a specific license plate light, and they sure don't show a lens to cover that opening in the tail light housing. Anybody know how this is handles?

Hello Sam.

I bought one of those for my 31 but am not too interested in installing it now after seeing that I have to cut into new wiring loom. Along with the light assy, they send a plastic lens that fits in hole in bottom of housing. The light from LED unit supposed to show through that and onto license plate. Can't attest to how well this unit works??

Jim.

On the tail light....if it ain't broke....don't fix it.

Hey there Skip!
Just got caught up reading all the posts and seeing your pics. This is super great! I remember looking at your car when we were at your place in 1988! Hey if I can remember that I must not have dementia yet, right? On the engine smoke; our original '32 Sport Coupe, Mabel, started smoking right after I put on a redone 1932 head as when we bought her in 1982 she was running a 1933 head. The smoke calmed down some after putting on some miles, but was not back to the level when running the 1933 head with straight non- detergent 30 wt oil, so.....A couple years ago I went with Mobil 1 5/30 like I have in everything else I own and the smoke is almost all gone! Keep feeding us more pics and thanks for doing this!!!
Russ

Hey There Russ You Old Cuss!

Ya, Charlotte Mae smoked pretty bad back 35 years ago before she went into storage. We drove her several hundred miles back then and the smoke never went away. Now, after 35 years of sleep the smoke is even worse. But, we haven't driven her much either because of the bad weather so maybe down the road some or most of the smoke will disappear after she is driven more miles. Gotta keep in mind that Charlotte Mae is now 78 years old and in that period of time she has been in storage in the barn (original owner) and in my shop for 56 of those 78 years.

Keep checking back....more pictures will be posted when the weather clears and we get her out of the shop once again.

Hey JYD,
I haven't seen any news about Charlotte Mae for awhile, have you had her out cruising lately or is she still in the shop getting beauty treatments?

Neither! Charlotte Mae has been the shop asleep the past few weeks. The weather has been bad and on the few days that we did have good weather I was busy doing other things and couldn't get back to her. However, got a Vintage Fair coming up at the Butte Creek Mill (built in 1872) in Eagle Point and the antique tractor dudes will be there. That will be on Mother's Day weekend, and we are planning on taking Charlotte Mae to the event. So, we will take her out of the shop to get a 10 mile road test in the next couple of weeks prior to that event.

More updates then. And....thanks for asking!

OK, keep us posted when you wake her up! My old beauties are still sleeping too, I'm a little too busy farming to get them out, but every time I go in their shed on a nice day they beg me to take them out for a spin.

Farming? Cool man! Watched a show on RFDTV last night about the Keller family who also lives on a farm and they have over 600 restored tractors in their tractor collection, which is the largest tractor collection in the world. It was awesome!

Anyway, ya, as soon as Charlotte Mae wakes up again I will post more updates and a few more photographs as well.