VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1930 Chevy - ALMOST THERE!!

Checked out the running gear and suspension last night - A-1! -except everything was bone dry. I don't think this car was lubed in 10 years! Brakes are like new. Had to set the rear brakes - they were not grabbing enough. Very easy job! These non-hydraulic brakes are real easy to work on and set up. After lubing everything and re-packing the wheel bearings I read the shop manual and took engine oil and a paint brush and painted the sides of the front and rear leaf springs with oil to lubricate the leafs in them . Could be my imagination - but the ride seems smoother. I guess the book was right! The only problem I noticed was a slight pitting on the inner retainer of one of the front inner wheel bearings. There is no noise so i just greased it with high pressure Lubriplate bearing grease. Other than that - it worked great! Now all I have to do is wire up the turn signals and I am ready for getting it Safetyed for registration. As a treat I started driving it around my acreage - really cool!! Then, after about ten minutes - the engine just stopped dead. What the hay??? Cranked it many times - no start. Felt the fuel pump , lines and carb - and they were cool to the touch. Disheartened, I pushed it back into the garage and put the battery charger back on it. I strongly suspect the carb as, if you remember I had to take it off and shake it for it to start a few days ago. The one advantage to downdraft carbs - is you can look inside it while pushing down the throttle to see if gas is being sprayed. Since the pump etc. were cool I don't think it is vapor lock. I will work on it again tonight. Any ideas guys?? What makes of cars back then used a Tillotson updraft carb? If I can find a site on-line with info on it like the site I found with info on rebuilding a CARTER carb. then I can do something with it. Anyone???

Fords and Fordson tractors, and other makes used that carb. do a search looking for Tillson or Tillitson whichever it is. try some guys in a Model A club for parts till you can get a REAL CARter carBURATOR! You may also want to clean out the fuel tank and lines, and put in some new gas, but before you take the carb off disconnect the air cleaner and spray a good batch of Beeman B-12 carb cleaner in the intake, a couple of times let it run off and then after an hour give it a spray ( like you are primeing the engine) then see if it will start. Also recheck those contact points, they may have stuck. You can get Beemans B12 at any parts outlet in a white blue and red aerosal can and non aerosol cans to pour it in the fuel tank ,it will dissolve some of that gunky varnish in the system, that is what I would do, Just my own thing.

Thanks Mr. Mac - Just my luck - a Fix Or Repair Daily - carb- I have never had luck with F**Ds
What is a fair price for a Carter carb? There is a rebuilt one for 1930 chev on Ebay with no takers at $100 with no guarantees and missing a link and some sort of rubber for the accelerator pump. There is another rough looking one under 1929 Chevy with no takers at $47.50. In the mean time I will try your suggestions and see if it works. Thanks for your tips - appreciate it!!!
Maurice

What's the item number of the $100 Carter carburetor that is currently on eBay? I will check it out for you when you post the item number.

Hi JYD - item #1846070298 - Thanks
maurice

That is the correct carburetor for your car. It is missing the pump arm link (no big deal....it's just a round pin) and the accelerator pump rubber boot (those are being reproduced). The core alone (if the tower inside of the brass bowl is not severely corroded) is worth the $100. And, the correct choke and throttle cable bracket is still attached to the carburetor as well, and you need that also! :eek: :eek:

Have you checked the fuel pump. Remove the
line from the carb. side and see if fuel is being
pumped when you turn the motor over.
If no fuel s is there you my make a temp. fuel
tank and connect it on the other side of the pump and try again.

Fuel pump AOK. Definately was the carb. I used the fuel system cleaner MrMack suggested and after much prodding it started and ran. So far it has continued to run everyday now - just crossing fingers at this stage - looks good - but time will tell. Am in process of trying to get new carb at this time. All I have left to do is turn signal installation and wiring and tighten up on the muffler which has a small leak and I should be ready for Safety this week. One last question: I know how to check for bad tie rods, pittman arm and ball joints. What is the test for Kingpins?? Jack up side and pull back and forth on top and bottom of tire looking for play?? Front end seems very nice and tight - I was just wondering.
thanks
maurice :confused:

Hi moedip,

You have it figured out. The first movement will be wheel bearing free play and then any other movement will be kingpins.

Thanks - Didn't think it would be hard - but wanted to make sure. Just talked to the Safety guy - got me - with this one: Are the dash guages supposed to be illuminated when headlights are on?? If they were not illuminated from factory - I don't have to worry - if they were - then I have one more job.

You have one more job.

The instruments are illuminated by a single bulb in the top center of the instrument retainer on the back of the instrument panel. :eek: :eek:

Thanks JYD - found that out last night while being a contortionist!! The bulb was burnt out. You know - the hardest discipline I have to learn on this car is to quit thinking complicated like newer cars. These things were really simple compared to today's standards. I spent 15 minutes checking out the various guages looking for a light built into them to light them up :cool2: Since I am now into the electrical - JYD - did the 3 window coupe (1930) have a dome light in the car? I got one at the swap meet earlier this year and was thinking of installing it. If it did have one - what was the circuitry used to turn it on and off? Was the driver's door used somehow like with newer cars? :confused: :confused:
thanks again
Maurice

Only the Club Sedan and the Sedan had dome lights in 1930. The light was manually activated by an "off-on" switch located on the door pillar on the inside of the car. :eek: :eek:

Thanks - I will leave the light off. On the inside of the driver's door at the same height of the latch and about one inch in from the latch edge of the door there is something that looks like a toggle switch with a round ball on the end of the toggle and a metal surround around the switch(?) - any ideas what it is? At first I thought it was a door lock of some sort but this car has no door locks and there is not one on the passenger side. Any clue???

Yep! It's a door lock! The coupes only had one inside door lock and it is located on the driver's door (the toggle switch). The passenger side door was locked from the outside with a key. :eek: :eek:

Moedip -

As you're discovering, the engineering concepts were pretty simple in those times. In this case, I believe the assumption during those days was that people would enter and exit their cars only on the sidewalk or curb side, so naturally you only need a key entry on the passenger side. Perhaps in those days it was too dangerous to exit or enter on the driver's side because of narrow streets, trolley cars, and the like. When you watch early silent movie city scenes, you see how people tend to slide in and out of their cars on the curb side.

ES

I'll be Darned!!! Now I am going to have to pull the door panel to see how it works!!! One thing I do know - it will be simple!!
Thanks JYD - appreciate it!! One last thing - I notice that there is 2 positions on the headlight switch. In the first - nothing happens - in the full out position - the headlights work. According to the manual there is a running light inside at the top of the headlight. Correct?? Is this supposed to come on in the first light switch position? Is this the same bulb as the dash light? If so I will pick up three today.
thanks
maurice

You are doing a good job of figuring out solutions to your own problems.

Yes, the first position on the light switch is for the parking lights, and the second position is for the headlights. On the standard coupe, the parking lights are located inside of the headlight assembly at the top. On the Sport Coupe, cowl lights are used instead of the parking lights inside of the headlight. Both the parking lights and the instrument panel light take a number 63 bulb.

Ray,
Yes he is doing a bang-up job! and Jyd is on a roll! They are being quite informative and entertaining at the same time.
Don't you Chevy guys just love what goes on here?
Even though some of us, what should I say?, more humorus ones? sometimes get a little frivilous and carryed away.

(and haven't quite figured out how that durn spell checker works!)

Thanks JYD - now I know why I don't have running lights in the front. This car has the cowl lights which are not hooked up. To safety the car I have to have turn signals installed. What the previous owner was in the process of doing was - installed two single bulb red lights bolted to brackets at the end of the frame -one on each side and ran wires to dash area. He was going to use the cowl lights as the front turn signal lights. So now I have to figure out what to do for front turn signals if i use the cowl lights for running lights as it was intended. I guess I will have to order the #63 bulbs from Filling Station as no one up here has 6 volt bulbs except for the bigger glass bulb ones that look like the 12v tail lights for brakes. Any ideas for front turn signal lights and where to mount them so they won't look modern or dorky??
Maurice

Use the cowl lights for your turn signals, and forget about the running lights.

JYD, is there a way to use the cowl lights as a turn light and as "parking"lights? I know the more modern cars with 12v did this, but can it be done with the 6v system?