VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1931 Hood corners

Were the front hood corners (leather or rubber protectors for headlight buckets) accessory items??

hoppy

As you probably expected they are not official Chevrolet accessories but, aftermarket additions. Same as the cowl light, headlight bar, tail light stands that did not have those rubber pads being sold for them. The headlight bar had an asphalt impregnated woven pad between it and the fender. I use 30# roofing felt to replace the pad.

Thanks for your reply. I strongly suspected that was the case, but I sure do see alot of them being used on different makes and models of vintage cars.

hoppy

In this post and in others recently, we've learned of parts that are sold as original equipment, but aren't. For example, the gear shift and emergency boots. Is there, or can someone supply a list of the items most likely offered as original which aren't?

I can start a list and hope that a few others add items so it can be as complete as possible. Also feel free to make corrections if I have made a mistake.

I also will start a list of items that were installed but not commonly seen on "restored" 1931 Chevrolets.

1931 Items sold today that were not originally factory or dealer installed or Chevrolet accessories.

Head light bar rubber pads
Cowl light base rubber pads
Gear shift tower boot
Emergency brake lever boot
Hood rubber corners

Items that were originally installed that may not be commonly seen on 1931 Chevys

Brake & Clutch pedal bellows type grommet P/N 357374
Rubber steering column U-bolt spacer P/N 356607 - Pass, Sed. Del.
Rubber cover for positive cable starter terminal end
Fabric sleeve over choke and throttle cables near starter terminal
Throttle return spring attached to forward exhaust pipe stud.
Anti-rattle spring P/N 346331 and washer on throttle rod at carburetor.
Zinc plated metal armor for tail light wire.

Other items that are not original parts are:

Tail light bracket rubber pad.
Gas tank filler neck rubber grommet.
Gas tank cover rumble seat step pad bracket rubber grommet.
Door window anti-rattle rollers.

JYD, I beg to differ with you on the Rumble Seat Step Bracket Rubber Grommet. I am the second owner of our 31 Coupe. I purchased it in 1960. It had a grommet on the step bracket and it was very hard and checked indicating it had been on the car a long time. Just my two cents worth.

I just looked it up in my 1931 Parts Book.Grommet, Step Pad Frame Bracket Rubber, Sport Roadster, Sport Coupe, Cabriolet Price Each .05 Part No. 365900

The rubber covers for brake, clutch, accelerator and starter pedals I believe were also not available from Chevrolet at the time.

Chipper, interesting that you mention the anti-rattle accelerator spring. I was wondering why my linkage seemed to have some extra play at that end! What did this look like, just a short 1/4" dia spring, which I suppose one could cut from a longer one?

I also agree that the grommet for the rumble lid step pad bracket was originally installed.

You are correct. The brake/clutch pedal pads P/N 364022 were later accessories not originally installed on 1931 production vehicles.

The anti-rattle spring was a coil spring slightly larger ID than the rod and ~3/8" long with flat ends. If you cut one from a larger spring you will need to flatten the cut end or deal with it not fitting correctly. A thin washer was used between the spring and cotter pin.

Back Roads: You are absolutely correct! My bad. What I meant to say was that the step pad rubber grommets available today from some suppliers do not fit the application intended.

And, to expand upon that a little more, even though the rubber grommet for the gas tank cover is listed in the parts book for the step pad, interesting enough only one gas tank cover is shown in the parts book. The sport coupe, cabriolet and the sport roadster used a different gas tank cover since it had a slot for the step pad bracket, and the models without a rumble seat didn't have a slot in the gas tank cover.

One more question regarding non-original items... Chipper mentioned a woven pad under the headlight bar. Was there anything between the cowl lights the cowl and headlight stand and the fender? How about the roadster windshield bracket and the cowl?

Is the rubber cover for the positive cable starter terminal available anywhere?

Never found anything under cowl light base. There is a beaded pad between the roadster windshield center piece and cowl. There is the previously mentioned pad between headlight bar and fender. Not sure what you mean by "headlight stand and the fender?"

Don't know of a source of the positive cable cover. Maybe I should make some. Have a couple of examples that I am hanging on with death grip.

How about posting a picture of the starter cover Chipper? Some of us could likely make our own if we knew what they looked like.

You can purchase similar to the original rubber terminal boots for the positive cable from the following source:

http://www.solarseller.com/battery_terminal_cable_lug_covers_and_protectors.htm

Scroll down to view the "Quick Cable #5734"

Like Chippy Dippy I have the correct factory rubber boot for the positive cable and it is under lock and key since those babies are really, really scarce!