VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Restoring my '38 Master Deluxe

I was about 12 years old when my Dad bought this in '77. I still recall seeing it for the first time when we towed it home. History is not confirmed, but the original owner bought it new, did not drive it during the brutal upstate NY winters, which explains the lack of rust, passed away and left the car in storage for many years until the second owner rescued it, did not have it for long, and sold it to my Dad.

My Dad's goal was to restore it back to its original Gunmetal color and condition, so he accumulated several parts over the years. Never got around to restoring it, but had to have the engine rebuilt in '93 due to a broken piston. Life got in the way, so it sat in storage since the late '90's.

My Dad would like to take it out for one more ride, so I am trying to get it roadworthy again as soon as possible.

Here is what it looked like when I towed it home:


[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-pjBNkWx/0/XL/i-pjBNkWx-XL.jpg[/img]



Since the engine hasn't run in many years, and there is a coolant leak, I took the front end apart to manually open each valve before attempting to crank the engine.



[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-qqPV6V7/0/XL/i-qqPV6V7-XL.jpg[/img]



Luckily none of the valves were sticking. Had to drain the tank and hand pump new fuel through the lines, and took the carb apart to clean the sticky film. Good thing fuel stabilizer was used in the 12 year old gas.

Took awhile, but finally got it started. Adjusted the timing and set the new points per spec.

I was not sure where the coolant leak came from, so removed the radiator and checked the water pump, found a cracked lower hose. Cleaned the radiator, painted it, put in new hoses & thermostat. As expected, all rubber parts are dry rotted and/or cracked, so will have to replace just about everything.

Brakes & bearings are still new, but the rear brakes are leaking. Knee action shocks leak badly, will not hold any fluid. Trans & axle not leaking too badly.

Drove her around the neighborhood to make sure things worked well. Guess I made a few jaws drop when they saw this contraption driving around:


[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-MvzC7bz/0/XL/i-MvzC7bz-XL.jpg[/img]


Next step: Stem the leaking knee actions, and put an end to the bouncy front-end. Started on the driver's side:

[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-7qFvq58/0/XL/i-7qFvq58-XL.jpg[/img]


Got a replacement seal kit, but unfortunately the needle bearings left some serious grooves and cannot be re-used:

[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-pC2vsvT/0/XL/i-pC2vsvT-XL.jpg[/img]

To make matters worse, the steering arm is frozen to the shock body, and even though I used a 20 ton shop press, PB Blaster, & lots of heat....ended up damaging the threads, stupid thing would not budge:

[img]http://green427.smugmug.com/photos/i-NXQWJSP/0/XL/i-NXQWJSP-XL.jpg[/img]



To be continued.....

Sorry about the photo links, will come back and use BB coded photos...

Use the link at the top of the text box. Fourth from the left. Looks like a rectangle with two blue dots and a pink triangle. Works like this:

That's what I was using...wonder why it didn't work...can't edit the post now....will have to ask the mods if I can start over...
Thanks..

Just quoted my post and did a preview.., looks like I did the right thing, but something happened in the translation...anyway, photos below:

























To be continued.....

Looking forward to "to be continued"!!! Great looking car! Billu38

If the nut would have be loosened but left on you wouldn't have a peened over and destroyed part. Use a couple heavy hammers, one as a backer on one side and then hit the opposite side and most of the time that will loosen things up so it will come apart.

Using Don's suggestion of 2 hammers but on the sides instead of the end (where you damaged) I have found to be more successful and doing less damage.
Tony

Green 427,

a. First, you need to be taken to the wood shed and receive a good whopping for damaging the threads. Okay, we got that out of the way so read on:

b. See if you can file away the burr or disfiguring you did to the threads.

c. If so, then get the proper die or thread chaser and rethread it so the nut will go back on, then screw the nut down flush with the top of the threaded arm

d. screw the nut on with the castellations (if any) on bottom,

e. Get a suitable brass hammer

f. Support the arm with a stout jack stand or some other way

g. hold the brass hammer against the nut

h. Strick the brass hammer with a heavy hammer, increase as needed

i. If not successful, remove brass hammer and repeat banging process

I don't know if the arm and can be carried to a machine shop or not, but you may need some heat on the thing

Also, the idea of striking on the side will work if it is tapered, which I suppose it is. Need to back opposed side with something heavy

Good luck with it. I'm sure you will get more and better advice from others

You have a nice looking car and I hope you get it in the condition you want real soon.

Good luck,
Charlie

BTW: Shop in "parts wanted" here on VCCA Chat. You may find someone with NOS replacement knee-actions or knowledge about a shop that rebuilds them, whatever...

In addition to the great advice above, I suggest spraying it with some penetrating oil. a 50/50 mix of Acetone and Automatic tranny fluid is best, but I use PB Blaster with good results.

While the oil is soaking in, every time you walk by it, just give the side a whack with a hammer (not hard) to vibrate the parts. This helps with the penetration of the oil.

Cheers, Dean

Thanks to all for the 'bitch slapping' on the back of the head that I so deserve...

I did soak the parts in PB blaster and used a torch to heat it. Some of the damage was also from a 3-prong puller, which did not help either. My next-door neighbor is a retired Chevy mechanic, he took a look at what I did and said that since the arm is an odd shape, it makes things much more difficult. He recommended that I drill and cut the arm out and replace it.

I have a NOS arm being shipped to me this weekend. will use that, and probably will hire a local machine shop to use a lathe to smooth all parts and make new bushings, and deal with the frozen arm.

There are a couple vendors that do shock rebuilding services, prices range from $400 up to $700 each.

Neighbor says he has some old tap & dies that I can use to repair the threads...

Wondering if I should create another thread with step-by-step photos of taking the knee actions apart and putting back together......I have the equipment to make short videos too.

Does that work on people as well?

Some people do need a whack now and then but they generally dont appreciate it and retaliate with similar or worse.
Tony

This is an excellant idea. The video you could also post on Youtube. Our gene pool (genius pool) is getting smaller and smaller each year. You would be doing a great service to future 38 owners who must deal with this problem. Does anyone remember if our organizations magazine "Generator and Distributor" has done a tech article on this topic?

Good luck dad's waiting, Mike

Apple Hydraulics www.applehydraulics.com does an excellant job rebuilding shocks and provides a guarantee. It might be worth your time and effort to have them ship you a rebuilt set. You would have them in a couple of days. You send them back your cores. They are in Calverton, N.Y.

http://www.applehydraulics.com/delco.htm#chevy
http://www.antiqueautoarchive.com/folders/Restoration/kneeaction/kneeactionpdfcompressed.pdf
Apple info and a link to a very good blow by blow account of a knee action rebuild. Enjoy, Jim P

Thanks, videoranger....

I did study that DIY knee action article, it was excellent, however, I would like to document how to remove parts that haven't moved in 75 years with detailed photos and/or videos using regularly available tools. I had to make a special tool just to get the tops off without too much damage. After doing one shock over about 5 weeks, I learned the hard way of which tools are appropriate, what order to remove them, etc. Sometimes pictures don't do justice.

I did bring one shock to a metal fab shop and inquired about making a nut to remove the top plug, but they were not interested in making just one, and if all I wanted was one nut with a slot key welded on the bottom, it was going to be $700.

I will start a new thread as soon as I can, be on the lookout.

If you have a college with a machine shop program you might be able to get a tool built there for a nominal charge. Offer to pay for the materials and buy the teacher a six pack.

This is the tool a friend made for me from a spare 1& 1/8" socket 1/2" drive. The key size is 3/8'' X 2&1/8" long.

Thanks....great minds think alike. I used a 27mm impact socket to make the same exact thing except I used a narrow strip of stock steel, which did not work out, so I cut it out and put a piece of 1/4" key stock like yours.

In my case, the socket was too tall, causing me to lose my grip every time. My cap was never removed since the car was new, and even though I used heat and an extension bar, the cap would not budge. I ended up using my electric impact wrench, and it struggled for awhile until the cap started turning.

Talk about a good 2 hour workout: For the bigger cap, I used a Ridgid 48 inch pipe wrench, which weighs 50lbs. Had to put one front wheel back on & make contact with the floor to prevent the car from sliding sideways while using the pipe wrench.

Made a video removing the passenger side knee action spring adjustment screw. Tried the breaker-bar route, but it would not budge.

This time it went much smoother than the driver's side, as I made a better fitting key, and soaked the screw in PB Blaster for almost three weeks.

I have a bunch of other brief videos, more to come....

Just about every gasket is leaking on this car, including the water pump, which started to leak recently. Since I have to paint the new pump, I ordered the dark grey Hirsch engine paint from chevsofthe40s, and was not too happy about the color being much darker than the current paint.

Still waiting for the pump to arrive, so I went ahead and took the valve cover, side cover, and oil pan off. The drain pan was a pain in the butt to get off, had to disassemble the tie rod and the rear crossmember just to get it off. Cleaned them up, primed, and painted, although I screwed up the side cover & pan and have to paint them again:




Got the complete gasket set:




Removed the manifolds, sand blasted & primed with header primer & cast iron paint:











Oil pan had a little bit of sludge, cleaned it out, still looks pretty good:




I recall my Dad saying that after he had the engine rebuilt, he let it sit too long with old gas, which caused the valves to stick and bend some pushrods, so he had the same guy repair it, but the guy took it personal and had an attitude, took the engine out, boiled the head, and rushed the process of putting it back, which resulted in the front motor mount bolt flanges not being set, exhaust pipe flange gasket missing, and several other bolts being loose, including some manifold bolts. One of the front motor mount bolts came out using my fingers. So....it is probably a good thing I am taking everything apart, gives me a chance to check every bolt.






Oil pickup screen appears to be clean.

Replace your timing cover seal while you have it down that far. If it doesn't currently leak it will.

You SHOULD be happy as you have received the correct dark paint that is sold by Chev's of the 40's and The Filling Station.

It took many phone calls and every type of communication to get those two vendors to sell the correct paint. The Filling Station and a few individuals who knew the correct paint by match to original parts as one source to establish the correct color engine paint. Use the Filling Station paint with confidence it is correct.

I am happy about having the correct color, just not happy with the fact that the rebuilder claimed to use the correct color, which I've seen in other cars, and believed it for the last 22 years....



Anyway, while replacing the gasket on the timing gear cover, I had to stop and analyze the cam gear, which is documented as made of "fiber"....looks like it is made of a resin and has the name "Formica" on the bottom...does that mean Formica made them for GM?

About what year did they finally listen to you?