VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1927 landau imperial restore

I have had this chevy landau performing the role of yard art for about 12 years, alwqays with the idea of restore, received it with a blown motor, which i have just had rebuilt in a shop in grass valley Ca. Also had the gas tank pulled, sealed and the radiator gone through, was running till 15 years ago when the Pistons fried and thecamshaft finally gave up the ghost (had some beautiful "U" shaped wearing on the contacts. still need the carb done and then the fateful day of the initial start.
I have an old carb specialist who will work on that. any advice would be good.

Hello JohnvB Welcome to the VCCA Chat site. You will find a lot of information and help with your project here. If your old carb specialist dose not work out for you we have two carb specialist here on this site that you can contact. Look for Chipper and the Junkyard dog they will help you.

I also welcome you. This is a great site for kindred Chevy souls.

There are a few VCCA members that rebuild carbs and they list their services in the Generator & Distributor (G&D), the monthly club magazine.

While the carb is in progress, I suggest the following:

1. Change all fluids. The engine should have 10-30W and the tranny, u-joint, and differential take Mobil 600W. The u-joint should not be filled, just enough so that the joint will splash the oil around. I fill the u-joint housing on my '28 with 1/2 inch of fluid.

2. Check and repair all the brake mechanisms. Make sure all the adjusting pieces are adjustable. I used a small wire brush to clean off the years of dirt and old paint from threaded shafts before squirting some JB Blaster on them to get them moving again. Where possible, I also chased the threads with a die before running the rod through the threaded hole. The idea is to try and prevent the crud in the threads from going into the threaded hole.

3. New tires and inner tubes.

4. Make sure the electrical system has a good ground. The connection to the frame is almost always corroded, so disconnect the main ground wire and sand the metal bare. I add a star lock washer in there to dig in and make a good electrical connection.

5. Check and clean all other electrical connections. Corrosion happens!

6. Clean the electrical connections in the horn motor. Add a couple of drops of 3-in-1 oil to the motor bearings.

7. Fill the steering box with Mobil 600W too. If the steering box leaks this fluid, replace the oil with a mixture of John Deere Corn Head grease and the oil (I use 2/3 grease to 1/3 oil). This is a self-leveling mixture that will work well, but is thick enough to not leak out.

8. Use marine grease or Lubriplate 115 in the grease cup for the water pump. This is the only place to use this type of grease.

9. Don't forget to put grease in the distributor grease cup. This cup takes bearing grease or lithium grease.

10. Before trying to start the engine, I suggest dropping the oil pan and inspect the bottom end of the engine. Make sure the rod caps are not loose and that everything is clean. Use a small mirror and flashlight to inspect the oil reservoirs that feed oil to the main bearings and cam shaft bearings. You don't want any crud in those places or junk in the holes at the bottom of the reservoirs that would restrict oil getting to the bearings.
After your inspection, while the pan is off, squirt 10-30W oil everywhere. You especially want to fill those reservoirs.

11 Make sure your fuel lines are clean and open. I suggest putting a fuel filter inline before it gets to the vacuum tank.

12. Put your rebuilt carb on, start the video camera, and fire her up!!

Enjoy the process! Each tiny thing that you accomplish is worthy of a celebration and a feeling of satisfaction.

Cheers, Dean

I forgot to mention cleaning and packing the wheel bearings.

Cheers, Dean

'Rustoholic',

A great and helpful recipe. You did good work.

I would add the following: THIS IS FROM MY 28 COUPE BUT THE 27 MAY HAVE SIMILAR ISSUES

Flaps on wheels in addition to tires and tubes.
2 gauge battery cable. Not modern 4 gauge.
A hacksaw blade with the teeth ground off make a correct brake gauge for adjusting brake spacing.
Consider two fuel filters-one going into the Vacuum pump from the tank and another on the output side; My output side is glass see through type.
Consider relining the brakes. Linings that old may not be that good.
Check the brake rod switch hookup to make sure it works. Original brake light was so dim as not to be seen day or night. I put second bright light below it for safety
My brake rod lever hit the frame and prevented full braking until i rigged up a spring activated mechanism. Don't know if they are all this way
Door mounted mirrors (both sides); visibility is limited in these cars.

Hope this helps in some way

1928COACHCOUPE
1928 NATIONAL AB COACH
1928 NATIONAL AB C0UPE
1961 CORVETTE
1984 SEVILLE (IN RESTORATION)