Uncle-Pekka

cool presentation video - I really enjoy watching Jay Leno enjoying so much "coon fingering" the buick...! You really see and hear how much he likes the cars he's presenting. Even if I'd rather have my buick slow & sloppy with that 2-speed dynaflow and straight eight, I have to appreciate the workmanship and engineering of the modernization done by Icon Garage. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks DJ, Tim, Surprising to find such long ratio from our back yard. Now I have to do some thinking do I want to put this animal in my D24... I would get 67 mph at 2000rpm with the OD... Not much acceleration though... On the other hand it makes me sad to think of the car that was parted out in the 60's: 331 hemi and this 3,36 rear end, it was a fast one. And only 10yrs old when parted.

As I've been told this car was 1954 New yorker and it was parted out already in mid sixties. How such low ratio rear end could have been in it?

Back at the garage... I counted the teeth. Pinion has 11 & wheel 37. It makes 3.36:1 ratio... Is it possible? The stamp"7 26" in 3rd member housing is obviously false as I was suspicious of too low a number of pinion teeth.

I agree Andy, counting doors is more practical, but IMO "Six-Light Sedan" sounds much more glorious than "four door sedan". What's more, all 6-L sedans are 4D's, but NOT all 4D's are 6-L's...! As I confess to be a moto-romantic person, the fact that six-light sedan was used in the 1930's by english and american, but obviously since much forgotted gives the term an extra silver lining in my eyes. I hereby promise to dedicate to rehabilitation of this term from now on.

As I wrote in the opening post, he said it like it's pronounced in english in spite he does not speak english. If I would ask him to write it down he'd probably write "siks lait sedan". I've never heard anyone to say "kuusivalo" in finnish and it does not mean anything in finnish. In finnish we have only "four door sedan"-term "neliovinen", nothing more specific. During the past 20 years finns have adapted 3W and 5W coupe terms from english, they are used as direct translations "kolmi-ikkuna kupee" and "viis'ikkuna kupee"... But only by car guys in hobby circles, not common language. Thanks Mark for warming me up on this... I have to tell you folks, that US cars were popular and highly valued it finland until end of the 50's. Quite remarkable is that there is only one make that has finnish translation of it's name: Chevrolet is called "Letukka" in Finland. I suppose it originally came from similar pronouncion. It's also an old slang word for light footed woman..., but that's another story then. Ford comes close, but only because in eastern part of the country they don't use letter "f", but pronounce it "v", same with "d"; it's pronounced "t", thus Ford is "Voorti" in common language. (Finns mostly add "i" in the end of words that would end in a consonant.)

Well, as you see in the MotorEra dictionary I have not invented this term. However I can easily understand and appreciate the term; "Light" is an opening where through the light can be seen. Same way as in a house, a window may contain several screens. Nine windows on the facade of this house, however 4x12 + 5x9 = 93 pcs of glass screens... Easier to understand to say "nine windows" than count all separate screens?

Language is a agreement between people as definition... It does not make any more sense why one should count in the side windows and rear, but count out windshield. Why not count them all in every case or count just the ones visible on "the profile/silhouette"?

...Coming back to this subject... Happened to find this site today; http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/si.htm Look at "six.." " Six-light sedan An old designation of a four-door body style that features another small quarter window behind the rear side doors, resulting in three side windows per side or six windows overall" Turns out my old man spoke with correct terms after all. Glad to learn this really is traditional anglo-american expression. It has appealed to me, sort of glamorous depiction for a full size sedan.

I am confused... Confused what was the question by Paul and equally confused what was the answer Don gave? Well, if the question was what tools for painting I am using, my answer would be "what ever makes the most sense considering the paint used, object to be painted and required result" Unlike Don, I do not always "buy cheaper rattle cans". I some times use rattle cans to paint some easily available parts in the engine bay. This is for two reasons: Jobs I do require quick dry time; and the parts are easily accessible for re-paint if/when the thin spray coat fails. When painting floors, undercarriage/frame/suspension parts I may use brush in order to "rub" the paint deep and tight in the surface roughness micro structure as possible. Also when painting inside floors brush makes less mess around the painted area. However, in most cases I use small top cannister airbrush which is easy to adjust and easy to clean after sprying. For heavy duty wear objects I prefer 2-component epoxy for primer, 2-comp acrylic car paint as top coat.

Sorry for the raccoon side-roads... The close corresponding would be 215/75 R15, gives you 27.7" outer diameter. I run my D24 on these, no problems.

This went way off-topic, but I have to thank you Dan for expanding my vocabulary and introducing the ways of the raccoons... I spend a couple of hours watching raccoon clips on the utube and chuckling. Amazingly cunning creatures these are..

The height is now in good balance. Not too low to my tastes.

Well, actually I quite like the stance now. As a disclaimer I need to say that the photos are taken from low angle and with short focus lense, thus it's hard to tell what it really looks like. Anyway it seems not be "un-naturally low" as many tend to do nowadays (air bags, channeling, frame modifications) Another comment would be, that with the heavy engine the front springs of these cars tend to wear out sooner than rear. When I got mine the rear was higher than front end. By original factory photos and period photography it was not that way as new. Also IMO it looked goofy for a long 4D sedan. I made lowering blocks which ended to be ca 40mm ( 1"5/8). When installed those the stance is in balance. It is lower than original, but not ridiculos low licking curb. Further, if you do it with blocks it's very easy to un-do. My future plans are to improve the front end ride by trying ford excursion coils as recommended by some of the fellows here at p15-d24. Flutnie, do not be discouraged by opinions here - it's what pleases you. However be aware, that these cars are/were originally quite good to handle and ride well. IMO; we should NOT do modifications which destroy the good qualities created by Chrysler engineers just for sake of "modern looks". Rather aim to modify for better ride.

Considering the condition of your car, your plan are perfect. You will find tech tips on lowering here on previous threads: Ford excursion front coils, lowering blocks on rear axle... Patina is created by time and care. I think your car has just great patina like it is now. I'd buff it off by using some paint renovator (e.g. AutoGlym). Buff the possible rust stains off by using very high grid paper or steel wool and seal the surface with heavy duty wax. That way you preserve the patina but also leave option for repaint later on in case you change your mind.

Wellcome to the forum and congratulations for the excellent find! Your car seems to be in pretty good condition and mostly original. The lug nuts were the way they were built. I recall having the same trouble when looking nuts at RockAuto, the online catalog only lists "lug bolts", but somehow I still got the right nuts from there, do not recall which way I ordered... And YES, the left side has left hand thread: " on the drivers side wheels you turn counter clockwise to tighten the lug nut (Lefty-tighty!) It you look closely on the lug bolt or stud you will usually see a "L" or "R" stamped on the end." See "tech tips" link; http://p15-d24.com/page/p15d24/tech/tech_tips.html#lug All the best of luck in finding the fender brightwork . As a matter of fact I could use one rear left fender spear myself; My car has two pcs rear right spears, thus the one installed on left side is upside down. Cheers, Uncle-Pekka

Thanks Ed, I stand corrected. Are the cowl/parking lights the only external difference btw m.1940 vs. m.1946 ? The below is then 1946?

Ed, That model was launched 1940, which was the last year of the 1930's decade. I assumed there has to be a special reason to shoot a photo of service tow truck in the parade yard of the dealership - a brand new wrecker?

Found in the www wonderworld... No idea which city? Time could be end of 1930's.

Unfortunately the cone at the hub did not gave away that easily... I wrenched the puller incredibly tight and hammered the brake drum radially and axially, but no movement at hub joint. Amazingly the 20mm thick flange started to BEND! After some thinking I found only one way to proceed: I ground off the heads of the five bolts holding the brake back plate to the axle tube end. When the plate was loose between the tube and brake drum I was able to help the puller by hitting the hub axially from behind. The hub finally came off from the drive shaft end: The same procedure on the other side and the 3rd member was finally free to come out: Luckily it sems there has been some oil in all these years when rolling under a horse carriage and tractor trailer. No water there. Pretty good condition at the first sight. The number of drive shaft splines is 16 pcs (C16) - Does anyone know will it fit D24 drive shafts? Edit: Just found an old PM by Tim where he told 1948 has C10 splines and 1954 has C16 (as I found it today) Thus I need to pull the 3rd member apart to swap the differential side gears...

Finally I got some time to work at the garage this week. After patching a couple of minor holes in the rear seat floor I took time to study the Chrysler rear axle. To study the 3r member guts one must first pull the thing apart. As this one has been last 40 years exposed to the elements it was somewhat a challenge to disassemble. 1st I needed a puller for the wheel hubs. I had a closed C shaped old flywheel puller of unknown purpose lying around. Then I hunted a strong pipe flange from scrap metal. A bit of turning for correct hole diameter and drilling for correct pitch of wheel bolt circle. Weld the two parts together and Pronto! We have the crudest puller ever seen:

My guess is that those cars are brand new, when the picture is taken... Probably 1926 +2 years. Still curious...

Father of Lee Harvey Oswald? No, not really.... No, that's not really the question. The question is what there was going on.... Invasion of zillion of cockroaches in the W.P.C. paint shop? or gardening promotion day of the female zorro-club of Michigan?

1924-27 Chryslers, quite a few - but what's on them? and the ladies with masks? - Anyone could tell what this is all about?

This reminds me on my experience past summer... Most of you guys know my Dodge was sitting 4-5 years due to my very slow painting process. In last summer I finally took it back on the road. I thought the battery was "in finale" due to long sitting, low voltage most of the time. It cranked poorly and lost charge. Thus I bought a new one, fortunately empty new one without acid inside. Before I installed the new battery my old father took a look in the engine bay and remarked, "son, your battery cable looks like crap, loads of oxidation" Also he did not approved the lead lugs, but recommended brass lugs. (lead against lead terminal creates "black oxidation", which is hard to get off) Thus I took as heavy gauge cable as I could fit in new brass lugs, soldered the ends and soldered them into the lugs with plenty tin. The new battery sits on self waiting for time when really needed. There was nothing wrong with the old battery. After fitting in new heavy gauge cables and getting rid of all oxidation on connections there's no problem with charging. 6V battery cranks the six effortlessly and she fires up quickly. Thus good care of battery cables and connections is warmly recommended.