Dan Hiebert

This is sounding like an internal problem to me. If it is affecting only one gear, it probably is not the lubricant. The advice you've received about end play is probably pretty close, the end play for the intermediate gear set/countershaft is supposed to be negligible. That tolerance is set with thrust washers, if they used original specs, that wouldn't account for wear and the end play would be too much.

Saw a similar Peugeot sedan on the Smithsonian channel last night on the "D-day to Berlin" program. Pressed into service with the German army - the headlights behind the grill were a dead giveaway. One of those "Hey, I know what that is!" moments thanks solely to Bob's post.

I can appreciate the Airflows, but they don't really blow my skirt up. As nice as it is, that coupe looks too much like a classic VW Beetle. I know that's putting the cart before the horse, but that's my frame of reference. They just don't have what I consider that pre-war pizzaz.

Judging by all the "bad" things that have been banned or their use minimized, my brother and I should be dead. DDT, asbestos, mercury, lead, etc. I remember saccharin being banned because it caused problems with lab rats, but the folks who were ostensibly looking out for us never mentioned that a human would have to drink ten cases of diet soda per day for several months to equal the amounts given the lab rats. All well and good in the long run I guess. Too much of anything can kill you. As they say, "The odds of being killed by a cow are low, but never zero."

My brother and I used to do that, chase the skeeter fogger through the neighborhood when we were visiting our grandparents in Illinois. They didn't do that mobile fogging thing in south Texas where we lived, so we thought it was an exclusive thing that we could brag about when we went back to school. One of the culture shocks we experienced when we moved from Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley was no closed hallways in the elementary school, so the classrooms would fill with mosquitos, and the teachers would have to set off those DDT bomb foggers in the rooms. MOST of the time they would usher us out of the room until the haze subsided. I remember the hubbub about DDT on the news, but no one seemed to think anything of it where we were.

Sorry folks, musta left the door open. -12 up here this morning, toasted right up to 4 with plenty of electric blue sky. A bit blustery, but quite pretty. We shut the door, now it looks like you'uns will be warming back up.

Our D24 sits for at least 6 months here for the winter. I do the same as all the responses so far. In addition, just before I park the car for the winter, I add fuel stabilizer and make sure it has run throughout the system. And already knowing I'll have to crank it a bit before it starts, I'll do that until I see oil pressure. If it hasn't started by the time the oil pressure shows up, I'll put some gas down the carb that has some Marvel Mystery Oil added. I don't just pour it in with abandon, though, I kind of tease the engine until the fuel pump catches up and it starts on its own. My thought is that putting too much "raw" gas down the carb cleans too much oil from the cylinders. That could probably be debunked, but that's just how I've always done it.

The only way to reduce the "black" is to reduce the carbon. Either the production of, or buildup of. That is what the aforementioned remedies do. The water itself is inevitable, that is just condensation from the combustion process working its way through the exhaust system. New cars spit water, too.

The joint between the pedal and the small plate that bolts to the floor is a hinge joint, ergo "hinge" in my vocabulary. Depending on the pedal assembly, that plate could be a block of rubber molded with the pedal, or a metal plate attached with a rod, pins, bolts, etc. to the pedal. Semantics whether or not "hinge" is the right word. Two different pedal assemblies would most likely have different measurements between each other. What I was trying to get at is that each pedal assembly could have two measurements, too, depending on which way that attachment plate is folded. They still may not fit, just something to try.

Just a thought here - The one on the left looks just like the one in our D24. On the D24, the hinge part at the bottom is folded (closed) under the pedal, like curling your arm. If attached the way you have it laid out in the photo the pedal would be too long and the shaft would not fit. You have to detach the shaft from the top of the pedal to rotate the pedal towards the seat to get at the bolts attaching the hinge to the floor. So, the way the one on the right is laid out would be how the D24 version would be attached to the floor. The one on the right looks like the hinge should be extended (open). Either way would affect how the shaft lines up for that upper attachment. It looks like if either one is attached the way you have them laid out, they wouldn't fit. You wrote that the car has thick carpet, assuming that the pedal was attached on top of the carpet, the "shorter" version may have been used due to that thick carpet.

As noted, what is shown as the ball joint does not come apart. The end of that ball piece is bolted to either the bell crank or shaft. The threads on each end of the rod are both right hand (it does not work like a tie rod), so to adjust the length of the rod, you would have to detach the ball joint from either the shaft or bell crank. Loosen the lock nut at the end of the ball joint where the rod threads into it and make your adjustments.

I'm having trouble envisioning what you're describing as far as the mechanism. But the symptom you describe is really not that uncommon. The Bendix drive assembly that engages the flywheel can wear out or get stuck. Removal of the starter is necessary, and you can do a bench check to see if the pinion moves like it's supposed to. The service manual I have describes how to check the Bendix drive for wear and tear. It can just be stuck, or there is a spring in it that can break that keeps the pinion from moving out like it should.

You can also remove the whole bushing from the a-arm. It won't adversely affect the front-end alignment, you'll just have to be careful to stabilize the a-arm when you take it off and appropriately torque the bushing when you put it back on. All of my manuals show that zerk as a fitting into the end of the bushing. That way you can clean it/them really well and determine what you need to do about the nipple while it's on a bench, instead of under the car, much easier to work on. Any drilling or tapping you may need to do won't affect the rest of the assembly, and you can install a metric component if that's all you can find. Then you'll probably never have to worry about it again.

Ditto Bob Riding's first post. I bought run channel from Restoration Specialties and Supply for both our D24 and the '57 Ford I was working on a couple years ago. I'll be buying the run channel for our '37 Terraplane from them in a few months.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's museum in their headquarters in Arlington, VA used to have a Tucker on display. It had been bought with drug profits (it was the en-vogue antique car to have back then) and was ultimately seized when DEA wrapped the case up. I saw it there in '94, but I vaguely recall that since then they have gotten rid of it, donated to the Smithsonian, I think.