Gunner's Garage with John Gunnell

Classic car carrier hooks up with Nickey Chicago show

Beth — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:40:00 GMT

Reliable Carriers has announced a strategic partnership with the Nickey Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show coming to Chicago’s Rosemont Convention Center in November. Reliable will be the “Official Transporter” for this Nov. 21-22 event and clients using their car-transporting services will benefit from a variety of perks. Reliable is offering show participants a complete transportation package that goes beyond just pick up and delivery of a car. The new VIP Shipping Program will include: !) First-in arrival with no waiting in the check in lines because Reliable customers will bypass the lines and drive directly into the building; 2) Guaranteed inside loading and unloading, eliminating worries about inclement weather (Reliable will have an exclusive designated indoor loading/unloading area) and 3) On-site concierge service so the car owner and Reliable driver will have an on-site representative to oversee handling of a car. Reliable operates a fleet of over 350 trucks and company owner Tom Abrams is an avid car collector himself. “I know what it takes to get your pride and joy from point “A” to point “B” safely, securely and on time, “ Abrams said. For information call General Manager Bob Sellers,or Special Events Coordinator Norm Elliott at (734) 453-6677. Caption

SEMA surprises enthusiasts with its vitality

Beth — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:20:27 GMT

“SEMA was a wonderful surprise, with loads of people and just a great show,” said John D. McLeod III, of Classic Instruments Inc. John had traveled to the giant auto aftermarket trade show in Las Vegas from his company’s headquarters in Boyne City, Mich., and felt the trip was definitely worth it. As usual, the Nov. 3-6 show brought thousands of exhibitors to the Las Vegas Convention Center. There were some empty booths, it was easier to hop a cab and the lines for the Las Vegas Monorail were a little shorter than they were during our 2007 visit. At the same time, there were signs of improving strength in the hobby marketplace and plenty of good business-building seminars and round tables to attend if your hobby sales needed at shot in the arm. SEMA is still the largest of 22,000 trade shows and conventions held in Las Vegas every year. The show remains aimed at business-to-business commerce, rather than the public. It is where those who manufacture products for the automotive aftermarket display what they make to retailers and catalogers. The show is divided into 11 sections for different types of products, from hot rod equipment, to tires and from tools to tires. One section, called Restoration Marketplace is for auto restoration products. However, car restorers will find products and services they can use scattered throughout the show. This year the Restoration Marketplace was filled with exciting developments. Coker tire introduced new products and announced its participation in the making of a movie based on the first Indy 500. John Kelsey, of Kelsey Tire Co., won an important tire industry honor. Egge Machiine launched a celebration of its 95th anniversary. Marquez Design, of West Sacramento, Calif., introduced a reproduction ’56 Chevy convertible body as a new product. Antique car tires were displayed in the Tire Hall, restoration tools could be found in the Tools & Equipment area and waxes that hobbyists used were promoted in the Car Care & Accessories section. Other “old-car” parts vendors could be found throughout the show. This year Barrett-Jackson — which seems to move around — was set up adjacent to the GM exhibit and not far from Meguiar’s indoor booth. Other hobby vendors — as well as some stock classic Fords (a Model A and a Deuce) — were exhibited in front of the convention center, not far from Meguiar’s “Car Crazy TV” stage. Leslie Kennedy, the VP of that production, said SEMA 2009 “was better than our expectations going in.” SEMA is famous for its hot rods, its wild customs and its “girls gone SEMA” models and this year was no exception. A hot rod that won lots of attention was an exact clone of the T-bucket that “Edward Kookson III” (actor Ed Byrnes) drove on the old ‘77 Sunset Strip” TV series. The replica was built by Johnnie Overbay’s Reno Rod & Custom in Oklahoma City, Okla. Overbay said that the actual “Kookie Kar” also exists, but has been heavily modified over the years. “This copy is as close as you can get and the owner is selling it,” he said. Exhibitors in the Restoration Marketplace included Original Parts Group, Dynacorn, Custom Autosound, Rare Parts, J.C. Taylor Insurance, Mid America Motorworks, Steele Rubber, Bob Drake, Garage Scenes Ltd., Auto Appraisal Network, Pilkington Classics, Classic Tube and many others. Eaton Spring company is another SEMA vendor offering very specialized suspension rebuilding services to vintage vehicle restorers. Owner Mike Eaton was excited about a new product he is launching — a reproduction of the unique rear leaf spring used on straight-axle Corvettes that has passed muster with the National Corvette Restorers Society. Much of the credit for the organization and success of the Restoration Marketplace has to go to ARMO (Automotive Restoration Market Organization) which represents the interests of restoration parts suppliers within SEMA. ARMO held both a council meeting and a round table at which many ideas for improving the restoration industry were discussed in detail. ARMO is also developing an educational program that could help young enthusiasts learn to restore cars.

DETAILING AN ENGINE THE EASY WAY

Beth — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:10:28 GMT

If you work slowly and carefully, you can do a nice job of detailing your collector car’s engine without removing it from the vehicle. Detailing involves cleaning the engine, painting it, renewing stickers and decals and giving things like belts and hoses a looks-like-new appearance. To detail an engine in a car, you need light. You must be able to see the parts that are greasy and dirty in order to clean them. You have to know what you’re going to paint before you start spraying. Use a flashlight or a trouble lamp to take a good look. When using a trouble lamp, be certain there are no fuel leaks. A shop in this area recently burned when a trouble light ignited leaking gas. When working around carburetors, a flashlight will provide the safest light. Before you can paint an engine, you have to remove as much grease as possible. Paint won’t stick to greasy surfaces. Steam cleaning is an excellent way to clean an engine. If you lack a steamer, you can use a spray-on cleaner. Some of these are soapy solutions that you spray on, let sit and then wash off with a garden hose. Others are grease cutters that you spray on and wipe off with a rag. Wear safety goggles and rubber gloves when working with any chemical spray. . A collection of brushes is handy for cleaning hard-to-reach areas. I keep mine in a tackle box. They include old toothbrushes, steel brushes of various shapes, a toilet bowl brush, scrub brushes, paint brushes, a barbeque grille brush – even a $10 gun cleaning kit with long metal brushes that I can chuck in a drill. Brushes can get cleaning solutions into spots where hands won’t fit. Compressed air is a big help. It can be used to blow dirt out of nicks and crannies. Always wear goggles when blowing dirt out with compressed air. I use a small 2-hp compressor that cost under $100 on sale. It does not run very long, but it still helps me clean engines much better than I could before. To do a really nice job of cleaning an engine, you may want to remove the generator, starter, carburetor, exhaust manifold and air cleaner. How far you take things apart depends on your technical skills, but always remove the air cleaner. You can’t do a good job of painting an engine with the air cleaner in place. Spark plugs should be removed and replaced with old ones that you can get over-spray on. Save the good ones, of course. You’ll have to re-install them later. Plug wires can be removed, taped or simply moved out of the way. If you remove them, tag them so they can be re-installed in proper order. Use masking tape and newspaper to cover parts you don’t want to paint. Always use high-quality masking tape that won’t curl, stick or tear apart. Take your time cutting the newspaper to the right size and shape. Used properly, newspaper can save you a lot of tape expenses. It can also be used to wrap, cables and engine accessories so paint doesn’t get on them. Special high-temperature engine paints are available, but at least one restorer insists that regular enamel works just as well and costs less. He may be right. I bought engine paint from one MG supplier for $14 and wound up with a can of “Truck and Van” paint that costs $4 locally. Whether you need special engine enamel may depend on how warm your p engine gets when it is running. Eastwood advertises that its engine paint is heat resistant to 300 degrees. Selecting the right, authentic color is important to most hobbyists. You can’t go by the color of engines in sales catalog illustrations, which are sometimes inaccurate. Some engine paints are named “Ford Blue”or ”Chrysler Orange” to help you find the color you need. Eastwood, Bill Hirsch and Tower Paint Company all have done research on colors used on certain old-car engines. Car clubs are a great source of correct engine paint color information. In addition to painting your engine block and cylinder heads the right color, you will want to spray accessories like the starter, generator and air cleaner. Today you can get a wide variety of special paints such as Chassis Black, Carburetor Renew and Engine Builder Gray to restore other under-hood components. Spray colors that duplicate aluminum, magnesium, copper, brass and titanium are available. If you plan to detail the radiator, there is a special “thin” black paint that withstands high temperatures without restricting airflow like thick paints do. Special exhaust manifold paints come in black, silver and gray. If your engine still has its original stickers or decals and they are in good condition, you’ll want to try to mask them off so they don’t get painted over. In some cases, it is correct to paint over metal tags. In other cases, you can spray them, then take the finish off with acetone. Many vendors sell reproduction engine stickers and decals to give air cleaners and valve covers the “factory” look. Catalogs are available to determine which decals your car should have. When it comes to belts and hoses – as well as service parts such as spark plugs, distributor caps, boils, voltage regulators and oil filters – the best way to make them look new is to install new ones as part of a spring tune-up. However, if such parts are relatively new, you can still clean and detail them. A soft-bristle toothbrush to break up the dirt and a clean rag to wipe it off with do wonders. Spray protectorants can be used to clean wires, plastic windshield washer jugs, brake master cylinders and so on. Spilt flexible wire loom is used to cover the wiring on many modern cars and can be added to older ones. Such coverings are great since they keep field mice from eating through spark plug wires, but they tend to get dirty. You can renew their appearance with liquid shoe polish. A few hours spent detailing your collector car’s engine in the spring is well worth the time and energy. It will make the car more show worthy and could also increase its roadworthiness n cases where you add new parts or unearth problems as you go through the detailing routine. And should you decide to sell the car, a nicely-detailed engine could help swing the deal.

Coker to offer revolutionary “old School” radial tires in 20 sizes

Beth — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:51:46 GMT

SEMA SPECIAL

Everyone thought that the non-appearance of several large tire makers at the 2009 SEMA Show would be the big news, but Coker Tire Co. stole the show with a startling new product announcement. “As you know, until now, there has not been a radial whitewall tire with an authentic look for antique and Classic cars and old-school hot rods,” said company president Corkey Coker. “Now, there is one!”

Coker explained that his new line of Excelsior Tires will be the first to combine modern-day radial construction with the classic appearance that old-car hobbyists demand. And he said that the new tires will come in a variety of sizes to fit everything from ’32 Fords to Duesenbergs.

Known as the Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial, this type of tire is being made to replace the old bias-ply tires still found on many vintage cars. “So now, hobbyists will be able to enjoy their driving experiences even more,” said Coker. “This steel-belted radial is targeted toward restored vehicles built before World War II, but the wide range of sizes makes it suitable for a long list of applications.”

Coker revealed that 20 sizes will initially be available with wheel-diameters ranging from 16 to 21 in. “So these tires are versatile, to say the least,” he told Old Cars Weekly. “And while they were designed for restored original cars, the new Stahl Sport Radials will be perfect for a traditional hot rod on which the owner wants the looks of a bias-ply tire combined with the performance of a radial tire.”

Designed for all-season use, each Stahl Sport Radial tire features a specific speed and load rating. The tires made for 16-in. wheels feature an “H” speed rating of 130 mph, while the 17-in. and larger tires feature an “S” rating of 112 mph. Coker said that, compared to a a car using a bias-ply tire of similar size, handling and ride quality will be greatly improved without losing the classic look.

Made in the USA, the Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial is DOT-approved, as well as ECE-approved. “They are legal and ready for the highway anywhere you live,” Coker pointed out.

OIL CHANGE REFRESHER COURSE

Beth — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:07:47 GMT

Most of us have changed a car’s oil or watched while a garage or quick-lube shop did this basic job. Changing oil in an old car is much the same, but sometimes involves a unique twist or two. Cars used in “city driving” require an oil change every 2.000-3,000 miles or 3-4 months, while those that are “country driven” can be serviced every 3,000-4,000 miles or six months. If your collector car sees more stop-and-go use, it needs more frequent service. Do it at least every 6 months to avoid driving with contaminated oil. If you have an original prewar or early postwar car and the owner’s manual recommends changes every 500-1,000 miles, follow it. Determine your car’s oil capacity from your manuals. Buy the type of oil specified in your shop manual (or the modern equivalent). You’ll also need jacks or ramps, a drain-plug wrench (an adjustable may do), a drain pan, shop towels, oil dry, a funnel, work gloves and possibly hand cleaner. If the car has an oil filter, you’ll need a new one, plus an oil filter wrench and pliers. Drive car at least 5-10 minutes to warm the oil. You will want to remove the plug and drain the oil while hot. Sometimes you can access the oil drain plug without lifting/jacking the car. Otherwise you’ll need to jack it up and place stand jacks under the frame to support the vehicle securely. If you have ramps or a lift, drive the car on them. Set hand brake. Chock the wheels so the car won’t roll. Remove drain plug with your drain pan ready. If the car is high in the air, hold the drain pan right under the plug, then quickly lower it to the ground while arcing it out, under the flow of the draining oil. Once you learn to do this, you’ll get less splashing and spillage. If the car is only a foot or so off the ground, just put the pan right below the plug. It should take about 10 minutes for all oil to drain. During this time you can be checking other fluid levels. Also check the condition of the drain plug and any gasket it uses. Most cars of 1968 or newer vintage use a spin-on oil filter, usually on the side or bottom of the engine. If the oil has been changed regularly, the filter may look cleaner than other engine parts. If the car has been sitting 30 years, the filter may be black with grime. In either case, use an oil filter wrench to unscrew it. Some are strap-on types and others grab on the fluted bottom of the oil filter. Once you have a grip, turn it counter clockwise. Place your drain pan under the filter. As you remove it, oil is going to pour out. Before adding new oil, replace the drain plug by hand. Make sure it threads in straight. Do not cross thread or over-tighten. Then use your adjustable wrench to tighten, putting light pressure (about 20 foot-pounds) on it. As far as your spin-on oil filter, clean the treads on the engine fixture with a rag, put a new gasket on top of the oil filter, wet this gasket with a little engine oil and start threading the filter on by hand, turning in a clockwise direction. When it is fully hand tight, use an oil filter wrench to tighten it another ¼ turn. Locate and remove the oil filler cap. It may cover a tube running to the side of the engine or it may be on top of the valve covers. Pour the correct amount of oil into the filler cap and replace the cap. In most cases, manuals will give you the oil pan capacity, then tell you to add one quart if the car has a filter. Next, start the engine. Inspect for leaks around the oil filter or the drain plug. Check to make sure that the oil pressure monitor light stops glowing or that the oil pressure gauge indicates normal pressure within 5-10 seconds. After the engine runs for a minute or so and shows correct oil pressure (by monitor light or gauge), shut off the engine and give the oil half a minute to drain back into the pan. Now, use your dipstick to check the oil level and add oil as necessary. As we said, old-car oil changes can be a bit different. Some old cars do not have oil filters or at least lack replaceable oil filters. Oil filters were an option for many ‘50s-and-earlier cars. When this extra was added, you got a canister type oil filter. Some cars – like straight eight Pontiacs – had a non-replaceable, built-in mesh-type filter in the oil pan. Early-‘50s British sports cars came with horizontally-mounted canister filters, but many have been replaced with spin-on filter kits sold by British parts suppliers. The spin-on upgrade simplifies oil changes, but reduces originality. Canister filters have a cartridge type filter that fits inside a metal container. On some, the container has a lid held on by a long bolt. Others run the bolt through the canister itself, drawing it tight against a fixture on the engine. Gaskets are provided to hold the oil in the canister where it seals against the lid or fixture. On some British cars, the gasket has to be fitted into a grove using a tool like a dental pick to do the trick installation. The parts must be in perfect shape to get a good seal. Rubber lines route the oil through the canister. You can find old filters for canister-type oil filters at swap meets. If you do not, check www.rockauto.com. Some cars and trucks and all kinds of other machinery still use this style of filter. Chances are good that there’s a modern replacement that fits in the canister on your older vehicle. After you have changed your oil, don’t forget to write down the date and mileage you did the oil change at. This will tell you when service is due again. Finally, take steps to dispose of the old oil (and oil filter if one is used) properly. Most recycling centers will offer provisions for this, as well as for getting rid of plastic oil containers.

Coker to build 40 Indy 500 replicars for movie

Beth — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:49:52 GMT

SEMA SPECIAL

LAS VEGAS, NV. , NOV 4, 2009 – Coker Tire Co., of Chattanooga, Tenn., will be involved in the production of a movie honoring the 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. As part of the project, the vintage tire maker will build 40 replicas of the cars that raced in the first 500 race in 1911. In addition, a replica of what the Speedway looked like in 1911 will be constructed. Casey Coker, who runs the Coker Cycle Co. division of the tire company, said that the recreation of the famed “Brickyard” would be built within 100 miles of the real track.

Corky Coker, who Is president of Coker Tire Co., announced the project to the press at the 2009 SEMA Show In Las Vegas. Coker, whose life-long nickname “Corky” comes from a character of the newspaper comic strip "Gasoline Alley," Is a veteran hobbyist and collector of old cars and motorcycles. He Is also a founding member and former chairman of SEMA's Automobile Restoration Market Organization (ARMO).

Replicas of the Marmon Wasp that won the first 500-Mile race and a Lozier that was Involved In a controversial finish in 1911 will be among the first of the 40 cars that are going to be constructed. Coker also mentioned Hudson, Nash and other early racing cars. The cars will be exacting replicas of the cars that competed in the original 500, except that they will have modern engines.

Casey Coker said that the original Marmon Wasp that Ray Harroun drove to victory was brought to Coker Tire Co. headquarters In Chattanooga, where it was displayed for a while and used for reference to make the first of the 40 replicas historically accurate. "Dad had a real Lozier In his collection," Casey explained. "So we already had a model for the Lozier build."

The movie will be a big-budget, professional production with actors dressed in leather helmets, goggles and other early racing garb. Coker brought the completed, but unpainted Marmon Wasp replica to the SEMA Show, where it was featured on Barry Meguiar's "Car Crazy" cable TV show, which the Speed Channel broadcasts remotely from the annual trade show.

Other than the press announcement at the SEMA Show, Coker Tire Co. plans to wait until 2010 to release official details about the Indy 500 movie. Old Cars Weekly asked Casey Coker what would happen to the cars after the completion of filming. "I think that we'll probably keep a couple of them," she said. "And we'll probably sell off the rest of them, possibly in an auction or something."

IGNITION COIL BASICS

Beth — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:06:01 GMT

Like An Electromagnet Did you know your collector car’s ignition coil is like an electromagnet? It has an iron core with fairly thick wire (primary winding) wrapped around it a few hundred times. There is also a secondary winding -- about 200 feet of thinner wire coiled between the iron core and primary winding. This winding lies inside the magnetic field created when electricity goes through the primary winding. When you switch on the ignition and the breaker points are closed, current flows through the primary winding, creating a magnetic field. When the points open, the flow of primary current stops and the magnetic field collapses. This sends current through the secondary winding. The coil becomes a transformer, stepping the voltage up. If your car uses a 12 volt battery, the 12 volts you put into the primary side of the coil will exit the secondary side as 30,000 volts! The high voltage is carried away from the coil by a high-tension cable that looks like a short piece of spark plug cable and runs to the distributor tower. With a one-cylinder engine, you could run the coil straight to the spark plug, but in a multi-cylinder engine, you need a distributor to route the high-voltage secondary current to fire each spark plug at a specific time. This is called “ignition timing.” If your car uses a negative ground and you have a coil with primary and secondary terminals, the primary winding is connected to the terminal on the coil that is marked “+” or “Bat.” This is the terminal that receives voltage from the battery. The primary wire is then coiled around the iron core and its other end is attached to the terminal marked “-“ or “Dis.” The voltage flows from this terminal to the breaker points inside the distributor. (Positive ground is the reverse.) Failures and Fixes Most ignition coils are long lasting and reliable, but a weak coil can cause havoc. You cannot operate a car smoothly without delivering high voltage to the spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture. Most coil failures result from secondary winding defects. Sometimes the thin lacquer insulation between the two windings deteriorates. Other times the windings are no longer insulated from ground. Coil problems are caused by heat and vibration. It is possible to have a sudden failure due to broken windings or bad connections inside the coil. However, it is more common for coil problems to show up as hard starting, a repeated high-speed miss or a gradual decline in ignition system performance. Coils can be tested with an ohmmeter (most coils will give a reading around 8,000 ohms) or with the small scope on a Sun machine. A normal coil will give you a “heartbeat” pattern on the scope, shorted windings will produce a “bumpy L” pattern and open windings will give a flat horizontal line. A shade tree mechanic without testing equipment can make a simple coil test by removing the end of the high-tension cable from the center of the distributor cap and using a piece of wood or plastic tool to hold it near a grounded part of the engine. A bright blue spark should be seen jumping the air gap. A weak yellow or red spark indicates weak voltage and a coil problem. All coils with metal housings can be tested for grounded windings by touching one probe of an inexpensive test light on the metal container and the other to the primary and high-tension terminals. If the tester lights or you see sparks, the windings are grounded out and the coil is defective. Many service manuals recommend temporarily substituting a known good coil for a suspected bad one. If the ignition works properly with the good coil, you will know the original coil was bad. Sometimes coil tower spark leakage or a broken tower can be repaired, but often it’s best to find a replacement coil. When working with older cars, you may run across lock switch extension coils. These were an early anti-theft device. The low-voltage wire from the ignition switch/battery to the coil was sheathed in an armored cable so that no one could hot wire the vehicle. For factory-type repair of a lock switch extension coil find a swap meet vendor with a coil service package for your car. These come with a full instruction sheet. Many restorers modify the lock switch system by using a conventional coil and routing the hot wire through the armored cable. Generally speaking, coils last a long time. If your car has a Delco-Remy coil, a company named Yesteryear (www.car-nection.com/Yesteryear) in Port Charlotte, Fla., specializes in parts and may be able to help. According to Randy Rundle, author of the book Wired For Success, there are other companies advertising in hobby publications that restore lock-switch coils.

Witche's Brew For Leaky Steering Box

Beth — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:04:14 GMT

While doing some suspension work on an old car last year, we had to replace the pitman arm seal in the steering box. Since seals come in standard sizes, we were able to find the proper seal at a local auto parts store for only a few dollars. After using a pitman arm puller to drop the arm, the old seal was pried out using dental picks. We then installed a new seal using a seal driver. The entire repair went very smoothly so we were surprised to find an empty steering box when we recently did our winter lubrication on the same car. We filled the gearbox with fresh gear lubricant and kept an eye on it for a few days. Sure enough, it was leaking – but the leak was not coming from the pitman arm seal. It was coming from the near adjusting nut on the front of the steering box. We knew that could mean a complete teardown of the steering gear. Fortunately, we had a set of old tune-up and lubrication sheets from a Shell gas station. These were printed on large cards and used to be kept in a steel storage box at each Shell station. They told mechanics the parts and specs needed to do regular maintenance on cars of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Each card contains a chassis lubrication chart with a drawing of a car chassis and arrows that indicate points to be lubed and the best Shell lubricants to use. The arrow pointing towards the steering gearbox indicated that gear lube (such as we had used) was the proper lubricant. However, it also noted “Shell Retinax A should be used if there is any sign of leakage.” This gave us hope that we might be able to avoid an expensive teardown of the steering box. It didn’t take us long to boot up the computer and surf the Internet to see if Shell Retinax A was still available today. We discovered that the “A” suffix has been changed, but Retinax is available in CMX and MDX formulations. It is a multipurpose lithium complex grease with moly that is used for construction, mining and agricultural equipment. A technical sheet points up that these greases consist of a lithium complex soap thickened, multipurpose extreme-pressure grease compounded with a highly refined paraffinic oil base. These greases are characterized by a high dropping point and are formulated with a special additive package to provide excellent rust protection and resistance to water washout. A special tackifier helps keep them in place on high-speed equipment and in wet conditions. They have been engineered with good pumpability characteristics, making them ideal for centralized lubrication systems. Retinax CMX 1 is especially suitable for applications where very cold weather or long feed lines are involved. The presence of moly in these greases provides an extra measure of protection in shock loading situations, which are common in construction and agricultural usage. During heavy shock loading, the lubricant film between metal surfaces can be temporarily ruptured or squeezed out. By using a moly grease, a film remains to prevent metal-to-metal contact. Moly is also valuable in a dirty environment or when proper lubrication intervals are not followed. Retinax greases are used for virtually all points of grease lubrication on dozers, scrapers, earthmovers, cranes, backhoes, shovels, rollers, tractors, combines and cotton pickers. They are handled by Shell dealers who service this market. Caterpillar dealers also sell a similar Multipurpose Grease product. The characteristics of these greases are well-suited to use in steering boxes on old cars which often do not work well when other greases are used. While on the Internet, I also ran across some postings on a Model A Ford website that mention a Shell product called Valvata J460. This is a steam cylinder oil that a Model A owner was advised to use in a leaky steering box. The man had disassembled the steering box and replaced a leather gasket inside, but found that it still leaked from the area where the frame and sector housing met. A member of a Model A club in Africa recommended Valvata J460. Apparently, this oil had been mentioned in a Model A restoration book. It has a fairly high viscosity and is also available in an even higher viscosity called Valvata J680. Shell’s technical department told the Model A owner that the “J” prefix designates gear oils. The poster said the oil had a sticky, stringy feel like STP oil additive. The Valvata J460 appeared to stop the leak, although the African Model A enthusiast noted he hadn’t driven the car many niles. If you discover a leaky steering box that can’t be fixed by replacing the pitman arm seal, you might want to consider using Shell Retinax greases or Valvata J 460 steam cylinder oil as a possible fix. Technical information on both products is available by calling 1-800-840-5737 or visiting www.shell-lubricants.com.

Checking Hoses

Beth — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:00:22 GMT

An important part of your winter car maintenance should be the inspection of all water hoses for signs of deterioration. Overlooking a bad upper or lower radiator hose or heater hose in the spring can lead to overheating problems next summer. The first thing to check for is leaking hoses. If you see antifreeze anywhere, a hose is seeping or leaking and must be replaced immediately. Hoses that prove to be excessively hard, brittle, soft, mushy or swollen must also be changed. Squeeze and bend the hoses to look for cracks in the middle of the hose. Cracks at the ends are usually quite obvious. If in doubt about the condition of any hose, replace it now and avoid any problems when hot weather arrives. Obtain the correct hoses for your car at an auto parts store, if possible. For antique or collector cars, check the websites of hose manufacturers like Gates or check www.rockauto.com. While, in the end,it may be cheaper to buy the hose locally to save shipping, these websites can help you determine proper part numbers. Also, it seems like Rock Auto has worked out many cross applications to determine which current hoses fit specific older cars. If you need to replace heater hoses, measure both the length and inside diameter of the old hose. Heater hose comes in ½-, 5/8- or ¾-in. sizes and is usually sold by the foot. On some cars, the inlet hose may be a different size than the outlet hose, so don’t measure only one and assume they’re the same. You should also plan on replacing old hose clamps, which tend to weaken and corrode with age. If you car is restored and you want an authentic look under the hood, you will have to look for hobby suppliers who sell original equipment reproductions. Whatever style of clamp you purchase, stay away from cheap look-a-like clamps as many of them do not work as well as the name brands. A high-quality clamp will cost a little more, but it’s worth it. To replace a hose, start by letting the car cool completely so you don’t get scalded by hot antifreeze. Place a drain pan or bucket under the radiator. Then open the petcock or valve near the bottom of the radiator. If you are going to install new coolant, dispose of the old coolant immediately, since it’s poisonous. Keep your pets away from the old coolant. They tend to like its sweet taste Remove the hose clamps from your old hose with pliers or a screwdriver, depending upon the style of clamp. Then, twist and pull the old hose loose. If it won’t come off easily, you may have to split the old hose with a sharp knife or razor blade cutter. Sometimes a hose will pull off better with pliers than by hand. Remove the hose and carefully scrape the metal (or plastic) hose fittings clean. Before installing a new hose, apply a small amount of non-hardening gasket sealer to the fitting only. Don’t put sealer inside the hose, as any excess amount could get into and clog the cooling system. The sealer will also help the hose slide onto the fitting. Slide the new clamps onto your new hose before you slide the hose on the fittings. Make sure the hose ends slide over the fittings far enough to allow the hose clamps to grab the fitting and make a tight seal. Now move the hose clamps near the ends of the hose and tighten all the clamps. Fill the radiator with coolant and start the car to check the cooling system for any leaks. Recheck the coolant level after the engine has achieved its proper operating temperature.

Car collector John Q’Quinn dies in car crash

Beth — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:57:22 GMT

Here is an update on the news posted yesterday: Well-known lawyer and car collector John Maurice O’Quinn was killed on Thursday, Oct. 29, when the Chevrolet Suburban he was driving skidded on a rain-soaked Houston, Texas highway and slammed into a tree, causing heavy damage to the SUV. The 68-year-old attorney was famous both for securing $17.3 billion settlement from tobacco companies and for his collection of some 800 vintage cars, which had previously been featured in Old Cars Weekly. O’Quinn was said to be working on the creation of a car museum. Houston police reports said the fatal accident took place on the city’s Allen Parkway. Also killed in the crash was Johnny Lee Cutliff who was believed to be O’Quinn’s personal assistant. News photos show that t\he front end and other sections of the black Suburban the men were driving was severely damaged. O'Quinn was born in 1941. His father was an auto mechanic who raised him alone and gave him a stiff upbringing. The family was of modest means and John had no opportunities to have hobbies such as collecting cars. It was not until he struggled to his celebrated status as a top-ranked attorney that he was able to buy the car he enjoyed and dreamed of owning. His collection includes a half-dozen Duesenbergs, a Lincoln-Continental limousine once owned by President John F. Kennedy, a Barris-built Batmobile, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Packard Limousine and a Ford Escort once owned by Pope John Paul II. O’ Quinn brought four cars to the recent Louisville Concours d’Elegance, a 1930 Stutz Model M Supercharged coupe with low-slung Lancefield of London coachwork, a 1934 Duesenberg Model J Brunn Riviera Phaeton, a 1929 Rolls-Royce Springfield Phantom I Riviera Town Brougham with a massive 4468-cid six-cylinder engine and the famed TV Batmobile. O’ Quinn’s personal life was one of ups and downs. He was a self-made man who reached the pinnacle of success in his field and made friends and enemies while rising to fame as one of the top tort lawyers in the country. However, his influence in the world of car collecting was as powerful as the huge Texan’s “Big Man” persona. Enthusiasts throughout the world were looking forward to the opening of his museum, which visitors say was being planned so that each floor would represent a different decade in automotive history. Newspaper reports said that Q’ Quinn had no wife or children. Darla Lexington, the woman in charge of the corporation that managed his automobile collection, is said to have also provided a positive influence in the lawyer’s life in recent times. Both of their names were seen on the vehicle identification plaques at the Louisville Concours d’Elegance. O'Quinn's death behind the wheel of a car is an ironic ending for an enthusiast who drove fast sports cars and spent the last 10 years or so putting together one of the world's newest giant-sized classic car collections. Old car professionals like John Mark, of Illinois, who visited the collection earlier this year, marveled at the investment that O’ Quinn was making in his hobby. Many news stories about the tragedy discuss the hills and valleys of O’Quinn’s personal life, but there can be no doubt he will be missed in collector car circles. Captions One of John O’Quinn’s classic cars was this 1930 Stutz Model M Supercharged coupe with low-slung Lancefield of London coachwork. (Jim Rugowski photo) An unidentified driver parks John O’Quinn’s 1930 Stutz Model M Supercharged coupe at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ken. The Stutz has a 322-cid overhead cam vertical eight that produces 134 hp. (Jim Rugowski photo) O’Quinn brought his 1934 Duesnberg Model J Brunn Riviera Phaeton to the recent Louisville Concours d’Elegance with three other classic cars. (Jim Rugowski photo) O’Quinn was a big Texan and liked big, impressive cars like this 1929 Rolls-Royce Springfield Phantom I Riviera Town Brougham with its massive 468-cid in-line six. (Jim Rugowski photo) Cars that were owned or built by famous people were also part of the Houston-based collection and included the Batmobile that customizer George Barris designed for the “Batman” television series. (Jim Rugowski photo)

CLASSIC CAR COLLECTOR O'QUINN KILLED

Beth — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:07:21 GMT

News reports say that Houston, Texas attorney John O'Quinn lost control of his SUV on rain-slicked Allen Parkway and the Chevy Suburban hit a tree killing O'Quinn and a passenger. According to Houston police reports, the accident occurred on Thursday morning. O'Quinn was well known in the old car hobby for the private Classic Car museum he was working on in Houston.

Wintertime Tire Tinkering

Beth — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:06:09 GMT

When it’s freezing outside, a car collector’s garage can be the warmest place in town. After the holiday rush, the world quiets down a bit and gives you time to tinker with those jobs you never seem to get done during the summer. Tire care is an area that shouldn’t be overlooked. Inflation pressures Tire inflation pressure should be checked every month when it’s cold outside. If one or more tires are consistently lower than others, look for a slow leak. A bad seal or porous aluminum wheels may allow air to gradually escape. Keep in mind that the inflation pressure will drop or raise approximately one pound per square inch with every 10-degrees fall or rise in atmospheric temperature. So, as it gets colder in your storage building, your tires will lose air. You can get the most from your tires by keeping them inflated to the recommended pressures all year long. Tests show that 30 percent under-inflation reduces tire life by one-half. Cars stored with tires that are under-inflated are more likely to develop “flat spots.” To keep your classic car’s tires from flat spotting, move the car back or forth a couple of feet on a regular basis, while it’s in winter storage. If this is not possible, you may want to store the car with stand jacks supporting the axles so the tires are an inch or so off the floor. Tire switching Tire switching is what they called "rotating your tires" back you’re your old car was new. Switching tires from one position to another on the car usually prolongs their life. With four good tires, experts suggest cross-changing them from right front to left rear and left front to right rear at regular intervals. With five good tires, the order of rotation is to put the spare on the right rear; the right rear tire on the left front; the left front on the left rear; the left rear on the right front; and make the right front the spare. By switching tires, in this manner, every 4,000 miles, you could drive 20,000 miles and put only 16,000 miles of wear on your tires. Winter is the perfect time to switch tires on a collector car. (Note that this information is for tires made right after World War II, and the rotation patterns would not be the same for tires with more modern construction. However, even modern tires will benefit from regular rotation.) Changing tires Whether you’re rotating your tires in the winter or making repairs, safety is an important consideration when changing tires. Probably most tire changes made on collector cars are made with the help of a hydraulic jack, a lift, or a hoist. However, if a bumper jack is used, follow the factory instructions for jacking. The following instructions are for a 1940s model, but the procedure for many other old cars is similar: 1. Set the hand brake securely and remove the hubcap. Barely loosen the nuts which hold the wheel in place, using the socket and jack handle. (Be careful. On some older makes the wheel nuts on the left side may turn in the clockwise direction, while those on the right side may turn counter-clockwise). 2. Set the small lever on the side of the jack to the "up" position and place the jack under the bumper, in a vertical position, about 18 in. from the center of the front bumper or 24 in. from the center of the rear bumper. Pump the jack handle until the tire is clear of the road. If the lifter on the jack is too high on the stand to slip under the bumper, set the small lever on the side of the lifter to the "down" position, lift up on the socket handle, and slide the lifter down. 3. Turn off the nuts that hold the wheel in place, using the socket and the end of the jack handle. Slide the wheel from the hub and replace it with the spare wheel and tire. Replace the nuts and tighten the hub nuts all around. 4. To lower the car, set the small lever on the side of the lifter to its "down" position. Lower the jack and tighten the hub nuts with the wheel on the ground. Replace the hub nut. Although you may never need to jack up your old car with a bumper jack, it's a good idea to try it out under non-emergency conditions in the winter. Then you’ll know how to operate the jack and change a tire, should you have a flat while touring in the summer. Tire balance Tires were marked at the factory with a red mark on the sidewall, near the bead, denoting the lightest point of the casing. The valve stem is the heavy point of the tube and should always be placed at the mark. All tires (and tubes in the old days) varied in their individual amounts of off-balance. Therefore, they were matched at the factory to counter-balance each other. Due to irregularities in tread wear, caused by sudden brake applications, misalignment, low inflation pressures, tube or tire repairs, etc., a tire and tube assembly can lose its original balance. If any disturbance is the steering wheel was felt while touring last summer, or if pounding, tramping, or shimmying was experienced while driving the car, one of the first items to check is wheel and tire balance. Saving tires when you drive If you check your tires in the winter, they will be ready for springtime driving. When you start driving again, remember that maximum tire life can be achieved by careful attention to driving habits and regular tire service. Here’s 10 tips to caring for your tires once winter ends. 1. Keep tires properly inflated at all times. 2. Avoid spinning your wheels when starting. 3. Avoid sudden stops. 4. Turn corners at moderate speeds. 5. Steer around bumps, ruts, or minor obstructions in the road. 6. Keep out of car tracks. 7. Do not bump or scrape the curb. 8. Keep the front wheels in proper alignment. 9. Keep brakes adjusted. Bad adjustment causes uneven tire wear. 10. Don't forget to check the spare tire's pressure once in a while. 11. Interchange (rotate) tires every 4,000 miles.