found a free engine.

[phil]

My brother has had this truck for about 30 years. It's a 1939 chev pickup. For 30 years I have been trying to encourage him because it's just so neat. It has a 6 cylinder engine from a later vehicle but on Friday I found him an original engine complete with all the bits he was missing like the original carb, generator. manifolds , starter and all. even the original crank starter thing and oil bath air cleaner. It had a"manual solenoid " on the starter. you'd step on a pedal and that would engage the starter with the ring gear. we got the transmission too. these transmissions had no synchromesh and straight cut gears so they weren't' the quietest or most cooperative units but it comes with a power takeoff even..

the engine came from one that was given to the shop where we got it with the instructions to remove the engine and to cut the body into smaller pieces. Then they took it inside a museum and welded it back together. I guess the doors to the museum weren't big enough. It sounded like a waste of a nice truck but anyway it was cool to see my bro get the right parts as he has all the rest and so many of these old trucks have now been bastardized into hot rod customs
the best part, it was free! yea craigslist !

a little off topic I guess but I thought I'd share.
Phil

[1918ColonialRevival]

Does it turn over by hand and have compression? As long as it's not stuck, you should be able to get her running fairly easily. I'm sure the carb is probably full of crap and needing a good cleaning.

Nice find!

[Casey]

On some old engines the starter and the generator were that same unit.
Casey

[phil]

It went out to my brothers farm so I can't see the starter or generator at the moment but that's interesting. I think it's a low compression engine with babbitt bearings and a splash system, no oil pump. the crank pulley has a fitting to accept a crank starter but that's just for emergencies. We've rebuilt quite a few engines one brother is a harley mechanic and he can help too. so there is nothing scary about rebuilding it but Im not sure how available things like rings and head gaskets are but I assume they can be found still. I dont' know if the babbitt bearings come as a shell or if they have to be poured in place and fitted but I know they aren't the usual metal shells with a coating. His had a newer 6 cylinder and that was an upgrade but it still had the original transmission and when i had a look at this one with it's square cut gears I can see why it was so noisy. no synchromesh either. I love the simplicity of it and if it were up to me I'd like to see it kept as original as he can. It's basically a 50 mile an hour vehicle but that's part of it's charm. I think the driveshaft is a torque tube and it shares the oil between the transmisson and rear axle. Its a neat thing to restore because all the metal is so thick and it has a frame so it's not so susceptible to the rust issues. My baby is a volvo 122S I've done lots with that but it's unibody and I have been chasing the rust around in circles for years. I did lots to make it go a little faster without modifying it visually. bigger pistons, hotter cam , balancing polished the ports, overdrive tranny etc.. I can race modern cars without them even knowing it !

we have a "harley davidson" 3 wheel golf cart that combines the starter and generator. it fires right at TDC and if you stop, you stop the engine. if you go backwards the engine just starts by being driven by the generator and the motor runs backwards. A simple and weird system , but it works pretty well. Dad backed it down a hill into a tree accidentally and almost killed himself. broke his neck and he was in a wheelchair 10 years after that.. It's not the safest machine.

[Gothichome]

I hate to encourage off topic posts but old cars are near to my hart. That most diffinatly a 216 Thirftmaster Babbitt pownder engine, should put out a tire burning 98 hp. It does have a separate starter, if it from a pick up truck it should be a three pole, the car version only ran a two pole, the generator has a simple cut out regulator. And it does have an oil pump, for the top end only. The mains and rods are splash. Also, it looks like it has Chevrolet's short lived auto shift standard. You only used the clutch in first. Second and third should be a synchro.

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IMG_0016.JPG (1.31 MiB) Viewed 703 times

This is the 1950 Chevrolet I was restoring before the cross country move.
Ok, now that I have veered off topic, I will be a man and stand up to my penance.

[Nicholas]

I couldn't resist.

Before "This Old House" I was in the old car restoration business that was jokingly called Lazarus Motors, (bringing them back from the dead).

Below is one of my favorites that became an almost daily driver for 6 years. !954 Ford Mainline 2door post WITH!

The optional V8 package and Fordomatic trans, rare for that model. First year of the OHV V8.

I found it in an auto junkyard that was in business since the 30's, and bought it for 200 1985 dollars. There was almost nothing left of it, because it sat somewhere for so long. No floors, the wiring was all bare, the cloth around the wires crumbling into dust, the seats were down to just the frames. The front frame cross member was rotted, a common thing for the Fords through 1957.

But it only had 90,000 original miles.

So here I am driving it for the first time, and the after... a 600 dollar "just make it a driveable rat rod restoration"

[Lily left the valley]

I hate to encourage off topic posts but old cars are near to my hart.

I double checked, and the description is:

Furniture, furnishings and other items of antique interest

I think old cars fall under "other items" just fine.

I have some pics somewhere of some beauties a now passed friend had. He rented them out to movies and such, took them to shows. His son and daughter sold just about the entire collection off willy nilly after.

We met him late in his life, but I'm glad we had the time with him that we did.

[Gothichome]

You know Lily, old cars (as in owning and restoring) are not for every one. Including my children. But they do recall, I hope with fondness all the time I dragged them off to a car show, antique tractor shows and even the wreckers. I don't know how to interpret their smile while rolling their eyes when it get mentioned.
But now you've brought up the description and my posts are valid, I hope my penance will be repealed.

[Nicholas]

Part of the curb appeal of a house would be having a car, or hose drawn carriage for some of the pre automobile homes, that match the time frame of the home, parked in the driveway, like some of the old photos shown in the forum.

[phil]

I think a lot of us like other old things besides just houses and it is interesting to hear about the other things people happen to find, like and spend time on. Thanks for the info on the ford engine Gothichome, I wasnt' aware the transmission could be shifted without clutch. It hasn't been on the road in a while and I just remember thinking wow this thing is noisy!

the others look neat. Not really that vintage but I have an 88 ford van I have been working on the last couple of years. I bought it for dad because it is a wheelchair van but I combed over and replaced so much I think I will just keep it now, it feels so reliable and only has about 50 k miles. I though tit would be common but it is rare I see another on the road like it.

the 54 ford loooks neat too. I pulled the low back seats from my van and put in some from a more moden delica. it was funny that i got pulled over for not wearing a seat belt and got let go since I had the lap belt on that came with the seats. I dont' trust the spring thing to ever catch on the original belts, I have never seen it catch even if I lock the brakes and jerk on it. someone said they might be desirable seats for a ford thunderbolt replica. since it came with seats from a van , although lightened, the ones from the van are super heavy. I think my 88 van is the last year for low back seats and early fuel injection. the motor is a straight six 300 and they are pretty reliable.

I happened upon a neat car radio. I think it is from about 1940 and has a round dash part with the two knobs and a V8 emblem.. it's philco which was owned by ford I think. the radio itself is a box you mount down near the firewall out of sight and the controls are like cables that adjust volume and stations. I'm not sure exactly what model of car would have used it. I have a bunch of other car radios I dont know what to do with , most are big in dash ones with only AM. all tube radios so pre 65 or so.

another neat thing I found was a manual describing how to install radios in cars. but the book is so old all the cars have those canvas type covers and things and the radios were pretty primitive then and installing them in cars was something new.

my volvo looks a lot like this one except mine isn't' quite so perfect looking. Ive owned it since 1986 so it has been a huge part of my life with many memories of driving it and lots of rebuilding of everything. I always loved the simplicity and it's fun to drive.
http://bringatrailer.com/2013/10/24/imm ... olvo-122s/

here is a funny original advertising video... drive it like you hate it ( its cheaper than therapy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9c2Y8_2TH4