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Snopro, this hotrod partsman that I've been talking about might be a 'hotshot' partsman. He may have sold me a pig in a poke or he may have sold me nothing at all. Napa can't find the speedo gizmo or any paperwork for it, now.
I have been working on a Chrysler flathead six for a Massey-Harris tractor, while waiting for the Speedometer parts, and the Chrysler is giving me grief too. There are at least four different bellhousings; the car bell, a combine one, a truck one, and a tractor one, and I need the really, really rare one, the tractor bellhousing. It seems like everything I touch lately turns to road apples.:(:(
 
MercuryMac said:
Snopro, this hotrod partsman that I've been talking about might be a 'hotshot' partsman. He may have sold me a pig in a poke or he may have sold me nothing at all. Napa can't find the speedo gizmo or any paperwork for it, now.
I have been working on a Chrysler flathead six for a Massey-Harris tractor, while waiting for the Speedometer parts, and the Chrysler is giving me grief too. There are at least four different bellhousings; the car bell, a combine one, a truck one, and a tractor one, and I need the really, really rare one, the tractor bellhousing. It seems like everything I touch lately turns to road apples.:(:(
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Some of my frustration in this hobby comes from trying to outsmart partsmen that think they know what they're talking about, so I feel your pain.

I don't envy you working on the tractor, there's got to be a lot of areas where you think would cross over but don't, I can't imagine trying to find good parts for one.
 
Later today I am going to town to straighten out the parts guy and order some Chrysler flathead stuff. I'm taking some of your advice Snopro, so I'll look into the speedo parts more in depth, in the catalogue.
Tractor parts are not too bad to find unless you're trying to hotrod one. Luckily one of my childhood friends collects Massey-Harris tractors and lives a few miles away. I did get a little down about things going sideways on me there, so I didn't remember the upbeat things that happened. Right out of your neighbourhood there is one less half done, five window coupe looking for a home and also a baby hemi, freshly rebuilt followed me home. So, really, I shouldn't complain much.
 
Snopro, the speedo pieces will be coming in on the noon stage and they look like they'll work for me.
No, when I was down in Edmonton last week I went and looked at another car, but thought it was overpriced, then Bam, this other car, not even advertised yet, caught my eye, a '34 Plymouth coupe. It was a way more finished and, a way more money so I finally walked away. When I got home the guy phoned me and asked if I'd been thinking about the car. Well ya, I had to tell him the truth, so he told me a really really good story, we negotiated a bit and I helped him out. So in three days the coupe went from being completely unknown, then spied and ogled, then rejected, and finally bought over the phone. Now I have to go back down there with a trailer and pick it up,------oh ya, and pay for it.:D:D:D
 
Still no speedometer parts but on Friday I was back in the parts store and bared my teeth a bit. Boy, I got a better story this time and another promise that it's on its way.
I did not go down to Gibbons Alberta, [near Edmonton] and get my new coupe yet, because of looking out my bedroom window. When you can't see much red line on the thermometer and the trees are waving around you just know the wind chill will be in the forty to fifty below range. I had to make a decision; make a twelve hour round trip or pull on thicker socks. My feet are warm but I have no car.
The baby Hemi kept calling to me so I started cleaning, painting and assembling the accessories. [pic 1] An A833 four speed also came home with me and probably will fit on the back of the Hemi. [pic 2].
My long-neglected '36 got some attention today. I have remembered that the heater had a leak from the start-up, so I unblocked the heater hoses and lightly pressured up the system and found the leak came from behind the heater and not the core.
This is a lateral report. [one with no progress in it, but a report none the less].
 

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MercuryMac said:
Still no speedometer parts but on Friday I was back in the parts store and bared my teeth a bit. Boy, I got a better story this time and another promise that it's on its way.
I did not go down to Gibbons Alberta, [near Edmonton] and get my new coupe yet, because of looking out my bedroom window. When you can't see much red line on the thermometer and the trees are waving around you just know the wind chill will be in the forty to fifty below range. I had to make a decision; make a twelve hour round trip or pull on thicker socks. My feet are warm but I have no car.
The baby Hemi kept calling to me so I started cleaning, painting and assembling the accessories. [pic 1] An A833 four speed also came home with me and probably will fit on the back of the Hemi. [pic 2].
My long-neglected '36 got some attention today. I have remembered that the heater had a leak from the start-up, so I unblocked the heater hoses and lightly pressured up the system and found the leak came from behind the heater and not the core.
This is a lateral report. [one with no progress in it, but a report none the less].
Click to expand...

Gibbons isn't too far from me, I'll keep it company for you in the meantime :D
 
Dr. I'm not lying much this time. There's a four lane highway most of the way and I have a Dodge diesel dually. I did factor in that I would stop and eat lunch somewhere both coming and going. I didn't add any time for loading an unwanted 348 GM motor at this end and loading the 34 Plymouth and all its fenders, running boards, grille, headlights, trunk lid, other little Plymouth stuff and a highly treasured 312 Y-block, at the other end. So, Ya, 12 hours. If you were going to drive up here and visit Dr., it would take you seventeen hours one way.
Snopro, My Speedo gizmo finally came in and it is as you said, only a sender and I would still have to buy a new speedometer head that looked out of place. I was slouching as I walked out of Napa today.
My life stopped going sideways momentarily this afternoon, though. I took the heater out of my '36 and stuffed the shop vac in the rad filler hole and pressured up the cooling system a bit. Lo and behold, I found the leak at the only hose clamp that I couldn't reach with the heater still in there. The hose clamps are so tight now, they look like a spider stretched over a rainbarrel.
 
I-R-Pops. Yes. --- both---
When I stumbled onto this coupe I was completely surprised and unarmed, [cameraless] so I was overcome by lust, without proof. My Scottish ancestry then kicked in and overcame my wants, so I left the car sitting there. A few days later the owner phoned me and opened up negotiations again. I succumbed to his charms, --- at a distance. I don't have any pictures of the car or any proof that I'm not lying this time.
 
MercuryMac said:
Dr. I'm not lying much this time. There's a four lane highway most of the way and I have a Dodge diesel dually. I did factor in that I would stop and eat lunch somewhere both coming and going. I didn't add any time for loading an unwanted 348 GM motor at this end and loading the 34 Plymouth and all its fenders, running boards, grille, headlights, trunk lid, other little Plymouth stuff and a highly treasured 312 Y-block, at the other end. So, Ya, 12 hours. If you were going to drive up here and visit Dr., it would take you seventeen hours one way.
Snopro, My Speedo gizmo finally came in and it is as you said, only a sender and I would still have to buy a new speedometer head that looked out of place. I was slouching as I walked out of Napa today.
My life stopped going sideways momentarily this afternoon, though. I took the heater out of my '36 and stuffed the shop vac in the rad filler hole and pressured up the cooling system a bit. Lo and behold, I found the leak at the only hose clamp that I couldn't reach with the heater still in there. The hose clamps are so tight now, they look like a spider stretched over a rainbarrel.
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Could you fit the guts of the new-style speedo into your original cluster? That's the only idea I have to solve your predicament, other than a regular speedometer cable and a mechanical reducer to calibrate it.
 
Hi Snopro, Yes, I think I could dump the guts out of my '36 one and squash in the new Autometer one, although I didn't look at the new speedo so I don't know for sure. Your other suggestion is very interesting and my bag, so I have already started building a cute little transmission to stuff in the speedometer cable behind the dash. All of my little gears, shafts, and housings are spread out on the bench and are now morfing into a speed changing little transmission. I need to double the rotation speed of the speedo cable, I think, and then check it with the wife's GPS. Tomorrow, I should have some pictures of something recognizable. If I could only figure out how to adjust the ratio on the fly of mechanical gears I would be able to sell quite a few of these, I think.
 
MercuryMac said:
Hi Snopro, Yes, I think I could dump the guts out of my '36 one and squash in the new Autometer one, although I didn't look at the new speedo so I don't know for sure. Your other suggestion is very interesting and my bag, so I have already started building a cute little transmission to stuff in the speedometer cable behind the dash. All of my little gears, shafts, and housings are spread out on the bench and are now morfing into a speed changing little transmission. I need to double the rotation speed of the speedo cable, I think, and then check it with the wife's GPS. Tomorrow, I should have some pictures of something recognizable. If I could only figure out how to adjust the ratio on the fly of mechanical gears I would be able to sell quite a few of these, I think.
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I would have got one custom made, I wouldn't have thought to build one myself! I hope it works!
 
Snopro, I went back to my hot shot partsman and had the talk. We found a receiver in another catalogue that looks like it would drive my speedometer head if I made an adapter. So, for another $70 I could have bought some more stuff, added it to the first $70 sender, and maybe made it work. But by then I had gotten a little 'determined' and made my own. Here's pictures of what I've got so far. The housing is off a Massey-Ferguson tractor generator mechanical tach drive, there's some stainless steel plumbing pipe and home made stuff.[;)
 

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