Brad and George were here in the garage before I got home from work. Ran some of the wiring, finished off the wiring for the plugs. Clamped in hoses to the rad.
George started working on the gapping for the connecting rods, and found that some of the connecting rod bolts have thread damage and stretching. Oh oh - now we have to figure out what to do about those bolts.
George has been busy writing notes and emails. I'll post two of those below. We've been in touch with Dan DiThomas (treasurer of the Stutz club). We love the photos of Dan's 693 Roadster, but of course it gives us lots more to wonder about! I ordered "Splendid Stutz" and we're looking forward to receiving it. I'm sure it will answer a lot of our questions.
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I made the generator out of a 1951 or 52 Chrysler gen. These were the few 6 volt generators with regulators. This gives you juice when you need it. Unless you are a Stutz aficionado you can't really tell the difference. The housing is nearly identical only 1/4 inch larger in diameter. Had to mill 1/8 off the mounting casting to get the shaft to line up.
A couple of years ago I did the same with the '25 Packard. That was the end of the battery charging problems. The rods are standard forged steel type. We were surprised to find only three main bearings though. Thought a Stutz would have seven. The engine is in really good shape so we plan only to check rod bearing clearance, clean and reassemble.
It's interesting that Dan's engine looks exactly the same as yours. So what is the difference in a Stutz Six and a Stutz Speedway Six, as shown on the valve cover?
His car has the same bumper, and drum headlights, but has a later rad shell. The rad would indicate late 1925. Did the Speedway Six become just a Six in late '25? I see it has the same cowl lights; also has the larger 23 inch wheels and different wire wheels.
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It's good to hear from someone who has gone through the pot metal problems. We were lucky there was a spare ignition / light switch body with good handles. These were seized but I managed to press them out without breaking them. The ones in the car were broken off so had to drill them out. The bosses in the housing were split however an overnight epoxy job salvaged the housing. I reamed the holes out fairly sloppy to take any further expansion. It was a touchy job but turned out great with lock key and all. Didn't even break the glass face!
Hopefully the steering box bushing may be OK. We haven't steered it much so will see when we get it running. The 25 Packard is the same and the steering was solid as a rock. What a horror show to get the old pot metal bushing out. It has a bronze bushing now. It had been on blocks for 47 years.
We haven't got to the speedo drive yet. We maybe should look into the water jacket though.
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