I'm working on the hand brake. The hinge in the top photo is part of the linkage, near the back driver's side wheel. I tried 'Rost Off' and a big hammer and can't get the thing to turn freely.
The hand brake ratchet is missing a couple of teeth. Must have spent some time in the NHL.
The pawl for the ratchet is missing. That's going to be tricky to design and build. It looks like getting the ratchet arm out would be a lot of work, so we'll probably have to measure and fit the pawl in place.

Spiders

I finally figured out why the brakes aren't working. Too many spiders!

Stutzdate 2012-02-04

I don’t remember ever watching Beverly Hillbillies, but I’m sure our antics on the street Saturday brought the old show to our neighbors’ minds.

We aired up the one leaky tire and cleared all the tools off the running boards. George added his nicely constructed bracket to the loose tail end of the exhaust. We used haywire to temporarily keep the loose shocks from swinging around (we’ll attach those after we get some brake work done). We fiddled with the vacuum tank to get some gas flowing cleanly through. We found that the tank leaks, so we wired a plastic container under it to catch the drips (new job for George – seal the leaks).

Once we had gas all over the place, we checked for spark. Well, George checked for spark. I went and got the fire extinguisher to keep it handy. (George has a bad habit of catching fire.) Yup, there was spark, which was a happy surprise given that I was the last one to work on the wiring.

George took the front seat of the Stutz, and Brad took the wheel of the tow vehicle (a conspicuously ugly and beat up old minivan normally used for hauling hay and feed). Bill and I stood on the running boards, while Judy and the kids ran up and down the street beside us. Judy had the camcorder going, which worries me because I have no idea how many regulations we were breaking in this exercise.

On the second pull down the street, the old girl (the car, not Judy) sounded like she wanted to fire up. On the third pull down the street she did fire. This is where the smoke came billowing out from all the ATF, STP, and whatnot we had soaking in the cylinders. The smoke filled the cab, the air, and at least two neighbors’ houses.

The engine ran great! The spark was good (surprise) and the carb was working well (surprise). George kept it revved for a while, and soon it was able to start with its own starter and idle nicely. The generator was working well and we could see in the ammeter it was charging the battery. George drove it back down the street to our house. At one point he took off pretty fast, which had Bill and I yelling after him not to forget that we hadn’t done the brakes yet.

That was a lot of great news. We only ran it for about ten minutes total, but there are a few concerns. The oil pressure was off the end of the gauge (well over 30). The head gasket was leaking slightly down both sides of the block. The rad was bubbling over when we got it hot. Now, there was a lot of junk floating out of the rad (nut shells or some such) and we hope that the bubbling up is a result of blockages and air bubbles. But, we’ll be keeping an eye on all these, and we may yet have to pull the head and get a gasket made.

Stutzdate 2012-01-08

Brad and Bill were here yesterday (Saturday), along with Chief Mechanic George. Brad and George were here today.

We got the top rad hose connected. Funny how the pipe comes off the engine at a bit of an angle, making it tough to get that short chunk of heavy hose to line up. Bill got it all prepared and then with a bit of force we were able to get it connected.

Bill and Brad got some more of the wiring done. Connected the battery today – the lights on the dash work. Cool!

George did more work on the connecting rod bearings. A couple of the babbits didn’t look very good (rough, bits of brass embedded), but by shuffling the inserts around a little he has the poor ones on the bottom and the good ones on top where the load is. He figures he will be done tomorrow. Connor (son, 6) spent some of the day in the garage with us. He seems to enjoy helping his Grampie (George) under the car.

Brad found us some bolts that will work well for the connecting rods. I’m starting to think this car will be more Caterpillar than Stutz.

Brad got the horn working. Very exciting. Happy to hear that nice 'arooga'. Brad also got the brake light switch working.

I added water to the rad. It didn’t leak, so I lost that bet. Several nut shells floated up to the top. Go figure.

Project lead George writes: “Hope to have the '24 Stutz up and running in the next few days.  You need to start some blogging for the next project - brakes.  These are Lockheed four wheel hydraulic external contracting brakes.  What should we consider to rebuild them. I was surprised to see the car plumbed with 3/8 inch copper tube.  Should this be changed to modern small steel tube; should we retain the old master cylinder or go for a modern one. Throw this out and see what you get back.”

Stutzdate 2012-01-07

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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Photos: muffler, engine, generator

 George found a muffler to fit.

 We built a new gasket for the oil pan.

 One of the connecting rod caps, separated from its insert.

George is excited about this. Part of the exhaust system heating. This bit gives control over the flow of exhaust - either through the muffler or through the piece that fits into the floor in the passenger area before exhausting out the tailpipe.

 George has been busy polishing and painting. Looks great!

New wiring for the plugs (nice work Brad). The replacement generator came from a '51 or '52 Chrysler. Fits great, looks much like the original. To the left (under the oil can) you can see a safety/insurance modification - an electrical kill switch. After George's smoking Packard experience, we're all extra cautious around old electrical systems.

Christmas update

Seasonal flu and Christmas business has kept us away from the car. Brad and George were over yesterday for a few hours. We got some things done like making an oil pan gasket, pulling out the ignition switch, and starting to clean the engine for painting.

Most work was done on the exhaust. George found a muffler to fit, and he and Brad worked on getting it into place. George has been doing lots of work on the exhaust and the exhaust heater. It's starting to look really good. He's been taking various bits back to his shop, cleaning fixing and shining, and bringing them back here. The valve cover looks great - I really need to get some new photos on here.

George found a replacement generator and got it all cleaned up, painted, and the mountings adjusted to its slightly larger size, and ready to mount.

Today George found a locksmith to help deal with the jammed up ignition switch. He got pretty far with that today.

Brad and George have done some work on the wiring, but there's plenty more to go. We're finding lots of old wiring that chewed through or roughly taped.

Brad took the oil pan a while ago and got it nicely cleaned up. In the next few days we should get the plastigauge done on the connecting rods, then the oil pan can go back on.

Brad found that Alyn's article was published in the Edmonton Journal.