Happy Thanksgiving from Texas!

Thanks! that's how I will rig it up.

No help here? Surely someone has a working hand throttle and can give me a description of how far it opens the carburetor and what position the lever is at idle. With the pieces I have I can make the linkage so the lever is straight up at idle and to the left wouldn't do anything or all the way to the left at idle and it would open the throttle a lot further. I haven't figured out a way for the lever to give it full throttle if that's what its supposed to do.

This probably seems like a silly question but having never seen another one of these cars in person and every picture seems to be different makes for some silly questions. When I started piecing the column together all I started with was a empty column with a old plastic steering wheel.   

I saw where someone said the RT-08 was the worst carburetor Carter ever made. I am amazed ours still runs after all the other things that have been replaced and usually done badly on our car. Ours hesitates some but we have got used to it. The way the accelerator pump works (or doesn't in most cases) is just weird. It shoots a puff of air into a channel with fuel in it and that pushes fuel out. I oiled the piston in ours up while I had it off and it sounds like it might work better. I'll know before long I am getting close to firing it up.

Hey Chet one thing I don't have is the strainer cap screw & gasket. Ours just has a piece of hose clamped to the nipple that sticks out. It works but looks bad. Do you have one you want to sell? I can't tell if the screw will tighten up or not since I don't have one.

Quote from: jjohn on August 21, 2023, 03:51:05 PMThis was the first time I have started the motor after buying this car. It has been in a warehouse for over 60 years or more. Someone has disassembled the car long time ago.

So the motor starts up directly after the rebuild but do not go on lower speed

What a find!
 As Tom said a light or meter is the best way to see when the points open. Usually a timing problem will show itself more at higher rpm than idle. They will idle with the timing pretty far off either way. It sounds like a vacuum leak is a good possibility. There are some little rings that go between the manifold and the block. I have heard of them sticking out too far if the gasket is thinner than factory and causing a leak. There are only 4 bolts or studs that hold the manifold on to the block. Check that those rings aren't causing a problem. As Chet said check the vacuum line if it has one. Don't give up these things run really nice when they are right.

I don't know what other carbs will work but I know there are some that will. I'll bet you can get the Carter to work.

You mean open the choke? When the knob is in its open closed when out. Our car will idle but won't speed up when its cold even with a little choke. Let it run a few minutes and its good to go.
 
Was the distributer out? Setting the timing is tricky. You have to get the screw out over the #4 piston and use a dial indicator turn the motor so that the #4 piston is .050 below TDC on the exhaust stroke. Then you turn the distributor until the points just break with the rotor pointing to the #1 terminal. The points gap to .020. Make sure the cable to the dist is working correctly.

Make sure you don't have a vacuum leak from the manifold to the block. Check it with carb cleaner with it running and see if the rpm changes.

If it has the original RT-08 Carter carb and you take it apart be carful some of the parts are pot metal and fragile. I had a problem with the float hanging on the piece it goes around with the main jet in it. I smoothed it up so the float couldn't hang on it.

Good luck these old things are simple but can be a little finicky.

Any luck? I have my generator at http://www.classicgenerator.com/ He is trying to see if he can convert it to 12V. He fixed my starter which needed a armature last year. Check with him

Me too! I actually finally found just the latch part but I need a base too. Someone at some time replaced one of mine with one off something else. The latch works but the base they used hits the hood and it won't close right. Then at some time that one came off leaving a mess for me to figure out. You have to have the base with the notch! I thing that a Jeep latch would work but not the base. See picture

It a wonder any of our cars survived this and the steel drives of WWII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg7sQbp0ZuY

My rule of thumb on cleaning anything is start with the least aggressive thing you have and if it doesn't work go to the next. Things that won't damage brass or pot metal would start with soap hot water and a soft toothbrush. My next go to is either alcohol or GoJo hand cleaner. Alcohol will corrode aluminum but but has to be left with it siting in it like a carb bowl. GoJo doesn't seem to bother anything, you can use it on your clothes then run them through the wash. If all that fails I resort to carb and choke cleaner which won't usually hurt anything either. Brake cleaner is pretty harsh but I haven't had it damage anything except paint. Another thing I have found that will clean some corrosion is EvapoRust. I haven't had it damage anything but also haven't tried it on any fuel related corrosion. It doesn't seem to damage anything but some things it won't affect at all. If you use it rinse well or it leaves a sticky residue.

I'm having to make one of the rods for the hand throttle and trying to get the geometry right. How far does the lever open the throttle? I am assuming that the throttle is closed when the lever is to the left of center and opens as you move it to the right. I have the motor back together and am tying up the loose ends while waiting for parts  to finish it up and get it running.

Quote from: jjohn on August 12, 2023, 02:31:30 AMis the Self Adhesive Camper Mount Foam Tape -same as the Camper top seal?

Same thing as far as I know.

Camper top seal is good for places where you want a thin seal that won't stick to both sides. Tri-Five people often use it between the flippers and the roof on hardtops. It makes parts adjustment a lot easier than something sticky on both sides.

I have some pictures of them and the old one had some kind of plating on it but I couldn't figure out a way to reproduce it with anything I have available. I think they look pretty good black and matches the steering wheel. On the bakelite bell I glued up a small crack with superglue sanded it with some 600 grit and sprayed clear on it. Same with the piece the horn button goes in.You cannot view this attachment.

I was pretty surprised I was able to make it look kind of original. I started by cutting some thin sheet metal pieces in a shape that somewhat looked like a lever. Then I just welded them together and added weld where it need some and ground off everything that didn't look like the factory lever. Eventually the inner lever in it came out. It welded easily to the disc after I ground the broken one off. After I took that picture I smoothed it up some more then got out our Montgomery Ward engraver we have had since the 70's (still in its cardboard box btw) and roughed up the sides to look like it was knurled. I painted them both flat black because I don't know what color they are supposed to be and neither does anyone else in Texas, besides that's what I had handy.