Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[BB767]

It looks like there's some numbers/data cast into in both of these pictures. The first pic it looks like a date code (by the style of the casting anyway) and the other data in the second one looks like a part number.

There are casting numbers, however, I've found especially with car parts that a casting number was usually used by the foundry for internal use by the foundry and does very little to pin down who the manufacturer was or what the part actually was. If it will be helpful I can supply casting and or information from the "device". Also another clue might be that fasteners are safety wired much like we do on race cars and aircraft. This of course, is all just for fun and to satisfy my curiosity, as I fully expect this casting to be recycled shortly. Just wondering what it was and how did it come to be out in the old shop. Thanks.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Yes thom...i was talking about the grey thing in the paper shredeer....still don't undestantd for what it is for....like you say anone maybe know and tell us...

A few days when i was saying that you will found some interesting things during the cleaning... here it is...a nice vise....

You already have here in the forum a nice sticky about Vises and Vise restores.... check it out:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782&highlight=vises&page=20

There's a tools forum on this site that has a vice sticky and vice restoration? I haven't had a chance to really look anywhere else. I need to check that out Crusty, thanks! ( I think I need to get out more, there's a whole world out there on this site! )

Thomas

 

[texas-saluki]

Your own Personal Flea market

ok... this place just rocks. every time I just over to this tread there is some old cool junk. I would have a hard time tossing some of it myself as...you never know.

Now it does need some serious organization. I think the new barn needs some 20' commercial racks and a fork lift. You can have your own mini flea market

 

[markviii]

now,texas-saluki, don't give him any more ideas. He has enough ideas on his own! He's already had the new shelving sand-blasted and powder coated. It will be ready for installation just in time to organize all that "stuff" in the metal shed and garage he's emptying. Also, we're not "flea market" people - we don't need to be out looking for treasures or have people coming into our space to look for "stuff". Ebay is good for us and interesting things seem to appear on our doorstep unexpectedly, so why waste the time? Also, "junk" is in the eye of the beholder. We did recycle some stuff that someone later told us would have been invaluable to add to their collection. Who knew?

 

[texas-saluki]

now I did not say junk was bad... it is like going in my grand parents basement when I was growing up, trying to figure out what everything is.

And...come on...we are all "flea market people" in our own little way. I am not suggesting a public one, just your own collection of random stuff

oh just think of the possibilities

 

[ZRX61]

That manifold looks to be painted Pratt & Whitney gray....

That pile of rusty C clamps would be spending a month in a bucket of mollasses... (with a lid on to keep the flys away..)

& the vise would be keeping em company....

 

[markviii]

I probably shouldn't have used the word "junk" for things that have accumulated here.. I referred to some of the stuff we recycled as "junk" because we tried to find people who knew what it was and who could use it. It was taking lots of time, so we just recycled it. We needed the space to continue the renovatio. Anyway, my comments were meant in jest only. If you saw my house, you would see that we have a difficult time getting rid of some stuff. Now that I'm trying to declutter in anticipation of building the retirement house, I've tried to take all emotion out of the equation, but it sure is difficult. And we want all the useable and valuable stuff to go to good homes. That takes time. I'm in the process of organizing my 34 years of teaching supplies so that I can have the home school families I know come through and get what they need. We'll have to advertise other things like furniture which takes time. Isn't renovation and building a barrel of fun? Well, it is, but that sometimes makes it harder.

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Did this tread loose it sticky status? Say it aint so...

I see there is now a sticky thread for all the sticky threads.

 

[BB767]

Back to inside the shop for some more views.

This is a Sun 600 Distributor Machine

It's for setting the point gap, dwell and curving the distributor advance in old points style ignition systems.

A distributor is clamped into the machine and supported by the two arms. The machine then spins the distributor with the cover off so you can access the weights, springs or whatever the advances the points. The two thumb wheels on the upper right have built in tune up information which scrolls across the two narrow windows. It has information for most car makes and engine sizes of the time. These were replaceable every year to get the newest information. The newest ones on this machine are for the year 1963. It operates like new and so does it's vacuum pump.

This is the driveway bell I equipped the shop with. It never had a concrete driveway out front so it never had one of these.

This unit is from 1962 which I restored. When a vehicle runs over the airline stretched out in the driveway, it sends a pulse of air via a hard line to the clear tube you see here, to the diaphragm located under the black domed cover, lower right. That closes a set of points which energizes the transformer (upper right) and that in turn rings the bell. Since it needs 110 volts to operate I had to put an electrical outlet over the door, which is unseen as I placed it behind the unit. It is much more elegant this way, don't you think, without the unsightly outlet and cord dangling in view?

I have more on the way...........


Thomas

 

[Vernmotor]

Driveway bell is cool.! I like that alot..distributor machine would be nice to have..I like to put mine in one to check it out..

 

[Nuts]

Thomas, I have no idea on the manifold, other than it looks military for some reason.
Nice track jacks, if I ever get them all in one place I'm guessing I have nearly 75 old car jacks. Need to build some sort of display sometime.
The dash in the one pic is from a 28/29 Model A Ford. The horn is a bit newer, late 30s or so.

Which model Blackhawk? Please post some pics. It's always interesting to see these old jacks, no matter what the condition is. I recently posted my new to me old Blackhawk floor jack here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45278&page=7&highlight=show+jacks

It's turning out to be pretty interesting project for me and my 10 year old son.

CRTDI I'll have to scrape an inch of gunk off the thing, I do know it's the one with the light on the cover, sadly no lens. And it also has the name BlackHawk cast into the housing instead of a tag. Will take a pic and post it on the jack thread.



Nuts

 

[Tim.]

Hi Thomas. G'day from Melbourne Australia. I've been hovering since about page 20. I can't remember how I got here, but I'm glad I did. What you've done is fantastic. I think it's every bloke's dream..!
The main reason I joined was because of those 'jars' on page 47. I have an old '66 Holden ex-ambulance, and there was a very similar glass jar mounted under the bonnet of my car. (http://gallery.oldholden.com/HR+ambo/Ambo/) I saw you have a couple of ambo bit's & pieces laying around from one that got scrapped? Maybe they're from this ambo? I think it's some sort of 'aspirator' or something? I may be way off mark, and happy to be proved wrong. Do your jars have a 'ping-pong' ball thingy in the top, kind of as a one-way valve system?
Like I said, I may be way off mark, but your jars look very similar to mine, and I've never seen them before, till I saw your's...? I can send pics if you want..
Thanks........Tim.

 

[Warg]

Tim,
Talking about ambulance stuff... Those jars you have could be part of a suction system. I had one of those in my old ambulance, connected to manifold vacuum at one side and to a suction device on the other. The jar captured all the icky stuff sucked out of the poor customers before it hit the manifold...

 

[markviii]

This "game" we're playing is sort of like those Magic Eye pictures. I can never "see" the objects in the picture, but others have no trouble. So you show the picture to others who know right away what's there. We just happen to have an international audience with a wide range of experiences who can id these mysterious things. Every one of those "things" we've found had its use "back in the day". Finding their origins/uses is like an archeological dig. Being able to pass them on or refurbish them for future use is very fulfilling and lots of fun.

 

[BB767]

Hi Thomas. G'day from Melbourne Australia. I've been hovering since about page 20. I can't remember how I got here, but I'm glad I did. What you've done is fantastic. I think it's every bloke's dream..!
The main reason I joined was because of those 'jars' on page 47. I have an old '66 Holden ex-ambulance, and there was a very similar glass jar mounted under the bonnet of my car. (http://gallery.oldholden.com/HR+ambo/Ambo/) I saw you have a couple of ambo bit's & pieces laying around from one that got scrapped? Maybe they're from this ambo? I think it's some sort of 'aspirator' or something? I may be way off mark, and happy to be proved wrong. Do your jars have a 'ping-pong' ball thingy in the top, kind of as a one-way valve system?
Like I said, I may be way off mark, but your jars look very similar to mine, and I've never seen them before, till I saw your's...? I can send pics if you want..
Thanks........Tim.

Hi Tim and thank you for posting your interesting thoughts. I doubt that I´d have made that possible connection had you not written in.Thanks also for the kind words about the shop which has certinly been my dream and seems to have caught the attention of a few of others.

I´m in Brazil at the moment ( the Iceland volcano air polution problem spared me flying south!) but when I get home I´ll post some better pictures of the glass jars which might be helpful to you and others. One of them has line fittings for about 5 conections, the other I think has 3 as I recall, can´t remember about any ´ping-pong´ball thingy inside but will know this weekend. Keep hovering and we´ll unravel the mystery.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Tim,
Talking about ambulance stuff... Those jars you have could be part of a suction system. I had one of those in my old ambulance, connected to manifold vacuum at one side and to a suction device on the other. The jar captured all the icky stuff sucked out of the poor customers before it hit the manifold...

Paul, is ´icky stuff´a medical term I´m not familar with? ´`cause I´m just wondering is all.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas, I have no idea on the manifold, other than it looks military for some reason.
Nice track jacks, if I ever get them all in one place I'm guessing I have nearly 75 old car jacks. Need to build some sort of display sometime.
The dash in the one pic is from a 28/29 Model A Ford. The horn is a bit newer, late 30s or so.


Nuts

Thanks Nuts, you are a wealth of information!

Thomas

 

[Warg]

Paul, is ´icky stuff´a medical term I´m not familar with? ´`cause I´m just wondering is all.

Thomas

Well, I'm no medic, I just have the basic training we got in the army. That is being able to do some stiching and maybe remove an appendix out there in the muddy fields...
But my little sis who works at a pathology lab uses the term, so it just has to be right. But then again, as an airline pilot you probably have imagination enough to visualize the different kinds of "icky stuff" that can obstruct peoples windpipes...

Paul

 

[Tim.]

Paul: Yeah, like your's, my jar is connected to the manfold, I also have another 'portable' aspirator in the back that I picked up along the way. You're right, it is for sucking icky stuff out.... Get this..the portable one looks like it has a mouthpiece type of thing, I'm thinking you stick in your mouth and ****! I'd rather have it connected to the manifold....

Thomas: I'll keep hovering..... I'd be interested in some closer pics of these 'jars'...

Thanks......Tim.

 

[twinturbosupra123]

dang cant wait to see more updates

 

[ZRX61]

But then again, as an airline pilot you probably have imagination enough to visualize the different kinds of "icky stuff" that can obstruct peoples windpipes...

Paul

Or the icky/chunky stuff that gets hosed all over the ramp when a mechanic gets ingested through a jet engine... you REALLY don't want to see those pics..

 

[Stuart in MN]

Hi Thomas. G'day from Melbourne Australia. I've been hovering since about page 20. I can't remember how I got here, but I'm glad I did. What you've done is fantastic. I think it's every bloke's dream..!
The main reason I joined was because of those 'jars' on page 47. I have an old '66 Holden ex-ambulance, and there was a very similar glass jar mounted under the bonnet of my car.

My guess is those glass jars are reservoirs for 'top oilers'. It would bolt to the firewall of a car or truck, and a vacuum hose would be connected to the intake manifold. They'd fill the jar with Marvel Mystery Oil or something similar, and then manifold vacuum would pull the oil into the top of the engine to lubricate the valves.

Here's a picture of one - it's not the exact same thing but there were a number of different brands back in the day. http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/81136.jpg

edit: Here's one other example. http://vwjudsonregister.tripod.com/oiler_page.htm

 

[BB767]

My guess is those glass jars are reservoirs for 'top oilers'. It would bolt to the firewall of a car or truck, and a vacuum hose would be connected to the intake manifold. They'd fill the jar with Marvel Mystery Oil or something similar, and then manifold vacuum would pull the oil into the top of the engine to lubricate the valves.

Here's a picture of one - it's not the exact same thing but there were a number of different brands back in the day. http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/81136.jpg

edit: Here's one other example. http://vwjudsonregister.tripod.com/oiler_page.htm

I'm back but pretty tired, yup, pilots jet lag too! Stuart you might be on to something since they are both different designs and I don't recall them having anything inside the jar itself. If I weren't so tired I'd go to the shop right now and get several pictures of the jars plus actually look closely at one and see what it might tell me. But sleep calls and we'll get into this tomorrow. Thanks for understanding.

Sleepy Thomas

 

[Tim.]

Hmm. Thanks Stuart. That's kinda like how mine is mounted, but I've never heard of Marvel Mystery Oil? I've had plenty of Holdens, looked under the bonnet of thousands of cars, but never seen one before. Maybe the Marvel Mystery Oil is an American thing? Maybe I should look a little closer..!

That does it. I have to get a pic and show you guys...
Goodnight Thomas...

........Tim.

 

[mcdave71]

Couldn't these glass jars also be a windshield washer container? That on one the left look somewhat like a pump on top. Can't see the top of the right one.

 

[Stuart in MN]

They could be for a windshield washer as well, some sort of aftermarket add-on. I'm still thinking top oiler, though...from their appearance they look like they date from the 1940s or 1950s; back then I don't think windshield washers were very common, and in a rural area there would have been a lot of farmers who still liked the idea of using a top oiler on their car/truck/tractor engines. It's possible there's a brand name on the apparatus on top of those jars that may be a clue.

 

[motodavid2000]

Thomas & Chris -

All of the adjectives have been used to describe both the process and the outcome of your restoration & modernization of the 1930's Auto Shop. So here are a few more "kudos" to you for the results!

It has been super interesting to read and follow along. Looking forward to further discoveries in the remaining items / "stuff" to be sorted, reviewed and researched !! If you happen to find any gas (advertising) globes I could help provide info on those. Doubt you will find anything that fragile in what remains, however.

Thank you for sharing and for making the considerable effort to document everything so well with text and wonderful before & after photos.

Best regards - Dave

 

[BB767]

Ok here's an update on the mysterious jars.

Here they are. I cleaned the one on the right up somewhat (just rinsed it out with water) and is the most interesting of the two.

This is what was inside. Nothing is loose inside the plastic housings on either one. There are no manufactures markings on either. The lids are the same diameter and are interchangeable with either jar.

Both are cheaply made in my opinion.

There are 4 ribbed rubber hose fittings on the first jar. Two fittings are larger than the other two.

This is the second jar, with only two hose fittings. On the right is a cap that swivels to reveal a opening in the lid. The first one had a cap also but it's missing.

The second one inside.

Some observations now that I've gotten a close look. There was no smell inside of the jars, nor any residue of any sort, thankfully. So cheaply made I don't think they were used in any medical capacity. I believe mcdave71 has it. I think they were aftermarket windshield washer pumps and reservoirs. They appear to be vacuum driven and operated, the lack of any residue inside was due to the leftover washer fluid just evaporating which wouldn't happen with Marvel Mystery Oil, though that was a possibility. The inside parts would have evidence of oily residue with MMO. Also the pumps and everything is just cheap plastic, unlike the metal pumps in Stuarts pictures which used MMO.

OK that's what I see, anyone have an old J C Whitney catalog with them illustrated to pin it down for sure? What do you guys think?

I've got more on the Walker floor jacks coming next.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas & Chris -

All of the adjectives have been used to describe both the process and the outcome of your restoration & modernization of the 1930's Auto Shop. So here are a few more "kudos" to you for the results!

It has been super interesting to read and follow along. Looking forward to further discoveries in the remaining items / "stuff" to be sorted, reviewed and researched !! If you happen to find any gas (advertising) globes I could help provide info on those. Doubt you will find anything that fragile in what remains, however.

Thank you for sharing and for making the considerable effort to document everything so well with text and wonderful before & after photos.

Best regards - Dave

Hello Dave and welcome to an interesting thread, yes? Thank you for offering to help me out here, and also for the very kind compliments. Rest assured I will continue to seek help with what remains. It all seems to be something of a puzzle that is slowly getting solved.
Check back from time to time, you never know where you can assist.

Thomas

 

[Tim.]

Hi Thomas and others.
Thanks for taking the time, Thomas, I think your jars may be different to mine. They're obviously similar in set-up, but have different functions. I got pics of mine, you can see them here:
http://gallery.oldholden.com/HR+ambo/Aspirator/
(Have a look around while you're there! Click on the 'HR ambo' at the top/left...)
The first pic shows the metal holder thingy that the jar sits in. (The jar sits lower in the thingy). The last two pics are from a medical 'aspirator' that you can see is the same set-up as my jar.
I think our jars must have different purposes...?
Oh well. at least we can disregard the medical side...

Thanks Thomas. I'll still keep hovering, now I'm even more curious....

 

[Fishwacker]

Here's a wonderful illustration and description of the " Electric Power Unit".

Looking at the illustration and the large Rotary Lift badge across the front I believe it to be a decal. I don't know when they started to install them on the cabinets but obviously I don't have one. They are, I assume, unobtainable.
The catalog shows some patent dates after the July 3, 1928 one on mine. The next one is October 23 1928 so I would conclude from that my lift was made between those two dates. Even a little older than I thought.

Now I know that many of these pictures have been posted previously but I didn't have this catalog when I posted them. I thought it would be interesting to augment the catalog illustrations with photographs of the "real deal". I'm guessing that would OK with everyone?

Thomas[/QUOTE]

Hi Thomas& Chris,
It's been awhile since my last visit and I remain amazed with what you've done, and continue to do. Thanks again for sharing and the inspiration it provides to so many.
Referring to the above quotes and pics about the lift control cabinet, I recalled a similar lack of logo decals for another restoration on a different forum so I did a search and found this site, (http://supercaldecals.com/) that might be of interest to you. Although the info booklet you have isn't in color, you might be able to obtain a color example from a vintage magazine ad, or even the manufacturer, and use it to reproduce your own decal using the products this outfit offers. If the site I've pasted above doesn't have what you need, I'm certain there are other products available as well as vendors that specialize in decal reproduction who can help you put that final detail on the pump control cabinet. Good luck and best regards, Gary

P.S. We can't get enough.

 

[fatgal65]

They are washer bottles, try google-ing trico vacumm washer bottle.....i have one from an old MG magnette that i used to own(somewhere). Hope that sheds some light on them for you.

P.s I love what you did with the old shop

 

[DIC]

.........I think those jars are a old vacuum operated water injection system. On hard accelaration with higher compression engines you would get spark knock on hard throttle. The water-injection system sprayed small amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol into the combustion chambers to cool the intake charge. You could get more power because you could advance the timing more. They came on some of the old oldsmobile engines.....I don't know Just my two cents...............

 

[BB767]

Hi Thomas and others.
Thanks for taking the time, Thomas, I think your jars may be different to mine. They're obviously similar in set-up, but have different functions. I got pics of mine, you can see them here:
http://gallery.oldholden.com/HR+ambo/Aspirator/
(Have a look around while you're there! Click on the 'HR ambo' at the top/left...)
The first pic shows the metal holder thingy that the jar sits in. (The jar sits lower in the thingy). The last two pics are from a medical 'aspirator' that you can see is the same set-up as my jar.
I think our jars must have different purposes...?
Oh well. at least we can disregard the medical side...

Thanks Thomas. I'll still keep hovering, now I'm even more curious....

Tim G'day to you,

Seeing your pictures I can see how you might have made that connection initially.
Your ambulance is terrific, I really like all the period accessories. Too bad you got one where they goofed up and put the steering wheel on the wrong side though. What's that Chris............just a sec here Tim, Chris is yelling something to me.......... really they do that down there, all the time ........... on purpose ...........

Never mind............................................

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Here's a wonderful illustration and description of the " Electric Power Unit".

Looking at the illustration and the large Rotary Lift badge across the front I believe it to be a decal. I don't know when they started to install them on the cabinets but obviously I don't have one. They are, I assume, unobtainable.
The catalog shows some patent dates after the July 3, 1928 one on mine. The next one is October 23 1928 so I would conclude from that my lift was made between those two dates. Even a little older than I thought.

Now I know that many of these pictures have been posted previously but I didn't have this catalog when I posted them. I thought it would be interesting to augment the catalog illustrations with photographs of the "real deal". I'm guessing that would OK with everyone?

Thomas

Hi Thomas& Chris,
It's been awhile since my last visit and I remain amazed with what you've done, and continue to do. Thanks again for sharing and the inspiration it provides to so many.
Referring to the above quotes and pics about the lift control cabinet, I recalled a similar lack of logo decals for another restoration on a different forum so I did a search and found this site, (http://supercaldecals.com/) that might be of interest to you. Although the info booklet you have isn't in color, you might be able to obtain a color example from a vintage magazine ad, or even the manufacturer, and use it to reproduce your own decal using the products this outfit offers. If the site I've pasted above doesn't have what you need, I'm certain there are other products available as well as vendors that specialize in decal reproduction who can help you put that final detail on the pump control cabinet. Good luck and best regards, Gary

P.S. We can't get enough.[/QUOTE]

Hello Fishwacker, yes it has been a while, but glad you're back here.
It is very interesting you bring up the subject of decals. Believe it or not, yesterday I was in St Louis in discussion with a gentleman on that very topic. We were looking at ways to reproduce that Rotary decal. We could do it but need to find a better image and a color scheme to do so. When we blow that image up we lose all the fine detail. I'm still on the trail of doing it so your link is very timely. Thank you for thinking of me and providing it. It looks to have merit and worth exploring once I get an image I'm happy with. I'm a guy with lots of patience so watch this space from time to time. Thank you again for the link and encouragement.

Thomas

 

[dladcock]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1956...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I think this may be what you are looking for, then again, by now you have found this??

Love the project and many thanks for the HOURS and HOURS of entertainment! Excellent execution!!!

Lynn

 

[BB767]

They are washer bottles, try google-ing trico vacumm washer bottle.....i have one from an old MG magnette that i used to own(somewhere). Hope that sheds some light on them for you.

P.s I love what you did with the old shop

.........I think those jars are a old vacuum operated water injection system. On hard accelaration with higher compression engines you would get spark knock on hard throttle. The water-injection system sprayed small amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol into the combustion chambers to cool the intake charge. You could get more power because you could advance the timing more. They came on some of the old oldsmobile engines.....I don't know Just my two cents...............

Both are the most likely possibilities it seems. Water injection was used on aircraft engines in WW II and it works like a champ. Very clever idea. Some further thoughts. The good folks at the shop were not know as being the most neat and tidy. I'm sure those jars were just unbolted from some car and set aside.The insides of both, except for some dirt were clean as a whistle. Whatever was in there previously left no trace, it all evaporated cleanly. Washer fluid might have left some color stain perhaps, but there is nary a trace. I don't know how long the practice of dying washer fluid is but there is some more information to ponder.

Thomas

 

[Vernmotor]

Bing go we got a winner !! dladcock...did a fine job !

 

[BB767]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1956...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I think this may be what you are looking for, then again, by now you have found this??

Love the project and many thanks for the HOUR and HOURS of entertainment! Excellent exacution!!!

Lynn

Lynn, we have a winner here!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's it for sure.

Thanks also for your kind words. It's rewarding for me to know others are enjoying the project also.

Thomas

 

[Fishwacker]

Thomas,
Another possibility for a good example of the decal might be from another collector of gas station equipment. I'm certain there's a forum or site that would yield a lead or two, and don't forget the OEM for your lift.
Again, good luck and do keep us informed. Gary