New Cord Owner with questions

Thanks Josh!

Bearing shops can order this from Lubriplate. Pricey, and they charge for UPS to boot!

Thanks Tom. Any idea what stores might carry it locally. I can find it online but not having much luck with local parts stores.

I use Lubriplate #SPO-255 which Josh recommended. It doesn't have anything which would attach bronze or copper in the gears, etc. I have had no problems with the transmission so far. You can get it locally or go to their web site.

Hello,

Sorry, cannot help with the Transmission as I am an Auburn driver. That being said though I see Josh Malks joined the discussion - he is an avid cross country driver and I certainly would ask what brand and weight he uses in his transmission.

www.restorationstuff.com carries gear oil that will not eat brass/bronze. Also, they carry Penrite steering box lube and it is great stuff.

JMM

John,

thanks for the link. That is great for the engine but what should he do for the transmission?? We talked today and he thinks 90 weight is too thin. However, if club members have been using it with luck then we can go that direction too.

Here is the link for the Oil Project from the Indiana Region CCCA - Classic Car Club of America - it is no small project and is produced for us via an Indianapolis based racing oil manufacturer (who has been in business for eons).

www.classiccarmotoroil.com/

Could someone recommend a EP GL4 transmission oil that my dad can find at the local parts store? We have 4 quarts of EP 140 weight gear oil but it looks much too thick to use. I'm assuming from the previous comments that 90 weight is fine?

While transmission oil pumps can eventually wear out, their major problem is catastrophic failure because of a chunk of gear or synchro or other metallic debris that finds its way into the pump gears. The pin through the driving gear shears, and pressure drops to zero. A light will show this condition as quickly as a gauge will, especially if the gauge is hidden in the glove compartment as it often is. Just my opinion.

Jon;
The filter mentioned is PN. B-11020, the stock unit mounted on the LH
side of the transmission. It has a removable element inside that needs to
be cleaned periodically.
George.

Some of these new style Block & Head casting sealers work very well indeed.
I have never had any issues with these more modern sealers sold today plugging-up old style radiators.
And I have hundreds of miles on engines that have these sealers in their cooling water.

If you really don't want to keep this sealer in the waterjacket for any time period I have successfully used the followig sealer method.

Since you do not have a pressurized cooling system to force the cooling water, with the block sealer contained in it, to actually leak out under pressure which is how it was originally intended to be used.~~~
Make-up a rubber plug fitting to seal your radiator's neck with an air quick connect, or schrader tire air valve, fitting installed so you are able to put low pressure in your entire cooling systems & engine castings.
You may also have to plug-up the radiator's small 1/4 " top overflow drain tube.
Warm-up your engine to normal operating temp..
Shut it down and add 1-3 lbs PSI . of air pressure ONLY to the radiator plug/air fitting you just made.
Do NOT use over 3 lbs. PSI of air pressure !
This will force the coolant , with the mixed-in suspended block sealer material, to leak out your block's crack as the sealer supplier has intended.
When exposed to the outside air the block sealer material will grow solid .
The sealer must actually leak out of the crack at a fairly high rate to properly seal the entire crack completely.
Repeat this process adding more water & sealer after warming-up the engine several times a day for a week ,or so, and you will soon see the sealer material actually depositing in the crack & on it's outer exposed surface.
Leaking actually causes the suspended block sealer material to deposit itself slowly in the crack over time.
The leak will slowly & completely stop as more sealer material is deposited slowly into the leaking block's crack.
When you finally see no more leaking drain the remaining sealer & water then flush and re-fill with new engine coolant & distilled water.

Personally I have no issue leaving this sort of sealer in the cooling water all the time as it will seal any small leaking radiator solder joints ,or head gasket leaks, in the future.
As mentioned before many new cars have cooling ystem sealer installed on the factory assembly line floor today. In my experience It will Not plug-up your radiator.


re: Other Crack Sealing & Repair Methods~

Two part high strength industrial Epoxy like JB Weld, or Marine-Tex, also work very well at patching block & head cooling water jacket cracks.

Lock N Stitch method where a series of overlapping holes are drilled & tapped, and locknstitch fasteners ar used to mechanically sew the crack together.

You can also place a 1/8"-1/4" steel plate & rubber gasket patch on the block's outer surface and fasten it all around it's edges with small machine screws that are tapped into the iron block casting.
Not very pretty, or original looking, ~~~but it works well.
This is an old time repair method~~~
I have seen crank cases where engine connecting rods were thrown that punched holes in the crank case castings repaired 50-100 years ago in this manner..

There are also industrial casting sealing outfits that can pressure seal the iron or aluminum block or head casting from the inside water jacket area with a special sealer applied under high pressure in a high pressure tank.
The casting is first hot-tanked & cleaned with acid to remove any rust & scale that woud prevent a good sealer to metal bond. The special sealer is then injected under pressure and allowed to cure.. The block & it's crack would be totally sealed using this method.
I had a very rare aluminum head that had many pin hole porosity issues sealed in this manner.
That was 15 years ago ~~~No more leak issues to date !

If you use any of the above crack repair methods~~~ It's always a good idea to drill a small hole at the extreme ends of the crack to keep the cack from expanding, running, & growing longer.
Without this cracks tend to run and grow longer with repeated changes in engine operating temps.


I find it is very hard to find many talented folks around today who can, or are willing to to try, to successfully weld , or braze repair, cast iron block & head casting cracks these days. They simply don't like the risk involved, or do not have the proper talent & necessary annealing ovens for the very slow gradual casting heat-up & cool down period necessary to prevent stress cracking during the heat-up & cool down process .
Without these ovens that allow very slow cool down periods over a day , or more ,the iron block casting can shatter, & stress crack, while cooling down~~~Just like freshly blown glass.

In short~~~ there are many ways to seal-up this cooling water jacket iron block crack.
Several of these methods can be done easily, & very successfully, with the engine still in the car !

Good Luck !

In answer to John Mccall

I have not considered a putting a sealant in the coolant, I am concerned about adding anything that could start to block the radiator. The radiator core looks great, looking at it from the top tank. I am sure that the engine does not have any thermostats in it as the coolant temp never gets above 140 degrees when driving (aftermarket temperature gage currently installed on it). By blocking off the radiator and running at a fast idle (yes I have the car in gear and on a lift so I have the transmission oil pump working) I have encouraged the engine to get up to 180 degrees. I feel that my weeping though the crack in the block is not excessive at this time because the engine is running at a low temperature and would probably be worst with a higher temperature. Car now has about 150 miles on it and seems to run great, I checked the compression and most cylinders are 125 # with 2 at 120# and 1 at 115#.

In answer to George

I have found that I have a red light mounted under the steering column that is hooked up to a transmission pressure switch ( light will go out when the car is moving in gear), so someone before me was concerned about the pressure. I am very interested in the filter you mentioned. Is available? Sounds like something that should be replaced.

Thanks for all your help

Jon

I would advise you to tee-in a transmission pressure guage on the outlet
side of the filter. This will warn you of low pressure before pump failure as well as indicating a clogged filter needing service. An idiot light only
tells you of a failure- too late and too expensive. A 30 LB. gauge should work.

George van Nostrand, Certified mechanic since 1951, Cord owner since
1959.

Have you considered some of the new coolant system sealants that are presently on the market. If your crack is such that you are only weaping a small amount of coolant as you say, they should seal the crack easily. Bar's Leaks and other manufacturers have have a product that is a metal pellet that is suspended in liquid, when it is added to coolant and passes out of the system it solidifies and seals the opening. Some of the products can be left in the system permanently, others are used with water only to seal and then must be removed.
Major manufacturers like GM put sealants in the system before the cars leave the factory to help seal head gaskets, freeze plugs etc with modern high pressure coolant systems. With the atmospheric pressure system on your Cord this type of sealant should solve your problem for a few bucks.

Mario, thanks for the kind words. What I write is usually based on the most sensible and supportable info that I have read. There are always exceptions. The important think is to understand what to look for.

As a driver yourself, your experiences have equal validity, and I appreciate hearing about them.

CORDially,
Josh

I do not want to start a controversy on this topic and certainly not "against" Josh, which has driven for thousands of miles his Cords (I think by far the most) and has given us Cord owners very very valuable information over all the years, personally, in the Newsletter and in the forum! Many thanks Josh.

However Josh's strict statement wrt the transmission oil needs imho some further comments:
a) Josh is correct wrt to GL5 oil and often used additive in this type oil (GL5 spec. does NOT specify this additives but only the performance of the oil)
b) GL5 and EP are not always linked together; [u:392ekmoz]today[/u:392ekmoz] there are GL4 EP transmission oils from diff. manufacturers for our classic cars as e.g. from Castrol, Penrite and others (which address the issues of not attacking yellow metals).

But finally it is a decision which each owner of our great cars must do for himself. Here are some links to quite interesting articles with respect to the GL4/GL5:
www.widman.biz/uploads/Transaxle_oil.pdf www.macysgarage.com/myweb6/gear_lube.htm

However it seems that both articles were written/are based on facts before GL4 EP oil were widely available.
Hope that I did now not confuse everyone! Mario

Thanks for your quick response your information is very valuable to me.

Jon

Sorry to disagree on several points with my Swiss friend.

1. The Cord engine is at least as modern as those being used in most American cars in the 1950s and 1960s. Multi-viscosity oils work extremely well in it. After years of research into the issues of the zinc and phosphorus, I got tired and now simply use CCCA's Classic Car Oil. It's a bit expensive, but oil is still a lot cheaper than steel. I change my oil every 500 miles because, as correctly noted, the Cord has no oil filter.

Incidentally, Chevrolets had NO standard oil filter (a bypass filter was an option) until 1956. Yes, the vaunted small block Chevy in 1955 had no stock oil filtration, neither full flow nor bypass. GM apparently did not feel that it was necessary. Appears to have lasted pretty good.

2. Do NOT use an EP lubricant (GL-5 and above) in your Cord transmission. The EP additives attack "yellow" metals, like the bronze bushings in the gears. It's a long-term problem -- they don't simply disintegrate overnight. But for tranny longevity prefer a GL-4 or MT-1. The gears, bearings and bushings will still be amply protected.

The above 2 items are discussed in some detail in my book "How to keep Your Collector Car alive". I had the Cord in mind when I wrote it. Cheap on Amazon.

3. I once asked Jim Howell how much pressure is needed in the Cord transmission. His answer was "some". You don't need an oil pressure gauge, in my opinion, but an "idiot light" is a good idea. Then you know that you at least have "some". Tee the electric sender into the line between the oil filter and the pump.

4. Windshield wipers can fly off at high speed in CLOSED Cords. That's because the open cars have their windshield wipers at the bottom, where the wind pushes them toward the glass. On closed cars the wind gets under the wiper, and they lift off. If they lift high enough the blade will swivel and disappear. I hold my blades down with a small piece of masking tape when traveling.

5. The dome lights are turned on by switch between the front and rear doors on the right side. No door switch.

6. There is a tool that was made a long time ago specifically for taking off the caps. (Not the one that came in the Cord tool bag -- that's just a cap [i:24aeyx47]destroyer[/i:24aeyx47].) I'll see if I can post a photo of mine soon.

Hi am a Cord Phaeton owner in Switzerland, here are answers to some of your questions (based on what I have been told by various Cord specialist and owners and on my experience on three Cords)
a1) engine oil straight single grade W30 or W40 (no synthetic!) e.g. from NAPA; the engine has no oil filter so it is better to change the oil every year
a2) transmission: Extreme Pressure EP W90
a3) joints: lithium based grease (e.g. Castrol LM)
b) oil pressure gage: no experience, I do not think it is needed
c) no problem with the windshield wipers so far up 70 mph on three open Cords. I lost only once a wiper on my Auburn 851 when it was raining, the wiper motor ran too fast (but I found the wiper parts on the road). Wrt replacements I have no direct experience, but the Cord has standard TRICO's so FORD wipers may work
d) interior light: do not know
e) with a piece (2. ft) of a broom stick, grab carefully in one of the holes of the hub cap and pry against the tire
I hope I could give some helpful info.
Mario von Allmen

Hi, I am a new Cord owner. My father owned a 810 Phaeton for about 20 years and I grew up with it, working on it as a boy, unfortunately it was destroyed in a building fire in 1977. I am telling you this so you understand I have some experience with these cars.
I purchased a 1937 Beverly and have spent today getting to know it. It was fully restored about 20 years ago and looks like it has not been used very much, that I hope to change.
I have a number of question that I hope you can point me in the right direction.
1 What type of oil and wt oil are you using in cord engines these days?, how about the transmission?, what lube is used in the CV joints?
2 I have read in the chat rooms about installing a oil pressure gauge for the transmission, where would you tap the transmission for a reading?
3 In driving the car today we lost both windshield wipers after reaching 55 mph, is this normal? do you normally take them off for high speed driving? Where can I purchase replacements?
4 the interior lights do not work, should they come on with the doors or by a switch?
5 what is the best way to remove the hub caps?

Help on any of these question will be greatly appreciated and I am sure that as I dive into the car more I will have more questions

Jon Elmendorf