Good morning afternoon all,
I’m new member on this forum, so let me first introduce myself.
My name is Jean-Jacques Tevel (JJ to make it shorter), and I live in Belgium. Being from the southern part of the country, I’m a French speaking person, this means that I will first need to ask you to be patient and tolerant with my English language skills which are more than limited.
I have been “playing†with old-timers for quite a wile and have different cars.
1925 STUDEBAKER Standard Six
1952 KAISER Manhattan (of course)
1961 MGA coupé
1983 RENAULT 4GTL (easy for short drive in the village and cool for my daughters to drive friends)
See pictures in attachement.
The other cars on the group picture are my brother’s cars.
1931 RENAULT Primaquatre
1950 DODGE Meadowbrook
1979 MGB GT
About a year ago, I bought the 1952 Kaiser Manhattan four doors sedan. When I bought it, the car was in pretty good condition, but had been stored in a dry warehouse for quite a long time (I was told 8+ years) with only regular engine static starts.
Before I started using it, I proceeded to a solid maintenance with ignition renewal (except spark plug wires and distributor assembly), oil change, and brakes set up. I also changed the fuel pump as it was out of order.
When I started using the car, two major issues seemed to be persistent.
The first one is the engine still not working smoothly. It starts OK, but once a running temperature, I often have erratic power cuts during accelerations. As said above, I changed all ignition parts, I also installed a transistorized ignition, but not a 123 full electronic, means that the pointers are still used, but with low amp current. I also should mention that at several occasions, before I installed the transistorized ignition, I faced a cut of the wire between the pointers and the connection at the entry of the distributor.
I also cleaned the carburetor, but still need to control and set the fuel level in it (if one of you has the procedure to do it properly, it will be more than welcome).
The problem doesn’t really come with high temperatures, and I insulated the fuel pipe, so it is most probably not vapor lock. I controlled the spark advance and set it at 5° as prescribed in the shop floor manual I have. I tried with more advance, but it worsened the issue (I might try to get it set at less than 5°). I also replaced the manifold gasket to ensure I have no free air intakes.
The second issue is the brakes which are…………. NOT BRAKING AT ALL…… At the best, I could name them decelerators, but nothing more. I changed the shoes, the 4 wheel cylinders, the master cylinder rubbers and the oil (I use a silicone one to avoid corrosion). All that with no or very small improvement.
So, this is where I am for now. Any idea, advices or comment will be more than welcome.
I really thank you in advance for your reaction on the forum.
Have a great day all.
JJ.