Messages

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General Discussion / Re: New Quarterly and Calander

« on: December 31, 2010, 09:49:59 PM »

Got mine on the last mail delivery of the year here in the Gr8 White North (Alberta, Canada) where it's about -30* with lots of snow.
Good reading to be had by the fire.
Thanks to all involved for another excellent production!
Happy 2011 everyone.

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 04, 2010, 05:56:19 PM »

Hard to tell on the HJ door, or maybe it's just me.
 
Visibility is not very good in that area and I didn't want to dismantle the latches, since they appeared to work well, especially on the driver's side anyway; even with the broken spring. Go figure!

There certainly appears to be a 'Knee bone connected to the thigh bone' thing maybe going on there, but I'm a big believer in the 'If it works, don't fix it' school of thought, so I addressed the door handle return problem and left the latches alone.
Too bad that there isn't any detail available on the whole latch mechanism. It would be nice to be able to understand the function without having to pull it apart to study it. A parts list would be helpful too!

That's what I get for 'just having to have a Henry J', although I suspected that it would be a challenge going in....that's also why I took out my membership in the Club when I got the car.
It has been the greatest resource available to me anywhere and I really appreciate all the help over the years.

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 04, 2010, 12:00:08 AM »

MB - I guess you could call it part of the latch assy.
My driver's door latched just fine, in spite of the broken spring. I can't say the same for the passenger side, although it was close to acceptable.
 
That may be due to the difference between the handle lock on the passenger side as opposed to the keyed lock on the driver's side.
My driver door does not lock just using the inside handle, unlike the passenger door which does.

The primary purpose of this spring assembly seems to be to return the handle to its neutral (closed) position when the handle is released, after opening the door from the inside, which probably affects the door latch mechanism as well.
As you can see in my pic, the springs for both doors snapped off in about the same place, so nothing to compare to there for a direct replacement.
Only got 2 doors to work with, so I ran out of comparables pretty quickly - heh....

As I said, I engineered my own fix, which works very well, makes use of the stock assembly and I'm sure it will outlast me.

Well, that was fun so.....On to the next little challenge.

Thanks for your help everyone!

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 03, 2010, 05:31:12 PM »

To conclude:

This is a snapshot of the stock springs in question that serve to return the door handle to its 'Rest' position.
There is one spring for each door that mounts on an inside stud by the exterior door handle and it exerts pressure on the bar connected to the door handle mounting.

It looks to be a failure more due to metal fatigue or defect than to rust being the problem here.

Graciously hosted by Fid.

Thank you again Lowell!

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 02, 2010, 09:08:54 PM »

Thanks very much for your generosity Fid, I'll take you up on that offer.

I'll send you a couple of emails with attached pics where I've provided pertinent comments, mostly so I can remember what I did.
Maybe others can benefit from them too.

It would take me a month of Sundays to even try to figure out how to host to a Website.

Of course, I just have to include a complementary pic of my car too.

Thanks again!

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 02, 2010, 07:22:00 PM »

Well, I effected my own repair, since I couldn't locate any new springs like the originals.

Lowell, my return locking bar doesn't have any holes drilled in it either, as shown in your pic, so that one looks like another home made repair job.

I did however take several shots, including some pretty good ones showing the original spring & mount.
And some pics of the hood ornament for PNW.

I was able to use the original lock dog & just riveted the other end of the spring to the door about an inch below one of the door panel mounting holes. After reassembly of the first door, I noticed some resistance due to the handles being pressured outward by the door panel but it still works OK.
So when I did the passenger door, I riveted the spring 1.5" below the panel mounting hole to overcome the resistance on the fully assembled handles and that worked great.
Very positive return action!

If anyone can help me with some direction on how to post pics here, I'll give it a shot.
I'd almost be willing to bet that all the HJ doors have springs like mine, but as Fid said...you never know!

Thanx again for all of your assistance.

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 02, 2010, 12:18:19 PM »

Thanks for all of the interest and willingness to help.
To answer: HJ parts list?
Didn't know there was one but doesn't sound helpful for this question anyway.

Fid, thanks for the pic for reference. That looks like it's the driver's door, correct?
I don't recall that spring either but my build was 10 years ago and the drilling shown might be a home made solution, at least it looks like that to me. I don't have any problem with that approach either.

I'll be taking mine apart next to have a closer look and I'll take some pics of both doors and try to post them here. I'll shoot the hood ornament too for PNW; it's no longer on the car.
I have no idea how that's done so any hints & tips would be great.

Unlike the pic shown, my spring was post/stud mounted inside the passenger door very close to the outside door handle button in the top right hand corner of the door.
Very easy to miss, which I did during dis assembly, and consequently I have no pics of it.
It might have looked V shaped, in a picture, since it has about a 1" leg left with a couple of coils of maybe 3/8" diameter which slides onto the stud, which would act as the fulcrum between the spring legs.

I'll be back later.
Thanks again.

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Henry J (inside) door spring Question

« on: May 01, 2010, 07:56:38 PM »

Hi All,
After putting up with the passenger door handle not returning to its 'latch' position, I assumed that I was missing a spring so, when I had the door panel off to lube the window hardware, I took a closer look.
Sure enough, there is a small spring mounted on a post that I assume will return the handle correctly, when the door is opened from the inside.
 
My problem: The spring broke due to rust and I have no idea what it's supposed to look like to find a replacement. It has one 1" long leg left, looks to be about 16 Gauge steel, has about 2 turns in it and that's where it broke off, in the middle of the turn. I'm not even sure how it mounts on the post when it's complete, but trial and error will fix that, I'm sure.
Does anyone know of a part# or replacement part # that I can use to search out a correct replacement part?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially by my wife who is my regular passenger.

Thanks!

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: HJ Acc Grp info wanted Please

« on: June 11, 2007, 04:49:43 PM »

I doubt that it's the same one. As stated earlier in the thread, I got the car in '98 & bought my grille medallion from the KFOCI manufacturing fund. I was surprised to see the silver markings when I got it, since I just assumed that it would be a direct replacement for mine.
Since I'd acquired all new lenses etc for the car, at the time, I figured that a new medallion was the way to go. I still have the original, so maybe I'll try polishing it and see if I can bring it back. Maybe the 54 medallions were different from the rest. Hard to find specific info on these guys from 1954.

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: HJ Acc Grp info wanted Please

« on: June 08, 2007, 09:25:52 PM »

Well Jack, after reading your last response, I just HAD to go for a closer look @ the door / A pillar tag.
It does say 'Kaiser Motors Corporation Willow Run Michigan' on the bottom of the tag, hence the absence of a letter in the S/N. I just didn't fully document it in my Data since it's available to me on the car.

My mistake about the D/R, you're correct....of course!

How/When it came to Canada is a mystery to me. Previous owner is not around any more. It was used as a rolling billboard for AAMCO transmission shops here for many, many years. I bought it in '98 just before they went under.
Oh...if I ever get to see a Manhattan again I hope that I remember to ask if I can check his door tag info, not that I doubt you.
I'm still confused about the apparent disparity between body #1509 & serial #1536 & how that might relate to the date of manufacture. One of life's 'unsolved mysteries'?
Good  chatting with you & thanks for all the info.

Vic

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: HJ Acc Grp info wanted Please

« on: June 08, 2007, 10:12:42 AM »

Thanx again, Jack.
As far as when the car was actually made (53 or 54), all that I have on that is the info from the large cowl tag which gives the Sched of 16 & item # 4. The D/R on this tag shows a '1' which I've interpreted as meaning that the car came from Willow Run. The small cowl tag reads "Body number 5434-1509".
The tag on the 'A' pillar reads 'Henry J Model K543 & S/N 001536.
From the research that I've done on production #s for 1954, I state that 1,162 were made that year.
Can't remember where I got that number from.
 
Having this guy has been interesting, esp when we're at meets or shows. I'm usually the only Kaiser there and people are full of questions about it. A lot of people have never even heard of the Marque.
Consequently, I've tried to decipher the tags, research the Company, etc to be able to answer most questions accurately. If I had a nickel for every time someone told me they were sold in the Sears catalog...

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: HJ Acc Grp info wanted Please

« on: June 07, 2007, 02:18:39 PM »

Thanx for the input, Jack. I guess that I was pretty close in my attempt at deciphering this one on my own.
Mine is definitely a Corsair! K5434 originally with a Willys 4 banger & no OD 3 speed Borg-Warner.
This is from my own notes on the car relative to deciphering the body tags:
 
"A/G (3 &(?) 6 or 36) Accessory Group offered in the (4 cyl.) 543 Models only to increase sales. c/o  3 = Front ashtray, Lighter, Dome light with 2 door switches & 6 = front window vents, Deck lid, vacuum Booster Fuel Pump. Or maybe it really is A/G 36, but I can

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / HJ Acc Grp info wanted Please

« on: June 06, 2007, 05:34:13 PM »

Hello All!
I have a 54 (K543) Henry J. The large cowl tag shows that it had an A/G 36. Or maybe it means A/G 3 and 6. I've been trying to decipher this but all I have to go by is the KFOCI Handbook and I'm confused by this one. I think that I've deciphered the rest of it though. If anyone can provide or direct me to some info on this, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
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This question is also posted under another Topic here. Sorry for the duplication!

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Henry J & Allstate Forum / Re: Info concerning Allstate and HJ autos

« on: June 06, 2007, 04:30:01 PM »

Hello All!
I have a 54 (K543) Henry J. The large cowl tag shows that it had an A/G 36. Or maybe it means A/G 3 and 6. I've been trying to decipher this but all I have to go by is the KFOCI Handbook and I'm confused by this one. I think that I've deciphered the rest of it though. If anyone can provide or direct me to some info on this, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
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