Finding Troubles and Fixing Them Fast: Voices from the Past Part I Editor’s Note: A reader recently sent us a copy of Motor magazine…dated January 1934. The huge publication of nearly 300 pages is packed with stories celebrating the “milestone” 30-year history of the automotive industry, tech notices about new- fangled turn signals, and other treasures in adver- tising and article formats. We thought this early form of tech networking was a revealing look at the automotive repair industry in its infancy. Enjoy. Chevrolet Starter Repair To replace a Bendix spring on a Chevrolet Six, disconnect the starter cable and with a 3/8-inch box socket wrench take out the two through bolts holding the starter assembly together. The starter housing, armature and Bendix can then be readily pulled out. This saves the use of special starter wrench and quite a bit of time.—Ora J. Waggoner, Sales Manager, Olive Hill Motor Sales, Chevrolet, Olive Hill, Ky. Body Squeak We had a 1933 Chevrolet in the shop because of a squeak above the wind- shield. We removed the sun visor socket and windshield wiper switch button and loosened the windshield header trim at the top, next to head lining only. With a 3/8 inch by 6 inch punch we reached in on both sides of windshield wiper motor, through sun visor socket holes, and ham- mered out the inside panel 1/8 inch. This pulled the top and bottom corners of the inside panel away from outside panel and stopped the squeak.—Bernard Gleisner, Body Man, Motor Sales Co., Johnstown, Pa. Dirt in Brake Drum A car had a vibration in it at a speed of 25 miles per hour and over. I checked for a whipping drive shaft, loose engine mountings, loose steering and misalign- ment of wheels, but all were okeh (sic). When driving, the vibration could be noticed on the accelerator-pedal, steering wheel and at the rear end of the engine and transmission. This led back to the transmission which I was going to tear down, believing that there was a chipped bearing because while accelerating the car a slight thump could be noticed at the rear end of the transmission. When I took hold of the emergency brake drum at the rear end of the transmission I noticed there was dirt in it, but that in one place a piece about 3 inches long had fallen out. I cleaned the dirt out of the drum and the trouble was gone. — Howard L. Meyer, General Auto Repair, Faribault, Minn. Removes Steering Gear We have a quick method for removing a Gemmer type steering gear from a Ford. Disconnect the lighting switch, remove the steering arm and take out the frame bolts. Remove the starter, light control and steering wheel. Now loosen the clamp that holds the steering column and slip it up. The steering shaft comes out below the horn, leaving the column to stick through the floor boards. This will save about three-quarters of an hour. — Oscar Bariether, Mechanic, Ford Garage, Mattoon, III. Dust in Body On an early 1933 Chevrolet coach we had trouble with dust coming up inside the body when driving on dusty roads. We stopped this by raising the rear quar- ter trim pads just behind the doors and filling the openings between the body sill and rear quarter panel with coach wadding or rags.—J. A. Melton, Paint & Body Dept., National Chevrolet Co., Mt. Vernon, Ill. Removes Steering Column Bushing When replacing the steering column bushing on a Chevrolet 6, a lot of time can be saved by grinding a 1/2 inch SAE nut round and on a slight taper so it will go through the bushing. Screw it on the steering shaft with the small end down. Loosen the tube and pull the tube and bushing up over the nut. Then the bush- ing can be pounded against the nut which will remove it without removing the floorboards and dropping the steer- ing gear. The tube will not come clear on closed cars without hitting the body. Fasten a wire to the old horn wire and pull it up through the tube so the wire on the new bushing can be pulled in place with it. The new bushing can be driven in with a socket by holding the tube with one hand and hammering with the other. —W. E. McLaughlin, Central Garage, Greencastle, Pa. Loose Flywheel We had a car in our shop which had been run at wide open throttle while standing still. After this it developed a knock that was a mixture of rods and mains, you could hear it on a pull or coasting but could drive the car 30 to 35 miles per hour very smoothly. Upon inspection we found a broken torsional balancer. We replaced this and it helped, but the noise was still there. The rods and mains were tight. We removed the bottom pan from the flywheel case and found we could move the flywheel almost !/2 inch. We replaced the fly- wheel bolts and the noise was gone. It has been our experience that on all cars equipped with a balancer, a loose fly- wheel will always break the balancer springs. — V.E. Foust, Mechanic, B.O. McDonald (Chevrolet), Tekamah, Neb. Eliminates Sticky Valves Here is a method of curing and elim- inating sticking valves, caused by car- bon and