Aug 5

J11932 Is going in for some work

So I drove did an 80 mile ride today. 40 miles in a Cord 812SC and the 40 miles home in my Stearns J8-90. The Stearns is a 1929 and the Cord a 1937. But the difference in driving is about 25 years. The Cord is small and nimble, fast and easy to handle and shift. The Stearns is like driving a land yacht. It was hot this afternoon (87) on the way back and the last 5-7 miles the Stearns started to get hot. Gauge typically stays dead in the middle of the normal range, but it tended towards the higher side of normal. It would move up at traffice lights but then move back down again. But at the end it was pegged in the "hot" zone. When I turned it off it spit water everywhere out the overflow.

Aug 5, 2026

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Replies (52)

· Aug 5

The punch list has a lot of things on it. Some of them:

1. New top (the current one will not go down)
2.Turnbuckle the doors (they spread at the bottom)
3. Fix the gas gauge
4. Fix the speedo
5. Fix the radiator shutters
6. New clutch
7. Perhaps new springs.

· Aug 5

Is that a Pines thermostat that works the hood louvers?

On the clutch, will it be relined and resurfaced or do you have a replacement?

· Aug 6

Yes, fortunately you can still get all the Pines stuff from Straight Eight. The louvers are currently pinned open. I'm asking for trouble fixing it but it bugs me.

https://straight-eight.com/product-category/duesenberg-model-j-sj/pines-winterfront-shutterstat-duesenberg-model-j-sj/

· Aug 6

Clutch will go to Indy clutch for relining and surfacing.

· Aug 6

I saw they had the thermostats. I have the same problem with locked open louvers but I can’t decide if I dare wake up that sleeping dog. After all, a sheet of cardboard works just as well in a pinch.

· Aug 6

😂 It is not so much the fact that it is not necessary, it is more about it bugs me that it doesn't work. Also, parts won't always be available. You should buy what you need now and put it on a shelf. At least the bellows which is usually where the issue is.

· Aug 6

Good thinking.

· Aug 6

Stick with me, you will be broke in no time.

· Aug 6

😂 I’m well on my way.

· Aug 6

In the 60s and 70s you could buy a derelict, hire a mechanic and body man to work for you after dinner 3 or 4 hours a night at $3.00/hr and when you finished sell the car or twice what you had in it. Such was my dad's life.

· Aug 6

I think $3.00/hr covers my insurance these days.

· Aug 6

You’re lucky. Not mine.

· Aug 5

I met with the upholster this afternoon. We talked about the top. I have original style material in the original beige color. We also talked about the interior. Many years ago Art Aseltine had material made up by the original manufacturer in France. It matches the original interior perfectly. We are going to preserve the original interior and use the new material as little as possible.

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· Aug 5

Here is the Cord if you have never seen it before.

· Aug 5

AJ which 810/812 Cords had the emblem on the front of the hood? I tend to think most didn't but as yours does is there a specific rationale for which got these? Thanks,
- Dan.

· Aug 6

Dan, it was a factory accessory that my dad could not resist.

· Aug 6

Personally, I like it better without. But my dad and I did not agree on aesthics.

· Aug 5

Does that car have a 2 blade fan? I wonder if the rad has been flushed and serviced in the last 50 years.

· Aug 5

4 blade fan and the radiator is 7 years old.

· Aug 5

Power to weight comes into play between those two cars I'd imagine. I drove Marks 29 Willys-Knight 66A sedan and it was just fine but a bit heavy feeling and ponderous. Sometime later I drove Dave Leipelts 30 W-K 66B sedan, shorter and lighter it was like driving something from the 40s comparatively

· Aug 5

100% Peter. 50% more weight for the Stearns, but 40% more HP for the Cord. Plus the Cord has an overdrive fourth gear so you just coast along effortlessly.

The Cord has had a lot of work done to it and I imagine the Stearns will be better after we spend some time on it.

· Aug 6

A few more interior shots. The headliner is original and we will save that. I want to keep as much of the original interior intact as possible. Just reinforce it so it does degrade any further.

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· Aug 6

· Aug 7

The problem I described was they steering levers will not stay in place. A secondary problem is the idle creeps up as you drive. The biggest problem is the ignition is never right. I think we found the issue.

· Sep 3

We timed Tom's car by advancing it until you had to back off the advance lever to get it to crank hot without kicking back slightly. The slow timing probably caused some of the heating issue.

· Sep 3

Bill,

Exactly my thoughts. I'm going to try what John Cislak recommended to me which it to incremently advance the distributor a couple of degrees, test it out on a hill and back off when we go too far. Right now the car spins fine advanced which is a sure sign the ignition is not right.

· Aug 7

I need to see if there is a flapper in that box. That thing closing while the engine is hot is not doing us any favors. This is all related to how the linkage was reworked when the carburetor was replaced.

· Aug 9

The linkage on my C is finicky like that. Turning the wheel is ok, but if you move the spark, you're moving the gas too.

· Aug 9

Steve Pugh send me a video and a bunch of photos of his car's linkage.  He has an original carb and nothing has been messed with.   Have determined the following:

1.  Moving the gas should not impact the ignition.  Makes sense.

2. Retarding the spark closes the exhaust flapper.  Which I also get.  But don't necessarily like.

I have always assumed up was advanced on the steering control, but now I'm not sure.  That car runs ok either way but lacks some power which makes me think it is not right.  Also, it should not start so easy advanced, which is does.

I will start a technical thread on this whole setup with Steve's pictures.

· Aug 9

Can't wait to see the new top, and see it down. Any idea how long it has been since that top was down last?

· Aug 9

The drip rails is present in the 1950s pictures and the top isn't going anywhere with those installed. So 70 years is a decent estimate. It looks pretty good with the top down. Looking forward to seeing it.

· Aug 19

So we discovered the issue with the ignition control. The 90degree ball socket is broken and when moving the lever the distributor barely moves advanced or retarded. This combined with the fact that throttle control was interfering with it has caused the timing to be screwed up. Btw, the BallCrank company of Cincinnati OH is still in business.

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· Aug 21

If the ignition timing wasn't advancing enough, that sure will make it run warm.

· Aug 27

Other issue was the radiator was empty. Very strange, but it was probably a year since I checked it. Need to figure out where it was going.

· Aug 19

The passenger side door is now fitting flush with a turnbuckle installed. It still has to be countersunk in to the door but we'll let it get acclimated to its new position first.

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· Aug 21

Very nice!

· Aug 19

Finally, we had to drop the tank to get at the sending unit, but it has now been rebuilt by K&M Lifestyle.

· Aug 19

Light switch is back in and headlights are now working again.

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· Aug 20

The new sending unit is installed and the tank is going back up. However, before that happens there is an access hole from the top that allows you to get at it. But the Brunn body work covers it. So we are going to cut a hole under the rug through the wood to allow access to the sending unit. It will be completely hidden but next time the sending unit dies we won't have to drop the tank. We have got a bad batch of those brass floats last time and had to replace the one in my Horch 3 times.

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· Aug 21

Light switch is marked for each connection.

· Aug 27

Was it marked from the factory, or did you just stamp it?

· Aug 27

Those are factory markings. Didn't know they were there until we cleaned the switch.

· Aug 26

Not everybody will agree with this but I had the badges removed from the dash. Some of them went back to 1960. I hate doodads. They will go in an envelope and stay with the car but under my ownership the dash will be clean. Here is the before picture.

· Aug 26

And now.

· Aug 27

Much better!

· Aug 27

Travis, you know I hate clutter.

· Aug 28

Not only that, the one that was on the top right corner was crooked. That would make my eye twitch.

· Sep 16

So each window on the Brunn body has one of these rollers up against the glass. The idea is that when the glass is rolled up the rubber wheel presses against it and reduces vibration. @edinmass knows the special word to call these things.

Anyways, on my car 3 of the four rubber wheels were gone. Just one hard cracked one remained. So we fabricated 4 new ones.

· Sep 16

Here are the new ones.

· Sep 16

· 11h

Steering controls are still not quite right. Although 10x better than where we started.