I just have a bunch of questions about this car . It’s a 1928 not sure where the serial # is , also I need to know as much information about this car as possible. I got it running but I am not sure about the oil pressure guage reading vs where the valve on the return line from the firewall canister is supposed to be open/closed ??
Welcome. I'm not a Chandler expert but know enough to get myself in trouble. Could you do the following:
1. Tells what you are seeing for oil pressure.
2. Take a picture of the canister you are talking about. Is it the vacuum tank for the fuel delivery?
3. Typically valve is open when the handle is parallel with the line.
There is an oil supply line that goes from the Rh side of the engine up to a tee that is fastened to a canister the line continues through the firewall to the guage . The other side of the canister goes over to the LH side of the engine and dumps into the cavity with the “Oil” label , when the car is running it will shoot oil out and the guage will come up when it is closed to about the 25 mark haven’t put a test guage on it yet .
Is all this plumbing for the cannister and the oil gauge? Turning off the valve the oil pressure gauge reads zero?
Is the 25lbs at idle?
Also, do you know what the oil is in the car?
Yes the copper line with the loop is the oil line going to the canister and tee off to the guage , and the other end of the canister goes to that valve on the side of the engine “oil” cap
If I shut off the valve the pressure on the guage goes up , at idle I would have 4-5 psi with valve open , closed valve I would have 15-20 psi
It has fresh 10 weight oil with zinc additive
Do you have an owner's manual? I have never put 10w in an engine before. 30w would have been my advice and I strongly suggest Valvoline VR1.
So oil pressure goes down when the oil gauge circuit is open? Perhaps from the oil filling the cannister? We need to get some other pre-1930 experts to chime in on this. @Chandler-Six will eventually see this and say something. I will ask some other folks.
Could it be 10w x 30 oil in there? I would suggest you drain it and put fresh oil in there if you are not sure. Also the oil pump on these cars has a few parts made of pot metal. It is very important that you check the pump for cracks before you do anything further. It's located on the bottom of the engine.
Personally I am running AMSOIL Z-Rod 10x-40 in my 1914 Chandler. Two reasons for this the added Zinc and the additive package in this oil is high in detergents and rust inhibitors. Just my two cents.
I would also suggest if you have not looked in the engine pan to drop it and make sure it gets cleaned out. Some would go for the oil filter mounted on your firewall.
Previous owner said they just put fresh oil in it and said it was 10w. I added the zinc . Yes the oil guage reading goes down to almost the bottom when that ball valve is wide open but it shoots oil out so fast that it sprays everywhere and leaks out the poorly sealed “oil” lid , I am thinking the valve should be closed all the time and the only time you would open, it is to confirm you have oil circulating, but the gauge would also tell you that so I’m confused
Not being snarky... but you dont say the make in the title or description. I realize its in the Chandler section, but that may go unnoticed and your topic is displayed in the general forum as well. On top of that having it in the title would help the search engines.
I fixed it.
Sorry I just received the information on where the Id/ vin # might be . And I really didn’t know what model it was .
Hi Fargo52,
Your 1928 Chandler Model 31A Special Six has an oil filter. The plumbing going in and out of it has been modified at some point over the years. The pipe from on the oil filter on the left side would not normally be fed into the "OIL" filler for the engine like that.
There are two places to find the serial number of the car. There should be a Chandler patents tag on the firewall., left side of the block. I will attach a picture for reference. It is also stamped on the from right frame rail.
If you have not already looked in the Library section of the Chandler website I have a copy of the factory brochure there for you to download.
I have a 1929 Chandler very similar to yours that I will get on the road someday, its in the queue :-)
please ask any questions you have and continue to post your pictures and findings this is how we all learn and share information about these cars.
So far I have not seen anything that resembles a oil filter , someone has added a 1/2” plumbing gate (check) valve on the suction line just as it comes out of the oil pan . I did drop out all the oil and flush out the bottom of the engine to see what might be in it for debris and it was very clean . What would be the issue with closing the valve and making all of the oil just go to the engine bearings like a normal engine. I am going to have the canister taken off it has a small pin hole and is leaking engine oil, and I want to clean it out because oil can stay1/2 full because the inlet and outlet are in the middle of the canister , FYI the canister is soldered together so it’s not a filter that I can tell , I’ll have it off tomorrow and confirm.
I see you have not joined the club yet and thus do not have access to the Library. Joining is free and opens up a lot of information that will help you. I would also like to add your car to our club registry. Again let me know how I can help.
Chris, he is a member. Last one in the list
Thanks AJ I missed that. Welcome Kevin!!!
Here is some insight from George Teebay. George is very knowledgeable
Hi gents, I'm stuck on my phone until tomorrow night and don't use it for AACA. I don't know Chandlers at all so rely on owners' info.
BUT Series 80 and 81 Pierce have an oil filter canister that originally had 10 felt discs. Oil inlet was fed from oil gauge line, and outflow went into filler neck but that's best modified to dump on top of timing chain. Had shut off valves. Suggest shutting off inlet to canister because it's not a full flow filter, and it may be bleeding off pressure if canister is empty. A Fram CH192PL filter element or equivalent will work in a S80 or 81 filter can.
Unless it's a brand new engine I'd use 30 or 20W50 motor oil..
I have no experience with Chandler but an engine of that era should have 30wt or better.
You don't really need zinc. That started to be used in the 50s with high performance engines using stiff valve springs, in order to help with cam and lifter wear. It's not necessary in older engines.
It sounds like that cannister is a bypass oil filter. Perhaps someone was using the valve to control the amount of oil sent through the bypass and as a result, changing the oil pressure.
10 psi per 1000 rpm is a good rule of thumb so around 10psi at idle should be a good target.
Great information, I will have the cannister removed tomorrow because it appears to be leaking and I will see if somehow it comes apart, and I will update everybody and my gut feeling is to leave the valve fully closed unless it is a type of Filter than I will let it bypass a little bit of oil and I will definitely do a fresh oil change so that way I know what kind of oil is in it
The zinc additive certainly won't hurt anything if you decide to use it.
I've been using Amsoil Z-Rod 10W30 in most old cars for a while now and had no issues with it.
Amsoil is almost like a religion for some folks. I use it because I think it's good quality, it gets delivered to my house and I feel like the added corrosion inhibitors can only help.
What do they use for an airfilter this one just has a 90deg off the carb
Maybe Chris can find some engine shots of your model but engines of that era typically don't have much in the way of an air cleaner.
This is my 29 Stearns and I do not believe the filter is original but was adapted later on. You could do something similar.
Found the serial number it looks like it’s a 34742 , also noticed that the fuel vacuum tank leaked all the fuel out and someone has tried to seal up the bottom drain plug on the vacuum tank so now I get to try to fix it
I think at some point your vacuum tank might have been moved from the right side of the firewall to the left side. On my 1929 it is on the same side as the carb. OR this is a basic difference between 1928 and 1929. I see on other 1928 cars the tank is on the left too. Also note that the Kingston vacuum tank was a one year only. It replaced the more common Stewart-Warner tank. I am not sure if this was a result of Huppmobile taking over or that they thought the newer Kingston was an improvement?
I also see that you have the optional "One Shot" oiler mounted there on the firewall. Again beware that most of the fittings for this system are made of pot metal. In 1928 the quality of pot metal was not very good.
I'll look for more pictures of what your engine compartment should look like to post.
I think the best pictures you are going to find right now of a similar engine compartment is from the Chandler that just sold on eBay.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1928-chandler-special-six-sportster/
We should grab a bunch of these for the gallery. Here is a good shot of the firewall showing the vacuum tank installation and the bijuur tank.
Any idea how much oil and type should be in the fan bearing reservoir.
I'm thinking heavier but not too heavy. SAE 90 maybe?
Perhaps @ShawnG will see this and have a better response.
May be apples and oranges but on the Hupmobile engines that used an oil reservoir for the fan bearing, they called for engine oil.
Straight 30 or 40 perhaps? Makes sense.
Per the owner’s manual for your car which I plan to scan and add to the Library use “Gear Oil level to the lid”
Gear oil being around 90W? Give or take?
Probably a safe bet.
-Some- oil is always better than no oil.
Thank you for all the information so far , i appreciate that you downloaded a pdf of the owners manual. So helpful.
On the vaccum tank. Check out this manual in the 1929 section.
So I cut the canister apart and it appears to have been welded (solder) together but it leaked , so I will swap that style out for a cartridge type similar to what I have on my 48-53 Dodge engine. If I didn’t know better, I would say the material inside the old Filter Filter looks like Levi blue jeans.. either way it’s going in the garbage.
If it’s not too late may I suggest you save that original oil filter. Most cars did not get that option added to their car.
Who ever soldered it together burnt most of the internal material and they did a shoddy job of soldering it . I will bag it for the future out of respect for history.
@Fargo52 @Fargo52, I’ve just uploaded a copy of your owner’s manual and the dealer brochure for your model to the Club library. You can view them on our site and download them for your reference later if you’d like. Please let me know if you have any questions.
I’m on my phone sitting in an airport. But when I get back to my laptop, I’ll try to put a link into the library.
