1931 LaSalle Convertible

[John Washburn]

Folks,

It started out as the car will only run for a few minutes, then other issues appeared -- when you drive the car in the range of 20 to 35 miles an hour the car shimmies so bad you cant drive it. Wondering if the king pins are the culprit (or if this old girl has king pins)?

The second problem, now that I got the car to run, is that it is running to rich (way to rich)... I have worked on a lot of Carburetors, but not one of these. Could it be the float or jets since we are at over 5000 feet?

I dont have a shop manual and my books only go back to 35 so I am having problems doing any investigation.

Any ideas?

John Washburn
CLC #1067

[Wayne Womble]

Yes, she has king pins and they are likely worn. That along with other worn items and maybe some serious tire balance issues are probably causing your shimmy problem.

As for the carburator, assuming it has the original Cadi. type, they are fairly simple units actually. Because of the old cork float they are likely to run rich, or flood. You can get a conversion brass float and a grose-Jet to remedy that situation. Usually a good cleanup and adjustment will make it run like new.

[JIM CLC # 15000]

07-25-05
John, jack up the front,grab the tire at both the top & bottom, see if you can move the wheel in & out. If you can feel movement, time to put in new king-pins.(you may have to have some machine work done on the king-pin holes) As for the carb, go to thecarburatorshop web site and look up your car, most likely they will have a re-build kit available.(Call them and hope that you can talk to someone who knows). John, Wayne is correct, the older carbs had a cork float, which after a while, they would not float.(they would soak-up gasoline)
Good Luck, Jim

[Warren Rauch]

  The king pins on this car are probably not worn a lot. They ride in ball bearings top and bottom . There are adjusting nuts to tighten them up and can be adjusted like a wheel bearing. The bearings should probably be checked for wear ,with as much play as you have at least one is more than likely bad. The king pin could also be loose in the axle, this would require bushing the axle.There is also an anti shimmy thing in the spring shackle. So check for a loose shackle or loose tie rods or steering gear box play.Warren