[vidguy]

Just a late note that I had my cylinders rebuilt by a fella named Dennis Ackerman out of New Hampshire about 20-25 years ago.

I saw the sticker on the cylinder the other day when I was putting the rear seat back in.

He also sold me a gallon jug of ATF (or some reddish fluid) that he said I was to use and to not use Brake Fluid.

When he rebuilt the cylinders he had to grind away a small area at the seal to get to it. He told me he would have to do that. I recall it was half the cost of new ones although now there are far more options available I would think.

They have worked ever since. I wonder if he is still around?
This was when you bought parts and found service in Hemmings Magazine.

[John V.]

Originally Posted by rohrt

"One comment, looks like you had motor p/n 5044586 with the "foundation board pump shield".
That is correct. You can still see some of the cardboard under the screw. Who got the metal ones? Based on assembly location?

Do you think based on what you know the motor may not be original? I had no reason to think it was not original. Every piece was completely shot.

rohrt, according to the '66 MPC, both motors were used in '64. Your p/n was carried forward to '65 and beyond per the MPC. Mine was only used in '64.

I know the metal shield vs. cardboard shield has been discussed here some years back but I don't recall if anybody figured out the reason for the two different units.

If not for the MPC I would not have known that the shield was specific to the motor p/n.

If I was guessing, I'd bet the early cars like mine got the p/n 5044573 with the metal shield and at some point, possibly for a cost saving, later cars got the p/n 5044586 with the cardboard shield.

I also wondered if the port location and wiring location made it easier to install at Assembly and could have been the reason for the change.

I see yours shows T-12. I believe this is a Date Code. Mine shows T-7. I'm guessing T means 1963 and the number represents the month. Mine would be July, yours December. My car was built in Nov '63 at Fremont. Unless we get tons of additional data, I have no idea what to make of that.

But for sure, I would believe yours is the original motor as I am equally sure mine is original.

vidguy, not sure if Dennis Ackerman would still rebuild cylinders, a Google search says he is now 79. But I did find this:

http://caddyparts.com/

Says, "Hydro-Lectric pumps - a specialty".

I considered trying to replace the external seals on mine. But from what I determined, there was no way to disassemble them to check them internally. Seal replacement would not "fix" internal leakage which would make the cylinders weak. I kept the originals but decided to go with new ones. Didn't want to risk having to replace them later. I suppose I could have tested them and perhaps they would have worked as is. Maybe one day I'll try doing that.

[rohrt]

Thanks John thats great information.

I think Dennis Ackerman was the same guy that re-built mine. He does them by hand so it takes a toll on his fingers. Last I knew I gave his number out and he was still rebuilding pumps.

[John V.]

I was kinda proud of how my paint job came out so as promised, here are a couple pix of the completed motor. Both ports tested at 350 psi (Shop Manual calls for 340-380).

Now installed in the car, frame goes up and down nicely. No top just yet but so far so good.

As noted earlier, my early '64 motor with the metal shield, p/n 5044573 has the ports and wiring oriented differently than was the case on the later '64 motor with the cardboard shield p/n 5044586 as seen in rohrt's pix.

To get the gold cad "look", I started with a coat of Rustoleum Metallic Gray, then coated with Metallic Gold, then spritzed Rustoleum Gloss Enamel Red and Green until I got the color "tones" that I thought looked good. The center was the Metallic Gray then top coated with Dupli-Color Wheel Gloss Clearcoat to give it a shiny look.

[John V.]

As I previously mentioned, I went with Gold on both ends. The original motor end did not look gold at first, the reservoir end still retained its original gold cad finish. But under artificial light, I believed I could see hints of "iridescence" on the motor end that suggested it might have been gold cad originally. I figured heat on the motor end may be the reason it had turned to mostly silver.

Saw 8LUG's replated motor later.

Can't say which is correct but I'm happy nonetheless. A lot of guys told me not to bother since it will be hidden behind the shield anyway. But I'm glad I made it look "pretty" anyway.

I should have taken a pic of the motor end after cleaning and before paint to see if the camera flash would have picked anything up but I didn't.

I did take a pic of the cleaned but untouched reservoir next to the painted motor end. I did the motor end first so I could use the reservoir plating as a guide for the look I wanted to achieve.

See that pic attached.

[rohrt]

Very Nice