Web Forum for Singer Cars

It is always the same, try to rebuild a car without a drawing without information, and without all the parts...

By removing the old wood, I see copper and steel screws, what should it be original?

When restoring my 1952 4AD, all wood fasteners were steel. I found no brass or any other type material. Unfortunately, most local hardware stores seem to not carry slotted wood screws these days. As with all the proper Singer hardware, your patience will be tested as you wait for that special order package of hardware to arrive in the mail, only to find out that you need more! Keep up the good work, you're well on your way!

I agree with Fred for sure...Singer used mild steel fasteners and I note from your bucket of screws that you also have the original carriage bolts with square nuts, an interesting feature that lingered on from pre-war production, where they featured more prominently.

As Fred says, slotted screws are getting hard to find and I usually replace all 'captive' ones (those on the wood frame that you can't get at after assembly) with stainless steel. Anyone who has tackled a Roadster wood frame knows the mess those old steel screws make!

Good luck with your restoration!

I already found a small trick to get a rusted old screw out,
take a cheap new screw and a mig welder.
One short pulse to connect them and turn it out

The biggest question now is the difference between the two, one of the steering columns has a metal strip with 2 holes under the dash, above the pedals, but I don't know if this has a function, or is original.
The other one does not have him.
What could be the function, and what part is missing to connect him ?

I've restored a couple of 4A's and a couple of A Series Roadsters over the years and I can tell you that the welded bracket is not original and would prevent the column from being adjustable for height, as it originally was.

The upper steering column bracket is bolted to the upper face of the firewall bulkhead. This photo is of a pre-war version, but it is virtually the same design from the early thirties to the introduction of the 4AD. The main difference was a change to steel from brass for the castings.
Two half-castings wrap the steering column tube and clamp it in place (not shown in the photo) held together by two cross bolts, one of which also holds the pivot arms shown in the photo.

When the pinch bolt is slackened off on the steering box support bracket down on the frame, the half casting around the column can slide up and down the column to raise or lower the height, restricted by the length of the pivot arms and the cutout in the dashboard.

Hope that Helps!

Good to know, in that case the one without the bracket is original.
Maybe the previous owner had put him there because of a rotten front, to give more strength..
I do not remove him now, you don't see him when all is on his place.
The other one is also there, and already mounted on his place.

When cleaning the metal parts, inside the engine bay, and the front wings, I found this grey colour.
On other cars inside is black, but I have also a car who is inside and outside green...
The grey layer looks like original, from the factory, or am I wrong?

A very tough and hard grey primer was used by Singer and perhaps this is what the remnants are .

My '46 A series had never been restored and there was black paint on the scuttle inner side panels and body colour paint on the inside and outside of the wings. The inner wings looked almost primer colour!

Yesterday the first primer on the wings, at the company we were spraying a lot machine parts, and the wings could be done together
So when I am finished, and the wing should be in the body colour, inside near the chassis and engine, and the dirty side, all body colour?
That means easy painting, just like yesterday, hanging on a special frame for painting parts in the painting cabin, and not in my barn with to much dust, and not enough light...

Strange problem, As far I understand the front should be mounted on the way on the inside picture, but on the outside the whole front seems to be mounted to high.
The metal in the corner was mounted at all the three fronts at the same position as the new wood.
But when I have put all together, it does not have the right fit....
Does anyone has mounting positions and measurements from the front?