project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

I noticed since it's been sat up that the radiator had been leaking slightly, mostly after being run as it cooled down. Checked and indeed, the system was not holding pressure so decided to solve it with goo rather than attempt to solder it again.

Went to O'Reilly and bought some Bars aluminum particles stop leak. Looked weird but it got dumped in with the engine hot, then driven a bit and switched off while I went get dinner and groceries. 

That let it stew and the heat soak seems to have sealed it up because it started building pressure. 

Interestingly it now holds a slightly higher temperature than before but stays there, particularly when idling- and doesn't seem to be over cooling, as the heater is hotter and the car doesn't smoke under heavy acceleration any more. The performance is also better. All I can guess is unpressurized this engine likes to make bubbles against the cooling jacket and that makes it not cool correctly. 

Either way that seems to be good so I'll take it while it lasts; the starter motor is reliably cranking the engine over and the alternator appears to be happier after being rewired (probably just the connections are cleaned from having been taken apart). Need to figure why the exhaust is rattling next because that's noisy. 

Phil

[PhilA]

Washed the mold off the back of the car that likes to form where there is fuel vapor.

Looks a little better. Will try give it a proper clean soon. 

Either way, was a nice evening for a drive, even needed to put the heater on. 

Looking to be a pleasant weekend, at least. Warm and sunny. 

 

Phil

[hairnet]

heater on?

nice jag

 

[PhilA]

Washed it. Looks better. Barkeeper's Friend works quite well on tired chrome. 

Noticed that the gearshift indicator bulb had burned out. 

Dismantled that and replaced the bulb.

Returned to service. Much better. 

Also replaced two bulbs in the dash (heater, ammeter) that had become flickery. Onward and upward. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Went to adjust the brakes today.

I hit something very sharp. It sliced into the tire and luckily didn't blow out, but it's got a bad bulge in now.

Need to get a couple new tires for the front now. Mm $282 each + tax + s&h.

Super.

[PhilA]

Swapped wheels about. Got the spare on. That's better.

Checked oil, water. Topped up screenwash. Think gearbox needs a bit of oil also.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

No proper photos because I spent too much time talking, but our very own @eddyramrod dropped in today.

Had a fun day looking at old cars and doing a bit of sightseeing.

Nice to have met you, sir.

 

Phil

[eddyramrod]

Thank you Phil, in so many ways!  Great to have met you at last, and your beloved, and thank you so much for today.  We've had a really fun day with you.  I don't want to post up a load of pics, because I'll be telling the full story after the event, as it were, but here's one from this morning...

[PhilA]

Carburetor time. This is a Carter WCD two barrel, subtype 720SA. Pretty standard for the era, with the model dating back to the late thirties. 

It has two circuits per barrel, a low and a high speed. The low speed is adjustable via the needle valves on the front and the high speed circuits are ganged together from manifold vacuum, with the throttle position pushing the needles up out of the jets, so long as vacuum is strong enough to keep the plunger pulled down. Under heavy load where throttle position is light but vacuum is poor, the spring pushes the needles out to enrich the mixture.

That's all good and well but the needles weren't moving. They were stuck at maximum open all the time. So, apart came the carburetor, and an inspection was made.

A "what the" moment- there was a ball bearing in the bottom of the vacuum column. So, the vacuum was pulling the ball in tight and not allowing vacuum to pass.

.....why? No idea. Ball has been removed. I need to play with the lever arm position because it's ever so slightly stuttery at 10-13 inches of vacuum. However now on the highway the mixture is improved. The car runs warmer, so it might be too lean (the bias for that is adjustable, and it's set on the lean side right now) so I'll dial that in. The accelerator pump is nearly dead also, the leather cup is hard. I might have a go at that but I do need to get a new gasket set for it. Emissions and economy ahoy!

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Did a bit more tune up on the car today. 

Employed the Colortune to see if the plugs are telling lies. Pretty good flame. 

Plugs are oily but that's because it's been running rich and cool. 

Pulled the accelerator pump apart. Piston cup was hard, it's leather. Modern fuel sucks. 

Spent a bunch of time with leather oil and Vaseline and got it all supple again. Refitted.

Now, it works. Car doesn't stumble on acceleration any more, particularly from a standstill- before it didn't because the jets were wide open and they would take up the slack. 

It'll hold better vacuum at 35 mph now than it did, so hopefully the fuel economy will improve. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Dialed in a bit of timing, to see what it likes. Took it to about 10° from 6° and that feels like a hair too much. Think I'll pull 2° out and see how it drives. 

It'll accelerate to 70 now without being at full throttle so that's better. The rings are getting hotter and sealing better, it's not smoky any more. 

Phil

[PhilA]

Extreme oil change complete. Dialed the timing back to about 8° and shall see how that does for a while.

Runs nicely now. New oil always makes a difference. Hopefully now though it won't make it so dirty so quickly.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Plugs are getting a better color to them now, so that's good. 

Really need to change them but have you seen the price of spark plugs lately? 

 

Phil

[GeorgeB]

19 hours ago, PhilA said:

Plugs are getting a better color to them now, so that's good. 

Really need to change them but have you seen the price of spark plugs lately? 

 

Phil

Cheaper than fuel!

[PhilA]

No fun photos of anything, but a few observations have been made since fixing the carb: 

Pulling out of an intersection is now much less stumbly- it wasn't particularly bad before but would occasionally cough politely upon requesting motion. Now it doesn't when warm, and much less when still on choke.

Significantly less smoke. Oil consumption has also decreased a bunch. Much less blowby and as a result it doesn't drop oil from the road draft tube any more. Much. 

It runs noticably quieter and less harsh at higher RPM. It'll now cruise at 60 quite happily and mid throttle acceleration will bring it to 70, which is starting to push it a bit. 

Better torque. Likely related to it burning at the correct temperature and the rings getting a decent chance to seal up.  

Notably better fuel economy, even at higher speeds (50-60 cruise). I'll definitely have to do an average usage over a tank of fuel and see what it's doing now, or if it's all in my imagination. 

Holds temperature correctly, the thermostat now gets a proper workout.

It now feels more "right", less worn and more how it should. Again, before it wasn't bad but it's been possible to improve.  Overall that's pleasing.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Yeah, that'll do ok. I need to tweak the idle mixture a bit. But, yeah. It's doing pretty good.

[PhilA]

We had a weekend out and about with the car club- rain prevented the Pontiac being taken but I did win a trophy: 

Phil

[PhilA]

Ordered a set of Delco R45 plugs.

Gapped them all then waited for a break in the rain. 

Pulled the old plugs out. Yuk. Spent ten minutes cleaning the plug holes and seats. 

One set of the 4 were different. The right hand 4 are all darker for unknown reasons.

Still, fitted the new plugs and it again runs. That'll do, too much rain for anything else today. 

 

Phil

[Westbay]

"One set of the 4 were different. The right hand 4 are all darker for unknown reasons."

Carburetor leak - fuel 'pooling' in the inlet manifold ( engine slightly nose up if I remember correctly ) ?

 

[hairnet]

What kinda trivia was it

Will we see you on the chase now

[PhilA]

6 hours ago, Westbay said:

"One set of the 4 were different. The right hand 4 are all darker for unknown reasons."

Carburetor leak - fuel 'pooling' in the inlet manifold ( engine slightly nose up if I remember correctly ) ?

 

It is, but the manifold isn't piped that way, first and last two, and center four. The plugs in the picture are 1-8 left to right.

Shall see if we get the same pattern with these. If so, no clue.

[PhilA]

5 hours ago, hairnet said:

What kinda trivia was it

Will we see you on the chase now

Old car trivia. Turn of the century to about the 60's.

[PhilA]

Cleaned up the timing marks. 

My father found my good strobe light; it has advance compensation so I can set the strobe to an arbitrary value and use the zero line with the pointer. 

Given how much pfaff it is to hold the distributor, tighten it, check, readjust - that's going to be more accurate each time it gets a tune-up. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Speeeeeeeeed 

How can any mechanical device even function at 52 revolutions per second?!

That's over 3,000 revolutions per minute! 

 

Drives surprisingly well that fast actually.

Phil