captden29

my club had a cruise in last night. the trophies[6] are provided by the business where the cruise takes place. they also judge. we bring the music,50/50 equipment, PA system, and we do the parking. no charge to anyone. ours is small, usually 40 cars or so. good time for all. the club makes no money, but when we do we are a non-profit, so it goes to various charities. the people who own these cars can easily afford to pay 20 or 25$ to enter other shows. capt den

hit around the sides with a rubber mallet. should free up easy unless someone used gasket sealer on it, which you do not need. capt den

note to busycoupe---- I have a rim with the elongated valve stem opening. I got the proper valve stem from a tire guy near me, no leaks. they are metal . I can get you a couple, but I do know you can find them on line. I have one spare right now, and I can get more. capt den

my car was doing the same thing. no amount of tire balance helped. mine was a combo of spokes on old wire wheels getting loose and old tires. put the steel rims back on, new tires and the problem was solved. I never heard of rotating the driveshaft, but an easy thing to do and no money involved. I just wonder what it does? capt den

NOS rad's can be nice to look at, but can have problems due to age. the soldering can deterorate and clog passages, and the "crosshatch" design makes them impossible to rod out. nobody will guarantee one, but you will pay a lot for it. if you re-core yours, you may be able to use your original tanks, and that is the best you can do for originality. two, three or four row is always the toss up. I am not an expert on that, but I have a re-cored 3 row and it works fine. research it a bit and pick what you feel is best for your car. capt den

andy sold the business and is not there anymore.i have bought parts from him.hot/cold dealings, but I always got the part I wanted if he had it.i purchased my current car, a 54 Chrysler convertible, from him and that was a pleasant experience with him. he had a beautiful home at that time. he had a 1961 chrysler convertible in the driveway, the model with 4 bucket seats. also, 2 town and country convertibles in the garage next to the 54 I bought. I have not bought any parts from bernbaum in a long time. I need universals if anybody has a lead. capt den

my thing is to do the brakes first. you can inspect a lot when those parts are removed.a car that drives is great, a car that stops is better. capt den

yes, valves can be done in the car. you need a spring compressor that works in that tight spot. I am told that chevy 350 engine valves will work in the flathead 6.if 3 1,6,and5 have 90 to100 psi, they can be left alone. even 75 psi is not too bad. you can lap them, and replace any that are damaged. that should bring those cylinders back up to at least 90 psi.i had to replace 2 valves, and I got OEM valves for that. more expensive, but keeps it all original spec,s. rough idle can be many different things, but having even compression across the cylinders may help that. capt den

you can use all the penetrating oil you want. the heat should be applied around the bolt, in the head area around the bolt to expand the threaded hole. I personally would not use an air ratchet. you can use a fair amount of heat, but not enough to turn metal red. some people make a circle with clay around the bolt head and fill it with penetrating oil and let it soak for a day or so. be sure the coolant has been drained away from the area. good luck. capt den

Andy, the water pump was bought and installed about 2 years ago, so probably the newer style. it does pump more than the old one, just not any at idle. I have flushed the block, new thermostat, radiator recored. I tried an electric fan but it was not much help. I have not found a fan with more blades that will fit as the clearance to the rad. is very tight. it will run right at the edge of the guage in hot weather in city trafific. I just avoid that driving when it is over ninety degrees. at idle there is no water movement at the top of the radiator. seems to me I should see movement. thanks for the advice. maybe drop the oil pan? capt den

wires are 15". 15x4.5

I weep when mine weeps.are there any pumps available for these flatheads that can pump a higher volume of coolant at idle? mine needs that for stop and go traffic. capt den

once taken apart it is no longer original. people really mis-use the terms original, survivor, barn find and others.still, it looks like a nice car , but always a gamble to get all the parts when you buy it in pieces.my car is a survivor, but I have lost interest in restoration as this hobby is just too expensive now. only universals I could find the vendor wants $300 for the pair. car still good to drive, so I will pass on that price. I am taking the car for a ride today, a 1954 Chrysler Windsor. I actually bought some used tires for it to save some money, and they are doing fine. we buy nice new tires and they dry rot before we get full use of them. with the used tires I pay for the last half of their life and then they can dry rot. I could not get whitewalls, but most of these cars did not use them when new. I also took off the wire wheel rims and put the original rims and hubcaps on. looks better than I remember. if anyone is interested in the wires let me know. capt den

the advice you would have gotten before you took it in would have been to take lots of pictures. too late now. a good source now would be to find any other cars like yours and take pictures of how the running engine is put together.most of what you need to do now is not that complicated. I have many manuals as do other members. just ask and you shall receive. capt den

seat belt law passed in 1964, enforced on all 1965 cars and trucks . if you install seat belts on older cars, you now must use them or you can be ticketed. seat belts were almost always available on any older car as an option. there is an old film called "room to live" that is about the value of seat belts. if you watch it you will probably never drive unbelted again. it is not a gory film, but the way the trooper talks about it is incredible.

I go to batteries and bulbs[used to be batteries plus]. group 2, about 85$, only one year full warranty.i had one go bad in 11 months once. they gave me a new one.however, they only gave me the last month left on the old one as my new warranty. kind of sleazy in my opinion.

I like the car. roomy interior. I also like the imperial next to it.

marine engines had a hole in the cap to vent it. the hole is not needed for automotive application. lots of Chrysler engines were used in boats. capt den

the tool furylee shows is what a watchmaker uses for watch hands. any watchmaker in your area should have one and may help you. the hand can simply be gently pressed back on. my grandfather was a watchmaker. I think I may have that tool somewhere. I have his bench with many odd tools, and that one was in there somewhere. capt den

speaking of odd wrenches, I got a 19/32 wrench at a flea market yesterday. I always pick up the unusual sizes when I see them. it almost seems unnecessary to make that size, but perhaps from an early set before metric became popular. only paid .50 for it. if ever needed only once I will be happy to have it. capt den

many of us have a collection of old wrenches we never use. if you have that, look thru them for the one that is the size and has a strange bend. it is the one you will be glad you have. other wise, get the "c" wrench mentioned above. I had an old wrench that was able to do the job. patience is needed as it can only be turned slowly even with the right wrench. capt den

something to be said about not having gauges. we look at them and then create problems in our minds that don't really exist. we all know when our engine overheats without the guage. I watch my temp guage too much, but the car has never overheated in 10 years. it has come too close for comfort, so I have worked on the cooling system and improved it. did not know you could run without the water diist tube.do all flatheads have them, or is it just a Chrysler design? I never did care for that design, or for the heat riser.i would like to weld my heat riser in free flow, but I hesitate to remove the manifold as I know some bolts will break, probably the hardest ones to get to. my 54 Windsor only has warning lites for the oil and amps. I do not plan on adding gauges , I do not like the look of them hanging under the dash. put a little anti-seize on the new tube when installed. makes future removal easy. I was in Australia back in 1971. US Navy. we were so welcomed. thanks. capt den

I use dex3 in my powersteer pump for my 1954 Windsor . same in the powerflite. been using it for many years and no problems, system works great, no leaks. tractor supply sells it in a large container, maybe 2 gallon? my 97 merc uses it too. there is a guy who advertises 10W in the wpc magazine. capt den

try bill at cap-a-radiator. he has a website. located on long island, in NY. capt den

there is a gasser made out of I think a 50 Plymouth. I saw it at a car show about 3 years ago and I bought the t shirt. I cannot find that shirt but I think the name of the car was high -------? someone on this site will remember it. the builder is still around and if you can find the website he will be a great resource. capt den