keithb7

You got my attention at 180 Psi. I was thinking per hole! When the head was off how did the cylinder walls look? Did you test for valve sealing? Maybe at least a good lapping of them all? Sure wouldn’t hurt.

Pics or it didn’t happen! Lol. I am interested as I need to replace 1 outer bearing seal too. Following along.

I went through my brakes in Feb in preparation for the up coming cruising season. Compared to what they were, they feel geat overall. Stop well. No pulling. No noise. Reading through the comments here I would be inclined to say that, ya I notice the first pump of the pedal after sitting some time, has more travel. After 1 pump everything feels like new. Little travel and great feel. To summarize I completed the following: Master cylinder hone and rebuild. All new flex lines. 2 new rear wheel cylinders. Front 4 wheel cylinders rebuilt. New brakes line from master cylinder to junction block. All new rear brake lines from junction block. . Shoes reused as they were about 50% worn. New bleeder screws. All linkage cleaned, inspected lubed. All new brake fluid. Brakes bled extensively. Brakes set up as best as possible without the $500 tool. After 100 miles all drums removed again to inspect for any leaks. None found. Bled again with helper on the pedal, me at each wheel. I get under the car about weekly with a good light to inspect. No moist connections. No drips. Nothing concerning. Symptom still persists. Its not bad but I do notice it. After that first pump of the MC the brakes are all I’d hoped they’d be. Hmm. I can live with it just fine but I would like to get to the bottom of it.

I’m travelling on business this week. In Peroria Illinois. For the week. Today is a free day. Wondering by chance if there are any members around? Would love to see some vintage Mopar product and a fellow enthusiast. Weather looks pretty good for a cruise and a coffee? - Keith

This one is just a 250cc Twin. Its surprising what fun they can pull from such a small engine. It gets up to speed pretty speed fast but its no demon. Its a good size for a new young rider such as my Son.

My 19 year old son bought himself a sport bike. He doesn't have his street licence yet but will real soon. He rode dirt bikes from age 5 to 15 so he gets it. However....With no real M/C license yet, someone needs to test drive it and fuel it up. I'm your huckleberry son. I just so happen to my M/C license. Its been a long time since I have ridden a sport bike. He let me take it out for the first ever ride. He has not ridden it yet. What a rush. I forgot how much fun these things are. I see a long standing deal here. He gets to drive my '53 Chrysler, I get to drive his Kawasaki Ninja. I'll still be grinning when I fall asleep tonight.

Ahh the joys of finding all the hidden problems of a new-to-you old car. I’ve been there. My suggestion is get it up, wheels an drums off and go through everything. Then start venturing farther from home in confidence.

It is a 1952 Austin ambulance. Yes English. I drove it in the car parade that day. Runs and drives like new. Here’s my mug behind the wheel.

I think I talked about this restoration project over the winter in a post here. The local media did a brief news story on the 1928 Dodge Brothers car that was donated to our local car club. Several of us worked over the winter to restore this original, stock car. I mainly worked on rebuilding the mechanical Steeldraulic brakes. The car was showcased this weekend. Some of the original owner's family members showed up. It was a very fun and worthwhile project. See the TV news broadcast here: http://cfjctoday.com/article/614822/kamloops-celebrates-48th-easter-vintage-vehicle-parade

Well the snow and rain held off until the end of the day, so we made out alright at the Easter Parade. Saw a few new-to-me local Mopars. My car next to a really, really nice Cadillac. I volunteered to drive the Club's restored 1952 Austin Ambulance seen here. My my wife rode shotgun and worked the air raid siren. My younger son drove my Chrysler, with his older Brother and Grandmother as passengers in the parade. Was a good day had by all.

Nice evening tonight. With the car all cleaned up ready for the parade tomorrow, what better time for a quick sunset cruise. Here you can join us. The car endures this hill both ways each time we leave the house. We keep the FTD in low range and it holds us back pretty well. The old flat 6 drops and re-gains 1200 feet each cruise. Cooling system, FTD, engine and brakes are working well it seems. https://youtu.be/YUNiyjleo3s If someone could teach me how to embed a YouTube video here properly, that would be great! Thanks.

Thanks guys. Is there anyone selling these hoses new? Ready to go? I did not see any on Bernbaum’s site.

All ready for tomorrow’s Vintage Car Easter Parade. First club event of the 2018 season. The forecast is calling for about 1” of snow in the morning. Crap.

I see that the oil pressue hose to my dash gauge is dripping a little oil. I have not had a close look at this. Never had one out. Can anyone tell me what kind of fitting it should be? Can i simple put a wrench on it and try cranking it tighter? It seems to be dripping down from behind the dash gauge. I had to play the role of a contorsion artists just to get a pic. Pretty sure it won’t be easy going to get a wrench up there. Any tips, tech support is appreciated. Thx. Keith. 1953 Windsor Deluxe

Last year I bought a new 6V commercial grade battery. 640 CCA. 130 min Reserve Capacity. Upgraded battery cable to new. I built a few. I cant remember the gauge. Pretty heavy.

I only have a year into my 6V system so far. No problems once I performed required maintenance. What headaches should I expect with a 6V system? So far I can’t complain. Maybe ignoance is bliss?

@dpollo PM-ing you. I can't get this car outta my head.

With water boiling at 100C and Freezing at 0C, that works for my brain. I can't seem to adapt to elevation in Meters. With KM on the hi-way, I have a system that works for me. If I go 120 km/hr on the hi-way, that's 2 KM per minute. So any signs showing distance to next town, I cut the number shown in half. That's how many minutes it takes me to get there. That's a good one I use. 80 KM to next town? 40 mins away at 120 km/hr. I dove my flat head up a good sized hill last summer. I pulled over at the top and took out my digital laser thermometer. The readings confused me somewhat. Top of rad and bottom of rad made sense, but other readings seemed out of whack. I want do this again and see if I can make sense of it. It seems to me reading a hot cylinder head after climbing hill, is not representative of the coolant temperature. See here: https://youtu.be/ZeyG_46U6CA

Getting back to the vacuum question in the video. Tell us newbs more please. I’ve never used a vacuum gage to troubleshoot an engine. Fluttering? Meaning valve sealing issues I’d guess? You stated that your engine is creating 14-15 on the vacuum gage. What would a normal healthy engine draw? 17-18? More? I’d like to learn more. I’ll guess that low vacuum numbers could be a result of: Worn rings? Scored cylinder walls? Improper valve clearances? Or other valve train problems impeding proper valve operation? Valves not sealing properly? Excessive carbon build up on rings? Worn sloppy tmining chain? A hole or other damage in a piston? Do tell. Thanks.

@RobertKB thanks. Mine was indeed the only vintage car at the club meeting. Maybe it's too early in the year yet for most members. The gravel sweepers have not been out long. Still lots of gravel on the roads. Mine is a 3 season driver, so I take it out at any opportunity. @jyinger Thanks for the info on the semi-auto transmission with fluid coupling in front. I was not aware that you could get that option. That helps me as sometimes people have mentioned that my car was very sluggish and sat on the dealer lots back in the '50's. I thought my torque converter model accelerated just fine. Your insight explains their comments. The sluggish reputation had likely been earned by the fluid drive model, without any torque multiplication. It seems that my 265 6 cylinder with fluid torque drive, engine fed torque converter, semi-auto transmission with clutch, was a somewhat rare combination. Well, maybe rare today as not many survived to be restored it seems. Up a steep long incline, its no speed demon but maintains 35-40 MPH and stays cool. Driving last night I was thinking about how the old cars brighten people's day. I was getting honks and waves as you all do too I'm sure. I can't help but smile when I see so many enthusiastic people showing interest in the old car. Even if just for 5 or 10 seconds as I drive by. Its a nice feeling to bring that type of quick, instant joy to strangers. Pretty much every time I stop to put in gas someone approaches me to talk about the car. I make an effort to be extra nice and approachable representing the Vintage Car Club culture.

Off to my local Vintage Car Club monthly meeting tonite. Nice nite to take the car. One of these things is not like the others...

I have some valve guide clearance issues. I am fairly certain of it. I did a valve grind last summer. Middle of cruising season. First summer with the car. I wanted a faster fix. I felt some play in #1 and #2 valve to guide clearance. I buttoned it up anyway. It rus great. Compression went back up. Only symptom is dropping 1000 feet in elevation in low gear on a long hill. Using the engine compression to help hold my speed down. Then the engine becomes a vacuum pump. Sucking air into the cylinders anywhere it can. With the carb throttle closed, it’ll pull crankcase air up the worn guide. A little oil comes with it. Then I get a little blue out the tail pipe. I am contemplating going back in there at some point to install new guides. Or just leave it as is. Its not bad. Until it gets considerably worse.

Thanks @Andydodge. I just ordered a couple off Ebay. Looking forward to reading them. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2243263.Standard_Catalog_of_1950s_Chrysler And: https://books.google.ca/books?id=5vtTAAAAMAAJ&dq=inauthor:"John+Martin+Lee"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2yo_H54jaAhVU62MKHVGgAXoQ6AEINzAD

I had my ‘53 265 CI 25” equipped Windsor on the freeway yesterday. The spec is 119 HP. Stock diff gearing. 3.73:1 if I recall. Fluid torque drive. I can do 60+ MPH but it feels like its revving a little high for my liking. 50-55 sounds better and is of little concern to me. I assume 55-60 was about the normal comfortable cruising speed in the early 50’s?

I like the color, styling and size. What a beauty. One I’d surely drive on a regular basis too. What size engine did these have?