keithb7

#1 bearing looks pretty decent. The bearings read: Clevite 3 77 CB 90P. Any idea what that means? A little bit of some something tiny went around there once. The bearing did it's job well. Back side:

My pan had maybe a 1/4" of sludge only in the lowest part of the pan. Going forward I'm thinking I'll run modern Rotella 10W30 with the 1200 PPM Zinc. Have any of you folks ever pulled your oil pump apart to get a good look at wear? Was thinking about that today too. Lots of thoughts. Also go to thinking about those little pieces of tin I found in the screen. It could have come from a torque part as well. The engine oil goes through the torque and back. Oil goes into the oil crank passages at the middle main bearing it seems. It was suggested if I wanted to have a look at a few rod bearings, go with 1 and 6. Furthest away from the oil pump. If anything is going on with oil pressure, wear will start there most likely. That makes sense.

Pan cleaned up well today in the huge dishwasher (aka parts washer) at work. I'd like to remove the remaining external rust then paint the outside. What do you recommend for rust removal? Fine sandpaper? Steel wool? Scotch-brite? I have access to a glass bead machine, but would rather not. Those glass beads, you just can't get them all out. They find themselves in every little nook & cranny. They kill internal engine parts fast, when they later become dislodged.

Here are a couple of money-shots for those who'd like to have a peek. It's been a lot of years since I have been into the bottom end a car engine. Considering its 1940's design and limitations, I am thinking it looks pretty clean. I was expecting a lot worse.

Tool in this pic worked well. The pan came out easily with 1 tie rod off and then turn the steering far right to the stops. Inside of my engine looks a lot better than I expected. Camshaft looks great. Someone changed the oil often. A little sludge in the bottom of the pan. Not bad. The cork in the u-section of the pan, front and rear was rock hard. Once I get this all cleaned up and resealed I think a good bit of the oil drips will stop. I pulled the pickup screen and popped off the cover. I found a few very small pieces of that I think is tin. Bearing lead-tin overlay maybe? Not much 2 or three small pieces that I could easily stab and split with a small jeweler's screw driver. This could be from an earlier engine rebuild? Who knows. I can't say for sure. Engine oil pressure is great. Now I am wondering if I should consider a full bearing roll-in.

I just picked up a new tie rod separator. Off to go try it shortly. Tapping on the oil pan it sounds like there might be something loose in bottom. Yikes. We'll see what treasures lay in the sludge. More to come soon.

My ball joint splitter, scissor type won't work. It's in there tight. Punched with a good hammer many times around the seat and on the nut on the end. Will try a locate a different type of puller tomorrow. I have a fork too, but they tend to tear up the boot, I want to re-use the joint so I'll defer from using a fork.

@garbagestate 44 genius! Sometimes we can't see the forest through the trees. I will try this and report back.

Great pic. Nice car!

Hi folks, first time for me attempting to remove the engine oil pan. I was hoping I could pull it with engine in the car. All pan bolts are out, and pan has dropped. It appears the pan cannot be removed with the steering tie rods in place. Is this correct? Nuts have been loosened. Ready to pop tie rod ends. Before I do, am I on the right path here? Thanks.

I use Google Photos. It works well and is part of my Gmail account. I upload a photo. Then when I see it on line, I right click it and "copy image address". Then use it's web address when I click on "Insert Other Media" grey box in bottom of this message box. Then choose "Insert Image from ULR". Right click, paste in the address of your image and then click insert into post. Works great!

Here is an easier way to see the pics of the car in post 1.

The old cars and the pics do stir up some warm nice feelings. I can't really say why, I was born in '71. From everything I have read and seen in books, music, movies, and stories from actual accounts, it did seem like a simpler time. I guess for some reason I wish I was around then. Sure there were bad times too, and desperation. The old cars remind me of the neat things about the era. I can't wipe the smile off, nor stop the attention that my '53 car gathers when I cruise in it. I love the cars from 55 back for some reason. This winter I am happy to be a part of a local vintage car club project. We are working on a 1928 Dodge Brothers Standard Six. I am in there like a dirty shirt at every opportunity. I have learned a ton and just love learning more and more about the features and mechanical engineering of the day. I have come to learn and respect the Dodge Brothers History. I have scrapped some knuckles on the old girl over the past few weeks. Come spring or summer my dream is to to be able to drive the 1928 to a car club event. I'll get my son driving my '53 maybe, to follow me along. Great times ahead in these old cars. The older they get, the better they become somehow. I know its not in the car era for this group, but thought I'd share a couple pics anyway. Forgive me if I strayed off topic. The pics above got to me...

I will look into copper nickel for the next lines I build. Today I removed all lines and hose from the master cylinder back. Both rear 2 brake lines and flex hose are now installed with new. Off to go get a long line from the master cylinder back along the frame. It'll be ok to mix copper nickel here with the 2 stainless lines? I already installed off the rear axle housing? Thanks. I'd guess the lines and hoses are original '53. Pretty rough and lots of corrosion. Especially at the hose mount bracket. The hose was stiff and hard, cracking was developing. Glad to be doing this stuff.

Thanks Don. Will do. I just tried another last one on the old line. I set the line height for the first bulge press, a little higher up the flare adaptor tool. I got a more complete good looking finished flare. I also notice rings around the inside of the flare. It appears, left by the tool end bit. It is not machined smooth. You can see the ridges here in the next pic. Also I see cracks in the chrome on this piece already. 9 flares now and it has cracks. Cheap is cheap. I suppose I got the quality that I paid for this tool.

I have been practising my brake line double flaring skills. I used an old brake line I removed for practise. I have cut off the flares that I made to repeat the process. I've practised with about 8 flares now. The old removed brake like is pretty corroded up, outside and inside. I cleaned the outer surfaces up with my bench mount brass wheel. I have been inspecting my work with a magnifier. I am concerned about the second fold of the flare. You can see the line where the folded over flare ends, here in this pic. Where the shiny clean brake line, meets the dirty inner corroded surface. That line is part way up the flare wall. That shows me that the folded piece is not going all the way down to the bottom depth of the flare. Does it need to? I am following instructions from some YT videos I have watched. I am carefully cleaning, prepping and filing the lines before I flare them. I file the cut flat and smooth. Chamfer the outer edges at the cut. De-burr the inner wall edge. Set the correct depth in the flare tool bar, to create the bulge. Then take off the press adaptor for the second flare fold with the tool. Maybe it's time I practiced some flares now on a piece of shiny new brake line? Is this fold line, witnessed inside the flare below, a problem as it shows? I'm not re-using this line below. Just practising on it. The thought is to get the procedure right, before I start flaring the new lines that I will be installing. Thanks.

All right, I do have a set of the telescopic snap bore gages. I also have a digital caliper. Bore = 1.125", Piston = 1.123" Looks like a good fit well within tolerance. Will try some Scotch-Brite and clean out the bores. That was only 1 cylinder , 5 more to go. Personally I like a micrometer over a digital caliper. The micrometer I have, only lets you close in so tight, then it clicks and stops turning. You can easily over do-it with calipers. Not so easily done with a decent micrometer. It only does Zero to 1" though. I need to buy more micrometers. Yes, I think I just found another excuse to buy another tool.

I have a question about proper measurement of the cylinder bore. My 1953 Chrysler Shop Manual tells me the cylinder bore is 1 1/8". Then it reads that the piston to cylinder bore clearance is to be .003 to .0065". Should I remove the piston seal and place the piston in the bore, then try and measure this clearance with feeler gauges? Or maybe its better if I use an expanding t-gauge in the cylinder bore then measure it with a micrometer. Then measure the piston outer diameter with micrometer too. Then figure out the clearance? The instructions go on to say that crocus cloth should clean up light corrosion. Black stains on the cylinder walls are caused by piston cups and will do no harm...Cool. Any scoring, heavy corrosion or scratches will need to be honed. However the cylinder bore should not be increased by .004". This is my first time going this far into wheel pistons. Usually I just replace them. Your experience here, tells me to rebuild or resleeve my original cylinders instead of buying cheap import new ones. I agree. As always comments from your experience are appreciated. Thanks, Keith

Makes sense. Just seemed that the rust was all in the lower piston, not the upper. I thought there might be a reason.

Yummy. We have brake-soup brewing in the front lower cylinder. Upper front was seized in place. I'm curious, does the water end up in the lowest part of the brake system naturally? As water is heavier than oil. The front upper cylinder was clean. Lower has the rusty water.

Hi folks, my '53 Chrysler Windsor is in for the winter. Current project is brakes. Full tear down, inspection, repair where needed, reassembly and set up. First off, this puller worked very well. I was able to get the drum off turning the threads by hand. No hammer required. First brake assembly is apart. Cylinder is disassembled. My first question is, how well do these wheel cylinders and brake system, take to a light hone? In this end, there is some smudging. I cannot feel it with my fingernail. I was wondering if it may just be rubber residue from the piston seal. Would a light hone be sufficient? Other end, same cylinder: I will access all cylinders and put together a parts list.

Nice night for a cruise. The snow hit us hard yesterday. Temp is 14 F overnight tonite. My '53 Chrysler is now officially stored for the year. Tonight I placed it in the right spot in the garage, jacked it up, and started on the rear drums removal. I have been putting this off until the last possible day, where I could cruise no more.

I'd like you folks to meet Abby. She's never been in my car. @Worden18 it seems we have more than old Flat 6 Green Mopars in common. Abby is older now. Her young bouncing days are behind her. She'll be 12 next summer. She sits kinda on her RR leg these days. Great dogs, boxers. No pics with my dog in my Chrysler. She leaves hair everywhere she goes! On the car, not much new to share. 2 more weeks left on my insurance for the year. I plan to get a few more fall cruises in and then get to my planned winter car work projects.

I did a similar valve set video this summer past. I posted it in another thread. Thought I should maybe put it here for the technical archives. https://youtu.be/aameeYT7SXQ

Work's busy, but sometimes you need to take time to enjoy the things you work for. So I took another day off today. I cruised some more. Had my brother meet me, I treated him out for lunch. Met more people who approached to talk about the Chrysler. Had coffee on the sidewalk. It was another great day. Photo ops a-plenty. I happened to pass some young boys on their way home from school, while I was out in the ‘53 today. “Wow. Cool car!”, they said. I slowed down. They were on my left. I said out the driver window: “Try and guess the year boys.” They smiled. I got answers of "1996." Then "1968". Then "1970". I replied, “1953”. “Wow”, they larked. "Just wow.” “Epic wow” I think I heard one boy say. "Older than my Grandpa I bet!". I laughed out loud to myself as I accelerated away. 1996....These boys were about 10. 1996 was really really old to one of them. More experimenting with the iphone Panorama camera feature. Playing around I sometimes get an angle I like.