keithb7

I can understand, however would like to offer another perspective that I have, from setting my 1953 265 valves. I am not a seasoned pro. However I I did set my valves cold, then later checked and re-set them hot, with the engine running. The exhaust manifold is hot. An average pair of gloves takes care of that easily. It's not messy. Pretty well most of the same steps are taken to set the valves cold or hot. The front wheel comes off. The inner fender window removed. The valve covers removed. Then the feeler gages and wrenches are needed. When cold, the engine must be turned over so that you are setting the valve clearance with the tappet 180 degrees from the top of the cam ramp. I believe TDC gets you there. Once set, the 6 cylinder engine is turned again another 120 degrees to set the next set of valves. In the proper firing order. You carry on, for each cylinder. With the engine hot and running, for example you put your .010 feeler gage in the exhaust valve/tappet gap and measure. If it won't go in the gap, clearance is too tight. If it goes in easily and ticking stops, then its too loose. I found that a proper valve setting, offered a slight tug on the feeler gage. It naturally wanted to slowly, and softly pull the feeler gage into the clearance gap while the engine was running. There is no mess. Oil is not splashing around and getting on everything. The feeling that l developed, of the running engine, the engine pulling the feeler gage in, was solid confirmation that I felt I had it set right. The fine threads on the tappets make for nice easy adjustments. After a few trial and error lessons you get a good feeling how much to turn the threads to make up a 1 or 2 thou adjustment. My engine is running excellent and I feel like I got the valve clearances right. Seems to me that setting the valves cold is a great start. Then put the valve covers back on and the front tire. Go for a drive and come back home hot. Quickly jack up car, pull wheel and valve covers. Access the valves and test the clearances with the car running. Its a nice confirmation. As you know, incorrectly set valves often leads to a mess of related problems. Yes its hot. Messy? I did not have a mess. I found it was way messier pulling the oil filter, sucking the oil out and removing the sludge, than setting hot valves. Good luck whatever you decide to do. I just thought it may be helpful to share my experience. Initially I was intimidated at the thought of sticking my hands in a hot running engine. Near hot exhaust and moving parts with tons of force. In the end I thoroughly enjoyed the new experience.

Is there an aversion to setting your valves while the engine is hot and running? It seems to work very well.

You guys know this stuff. There are a ton of people who have no idea what a Fluid Torque Drive is or how to operate it. Today when I was out for a cruise I had a couple people approach me about the car. Many people look in my car and see the clutch and the R, L, N, D setting on the shift console. They scratch their head and say huh? Then we have the Fluid Torque Drive education discussion. Many of us have told the story many times. So today I decided to do a one- take, un-edited information video on my '53 Windsor, and post it on You Tube. People cruising the net, looking for info on the FTD may find it interesting. There are few of these cars around many parts of the world. My little part in letting others know what they are missing, driving new cars. LOL. Boring stuff here I'm sure. If anything, jump in my car and ride along. - Keith https://youtu.be/z4L0NURxm64?t=368

Great day to skip work and go on a cruise. Fall is well under way up here in Western Canada. Today is the only cruise friendly day I’ve seen in the past 2 weeks. Not many days left for the ‘53 in 2017. I’m savoring every minute. Certainly not a day to be stuck at work. Off to another icecream stand!

https://youtu.be/ZeyG_46U6CA Not sure if this helps or hinders progress. Here were my readings. My car is running great. Not overheating. I have driven up slow hills in 100 weather. No overheat. I flushed rad too. That seemed to help. Here is after I flushed the rad. Considerable scale did come out. At the time I was unsure if this was enough flow. Upon reassembly the car did seem to run cooler. https://youtu.be/8J6Zy9FVLRo

Is there known history of the 230 engine? Water distribution tube condition? Scale rust build up in the block? Coolant needs to flow freely around all cylinders, head, thermostat, hoses and rad. Scale and rust build up in the block will impede flow.

I have witnessed this sludge in my 265. When I was in the valves. I suspected this same sludge would be in my oil pan. I bought the car in May. I did an oil change this summer. I used a new oil like a 10W30, if I recall. I do watch my oil pressure gauge. I had not seen a drop in pressure at all yet up to this point. I do understand what has been said above, about breaking down the sludge. It makes sense that new oil will do this. It's probably just not happened to me yet. Now that winter is here in my neck of the woods, my car is pretty well parked for the year. I think I'll pull the pan and get all this sludge out. Wipe up everything I can see, and touch. Heck maybe I should drop in new bottom bearings! While I am in there. Keith

Yet another example of car owners being taken advantage of. That’s terrible. I hate hearing about these stories. I feel very strongly that to own these old cars, you really need to be pretty handy with the tools. Doing your own troubleshooting. Your own repais wherever possible. I hate seeing folks get taken for granted by bad mechanics, or parts prices at sky high prices. I shake my head. We’ve pulled shop classes from all our highschools. Sad.

Great info here folks. Thanks so far. I hear that radials handle better at speeds. Yet are a bear to manoever in low speed applications. For example tight parking spots. Parallel parking. Is the softer, squished bulging radial tire sidewall the cause for this? The tire bulge at a stop, offers wider contact area? Making it difficult to crank the manual streering wheel while stopped. Is this accurate? Stiffer sidewall bias tires offer easier low speed, and stopped steering action? Does this seem plausible? What I may gain in hiway handling with radial tires, I give up in town, trying to manipute parking spots? My ‘53 has a big steering wheel and manual steering. The car is big and weights about 4,000 lbs. Thanks.

Hi folks, I have been thinking about tires. My 1953 Windsor Deluxe came to me with Dennman Classic L78-15 bias ply tires on it. They have a 4" wide whitewall.According to my owners manual, my understanding is stock size tires for my car was 760-15. The tires are are in good condition. Tread dept is very good. I like the big wide whitewalls. What I don't like, is how the tires handle. The cars seems to want to track every little seam, or lift in a road. Pulling the car slightly to weave different directions. I am wondering what the benefits are of going to a radial tire? Will the car ride and steer better? I have been doing some research online and it seems that Coker makes vintage style, whitewall radial tire for my car. The closest radial equivalent seems to be 225-75R15. The whitewall I have found so far for this tire size is 2 3/4". To get a wider whitewall it seems I need to go to 235-75R15, which gives me a 3 1/8" whitewall. The wider whitewall is preferred, but I am thinking that tire is wider than I'd like. The 78-15 bias tires on my car now will rub the steering parts on a full, cranked to the stops, turn. That does not happen very often however I think I'd rather get back to a stock sized tire, with a wide whitewall. I am wondering if any of you folks have any photos of your tires and know the width of your whitewalls? Seeing some pics of our cars with the 3 1/8" or so whitewall will help me get an idea how different they will look, compared to my current 4" wide whitewall. If you could post any pics here with details, that would be appreciated. Here is mine now, below. Thanks in advance. - Keith

Lol... No. My Mom was let loose on her own on motorcycle once. I think I was 3 years old. It was 1974. Family vacation. Mom's so gung-ho to try anything, she was like "I love motorcycles! I'll rent one!". First time ever. She nailed a telephone pole. Lol. She was not going too fast. Nobody was hurt. Mom was in her 20's. Bike was damaged. It was probably more like a scooter. I was too young to remember the details, but every year over turkey Dad would re-tell the story and near piss himself laughing... Good times. So Mom was happy to double on the back of my harley any time. I could call her up at 3 am, wake her up and say, "I'll be there to pick you up in 10 mins". Mom would be ready with a grin. Let's go!

Oh Mom's been on my Harley DJ. She's always up to try anything. I let the Harley go after I fell in love with those early car curves. Took me a minute, but I found it... Derailing my own thread here. It's not Mopar. However it was a stepping stone on my way to my Chrysler.

It's Thanksgiving up here in Canada today. I made trip over the mountains yesterday to help my mother out and brought her back home for a few days. No I did not take my '53. I would have loved to, however its a 3.5 hour drive each way and there was heavy snow falling as we drove back to my home last night. Back here in town today Mom is now scurrying around the kitchen putting together a turkey dinner that the whole family will enjoy. I offered to take Mom for her maiden voyage in my '53 Windsor today. Off to church we went. Mom smiling, proud as a peacock as the orange leaves rustled up behind us under nice crisp fall skies. I am thankful today that Mom was able to join us. Mom needed a day like today. It's been a rocky road lately. The good news is Walter P's efforts are still paying dividends. Big smiles and great memories with the big car. Life's good.

Regarding tools, this partial list of tools worked quite well and got me the results I wanted. The hand grinding of the valve seats is not for the weary.

My '53 has the same brake Gremlin living in it. Park the car and 20 mins later the brake lights come on. 25 mins later they go out. I have literally parked my car and watched the events unfold. Timed it. I have a new master cyl kit, pressure switch, wheel cylinder re-seal parts and all new flex lines, all ready to go. I'll tackle it this winter. It was 1953. I figure I'll take the same approach bombers used back then. Carpet bomb the thing with parts and hope I nail it. Spray and pray...I'll throw parts at it and keep my fingers crossed. Lol. What the heck, all those new brake parts are not a bad thing, right?

The valves in my '53 appeared old. They had the DPCD logo on them. I figured they had served their time. My car needed a valve grind job. With the current price of machining services I decided it made more sense to buy all new valves versus grinding them. I bought mine at Andy B. If you can get your old valves to seal properly, holding liquid as described, I agree there is no need to replace them at this time. Valves that don't seal result in low cylinder compression. Low horsepower and torque. Rough idle. Increased fuel burn and I believe increased emissions.

Good old Canadian Prairie weathered vintage car. It is amazing what you see out there once you train your eye. Just this week I was driving through a neighbourhood in my town. I picked out an early 50's Pontiac. All weathered. Rusting. Tucked under a big spruce tree in a back yard. Hidden behind a house. I stopped and knocked on the door. Nobody home. It was a pretty decent project. Complete with stock sun visor. Which is really what I want for my '53 Windsor. The visor is what made me crank my neck around and check it out. It was green too! Turned out to be a Pontiac though.

While the engine is exposed as you have it, I recommend looking at the valve sealing surfaces. Do they look like this valve image below? Pitted in the centre? Not good. You can rotate the engine by hand, as each valve opens, stop. Get a flashlight and a magnifier if needed, and inspect both valve and seat surfaces for wear. Take some pics and report back if you can. With a few more bolts removed, the intake and exhaust manifold will easily lift off. Rotate the engine by hand. Stop when both valves are sealed in one cylinder. Piston will be at TDC. Both valves will be seated at this point. Get a larger sized syringe. Fill it with kerosene. Using the syringe, push kerosene in a controlled manner, around both the intake and exhaust valve seat areas. Using a flashlight, look up under the valves in the ports in the block. Look for leaking kerosene. Good sealed valves will not pass kerosene or any other liquid. Wipe up any kerosene with rags. Don't over do it with the kerosene and end up getting it in your cylinders. Rags in there helps. Below here you can see how I put shop towels into the cylinders to keep the jugs clean while I de-carbon'd everything with a brass wire wheel in a drill. Extreme caution must be used to ensure no brass wheel wire bits get in into the cylinders. They likely get down in around the piston rings and create havoc. I shop vac'd the area several times. Then wiped everything clean several times. A good lapped, sealing valve will show a surface finish like this below, with proper lapping. See the duller finish in the centre of the valve seal area? This is from the lapping compound. I did these with the infamous rubber cups on a stick, tool. You can see my drill with wire brass wheel on the floor in the background of this pic. I have three different sized wire brass wheels to get in and around tighter areas. In the end mine looked like this below. Head gasket was sprayed with orange spray, gasket sealer. I would never, reuse head bolts. That's just me. The bolts are designed to stretch, once they are torqued to proper spec. Bolts only stretch right so many times. Then they break. If you re-use head bolts you might well be sweating bullets when you go to re-torque them, two and three times later. After they have heated and cooled a few times. Praying for no breakage.

Best winter storage idea ever! Car dollies on each wheel. I am preparing for the Canadian Winter. My '53 Windsor gets the prime spot in my heated garage. Space is a premium here at home. I have some plans to work on the car this winter, but my garage is not huge. So getting it real close to one wall really helps out a lot. I put these dollies under the wheels to test them out today. They are simply awesome. I am not done driving the car yet. I am insured until Nov 11. Any nice days that come along, I'll be out for a cruise. We usually don't see snow around here until mid December. Today I am just prepping my garage for the winter ahead. Sliding the car sideways is so nice!

A light tapping on the valve while spring was compressed worked for me in my '53. Definitely get some rags in there. Do not proceed to progress with any work until all removed keepers have been accounted for. Very important! These little buggars run and hide in dark places. Don't forget to set lash with hot engine running! (My favourite part)

Thanks @Plymouthy Adams for the enlightenment. I have not had to tear down a siezed engine yet. I can see how it'd be a major pain to pull parts.

I'm interested in learning what benefit there is in trying to break free a seized engine. I can assume rotating parts like crank mains and connecting rod bearings are rusted solid. Or the piston rings are rusted to the cylinder walls. Maybe the cam bushing are rusted to the cams I am wondering of what use is an engine in this state? I would tend to think the whole thing needs to come out and be torn down completely. If if by chance you were able to get it break free and turn it over, how long would it last? Before a bearing spun? Or an oil gallery plugged? Or a piston ring or two broke? Maybe someone can enlighten me. Share a story anout a seized engine you free'd up, and been running great since. I'd live to hear if this is realistic. Not meaning to come across cocky. Just hoping to learn. Thx.

Had some time tonight to scan this article from 1954. Enjoy.

I located an article on the 1953 Meadowbrook and Coronet. I will be posting it. As of this writing I only have car reports on 53 and 54 years. If I get a chance to track down the owner of the magazines I will post some info on other years. - K

I wonder if that cylinder with the cooties on the sparkplug has been dead for some time? Maybe no compression for some time when the engine was at least last running? The reason I say this is, I found similar spider web type stuff in a dead cylinder of my running 1953 L265. I had done a compression test and found #6 was dead. See pic below. See the white spider web-ish stuff on intake valve #6. This engine was running but #6 intake was stuck open. So no compression. No explosion. Cylinder was dead. Ignore #5 intake valve here. It was bent. But that happened just before I pulled the head, and snapped this pic.