keithb7

To clarify: Assuming you drive to the store. Upon arrival the engine is fully warmed up from driving it. You shut off engine to go into the store. 15 mins later you come out to start the engine. It's still very warm from the drive to here. The engine starts fine, however there is hesitation under load when you driver away? It coughs and sputters? Then after it has run again for a while, seemingly the engine gets hotter again, the hesitation clears up and it runs perfectly fine again?

When I took apart my engine the top ring was broken on #1 piston only. The second compression ring was intact. I don’t know when the top ring broke. I can’t say how long it ran like that. Nor how long it would continue to run. I suspect it could run for a long time. My limited experience tells me as carbon builds up behind the top compression ring, the ring cannot easily compress as it travels down the worn, slightly tapered cylinder wall. As carbon continues to build up, the ring will likely break from this stress. Multiple factors may lead to Incomplete combustion and excessive carbon build up. Low compression is a big one. As piston rings wear and cylinders wear compression drops. Increased oil burning would also be a big carbon contributor. Improper valve lash also causes unfavourable combustion conditions. An engine running too cool. Poor carbureration. Float setting. Sparkplugs and gap. Strength of spark. A plugged air filter. Timing dwell. So many contributors and variables will effect complete combustion. Potentially leading to carbon build up. Inevitably getting behind the top piston ring, sitting in its groove. I’m unsure if any type of oil can prevent this. How much oil ends up at the compression rings? I tend the think not much. Isn’t it scraped off cylinder walls by the oil rings? Changing detergent oil at regular intervals gets abrasive by-products of compression out of the crankcase. Preserving your delicate bearings, cam, tappets, rings and cylinder walls. I do appreciate metal on metal wear like tappets and cams and could benefit from higher quality oil. The use of oil & air filters, regular engine oil changes, keeping your car in a good state of tune including valve sets, in my opinion exceeds any decision of what brand of oil to use. Just my .02 cents.

So far my limited trials have produced no improved results. The smaller diameter pulley runs a wider groove pulley. If I got to a wider belt, then the crank pulley also needs to come off and be changed out. I found a spare wider groove crank pulley in my parts stash. Yet the seal surface is worn pretty good. A speedi-sleeve would be required. I put the 7", narrower v pulley back on. I will likely order the 6V Maradyne fan as posted by @Sniper. Put it on the front of the rad. Likely a manual switch so I have control of it. A relay will be utilized. I doubt I'll run the current through the ammeter though. Sounds like an upcoming winter project for me. Pending electrical system test results 6V alternator might be in the radar. It will amount to a fair amount time and money. Just I can deal the brief 100F weather each July and Aug.?

I found this illustration in another parts book. It utilizes a turnbuckle. Looks pretty different than yours Unsure if it is of any use for you. Thought I post it anyway.

Maybe it's an optical illusion but is the rod that threads into the turnbuckle bent slightly? It looks little skewed off straight too. Could it be that it is supposed to mount on the other side if the pin? As per the image below. I looked in my '53 parts book. It's another different design again by then. I look in my '49 parts book. Seems different too. No turn buckle shown.

My suggestion is to study the linkage system to understand how its supposed to work. What pulls the pedal back? If it can’t come back what’s hindering it from returning? Take photos of the assembly before you take it apart. Look for heavy linkage use and wear as indicated above. Sometimes partial reassembly helps find the root cause. Get the linkage cycling and returning, maybe with partial parts installed. Keep adding parts and cycling the pedal. Once it binds up you have ID’d the part causing the problem. Understanding how it works is key to troubleshooting and fixing it. Not sure if that helps, but is what I do when I get stuck.

We live in a bit of a summer desert here in Kamloops. Watering restrictions are enacted every summer. Is having a green lawn a carried-over trend from the palace of Versailles? A sign on wealth? A notch in society? Lush lawns and gardens can be rewarding. Stress reducing. Cooling. Visually appealing. They can be a PITA too. This year we let our lawns dry up to become basically straw. We indeed have conserved a lot of water and carbon in the process. Carbon? How so? Well no 4 stroke lawn mower running every week. No 2-stroke weed whacker running weekly. No 3/4T Dodge diesel truck taking away bio yard waste to the compost facility. I’ve had more time to tend to my flathead Mopars too. I’m less grumpy as it behooves me to drive my truck across town and back to adhere to city rules to recycle bio yard waste. $20 in diesel fuel for one trip. Sure I could accumulate clippings and make less trips. Bagged fresh cut grass turns into rotten stinking silage in about 10 days in 100F weather. Then it spreads just like manure fertilizer in your truck bed. The smell stays there for about 6 months. I could mulch it with the mower which means cutting it more often in 100F weather. So none of that this year. Good thing too. Because right now the lawnmower won’t run. Carb main jet is plugged with old dried up ethanol residue I’m sure. My ultrasonic cleaner will fix that problem later this fall. The grass will turn green again in the fall. Morning dew returns. Less intense sun. Cooler days. 1, maybe 2 cuts in the fall and we’re good ‘till next spring again. I am procrastinating on the carb work. Headed back to tend to my Mopars again…

If anyone has a favourite “points grease” please share. What are you using? Where do you buy it? Thx.

I did check them while hot and running. You can feel the right tug of the feeler gauge. I'd shut off the engine and to make an adjustment. Then fire it up again and test the gap while running. It was an interesting experiment. However, I also have achieved great results when setting them cold and adding .002" to the spec. If you do want to set them hot keep in mind hot coolant temp does not mean the oil and block are hot. It takes quite a while to get the oil hot, the block fully warmed up. Take off the inner fender access panels and go for a drive. If you can drive up some hills it will heat up quicker. Flat driving, it'd estimate 20 mins of run time to get everything up to temp.

Sorry the post was unclear. The larger diameter is what was on my car. I went through my parts stash and found the smaller diameter pulley. I’m trying it.

Still a ‘hunnerd Fahrenheit here today. Hard to believe we are competing with southern areas of the USA. I’m doing what I can. No electric 6V fans around. Have to order-in. By the time that arrives it’ll be time to install a hotter thermostat. Bigger pulley is being utilized! So many little intricate differences over the years. FYI the water pump shaft diameter is 1.1134 ish inches.

I'd be shocked to find any flathead era Mopars in a scrap yard around here. Long gone I am sure. The reasons seems clear to me. This weekend I entered my car in the local big annual car show. 550 or so cars. There were 2 flathead era Mopars. Mine and the 1928 Dodge that the Vintage Car Club here owns. I maintain my own spare parts pile out back. Also pats are binned and stacked in the attic. More parts on the shelf in my garage. The auto wreckers can't make any money on old cars like this. I have the market cornered. Lol. ?

Somebody get this man a beer! Very accurate assessment.

10W30 20W30 15W40 20W40 20W50 Don’t run synthetic Add zinc! Use oil designed for diesel engine! Use Hot rod oil with zinc already added! Add lead to fuel! Run synthetic oil! 0W50 Add Marvel Mystery Oil to crankcase! Add marvel mystery oil to fuel tank! Run SAE30! There yes indeed, there is your single firm, solid answer. If anything if might prevent 25 more posts in this thread. Maybe. Maybe not. Lol. ?

I do have a crank for a 25” long 4 1/16” stroke Mopar FH engine. Of little use to you from way over here though.

Oh boy. Quite a corroded mess. I had my fingers crossed for something a bit better looking. Must have been out there in the forest for many decades. I'd be looking around for more engine options. If you are patient they are out there. I have had many options for used engines cross my path over the past 4 years.

Rub the brown crud extruding from the weep hole between your fingers. Is it grease or is it rusty coolant water? That’ll give you clues as to your next move.

Annual car show day in my town. Just this one familiar flathead mopar in attendance. Tons of folks enjoying the car.

Andy I was successfully able to match bearings, seal, shims gaskets. I did not need to replace worm gear or sector shaft roller so I did not attempt to match them or other parts up. I am fairly certain you could match up any parts needed. The name popped into my head this morning. C&G Ford Parts. Seen here. https://cgfordparts.com/steering/sector-related.html I see that their web site has been redesigned. Not for the better it seems. Its harder to match up parts as it is now. @andydwhat year and model is your car? Having my 1940 Motors Manual was key. It listed all the years and various car manufacturers that utilized the same Gemmer steering gear box. I can try and look this up for you if you supply your info. I might have cross referenced a bit in my Hollander exchange as well. Let me know. I’ll try and help you out. I still have these references. Priceless info for us folks. I also have a spare worm gear and sector shaft set for a ‘37 if you need it.

I may have thought about it for 5 seconds. The bugs are atrocious. Suspect it would be hard to get non-ethanol fuel. Any car show might be just me and my other car. It’s definitely cooler. You get about 4-6 weeks of bad snowmobiling per year. A large portion ½ way up the white area shown, is really pleasant in Aug and Sept. North of that I’m definitely out. ?

My Chrysler is running fantastic. The cylinder head swap was well worth the time investment. A couple of leaky valves were also sealed up. Best of all are the results of the carb cleaning in the ultrasonic cleaner, then rebuilt. Its running so nice and smooth now. I also checked my throttle linkage. I put a couple of bricks on the gas pedal, so it was to the floor. (engine not running of course) I then proceeded to check my throttle valve at the carb base. I still had room to open it further. I then twisted a threaded rod in the throttle linkage, making it longer. Now the throttle was opening further. All the way now, wide open. I definitely picked up more HP and torque. She's pulling harder than ever. Did I mention smooth? Very happy with the latest work I completed on this engine. A rewarding project. Tonight at dusk it cooled off enough to take this car, and make it do what it was built to do. Thanks to everyone at Chrysler Canada in 1938.

So many factors Lol. M-I-L not factored in. Riding solo. Non-Ethanol fuel. Oil bath filter. Stock brakes set correctly. Detergent 14W40. 25" block. No headers. Single carb. Maybe it's the lack of zinc in my oil. Lol. ?

@Worden18 If I could get a run at this hill starting with a good speed like you mentioned that would likely solve my issues. It's not possible as you make a LH 90 degree turn at the road at the bottom of the hill. You can't take a 90 turn at much speed in a '38 car. The road is single lane, no shoulder, with winding sharp turns. Blind turns with tall mountains on both the sides of the road. If the grade slope, and limited visibility wasn't enough to slow you down, the early car's handling surely will. At some spots I can get my speed up to 50 mph, then a steep hill with a combined sharp turn kills your speed. The flathead has HP and torque limitations. Grab a gear and push-on, keeping the revs up. I have sling-shotted and pushed the car hard enough on some turns where I am close braking tire-to-road friction. With the skinny little tires, it doesn't take much. I surely don't want to end up out of control or in the weeds. On July 1, I was on a 4 lane highway traveling at 50-55 mph up a mountainous pass. It was a hot day. I was able to maintain 50 mph and my temp, same as yours went up to about 190F-195F-ish. Of course hi-ways are designed with wide turns easily navigated at high speed. This goat trail to my house is far from that. Combine the grade of slope. Sharp turns. Lack of a run up entrance. Car's weight and handling. Limited visibility. All the other factors I mention above..I would tend to think any Moapr stock flathead cooling system will suffer a similar fate. I make a decision each time I tackle the hill. Either go as fast as I can up the hill so I get to the flat top as soon as possible. Moving as much air as I can. Staying in top gear of my manual 3 speed as much as I can. That means pushing the car to its handling limits. Putting your safety at risk. Versus drop to second, lower travel speed. Less air flow. More coolant flow. Higher engine rpms. Solid car handling & control. Safer. It takes longer to get to the top. Meaning more time for the block and head to really soak up all that heat. So far, either option is not producing improved cooling results. Anyone wants to try this exercise, you get a free night here in a spare room. Lol. Come on up to Kamloops with your stock flathead! ?

The mechanical temperature gauge that I found appears to work just like the stock one. There is ether gas in the bulb and tube. The new gauge included a couple of different sized gland nuts that thread into the cylinder head port. One gland nut was a perfect fit. I put some Permatex High Performance Pipe Sealant on the threads of the gland nut and the bulb thread and tightened everything up. For my car, there was is nothing difficult about installing this gauge. The gauge utilizes a 12V bulb. My '38 Plymouth has a 6V to 12V converter for my USB charger. Its tucked up behind the glove box at the A-pillar. I tied-in the 12V light into there. The 12V converter is tied-in to a circuit that is controlled by the ignition key switch. The fuel gauge circuit. As soon as I turn on the key, the fuel gauge functions, so the 12V converter and the temperature gauge lamp cycles-on then too. The sensor wire length from the head to the gauge is generous. I rolled it up loosely and zip stripped it up behind the dash. Don't compress it tight and clamp it down tight. You will likely damage the tube and impede ether gas pressure, distorting gauge accuracy, or completely puncture the tube allowing the ether to escape. Then you need another new replacement gauge kit. The Equus gage is low priced and seems to work quite accurately. It does not come with the chrome gauge mounting plate. I bought it separately. It easily mounted to the bottom edge of the dash. Sure 2 new holes were drilled but not easily seen. Easily removed again if wanted.

Staying out of the sun today, I got bored so I pulled to rad to consider shroud options. My garage at least offered shade.