kencombs

Take care with. the recovery. What is your doc's plan? R&R or? I got my L2 compression fracture from a stupid chain saw and ladder trick a few years ago. My doc did a kyphoplasty . Strange sounding procedure, drilling vertebra, insert 'balloon' and cement) but I was in pain when I went in, 2 hours later I walked out, pain free.

I plan to use a higher pressure cap also. But, It'll have a new heater core also. That is a potential weak point often overlooked. And really messy it it fails! Maybe I'm wrong but have no concerns at all with the core plugs.

good news! Is the new gauge tube screwed into the head directly, or does it require an adapter? Reason I ask, the old mechanical gauge style needs to be fully surrounded by coolant. I had one where the adapter held the probe out too far and fouled up the reading. My 56 head is drilled/tapped for a much smaller, electric sender so without some work, I'll be changing my truck to electric.

Here is the post I used.

From what I've seen, the stamped one was used from 56 on, maybe a year or two earlier. The cast piece was original in earlier years. My 56 engine came with the stamped model. The 50 that was in my truck had the cast.

I wouldn't necessarily take an aluminum radiator to a radiator shop for outlet work, or anything requiring welding. Most any town will have someone that does tig welding. Maybe even a side job for an industrial welder. Lots of those around my area due to the aircraft industry and others. My wifes uncle use to carry proof of his ability in his wallet. A couple of pieces of Coors beer can that he had tigged together. Beautiful work. Sure wish I could do that.

It can be done with the Mopar controller that came with the original slant six distributor, or the GM module. Mine is getting the GM version, cheaper, more readily available but does require a heat sink. Both need 12v though.

That looks fixable, but my way may differ from yours. The lower rad hose connection looks way to big anyway, so I'cut it off, drop the radiator down and have the correct size lower tigged in place, pointed around the mount.

A fan like this one in a pic I 'borrowed' for Bob Riding's post will cure most complaints of temp creeping up at low speeds or idle.

I used to have a tool, probably from a local parts store's specialty rack that allowed one to grease between springs. Picture a chisel with a long taper. It was drilled end to end, maybe a 1/16" hole. The the striking end was plugged, looked like a quick weld bead, hammered flat. The a hole was drilled an inch or so from the big end that went about 1/2 way through and intersected the little hole. That hole was tapped to accept a grease zerk. In use one raised the car by the bumper (old days) or frame so the springs were unloaded. Then drive the tool in between the leaves 2 - 4 inches from the ends and apply grease through the zerk. I think I used it a very few times. The only one I remember was a 57 Pontiac that rode like a wagon because of the added leaves (to make it handle better and resist spring wrap), and lowering blocks (for looks), ll my doing. It seemed to help. But at the age I was then, it may have been wishful thinking.

Color me confused. How would concrete formulation get us kicked out of here? Nothing political or religious involved. Just slaked lime vs hot mix and how it effects concrete life>

I know nothing about 3/4 ton wheels. If you are wanting to stay stock, ignore me. But,If the studs are 1/2" there are a lot of 5 on 5 wheels. Widely used from the 50s to late on bigger cars and light trucks. Best bet may be mid 50s big GM cars. Center hole can be enlarged or shimmed to fit, Width and offset could be hard to match though. Somewhere I have an old Hollander wheel only booklet. I'll look for it Wednesday and see what info it may have.

Funny you should post the concrete info as I was just reading this: https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106 very interesting.

I haven't heard the term in years, but '50-50' shocks were once a thing. If you've ever installed shocks you know that they are fairly easy to extend, much harder to compress. 50-50 shocks had equal resistance in both directions, so slowed the upward movement of the wheel. And, could contribute to handling and rough ride. Used mostly on the track. OTOH, drag racers often used a near zero extension resistance and maximum compression. Get the nose up and keep it up to move as much weight as possible to the rear tires. I think most shocks are around 10/90. But if some offshore vendor messes with the valving in such a way that the compression is difficult ride quality could be changed. The numbers are not a measure of how much total resistance to movement they provide, but just the way that resistance is allocated to each direction. Worth considering when looking for shocks.

Yeah, I know, but a lot (most?) use the word to mean any big bang.

Yeah, the backfire info wasn't in the OP, when I answered the first time. If 'backfire' is a big bang out of the tailpipe, it could be an intermittent loss of ignition causing raw gas to light off in the muffle/pipe. And that little wire in the distributor is often the culprit. If a pop back out of carb, different story. Kids used to do the ignition off, coast, back on to create that BANG back in the day.

If my memory is correct (not a given these days), all the sixes used ported vacuum, taken above the throttle plate so decel vacuum would not be applied to the advance unit. but maybe happens when the advance goes back to full retard. But, I still go back to my rule, look at the last things changed, carb work and distributor cap, even though I can't imagine an intermittent cap that causes a dead stop. More common to cause misfires.

First things that come to mind are: One: great looking car. Hard tops are so rare.. then, idle speed set to specs and carb float level. Higher idle speed helps, higher float doesn't. And maybe a card needle and seat that doesn't shut off well.

See above discussion about aviation. Same results. No question, soldering done by a trained individual is excellent, if overkill. But, prefer crimps for the average Joe, or Jolenes work. Sorta like wire run lacing, not strictly needed but looks great when done well.

These and the famous Ford 8 and 9 inch are much superior, IMHO, to the 'modern' ones. At least from a mechanics perspective as adjusting bearings is a snap compared to case spreaders and shims on the 'modern' versions. Also, setting up gear depth and backlash is a bench job, not an under the car process. I knew a lot of guys back in the day that had a weekend center section and a weekday version. 4.11s or 4.56s at the strip and 3.08 or 3.23 for the highway. Most could swap in 30-40 minutes. More common repair for me was axle bearings. No draining lube to pull the axles. 4 bolts, pop it out, press bearing done.

Not only the military, every passenger airplane has crimped terminals unless someone did an unapproved repair. And the reason(s) are pretty simple. 1. Every A&P mechanic can do a crimp install, even in limited access areas, when using an approved tool and process. 2. That is not true of the solder process, not every person is proficient so the results are not consistent. Cold joints or melted insulation result. As to the vibration component, it's not an issue if properly done but if overheated and/or too much solder is applied it can wick up the wire and cause issues. If allowed to do that the wire becomes stiff and can break if bent as the little conductors are no one big one. Usually not vibration but ham handed mechanic forcing it to bend. I've never seen that on aircraft but certainly have on cars. 3. Crimps have proven to reliable. I spent 37 years with an airline, not as a mechanic, but the first 8 or so working along side flight line mechanics. Then watching and learning every day while I played with computers and code. For a while I worked with Collins Radio computers. The same company famous for aeroinautical communications. All the wiring, backplanes etc were crimped.

Back in the '60s, when I got heavily into mechanic work in my Dad's and later my shop, all fuel pumps got rebuilt. Of course, then I could go to my local store, 'The Automotive Inc' and buy the kits, along with cheap carb kits. Same with starter-mounted solenoids as they almost always just needed the studs and contact washer reversed. So, 'rebuilt'. I collected the labor instead of supporting a rebuilder. Did a few water pumps to, but not as many.

Not to be a smart a**, but since this apparently started after doing the front brakes, I'd suggest checking the bearing adjustment. Rule I follow: always check the most recent thing changed before looking other places.

For all the weirdness the Chevy TT possesses, I've driven them thousands of miles with no issues at all. My first car was a 48 with the old babbitt-beater. Second was a cherry 52 with a low mileage but broken 216. First owner lived in Chicago and decided to drive rte 66 on vacation. Did so too fast and threw a rod in my town. Bought the car and installed a full pressure 235 and drove it for a long time. One thing for sure, the TT will prevent wheel hop for spring windup! Even with the narrow leaves of the time. The transmissions were weak though. I'll bet at least fifty got pulled, repaired or, changed in Dad's place in the early 60s when I worked there a lot. Low sliding gear and/or cluster was the most common failure, followed by jumping out of high gear on deceleration. Dad could do the bench repair in a couple of hours, due to LOTS of practice. Them and Fords of that era too. But, I don't recall any Mopar trans failures of that sort. Dad and/or I could do an R&R in an afternoon. But I grew to hate those little bitty front u-joint bolts with the bend up lock tabs.

That cast iron flange is probably still fine, just needs a good cleanup. Removing the ell may be a challenge, steel pipe in cast iron tends to rust tightly. Last resort for me is always, cut the pipe flush with the cast piece and use a hacksaw blade to cut through the pipe internally in a couple of places and 'peel' it out. You may nick the internal threads but a little sealer will keep it from leaking.