Los_Control

I do not know if this will help any at all ... I will try to clarify my original opinion, while you may expect it to be a straightforward solution to this, do not be surprised it is a pia. In the photo, you can see there is a crown in the center as I suspected there was. While mine is pretty flush in the middle with the body, the ends are sitting proud of the body. Mine has never been removed and factory. Just my opinion, I think my ends are bent up & middle pulled down ... not much but just a little to make the ends sit proud. Same time they were not really concerned about body panel fitment back then, maybe it is how it came? Something else to think about. The cowl vent has a rubber drain line connected to it and the hose is routed through the firewall to drain ... the vent frame is actually a gutter like on your house, to collect water and drain it away. What did the factory expect to seal with a gasket. Were they counting on the drain system to carry away the water? were they trying to seal out air? Earlier when I said my gasket failed ... what I should have said is the rubber drain line failed. Just rotted off under the dash. So it just drained inside the cab. While you are stewing on it, remember it was a imperfect system to begin with, the body fitment was not a priority. The gutter drain system was suppose to take care of the water, the gasket to seal off wind noise. I can tell you are going first class all the way, sometimes you just have to settle for making it better and not perfect.

Unless you own a chebby. Usually they rust from the ground up, in Texas they rust from the top down. Is crazy my truck has a rust hole the size of a 1/2 dollar on the roof. Rest of truck is rust free. To weld in a patch I would need to remove the headliner, or expect sparks to catch existing headliner on fire. Just a spot I want to fix while doing some touch up painting, plan to glue in a patch. Wish you well with your knee & project @pflaming

After reading your post ... thinking I may install this in my floor. I know the cowl vent is no easy task, why many Hot Rodders leaded them closed ... Some car manufacturer moved from top of cowl to side of cowl. By mid 1950's I do not think were any cowl vents on new cars available. I still like @Jeff Balazs idea to make one out of silicone .... possibly slice a new gasket in 1/2. apply silicone to the bottom side to raise gasket to needed height. This way when you open the vent it is the gasket you see? Not a easy one size fts all solution for this.

Acid is your friend, you need to learn which to use & when.

I am using acid, it sucks but it has allowed me to move forward with my project. I have found murriatic acid is boss, but it is tough. I use it only on items outside the garage in the back yard away from tools and trucks. Just the fumes 10' away will cause flash rust on tools or trucks. Ospho is good, I think in your case, it may be a wipe on wipe off issue. It will remove the new fresh surface rust, same time it turns old rust into a paintable primer. So it is easy to paint over. Also phosphoric acid is a good choice. I think this is my favorite. It will clean the rust & leave bare metal easier to dilute against flash rusting. It is Food grade and used to remove rust on restaurant equipment. It does a excellent job removing hard water stains in a toilet bowl. There are 3 different acids to use. My first choice would be ospho, then I would try phosphoric, murriatic is a tool for the metal in the sun for 20 years. I am showing 2 photos, first it was previously cleaned then stored for a year. 2nd is after wiping it with murriatiac

If that makes any sense, give it a year trial and add to it later ... we are not going anywhere.

To be honest I would say nothing is needed. I love this forum as is, I think many others agree and would subscribe. My biggest worry would be it would affect the current forum ... We do not want things to go away. If you paid dues in the hamb, you get a tag under your handle. Same time they snobs and will not contribute. ALLIANCE MEMBER To me honestly is enough, not asking for more ... of course you would not use the same tag ... Have to make up your own name ... I suppose if you offered something extra, it might make it more enticing to join the club. I think many of us would join just as is. Then others would join just because. Is it really easy for you to add more photo space? ... Be honest been here many years and still less then 50% usage ... not a big deal to me. That is where I am saying to be careful, I would not change anything but the donation option to a yearly dues option and just a little tag under the users name to recognize a paid dues member.

Not really sure what to suggest. I want to compare to another forum H.A.M.B. they have a premium account where you pay a yearly dues. The ones who pay have a signature with their name ... Just a little recognition ... Which I personally would not care about, but would remind others that their is a option to get same recognition. What benefits actually come with the yearly Dues ... which is purely a choice for user. That is up to the board owner and what works for them. Got to be careful here and not get over extended. To be honest today we have a option to donate ... I kinda feel dirty to donate, feel like am pulling up to a bum on the corner then hand them some money. This forum is way better then that! I would not hesitate to pay a yearly fee or what I call yearly dues ... maybe $50 a year ... does that sound close? Or am I just cheap? Just ideas. If it makes any sense, I love this forum, I love it's style, Can not appreciate enough all the help I have received, I try to return what I can ... I would love to be called a paid member to this forum. Again it is up to the board owner, is it possible to play with it for a year without really offering much, see how it goes and if it really is worthwhile? The alternative is for the board owner ... Well I had a board, made some changes & really got more work then it was worth, I just gave it up. Just saying baby steps, do not change anything uncomfortable with .... we like to keep this forum

I find that interesting, not positive if I have been here longer then you. I have 2100 post you have 1700 .... Pretty sure I am more scattered brain then you and wander off topic and post pics often. I am at 47% of my limit. Dunno whats going on there. I would agree with that also, take my money I gave up photobucket years ago when they simply held peoples photos for ransom & locked people out ... at the time tinypic was just as good. Then that went away. And I agree with them 100%, they are just not people I want to spend money with. Same time, I do not believe it is as easy as just flipping a switch. There is long term commitment to server space which cost money, there is more responsibility added to the board owner .... What happens in 6 months if users do not pay dues, then the board owner is responsible ... Just not as simple as wanting something.

I am just saying, every piece of metal on your truck has a crown 2 directions ... except for the bed & I could be wrong about that. But the doors, the roof, The fenders, The cowl, They all have a crown going from left to right and also front to rear. If you looked at the hood, doors on a 1980 Toyota you would find the same thing. The cowl on your truck has a crown or high point in the center, The vent flap needs to follow it. In a perfect world, the edges of the flap should make contact on the edges first, then suck down in the middle to seal. I can picture a person in the 1960's pissed off at the vent leaking, Then jam a matchbook in the linkage to pull it down tighter. Fix the leak. Naturally this pulls the center down tighter and edges bend up. Thats what your first photo looked like ... 2nd photo hard to say ... I still think the sides should make contact first and center be pulled down to it. Just my opinion though.

My first thoughts, that gasket is incredibly important. My truck floors need replaced because that gasket failed about 30+ years ago. Reading on other forums, the replacement gaskets are a pia & seem too thick for the job. I am talking cowl vent gaskets for Fords, Mopar & other brands ... all the same. Not just a old Dodge truck deal. Often it takes heat and form the new gasket to your vent to first get your vent to close. Then over time they will close easier as the new gasket settles down. Just saying the cowl vent gasket is not a slam dunk easy application. & they will leak & let water into the cab on your new floors/carpet. First thing I see is it looks like your vent is bent, pulled down in the center while trying to close it on a stiff. old, cold new gasket. I would think to fix that and repaint may be the first correction. Then I think @Jeff Balazshas a great idea. These products were not available back when these trucks were made. Even if you spend the hours/days it takes to get the new cowl gasket to seal. How long will it last before it starts leaking again? Sometimes we have to pick our battles in life. I think sealing a factory cowl vent is going to be a battle. A little modern technology to help may make it a chore & not a battle.

I should have added, we were guessing about 2 gallons gas in tank & guessed about 2 gallons diesel added. Either way we had about 40 miles to get home, 2 gallons gas was not going to get us there. So we were looking at a 50/50 mix or less .... Who knows we think is 2 gallons in the tank & may have been 4 ... we just added enough to get us where we were going. When your gas gauge is sitting on E and you trying to remember when exactly it hit E, after a 3 day camping trip ....

I imagine it will work. From past experience, I had a 1969 fastback mustang with a 351 windsor, my buddy had a 1970 with a Boss 302. We made a weekend fishing trip to the mountains in his car. We kinda got lost a few times driving around to find the lake we were looking for. Old logging roads on state land & poor maps. We found the lake & had a great weekend. Lots of good sized trout and crawdads. On Sunday heading home we were very low on fuel. We came across a state road grader parked on side of the gravel road and we siphoned some diesel from it. The Boss 302 was not happy with it, did smoke a little and not the pep normally had ... the diesel got us home. I compare kerosene to a low grade diesel. Both have a oil in them that would lubricate the valves .... is wrong in a gasoline engine in sooo many ways, not really going to destroy anything. IMHO

WOW I missed that post, Just amazes me the construction of cars today. The safety that is built into them. I imagine if the same accident happened in one of our old cars/trucks We would be dead. I am glad you are ok & did not happen in a older vehicle ... not enough of them left as it is Nice work on the build

For future reference .... is there a way I or a user can go in and edit old post And remove old photos that are really nonsense and no real value to a thread? Would that free up space on my end so do not run out of space? Also is there a way a typical user can check and see the % of space used & left?

should be negative but I believe the coil does not care. Someone may correct me on this. Way I understand it, the coil gets use to running one direction. after years of use ... you pull a used coil off the shelf with no idea if it was + or - ground the last time used ... it will run but maybe give some weird issues at higher rpm. also if you convert your car to 12 volt - ground, swapping the hot wire to the coil is one of the steps. This is not your issue. If you have power going to the outside of distributor, but checking inside the distributor you lose power ... something is wrong in that area and needs corrected.

I have no experience with instagram. I watch a youtube chan called irontrap garage. Matt does a lot of car part picking, from all over the country, then sells at swap meets, Hershey Carlisle etc & he sells on instagram? I dunno he has a large following so maybe that is required to sell on there to get the views? Like facebook only shared with your subscribers? I do not have a instagram account nor do I want one. Just throwing it out there. Cool air compressor I sure would like to see it saved if it can be.

pics or it never happened. A old mason jar and a lid mounted on the firewall is not good . I do know we had external oilers and assume we had external fluid for the brakes ... I hope they were not glass jars.

Still fascinating the manufacturers thought we were such idiots to use it.

You did a great job on this, you get a attaboy from me ... I was thinking about doing something similar just to point out a couple issues, you did a great job and 110% more complete then I would have been able to do. The green box the tattered area, I suspect a previous owner did something there and has failed ... just a guess. You zoomed in on the photo and made it larger. You see how hammered the shaft is where the rotor sits? I think it will work as is. But I have to wonder what caused that in the past? Miss matched cap & rotor? Seriously, looks like someone beat it with a hammer. While I understand the goal may be to just see if the engine runs without putting to much money into it ... this could very well be the reason the vehicle was parked in the first place. This is the first place a person needs to spend time on. I have never looked, I wonder if could get a rebuilt distributor from napa or rockauto? Myself I would try to fix what I have ... that dizzy been pounded on and seen better days. Still just cleaned up it will provide spark to the points and start the engine. even if vacuum advance not working or shaft bushings are worn, it will start.

Thanks for the information, I do not look at it like a two headed monster from outer space. Just I personally have never seen one. Almost looks like a piece of art, but the op picture it has a couple sharp bends in it that make it look like touching the points. I think I would want to remove it and smooth it out, then create a smooth curve to match the distributor body. With the quality of parts coming from over seas, I would take great care with that condenser and use it as long as I could get it to work. I bought one from a guy that makes them ... paid maybe $65 or $75 for it. Solid brass and is to me a work of art. Same time I got 3 bad $10 condenser from napa in a row, 4th condenser I grabbed from a old junk motor in the shed and used it. So $65 + shipping for a solid brass American made condenser does not seem like too much ... in my mind. A original working condenser is priceless. Only advice to @CarlI can offer. at this point, it just may be time to pull the distributor out. spread some newspaper out on the kitchen table and take it apart, clean it make sure the vacuum advance is working, the shaft bushings have oil and not worn out, To much side play in the shaft will give a erratic dwell reading. the breaker plate moves freely. Take this thing apart and own it, put it back together and use it. They really are pretty simple. They sit so low in the motor they are difficult to work on in the car. Because they are slotted & not gear driven, easy to remove/install. Even if you find out the vacuum advance is not working, or the bushings are worn, clean and oil what you can, new wires & assemble. Then later when you are trying to tune the engine, You know whats what. Chances are your distributor is fine, just needs some love.Obviously it was working at some point .... possibly just the wire from the points to the connector to the coil wire is bad? To just replace that wire, is easier to pull it out of the car and do it on the bench .... while you are there you may as well check out the rest.

Not sure if a picture of a dirty but working distributor would help, but here is mine. Something just looks different with yours ... The copper strap on the condenser throws me off. Looks like it is actually touching the points , maybe that does not matter. Also could just be the angle of the photo and a illusion. I am no mechanic, but worked on all my own cars ... I can not remember ever seeing a condenser like that? I wonder where they were used. Also in my photo you can see a jumper wire that connects the points to the connection on side of distributor from the coil. Yours we can not see, looks like some black tape or cover there hiding it. Hard to say whats going on there.

Great replacement for the 53, we still want to see the 38 go back together on youtbe. I personally think it is difficult to be a content creator on youtube. A person able to show something, explain it & it all makes sense in the end. I can imagine the hours into editing out the bloopers & non worthy sections to make something presentable. Just saying, the new car is the cats meow. I really love your other car, looking forward to the videos on the engine, future projects. Not many people can pull off the videos ... you can. But, if you just decide to ride off in the sunset with some flashy paint car, I wont hold it against you

Just saying if you can unstick it, great. A lot of these old cars get parked with missing pieces .... Air cleaner, exhaust manifolds ... leaves a direct door in for mice. I have spent time with 4 old flathead 6 motors. I am no expert. All had poor compression because the rings were stuck closed & valves stuck open ... 4th one was a bad bearing and crank was seized. The 52 pilothouse had a broken rod "I suspect" you could turn it 1/2 way in one direction and hear a clunk, then the other direction & clunk again. These cars/trucks spent many years in the rainy Pacific north west. They all saw a lot of rain. They sat for over 20 years. The only one seized was the one with a bad bearing. I am just saying, you never know what you have until you open it up. A flathead 6 you have it open in 1 hour. I have to laugh about the ferd V8 sitting on the engine stand ... I am convinced is a bad bearing, probably the farmer over revved it to do some work. The cylinders, valves are perfect, the pistons are stock. The crank has a .020 stamp on it .... Telling me this is not the first time he spun a bearing. Just the 2nd time he gave up on it. When you have a 70 year old engine, a lot of things can happen to it.

I love you @knuckleharley I love see'ing your post & progress on your current projects. I saved this engine from the scrap yard last fall. I paid $100 for it and hoping it might be saveable. Is a 1951 8BA & seems to be a good block ... I scored! I have it on a engine stand all winter long with the heads off. The cylinders looked pretty good and have stock pistons. A light hone the cylinders are ready to go to work. I have been soaking it in atf/acetone over the winter. I still can not get the engine to budge. I have the cam gear pulled off & only trying to turn the crank/pistons. Look at the photo. No amount of mmo would fix that. As it turns out I am convinced it has a bad bearing and seized. I need to start pulling the rods and find the bad bearing. This could kill a mopar flat 6. We all know a replacement crank & some machine work would fix it .... sometimes a good running used engine is cheaper. Just incredible a new user dropped in and asked about free up a stuck engine ... thread went to rot out the radiator. This engine I was hoping would free up. Yeah that did not happen. While I had it on the engine stand I dropped the pan ... This thing really stunk. I think it was 15 year old diesel fuel. While the heads were off, I then removed the intake manifold. This is what I found. ... Any small access point will allow mice. I will fix this engine, will not be easy. New merc crank, new adjustable lifters, nice cam You just have no idea what you have until you open it up and touch it.