Adam H P15 D30 Posted August 19, 2019 Report Posted August 19, 2019 Oh, almost forgot... My fuel line comes off the pump and goes between the headers to the carbs. I put a snap together asbestos looking cover over it and I have no fuel issues even on 100 degree days. This is using crap california gas with lots of nasties in it. Adam 1 Quote
HotRodTractor Posted August 19, 2019 Author Report Posted August 19, 2019 3 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said: Yes, read Squirrel's thread from this year and try to find last years thread also. I recall Don saying he had some temp issues but I also recall him saying they were cured with the new radiator. My 49 almost never hits 190 and it has the stock honeycomb radiator. What thermostat is in there? Think about going back to a 160 and adjust your cooling fan accordingly if there is a hotter one in there. I use a fan switch that comes on at 185 and off at 175. Adam Maybe i drive faster than Don? lol Load does have a fair amount to do with it. Also - it never really overheated and worked fine on the interstate - my issue was once I got off and had some stop and go traffic that the heat caused some issues. Might be fuel related only because I filled up just before getting on the interstate. It also could be coming back to a previous discussion of a heat soaked coil, or perhaps it was just hot in general and was boiling the gas in the line/carbs. Pretty sure its a 180* t stat based on Don's Photobucket. 3 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said: Oh, almost forgot... My fuel line comes off the pump and goes between the headers to the carbs. I put a snap together asbestos looking cover over it and I have no fuel issues even on 100 degree days. This is using crap california gas with lots of nasties in it. Adam I've got some fuel resistant heat sleeve that I am going to throw on the gas line, but i wanted to try some other stuff first. Being methodical takes time, but its the only way to say what specifically the issue was. I'm likely being a little picky about it too. I know that its few and far between to have one of these cars with a flathead go down the interstate at 80mph for a sustained period of time. I was looking at a map - and it looks like I ran it there for right about 55 miles for the most part. Ran great going down the road, it just got warm enough to be unhappy right after getting off the interstate. Quote
TodFitch Posted August 19, 2019 Report Posted August 19, 2019 4 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said: Oh, almost forgot... My fuel line comes off the pump and goes between the headers to the carbs. I put a snap together asbestos looking cover over it and I have no fuel issues even on 100 degree days. This is using crap california gas with lots of nasties in it. Adam FWIW a few years back I discovered that the "crap california gas with lots of nasties in it" was better than Arizona gas. I was not expecting that. I took a 2000 mile round trip in the '33 from the SF Bay area to Tucson and the only heat related gas issues were in Arizona. First full tank in Arizona started the problems and the first full tank west of the river cured the problems. This was in the spring so the ambient temperatures were only in the 80s and the California desert was basically the same temperature as the Arizona desert. I did a little research when I got home and discovered that California limits the volatility of gasoline and apparently that made the difference. Quote
Adam H P15 D30 Posted August 19, 2019 Report Posted August 19, 2019 What time of year? Could Arizona still have been on winter blend? I do know Western Arizona and Nevada use CA gas. I really notice the difference in my daily when I get into New Mexico. Adam Quote
TodFitch Posted August 19, 2019 Report Posted August 19, 2019 48 minutes ago, Adam H P15 D30 said: What time of year? Could Arizona still have been on winter blend? I do know Western Arizona and Nevada use CA gas. I really notice the difference in my daily when I get into New Mexico. Adam The locals were saying that the summer blend switch over was going to happen around the time I returned to California. So I guess they were on winter blend. Quote
Don Coatney Posted August 20, 2019 Report Posted August 20, 2019 A 180 degree thermostat is what I installed. With the new radiator I never had heat issues while driving but I did see a jump up in heat sink after pulling off the highway. Yes you do drive faster than I do. I never tried a steady 80MPH. But I made several long trips at 70MPH. 1 Quote
HotRodTractor Posted August 20, 2019 Author Report Posted August 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Don Coatney said: A 180 degree thermostat is what I installed. With the new radiator I never had heat issues while driving but I did see a jump up in heat sink after pulling off the highway. Yes you do drive faster than I do. I never tried a steady 80MPH. But I made several long trips at 70MPH. Hey Don! Glad to see you posting! 1 Quote
Don Coatney Posted August 20, 2019 Report Posted August 20, 2019 1 minute ago, HotRodTractor said: Hey Don! Glad to see you posting! I was held captive in the hospital jail for the past week with another collapsed lung. All better now. 2 Quote
HotRodTractor Posted August 25, 2019 Author Report Posted August 25, 2019 Had it out on the town last night going to a local business party for the staff, friends and family. Ran into an elderly gentleman that bought a '48 P15 4 door as his first car for $400 used. He was all kinds of excited to look at the car and bring back memories. He ran a rural paper route with it until he hit a deer. I finally went and topped off the tank - right at 14mpg for the return trip back home last weekend and my little local drive last night. 1 Quote
HotRodTractor Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Posted June 9, 2020 2020 has been a cruddy year for me to get the Plymouth out. I've maybe put 100 miles on it just putzing around, but I am hoping to put some miles on it in the next couple of weeks on a couple of day road trips to Amish country. So ever since some of the mild overheating/stumbling issues that I experienced after running it on the interstate and then getting off and sitting at stop lights, I have been wondering why Don didn't install a mechanical fan on the car. I looked it over a couple of times and couldn't see why - and last night I was in the shop and had a few minutes to spare. I stole the best fan blade that I have off a spare engine and physically tried to put it into place.... it was snug, but looked like it would fit, so I just went for it. After fighting with it for a few minutes due to fat hands and fingers and not a lot of working space, I had it installed. I only had to remove a cross bar that went along the top of the back of the radiator that mounts to the core support on both sides. It fits, its close, but I see no issues with it. I probably do a 100ish mile round trip test run to to the office on Thursday after the rain the next couple of days gets through the area and see how it works (or doesn't). I probably should have painted it, but that can happen later. I really need to refresh and detail out the engine bay. I still plan on doing some phenolic carb spacers - but simply haven't had a chance to gather up all the little parts and the thermal camera to really do some cool back to back testing. Quote
Adam H P15 D30 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Posted June 9, 2020 This is why you don't install old fans. Maybe 1 in 1000 will fail, but watch out when they do. Quote
HotRodTractor Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Posted June 9, 2020 40 minutes ago, Adam H P15 D30 said: This is why you don't install old fans. Maybe 1 in 1000 will fail, but watch out when they do. I'm not worried that this fan will do that. It came off of a fire truck engine that has almost no run time. I do understand the risk though and should have made that clear for those that haven't seen that happen before. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.