47 heaven, prototype parts

[Normspeed]

47 Heaven stopped by today. We first did a bleed and adjust on my rear brakes, put the tires back on, and cleared the shop for Darin's ride. Adjusted the timing on his car, then took it for a test drive up to Mt. Baldy, had a great lunch at a little restaurant/biker bar up there, came back down some twisty back mountain roads and continued to tinker with his ride. Fixed a small problem with his windshield divider bar, tightened some loose wires and stuff. We did some top secret stuff to his cooling system, results to be announced at a later date. Wrapped up the day by putting together a great shade-tree working prototype for converting a later model auto choke carb to manual choke. I keep telling Darin this is Cali, we don need no stinkin chokes but he insists that he needs one. Security blanket:)

The working prototype combines the best of 2 worlds at ACE Hardware: Miscellaneous small parts and construction hardware. I don't even know what the galvanized part is called but with some Dremel work, chin scratching, head scratching and ample ice cold longnecks in the cooler for me we put together a great piece. Darin left tonight promising to give it a thorough ten year shakedown cruise and report back so we can build a good looking working model. Best part, his late model Plymouth air filter completely hides the part, so Darin will not lose any show points at the local cruises.

PS, we retarded the timing about 4-6 degrees, in an effort to bring down the summer operating temp on the motor. The car runs sweeeeet, and raps a little on decel. His dual Smittys are perfect.

We stopped for gas and he had to pry me away from a hottie who wanted to run her hands over the upholstery and was inquiring about my tool kit when Darin got back from the cashier booth.

[47heaven]

Well...I don't know about the "little hottie" inquiring about his "tool box," but I did see her reaching for something that looked like mace.

The trip to Mt. Baldy came as a spare of the moment decision. I wanted to see if I could conquer it with the new rebuild since the last time I was up there and blew the head gasket with the prior engine when it overheated. The car did pretty well going up, but many times I had to shift up to 2nd to climb the grades with some speed. When I tried to go down to 3rd, the car would bog down. Pretty soon the temp gauge started climbing from 180 to 190 then to 195. All of a sudden, I started having bad memories coming back. I told Norm that the temp was going up, but he assured me that it was still in the safe zone. I switched on the electric fan and that seemed to keep the temp stable, but as we neared Mt. Baldy village it was at 200. As we were looking for a place to park, the car started stalling. The engine was just too hot and probably was vaporizing the gasoline before it hit the carb. Nonetheless, I was able to park it with what starts were left on it and we went to go eat at the Buckhorn Lodge. It was biker day...motorcylists and bicyclists.

After lunch, the car had cooled down to 180 and started up without any problems. We took the mountain backroad to Glendora and the car stayed at 180 all the way back (of course we were on either level ground or going downhill). I told Norm that I got tired of this heating thing and wanted to see what we could do to improve it. When we got back, he retarded the timing and we decided to try running the engine without the thermostat. I also wanted to try Water Wetter, which has been recommended to me by a few people on keeping the temp down. So we are just basically trying to see what has been the main cause of the heating. I mean, the radiator has been rebuilt, with an extra core added, mind you, and it still was getting hotter than normal.

I think Norm meant that I didn't need the throttle, but I know the choke is still needed out here in California. That's why I wanted to see if we could get it hooked up. Both Norm and I put our heads together on this one. It doesn't look the prettiest, but it works and it's covered by the air cleaner.

Well, Norm, the ride home was great and the temp stayed between 160-165. I'll take it out tomorrow when it's hot out and see how it does. I'll report back with the results. Let's hope this did the trick. Thanks again, Norm.

[bob_amos]

Darin Norm, Looks pretty clean. You guys might have something there.

[Normspeed]

Thanks Bob. And it comes with the Norm's Speed Shop Guarantee. If it breaks you get to keep both parts.

[Mr. Belvedere]

Hey Darin good to see you posting again, how hot did your old engine get before it blew a gasket? Seems like it would take alot of heat to blow a gasket on one of these flatties. Just curious, how many lbs is your radiator cap?

[Don Coatney]

Darin;

I dont know if you are using both a belt driven fan as well as an electric fan but I have learned that the electric fan does not do any good as long as you are moving at 30-40+ miles per hour. In fact it probably adds to the heat issue when you are at speed as it requires the alternator to kick into high gear and adds a heat load to the engine. Running your engine at 200 degrees should not be harmful. When I was running up hills at 70+ miles per hour today (I have driven 475 miles today in my P-15) my engine would run close to 200 up hill but cool back down to 180 downhill. I have my electric fan thermostat set to energize the fan at about 200 but it never kicked on today when I was running at highway speed. The electric fan works well for when you are stopped as in a stop light or traffic jam but does no good when you are at speed.

[47heaven]

Hey Darin good to see you posting again, how hot did your old engine get before it blew a gasket? Seems like it would take alot of heat to blow a gasket on one of these flatties. Just curious, how many lbs is your radiator cap?

Thanks! Glad to be back. Oh yeah...the needle on the temp gage was at 221...probably even past that. The engine got to the "boiling over" stage. That is when the mechanic said that the gasket probably was blown, but it may have been blown before then because I recall seeing oily residue in the water. The radiator cap is 7 lbs. I couldn't find a vintage looking one that was non-pressured.

[47heaven]

Darin;

I dont know if you are using both a belt driven fan as well as an electric fan but I have learned that the electric fan does not do any good as long as you are moving at 30-40+ miles per hour. In fact it probably adds to the heat issue when you are at speed as it requires the alternator to kick into high gear and adds a heat load to the engine. Running your engine at 200 degrees should not be harmful. When I was running up hills at 70+ miles per hour today (I have driven 475 miles today in my P-15) my engine would run close to 200 up hill but cool back down to 180 downhill. I have my electric fan thermostat set to energize the fan at about 200 but it never kicked on today when I was running at highway speed. The electric fan works well for when you are stopped as in a stop light or traffic jam but does no good when you are at speed.

Thanks, Don. I was wondering if the fan was to also be used at higher speeds. It came in handy today because it's hot and muggy out. Yes, I'm using both. Would like to find a 6-blade fan, if possible. Got to keep that baby cool.

[greg g]

In the picture of the carbuetor, what is the screw that shows in the upper left had corner of the pic?

[Mr. Belvedere]

Good observation greg, I would like to know as well. Maybe a type of float adjuster?

[Niel Hoback]

Dashpot adjustment on a semi-auto transmission carb?

[Merle Coggins]

The carb on my truck has that same screw and I've been wondering the same thing. I'll be pulling the top off of mine soon to check the accel pump, so maybe I'll figure it out then.

My truck does have Fluid Drive, so maybe that does have something to do with it.

Merle

[greg g]

Didn't the FD cars and Trucks run Solex or stromberg?? That sure looks like a Carter.

[Jerry Roberts]

The carb says carter ball & ball .

[Normspeed]

The screw is a dashpot adjustment.

[mackster]

Nice work Normspeed and Darin! the dinamic duo...I like the warranty, keep both pieces! now thats funny right there!

[47heaven]

Nice work Normspeed and Darin! the dinamic duo...I like the warranty, keep both pieces! now thats funny right there!

Hey, you can't beat Norm's guarentee!