Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

Now it’s back to head work. When I CC’d the ‘62 heads I had some trouble with a couple of the valves not sealing so I had to extract the juice and re-grease and reinstall the valves and try again. I decided to take the time to lap the valves hoping that they will seal first time, each time. It didn’t take much to get some decent surfaces. Should seal better

 

I forgot to mention, I added the Blue Devil rear main seal sealer to the oil a while back. It’s a clear liquid in about a 4 oz bottle. My friend used it successfully for his two barn find Crosleys.
Honestly, I didn’t expect much. I don’t know what it does but it seems to have helped! What used to be an 8” puddle after every run is now two 2” spots. The last trip to town was to get some cooling system sealer and another bottle of the rear main stuff. If one shot helped, maybe two will help even more.
And no, it didn’t run out of oil, I topped off the oil before adding the stuff….
I added a coolant recovery tank to the system and topped off the water. When I pulled into my driveway it was at 190 by the time I got parked. 180 during most of the drive, 95 degree day. Time will tell if the ugly recovery jar helps.

 

A lot of people scoff at the “ mechanic in a can” stuff, and some of it rightly so, but there are a lot of products that actually do what they say they will do. I’ve used the Lucas with the oil stop leak in it, it might not stop a leak but it slowed it way down. Same with their power steering fluid with stop leak, my OT pickup has always had a small power steering leak. I topped it off with the Lucas product, didn’t even use half the little bottle, I haven’t had to add fluid to in now in a year or two, before it was every month.

 

I was never an additive guy except for Sta-Bil in my boats. But I installed a TH400 in my other Stude pickup that had been sitting for years and shifted erratically. I took it to my transmission guy and he said, let’s first try Lucas’ transmission treatment and see what happens. It got better and was working fine by the time I got home. Needless to say, I put it in the trans in this Stude. After resting for 50 years, the old Stratoflight seems to be coming around. It works like it should except for the occasional hesitation going back into First at a stop when hot.

 

Well, the '62 heads are ready to go to the machine shop for a valve job. I buckled down and finished up the chamber mods today. I chased all of the threads and scraped out as much rusty crust from the water passages as I could.


Here's an A-B comparison photo. They went from 73 CCs to 81 CCs. That should help the static CR and the valves got unshrouded some in the process.


You will note that I only use the latest, up to date equipment....
Hey, at least one of them has an on-off switch. Good old Craftsman stuff. I paid $5 for the gold one at the Turlock swap meet a few weeks ago. Great timing.
It did take a while for my hands to stop buzzing enough that I could type this post though.

 

Ya know Bob, On/Off toggle switches are still being produced these days

 

I started out to replace it once and honestly, I didn’t think I would be able to get it back together. It’s got ten pounds of wire and stuff crammed into the tail end. I wasn’t sure if I could get it all back in there.
I’ve got a place in LA that fixes stuff like that for way cheaper than I would charge to do it but I keep forgetting to take it with me and drop it off.

 

I was down in San Jose having driven down from Seattle and started having slipping issues with the transmission in an O/T vehicle. Dropped the pan. Filled it up with Lucas "stop slip" and drove it home, no issues. Transmission lasted another 6 months of daily abuse before it really started to go.

 

Yeah, it’s a rope seal. I figured that it was worth a try. It’s just a little bottle of clear liquid. I figured it couldn’t hurt. It seems to have cut my leak in half.

 

Other than the short spindles those look just like my 50+ year old grinder. Obviously Sears sourced them from Dumore.

 

I used the Lucas product in my 57 Pontiac engine in my 34. The old rope seal [Made by Best] still leaks. I've tried every stop=leak product and it has possibly slowed a bit.........maybe, I dunno.
Good news is my floors will never rust!

 

If they did, they picked a good source. I’ve had mine as long as I can remember and it still works fine.

 

Lol, that’s what I always tell myself. Seems like all my junk leaks something, somewhere. I’m keeping the kitty litter folks in business.

 

I tried it in my 56 T-Bird and it did nothing, still leaking like a sieve. But it can't hurt to try it, maybe it will work for you.

 

I think the leak sealer is more for rubber seals. It supposedly swells the rubber a bit to make it seal better. Don’t know if it would have much effect on a rope seal, guess it depends on what the rope was made of.

 

@bchctybob, belated congrats on getting this past excellence back where it belongs...on the road...

I always appreciate the efforts you and so many here put into carrying on following or respecting the original path or vision the previous builder was on...

Your matter of fact tackling of the multiple issues arising is also admirable...I see this as a testament to your experience around these mechanical Artworks that go...

Thanks for sharing the journey...

 

Funny, I thought just the opposite, I figured that it might swell the fibers in the rope seal but wouldn’t do anything for a modern neoprene (or equivalent) seal. I only tried it because my buddy Chuck was telling me that he went back and bought the other Crosley and had fired it up already. It ran great except for the leaky rear main. He said that Blue Devil stuff sealed it right up. I just assumed that Crosleys have rope seals.

 

Thanks Stog. It’s not everyday that you get a chance to own a hot rod that you admired in your youth. These three Studebakers were seen all over our little town and occasionally at Lions on a Saturday. I’ve seen others on the HAMB resurrect old hot rods to varying degrees and I thought some might find it interesting to see what pitfalls are waiting under the dust and rat turds. I love driving it, makes all of the false starts, redos and money worth it.
I was putting gas in it at the local station the other day when a young cowboy pulls in with his big new Ford pickup and asks, “those Buick taillights on that old Stude?” I couldn’t believe my ears. He walked over and asked all the right questions, even guessed the time period right. He said, “I’d love to have it, wouldn’t change a thing”. There’s hope….

 

It seems I’m batting 500 on the additive front. I added some copper seal to the radiator the other day trying to stop a little drip from the lower rear corner of the driver’s side head. I haven’t put it up on the hoist to see if the leak stopped but the running temperature jumped up from 180-185 to 195-205. It ran 190 in the evening after dark. Not bad, but it was running 175-180 (thermostat temp) before. All this is on 45-60 mph country roads, not city driving.
I’ll keep driving it and see what happens, but I’m not happy, I’d rather have the drip than the higher temperature.
I was wondering, the truck sat for 50 years, brass forms a serious oxide pretty easily. If I pull the radiator, is there a solution that I could put in it to get it back to clean brass inside? Our only (ridiculously high priced) radiator shop closed several years ago. (Imagine that). I’m thinking that the oxidation inside isn’t helping the heat transfer any. Any ideas?

 

Draino cyrstals with boiling hot water, swish it around and drain it after 15 to 20 then neutralize with baking soda was what I have been told. Better check tho as I have not done this myself.

 

Sounds like it would work. I’m going to put a few more miles circulating the sealer then pull the radiator. I want to add a 1” fan spacer too.

 

I think it would be safer to use white vinegar instead of Draino!

 

Cascade liquid for dishwashers. Don’t pull the radiator. Just drain and flush first. Add cascade and drive for 1/2 hour then drain and flush again.

 

In my experience, vinegar is overrated but I admit that I haven’t tried it on brass. We have well water and everything gets deposits. “Soak it in vinegar “ everybody says. Maybe if you’ve got a month, or more. Same when I tried it on rust. I’m just not that patient.
Draino has been around since indoor plumbing, I imagine it won’t hurt a radiator if used judiciously.
I’ll test vinegar on some oxidized brass fittings this afternoon and report back.

 

Thanks Mark. I’ll keep chippin’ away at it until it’s reliable and I can trust it to go anywhere and I’ll try not to put any modern crap on it along the way (at least where it might be seen)

 

We used cascade in our new dishwasher and it ate the copper off of our Revereware sauce pans. Cascade bought us new pots and pans. Might not hurt a radiator but felt I should mention it

 

Wow, some nasty stuff….

 

Cardboard is cheaper. Two layers if you have a big leaker!

As for the oxidation question, the old heavy duty cooling system cleaner kits were oxalic acid. Can get in hardware stores as wood bleach. Or order off Amazon or similar. It's dry powder, probably half pound for your cooling system. It will help clean rust out of engine as well as clean radiator. Citric acid can also work and also easy dry powder form.