1952-59 Ford Frustrated with this "heating up" thing!!!

Will do. If I can't borrow the one of my buddies this evening, I'll just go buy one.

Stay tuned.

 

Does your lower radiator hose have a coil spring either inside the hose or moulded into the hose? Sometimes that hose will collapse and restrict flow.

 

Nope no coil spring, but those are pretty short and plenty solid, and "New". I don't think there's any chance for collapse on those. good idea though!

 

The springs are for higher rpm operation, when the pump is turning faster and has the capacity to **** a soft hose closed. Wouldn't have any effect at idle. Good thing to check for though, and probably should be there once this issue is solved.

 

im going with its a flow problem through the radiator. not only do rad shops boil them they do what is called rod them out. what that is is a thin peice of steel that they run through the core tubes to unstop them. they have to take the tanks off to do this.

 

Ok... What I did last week after the day it ran hot was changed the oil to motorcraft 15W-40 with a new filter, I reset the timing so it's right on the mark on the crank pully, I bought two new 160 degree T-stats, and switched out on water neck that was cracked and leaking, and topped off the radiator, so it's probably a little less that 50.50 antifreeze/water (more water now).

So! I took it out for burn today...ran it up the highway for 20 miles...and...

The freakin temp needle never moved off of the normal mark on the gauge!!! WTH?!

The temp outside today was a cool 78 degrees, so not as warm as it was last weekend when it ran hot, it was a warm/humid 85 degrees that day. Might make a difference.

So when I got off the highway, I was the needle start to move up and thought, "here we go", but then it stopped, and it started going down again. When I got home, I left it sit int the driveway and idle expecting it heat up, and started taking down the temp readings with the infrared temp gun...The temp gauge remained at the normal mark and over about a ten minute span, these are the readings I got.

Obviously some bizarre readings across the radiator. I did it twice to make sure I was getting the little laser right on a "core".

 

Looks like you're running a little lean on the right bank, judging by the slightly higher exhaust temps and the end cylinders. Turn the idle mixture screw out 1/2 turn.
Don't quite understand the rad temps yet. Looks like you're picking up 20 deg from lower rad temp to lower hose on left side, and really losing 6 - 8 deg top to bottom. I know this is idle with no load, but I would expect a little more top to bottom temp change with the air flow you got earlier.

 

I'll actually do that(on the carb). HAve never actually had the carb set. Don't konw how really. The car hasn't been run since the early 70's and believe it or not, when I rebuilt the carb and got the engine in, I put the carb on, and the thing jsut "ildeled" and ran! crazy.

Now all of a sudden, I have a quick "stumble" coming off the line and don't know how to fix that...but if I can't get that ironed out, I'll start a new thread for it. it's not bad, but it tells me somethings not right. it used to me perfectly smooth.

 

If you are running the original two barrell and it has backfired thru the carb it is possible your stumble is from the power valve blowing out.

 

Hmmm. nope. No backfires ever. And actually after turning the screw out a half turn and the one about another quarter the stumble is gone! Hmmm... It also solved the difference in exhaust temps. Those are all within a degree or three between sides of hte engine.

I should have that carb set by a pro sometime anyway... I don't get the whole "dashpot" thing and stuff...

So I took it out again just now, about 15 miles and it warmed up a "little" over the normal mark but at idle it went back down to normal. Still have the goofy differences across the radiator.

Guess I'll just drive it until something drastic happens??? I'm not giving up the themp thing though...

might come down to putting a new radiator in it... or yank this one and ahve it "done" again...

Hope it's a cool weekend at Back to the 50's...

frustrating...

 

When you set the idle mixture, you can set it one of two ways.
Either set to highest idle rpm you can get adjusting the mixture and then turning the idle down with the curb idle screw at the throttle lever, or, better,
Set to highest idle manifold vacuum by turning the mixture screws until you achieve highest manifold vacuum, then adjust the idle speed down again with the curb idle screw.
Either way you start by turning an idle mixture screw in until the engine starts to stumble a little, then preceed to richen and set as described above.

 

Now that makes sense. I'm familiar with the point at which each screw makes the engine stumble. I think I could handle that.

You know, one thing I forgot to mention was that after it ran warm last Sunday, I discovered the timing was off. Surprised at that I wondered how that was possible, but gave on it and timed it anyway... making sure the timing pointer on the block was dead on the little "blob" dot on the crank pully...

Guess what, I check it again to day and it off again! The little dot on the pulley was about 1/4 inch to the left of the pointer when the light flashed. I don't if that's advanced or retarded... I know incorrect timing will make a car run warm too...

ugh

 

When you have the engine idling, slowly move the distributor one way, then another. The direction in which the engine picks up RPM is the advance direction. If your mark has moved, it may be because after setting idle mixture you're now idling at a different, probably higher RPM, and have advanced the timing a few degrees.

 

AHhhhhhhh, a light just came on! I can wrap my head around that... so set the idle mixture, then do the timing. I've been setting the timing and then dingin' around with the idle mixture screws...sounds like I've been "screwing" myself! That's very possible that that's contributing to the timing being off, which may then in turn, contribute to the engine running warm and heating up on me...

Man, all the possibilities... Gotta keep that temp down. I'll give the this process a run-through this evening.
Thanks!

 

There's an old saying :
Only nothing does nothing.
Therefore, if you make a change somewhere on an engine, it will affect something. the change may be small and not noticeable, but the change is still there. In the case of idle mixture, timing and idle rpm, they're all intertwined.

 

True enough. Adjuested the screws on the carb. took her out for a while...came home checked the timing, and it was basically dead on...Temp stayed down too, but again, it was a cool evening.

Guess I'll just monitor it from time to time after driving it...only takes a second to throw the gun on it.

The true test will be this weekend's Bakc to teh 50's carshow. After that, it may be time to yank the radiator and maybe have it boiled again and see if that pulls out any more **** from it... kind of at a loss at the moment...and the radiator is the only thing with inconsistant readings, so I'm starting to kind of point a finger at it...

 

There is an old "trick of the trade" for flushing scale, rust and mud out of ***embled engines and radiators. Take out the coolant and then replace it temporarily with white vinegar from the grocery store. Run it until warm, then cool - then warm, then cool - for several repeats. Let it sit a spell and do it again, etc. Then rinse the dude out and refill with your coolant mixture.

 

You know I've actually heard of that before! And I thought about, but wouldn't the acidic residue chew up the radiator? I was thinking you'ld need something to neutralize it maybe, before putting regular coolant back in it... I'll look into that...

 

i just tried to temp gun my engine and i got readings of 205-210 at the heads the upper hoses were both around 190 and the lower hoses were around 183. the gauge in the car read about 190

is this OK or am I too hot. I just swithed to straight 50 weight oil today - didn't change the action on my temp gauge much it usually tops out at about 190. it was a balmy 100 degrees here in central texas today.

any opinions - thanks

 

What pressure cap you have?

 

the cap is 13 lbs

 

This is the basic info of how pressure caps and common anti-freeze solutions change the boil-over temperature.


53 Crestline - If you use an acidic type system cleaner - like the vinegar - rinse the system by flushing with plain water several times then one final rinse and fill that contains about 1/3 cup of household ammonia. Makes it smell like the grade school gym - but the ammonia will neutralize any remaining acid in the radiator or engine block. After you let this last fill circulate a bit - dump it and fill the system with your desired coolant.

 

lol..smell like the grade school gym...love that.
I don't think I'm going to tackle that one just yet. I've got a buddy that knows a fantastic radiator guy and told me to give him a call. He's pretty sure that "his" buddy can rod the thing for about $120. S
I'll give him a call and get his .02 before getting messy.

Ran pretty at Back to the 50's this weekend though!!!

I'll keep posting any progress on it.

 

Well, I decided not to do any vinegar treatments or anything like that. She overheated and vapor-locked on me the coming home from fireworks the other night around 11:15PM with my wife, and two sleeping little boys in the back seat, in heavy, slow trafic. UGH! It's never gotten that hot to where it actually quit running and would not start back up before. It still didn't boil over or anything, but still pegged the temp gauge out. Anyway, that was the last straw.

Just going to bite the bullet and am planning on buying a new radiator from USRadiator. It's $425 for the radiator(OEM style, copper/br***) and $45 to ship it...tired of messing around with the thing and just want it to run right.

Unless anyone has a better place to buy a new one from.

I'll still keep this post updated when I get a new one put in and see how it performs.

 

Yes, Let us know if that works..I'm close to buying a radiator for mine and am thinking about getting the OEM style also but just hate to pay that kind of price and it not work any better than a cheaper one. My problem is I dont have the tools to fabricate anything so going with the OEM style helps in that area, but like i said it is the most expensive way it looks like. Good luck with yours I hope that fixes your heating problem

 

::UPDATE::

Hey all,

Well I finally go the new radiator in from USRAdiator...Copper/Br*** so it's looks basically stock. Very nice Radiator. 1) They put in a 3/4" radiator cap neck instead of the factory 1" neck, no biggie, just bought a new 7lb cap for $4; and 2) the tank on top doesn't "overhang" forward, like the factory radiator, to reach the air deflector, so I had to hammer out a nice little cowl out of sheet metal to close that gap. Again no biggie.

ANYWAY...As I had it all apart I figured I'd put 180 T-stats in (and take the new 160's out that I had in there) and see what it did at "factory spec"... Well it overheated on me within 2 miles.

However I yanked those new 180's and put the still new 160's back in last night and the car COOLS LIKE A CHAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Must have been a bad T-stat, which I'll return to NAPA this morning.

I still need to test her out on a hot day here, maybe this morning if it heats up enough.

But unless I write back, on here, I hope this chapter is closed!!! YAY!!! : )

Now on to the new "stumble" issue that's just shown up...another thread(sigh)

 

glad to hear you got the temp down! whats with the stumble?

 

forgive me if someone asked this already i didnt read through every post, did u check into your water pump? i chased an over heatingh issue on a 58 cadillac for a month befor relizing i had no idea where the water pump came from or the condition it was in. put a new pump in it and then sat in brooklyn traffic while it was about 100 degrees in the middle of august, never got above 190.

 

Vein, no idea, lol... I'm typing that up in a new post as we speak.

hellcat666, no prob, man! Yep, both water pumps were brand new with the rebuild last year, about 600 mile on it now. Still have my eye on the gauge, but it looks to me like a bad T-stat.

All good now! Thanks!

 

"ANOTHER" Update:

Well I thought I had it licked.... she runs perfect when I'm driving, but as soon as I have to idle through some traffic (fifteen minutes of), sure enough, up goes that gauge. CRIPES! Then of course the fuel starts to percolate a bit and it barely runs until I get it up to speed. But at that point it only took about 200 feet for it to cool down enough to start running correctly again....

WHAT THE!!!!!!!!!

So I'm going to wrap the float bowl and fuel line in header wrap, even though it'll look like ****, just to see if that help anything as far as how it runs...

A buddy of mine also mentioned to make a thin spacer(with a carb gasket on both sides of it) out of "phenolic", which I'm going to cut out a couple of today to help keep heat away from the carb, though I don't think that's the main issue, but if it helps, I'll try it.

Now I have noticed that directly under the carb, that the paint on the intake it a totally different color compared to the rest of the engine....it has a dark/burnt look to it. Again suggested by my buddy (who builds barrett jackson quality hot rods and drag races a car himself) that it's possible that it's the returning exhaust gas ports and is creating non-neccessary heat since it'll never be driven in the winter.

He asked if the guy that built it put in "block off" plates in the intake. I said I highly doubt it but would check.

Anybody heard of those intake exhaust block off plates?