Customs 1956 Chrysler New Yorker Custom That’s Been 30 Years in the Making

yeah no kidding. I need to brace myself for the bumper and trim coat when the time comes

 

yeah, 100% agree. The hood will be closed so I will spend that money somewhere else.
I was on the fence of gloss black with cream colored text or chrome. I like the chrome just a little more than the black…but not $450 more than the black

 

We sent the rocker arms, shafts and stands to Rocker Arms Unlimited in Redding, Ca for a rebuild. They also convert non adjustable rockers to adjustable by machining the hole/threads for adjusters. So I need to switch to these dimples covers or else I would run the stock chrome covers I already have.

 

I have been having the same debate on the Caddy 331 covers for my Merc. I would love to have them chrome, but also guessing that it will cost enough to make me paint them considering the only person that may even see the engine is me...

 

yeah, if we were building an open hoor hot rod, then I would be willing to pay the money for chrome...just doesn't make sense for a closed hood custom

 

I run black with orange on the letters.

 

The chrome would be nice (says the guy with nothing chrome under his hood).
As I understand, the prep work before the chroming is where most of the cost is concerned. The chrome process magnifies any minor defect. But maybe when you add the other parts to be chromed, they will cut you a deal on the covers.

 

good point. Maybe go for black now, then drop the covers off with the rest of the parts in one batch and see if they cut me a deal

 

Post pictures here when you get a chance

 

Quick update:
Still waiting for pistons and will likely be another 4-5 weeks. Billy started painting some of the misc parts while he was painting another black engine



Here are some more photos just for the heck of it

 

Quick update. Getting close. The heads are done and the machine shop is working on the cylinders and also balancing the rotation ***embly

 

Slow progress, but progress none the less. Rocker shafts came back from Rocker Arms Unlimited. They hard chrome & ground the shafts, converted the rockers to adjustable tips, added new bushings and radiused the tips.

Still waiting for the machine shop to finish their work on the block.

 

Question for you all, I am getting ready to drop the radiator off at a shop to be gone thru. I am trying to understand if I am better off using the stock rebuilt radiator or a new aluminum radiator. Beside the stock radiator fitting without modifications, are there any advantages or disadvantages with running an aluminum radiator?

@Gotgas what did you end up doing on your car?

 

In my experience, the stock radiator is much better looking, and a properly redone one will cool every bit as good as the aluminum one. I have a redone original in my '57 Chevy and it can idle all day in the summer and never seems to get hot.

That said, to get a br*** one redone is incredibly expensive today, and the aluminum ones do work really well (I've had several and run them without issue) for a fraction of the price. Like $200 for a new aluminum one vs. 8-900 for a redone br*** one. There are a handful of aluminum ones that have tanks and brackets shaped more similarly to the old style and they are better looking once they're painted, but those are usually only available for the most popular models.

It's going to come down to style points and if that is worth a big premium in price to you. It might be, seeing as the engine in this car is going to be a big focal point. Just like everything else about that engine though, the cool stuff doesn't come cheap.

 

@Squablow covered cost and looks.
https://northlandradiator.com/aluminum-vs-copper-br***-radiator-which-is-better/

 

Good points. The radiator was re-cored 20 plus years ago, but has been sitting so not sure what it will need until I drop it off. Planning to drop it off and see what the damage would be to get it sorted out, then will weigh that out with the aluminum options.

 

Was it recored and just never used? If so, it should be good to go, or have the radiator shop pressure test it, but 20 years of sitting empty shouldn't really hurt it at all. That's basically what happened with the radiator in my '57, someone had it redone for a project and never used it, it sat around unused but that didn't hurt it any and it still works great. You might be in luck.

 

For the first eight years, I had the stock radiator in it. I didn't recore it or anything, just cleaned it up and my dad painted it. It worked fine. Gloss black urethane on the upper tank, and a thin dusting of black lacquer on the fins.



It started leaking badly. I was going back-and-forth on recoring it, but I found a Cold Case radiator at the Summit scratch and dent area for about $200. We painted it up the same as before and dropped it in. I don't recall the P/N I used, but I think this might be it. I had to drill two new holes to mount it to the core support, but otherwise it fit just like the original and even uses the stock hoses.

The stock one might look a little better, but so far not one person has noticed. (sorry it's dirty here)

 

I used a generic Summit crossflow & welded ears on it to mount it.

 

The car radiator was used in the car for a few years (maybe 1,000 mikes) then parked for the past 15 years full of coolant. The heads had a bunch of gunk in the coolant p***ages so likely the radiator is also gunked up

 

Thanks for the link! I will see what the cost is to get my stock radiator sorted out and use this one as as back up. Do you notice a difference in performance between the br*** and aluminum radiators?

BTW, the engine looks good!

 

so a bit of bad news. A few holes were discovered in the bottom of the water jackets. If you look closely, you will see holes on the top side of the picture with arrows pointing towards them

 

Can't hit "like" on that one Matt...

 

yeah, it's a bummer to find this with all the machine work done. To add more context, they saw a real tiny pin hole and started poking which made the holes larger as you se the, now. The engine builder is going to start brazing the holes and see if that takes care of it. If that is able to work, we discussed also filling in the bottom of the block with BlockRock. He did a sonic test of these locations and it seems these are isolated. Will know more in the next few days

 

That's a bummer, although it does seem repairable.

 

Can they be tapped and a plug screwed in rather than brazing?

 

that stinks. It's a shame it didn't get caught before, but it's not like you can just go get another core down the street.
I don't know if this was a casting flaw or a freezing break. Considering it's at the bottom of the jackets, it could be either. I would advise a pressure test before ***embly. Better to find any issues while they are easily repaired.

With the cost of tools like this constantly falling, you might want to check into one.
This is pretty cheap. Maybe you could get one and have the shop learn with your block and let them keep it after. You trade the cost of the tool with them doing the work and being able to use it on others.
https://www.tequipment.net/Triplett/UTG300/Ultrasonic-Thickness-Gauges/
Grainger and others are double and more, but still fairly reasonable.

 

I believe I would try to silicon braze a patch over those. Someone who is really good with TIG could fix that for sure.

 

Or drill it out & weld in something.

 

What about just installing sleeves?