Hot rods of the '30s & '40s look bad ass with out their hoods, but what happens when rolling down the highway and it starts raining? Do you run for cover or will the hot engine keep you going? Just wondering.
No different than motorcycles, a little rain doesn't do much harm, just makes a mess. But I will say, I always squirt WD-40 into my plug boots and my distributer cap at tune-up time, but I've never had any water issues with open engines.
I did, however keep a roll of duct tape under the seat to cover the front half of the air cleaner, water ruins the element anyway, but at least you can make it home.
im not hoodless , but from m/c racing , if the carbs are covered , as an air cleaner or some type of cover , rain should not be a problem . now an open , fenderless , hoodless roadster could be a problem . ive rode m/c's in rain , snow & most any weather you can imagine . you just keep goin ! ... steve
Somewhere someone has a photo of me shaking the water out of the air cleaners on my 23T at Waco in about 1974. We had a 8 inch rain in a matter of 4 hours and my wife and I decided that we positively had to drive the T from McGregor to Waco in the rain that night. Having the coil mounted up under the dash and just the coil wire going through the firewall helped. New cap and wires and lots of WD-40 helped. We got so wet even the cash in my wallet in my hip pocket was wet but we had a hell of a good time and it proved that the T was up to anything after that. Wise, no, fun, maybe maybe not but we didn't let rain keep us from our original plans. Would I do it again, probably not but it won't keep me from taking the next open car out on a road trek even if the weather might turn sour.
I've got caught in some MAJOR downpours and the engine never skipped a beat. I was soaked to the bone though!!
I drove my coupe for two hours once in a steady down pour. No problems. I regularly encounter rain here in the summer.
As long as mine is running and hot its fine. If the spark plugs holes on the flathead heads fill with water its wont start.
Just dont park them in the rain with the air cleaners not covered. The hold down bolt will leak water into the motor and hydro lock it. Nothing worse than hitting the switch to bend a rod
Got cought in the rain lots of time,s but the flathead just keeps pluging along... Windshild throws water at me though..
I have drove my 33 in the rain without a problem ...I have an electronic distributor and good plug wires ...if only the wipers worked that good.....
Me and Dirty31 drove back to texas from bowling green in the rain and he was in a roadster with no top.
Got caught in the rain in Waco one year. Car did fine coming home. With no fenders you don't have many tailgaters. 20 ft. rooster tails.
My take on it is your not a real hot rodder unless you drive in the rain.Makes for some very interesting stories. My T was hoodless with a scoop for a air cleaner. turned it backwards and put on my oil skins!!( Fishermen rain cloths) and hit the highway. Only trouble I had was no wipers and rain X didn`t do anything. Thanks!! for reminding me of that trip!!
As long as the car was moving or running, I've never had a problem. Always cover the breather when the car is parked and don't forget to take the cover off before you start the engine, unless you like the look of caved in breathers.
My daily driver Chevy pick-em-up has a louvered hood. The truck is outside 24x7x365. Rain and melting snow go right down onto the engine. So what, no problem (and this is an injected motor with plenty of electrical conenctions). If you want to go large, Ferrari's have engine bays that are open to the elements. Just some expanded wire mesh in between. They are built to be driven, damn, raced in the rain, and no problemo. So, personally I would not worry about it.
My buddy had a car with louvered hood and paper filter. Heavy rain flooded motor and hydrod it when he tried to start it. If running in the rain, should be no problem until the filter plugs up, or you ingest it. But it does wash the motor nicely. Gary
I remember talking to Rolf near Seattle and he mentioned that the plug wires of his coupe getting wet was a pain in the ass. I've been bouncing that around in my head for awhile as I've been gathering parts for my own coupe. It seems like you guys have figured out way to overcome it, but I found something pretty neat this summer. I bought a running 302 GMC out of a 6X6 army troop transport for cheap money. Besides it being a monster 6 cylinder, it still had all the crazy all terrain gadgets and gizmos on it like the air compressor for on-the-fly inflating and deflating of the tires and a snorkel on the 2 bbl Holley. The coolest thing though is the sealed distributor. The spark plug wires are sheathed in a thick rubber coating and braided copper. Each one is sealed to the block and the distributor with a little threaded cap. I get the impression you could essentially drive it underwater anywhere depending on the length of the snorkel, but I have been thinking about trying to duplicate the sheathe spark plug wires on my own more utilitarian coupe build ... those braided copper wires look cool as hell. Anyone ever do something like this for a homemade application? Maybe it's overkill ... but you know how it is.
The Jalopy Journal
