I bought an old 52 Ford Victoria hardtop a week ago from a lady who bought it for an anniversary present for her husband 25 years ago. He p***ed away 8 years ago and the car has been sitting under a cover in a nice clean garage for the last few years. It's a nice old car. The brakes were locked up so had to free them and put new shoes on, got it running, (runs good) and now the radiator is leaking after it runs for a while. First flathead i ever owned (that ran) so don't know anything about em. Is it possible the radiator cap is bad/wrong and that is creating a pressure problem?
I'm working on one too and learning in the process. You can't fill the radiator up to the cap or the coolant will expand as it gets hot and come out the overflow tube. If it's leaking somewhere else than the overflow tube, you'll have to give us more details. If it's coming out the overflow, it will eventually stop when it gets hot enough that it finds its normal level of coolant.
Be real easy to have it pressure tested and most repair shops will do it for free. Only takea a minute or so and if it has any leaks it will show immediately. They can also test the cap at the same time. Takes out all the guess work.
I think mine's around an inch and a quarter below the filler neck when cold, but as long as you have a container at the end of the overflow tube to catch the excess, you can start with a little more coolant and let it find its own full level when hot. After it does, you can check the overflow container to potentially diagnose an overheating problem.
The Jalopy Journal
