Technical Doing a valve job the old way

46 years ago Debbie and I started out from Pocahontas en route to Rockford in a 1940 Packard. Hot July summer day. And by the time I got to St Louis it was overheating. I drained the block and radiator. And refilled with pure antifreeze. and I was able to continue without any more problems.

 

Been kinda watching this from a distance. That is one cool ride. That would be a fine push car at the race track.

 

Winchester Speedway had one years ago, for an ambulance though.

 

They had Shutterstats and were operated by a thermostat in the top radiator tank. In stead of thermostats in the water necks. I have had many 322 and 346 Cad. and LaSalles only blew a head gasket in one on the way to ElPaso . Even pulling a trailer from Florida to Texas with my 39 Cad Ambulance with the back half of the roof cut off to make a pickup and pulling another one behind it, it never overheated.

 

Love those old Cadillacs. I've actually put quite a few miles on a flathead Caddy. My dad and Grandpa had several of them, and when my grandpa got older, I would drive him around in his 41 Cad Coupe. Lots of low end torque, and the old hydro would go through the gears so fast you'd be in high before crossing the intersection! Can't wait to see more of this adventure.

 

thanks....the car is at my brother's house in Tucson, he's mostly waiting for the weather to cool down, so he can tinker with it some more. And I'm busy building my Barracuda for Drag Week...which is over by mid September. Then I'll get back to work on the LaSalle, and we'll get it road worthy. It's not too keen on hot weather.

 

Hadnt seen this one but noticed talk of a lesalle in your vacuum wiper thread so looked back and saw this.
Wasnt expecting a hearse,Pretty cool, looks like she cleaned up pretty good too.
Halloween week is comin up pretty quick! Any updates or a new thread for this adventure?

 

I plan to start a new thread when we head out on the road. Still working on the overheating issue...today my brother dropped off the radiator to get it rodded out,and I did a little more work on the water pump. We've been doing some experimenting, and it's getting close...and we have a back up plan that should get it so we can drive the car ok. The cruise and stereo are in the car, we plan to get the rear compartment construction done this weekend.

The engine has somewhere around a thousand miles on it now, still running great, not leaking any oil, might be burning a little, but not noticeable. The dipstick is neat, it has 3 lines for being one to three quarts low--I guess they expected you to run it till it got to the bottom one, then add three quarts! It holds 7 quarts. No oil filter. I guess we'll plan to change the oil pretty often.

 

I've put a lot of miles on a Cadillac 347 flathead. Small bore, loooong stroke. They really like to pull at low rpms.

 

yup, unfortunately this one has some pretty serious rear end gears, 4.something

 

Yours must have just a bit more bore and/or stroke than the 346 Cadillac Flathead that I have.

 

Don't you know, everything is bigger in Texas!

 

Prolly a "Zim" brand, made in Chicago, with a carbide cutting bit. Sears and Roebuck used to sell them. I still have 2 and watch at swap meets and garage sales for them... usually $5-$10 at swaps, $0.50 at garage sales.

I have a great old Blackhawk (?) orbital seat grinder from my grandfather, but have done lots of long-lasting valve jobs by cutting the valve faces true and then lapping in. Just lapping? not so great. I pulled apart one set of OT VW heads and the valves were so deeply lapped that the valve heads were about to break!

Lastly, a pic of me cutting a valve for an OT engine on my little Unimat lathe. I use carbide lathe bits from Harbor Freight, and also grind the top surface of the stem with cheap diamond discs from HF with lathe set up as a mill.

 

how big of a tire and rim can you go up to?

 

Was an article in Popular Hot Rodding mid-60s, guy had a chopped 34 coupe land speed racer with Caddy flathead (V12 I think). Article said his dad had a collection of restored Cadillacs and a garage full of engine parts...

 

The 16" tires and wheels that are on it, are staying on it.

 

Joe Panack at Roto-Faze

 

Make sure the timing is set bang on,mine is a 37 and it will run hot with the timing too far advanced,is hard to start when hot like that too.i think it is set at 5 degrees ahead,there should be 2 marks on the pulley.I love the one in my 37,it will idle at about 300 rpm,sounds like a sewing machine,keep your coated manifolds and wrap the front exhaust pipe for about 3 feet out from them,it will help keep the heat out of the engine bay.Good Luck with your trip. Harvey

 

thanks!

We've played with timing and got it as close as we can...

 

Jim, Just a little off topic for this thread, but that's not your 55 Chevrolet on that auction site we all know and love is it? Say it is't so! Still a nice car if it's not. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

It used to be mine, I sold it a couple years ago to a fellow in Tucson.

 

Looks like it's for sale. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

That’s correct... years ago when I did valve jobs. We had an electric lapping tool and it would go back and forth(not spin) a little valve grinding compound, lap them, pull the valve out wipe it off and look at your dull lap mark. Lapping was also a nice check for your grinding of the seat and valve. Also a little piece of tape. Light pressure when lapping kept things moving correctly.


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Took the LaSalle for a little spin. Tucson to Chicago to Los Angeles and back to Tucson. I guess you really can get away with doing this with an old engine.

Sent from my Trimline

 

You'll probably be lucky if one in ten people appreciate and understand the deeper significance of this sentence, as well as your participation in the Lemons Rally in this car. This goes for the Edsel and the Corvair as well.

The pursuit of absolute perfection can often be a fool's journey.

 

Ummmm yeah just that easy !! Lol

What are the plans for the old girl now? Or just drive it untill it goes back to sleep?

 

????? Isn't others that are in disbelief?

 

Nice to hear. You can almost feel the LaSalle smile.


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and don't forget........there is still life in the car, and a whole lot more history to add........