Projects New Project: 1953 Oldsmobile

It probably was moved for the 455. There about an inch or two gap between the water pump and the electric fan.


And good lord, the make cooling great again gave me a good laugh.


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It just dawned on me that the voltage will constantly drop after the start up since the battery is being replenished and the demands of the alternator go down,if it does not go any lower then 13 you should be fine and you might be thinking too much and maybe never had much of a problem. None of my older vehicles have a volt gauge and when I do put a meter on it to check they usually start out at around 14.5 after the initial start and slowly go down towards 13 after it runs for a little bit.

 

That’s possible, but either way, I’ve got to get these temps down. I’ve crept over 220 before going down the highway. Plus, it’s crazy how hot things get just to the touch under the hood.


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Ok, made an airdam:


It’s sit a couple inches below the bumper, but it’s still a good 6-7” forward of the radiator. It’s the best place I could find to mount it. If it doesn’t work, this is the same spot I’m not object to cutting open to open the airway into the radiator. Mike, I’d be interested in your take on it. It’s not feeding to anything, just damming the air below the radiator. I’ve run out of time to test it tonight. It’ll be a test in the morning on my way to a doctor appointment.


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Ok, definitely saw some improvement this morning.

Lowest I saw the alternator dip at idle was 12.8, and that was brief. Usually idle would be about 13.3, driving would range from 13.8-14.1.

Engine temps stayed between 180-190 driving in town. I took the highway back. Stayed 195 most of the way, then started creeping up to 205. Usually on the highway, I’ll hit 220 pretty quickly.

I still think I should try to get the temps down further.

I need to find a more permanent way of sealing off the sides of the radiator. Not sure if dynamat can hold up to the temperature long term. I could probably pick up some square tubing that would fit in place.

Also, I know cutting is usually a bad word when not 100% necessary, but I believe cutting above the dam to direct the air into the radiator could be beneficial.

Here’s a better picture of the dam again;



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This maybe causing more of turbulance issue rather then good air flow

 

Ok, bit of an update.

I decided to swap over to the mechanical fan and ditch the electric and it’s shroud.

First off, I’m a dumbass. When removing the electric fan, I managed to do this:


Fortunately, that was a quick and fairly cheap fix from a shop down the street.

I also swapped the thermostat and re-positioned the airdam.

The new fan is amazing. It’s a 20” fixed blade. I can feel it moving air from beside the car. It’s also hella loud. Sounds like a damn jet going down the highway, but I’ll get used to it.

Here’s everything back together:


Now for the results and a couple of guesses:

Temps look great. Car heats up to 180 and bounces between 180/195. From what I have read about thermostats, this is perfectly normal. Car will cruise down the highway and stay in this same range. The voltage also stays at 14.3ish when cruising, and won’t drop below 13.8 when idling.

So as far as I’m concerned, cooling and charging are fixed. I think this whole time I really just needed to change out the fan. I believe the electric was weak and along with the shroud, blocked more air than it moved. I think my voltage issues were coming from the electric fan trying to keep up.

Thanks again to all for the help, suggestions, and ideas. You guys make hotrodding survivable.


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Oh, also fixed the gap between the radiator and the front clip. Just added another piece of square tubing instead of the spacers.



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Run a 160 thermostat . A1966 Olds came with a 160. A 190-205 thermostat is a smog deal.
A hotter engine makes less smog. Why do people insist on using a electric fan when the stock fan will fit?

 

Electric fans draw a lot of amps on start-up, mine is rated at 21 amps and I see the volt gauge take a dip when it comes on, but maybe a 1/2 volt and the engine RPM drops if I'm at idle or moving slow. My alternator is a GM 63v.

My main fan is a Derale 17" flex fan that works good. I modified a Chevelle shroud to fit my car. I had a gap to fill between the shroud and radiator on both sides, a trip to Ace for some aluminum angle and a little Bridgeport time later they were done. Electric fans as a main-fan are good on newer cars, not so much on hotrods in my opinion.

 

You made two changes at the same time, so it's not entirely clear which one made the difference.

If the fan noise is annoying, you might want to consider a less aggressive fan and see if the square tubing is what did the trick.

 

A few updates at one time.


First off, holy crap. Worst placed master cylinder ever. Up against the frame with the lines running through it.




Anyway, got it swapped. Turns out I had a broken rear line as well. Re-flared the line and got it all fixed up. Brakes are amazing now. No need for a booster at all like I thought before.


Just a cool shot I got from the house being built across from me:




And finally, on to today’s adventure:


I called a tow truck, and it was gonna run $200 to tow it a few miles, so I limped it to my grandmothers house instead because it was close.




I thought the ball joints broke, turns out it was a control arm shaft bolt.



Anyway, several hours later and only a $6 bolt, the car is up and running again.



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if you could get it to move in that condition you are better than the rest of us!!

 

No ball joints on a 53, uses king pins.

 

Desperate times, desperate measures. Haha I’m broke.


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It’s got a nova front clip.


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Things have been going pretty well the last week or so. Before that was another colossal pain.

So, problems first...


This is my fault, and I’ll totally admit it. I lost a bolt on the driveshaft going down the road. I must have left off a lock washer or something when I last replaced the u joint. (This happened a week after the control arm incident.)

The u joint was torched by the time I got home, so I had to find a new one. Holy crap. What a pain. Over a week, I seriously spent around 8 hours driving back and forth to various parts store to find the right u joint.

And this was as close as I got:


I finally learned how to properly measure the damn thing and ordered a new one from amazon. One problem down.

While I had the car up on stands, I decided to fix up the sway bar and replace the shocks.



It rides so much better now.


Car has been running well for a while now, which means something is about to break.

On another note, daily driving in the rain sucks with no defroster.



And with everything that has happens lately, this is how I feel every time I hit the highway:



May drive out to Lampasas this weekend (about a 3 hour round trip). I let you know when and where I break down. Haha



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I don't have any personal experience with the product, but maybe this would help?

 

good stuff^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^used it my 37 years ago.

So why is the defroster not working?

 

That sounds amazing. I’ll look into that!


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My heater core started leaking a while back. I just bypassed the whole thing. Too many other things to fix for me to worry about staying warm in Texas. Haha


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How did the the engine fair with all that rain and the louvers?

 

I put my car together with mostly NEW hardware, NEW parts, no shortcuts and I'm still fixing things all the time.

 

It’s does fine in the rain when I’m driving. I keep a small tarp in the truck to lay over the air cleaner when I park. I want to get a caddy air cleaner so I won’t have to worry about it anymore.


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WTF.


I’m just trying to get to work and the brand new $80 effing ujoint decides to blow up. And spicer doesn’t want to warranty it.


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Took the rear end yoke with it.... maybe the shaft end too? Was it fully seated into the rear end yoke, any vibration since it was changed? I blew a Lakewood blow-proof joint in my Nova stock car one night at Islip, last lap, leading the feature going into the 3rd turn it let go. The rear yoke was okay, it decimated the end of the driveshaft which I had made up... and had to make another.

 

What’s crazy, is everything besides the u joint seems to be fine. I’ll get a better look at it later (finally got to work later). The driveshaft and yoke are fine. Hell, the ujoint is almost fine. It’s the butterfly ends that got ripped off. I’ll get a better picture of it later.

It looks like I tried to launch the hell out of it, but I was just about to pull into traffic. Thank God it went before I was in the middle of the street.





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Something had to be loose. I tend to buy new u-clamps and nuts, or at least new nuts when I dive into a strange car build. How easy did the u-joint cross fit into the rear yoke?

 

I would check to see that the yoke is not bent. If it was not flat across the mounting surface, it may crack the joint when the joint is tightened to the yoke.