Yeah, like I said, it only 'looks' identical. My '39 is no pressure and now that you mention it Don, yes I do have the shutter T-stat mechanism in mine. Regardless, $400 is decent value for basically a new rad for anyone 'in the market'.
And yes, the Canadian/US $$ conversion is most annoying. A few years back, it was the other way around, but the greenback has crept back up and Canucks are forking out over 30% on the dollar for exchange. It REALLY adds up!!!

$400 was more 'priced to sell'.... $500 is okay, but you may find you'll sit on it for quite a while. $800 CDN is about $590 US, so with shipping, it would be a wash.... just sayin'

That's a score!! Where were you a month ago - I just paid $800 Canadian to have my '39 rad re-cored! The '41 'looks' identical?? It made a big difference in the 'cooling performance' of the car. (along with a new water pump and T-stat, etc.) Anybody that is even thinking about upgrading their cooling circuit should look closely at this.

Hey David,

Appreciate you weighing in.... Yes, I do have the heat shield between the carb and the manifold and I believe there is a thick 'spacer' twixt the carb and the shield. (I will check)

Re the heat riser valve, mine is nice and free after considerable work soaking it in Freeall and working it from the frozen state it was in when I got the car. I also procured a new spring from Brian DeBoeck in Calgary and have installed that.

To recap on the heat riser valve: weight down is the 'open' position; the spring holds it in the 'up' or 'closed' position cold and opens it as the engine warms.... sound correct????

Thanks Brian. BTW, I got the heat riser spring installed and it seems to work fine - many thanks.

Hi Joe, thanks for the post; no, I do not have the rebuilt carb on as of yet, and your report gives me a faint glimmer of hope. MAYBE the 'next' rebuilt will be different/better than the last one. I purchased both from an outfit called Carb X in El Monte CA; anyone have any experiences with them????

Also - IS there a heat shield gasket between the exhaust and intake manifold on the 245???

And, does my 'valve clearance, outhouse-engineering' make any sense to those in the know????

Dan - I wish I had kept track of the NUMBER of things this COULD be based on all the suggestions from the kind folks out there!!! That's the problem - it could be any one of a million things.... I have no base line from which to begin the diagnosis. The car was this way when I bought it and I now presume that is why I got it at the 'priced to sell' cost that I did.

If I knew it ran properly at some point, and now didn't, I would have (I think) a better shot at eliminating possible causes, but alas, I have no freaking clue as to what is wrong. If you could hear this engine start, run and idle, I'm sure you'd share my frustration. Everything is great, until you drive it. 1st and 2nd gear, under 20 MPH with no load, I'm sure I could go for hours, but as soon as the engine is put under load, (like going up a hill or heavy acceleration) then as soon as you come to a stop, it just dies. No sputter, no miss or backfire, it just 'runs out of revs' and coasts to a halt. 30 seconds later, it restarts and the foregoing can be repeated ad nauseum. The engine is properly timed, has good compression, oil pressure, doesn't smoke or use oil, idles beautifully, etc., etc., etc.

Further to your suggestion - does anybody out there know if there is supposed to be a heat shield between the exhaust and intake manifold on that 245 CID six??? Any way I can check to see if it exists and is functioning?????

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the suggestion! I will check it out. I have had a guy helping me with the car who I consider to be extremely knowledgeable and he is absolutely convinced it is a fuel delivery issue. I am not convinced, as I had changed the carb for an out-of-the-box rebuilt when I bought the car and it did not make a whit of difference in the stalling.

Since 'David' has been helping me, we have pulled the gas tank (again; I had done it once before) and we found the pickup tube would not hold a vacuum. We also found that we were getting air pressure build-up in the fuel line. We remade the pickup tube out of copper and reinstalled everything. We also replaced the steel fuel line which, as far as I could tell, looked like it was original. It had crap in it and we found sediment in the carb that had gotten by the inline filter. 'David' suggested that maybe the rebuilt carb had gotten plugged up from this containment in the fuel line and that was causing the stalling. I have ordered another carb at considerable expense and now, with the re manufactured stainless tank, new pickup, new pump, new steel AND rubber fuel lines going to an out-of-the-box rebuilt carb, I figure if it still stalls (which I think it will) I/we can rule out fuel supply/delivery/carburetion.

After that, all I can think of is two things (unless there is something extraordinarily weird inside the engine) and that is valve clearance and distributor. If I can explain my thinking... if the valves were set cold with the clearance they were supposed to have when they were hot, when they DID get hot, they would be too tight and would not seal when they closed - thus the stalling after the engine is put under load and lack of power. (car bogs and won't 'go' in 3rd gear on a flat piece of road) and as far as the distributor goes, my thinking is if it is advancing with the centrifical weights under load and not returning quickly enough, the car could stall.

I am going to try the new carb - then investigate the valve clearances and then the distributor (which I have changed by the way, for a NOS unit that had never been installed before) and then I am going to dump the car and get out of this hobby altogether as I have never had such a long, convoluted, frustrating time trying to get something diagnosed and repaired in my life and if this is 'classic cars' it ain't for me!!!!

Just an update my progress, I spent another 6 hours on the car today. Dropped the gas tank and removed the pickup/sender unit assembly. We tested it with a vacuum pump and it leaked down right away. We tried to make a new pickup tube out of steel fuel line but could not even come close to getting it to bend in the sharp 90 deg needed. We switched to semi rigid copper and had somewhat better success - at least we ended up with a new tube soldered into the sending unit flange that does not leak. We put it all back together thinking we had at last figured it out and took it for a drive. First hill where it needed gas under load and it stalled. We looked in the fuel filter and it was nearly empty. We waited for the standard 30 seconds and the car started right up and we drove it back to the shop. In taking the fuel line off at the carb and activating the pump, we noticed all kinds of bubbles in the gas being delivered - has to be air!!!! The only thing left is the pump itself and so I pulled it out and we put it on the vacuum pump and sure enough, it leaked as well. Not as bad as the pickup tube but definitely would not hold a vacuum. It had a small metal filter threaded into the intake side and that's where it appeared to be sucking air. We took it all apart and sealed the threads and reassembled it and it does not leak now. We were, however, out of time and the re-installation and further testing will have to wait for another day.....
My mechanic friend is still absolutely convinced this is a fuel issue and while, I agree there ARE indeed fuel issues, I am still not convinced the stalling business is fuel. Oh well, we'll put it all back together and see what happens. If that doesn't do it, I am not sure what we will do next!?!?! VERY frustrating!!!!

That IS helpful Steve - thanks!! Chris