There's that 5 blade engine fan I spent years looking for downunder - they do exist! Don't need it now though as have fitted a flex fan instead. John

G'day Boys, good to see my old project up and running. By the way, the steering box is Ford Fairlane, the earlier Aussie version that also used a power steering ram. The rotor button that I'm using was sourced for me by the previous owner of my '56 Patrician. In fact he sent me a couple of them, plus a couple of distributor caps. They are all NAPA but the rotor button is a # RR159, and the cap # RR158. Ross' rotor button number is not exactly the same and I don't know what the difference is. In any event I still have a spare button so I'll give it to Warren to test. The one in the Patrician has worked without fail for a few years now so I'm guessing it must have the same physical dimensions as Ross'. Regards, John

G'day Fellas, I know I've commented about radiators and engine fans before but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the thread where I did this. Anyway, this one seems appropriate to mention the upgrades I've recently made to my Patrician. When I did make those comments, I received a PM from JW telling me how he handled the fan issue and that got me thinking I could do that too.

Essentially, my problem had been trying to find a 6 bladed fan with a centre pilot hole of 1.25", and my search turned up zero. The alternative approach involves spacing a fan with the conventional sized pilot hole (5/8") in front of the existing water pump boss, enlarging the bolt holes to suit the boss and bolting it all together. Sounds simple but it takes a bit of trial and error and I couldn't bolt it all together with the radiator in place. So, while it was out I decided to get it recored while I was fiddling with the fan.

As it happened, I had a 7 bladed flexi-fan in the shed which had been removed from an old Ford a few years ago. It's a little bit smaller in diameter (about 17.5"), but I'm hoping the extra blades will more than compensate for the smaller size. The fan was actually stencilled "Made in Canada" but I don't know by whom. I machined a spacer to mount it forward of the pump boss and an adapter that neatly fitted into the pump boss on one side and the pilot hole in the fan on the other. A pic below shows the first version of these but the spacer had to be slimmed down a bit and I made a new adapter, the same shape as the one shown, but taking account of the new size of the spacer. The end result has the fan spaced about 1/2" from the radiator and a similar distance from the A/C idler pulley. The fan blades actually flatten out towards the radiator so clear the idler pulley comfortably.

The radiator recore is made by Redback here in Aus and I was told it has many more tubes and fins that the old one, and the tubes are apparently fluted inside to slow water flow. It has 13 fins per inch and, while still three row, is apparently as good as a more conventional four row radiator. At approx $750, I certainly hope so. It's maiden voyage was last weekend and the temp guage went to about 1/4 and just stayed there. I ran the A/C for awhile and it didn't change, although it was just a nice sunny day. We'll know more when we get into the usual red hot Aussie summer days. John

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G'day Fellas, I've got an update on the polyurethane bush issue we were discussing awhile ago. I did a fair bit of research and came up with an option for the eyelet bushes, but nothing yet for the pivot bushes. I've now installed the poly bushes and refitted the bar and it all seemed to come together pretty well. The bushes I used are "cotton-reel" style (ie, one piece) but they are easily installed into the eyelets with the aid of a vice. They are made by Superpro (part #SPF2178-16K) in Aus, so I don't know if they're availale in the US.

The pics below show the bushes and some installed into the bar. The rubber bushes on the pivot were still in good condition so I reused them. If I can't find a poly alternative for them I might have to get some raw stock and try to make them.

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Just a word of caution. When I purchased new upholstery fabric for my '56 Patrician from SMS, I also bought a premade carpet kit for it as well. The fabric was fine and looked pretty much identical to the original to me, but the carpet was poor quality and the cutting and sewing even worse. Nothing fitted properly, so much so that one side was way too short to fit under the sill trim plates and the other side too long requiring trimming. I've tried to cover up the imperfections but I still know that they're there and it detracts from what was supposed to be a full retrim, apart from the headlining. John

G'day Mates, I was talking to a friend recently and we got onto this topic. He told me about F100 aftermarket brake booster/pedal kits and gave me a copy of the relevant page. I haven't looked into it any further as yet but throw it into the ring for consideration and comment. Has anyone investigated and rejected it as a potential conversion option?

Cheers, John

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G'day Men, since I kicked this topic off I thought it time for an update. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the value of installing a water injection system, I've put that possible project on hold until I can dig up more information. I have however, done a couple of things which appear to be helping in controlling pinging and vapor lock.

Like Andrew, I installed a 0.25" phenolic spacer between the carby and manifold, and retarded the timing a little. The distributor and vac advance were reco'ed a couple of years ago so need to do that again. I'm also trialling a Peter Packard recommendation of replacing the water coolant with a mixture of a "water wetter" additive and de-mineralised water. No problems with this so far, but it's still winter over here so I haven't been able to test the car in a stinking hot day like we often get in summer.

Apart from this, I haven't yet gone down the track of a new heavy duty radiator core but may find it necessary to do that in the future. I've also been trying to find a 6 bladed fan to fit the water pump boss but this has proved to be an impossibility thus far. One idea I'm toying with is seeing if the boss on the water pump can be changed for one that will allow a different range of fans to be considered. That will also mean another fan pulley to suit and I don't know yet what's available. A smaller diameter pulley would have the water pump spinning faster, which could be helpful for cooling at low rev's. I haven't done enough homework on this though to know whether it's a good idea and achievable.

Cheers for now, John

G'day Matt, I too enjoyed the Hawksbury Nationals but had a bit further to go than you this time. My '56 Patrician is auto and has a 3.54 diff and I can't hear it at all. We from the southern states took our time travelling up to Hawksbury and back home, mostly at around 85 - 95 kph (approx 50 - 60 mph), and we covered nearly 2,000 Km's (approx 1,200 miles). I kept mileage records and averaged 19.8 mpg (16.4 mpg US) which I thought was great for such a heavy old girl. In my view, a higher diff ratio might have improved mileage a little when cruising, but maybe not so good on hilly areas which could have the tranny dropping out of lock-up or even down to first. Cheers, John

As we're moving house I'm going through a lot of old stuff and came across this article in January 1955 Popular Mechanics. Most of you will probably be familiar with it but it's the first time I've read it and found it quite interesting, particularly where comment is made about a lifter failing.

Apart from this, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. John

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Ron, I've never seen Marvel Mystery Oil for sale here but Flashlube is an upper cylinder lubricant readily available from all auto stores in Oz. If you want, you can also buy a Flashlube injector system to meter it out, or you can simply pour it into the petrol tank (1 mil : 1 litre petrol), which I do on my '56 Patrician. Cheers, John