Chris, I would be interested in what your learn about getting it repaired. Could you drop me a note when you know unless you don’t mind putting it out here.

I think I saw Max Merrit had rebuilt when I was looking to price a replacement for my '41. Some prior mechanic wedged a bolt in the connector to the unit to keep the shutters open on mine. But then, it is a Florida car.

The fan belt is in good shape so I won't be needing to take it off this time although I am sure this engine mount repair looms somewhere down the road. I did have to call in reinforcements in the form of a friend who is much more experienced and much more fearless about doing all things mechanical. With his aid we got the belt off the pulleys and the water pump out. Hopefully it will all be going back together after I get back from vacation.

So in that case, should I normally be expecting something akin to the Chevy belt referenced earlier, and that the fan belt should easily slide over one of the pulleys without having to try removing the water pump pulley or the generator?

OK, I thought I could do this without asking how, but nothing is easy. I am trying to get the fan belt off the pulleys on the '41 180 so I can replace the water pump. The fan blade is off and the generator has been slid as close to the block as it will go. The belt is definitely loose, but not loose enough to flop off the generator or water pump pulley. I am not looking to replace the fan belt, just get it off the pulleys. From what I have read in other posts, I realize I may have to raise the engine somewhat when I get to unbolting the water pump, but I don't think that is necessary for this step of getting the belt off. Is there any suggestion anyone can offer? When I do this on my '74 Chevy V8, loosening up the alternator gives more than enough slack to just flop the belt out with no problem. Please don't tell me I need to remove the generator.

The plug came out easily enough. So easily that I got a sleeve full of coolant up my coveralls. I wonder if a drain cock will fit in in place of the plug.

I got the fan blade off. Not much working room there so I am wondering how on Earth am I going to get those screws started when I go to put it back on. Also, the upper radiator hose had to come off in order to get the fan out of the engine compartment.

I was able to get the lower back bolt on the generator loosened so I was able to get a little slack in the fan belt with a little bit of prying so I was able to turn the fan to get to each of the bolts holding it on. I don't see how I can possibly get anything on the front bolt to allow more slack so I can get it off the pulleys. I'll be back at it in a few days.

If I am understanding correctly (I may not be) are you saying to try and remove the inner screw with the hex head?

I will put some penetrating oil on it and let it sit for a day or two. I have to go buy a ratcheting wrench anyways to get to the fan bolts and not scar up the radiator fins.

Next pondering- looks like I will have to loosen the generator to get slack in the fan belt. Top bolt is easily accessible and loosened without much ado. Looks like the bottom one will be more difficult to get to.

Boy oh boy, am I finding with every little bit of maintenance that I plan to or attempt to do on this Senior car, that it is waaay different than on the pretty easy and straightforward ‘37 Six. Rather than just tear things apart willy nilly and start wrenching on things I don’t have to, I’m going to ask some pretty obvious questions to protect my car from me. Please bear with me. My first question is in regard to the radiator drain. Is the circled item the radiator drain? There is all sorts of shielding around the bottom front of the car and hopefully I won’t have to take it off. Also, if this is the drain, it would appear that there is an Allen head set screw down the middle. Do I need to do anything there?

Attach file:

---

  7C116A05-13DA-42CF-918C-1C355574E42D.jpeg (807.33 KB)

I'm hoping to install the new and newly painted water pump this week. Assuming no issues arise removing the old one, when it comes to assembly I'm wondering what everyone else does about the gaskets. My father used shellac on almost all the gaskets he was putting on. My friend with a Model A says he uses exclusively RTV on his gaskets. Thoughts? I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

Here is a picture taken by me on my last visit to the museum in 2010. This is the tag on the Dietrich in question. It is mounted on the driver side in front of the front door. Just a photo for info purposes as Ozstatman took better and more pictures of the car than I did.

If anyone is interested in seeing the other pictures I took that day, this should link you to the album. I am not a great photographer.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hqkbEv2yrS5GLYFQ8

Attach file:

---

  body tag.jpg (148.69 KB)