Packard Forum Index » General

There's been volumes written on the subject with the usual obvious remedies. Some include oversize or aluminum radiators or electric radiator fans. I began to think, hey these cars ran well back in the day with factory radiators and belt driven fans, so what has changed??

Having disassembled two 51-54 327 engines and pressure washed the water passages from the water passages on top of then block I found an enormous amount of rust/crud coming out. Then to be doubly sure I removed the block core plugs and found about 1 to 1 1/2" of crud in the rearmost core plug.

What has changed is the effects of time. When a car is 2 or 10 years old vs. now when a car is 65 years old there's been much more time to rust and settle. When the crud settles it creates a hot spot which can result in localized boiling even though the temp gauge reads just a bit high. When the car is turned off and water is not circulating the boiling can release the pressure cap and thus "boil over".

If you encounter this situation and the usual fan belt/thermostat/backflush cures do not work try removing the rear core plug and let us know what you find. Stick your finger down into the water jacket. it's over 1" deep at that point. I used coat hanger wire to loosen it in all 5 core plugs.

Thoughts??

Would you recommend removing the core plugs from the get go on an engine that has been inactive for many years?
Not that hard to replace the core plugs on the side really?
John

Would you recommend removing the core plugs from the get go on an engine that has been inactive for many years?

Yes, absolutely. Localized overheating when it gets severe enough can be a precursor to cracked engine blocks! Core plugs are easy to install where you have adequate access to them - enough room to swing a hammer.

Also drop and clean the oil pan.

All excellent suggestions, removing welch plugs, and access covers to pressure wash and scrape deposits out of low flow areas in the block is the best way to go, IMO.

Also keep your timing light handy, in diagnosing overheating.

I've seen a few cases where the idle speed was slightly high, resulting in the mechanical advance partially kicking in, when the distributor timing was being set.

As a result the observed idle timing was on spec. but at higher engine speed the total advance was less, resulting in retarded timing, less performance, and over heating.

Getting the accumulated stuff out is important. Some of that crud was also part of the engine at one time. Some other things accumulated too but mostly iron oxides. Not all corrosion is uniform, so you may just have a block that's in bad shape and not much you can do about it except replace. I posted similar remarks several years ago now. You can assess the condition better if torn down for rebuild. Cast iron won't last forever with water based coolant running through it. If it's going to sit, drain and dry it out.

Mine has been drained out, willingly or not. All I know is there appears to be no water in the block. When that was done??? The hose between the AT cooler and water pump is rotten.....
John