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Quote:How about "steam cleaning"?

By "steam cleaning" I'm thinking if you squirt a little water down the carb, once the engine is up to operating temperature, it'll steam clean the combustion area. Theory is the heat generated in the combustion process would convert the water to steam, which would act on any carbon deposits to break them up and exit the broken up deposits through the exhaust system.
Probably not a good idea, but I think I've heard of this being done. How successful? I don't know. Plus, in the past, I've heard of "water injection" being used on some engines, so maybe it's OK? A little research on that fount of all wisdom, Wikipedia, found this. But it doesn't help with my theory!

I have heard of what Mal has said. Other options include running a little diesel in your gasoline (one qt per tank), Marvel Mystery Oil, or other such snake oils. I think all those might work as preventative measures after the initial cleaning.

Honestly, unless you're having symptoms of excessive carbon buildup (compression ratio significantly higher than spec, pinging under load when timing is sat, overheating at load...), I wouldn't worry about it! I found mine when I couldn't make the engine run smooth and quiet. I'm almost there now.

I don't think it will clean all of the excess carbon buildup, but seafoam or berryman b12 supposedly removes carbon fairly well...

and Mal, this video might interest you:

youtu.be/2ySSEzqEa_k

Quote:
Yes, VERY interesting!
Just goes to show, best not to take my comments seriously.

On the coolant mystery - the books are different. The 1937 service manual says the capacity is 20 qts, the 1938 service manual that covers both years says the '37 capacity is 17 qts.

I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I think I'm close enough.

Another few weeks, another handful of crud...

Filled the car with evaporust, and in 82 miles, the block turned the evaporust black, and plugged the gano filter! All good, except I boiled over about 3 miles from home, which makes a mess! More evaporust is coming, and I'll try again.

One question. The book calls for a 147 degree thermostat, if you aren't using the heater (i.e. not winter time). I don't have the heater hooked up right now. I'm running a 160 degree thermostat.

Should I be looking for a slightly cooler thermostat?

Ken, the 147 degree thermostats were used before permanent type anti freeze was available. An alcohol type was used in those days and the low boiling point of this type is why the low temp thermostats were used. You should be fine with a 160 stat for summer and winter driving.

Excellent! That makes sense. Thanks for the info!

Also, pictures of the latest round of crud. First pic is what the gano filter caught, 2nd is clean evaporust vs. used. The black color means it’s fully used up.

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Ken, there is a product called Evans Coolant. It is water free. Boiling point is something very high, like 340F and freeze protection down to -40F. It is intended to be a permanent coolant and never needs changing. Since it contains no water, better for the cooling system as it will not cause rust. Jay Leno uses it in many of his vintage vehicles and is very happy with it. It costs about $40 per gallon. The system must be purged of all water before installing the Evans. Thought you might be interested.

Wow, that's a good amount of junk the filter picked up. You have me wanting to run some Evaporust in the future.

-Kevin