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Kevin;

Yes I know about the switch access, or should I say the access difficulty. That’s why I suggested disconnecting the six pin plug to verify whether the body side of the equation is OK.

When my ’54’s turn signals were ‘acting-up’ I bought a tri-five Chevy switch (about $25), which is an identical logic six wire switch. Yes the connector was all wrong as was the color coding, but once I jerry-rigged the wire connections I had a ‘known to be good’ switch to press forward with the diagnostics.

Had I thought the whole process through I think I would have saved some time, money, and labor if I had powered each circuit one at a time at the body side of the plug.

dp

On the smoking - if you're not using any oil, and the engine is running smooth, pulling strong, and not overheating, I would just run it!

If it is carbon, running a qt of diesel in the fuel can help clean it out, or you can pour a dribble of sea foam or a little water down the throat of the carb with the engine warm and idling. If the valve train and head gasket are good, it should clean out with regular driving and getting the vehicle up to temp.

I don't know if you remember the pictures of my car - I had overly high compression, pinging under load when hot, and some running warm issues - the root cause of my excessive carbon buildup was incorrect exhaust valves. If your carbon isn't as bad, you shouldn't have to pull the head.

Congrats on getting it running! I think the traffic light problem is a common one. I have to do the same thing in my '37 (I'm 6'4"), and they used to sell an accessory that clipped to your sun visor to make it easier to see traffic lights without bending over.

Thanks Ken. I've been watching your experiences with overheating with interest. I think I'm going to have much of the same issues you had.

I have a high carbon problem, and definitely an overheating problem. A short drive last night saw the needle move up into the "P" range on the gauge. Infrared thermometer had 180 at the front of the engine and 192 at the back.

My plan is to:
1.) Drain cooling system. Backflush if I can find a gun
2.) Disconnect heater core and plug the hoses from the block and water pump
3.) New thermostat (160 degree possibly)
4.) New upper and lower radiator hoses
5.) New radiator cap (7lbs?)
6.) Gravity flow test the radiator....probably going to find it's plugged up
7.) New coolant and water
8.) New points and condenser, try to set timing and carburetor correctly.

Hopefully I can get this all done and the temperature under control before Saturday evening. There's a local cruise night that I'd like to get the car to.

-Kevin

Quote:

The caps look alike the difference is in the depth. A newer shallower type will not seal and allow coolant to escape out the overflow pipe. Using the wrong depth cap is a common mistake.

Measure the depth of the radiator neck and get a cap that matches. This part may be listed in the Parts Cross-Reference section. Packard went from a 7 lbs rated cap to a 13 lbs and I believe the 13 lbs cap was used in 1954.

Of course, the more pressure the more strain on cooling system components (hoses, gaskets, etc.). I have always preferred to use the lowest pressure cap that functions properly.

Of course, the higher the pressure the higher the boiling point.

Trade offs, like everything else in life and cars.

Good Morning Kevin...Our 49 came to us running warmer than it should...one of the things we did was to remove one freeze plug and put the nose of a pressure washer into the block and give it a good blast...lots of junk came out of the engine. Others have used a mixture of Rust 911 two or three times, going from black to clear liquid after the third application...Ernie in Arizona

JWL - thanks for the advice. I'll measure and go with a 7lbs cap first to see how it goes.

Ernie - Yeah, I've been thinking of taking a freeze plug out. A past owner had taken out the center plug and replaced it with a block heater. I've removed the cord for the block heater and eventually want to get that heater out and put a real freeze plug back in. Maybe now is the time to do so? Do I need to take all the plugs out to do a good flush or just one? I'd like to not have to remove the starter and do major disassembling before this weekend. I will have a grand total of about 4 hours to do work on the cooling system before the cruise night.

-Kevin

You can get by with just one. I have blasted the crap out of my cooling system, to include pulling one freeze plug.

When you get deeper in (if you pull the radiator for inspection/overhaul) be sure to check your water distribution tube.

Alright, so I had a few minutes to start replacing ignition parts. Picked up new points and condenser from NAPA (parts cross reference) and installed those. I pulled the dizzy to make it easier to work on.

The old points were pretty bad. Burned on both, and a large pit in one. I should have changed these a while ago. New condenser went in fine. The old one had the Delco-Remy logo stamped on it, so it's pretty old.

While I had everything out, I checked the vacuum advance, and it held vacuum when I sucked on tube connected to it. I could see the arm moving as well. So that's good.

Put the distributor back on the engine. I was going to set the timing according to Ross's video (put the #1 cylinder at 6-7 degrees BTDC), but I'm noticing that the distributor shaft has a lot of "play". When I twist the distributor, the shaft (the hex that the points ride on) spins with the rest of the dizzy for a bit. Is it normal to have play like this? Or is the shaft supposed to be stationary?

I also noticed before I put the distributor back in that the end of the shaft (the slotted side that goes in the engine) was fairly loose where it attached to the rest of the shaft. Normal?

-Kevin

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  Corroded points.jpg (79.80 KB)


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  New ignition parts.jpg (123.18 KB)


  New parts installed.jpg (151.17 KB)

The shaft does have q little wiggle which I suppose acts as a sort of universal joint making it unnecessary for the distributor and oil pimp which drives it to be perfectly aligned. On end play, though, there is a specific amount. Not sure what it is so best to look it up but a guess based on that on another make indicates about .017” max. If more, you might need another trip to Napa to get the appropriate shims.

The rotational play is the action of the centrifugal advance hiding below the breaker plate. That is normal.