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Thanks, Bob. That’s a good idea.

Went ahead started cleaning up the water pump. It’s actually in quite good condition other than cosmetically. It’s looking a bit better now.




Tomorrow I’m off to Chicago with my mom. We’re going to spend the rest of the week there with just the two of us…Mother’s Week instead of Mother’s Day.

When I get back, I’ll go ahead and back flush the block and clean it out the best I can. I also got the radiator to a shop today and hopefully will have an estimate from them by the end of the week.

I’ll also be making calls to find someone to re-build the engine. I wasn’t planning on that, but in the end, I’m sure I’ll be a lot happier getting it done.

In the meantime, there is still a lot of clean up I can do.

If you're driving, feel free to stop by, I'm on the way.

We’re flying. Thanks, though!

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I've been away and/or busy with work, so I hadn't read about your saga in a several months. Great to see you got to spend some time driving it, and making memories with your family, before you decided to go deeper into it!

1. What led to you pulling the coolant system back apart? I thought you had a mechanic flush it last year? On the crud issue, now that you have the distribution tube off, you can use a combination of pressure washer, long stiff wires, etc to flush the block. On my 120 I soaked it in oxalic acid, neutralized it, and then let circulated warm evaporust through the block for a few days. It's super clean inside now. I was fighing an overheating problem that ultimately turned out to be related to an improper radiator core - recored the radiator to factory spec, and now it doesn't overheat, even in the hot Florida summer!

2. Similar questions on compression. What led to you taking the readings, as I thought you were quite satisfied with the car's performance? Before you pull the engine out, find a shop, and spend a few years/many thousands of dollars, I would suggest conducting a leak down test. I did that on my 120, and determined a compression problem I was having was a bad head gasket. Given that your three low cylinders are all in a row, it very well could be a head gasket. A leak down test will also isolate the compression problem to valves or cylinders. If cylinders is the problem, adding oil will tell you if the problem is worn rings or not. If valves are the problem, a quick hand lapping may be all that is needed! There is a lot you can diagnose before you take the engine to a shop! Also, on the compression test, did you perform it with the throttle held wide open, and allow 2-3 pulses so the reading could stabilize? Seems odd that it was running well for you recently yet suddenly has low compression.

I've been through a lot of mechanical stuff on the same engine you have, to include an in-frame overhaul, and many of the details are on my blog linked below. My advice would be thoroughly determine what your problem areas are before fully rebuilding. Yes, you could just send it out for a rebuild, but it may not be needed.

Best of luck, and happy to discuss further if it would be of help to you. Beautiful car!

I would want the engine in running order to check compression.

I'd start and run the engine for about 5 minutes, then shut it down and perform the test. That should give a fair idea of cylinder balance. If significant variation is observed, further testing can be done to determine is the issue is valve related or otherwise. I would obtain a good quality compression tester.
An engine that has not run much recently may have sticky valves or rings or carbon deposits which could lead to false indications of mechanical problems.

Otherwise good valves may leak due to sticky guides, carbon, or improper adjustment.

Piston rings can get sticky and oil rings can clog in engines that have not run regularly. Those issues, along with sticky valves, may clear up if the engine is run on the road with clean oil and fresh gasoline.

Stale gasoline can very quickly gum up rings and valves.

Thanks everyone..

Here are answers to a couple of questions and what my plans are.

What got me down the path of more work on the cooling system? Allen had back-flushed the system best he could, but not with the radiator out, so he did not clean out the distribution tube. I later found I had a leak at the water pump shaft which is why I ended up repacking it. That took care of that leak, but I later had a small radiator leak and I believe another leak that I couldn’t locates the source.

This, along with my desire to learn, made me decide to pull the radiator to get it to a shop. At a minimum, that will let me know what I have and what may need done, even if it is later. Once the front end was off, it looked like a source of the other leak was likely around the gasket of the water pump. Quite a bit of silicone had been used at some point in the past, likely 2004 when Dad had the car worked on.

With the front end off and a leak at the water pump gasket, it seemed like an ideal time for learning and pulling the distribution tube. I’m glad I did that as I can now back flush it much better and get a better tube installed. And, I learned a lot as well. After talking to Dad more, I found out that he had a lot of cooling issues back in the day, but never pulled the distribution tube as he didn’t know about it.

Another advantage to having the front clip off is that it has allowed me to do a lot of clean up on the frame etc…I’m having fun doing that.

Along with that, I will be replacing the timing chain while the front clip is off. I know, I know….it may not need replacing…probably doesn’t. But, I know that it has never been replaced and, again, it’s an opportunity for me to do something I’ve never done and learn. Learning new things is a priority for me. When I stop trying to learn, I may as well just stop altogether.

As for why I decided to check the compression….Well, why not? It’s easy to do and a good opportunity to learn and worst case ,it reveals a bit more about the condition of the car.

Now, I will start looking into places that can rebuild the engine. But, I do not plan to do that right away. I do plan to get the cooling system in good order, replace the timing chain, and do a lot of clean up in the engine area…frame etc… Then, I plan to put things back together and enjoy driving the car for a bit. After that, I will have the front coil springs replaced, and I’ll get the rear shocks rebuilt and replace the rear leaf springs. The car has a definite lean to the right. Most of that is the springs, but I also know that some of it is due to the body mounts. Then, I’ll take some time to enjoy driving the car again and get Dad out in it some.

After that, I will likely pull everything out of the dash and have the dash panels and window trim re-woodgrained. Then, I’ll reinstall everything in the dash and really clean up the wiring when I do. Currently the wiring is all very good in terms of function, but I was focused on verifying function and not keeping it neat before, as I knew I’d be pulling it back out with the woodgraining anyway. Then…back to driving and enjoying the car again.

Now for the engine/compression. Rebuilding may be in the future, but it will be out a ways. I know that Dad rebuilt the engine in the early 1960s after a piston broke. So, given he stopped driving the car in 1965, there weren’t very many of the 86,000 miles put on it after the rebuild. But there was a lot of time sitting afterwards. It could very well be that the head gasket is part of the issue. I do have some seeping on one side, but not bad. It could also be a number of other things have several of you have mentioned such as stuck rings. Also, when it comes to rebuilding, it could be something I do myself….with my son. WHAT? I have no clue how to do any of that, but my son does and it could be a lot of fun to do together. He currently lives a couple of states away, but if that changes…..who knows.

What hasn’t happened yet is really getting the car out for a longer drive. I’ve driven it quite a few times, but never very far or very long. It could be that getting it out for a while will free things up and could help the compression. Again, not in a hurry on the engine since it is running well enough to really enjoy.

I greatly appreciate everyone’s help, insight, and ideas. Please keep it coming!.

With the fuel system and cooling system and basic ignition and wiring in order, the car should run reliably. I think you have a good general plan of approach. It may be that some run time will benefit the engine a lot. I would expect it to. I've run many old cars that have been out of service for long periods of time, and most of them ran better the more I drove them. Be sure the engine has its basic requirements met, and absent any significant knocks, it should run dependably, if not perfectly. I would want to address the head gasket seepage. Careful re-torquing might stop it, or replacing the gasket may be necessary. If the engine was rebuilt many years ago and run very little since, it may not even be run-in. I'd want to give it a change to limber up in service.

Glad to hear it, and that all makes sense! I do think a leak down tester would tell you a lot more than a compression test, and it’s super easy with the front clip off. YouTube is your friend on how to conduct. When I did it on mine, I took all the plugs out, took the flywheel cover off, and incremented the engine over by carefully using a pry bar on the ring gear - a few teeth one way or the other makes a huge difference sometimes.

Got some good news from the radiator shop this morning. The only issue they found was a small crack in the top tank. That is where I knew I had a small leak. They can solder that up. They said everything else is in good shape. They mentioned that the radiator has been re-cored at some point as the core is not original. That was almost certainly done back in 2004 with the work Dad had done. As I’ve mentioned before, though, Dad doesn’t know what was done and didn’t keep any records.

Anyway, I should be good on the radiator.