VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1940 coker tires

Hello everybody,
There was a topic about trouble with coker radial tires maybe half a year ago, sorry, I forgot the details and could not find the old topic again.
My 1940 special sport sedan 4 door runs fantastic now (on coker tires), could fix all tank/fuel pump/carburetor problems finally.
yesterday I drove to Munich (about 100 mls) to meet Mike Buller who is on a roundtrip in europa just now.
Was very nice to meet him and he did agree I had luck and got a good car. We had a nice day together.
Backwards home I decided to go on the "Autobahn" which was indeed a risk. Matching to the car's age this part of the highway "Autobahn" is one of the last highways in germany mainly in original shape like it was built in 1936, and that means in general:
Narrow lines and NO emergenzy line, so in case of any trouble you stand just in the driving lane and pray to god everybody will see you and no crazy russian "race"-truckdriver will crash you out of the line.

But everything was ok, the car run fantastic, and even the last 10 miles I let it run full speed close to 80 mph.

Just to say, I like the coker radial tires. The car runs very good with these tires and gives you a feeling of more safety. Just like driving on a "magneto" road. Very good, not to compare with the non radial tires of my 1931 I had before.
definitly no problems with balance or vibrations, at full speed I could just feel some light vibrations of the drive shaft under the car, but "peanuts", no worry at all. Just normal.

So I would recommend that tires.
And thank god that "blindfolded" deal buying a car just by some photos had a good end and my only problem is now that my sweetheart aside begins to fall in love with that car. "Who did allow you to drive so fast with MY (!!!) new car? Would you treat any grandparents to run like that too?"

Will see how to get out of that trouble now.

Stefangermany

One thing we need to remember about tires is the age. No more than we drive our Vintage Chevrolets the tires will rot out before the wear out. I change my tires every ten years and they always look good but I don't trust them. I've heard about blowouts and i don't want one.

Wow, maybe we should have a new topic entitled "216 on the Autobahn" ! 80 mph is really given it the test.

I bet he meant kilometers. 80 mph in a 216 is scary.

That would be flogging those rods pretty hard even with a 3.73, about 3700 RPM. I'd be a lot more comfortable doing that with aluminum pistons.

Well

It should be 80 mph (indicated)
I have done many runs here in the Netherlands at 125 kph thats about 78mph measured with my gps.That is with my 48 Fleetmaster ( also a 216 )and it runs fine.Of course knowing the engine limitations I only ride a couple of miles at a time at this speed.

Jianis

I agree... 80kph is nothing... mine could do it all day. I've had a short 'blast' up to 65mph and its a little scarier... but the motor certainly feels like it could keep pulling to 80mph...

My problem is the "American" speedometer... sure wish I had an origional one that read kph! I think we switched in the early seventies...

Brewster Send me your email address and I will tell and show you what I done to my speedometer when I changed ring gear and pinion from 4:11 to 3:43. I cannot send pictures on here but I can on email. Jim jiruble@fidnet.com

If I am correct Stefan would have been looking at the original speedo and probably still reads in MPH.

I agree it was a good test on the fuel system repair but a real hard test on the old babbit bearings.

Tony

100+????? MPH with a 216.....

True Story:
In 1970-71 era I had a 52 Chevy 216 in my 37 Coupe.. babbit rods... I know cause I latter tightened them by removing some of the shims...

Raced a friend with a 340 Dart on I-10 accross Houston at 1am...
He was sure faster but couldnt lose me...

Luckily we made it to his house alive...
He swore we were doing 120 MPH...
I was only 16 but I knew that was insane...

The coupe has 3.73 gears... and I had 15s not the stock 16s...
So when my speedometer said 100..
Im guessing we were doing 90 or 95?

Still flying on used rotten skinny tires, babbit rods and a new drivers lisc!
Craig

1st: My tires are brand new, no worry about anything.
2nd. Yes, I was close to 80mph on my mph speedometer, but I know about the risk and it was just for few moments, then I did slow down to 70 mph
dont want to blow up my engine
Stefangermany

70 is still a bit on the uncomfortable side for me and a babbetted engine without aluminum pistons. I sure wouldn't make a habit of it IMHO. I almost never get over 60.

Same here......70, let alone 80, is kinda sorta fast for an 80 year old car. Sure, the 216 will go 80 MPH but why risk it? I drive my '51 Chevy with cast iron pistons at 60 to 65 and the old girl loves it, but I would never push it to 80 even though the car can go that speed.

I am with Stephan,
Its not unusual for me to "open up" my cars. If they can't take 80 MPH for short bursts there is something wrong. This goes back to my teen years as well as today. This includes running out through the gears. I have never had an engine failure with my many Chevrolets. For long distance steady speed 60-to 65 MPH with a 4.11 is advisable. I have drieven my 1939 with the 3.73 gears at a sustained 70 MPH for long distances....the same with the '50 PG with 3.54 gearing.

Back to the Coker tires......I have had two sets of them and they were the whitest they ever were the day I got them. I cleaned and cleaned both sets - finally sold them and bought some truly white sidewall tires - not beige sidewall tires.
I bought a very nice set of Diamond Back Classic Radials for less money than the Cokers and they are WHITE......all the time.

I hooked up my Tom-Tom GPS to my jumper/booster (whatever you call those things) and put them in the 41 coupe. At dead on 55 on the speedometer I was doing 60, exactly, on the gps.

At 60 the cacophony from the engine was nerve-wracking. Seemed like the engine was revving up like it was still in second. All I could think of is those internal parts a-trying to go in different directions all at once. I supposed it would have survived wide open for a short spell but I just couldn't get up the nerve to do it. It would be downright embarrassing to put that old car on the hook. You know.

I admire you guys that have the confidence in your 216s to run them at sustained speeds of 60-65. How can you stand the seemingly high expectation that something is about to let go. How do you do it? Do you put plugs in your ears? Seems kinda like elder-abuse, maybe.
Charlie

BTW: I guess part of the problem with me and the 216 at high revolutions is that I had a guy tell me back in the mid-seventies that the 216s red-lined at 50 MPH. Since then I have always believed that I was over-revving the engine at above 50. I wonder what the true red-line is. Anyone know? Anybody care?

BTW2: Whilst I was milking the old 41 along at a true 55 a VW beetle passed me. Why do they have to pass everything on the road? I bet Stefan knows but will he tell us? Naw. Nix.

BTW3: Last engine in the 41 coupe (the original) let go whilst I was going about 55 (I know now). The cam gear exploded. Don't know if I'll ever rebuild it or not. The one in it now is a 41, also. Yep.

If you hear things "clattering" at 60 MPH your engine needs help. My cars engines have just a steady hum at high speeds and you can have a converstion with your passengers at normal voice volume when the windows are closed.

Well, I don't know sign language.
Charlie l

The BREAK-IN speeds for a 1941 was not over 40 MPH for the first hundred miles, not over 50 MPH for the next 200 miles and not over 60 MPH for the next 200 miles.

Back to Stefan's comment about tires. I put new bias ply tires on our '40 and they work great. We are about 60 miles from Minneapolis/St.Paul and travel to many events there. The car performs 55 - 60 mph on the freeway without any problem and we can carry on a conversation just fine. I have been going through different service operations with the car and with each project it gets even better. In my opinion the closer the car gets to being factory fresh the better the performance. The original stuff from Chevrolet talks about the car being able to operate at highways speeds (60). I've learned that it takes lots of effort to bring a 70 year old car back to its original point, meaning all mechanics checked over and serviced. Don

Charlie

I like to try my machines sometimes but I do it at the safest possible way. The first few times I drove at 125 kph (78 mph) my 216 was well tuned ( to the best of my knowledge ) and I was driving on the motorway without any other cars near and for only a couple of miles at a time. I have a 4.11 differential and I am using 700 x 16 tyres instead of 600 x 16 that the car was originally equipped with that gives me 7% lower revs.
Red line for the 216!! I know many truck engines were fitted with a governor adjusted at about 2700 to 2800 rpm to make sure the drivers should not push them over the limit. Back home in Crete Greece my father drove a Canadian C15A COE truck after ww2 for a few years. It was an army surplus with a 216. It made it without problems climbing the Cretan mountains with heavy loads.
Here in the Netherlands WW beetles look so innocent but a few of them are fitted with Porche engines and state of the art suspensions they are faster than the average modern cars.
Finally your cam gear should sooner or later * explode* if it was badly worn even if you never went faster as 40. But again that’s the fun with old cars you never know what comes next.

Jianis

Dont believe the GPS. I tried it and got the speeding ticket for my trouble. In this instance the speedo in the car was more accurate than the GPS.
Tony

Tony,
Well, no wonder. The GPS was made in the northern hemisphere and you, mate, are down under. Accordingly, you were doing 99 instead of 66. You know.
Charlie

BTW: Remedy: Just flip the Tom-Tom upside down (Low-Low) and it will read right. You're welcome.

Hello, good morning.
The discussion here wents to a direction making me feeling uncomfortable, because now you fight against each other about peanuts, and that is not a good thing.
I wanted just say I feel good with the coker tires, nothing else.

And the cars speed, the engine runs very good now, and it should not be a impossible challenge for it to reach top speed for some short moments.
I never blow up an engine since I got my driver license when I was 18, because I have my ears and all senses opened all the time. The only thing I ever had was a worn out conrod bearing at my previous VW bus, and it happened about 8000mls after broken outlet valve at 3rd cylinder (well known problem at these VW engines) and the bearing got a brutal knock. I had to take out the engine and repair it with a similar partet out motor found at a local junkyard anywhere in nowhere in Turkey 1984. Did run perfectly later whole holiday threre and back home, and than the conrods began to ping a bit. I did hear it from first moment and took out the engine again and had just to replace the bearing, nothing else.

And, at least, dont forget (calculating in your way of thinking) the gasoline is now around 9.- USD per gallon here and still going up, and I must save gas and money so my normal speed is not over 50mph and the car needs still the double amount of my daily 20 year old VW Passat station wagon.
I am just happy that my workplace is in a bicycle distance of home so I am not in need to drive daily...

Btw: Yesterday somebody silly and jealous about the Chevy opened a tire valve at the parking lot in the underground garage and when I wanted to leave the car had a flat tire. grrrrrrrr! Stupid!
Like silly kids. "What I cannot get I will destroy, nobody should have fun with it"

Stefangermany

Charlie
You may be right about the GPS but it cannot get distance right either and wont show all roads that have been there for years.
Tony