VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 a worring matter of overheating on my 34 chev std

hi there,
I have been posting on the https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/269260/Re_Waterless_Coolants_180_degr#Post269260 with regard to waterless coolants. I think that this would be of interest to all in this forum and I hope that you enjoy this simple link to my plight with overheating, nothing works and many of the "magic" solutions offered on the internet....Evans and liquidintelligence.com.au do not work in this instance... read on please..


Peter in desperation..

I am thinking, boy that car is overheating real fast.

Question, are you sure that the cooling fins are tight against the tubes, because if they are not in good contact the fins will not remove the heat from the water.

Bubbles in water.....head gasket leak. Get head zyglo checked for cracks ....check block for straightness using straight edge and feeler gauges diagonally corner to corner both ways.


mike

while you are worrying about the over heating and pulling the cylinder head because of gas bubbles in water.

You head gasket leak MIGHT be caused by :
blown or faulty headgasket
cylinder head cracks
cylinder head not perfectly straight & might be cracked
block not perfectly straight
somebody installed or re-used the old head gasket
cylinder head bolts stretched and not able to apply correct equal torque setting on cylinder head.=
The fix is replace all cylinder head bolts with new ones.

mike

I am going to ask a dumb question, have you checked the ignition timing?
If memory serves me too much advance will cause overheating, it will also cause hard starting even when cool?
You have provision for both manual (centrifugal) advance and vacuum advance on '34 Standard.
The centrifugal advance can be checked by watching the same place on the flywheel or hub pulley with a good timing light. Check for proper timing and than accelerate the engine speed and watch the centrifugal advance come in.
As the manifold vacuum changes so will the timing. I am not sure which direction. Reving the engine up will decrease manifold vacuum, letting go of the throttle will increase manifold vaccuum etc. You should be able to see this action. I am not sure which side of the diaphragm the vacuum is attached to so I would wait to see if others can add experience to this.
Sometimes the vacuum advance unit was fitted incorrectly, sometimes people used a starterator vacuum unit on a distributer.
I would not overlook timing in general on a car that is chronically overheating. Hope you resolve this soon.

Distributor-Check the automatic advance mechanism by turning the distributor shaft in a clockwise direction to see that it is free and that the springs of the automatic advance mechanism return the cam and shaft to its retarded position when released. Check to see that the vacuum spark control operates freely and is in its full retarded position. set the octane selector to "0" on the scale. (I would check the slide on the under side of the octane selector to be sure it is lubed properly.) On the light flashing on the steel ball on timing...If the steel ball on the flywheel is on the left hand side of the pointer on the flywheel housing, the engine timing is early. In this case, loosen the distributor clamp and rotate the distributor body in a clockwise direction until the steel ball on the flywheel is in line with the pointer on the flywheel housing. Tighten distributor clamp. If the steel ball on the flywheel is on the right hand side of the pointer on the flywheel housing., the engine timing is late ...rotate counter-clockwise until ball is in line with the pointer. By racing the engine you should see the hole distributor move as the vacuum advance works. (on more late cars it moves inside) If the advance does not move the distributor you need to replace it.