VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1931 Overheating 194

At 40 degrees F I can idle my all original '32 for an hour or more and it will stay in the low normal area and never get hot. And, I am running the original honeycomb radiator.

Hello Junkyard Dog,
As you say that your 32 can idle for long periods being all original, then I'll need to rethink my opinion about idle time and overheating in cold/cool temperatures. Now that GreenBayPacker14 has remedied the lean carburation issue, should getting the car roadworthy for further testing be the priority or no. What checks and inspections can be made on the cylinder head to pin point a temperature issue before committing to taking the head off the car?

Many times these old cars will overheat because of a cracked cylinder head. One test that can be done on the cylinder head is to check the radiator water for exhaust gases. There is a combustion leak test kit available at your local auto parts store that you can use to test for exhaust gases in the coolant. If there is CO2 in the coolant, it will make the fluid acidic, which will cause a color change in the tester.

I performed another round of testing this last Saturday. The ambient temp was 45F. I started the engine at 2:00PM, with the hood closed, and idling. At the 45 minute mark, the temp gauge went into hot, at that point I placed a box fan in front of the radiator and the temp dropped to the lower scale of normal within minutes.During this 45 minute period I took vapor samples from the radiator neck with a kit that I rented from O'Reillys. It was made by Ever Tough #67094. I check numerous times in the two hours of run time, the test fluid did not change colors. I think the cylinder head, head gasket, and block are good. This issue seems to be resolved. Thank you to everyone who provided input.