well did a second road test on saturday. topped off coolant with some distilled water then drove the car around the back of the neighborhood, was a 25-30 mph drive about 3 miles or so a dozen or so stop and gos. car did well and only got up to the line after normal.
took a few turn overs to get started, but fired up and ran nicely.
back home in driveway, car did not loose any coolant, did NOT see any air in the gano filter while driving.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
decided to do a little longer run and drive on sunday.
car did not want to start, then i retarded the spark (pulling cable on dash) car fired right up, and if i pushed it back in the car would stumble and stall. going to have to check the timing and see if it moved or what.
drove the car about a mile around neighborhood then ventured out on the one of the side roads, speed limit 35mph. drove this down for about 3-5 miles at a steady 35 mph, car ran fine and temp stayed right above the mid mark of alcohol boils. turned around in a parking lot and started to head back. about a mile back noticed steam coming from radiator, and coolant around the top nozzle/hose and temp was had just past the mark after alcohol boils. we pulled on a side street and coolant started to gurgle and car puked some. sat there for a while let it cool down, actually had a few people in neighbor hood come out and ask about car and if we were ok and needed anything. very nice of them.
after car cooled fired right back up and drove back home staying around 25 mph. parked it and let it cool off.
could not see where the coolant was coming from up top, maybe loose clamp, or something. parked it in the garage and will have to sit for a few days as i am busy with the local meet here this week and work.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
The first thing that stands out to me is that you really don't have much actual coolant in there, especially after adding more distilled water. Straight water will be "simmering" (slight boil) at operating temperature and almost a full boil if you shut it off at operating temperature which could cause the puking. Between your engine being freshly rebuilt and maybe your timing being off, you could just be running a bit hotter than it should be and out it pukes your mostly water based coolant. All could be fine after breakin as water obviously was the coolant of choice when new...
I'd be really tempted to get the coolant in the 50% range and see what happens. Even a 10-20 degree change in the boiling point of the liquid in your rad could make all the difference.
Have you cleaned or replaced/repaired the rad since you've owned it? You mentioned not being totally sure of engine rebuild history so just wondering if you know true condition of rad...
Last edited by canadiantim; 09/23/1911:49 AM.
1938 Canadian Pontiac Business Coupe (aka a 1938 Chevy Coupe with Pontiac shaped front sheet metal - almost all Chevy!) 1975 4-speed L82 Vette
I had an overheating with our '31 several years ago. I had my wife take a radiator to the shop to get a price for a modern core. The man asked why would I do this to a restored car like this one. She told him of our over heating problem.
He told her to have me take the casting that the top hose fits on off. Put a thin brass plate with a 5/8 hole in the center under the casting and slow the water flow down. I never had a problem to this day.
I've been told I am nuts but it worked for me and several of my friends. It won't cost much to try it.
The reason that the restricter plate works is it pressurizes the coolant in the engine block between the water pump and the resitricter reducing the size of air bubbles. The tale of coolant flowing too fast through the radiator is pure bunk.
It took my '32 forever to purge completely and during the process it gradually ran warmer and warmer though never overheated. At any rate one day I checked the level in the radiator which was done a little over a quart from where I had filled it. I topped it off and since then, even on the hottest days at 50 MPH it rarely goes much over half scale.
did a compression check, cyl 1 through 6, all plugs removed, spun engine over with starter, till Pressure maxed out on each cylinder, about 3-5 revolutions.
all were around 60-65 PSI
did NOT do a leak down, guess i could see how long it could hold the pressure, or set a duration and check at 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, etc...ÂÂ
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
Air in the coolant is very concerning. It takes the place of coolant so cooling is reduced. It might be wise to check the radiator top tank for combustion gasses. There are some test kits to do that.
todays venture was machine shop calls... trying to get all my ducks in a row so when i pull the head i can go get it magnafluxed. figured IF i am pulling it, I am going to get it checked. found a few local shops that do that thing, and can machine it if needed, 1 of them can do the cast iron welding, the other 2 have a shop outside that does that for them. magnaflux cost run from $25 to $65 and can be done in a day or two. some also offered to do a pressure/vacuum test to test for porosity and pin holes.that is additional cost, approx $50.
now jsut have to remove everything so i can remove the head... love back pedaling !! oh the joys.
and just to think the PO told me the engine was completely rebuild... Not today sir, not today. considering that they had a complete valve job done, would figured to get a magnaflux to be safe. who knows maybe it is something else. but all signs are pointing towards a cracked head.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
"Engine was rebuilt" most times is about as credible as "all the wood is perfect". I visited a gentleman about doing some wood work on his 1930 and he was going on about spending $8000 on the engine and fired it up. Within minutes I told him to turn it off after seeing steam rising out of every orifice. I showed him the water in the oil pan and told him to call his engine rebuilder. I won't even start about the second car he had with a completely restored body that when probed I found lots of areas where the wood was missing.
at this point i am just hoping it is a simple issue and not a pull and completely redo the engine. on the fence about that one... i know it has new babbitt, in the mains & connecting rods. new pistons, new valve job (with more modern valve set up)
i know they did NOT dip the engine before redoing it, i pulled so much sludge out of the oil trays for the main bearings, was not funny. so figure they spent money to re valve an engine and not even magnaflux it for cracks. hey bill lets go t he cheapest route we can.
we will see when we pull the head were we are at.
i know the shortest cheapest route is the longest most expensive route you can venture down.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
Hoping for the best for you. Where there any signs of gasket failure? That would be the best scenario at this point. I had my block hot dipped and magnafluxed before any work (the machine shop insisted but I was going to have it done anyway). Even with that I pulled out a pound or so of crust and hardened sludge out of the cooling passages. Same with the head. Than fully both the block and head tested good. My biggest expense was the crank which I had built up and ground back to size. Fitting the connecting rods and pistons now but I had a disaster with the crankshaft pulley and need to find another. Curious what you find?
that is how i would have approached it and now kicking my self for accepting the engine rebuild by PO. babbitt is new and looks good, valves are new (not correct but work) and look good. but the more i get into it the more i go crazy. should have just had a complete make over or at least an experienced shop go over it, inside and out.
i may be heading down that road now... pulling and starting from square 2, unless i have to start at square 1. no local shops around that are experienced in antique chevrolet engines around here :(
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
then looking closely, and cleaning up the piston caps, they are stamped "STD", which tells me standard size, and the cylinder walls look like they were NOT honed or anything...
Piston
Cylinder Wall
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
Disappointing that it has not been rebuilt but at least it's a solid, healthy start and not .080 over and tired. It does look like the head gasket was possibly allowing coolant to get into at least a couple cylinders so head could be fine.
If you found it ran decently, you might be able to defer a rebuild and just get the head done and new gaskets. You might get a few summers running before rebuilding as I know you've spent a lot of time and money on other things while believing the engine was fresh...
1938 Canadian Pontiac Business Coupe (aka a 1938 Chevy Coupe with Pontiac shaped front sheet metal - almost all Chevy!) 1975 4-speed L82 Vette
Wow, hard to believe a 1929 car still has standard pistons in it. How many miles on the car? If it runs good and doesn't use a lot of oil, I would try to solve the over heating problem and just run it as is. While it is apart you could mic. the cylinder taper to see if it needs a re-bore job. Possibly, if the cylinders are true they just put a set of rings in it.
