Bloo

As others mentioned, it is a tiny gulp of air to re-evacuate the booster after use, and it happens on a transition so you don't notice it. If it were a constant leak like PCV, the air would have to be let in at a spot where it mixes evenly with the air/fuel coming from the carburetor, and the carburetor would have to supply any extra fuel needed. PCV can't be way out on one intake runner like a power brake port usually is. Vacuum wipers leak whenever they are on, and in the prewar era were often fed from a less-than-ideal spot on the manifold. It worked because the engine had a little too much fuel.

Do any electrical connections depend on this?

I think you should PM @VW4X4 and see if he can help. 2 or 3 years ago he had a bunch of engines of various makes/models that had been outdoors for a while but still had some good parts on them. 2 of those engines were 1949-1954 Pontiac Sixes, and I am quite sure of that because both had front timing pointers, one of which is on my 36 Six now. It's been long enough I sort of doubt he still has the engines, but it is worth an ask. If you haven't asked California Pontiac Restoration yet, you should. Call. Don't believe the website.

When the battery charges to almost normal system voltage, the voltage regulator points open and drop the charge rate way back to something that works out to a trickle charge if the battery is full. But, with the generator cut back, the system voltage drops a little, points close, generator comes back on high, instantly gets to system voltage, points open, cuts back, BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.... ad infinitum until the battery gets so full it doesn't drop below system voltage with only a trickle charge.

Mechanical regulators regulate by bouncing or vibrating the points. The bouncing can be slower than normal due to excessive resistance in the wiring, sometimes leading to more noticeable flickering in the lights. If it is not objectionable, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe clean all the connections. Keep an eye out for a degraded crimp getting hot. I would also do the things @EmTee mentioned.

I might be wrong, but I blame that on "restoration" tires often using whatever mold still exists and is available, not necessarily a mold of the correct size. Fortunately the tire manufacturers typically publish measurements of height and section width (the widest part) for each tire they make, so that can help. It's better than nothing.

It's not a big difference. Nash 600s were all about gas mileage, and it was also a lighter car so Nash would have been conservative about tire width. Figure an extra 1/2" (1/4" per side) at the widest part of the tire sidewall. Will it hit anything? I just looked at pictures online, and I see some 47 600s apparently have heavily skirted rear fenders and some do not. If the fenders are heavily skirted, oversize tires might be difficult to change on the back. That was an issue on the Bathtubs that came a few years later. If you have 600-16 now, try changing a rear tire and see if you have trouble getting the tire between the brake drum and the outer fender sheetmetal when you take a rear wheel off. You'll have to get an extra 1/2" through there. Also check the steering at full lock, etc.

He'd also need a throttle switch, but i gathered that part was already solved. I would expect the generator interlock to already be present on a 53 Buick.

EEC-IV wont like anything removed. I don't see this ending well. For one thing, vehicles of that age depended on the smog pump to light the oxygen sensor, so it probably can't control the fuel mixture a lot of the time. EGR will cause rough idle if the valve leaks, whether it is connected or not. Ignition timing is controlled by the computer. Without EGR, the timing under partial load will be all wrong. You can retard initial timing, but then under full power the timing is retarded. Good luck.

I'm not knocking barkeepers friend, and I always keep some around. There are other ways to buy oxalic acid though if one so desires. The crystals are on amazon (mix it yourself, no grit!) or maybe at the local pharmacy if you are lucky. I use it on small hardware sometimes. Based on what I have seen on TheCabe (bicycle forum) I believe oxalic acid may lift less paint from painted parts than evaporust or electrolytic derusting which is a third option. Paint comes off anyway if there is rust underneath, and there probably is. Any of the three are likely to remove plating in my opinion.

A normally closed vacuum switch would do the job. I don't know offhand where to get one.

I was really responding to Joe's post about needing full pressure in the rocker shaft all the time. Maybe he's right, but if so some engine designers have ignored it. You posted at about the same time. No matter. We are on a tangent here anyway talking about other engines. What I have seen in the past pretty much mirrors what you are saying. All that really matters for @Littlestown Mike's questions is the Ford 200, and in your last post it looks like you are getting to the bottom of the mystery. Carry on.

There are plenty of engines around that do not adhere to this idea. Chevrolet Stovebolts, at least some of them, had an open piece of tubing in the end of the rocker shaft to let the excess oil run out.

Yellow valve covers were a Studebaker thing, even in 1965 after the change to McKinnon (Chevrolet) engines. For 1966, the valve covers became black to match the rest of the engine.

That gets complicated though, because in 40 and 41 US Pontiacs came in 3 sizes. I've seen all 3 sizes of 40 parked next to each other at a Flathead Reunion a few years ago.

Turning the crank turns the cam. If (and only if) the 200 works like I described, the hole sideways through the cam journal has to line up for the oil to flow. It's not an uncommon setup. In the engine in that picture, it wouldn't apply. Is that the 200? The engine in the picture oils the top by pushing oil out the top of hydraulic lifters and up hollow pushrods to stud mounted rockers, another common setup. The lifters seem to be fed directly in that engine, and since the lifters and pushrods are supplying the top, what I said in my earlier post wouldn't apply. When I replaced the cam in my Ford 390, I used the "drill prime" method. I am pretty sure I had to hand turn the crank to get the passage through the cam open so the rocker shafts would fill with oil. I was expecting that to happen, so I didn't pay that much attention to how the oil was routed. I just wrench turned the crank until I got oil. Some Chryslers are also like that, and a lot of other things too but I can't offhand think of other examples. That^^ Exactly like that.

I just realized that a Chevrolet drivetrain doesn't automatically mean a Chevrolet engine. The 1937 (Canadian) Pontiac 224 had one. It was a 224ci version of the Chevrolet 216 I believe. On the other hand, the 1953 (Canadian) Pontiac Pathfinder had a Chevrolet drivetrain but a flathead Pontiac engine. I wonder which engine they were using in Canadian Pontiacs in 1941?

I wonder if it has a Chevrolet engine? I think it is a Canadian Pontiac, and I think it does. There is no engine picture, even the picture showing the driveshaft is ambiguous. There is no underhood picture. I believe 1941 was one of the two years Pontiac offered A, B, and C bodies. Even if we could nail it down as an A (Chevrolet) body, I don't think it would prove anything. I did find a clue though. In the very last picture it appears to have a hinge where the rear axle mounts. That implies a torque tube and a Chevrolet (Canadian) drivetrain. The last American Pontiacs with torque tubes were 1936 models.

Worn bearings just leak more. I don't see why that would help. Is there a groove to facilitate oil flowing around to the next port? I think there is a strong possibility that that a hole, completely though the cam journal at a right angle to the axis of the camshaft, must line up to an inlet and an outlet in the cam bearing for oil to flow through. With the engine running, this would happen fairly often. With the engine not turning, it might never happen. Until we have seen some parts of a disassembled 200 Ford six, or maybe an oiling diagram from a relevant shop manual, we are just guessing.

I don't believe you can reuse a cam bearing once removed. Are you sure there's a problem? I think @JACK M is on to something here. In many engines, in fact nearly all of them, underdelivering to the top end at low speeds and overdelivering at high speeds is a problem. This often leads to the need for more restriction in engines modified for racing, lest all the oil wind up in the top before it has time to drain back. That could cause the oil pump to suck air and the lower end to fail. A common tactic some stock engines use to partially deal with overdelivery to the top, especially American V8s, is to run the top end oil supply through a hole in a cam bearing, such that as the cam turns, oil is only supplied to the top end when the hole in the cam lines up with both the supply hole and the oil galley to the top end. From your description it sounds like you might have this in your six. You might just need to turn the crank (and thus also the cam) with a wrench until the hole lines up in order to pre-lube the top end.

Another possibility for fuel pump kits or parts: https://www.then-now-auto.com/

Welcome to the forum!

I don't believe a high compression head made a difference in torque specifications. I highly recommend getting a factory shop manual. Maybe this chart will help.

That's very possible, and extremely common! Rarely mentioned in cooling system threads on the web..... It all starts with airflow. If you don't have enough of that, everything else is window dressing.

If your cooling system is thermostat controlled the engine temperature won't change noticeably unless the cooling is marginal. If it is marginal though, you would gain a little headroom. Weaker solutions of Ethylene Glycol do transfer heat better than 50/50, and still provide better freeze protection than water. I've not gone down that path yet with any car. It gets both really hot and really cold where I live. Personally I would be looking for a way to make 50/50 work, but my decisions are heavily influenced by my local climate.