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1952 Pontiac Catalina


Guest GaWajn

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Guest GaWajn

Hi Guys,

I guess this is the official start of my restoration. I have had some experience restoring vintage snowmobiles ... but this is my first attempt at doing a car.

The candidate is a 1952 Pontiac Catalina Super Deluxe.

This is going to take between two and four years to complete, depending on the financial situation as I go.

Let's start with the aquisition ...

I bought the car unseen this winter. I went on a road trip last week to get the car and bring it home.

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It was kind of exciting to peek into the barn and get a look at it for the first time.

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And there she is ... in all her glory ...

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It wasn't quite as good as I expected ... but it is still a good candidate to restore I believe.

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Here we are loading it up onto the car hauler ...

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And ready to hit the road for the 2000 mile trip back home. Home is New Brunswick Canada, and the car was in Wisconsin. It was a bit far to go for the value of the car ... but hey ... it's all a part of the story of getting her back in prime condition.

If you are wondering what the yellow thing is in the truck bed ... that's a 1972 Ski Doo Nordic. Since I was going to get the car ... I thought I might search the classifieds along the way ... in case I found a winter gem. Low and behold ... in the Detroit area of all places ... I found this sled with 110 miles on it ... fresh from an estate sale. Pictured are me ... the seller and the sled.

20120510_RoadTrip_0029.jpg

Edited by GaWajn (see edit history)
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Guest GaWajn

I think there has been no repaints in it's life. The body is very straight. The interior is in decent shape for the year but will need to be completly redone. It does not run at this time. The owner says that the motor was not stuck and he poured some oil in the plug holes. I tried to turn it over with the fan blade ... and it would not budge. It might be slightly stuck ... or very stuck ... I don't know that yet.

The plan is for an original restoration. I am not certain what level I want to bring it to yet ... off frame or not ...

The timeline is from two to four years depending on available funds ...

My first priority is to try to get it running.

Thanks for your interest.

Edited by GaWajn (see edit history)
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Tried to move the engine this morning. It is frozen. I put some penetrating oil in each plug hole and will wait a couple of days to try turning it with a power bar.

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Hello Fellow Canuc,

Wish I had known you were passing by, as I have a 1981 Ski Doo 4500 I bought new that I'm will to sell to a collector. Sadly..... while it only has 1,100 kms on it I did not keep it stored well and..... needs a lot of TLC. I'm across the river from Detroit in Ontario and with mild winters just did not get my moneys worth of riding out of it but had fun when I did!

As to your Pontiac, Love the fact it is a hard top! I know a fellow here that has a two door sedan that is REALLY nice in original maroon but yours has those special rare lines one does not see often.

Be patient with loosening that motor. I was able to get my 58 Buick motor free after a bit of (long) time.

Keep your progress posted and good luck (have fun - it's a keeper!).

Doug.

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Finaly got it off the trailer and onto the ground. The engine is still stuck ... I will try again on tuesday ...

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If it does not free up in a couple of days ... I will try the auto trans fluid and see how that goes. Thanks for the tip.

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Someone told me to try and do something every day to the car ... that it will help keep my interest high.

Well ... you have to start somewhere.

I removed the generator this afternoon. No special issues with the removal. Just 9/16ths and 1/2 inch bolts and nuts.

I am taking pictures of everything as I remove them, because I might not remember exactly how everything goes when I reassemble. It could be a couple of years before I reinstall something in the car.

I will be taking the generator apart for cleaning and painting as well as verifying that everything is working as it should.

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Today's progress ...

I poured some diesel fuel into each cylinder in an attempt to free up the engine ... we will see if this works ...

02-Dieselincylinders.jpg

After that ... I removed the fan and water pump pulley ...

02-Fanandpulley-01.jpg

Here you see my blasting cabinet. I bought that when I started restoring snowmobiles. I believe that this is the most useful tool I have ever bought. I need lots of air though. 25 CFM is recommended. Lucky I have my shop right next to my buddy George that runs a body shop, so I have access to all kinds of goodies ...

02-Fanandpulley-02.jpg

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The pieces after some glass beading ...

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They cleaned up pretty good. No dents or anything needing fixing ... just clean and paint ...

Here I show the pieces after applying primer. I am just using a laquer primer. I will get to painting these parts tomorrow ...

02-Fanandpulley-05.jpg

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The black for the under hood parts should be a semi gloss black? I am building a driver car ... no need to be perfect, but I want everything to be as close as reasonably and feasibly possible ...

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I decided to remove the radiator, fan shroud and radiator upper baffle assembly to gain better access to the front of the engine ... to better apply torque to try to free it up ...

With fan removed ...

03-Beforefanshroudremoval.jpg

Radiator upper baffle assembly before removal ...

03-Hoodlatchingshroudbeforeremoval.jpg

after it was removed ...

03-Hoodlatchingshroudremoved-01.jpg

marking the wiring as I go ...

03-Passengersidewiringterminals-02.jpg

something is clacking in there ... there is something moving ... but it is still seized ...

03-Readytoapplysometorque.jpg

will retry tomorrow ...

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The radiator looks in very good condition ...

04-Radiator-01.jpg

04-Radiator-02.jpg

What should be done to it? Bring it to a rad shop and have it cleaned and pressure tested? Will this old core do the job?

also ... what is this thing? It ran from the lower rad to somewhere near the transmission ...

04-Radiator-03.jpg

It almost looks like a transmission fluid cooling line ... but there is no return line as far as I can see for now ...

Any ideas out there?

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you mean if I remove the starter ... I could try to move it via the flywheel cogs?

Yes, I think that's what he means, ATF is very useful and I also use it in a pinch in junkyards when I need a part that's stuck. GM HEI distributors can be very hard to get out, and so can oil filler tubes like on 2nd generation Olds V8's.....so just reach for that A/T dip stick and apply around those parts and you can coax them out. When you try to break the engine loose try rocking back and forth gently on the crank---wedged piston rings don't like going in one direction and if enough torque is applied they will break. For your engine compartment black color use satin black. Eventually with polishing down after many years and car shows it begins to look rather glossy.

Here is a picture of my Olds engine compartment. All the paint including the engine is original---I'm the original owner and at one time those inner fenders were satin black;

http://www.pismoderelicts.com/photogallery/new%20format%20830/images/p1080789.jpg

Good luck with your project. Two weeks ago I was fortunate to tag along on the Early Times Chapter (1926-1954) of POCI for their west coast flathead reunion tour. I want one of those (1949-1952) really bad!!

D.

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also ... what is this thing? It ran from the lower rad to somewhere near the transmission ...

My 1st purchase after the car would be a shop manual.

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Guest GaWajn

Time for decoding ...

P8WH#####

P = Pontiac Michigan

8 = Eight cylinder

W = 1952

H = Hydramatic

##### = sequential serial number

Body plate information:

BodyPlateInformation.jpg

Style No = 52- 2537SD

52 = 1952

2537 = Catalina Coupe

SD = Super Deluxe

Body No = P11483

?????

TRIM No = 72

?????

PAINT No = 22

22 = Lower colour = Belfast Green / Upper colour = Seamist Green

I believe that the lower and upper colours can be swapped. ?????

TOP ACC ?ACM

? = ?????

ACM = ?????

Any help in decoding or correcting the above information is appreciated.

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The radiator looks in very good condition ...

04-Radiator-01.jpg

04-Radiator-02.jpg

What should be done to it? Bring it to a rad shop and have it cleaned and pressure tested? Will this old core do the job?

also ... what is this thing? It ran from the lower rad to somewhere near the transmission ...

04-Radiator-03.jpg

It almost looks like a transmission fluid cooling line ... but there is no return line as far as I can see for now ...

Any ideas out there?

hi there, pontiac had a underseat heater, this pipe and hoses return coolant from the heater core back to the radiator, another pipe and hoses brought heated coolant from the cylinder head to the heater valve located under the defroster assembly that's mounted to the driver's side of the firewall and on down to the underseat heater. charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.
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hi, i like the 1952 pontiac radiator, the 1952 core is 1/2 inch thicker than the 53-54 radiator cores. there's a guy in our pontiac1950's group that's selling a nos 1952 pontiac guide driver's side spotlight. charles coker, 1953 pontiac tech advisor.

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Guest GaWajn

I found him also. Thanks for your help. For $250 plus shipping from Europe, I think I will try to restore what I have. The one I have is working but needs a new mirror and rechroming.

Thanks anyways ...

Stephen

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Today I started by removing the starter ... just in case it was frozen ... it also gave me access to the flywheel teeth, to try and pry the engine loose ...

05-Starter-01.jpg

The starter was free ... and the engine is still frozen ...

I removed the thermostat housing ... that was pretty crusty ...

05Thermostathousing.jpg

I took pictures of everything that was connected to the head ... and then removed these pieces ... after that I loosened the head bolts as the shop manual says ...

05-Headloose.jpg

The head came free easy enough ...

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The wear on the cylinder walls looks not too bad for the most part ...

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Valves don't look bad either ... except for the middle pistons ...

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After jiggling the crank from the harmonic balancer bolt ... we think that piston number 4 counting from the front, is the culprit that won't move. All the others show a little wiggle ...

06-Block-03.jpg

Also ... you can see that piston number 4 is very grungy. I had already removed a lot of crud off the valves before taking that last picture.

At this point ... i sprayed some more penetrating oil on top of each cylinder ... and I will try to free the engine up tomorrow maybe ... if that doesn't work ... then I might take a block of wood and a small sledge and try to free piston number 4 up that way.

It looks like the engine is going to come out anyways. Once it is on the stand ... I will better be able to assess what it need to get it running again.

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GaWajn- A couple of cents worth of experience with flathead Pontiac motors. The last Pontiac flathead motor that I owned was a '41 silver streak six with the same trouble that yours has. Even with the motor out of the car and on a stand it was a bear to take apart as the pistons were frozen in place both above and below on the cylinder walls. The block of wood and hammer approach worked for me although it took a lot harder blows than I imagined it would to loosen and remove the pistons. The block had to be machined as the pitting from being frozen would not clean up with just honing. Be careful to examine the the pistons after they are cleaned up for cracks and ring land damage. Last bit of advice. These inline 8's are long and heavy for engine stands be sure to mount it on one with a strong bed plate(2000 lb load) and spread the bolt pattern out as wide as possible. I found that a strong prop bolted to the front end of the block eliminated most all of the bounce when working on the motor. Think SAFETY!!! Good Luck with your project what a beauty she'll be when done. Mark

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Guest GaWajn

Thanks for the input guys ... always apreciated. At this point, I believe that I should take the engine out and do a complete tear down to see where I am at.

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What did the head gasket look like for indication of head gasket leaking coolant, and I would be interested in seeing under #3 piston also. Have you got a long steel ( straight edge ) for measuring flatness on the block and head?

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Guest GaWajn

Here are pictures of the head gasket from both sides. Everything appears to be OK.

07-HeadGasket-02.jpg

07-HeadGasket-01.jpg

I have started a new thread in the Pontiac Flathead forum for the engine rebuild discussion. Once I have a plan ... I will show the actual rebuild in this thread.

I just wanted to avoid thread clutter. I know ... I am defective :)

The carb is a Carter WCD which is the better one to have, compared to the earlier WDO. At least that is from what I have concluded from other threads about these old Carters.

07-CarterWCDCarb.jpg

I also put a straight edge on the top of the block ... and then on the removed head. They are flat. No signs of warpage or that anything is amiss.

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Guest GaWajn

When applying pressure at the harmonic balancer bolt ... in a back and forth manner ... I can feel movement on every piston except number four. All the others move, therefor I think that the cruddy looking piston number four, is the culprit.

There are no marking on the piston tops, so I assume that they are standard bore.

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