fraso

Being in Canada, I regularly rustproof my daily drivers and I've tried several different systems. Krown works well but it seems to continuously creep. It doesn't bother me but my wife hates dark film that appears around body panel edges all year. The dark colour may be due to previous rustproofing coatings that were black. I have a 73 Dart that was rustproofed long before we got it. Wherever the coating was intact, the metal was sound. My father did a DIY undercoating of his 77 Pontiac when he bought it. Wherever the coating was applied, the metal was good. Too bad he didn't have the wands to get inside the door panels and other inaccessible places. We bought a new car this year and I decided to go with Ziebart's Permanent Rust Protection system because, although it goes on wet, it sets into a waxy film. It was more expensive upfront but cheaper in the long run with annual touch-ups than the oil spray. I think the skill and conscientiousness of the oil sprayer is more important than the particular brand of spray. I've had rustproofing jobs where the shop missed many places or barely gave the surfaces any coating. It would wise to check any rustproofing work after the application and go back if it looks inadequate. See Undercoating.

A GM HEI conversion would be a better ignition upgrade for your Buick. DAVE's small-body HEI's converts points distributors to electronic ignition distributors. Dave recommends using the original points coil but I think its better to use a low primary resistance (0.5-0.7 ohms) coil instead. I just did the HEI Ignition Upgrade of my Barracuda and it works great. See HEI Ignition Upgrade.

I don't have an earlier reference so I leafed through my 1935-53 Motor Manual and noticed that the summer grade (above +32°F) specified for many 1930s makes was SAE 20. Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Packard, and Studebaker specified SAE 30. I would not expect that an earlier make would have specified an SAE 40 unless ambient temperatures were very hot. For example, the 1938 Dodge owners manual specifies SAE 40 for average daytime temperatures of 90+ °F (ie continuously recurring morning temperature of 70-80°F AND mid-afternoon peak temperature of 100-110°F). Modern oils have much better viscosity indexes so thinner grades do not thin-out in high temperatures like the old oils. I would try to find an owner's and factory service manual for your car. Until then, I would use a 30-grade heavy duty engine oil. I like Petro Canada Duron SHP 10W-30 but Shell Rotella T4 10W-30 and Chevron Delo 400 10W-30 would also be good alternatives.

As the fluid (ether?) in the thermometer system expands and contracts with temperature, the fluid acts on a coiled tube (Bourdon Tube) inside the gauge that moves the indicating needle. Since the volume of fluid in the bulb end of the system is much greater than that contained in the connecting tubing, the sensing fluid is most sensitive to the temperature in which the bulb is mounted. The loose coil around the connecting tubing is to protect the tube from damage. Your shop manual should have a section on servicing the temperature gauge. If not, I would think that the sensing fluid should be specified somewhere on the gauge or the bulb. While it's possible to DIY repair your gauge, I think you would be better off sending it to someone who specializes in it. I would try Morris Gauge first as they are an AACA forum member. See Antique Automobile Instrumentation Restoration. Morris Gauge.

Gauges are repairable and there are many companies that do this. I did a quick search just now and found Instrument Services, Inc. Gauges can fail for a variety of reasons and it would helpful if you got yourself a factory service manual. I'm not familiar with your car so you'll have to figure out if it's a mechanical or electrical gauge. If it's electrical, it could be the gauge itself, the voltage supply, or the sender.

Once the rad cap relieves excessive coolant, there is no need to remove any more. To ensure that the cooling system works as efficiently as possible, you should do a cooling system flush (with citric or oxalic acid) to remove rust and scale if you haven't already done so. See Cooling System. Your rough running engine could be a sign of some percolation in the carburetor or fuel pump. If you have the hood clearance, it would be useful to add some insulation between the intake manifold and carburetor (like a phenolic spacer). A car runs better with a warm intake manifold and a cool carburetor. See Vapor Lock. Engine oil becomes less viscous with temperature so oil pressure will naturally drop as the oil becomes hotter. Engines require oil flow and oil pressure is a characteristic of flow and temperature. Use a multigrade heavy duty engine oil with viscosity grade recommended by the owner's manual for summer temperatures. That is, if a 30-grade oil was recommended for hot temperatures, any modern 30-grade oil (ie, 0W-30, 5W-30, 10W-30, 15W-30) will work fine. Use the winter rating (ie, 0W-, 5W-, etc) part of the multiviscosity grade to suit your cold weather driving temperatures. Normally, 10W-30 works great in older engines. I like semi-synthetic Petro Canada Duron SHP 10W-30 and Shell Rotella T6 5W-30 is an excellent full synthetic. See Engine Wear and the Corvair Oil Guide.

I drive my own car (a 65 Barracuda) as much as I can while the weather is good - no snow) and 4000-5000 miles per year isn't unusual. If you have more than one car, I would keep your 1955 Oldsmobile as a FAIR WEATHER daily driver. As others have stated, the more you drive it, the more reliable it will become as old failure-prone parts are replaced. There is no need to expose your car to the hazards of adverse weather conditions. Presumably, your engine is mostly stock with the original carburetor. If you're having carburetor problems, you're better off rebuilding your own carburetor than getting a remanufactured one from the parts store. There is no guarantee that the reman was done right or that the carb is properly calibrated for your car. If you can find vintage speed parts for it, then this might be a good opportunity to switch to a different carburetor. If you have a cold hesitation, it would be good to check the condition of the manifold heat control system (heat riser) and you might need to free or lubricate the valve. If you a have vee-engine, the cross-over passage might be plugged with carbon. I would also check the operation of the choke mechanism. I do not recommend disabling this system even in hot climates. Vapor lock can be problem for carburetor cars and an electric fuel pump can often help. See Vapor Lock for more information. Neglected engines can also have a large amount of rust & scale inside the block. I would do an acid flush (citric or oxalic) and refill with a 50/50 solution of antifreeze. See Cooling System. If you're still using a non-detergent engine oil, switch to a Heavy Duty Engine Oil. See the Corvair Oil Guide and Engine Wear.

I think the "manual" pump is actually a "mechanical" pump. A mechanical pump is usually driven by an eccentric cam on the camshaft and uses check valves to control the direction of flow. If you install an electric pump at the fuel tank, it will push gasoline through the mechanical pump where any vapor would then be released in the carburetor. Not all electric pumps allow gasoline to flow freely through them when not running. In this case, you would need to install a bypass around the electric pump that has a fuel check valve. See Vapor Lock. I suppose if you installed an electric pump that has a high output pressure without using a fuel pressure regulator, the diaphragm in your mechanical pump could rupture to flood the oil pan or the fuel pressure could overcome the float(s) in the carburetor to flood the intake manifold (and then the oil pan).

I have had oil pressure switches go bad on me. I have both the switch and pressure sender (for an aftermarket gauge) teed into the oil switch's port so I know how much pressure I really have. This keeps the oil pressure warning lamp functional so I know immediately if I loose pressure. The warning lamp should not light if you disconnect the switch. That indicates a short in the circuit. If your engine doesn't have worn bearings, a 30-grade oil should be adequate for your needs. Going to an oil with excessive viscosity means that more oil is relieved back to the sump and less reaches the bearings. See Engine Wear.

I think that adding an electric fuel pump would help with your starting issue and others have done what maok have suggested. I did something similar on my car but used a relay (from Daniel Stern Lighting) to only run the electric pump during starting. See HEI Ignition Upgrade for photos.

Many years ago, I replaced the mechanical fuel pump in my car with a Carter electric pump hoping to fix a performance issue. It didn't fix that issue but I now had a noisy pump and low voltage at idle. This year, after upgrading to an HEI system just a few days ago, I rebuilt the mechanical fuel pump (Then & Now Automotive) and reinstalled it. I kept the electric pump (in series at the gas tank) but set it up to only run at starting with a relay (from Daniel Stern Lighting). See HEI Ignition Upgrade & Vapor Lock.

Here's a Dan Stern article about lighting posted on the Slant Six forum: Slant Six Forum: Exterior lighting maintenance, resto & upgrade Dan Stern sells lighting components (including relay kits and bulbs) on his web site: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

You can easily ship anything anywhere for enough money. If you're in Hamilton, one of the easiest way to ship a heavy and bulky parcel(s) would be by Greyhound. The bus station is at 181 Ellicott St, Buffalo, NY 14203. I've once had to ship a 15" Dodge rim and it worked out that Fedex was cheaper. I dropped it off at the Cheektowaga office at 100-1779 Walden Avenue and could have also used the FedEx Ship Center at 299 Cayuga Rd. Be aware that Homeland security will be asking you if you have anything to declare. It would probably be wise to call them first. See Peace Bridge Authority.

That sounds like a lot of wishful thinking. Atomized fuel still falls out of the airstream and chokes are still needed to enrich the fuel mixture. Vaporizing gasoline continuously cools the intake manifold regardless of ambient temperature. it is the intake manifold that needs to warm for the engine to be warmed up.

Intake manifolds need to have a hot spot underneath the carburetor to vaporize any fuel that falls out of the air stream. Vaporizing gasoline also causes the intake manifold to cool and, if that heat isn't replaced, condensation or frost can can appear downstream of the carburetor. See Intake Manifold Heat and Engine Wear.

The rate of oxidation depends on oil temperature and this depends upon engine speed and load. I suspect that the engine oil in most of the vehicles owned by members of this forum rarely get really hot. Machinery Lubrication: The Importance of Oil Oxidation Stability There was a discussion on BITOG about too frequent oil changes not being beneficial for 3 reasons: unnecessary cost start-up wear from a lack of lubrication as the oil filter fills additive activation I'm not sure what is the real effect of additive activation but here's one of topic about it: NEw oil= increased engine wear? I recall a discussion on another forum about a member forgoing oil changes completely because he was using a Franz Oil Filter. He didn't seem to understand or care about additives.

My understanding is that detergents DO remove deposits from an engine but slowly. The removed deposits are kept in suspension by dispersant additives. See Corvair Oil Article, page 18, Bottom Line Recommendation #10: From Bob is the Oil Guy, Bob explains the two functions of detergents: First, they lift any deposits from the surfaces from the surfaces of the engine to which they adhere to and then chemically combine to form a barrier film, which keeps the deposits from coming out of suspension and coagulating. Detergents form two kinds of barrier films. On small particles, (generally less than 0.02 microns in size), detergents form an absorbed film which slows down coagulation of the particles. On much larger particles, (ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 microns in size), detergents cause the particle surfaces to acquire an electrical charge of the same sign so they can repel each other. The polar metallic heads of detergents have a great affinity for each other. These molecules attract each other like magnets and form clusters called "micelles". The deposit precursors being oil-insoluble have a greater affinity for the detergent molecule than the oil molecules. They are attracted to the detergent micelles (much like iron fillings are drawn to a magnet) and trapped within them. Thus, they are kept in solution in the engine oil and cannot settle out to form deposits in the engine. The number of particles that can be contained in a micelle is limited. When a number of particles exceed the capacity of the type of detergent chemistry being used deposits can form. Therefore it is necessary that the engine oil be drained before this happens if engine cleanliness is to be maintained. Secondly, detergents neutralize any acids formed by the combustion of the fuel by chemically reacting with the acids in order to form harmless neutralized chemicals. Dispersants are polar additives that are used to disperse sludge and soot particles for the purpose of preventing agglomeration, settling and deposits. Dispersants envelops particles and keep them finely divided. Dispersants are polymeric and ashless compounds. These compounds are based on long chain hydrocarbons, which are acidified and then neutralized with a compound containing basic nitrogen. See Engine Sludge.

If the vapour lock is occuring in the carburetor, I think much of the heat gained by the carburetor comes through its base from the intake manifold. I think it would be more effective to add an insulating spacer between the carburetor and intake manifold. This often done with modern hot rods with layers of gaskets (like Edelbrock PN 3710) or a phenolic spacer (like Holley PN 108-37). I think many people have used wooden spacers effectively too (like Edelbrock PN 8723). It is important to maintain the intake manifold hot spot to vapourize any atomized fuel that falls out of the airstream and this is necessary even in hot summer weather. Vapour lock can also originate at the fuel pump. In this case, an electric pump mounted in a cool area away from the engine can push liquid gasoline to the carburetor while the engine is cranked.

It could very well be that your gauge is inaccurate. Have you tried measuring the pressure with a gauge of known accuracy? All 30-grade oils (ie, SAE 30, 0W-30, 5W-30, 10W-30) fall within the same hot (measured at 100°C) viscosity range (ie 9.3 to <12.5 cSt). See SAE Viscosity Grades for Engine Oils. Some 30-grade oils are on the more viscous side of the range like the Petro-Canada Duron SHP 10W-30 that I'm using, which is 12.0 cSt @ 100°C. If my car weren't burning some oil, I'd be using synthetic Mobil Delvac Elite 222 0W-30, which is 12.2 cSt @ 100°C. Once the shafts are rotating, metal to metal contact is prevented by the hydrodynamic wedge between the shaft and the bearing. See YouTube: Hydrodynamic Bearings. ArtificerTom's Plymouth owner's manual recommends 40-grade oils for summer use. If your gauge is accurate, try a 15W-40 HDEO (preferably dual-rated API CK-4/SN or CJ-4/SM) to raise your oil pressure.

You're confusing flow with pressure. Your PRV is working because it limits the pressure developed by the pump to a maximum of 60 psi by diverting some of the flow through a low-resistance path to back to the sump. As the oil warms, it has less flow resistance in the oil system so the PRV closes and all the oil pump's output goes to the bearings. Think of it this way: imagine you have a mouthful of a liquid and have to blow it out through a straw in 10 seconds. If the liquid were honey, you'd have to blow a lot harder than if you had a mouthful of water. In either case, you are blowing a mouthful of a liquid through a straw in 10 seconds but effort required is much higher for the thicker liquid and some of the extra pressure in your mouth would leak out from your lips. It is good to check all those things but if your gauge is accurate and your pump is not worn, then either your viscosity is too low or your bearings have too much clearance. There are others here who are far more knowledgeable with your engine than me. The easiest way to improve your hot oil pressure would be switch to a 15W-40 heavy duty engine oil like ArtificerTom uses . This would give your bearings additional protection from a 40-grade's higher HTHS viscosity and a HDEO"s higher ZDDP additive levels.

I don't think 60 psi is excessive for a PRV setting. Reducing it to 45 would cause more oil to bypass back to the sump, thereby reducing flow to the bearings when the engine is cold. I believe the main risk of running high pressure is undue stress/wear on the pump's drive gear. You could also potentially blow out the oil filter but modern filters are designed to withstand much higher pressures than normally experienced in a oil system that is in good working order. The burst pressure on the Wix 51515 is 290 psi for example. See Fram: Over-Pressurized Lube Oil Filters

If your manual has specific recommendations, I would go with those rather than what is listed in my Motor manual especially since it's more in agreement with the Chrysler Oil Recommendations I came across. If your manual calls for 40-grade oil for summer driving and your oil pressure is normally 30-40 psi when fully warm, I think you are doing fine. I would leave the PVR setting where it is and I don't think there would be any benefit to reducing it. My Motor manual has a section about Oil Pressure Regulator, 1935-1953 in Plymouth. Of interest is this:

I was trying to avoid making my explanation too wordy. The point I was trying to make was that at any given temperature, the pressure developed by the oil pump varies with the square of oil flow but I should have been clearer. More precisely, the flow rate (gpm, litres/sec, etc) of a positive displacement pump is directly proportional to pump speed (allowing for seal leakage) regardless of viscosity (ie oil temperature). Since oil is incompressible, the oil pump can develop extremely high pressures from the downstream flow restriction and the viscosity of the oil affects the resulting pressure loss in the engine's oil system (galleries & bearings). Hot oil is less viscous so the pressure loss is less than that of cold oil, which is why the oil pressure gauge at the outlet of the oil pump shows less pressure at a given engine RPM with hot oil compared with cold oil. See YouTube: The Difference Between Pressure and Flow If the PRV has an adjustable setting, setting it somewhat higher than the normal oil pressure developed in a hot engine will ensure that very little oil is bypassed back to the sump. It looks like your PRV is set to relieve at 56 psi if this is the highest pressure you will ever see no matter how high you rev your engine. The warning in the manual about watching for zero oil pressure particularly in the winter appears to be about the pump sucking air (or vortexing) from excessively thick oil. See YouTube: Submergence level and vortex formation My Motor manual goes back to 1935 and I believe the Plymouth PA is a 1932 model. The 1935-1953 oil pressure specs in my book show either 45 psi @ 30 mph or 40 psi @ 20 mph so your 30 psi seems slightly low (unless it's at idle). The recommended summer grade (+32°F) for all engines from 1935 to 1948 is SAE 20. I would expect a 1932 model to have similar specs. Since your PRV is already set higher (60 psi) than your normal hot oil pressure (30 psi), adjusting the PRV setting will not increase the hot oil pressure. You need to need to increase the pressure loss in the oil gallery either with thicker oil (going from a 30-grade to a 40-grade) or with more flow (less worn pump or higher volume oil pump). Counterintuitively, using a more viscous oil can reduce oil flow to the bearings if the added pressure loss causes the developed pressure to be higher than the PRV setting. Thicker oil does provide a thicker hydrodynamic wedge and this is affected by the oil's HTHS Rating. Excessive viscosity causes additional fluid friction losses (reduced fuel economy) and higher oil temperatures (from the fluid friction). It can also put unnecessary load on the oil pump gears (see SL6 Oil Pump Gear Failure and Oil System Information) See YouTube: Hydrodynamic Bearings

That sounds to me like your engine oil is too viscous to pump in cold temperatures. See Engine Wear.

Oil pumps are positive displacement, which means the oil flow they produce is directly proportional to the pump speed. Pressure rises with the square of flow so a pressure relief valve (PRV) is used to prevent dangerously high pressure. The PRV keeps the pressure from becoming too high by allowing some oil to bleed back to the sump. If your oil pressure relief valve is working properly, your oil pressure should never exceed the PRV's rating. If it reaches 60 psi when cold but doesn't get higher with increasing revs, then it looks like you have a 60 psi PRV spring in your oil pump. Your 36 Plymouth appears to have a 30 psi PRV spring. A 10W-30 multigrade oil means that it has the viscosity of a 10W-grade oil when cold and a 30-grade oil when hot. All 30-grade oils (ie, SAE 30, 0W-30, 5W-30, 10W-30) have the same hot viscosity range (rating is at 100°C/212°F). See SAE Viscosity Grades for Engine Oils. If you're concerned that your cold oil pressure is too high, the simplest thing would be to switch to a 5W-30 or 0W-30 engine oil.