Beemon

For those interested: Heavy Duty: #TEM 271303 Severe Duty: #TEM 271301 Those are NAPA numbers, price difference is $10 for increased thermal surface area. I can't find any standard clockwise over the counter fan blades, just serpentine blades. Might be an aftermarket/junkyard find. I was surprised, even my local Autozone, whom is filled with cheap go fast trinkets, doesn't have "race performance" clutch fans or flex fans. I was doing some research and it dawned on me that most cars have external coolers for everything - transmission, oil, power steering.... Maybe consideration of a remote oil cooler to dissipate some of that cast iron block heat? Would also theoretically improve the longevity of the oil.

My original fuel pump worked great for about 2 weeks on Ethanol. You would be best to replace the diaphragms with modern ones.

What type of fuel do you use regularly?

I'm pretty sure the only difference is the fuel pump part, the covers are different. The only difference in the kits is the amount of holes in the rubber.

My mistake of I claimed it hadn't, but I thought Willie posted that the clutch didn't engage until 200 degree heat. My whole point I was trying to make was that the clutch may not be getting hot enough to engage earlier because of where the clutch would be in relationship to the grill and the most air flow going under the clutch. Sorry for confusion.

On the contrary, it was heavily pitted. If it is the same mirror, you can get away with using the tri-5 mirrors as a replacement since it's a 4 1/2" bolt pattern if I recall correctly. Otherwise, to use the original Buick mirrors, you have to patch the existing holes, hope one of them matches up and then drill another hole.

Hey, it looks like you have the same aftermarket mirrors as me! That's the first time I've seen that type of mirror on another Buick, I'm not alone! lol

Excuse my crude computer art, but I took the dimensions off the car and applied them to a 3D program to illustrate the inefficiency of the front grill (for 56, but 54-55 should be similar). The first image is the radiator in relationship to the front grill. On the 56, the radiator was square 22"x22". It is placed 16" from the front grill and sits above the grill by 10". The perforated part of the grill itself is 10.5" tall and 56" at its widest, with a deflection of about 6" from the center. The second image is transparent with the fan shroud visible, an 18" diameter fan and a 6" clutch. The center of the clutch is about 1" from the top of the grill, where the thermostat would be. Aside from this, behind the grill is completely open with no deflection towards the radiator other than the splash guard, hood and inner fenders - all of which do not direct air. The last two images is a proposed shroud behind the grill and in front of the radiator, which only guides air into the radiator. Because the thermostat is 1" from the top of the grill, all the air flow is mostly directed through the bottom half of the grill, and can conclude that not enough air flow is reaching the thermostat. Everything else behind the grill would create a flow dead zone, especially in front of the inner fenders. Just wanted to apply a visual to the discussion. Other models may vary and this was mostly eye balled with rounded numbers.

I don't know if any of you watch Jay Leno's Garage, but they did a segment on this stuff and apparently it's boiling point is 310, so you don't need to use anything more than a 3lb cap to get the boiling point well above 210. I've been trying to piece this stuff together with the part numbers in this thread, but I can't seem to find the fan blades over the counter. Did anyone have a part number for the actual fan or is that up to the aftermarket world?

Theoretically I don't think it would. It's not close to being as thick as half inch carb spacers, however carb spacers have shown to give fuel a longer atomizer process before hitting the intake runners so it can only get better.

I think the issue here, as someone had stated before, is the orientation of the radiator in regards to air flow through the front grill. I'm not sure when it happened, as I'm not that well versed in the multiple years of cars, but at some point radiators went from vertical to horizontal mount and filled more surface area of the grill. Open the hood and look through the grill to see how much of the radiator is exposed on our 50s Buicks and it only appears to expose half the radiator. Open a late model with a horizontal radiator and it follows the length of the grill, opening more area up. Clutch fans, as I understand it, work with the air flow through the grill to push the heat off the radiator into the thermostatic controller and thus engage the fan. Maybe your clutch fan isn't working so well because of where the air through the grill is passing through the radiator and thus isn't hitting the controller? The mechanical fan works great because it just pulls air from in front of the radiator, where the clutch fan needs air pushed through the radiator to work properly. The fan shroud is there to guide hot air out, not guide cool air in. Maybe fab up some type of shroud from the front of the grill to the edges of the radiator to maximize where the flow of air is going? Maybe some industrial plastic roofing sheets fastened from the mounting screws of the grill to the radiator corners? That way you reduce the huge pressure deadzone in front of the radiator. Likewise, most modern cars I've dealt with have two electric fans attached to the radiator (usually turning on at different temps) that span the entire radiator. You electric fan is smaller than the fan shroud, so your efficiency is lacking because it doesn't cover the full length of the radiator. I'm not sure how you have the fan setup on your Ford, but it's engine compartment looks to be much less restrictive. Needless to say, electric fans will most likely be a bust without an alternator. I just wanted to add this last bit in. When I had my radiator rebuilt, I had it re-cored with a third core instead of the stock two core. I also blocked off the transmission cooler on the bottom of the radiator and mounted a separate transmission cooler in front of the radiator (not on the radiator). If 55 is the same, then take into consideration the heat from the transmission cooler heats up the bottom of the radiator. I'm not sure what the difference in engine and transmission temps are, but re-routing the transmission lines to a remote mounted cooler may alleviate your cooling issues.

JEGS offers both: with terminal without terminal Page 57 of their catalog says it's still listed.

When you compare numbers, the cost to install an alternator is dwarfed by buying a new voltage regulator by $20. If your voltage regulator fries, then you have other issues within the generator that may also need to be looked at and a rebuild can run up to almost $100 in some cases. Alternators are also solid state voltage regulation, so there's no fear of burning points out. Lastly, there are many models ranging from the stock 30 amps all the way up to 120 amps, which broadens what you can put on the car and feel safe running (electric radiator fan, solid state ignition system, EFI, modern AC, sound system). I tried the alternator conversion, worked really well, except I used a Mopar alternator (they flow/look better than a GM, but mount differently - where I screwed up). The Mopar alternator is triggered through the amp meter in the dash, so keeping the wiring the same meant I could do without a dummy light. I eventually removed it, though, because it didn't look right sitting there and the custom bracket to mount it was flimsy - not in construction, but the fact there there were two flex points to mount instead of one led to some very interesting scenarios. I had also wired it into the starter relay from the 6v field terminals and my starter relay welded shut and blew my starter, so I removed the whole system and went back to stock... If I were to do an alternator conversion again, I would spend the money on the Powermaster alternator. Some units come with a field "lamp" terminal, which gives off 6V when charging to use as a ground for the starter relay. Of course the issue with one wire alternators is that you have to put your foot into them to get them to charge, and the old Buicks are turned over by putting your foot into it. Buick5563 has never had an issue, so it's probably nothing to worry about. Curious to know at what RPM they kick in at, though.

Did you try spraying the pulley with penetrating oils? Did you use a puller to try and remove it? If you have the WCFB, then you might want to source the plate. My Rochester didn't come with the plate but I've always heard the WCFB did. Also, completely optional, but with today's modern fuels, you may want to plug the heat passages at the top of the intake manifold where the carb bolts to. It's there to warm the carb in cold weather with the fuels of yesteryear, but modern winter blends burn hotter to compensate. There is a thread on here that has done the intake work, ironically enough an Edelbrock conversion thread. They used a 7/16-14 tap with brass plugs, or if they cannot be sourced, cut down and slotted 7/16-14 all thread. Completely optional, I did it on mine and didn't notice anything different, but it will prevent the base of your carb from being baked off and you won't need the steel plate.

I've considered all fan options in the past: flex, steel, clutch and electric and I've come to the conclusion that anything attached to the water pump is just going to put a bigger burden on the engine than the stock fan. The more blades, the harder it has to work to chop the air, and you can't run the stock blade with an electric fan because of the turbulence the two fans create. And then I ran into the same problem as you - there isn't an electric fan big enough to not off set the charge capacity of the system. Even when running an electric choke before going back to the heat stove put a slight drain on the charging system. When I was getting ready for my dual carb setup, I was originally going to run an alternator with an electric fan plugged into the vacant temp slot on the head and electric chokes. The cut out concept is the same as the generator, the relay is grounded out through the field terminal - either on the Mopar or GM alternator plugs (Ford I'm un familiar). All that was required was a cheap diode so charge couldn't back feed to the alternator. I ended up swapping back in the generator because I didn't like the way you have to shim the alternator in to fit the stock bracket that is unfortunately a motor mount. In the end, might just bite the bullet and buy that $400 power master alternator and not have to worry about it. I've heard you can put alternator guts in a generator case, but I've never seen it done.

If he has a Rochester, he shouldn't need one. If I recall correctly, the plate was only for the WCFB.

What would cause the speedometer to break like that? Meddling perhaps?

When I replaced my flasher, the thermal unit over the counter was too weak to power all of the lights. I replaced the thermal flasher with an electrical solid state one and my issues went away. You could try the same before tearing into the wiring further.

If doing dual carbs, unless tri-power, I was always told to run straight linkage because you'll over richen the cylinders closest to the master carb and lean out the cylinders closest to the slave carb when running progressive. It works on the track to run progressive because there isn't a lot of low RPM driving.

I put dual carbs on my 56 with Dynaflow and I felt the car performed better than before. It didn't go any faster by any means with the Dynaflow, but it didn't bog down either. Accelerating from Low was leagues quicker but in normal Drive there was no noticeable difference other than my gas gauge accelerating faster than the car.

I've personally never used it (my avatar is Detroit Diesel Green) but have done a lot of forum research and everyone has said that the cap color doesn't do the color justice. It's pretty spot on to the original color, definitely not exact, but ddiaz396's parts look pretty close to images online of unpainted pieces. If I recall correctly, someone here on the forums had done a color comparison of Detroit Diesel, Ford Green, the stuff the distributors sell and an original piece and Ford Green was pretty much the same as the original and the color that the distributors sell.

The pulley is not pressed on, it is just glued on from old age. Get a pulley puller, it's a three arm puller. Just center the screw on the shaft and put a wrench on it and go slowly. It's really easy to bend the pulley. While it's off probably a good idea to remove the woodruff key and replace it if there are signs of oxidation or it looks scored from the removal of the pulley (pulley might take some meat with it). Oh another thing: do not take the pump apart if it works!

I just swapped this system onto my 56 Buick but I could not find the adjustment arm override spring anywhere (the black one on the arm) where did you find yours? How was the fit? It looks smaller than the original one that was on there.

I had no idea he made v-belt pulleys. Is it just the crank and water pump or the generator and power steering as well?

No promises here, but given the current dimensions and distances from groove to groove, I could probably mock up a few drawings and send it off to the manufacturing department at the college. Classes don't begin until the 19th and I don't know how long of a lead time there will be, but if someone wants to grab some dimensions of the alternator pulley size, that's the only thing I'm uncertain of (I'm pretty sure it's smaller than the standard pulley since the AC generators use the same brushes, field coils and armature as the non-AC generator). It could be a shot in the dark, but I'm interested in having a set myself.