Fleetwood Meadow

I rode around a parking lot today and it happens between 20-25 mph. It doesn’t do it when it is slower and it doesn’t do it when it is faster. I stuck my head out of the window and it sounded like it was coming from the rear end. I will check the suspension parts and make sure there is no marking from rubbing. I am also going to have to grease the u-joints while I am down there.

Let it also be known that I don’t feel it in the steering wheel.

I see no cracks or bulges. I also see nowhere where things might be rubbing. What is the pressure the tires should be at? I know the original bias tires were somewhere around 28psi.

I am using radial 205/75r15 which they say is the replacement for the original 7.50-15. It isn’t at full lock. It starts at around 3/4 of the full turn.

I have noticed for a little while on my ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook that when I am turning while going slow, 20mph or slower, I hear a thumping or grinding sound coming from the front tire area. It makes the sound at both left and right turns. I have not noticed wear marks on the inner sidewalls. The shocks are not broken and are about 2 years old. It makes the grinding/thumping sound at that spacing similar to if you had a brake hitting a high spot on the drum but I have taken the brakes apart and that is not the issue. It also doesn’t matter if the brakes are applied or not it still makes the sound. Where should I start looking? What would generally cause this sound? I have also included this question on the mopar forum site in case anyone sees this there too.

I’m thinking about rebuilding my 331 V8 in my Cadillac. It says the standard bore limits are 3.8125-3.8145”. I measured my bores and they were 3.827 across the board. In Engine 101, what size pistons and rings would I need? I’m learning about ring and bearing sizes in this thread.

I hope that’s not the case. I just finally got it to seat against the tank and not leak

Update: when I first turned the key to on the gauge went up above half. But then I started it and moved the car a little down the driveway and it went below half again and didn’t go back up.

On my ‘52 Cadillac I replaced the gas tank and sending unit. I ran out of gas because the unit wasn’t grounded. I took it out and checked the resistance and it tested well. It is adjusted so that when it is about to run out of gas the needle is on E. I put it back in and grounded it and it started reading the gas level. So I filled it the tank and it only read to 1/2 full. I used that gas and filled it again and it still only got up to 1/2 full. Do gauges operate on 6 or 12 volts specifically? Meaning, could this gauge be out of a ‘53 Cadillac, since ‘53 started 12 volts for Cadillac, or does it not matter the voltage in the gauge? Since my car is 6 volts, is there a way to make this gauge show full when the tank is full instead of 1/2 full?

I was looking in the book for my ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook and it was saying that they recommend a 160 thermostat. I was looking in my ‘52 Cadillac book and it recommends a 180 thermostat. Why would they want a 160 vs a 180? Wouldn’t the higher block temp burn the fuel better, not to mention the higher interior heater temp? Is there a danger to using a thermostat not rated to the recommended temperature?

My thoughts are to trust your gut. If you read something and you don’t feel right inside about it then stay away from it. I have had people use my posts on other forums and post them here in an effort to gain credibility. He is making it a point to target certain people with direct messages to them based on how I’m reading these responses. It doesn’t necessarily mean he is scamming anyone. At the same time it doesn’t mean he isn’t scamming anyone. People get more creative all the time and come up with ways to gain credibility prior to enacting their scams. Regardless of whether or not this is a scam if you don’t feel comfortable about something you have no obligation to do anything. Shop manuals are cheap enough to purchase.

Unfortunately I can’t help with that but when I bought my ‘52 Cadillac Series 75 I called my friend whom owns a limo company and said that when I fixed it up enough for his satisfaction he could borrow it to drive people that wanted a fancy old car for an event. His response was that nobody wants that type of thing anymore. I’m glad to hear that people do in fact still want cool things like that. I got an email recently from Hagerty that they have some sort of program where they link people who have classic cars with people that need them for events. I’d check there to see if they have anything in your area.

Why do people put words like “original” or the year of the vehicle in quotes? Is that like when people use air quotes to make a sarcastic claim? Like when you say someone you hate is a “great guy?”

M-man, help me fully understand who is selling this car. I know that the owner died, and the family was throwing the car away. You stepping in and said I’ll take the car from you. Did they sign over the car to you? If you are getting rid of the car for them are they or are you signing a bill of sales? Essentially I’m asking about the legal ownership and authority to release the car to someone else in a way that they can legally register the car in their own state.

When I had my Cadillac brought from Washington to Rhode Island it didn’t run. They used a local flatbed to pick it up off the ground then they rolled it onto the multi-car trailer. Cost about $1700. It can be done.

That is a lot of expensive shiny chrome

How many of these fire trucks were made?

I haven’t read the other sides compression yet. I took the car around the block and it didn’t smoke and ran very well. When I shut it off the carburetor didn’t spit any gas when the engine was shut off. I guess that the electric fuel pump was creating too much pressure. It’s going to rain for a couple days. I’ll get the compression of all of them the next nice day after the engine is warm.

Thank you so much guys for the great answers. When I rebuild my ‘51 Dodge’s engine I want to make sure I’m getting the right sized rings.

I replaced the valve springs on the odd side. I know I’m not supposed to do a compression on a cold car but I did just to see where it stood: #1 80 #2 90 #3 95 #4 120 When I did start it I ran it fast and checked to see that oil was getting to the rockers. Oil came out nicely as it should. What I find perplexing is that the engine idles and revs smoothly. I took the electric fuel pump wire off and ran the car strictly on the mechanical fuel pump. It ran great. Unfortunately I forgot to look and see if the carburetor was still shooting gas out when it was shut off. I will look the next time I run it. There was so much black smoke coming out of the tail pipes I couldn’t see clearly through it. I’m assuming after looking online a little that it is more of a carburetor issue more than it is an engine issue. It didn’t smoke like that before but perhaps that has to do with the weak springs that were on it and now that they are replaced the hidden issues came out. But it was definitely not encouraging to see all of that smoke.

Engine Rebuilding 101: -Can someone explain to me the difference between STD rings and .010, .020, etc.? -Are the standard rings the same size as oversized rings, the oversized rings are just a wider diameter? Or are the oversized rings thicker in size? What I mean by thicker is if you lay the ring down and use a caliper to measure the size of the piece of metal, not the diameter, is it thicker/wider than a standard ring? -Also, can you use an oversized ring on a standard piston? -If someone bored an engine would they bore every cylinder or just the ones that were damaged?

I replaced the valve springs on the odd side. I know I’m not supposed to do a compression on a cold car but I did just to see where it stood: #1 80 #2 90 #3 95 #4 120 When I did start it I ran it fast and checked to see that oil was getting to the rockers. Oil came out nicely as it should. I took the electric fuel pump wire off and ran the car strictly on the mechanical fuel pump. It ran great. Unfortunately I forgot to look and see if the carburetor was still shooting gas out when it was shut off. I will look the next time I run it. There was so much black smoke coming out of the tail pipes I couldn’t see clearly through it. I’m assuming after looking online a little that it is more of a carburetor issue more than it is an engine issue. It didn’t smoke like that before but perhaps that has to do with the weak springs that were on it and now that they are replaced the hidden issues came out. But it was definitely not encouraging to see all of that smoke. The oil light still comes on when the engine warms up and idles. I don’t know if it is the sensor that loses itself a little when it warms up or if that is a symptom of something else. I was watching a video online and the mechanic said that bearings that aren’t the right size will cause that. But I don’t know. It’s the sensor that came with the block. Despite all of the issues that keep coming up the engine revs and idles smoothly.

-It does have an electric fuel pump, I have now added a switch to use it only when needed. Haven’t installed the new springs yet to start it to see if the switch helps the carb not build up too much pressure, in the event that it is. -The car is a 4 barrel Carter WCFB. I don’t know if it has an anti-percolation system or not. I can’t get the thing to adjust properly as it is. I can tighten both mixture screws and it still runs the same as if I had them open. -The gaskets under the carb are all new so I would like to think that the heat is ok. It can run and start every time so I don’t think there is a vapor lock or boil out issue. -The venting of the tank isn’t an issue. The vent tube isn’t sealed to the fillet neck fully so air can get in.

What is this?

What’s it look like? You can pm me that so it doesn’t distract the thread. If I am not mistaken ‘53 went to 12v and electric windows, didn’t it?