Spinneyhill Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I need to drain the engine cooling system. I am not sure where the block drain plug or bolt is.There is a bolt behind number 8 at the rear of the motor, behind the starter motor. This bolt is low down and looks like it would work. Is that the drain?Thanks for your help.Graham :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1930 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I am not aware of their being a drain bolt but that is not to say I am familiar with this engine. Why not just pull the bottom hose and flush it out while your at it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 My Car has a block drain tap in the left hand side about 2/3rd's of the way back below one of the welsh plugs. I also have a drain tap in the bottom tank of the radiator, it looks like a wing nut, when this is open it allows the coolant to flow onto the cross member and drain out the middle where there is a hole. Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 Thanks very much Stewart. I have drained the radiator (put a wee hose on the tap through the hole in the cross member), but only got about 9 L out of it and it should hold 11.9 or so. I have a stud in that hole you show. Is that tap on yours a Dodge one?Please use black braided spark plug wire! The yellow checked stuff is used by everyone here, including me in my younger days, but I believe it comes from later.Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 I probably should have said, that water outlet does get almost all the water out of the block. I usually put a piece of PVC tube on it and then drain it into a bucket. Not that I have had to do it too often thankfully. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 Thanks very much Stewart. I have drained the radiator (put a wee hose on the tap through the hole in the cross member), but only got about 9 L out of it and it should hold 11.9 or so. I have a stud in that hole you show. Is that tap on yours a Dodge one?Please use black braided spark plug wire! The yellow checked stuff is used by everyone here, including me in my younger days, but I believe it comes from later.Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 I am not sure if the tap is factory, it is a brass tap but has no ID on it. It may be risky trying to get the stud out after this many years in the water... Our plug leads are braided black similar to the plug lead in the picture don't worry. They were off in this photo as we were changing a blown head gasket. Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 Stewart: thanks very much for your help. I am a bit nervous about attempting to undo the drain stud in mine. Maybe... As far as I can see, there is no drain plug or tap on the block listed in the chassis parts book. Does your DC have the Stromberg carb? I am running an adjustable-jet Tillotson of the period; it gives about 13.5 mpg on average, whereas the Stromberg will pull tree stumps but I only get about 11 mpg. (This is the "Imperial Gallon" or 4.546 litres; US Gallon is 3.79 litres.)1930: Thanks for your response. I could "pull the bottom hose" as you suggest, but it is such a pain - a serious pain - and won't drain the block anyway. Also, the car is inside after a 3-year rest and I don't want to flood the garage with cooling water. The cross member and bottom pan result in water flooding uncontrollably.BTW Stewart, I have a 1980-81 Commodore 4 cylinder top hose (110-120 mm removed from top end) as the lower hose instead of the two short straight hoses plus steel tube bend. It makes it a bit less pain when working on it: fewer hose clips to undo in very tight spots. I put this on when I was having trouble with the water pump and taking it off frequently. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 What Job are you working on which involves draining the water? If you place a large square bucket under the cross member and open the little drain tap you will catch 90% of what comes out. My DC Doesn't run unfortunately.. My Dad's CF8 DeSoto runs a Stromberg from a 202 Holden with an adjustable main jet. We get between 16 and 18MPG depending how fast we are going. The factory DX3 was not giving such good results. The Holden carby cost us $300 to build, we then spent $150 on getting it tuned on a dyno which was one of the best things we ever did. With an adjustable main jet we were able to get the mixtures very close to perfect. When we arrived at the dyno we had 27KW and when we left we had 36KW. Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 I have a tiny leak in the radiator. I am trying the cheap option first: "Soldrit". Probably a bad idea, but we might get a little time before the radiator job. I would like to know the original radiator pattern they had for when it is rebuilt. That carb rebuild wasn't cheap! I did something similar to a Studebaker (Stromberg) carb. Haven't had it on the vehicle yet. I like the dyno idea too. I note the power at the wheel is about two thirds the quoted flywheel power!My DC runs very poorly when cold, but once warm seems to go well. Another project is to get the exhaust heating valve to work, which should improve cold performance. When I lived in Wellington it would freeze around the carburetor venturi when started in cooler whether, so I would idle it for 5 or 10 mins, shut down, go inside and get my lunch etc. and it would drive away perfectly after a few minutes rest to warm up the carburetor. Harrumph.After its 3-yr rest all the brake cylinders are gummed up around the pistons, so that is my other job while I play with the cooling. Then I will replace the brake fluid.Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I would solder it too... I need a new radiator for the DeSoto Sedan but the cost (About $3000) puts me off... The details of the radiator as far as I am aware are Hexagional - 8mm (I think).These dimensions are taken from a Gradon Radiators Catalogue I haveHeight - 29"Width - 20 3/4" Thickness - 2 1/2"Sides 27 3/8"Top 14 1/8"I have a quote from these guys. ($2,673NZD for the core, then you have to have it soldered in)National Radiators Ltd T/A ADRAD NATIONAL RADIATORS 35-41 Walls Road Penrose AUCKLAND 1061 NEW ZEALAND Ph +64 9 579 2604The dyno is honestly worth the money, we used to have cold running dramas etc etc they all went away when we got the mixtures and timing spot on. The power figure was on a tuning run, we were not prepared to do a full power run on the old girl cause we really don't need to know how much it makes. I would expect on a power run it would be in the low 40's. Our car has a few minor performance upgrades, the compression is up to about 5.8:1, it has a more aggressive car (32 Ford V8 profile) and has had the valve guides cut down. Our heat control is frozen solid and I doubt it will ever work. The brakes are a pest, but at least they are simple to fix. It will be great to see your car back on the road soon!Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Does the CF have two sets of points in the distributor? Fiddly thing to set up on the DC. Hard on the back too, leaning over it.My car probably has a higher compression too, due the head being shaved more than once. On one of those surfacings I think it was taken to about 6:1 deliberately. It still likes "stale" petrol though!I have seen National Radiators advertising. That is my fall-back plan if the sealant doesn't work. I suppose mine has a later core but I don't know when it is from. Thanks for the size info.RegardsGraham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 The CF does has two sets of points from standard, but you can get an 8 lobe cam for the distributor from a later Buick which allows you to go back to a single set of points. When we made this modification years ago and the car has run better ever since. Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Good move! Any particular years and models Buick? I'll look into that one. Thanks.Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Thanks Dave, Much appreciated. Is it vintage radiator co in England who is currently making it? Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 (edited) Thanks very much Dave. Well that's that then: mine is not like that. I'll ask around here and see if anyone says they can do it. Edit:An outfit called Replicore advertise in the local Vintage Car Club magazine. www.replicore.co.nz. They say they manufacture radiator cores for vintage cars and warbirds. [The warbirds they refer to are probably the ex-military aeroplanes that are thriving in this country. BTW, the first Mosquito to fly for decades has just flown in Christchurch, where it was rebuilt for a US owner.]They show an "expanded square diamond" 7 or 8 mm in the "Cartridge core" catalogue on the web site.2nd Edit:I emailed them and the response is that "although that type of core is on our tooling list to make we have yet to get there sorry". They recommend ADRAD in Auckland, who make a hexagonal pattern. They say our local repairer may be able to access the same core from ADREASD, which looks like a subsidiary of ADRAD.RegardsGraham Edited October 11, 2012 by Spinneyhill More information available (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Stewart and Dave, John Rumbery at Replicore tells me that the company in UK that makes the core similar to ours is the The Vintage Car Radiator Company. He says "Email Robert at The Vintage Car Radiator Company email@vintagecarradiatorcompany.co.uk tell him I have passed you on and you should be able to get a core from him."RegardsGraham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooy Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Hi Graham, I have got quotes from them in the past, they quoted me 875 Pounds delivered. Cheers Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now