1953 Pontiac Chieftain project

[MyhreMade]

7 hours ago, NightTrain said:

Wow….I feel like this entire post is like deja vu for me!!  I started a 53 chieftain in Oct of 2019, and everything you have shared has been my journey!  So much to say, but I will start with this.  I too was concerned about my motor, bent valves, blown piston, etc. but all was close to spec and it runs great.  Here are a few pics. 
 

ps: I am in MN too!!

Wow NightTrain that’s really motivating to see that you started with a similar situation. Great before and after pictures. Where in MN are you?

 

I’ve been slowly making progress. Got all of the new valves put back in. Just need to adjust them now. 

does anyone know what this is with the two hoses going to it? I haven’t seen this on anyone else’s car. I need to check my manual but wondered if anyone had ideas. 

[M1842]

Auto transmission cooler lines?

[NightTrain]

New prague area, down south, you?

 

Those lines look like auxiliary oil filter system. My engine had an add-on aftermarket oil circulation filter that supplemented the oil pan filter system?

 

where are they coming from?

[The 55er]

8 hours ago, M1842 said:

Auto transmission cooler lines?

Yes, automatic transmission oil cooler. 

[NightTrain]

Here are a few more pics…motor coming out and back in.  With a hrdro I was pushing 900lbs on a 1,000 capacity.

 

oil filter pic last 

[NightTrain]

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by NightTrain
Privacy (see edit history)

[NightTrain]

1 hour ago, The 55er said:

Yes, automatic transmission oil cooler. 

Yep, you guys are right.

[PONTIAC1953]

14 hours ago, MyhreMade said:

Wow NightTrain that’s really motivating to see that you started with a similar situation. Great before and after pictures. Where in MN are you?

 

I’ve been slowly making progress. Got all of the new valves put back in. Just need to adjust them now. 

does anyone know what this is with the two hoses going to it? I haven’t seen this on anyone else’s car. I need to check my manual but wondered if anyone had ideas. 

1953 Pontiac Power Glide transmission cooler, factory equipment.

Charles L. Coker

1953 & 1954 Pontiac

Technical Advisor

[PONTIAC1953]

Your 53 Pontiac is the Chieftain Deluxe Catalina, mine is the Chieftain Custom Catalina, I changed out my straight eight to a 1955 Pontiac 287 V8.

[NightTrain]

12 minutes ago, pontiac1953 said:

Your 53 Pontiac is the Chieftain Deluxe Catalina, mine is the Chieftain Custom Catalina, I changed out my straight eight to a 1955 Pontiac 287 V8.

Not sure mine is a Catalina.  I have looked and looked, everything says Deluxe coupe.  Nothing on the car or title says catalina.  Obviously its not a 2dr post.  Not sure, go figure? 

[PONTIAC1953]

4 minutes ago, NightTrain said:

Not sure mine is a Catalina.  I have looked and looked, everything says Deluxe coupe.  Nothing on the car or title says catalina.  Obviously its not a 2dr post.  Not sure, go figure? 

yes, yours is a Deluxe Catalina 53-2537D

 

[NightTrain]

4 minutes ago, pontiac1953 said:

yes, yours is a Deluxe Catalina 53-2537D

 

Dang, you are spot on.  I had a hard time finding those darn code readers

[PONTIAC1953]

1 minute ago, NightTrain said:

Dang, you are spot on.  I had a hard time finding those darn code readers

LOL, mine is 53-2537SD

[PONTIAC1953]

[PONTIAC1953]

my Catalina is in this our car and restoration section too, "1953 Pontiac Chieftain Custom Catalina"

[NightTrain]

3 minutes ago, pontiac1953 said:

seats were redone in the 70’s, not original and poor match. Yea 

[PONTIAC1953]

6 minutes ago, pontiac1953 said:

 

[PONTIAC1953]

I sent you a message

[MyhreMade]

On 4/6/2022 at 6:23 PM, NightTrain said:

New prague area, down south, you?

 

Those lines look like auxiliary oil filter system. My engine had an add-on aftermarket oil circulation filter that supplemented the oil pan filter system?

 

where are they coming from?

Thanks guys for clarifying what the lines are for. 
 

I’m up in East Bethel. Maybe I’ll see you at some car shows at some point if I ever get my car back on the road. Pretty motivated after seeing yours.

[avgwarhawk]

Great project.  Looking forward to the video of the engine coming back to life. 

 

[NightTrain]

2 hours ago, MyhreMade said:

Thanks guys for clarifying what the lines are for. 
 

I’m up in East Bethel. Maybe I’ll see you at some car shows at some point if I ever get my car back on the road. Pretty motivated after seeing yours.

More pics

[MyhreMade]

Made some progress over the weekend. Got the oil pan installed and motor bolted back down. Adjusted all the valves and starting to put the head back on. Haven’t bolted it down yet. It says something in the manual about using white led on the head bolts. Would that be the same as anti seize?

[MyhreMade]

[PONTIAC1953]

33 minutes ago, MyhreMade said:

Made some progress over the weekend. Got the oil pan installed and motor bolted back down. Adjusted all the valves and starting to put the head back on. Haven’t bolted it down yet. It says something in the manual about using white led on the head bolts. Would that be the same as anti seize?

yes, you'll want to coat the headbolt threads with anti-seize compound

[NightTrain]

1 hour ago, pontiac1953 said:

yes, you'll want to coat the headbolt threads with anti-seize compound

I did the same….after using the Sequence for torquing, I found myself torquing again after first fire up.  I had some minor weeping, and they were slight out of spec. 

[NightTrain]

On 4/12/2022 at 8:34 AM, NightTrain said:

I did the same….after using the Sequence for torquing, I found myself torquing again after first fire up.  I had some minor weeping, and they were slight out of spec. 

Myhremade,

I noticed you original fuel pump, cool if you get that up and running.  I rebuilt mine, and it works ok.  However, I switched to a 6v electric and wow the car loves the flow so much better.  I am sure that when I find time to get all the vacuum leaks, wipers, etc addressed it will be fine.  For now, run the electric and an electric pusher fan too! Lol 

[Rusty Heaps]

Wow. Just found this thread. Love the car. Definitely worth the effort. Don’t let others tell you it’s not a good candidate for a nice driver. I’m working on some that are in about the same condition. They aren’t building any more of them. We have enough parts cars, and the more we save the more likely there will be a market for reproduction parts. Please keep us posted with more pics as you go.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Rusty Heaps (see edit history)

[PONTIAC1953]

On 4/6/2022 at 6:45 AM, MyhreMade said:

Wow NightTrain that’s really motivating to see that you started with a similar situation. Great before and after pictures. Where in MN are you?

 

I’ve been slowly making progress. Got all of the new valves put back in. Just need to adjust them now. 

does anyone know what this is with the two hoses going to it? I haven’t seen this on anyone else’s car. I need to check my manual but wondered if anyone had ideas. 

17,000+ 1953 Pontiacs were built with the chevy power glide trans adapted due to the Hydra-Matic plant fire in Aug. 1953, Cadillac and Oldsmobile adapted to the Buick Dyna-Flow trans.

[MyhreMade]

Got to work on the car this weekend. Got the head all torqued down following the manual. Installed a set of NOS spark plugs I found at a swap meet.

[MyhreMade]

I got a new replacement exhaust system for the car. The other one was falling off. Anyone know if they make a replacement bracket like this? This one it pretty rough. Is this the only bracket that holds it to the car other than the one that attaches to the manifold?

[MyhreMade]

[Summershandy]

Not sure how close a '54 is but I ended up making that bracket. Quite easily actually. I also have an original bracket near the firewall where the pipe bends. The last bracket is at the tailpipe. All 3 in total. Hope you have better luck with fit then me. I got mine from Classic and had to have a muffler shop remake the piece off the manifold. The bend was bad enough it wouldn't clear the second hole in the frame. Thanks for sharing the posts. It's been a long winter up here and with no car shows the past 2 years makes one miss those days! 

 

 

 

[MyhreMade]

12 hours ago, Summershandy said:

Not sure how close a '54 is but I ended up making that bracket. Quite easily actually. I also have an original bracket near the firewall where the pipe bends. The last bracket is at the tailpipe. All 3 in total. Hope you have better luck with fit then me. I got mine from Classic and had to have a muffler shop remake the piece off the manifold. The bend was bad enough it wouldn't clear the second hole in the frame. Thanks for sharing the posts. It's been a long winter up here and with no car shows the past 2 years makes one miss those days! 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pics summershandy. That helps to see. 
 

I rolled the car out into the sunshine today. I’m glad to know I can actually get the car out of my garage. After I put the car in my third stall I got a truck container that I’m using for storage. It sits outside the garage door. I have the car in dollys and had to roll it into the other stall and out. Didn’t know for sure if it was going to work. 
 

Moved the car outside to power wash the engine are and try to get some of the dirt and oil off before I paint the motor. Didn’t want to pressure wash in my garage. Came out great and managed to get the car back in. Hopefully next time it goes out of the garage it can be driven back in instead of pushed. 

[NightTrain]

Any updates???

[MyhreMade]

I’ve been working on the car. I’m working on rebuilding the fuel pump. Picked up an inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner and was surprised how well it worked cleaning up the parts. My rebuild kit diaphrams don’t match what I have in my fuel pump. Maybe I ordered the wrong kit. 

[MyhreMade]

[MyhreMade]

One other issue that I’ve run into is the heat riser flap is stuck on my manifold. I think it is rusted in place. I’ve tried all kinds of penetrating oil and it doesn’t do anything. Not sure what my options are. 

[Bloo]

Well outside of completely rebuilding it or finding another one, you'll just have to get it freed up. Get some MoPar heat riser solvent, MOPAR #4318039AD, best penetrating oil ever. Chrysler calls it "Rust Penetrant" now that they haven't made heat risers for a few decades. Amazon probably has it. Spray some on the bushings, inside and outside, every day for about a week. Then try tapping on the end of the shaft with a small brass hammer. Just a couple of taps on each side, don't hurry it and don't overdo it. If there are bushings in there, you don't want to separate them from the housing, because then the heat riser will be sticky and unreliable.  Don't use a steel hammer because it might mushroom the shaft, and if my method doesn't work you will need to get the shaft out. You DO want to shock the rust. It is brittle. That's why brass is better than plastic or something.

 

So, just a couple of taps on each end, then put more heat riser solvent on and the next day a couple more taps on each end, and more solvent. Do this every day until you see it move to the side a little. Don't force it. Once the rust is broken up the solvent will get in real good. Spray more on and wait another day. On the next day, try to work it a little. Maybe it just comes loose. If it turns a little but isn't really free, spray more solvent and wait another day.

 

It can be done. This usually works. Patience is everything. It goes a lot faster if the car is running, and you can heat cycle the parts by driving it every day, but obviously that is not an option here. If for some reason it doesn't work I have more ideas but none near this easy or cheap. Do you have an acetylene torch?

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[MyhreMade]

7 hours ago, Bloo said:

Well outside of completely rebuilding it or finding another one, you'll just have to get it freed up. Get some MoPar heat riser solvent, MOPAR #4318039AD, best penetrating oil ever. Chrysler calls it "Rust Penetrant" now that they haven't made heat risers for a few decades. Amazon probably has it. Spray some on the bushings, inside and outside, every day for about a week. Then try tapping on the end of the shaft with a small brass hammer. Just a couple of taps on each side, don't hurry it and don't overdo it. If there are bushings in there, you don't want to separate them from the housing, because then the heat riser will be sticky and unreliable.  Don't use a steel hammer because it might mushroom the shaft, and if my method doesn't work you will need to get the shaft out. You DO want to shock the rust. It is brittle. That's why brass is better than plastic or something.

 

So, just a couple of taps on each end, then put more heat riser solvent on and the next day a couple more taps on each end, and more solvent. Do this every day until you see it move to the side a little. Don't force it. Once the rust is broken up the solvent will get in real good. Spray more on and wait another day. On the next day, try to work it a little. Maybe it just comes loose. If it turns a little but isn't really free, spray more solvent and wait another day.

 

It can be done. This usually works. Patience is everything. It goes a lot faster if the car is running, and you can heat cycle the parts by driving it every day, but obviously that is not an option here. If for some reason it doesn't work I have more ideas but none near this easy or cheap. Do you have an acetylene torch?

 

 

This is great info thanks. I will order some of the penetrating oil and see if that helps. I do have an acetylene torch.

[NightTrain]

59 minutes ago, MyhreMade said:

This is great info thanks. I will order some of the penetrating oil and see if that helps. I do have an acetylene torch.

I just left mine open.  Problem is that it may cause vapor lock. Curious to know what others think.