Quote:
Originally Posted by Low Elco
I'm glad you got it going, and it's finally coming around. Too pretty to not run right!
|
Thanks, Chip. I'm still sorting issues, but I promise you, I will prevail.
I went on a road trip to Sedalia yesterday and put a little over 200 miles on the old wagon. Did pretty good on the way there, but when I got into town, the temp went up to around 230 before I arrived at my buddy's shop. Had to sit out several lights and go slow along the city streets. Temp was fine on the highway (185) so part of the problem has to be the amount of air the fans are pulling.
Before the return trip, I added some 50/50 coolant to the overflow tank just in case the radiator was slightly low. After the car had cooled down somewhat (outside temp was 100 with a heat index of 113, so there wasn't a lot of help from Mother Nature) we went to several shops to show the car to some friends and then I hit the road. Car was reading 220 by the time I made it to the highway but cooled right down to 185 running 70 mph.
So while we were running around town, the fuse to the power windows blew but it didn't really matter since I was running the a/c. When I left home, the a/c was blowing so cold, I had to turn it down. However on the way back, it kept getting warmer and the air coming out of the vents was just cool and not cold. Normally, I would have turned off the a/c and ran the windows down, but ...well, blown fuse. So I'm chugging along, the engine temp is okay but I start to notice a miss. More noticeable going downhill than up. Then, once I hit some traffic lights and had to slow down, the temp shot back up. By the time I pulled into a parking lot and shut it off it was reading 240. During the process of running the fans then briefly starting the car to cycle the cooler water thru the block, I noticed I had no fuel pressure to speak of < 1psi. I could see there was no fuel showing in the sight glasses on the carbs. After about 20 minutes of running the fans, starting the engine briefly then running the fans some more, I was finally able to get the temp down to 200. I was only a few miles from home, so I limped on in and parked it in the basement. I'm thinking the lean condition caused by the low fuel pressure also may have contributed to the overheating.
After it cooled off, my B-I-L, Rick (who just arrived in town from Seattle) and I did some forensics. First we pinched the return line closed to see if the problem was the regulator or the pump. Still had no pressure so we moved to the back of the car and when he listened to pump, he could hear a sloshing sound which he suspected was the return. But I mentioned the return line went all the way to the bottom of the tank and shouldn't be making any noise. So we pulled the pump and found the problem right away ...a split hose. For those of you that followed my previous truck build, you know I had the same exact problem with it. I can't believe it happened to me again. Although in retrospect, I should have known to not use the hose that came with the pump. Did that last time and it wasn't up to the task so I upgraded to better line and never had the problem again. Obviously didn't learn a thing from my previous experience.
One of the spark plug wires had come off the plug entirely with just the end of it resting on the contact end of the plug so that was the cause of the miss. I really need to junk the SS headers and go back to cast iron manifolds that have the proper clearance for the plug wires.
The a/c problem was an easy fix. The o-ring in the low pressure fitting on the compressor had failed. It was probably the wrong size and as the fitting was tightened, it sheared the outer edge and caused it to fail. We put in an o-ring with a smaller cross section that fit into the cavity better and that should take care of it. Of course, now the system will have to be pumped down and refilled with refrigerant.
Next up is a thorough examination of the puller fans. The Dakota Digital fan controller has a diagnostic mode that allows you to test your on/off settings for low and high temp operation. I plan to (once again) rewire the fan relays. Right now, when the ignition is turned off, they lose all power. If I run them off battery instead of ignition, I can program the controller to run the fans for a specified period before shutting down. That may help give the radiator a head start when you stop for any reason. I may also have to resort to carrying a small sprayer filled with water to help cool it down like I had to do with my race cars. The proper fix would be to increase the fan capacity, but in order to do that, I'd have to pull the radiator and redesign the shroud, etc. That would fall under the heading of a winter project.