What a great weekend! Lot’s to tell – including our (mis)adventure on the way home. But for now, here’s a group photo of '59 Plymouth Owners. Left to right:
Joe Leone (Blue Fury)
Matthew Keij
Forward Look Frank
Dan Morton (Red SF)
Roger Howard
Ron Keij
David & John Wilson (White SF)
Be sure to click on the picture to see it full size.
Other '59 owners present, but not in photo:
Barry Beck
Mark Coudriet
George Varnell
Jeffrey Bernard
Jack Weil
Dieter Bauer
Charlie Theobald
certainly understandable.
There were at least three Ontario license plates at the Forwardlook tent..including a 60 Dodge Polara 2ht, and a 62 Chrysler cvt.
If i could get my old P not to ping once it gets over 60,65 miles an hour,and then the temp gauge starts rising,it would be fine otherwise,any thoughts Roger? Its a flathead 6 with powerflite,ive flushed the system,put in a 160 degree thermostat,replaced the water pump and even replaced the temp gauge with an NOS one,the gauge climbs once you get on the highway but doesnt over heat.
And as far as the pinging is concerned,i use super gas with octane booster,ive retarded the timing far back as it will go,if you set it to where it supposed to be it pings at 35,40 miles an hour.
This car has 27500 miles on it and i think it spent its life till it was stored away in around 1974 or so as a grocery getter,so my thinking is that its probably full of carbon.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I am not an experienced mechanic, however I would sugggest you
have the radiator flow-tested to find out if it is partially clogged.
Also try running it w/o a thermostat..see what difference that makes.
As for the pinging, since you’ve retarded timing as far as it will go, and are using super octane fuel, i agree w/ you it is carbon buildup on the valves, etc. Maybe you could blow it out by taking the car on a long road trip!
I don’t know if this is possible, but can you remove the distributor and rotate the shaft 180 degrees, then re-install? Of course you will have to re-set the timing.
Is the vqcuum advance working properly?
When we used to get cars in the shop with similar symptoms, we would check all the normal items such as Roger had listed above. If carbon buildup was found to be the problem, [cars rarely driven at highway speed or rarely warmed up] we would get the engine to normal operating temperature, and hold the throttle at a steady 2500 RPM, and slowly pour brake fluid down the carb. This would dissolve the carbon deposits. This will also produce a lot of smoke from the tailpipe, so do it outside away from others. —John
This past weekend at the Iola Car Show an oldtimer Mopar mechanic was looking at my '59 and made the comment “You gotta run em hot”. I asked him what he meant and he said, “back in the day” to have engine running good you had to use a high temp thermostat. Like Roger, I’m not a mechanic either, so I’m just relaying what he said. My engine runs very good so I didn’t question him further. I don’t know if he was referring to the 6 cyl, 318 or 361. Mine is a 318 so maybe it only pertains to that. Thought I’d pass his comment on for what its worth.
Thanks for your thoughts guys,ive done all the things Roger suggested,i havent tried the brake fluid idea,back in the old days i used to use tranny fluid for things like this,would it work the same as brake fluid??
I know it sent a lot of smoke in the air too!!!
Have you checked the timing chain for slop?
We always ran a quart of water down thru the carb, just don’t let it stall. Just be aware of where your tailpipe is pointing or you will cover everything with wet black slop.. What is nice about the water is the residue will dry in a few min. and it smells much better.. I have used this trick on engines from the Flathead F**ds thru later model F.I. It is also works great to do this before pulling heads to do headgaskes, it saves alot of wire wheeling and scraping.. If needed this can be done over and over untill you get a clean looking steam out the tail pipe.. We always refered to this as an Water Enama
You mention that the motor has 27,500 miles on it. If this is original, I would think it is quite possible (as you’ve checked everything else) that your coolant passages in the block are full of gunk and the coolant just can’t circulate. Even the biggest baddest radiator, etc. wouldn’t help that. Have you tried reverse flushing the system? You may try to pull the freeze plugs and look for blockages. I’ve even heard of blocks still having large amounts of sand (from the original casting process) still in the passages. Just a thought.
Roger: Wanda is just sitting. I was in the hospital for a while in June (nothing life-threatening) so havn’t been able to do anything much. In next couple of weeks she goes to get new fuel pump, thermostat, radiator recored ; then body work! Hopefully inbetween I can get back to my minor chores: finish steering wheel, put argent paint on valance/behind front bumper, polish front grill more (did a lot by hand on car)–
we will see!
Only thing I was able to do was to see a 1957 Chrysler 300c hardtop-black- at a local car show. Wow!
Hey, I am glad the hospital stay wasn’t for anything serious.
I was in New Canaan and Fairfield July 3-4…but a trip to see you and your car wasn’t in the cards..Restorations can take many years..my car took me ten years…
Yes, I know. That was surgery frustation talkin. With this heat I’m not doing much! no matter how long it takes, I think it means a hell of a lot more if you try and do things even little things can teach you so much about your car-- and yourself! vs these idiots who hand over a ton of money and don’t know anything about their trailer queens – and you see lots of projects that have been torn apart too quickly and stay that way forever. This woman I was talking to at the local car show knew NOTHING about her 57 Chrysler 300C. It was sad. Assume her guy/husband was walking around …
Dan (and everyone): I will try to get there next year! --I doubt
Roger: Wanda is just sitting. I was in the hospital for a while in June (nothing life-threatening) so havn’t been able to do anything much. In next couple of weeks she goes to get new fuel pump, thermostat, radiator recored ; then body work! Hopefully inbetween I can get back to my minor chores: finish steering wheel, put argent paint on valance/behind front bumper, polish front grill more (did a lot by hand on car)–
Yes, I know. That was surgery frustation talkin. With this heat I’m not doing much! no matter how long it takes, I think it means a hell of a lot more if you try and do things even little things can teach you so much about your car-- and yourself! vs these idiots who hand over a ton of money and don’t know anything about their trailer queens – and you see lots of projects that have been torn apart too quickly and stay that way forever. This woman I was talking to at the local car show knew NOTHING about her 57 Chrysler 300C. It was sad. Assume her guy/husband was walking around …