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Posted by Chris Case @ San Diego on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 20:43:04 :
I've had the '53 FFPW on the freeway before, plus I driven it ooh, say, 300 miles around town.
But yesterday while I installed the proper elbowed water outlet, I put in a thermostat. I always though it had one. Guess not.
I guess the restriction of even an open thermostat made lots more block pressure. On purpose, that prevents steam pockets from forming.
That pump was a spinnin, as I went for 4th gear on the on-ramp. Heard the ka-plink as I maxed it up in third. The guy in the car next to me started making motions. I saw some smoke, thought sure enough the hand brake was on again. Took it off, no help. Pulled over, open the hood, saw steam near the oil filter. Oh, simple fix, just pinch off the oil lines. Shut her down and check the oil.Seems fine.
Then I notice the gaping hole where a brass plug used to be.
I plugged it with my battery terminal cleaner with a rag wrapped around it. Held it in with a chunk of pallet off the side of the road.
Too bad the wood got in the way of the start pedal travel. Just half way. Turn on the key, get back under the hood, pull the starter lever, and push on the switch with the other hand. Pump pressure makes the water gush out like the proverbial cow in the vicinity of the flat rock. Made it home in only five water stops.
The brass freeze plugs were in good shape. Though old, they looked good. I had even given them a couple whacks back when I had the body off for it's work. My suppostion is that there was rust build up in the mean time, on the shoulder that the plugs bottom against. Since rust is eight times the volume of iron, that rust must have pushed the brass outwards. This thought is backed up by the amount of rust I scraped off that shoulder when I replaced all of them today. New replacements were galvy ones, boy were they a tight fit! I had to use my air hammer to get them seated.
Good side though. One of the five places I stopped for water was a mechanics shop. They saw me come in, and said "Hey while you are filling your bucket, take a look out back". 1/2t Command car chassis, getting a new motor. I spent an hour or so with Swensen, talking PW's.
Anyhow, I did five plugs on the left side. I think that's all of them? I hope?
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