'59 Plymouth Forum

What a kewl thing, to step out of the kitchen into the garage to work on Faulkner! Don't have far to go for a beer now

Today was the first day in quite a while I actually did some work on the old boy. I took Roger's advice and, instead of trying to tune it up, get the leak problem solved first; so I yanked the radiator.

Of course, it's running so rough that I didn't want to back it out and put it up on ramps (lest I come through the kitchen wall accidentally), so I decided to remove the radiator without the car up in the air. Big mistake. Even that small lack of elevation meant that antifreeze hit the crossmember after a partial drain, so I had 6 streams or so of antifreeze onto the floor. And when I removed the transmission fluid lines, I had a heckuva time getting plastic tubing to join the two line ends, to keep the stuff from dripping out over time. But then...

...using a bunch of old newspapers to sop up the bulk of it, and some paper towels for the rest -- you'd never knew I had a leak! That's because I took Dick's advice, and bought a rubber mat instead of epoxying the floor. Cleanup was very, very easy.

So, now it's time to send the radiator off to the shop for repair. In the meantime, I'll ask some more advice:

1) What should I be using for a radiator cap? Got a Stant part number, or other recommendation? (I suspect my 12 lb. cap is what caused my radiator to blow out)

2) I'm going to replace the hoses, even though they're not that old. Got NAPA or other part numbers? I had to cut these to fit, I'd rather get the exact right ones.

There's a bunch of stuff the old boy needs doing, I wish I could find an oldtime ace mechanic in the neighborhood. Stefan and Matthew live just to far away, you know? The commute costs would kill me...

Dan

Dan - I know about radiators, just finished repairing the 59 green Plymouth, and my 60 Desoto. The red 59 Plymouth was done about a year ago. I would suggest you add another row of cooling tubes to you radiator if possible. My radiator man was able to do it and my engine runs a lot cooler than before. Besides that car had factory air that I'm going to re-install so I will need more cooling anyway. The radiator cap should be 13 lbs. NAPA should have everything you need including hoses. As a suggestion NAPA should have a shallow tub about 6 to 8 inches high - 24 inch diameter made especially for draining radiators. you can also get a smaller version at Home depot that will work very well. Some good news, the wife (relunctlantly) agreed that I could add more garage space to the end of the garage I recently built on the side of our house it's 14' x 50', two cars end to end. The new addition will be 14' x 28' x 12' high to accomodate a two post lift. I think I got a pretty good deal. Metal building including slab, 140 mile wind. $12,000.00. All I have to do is move my 10' x 20' shop/storage shed to a far corner of my lot. It can only be 14' wide because of county restrictions on one side and the wife's restrictions on the other side. You know what I mean. I'm shure this is going to cost me dearly in the future. I'm definetly going to have one of those mats under my lift. Good luck with Faulkner. I'm sure you are anxious to get him on the road.
Dick.

Another row of cooling tubes is certainly recommended! In the past 6 years I had trouble with my SF twice and both times it was a leaking radiator. The first time it was repaired cheap and within a year it started leaking again It was repaired by the same shop and altough I didn't pay for this second attempt the result wasn't OK. It looked a bit messy and within months it leaked again. Time for a serious repair job and I went to a radiator repair shop where they couldn't stop laughing when they saw the previous repairs. The charged me three times as much as the first shop but did a terrific job and solved my problems. And I think their price was OK considering the work they had and the copper they used for the extra row. The copper alone was about $230.

Ron

Thanks for the flowers Dan,

I also prefer to do some mechanics with a cold beer and in good company, rather than do all alone.

Regarding the radiator cap. I bought mine from JC-Whitney a long time ago. It has a pressure relief valve, so it doesn’t really look original, but it works just fine. The hose should be a standard part, any Napa Store should have one.

Nice weekend!

Stefan

Well, my radiator guy told me he couldn't put another row of tubes in. I don't know if that's true, or not; he said something about it being an aftermarket radiator, and already having extra rows. But he did say something interesting -- what may have caused it to blow with the new motor, is the thermostat. Ron noticed that it was running hotter than Chrissie when we went to Carlisle. He suggested that, if I don't do a lot of winter driving, to put in a 160 F thermostat, and see if that doesn't help. He said that would have more benefit, than using a lower pressure cap (I would just lose more coolant that way). I think I'll give it a try.

Dan

the great thing about this list is it always teaches me something "new". Unfortunately I am always forgetting other stuff..
anyway, you guys speak of adding rows to your radiator..can't you just get a heavy duty radiator core? Now, I cannot recall if that means 3-row or 4-row, but my radiator shop had no problem giving me the heavy-duty core...
The Supplement says the 6-cyl cars came with 160* thermostats and
8-cyls came with 180* thermostats. Yes Dan, I'd try the 160.

What I learned today from opening the Supplement, is a/c cars came with 6-blade fans, with specific blade spacing and blade shape. Since I am in the multi-year process of adding a/c to my car, I guess I need to add that particular fan to my shopping list.

Last May, on our first day of 100 degree weather, I was driving to a show about 100 miles from here in my '57 Fury. Seemed the faster I drove, the higher the temp gauge read, so I took it easy and kept the speed down.

When I arrived home, I let 'er cool, and removed the radiator cap. Many of the vertical tubes were plugged, which is common on the west coast, due to people electing not to use coolant with the water. I took the radiator down to a shop, and he said it could not be rodded out.

Being cheap, I removed three other radiators from parts cars, all of which were also ungood. I ended up having a new core installed [about $400.00] and haven't had any heating problems since. The real test will be next week, when I leave for a 2000 mile [each way] trip to Tulsa! ---John