Technical New wagon...loses power on ANY incline?

WOW, you have had one issue after another, hope this time, you take the car to a different shop.

 

I'll say. Most shops today don't like to work on old cars for a lot of reasons, parts are hard to get, they have no idea how to fix them, can't tie up a bay waiting for parts, etc.

I like the Champion radiators. I have one in my Ford (actually made for a '65 Chevy). It cools okay, all the welding was neatly done.
This one from Champion is for a V8 only, but you get the idea.
http://www.championradiators.com/Chevy-cars-radiator-1949-1954

 

1: with the amount of jerking you around and bullshit your shop sold you you could have fixed it in the same or less time. 5 minutes every few days for three weeks in your driveway is better then getting hosed by those guys again . And after fixing it you'll have learned some trouble shooting skills

2: chances are you're radiator is fine. If it has a cooler for trans fluid in the bottom it over heated and puked because grenading a transmission is hot. So then you basically warmed up your radiator and thus your antifreeze.

Find a local hamb guy to help you before your 5k into not fixing this car and sell it at a lose instead of cruising.

Best advice I'm willing to offer after the last dozen or so pages.

It's a car, not a rocket ship.

 

I know hind-sight's a bitch, but it sure appears you're about 4 months deep into a pretty good ream job. Bail ASAP.

 

This post is worded perfectly, hope the OP takes this advice.

To the OP, the car was designed to operate with the standard radiator.
Instead of correctly diagnosing what's there, and then fixing that concern, you tend to want to go bigger or better ...... when the original equipment, WHEN REPAIRED CORRECTLY, will outlast you.

 

And it makes a mess

 

I had that happen to me with my Monte Carlo with a 350-350 engine & trans. I'm having trouble remembering whether it was a modulator valve on the transmission, or the vacuum advance on the distributor. Brain doesn't work as good as it used to.

 

You guys may have also seen in the posts that this car has been in my uncle's climate controlled garage until Monday. Which is not close to where I live. So 5 minutes a day has not been possible with my work schedule. But my supervisor is back at work- so should be able to have more time in the evenings. And yes the OP has read every message on here and appreciates everyones input.

Update: As of yesterday the new 6v battery I had bought would not hold a charge after 36 hours of charging. Took it back to Oreilys and they found it to be faulty and did not have one to swap. So went by tractor supply and got an 8v- got home and tried it- dead battery. Went back and exchanged for a 6v, got home- dead. Took it back and went to Advanced- got an 8v, got home and was not putting out the stated amps so wouldnt turn over. Will take back on monday. The trip to the store each way is an hour and a half. I DID however find a friends dad with a car hauler trailer that came by and I got it pushed on and moved to his shop about 15 miles from my house. SO- it is closer, and out of the weather for that bad storm coming through this area today. My trans fluid is full, so next thing to check is the llinkage on the bh to see if it is the issue. Going to get a new cap for the radiator- found that the one that came on it doesnt actually seat at the base, so it pukes easily because no seal.

 

3 bad batteries? Not putting out the stated amps and won't turn on 8 volts??

Something really wrong here. I know the starter was 'rebuilt by an old guy' I'm an old guy and have had dozens of starters apart - it ain't rocket science. And I've got 5 (five) 6-volt farm tractors that start reliably - except when it is below 25F and the 30 wt oil turns to glue.....
Bad starter; brushes shot?
Bad solenoid?
Bad cables/connections?

Also I think early 50's Chevy's didn't have a pressure radiator cap

 

According to Chevy 1950 and up might have a pressure cap.
1952 and up did have a pressure cap.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/06engine/6_095.HTM

According to Chevy The proper level is an inch or so below the filler cap to allow for expansion, as the OEm system had no overflow tank.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyowner/50om10.htm

If filled too full, the system will spit out coolant when up to temp, and eventually create the proper sized expansion volume at the top of the radiator.

 

Smells like a dead-short somewhere. Those cars are 6V negative ground? Could something have gotten FUBARed at that other shop?

 

Batteries were dead off the shelf. Wouldn't give me a spark between posts and nothing on multimeter. Didn't bring my multimeter with me each time because I have NEVER had that much bad luck with batteries before. Stores tested upon return and verified faulty batteries. Started is still good. Tested by unhooking all cables and bumping with a 12v.

The cap on it is a 7 pound- which is about right, just not deep enough to seal just below overflow tube. So it is just starts dumping whenever hot.- not pressure necessary currently.

Correct- 6v Negative ground for chevy. Traced all wires and all insulation is good and test cont. to both ends with my multimeter and test leads I made.

 

Waiting on my alternator guy to get me the alternator, then I will just be converting to 12v. The shops are too far away and dont stock alot of 6v stuff...they always have to order. So I am just biting the bullet and making is more dependable in my situation. I need to get all this stuff in to be able to fire her up again to drive to test the new radiator cap and I have trans X in the powerglide to help. All linkage\ shafts look good, trans fluid was just right, and before it dropped out of gear it was shifting smoothly. So I think it just sat too long before I got it.

 

HA- Well I have the weekend off to work on her, so I think I will keep her for a little while longer anyway... lol

 

Just a small update:

12v conversion done except for alternator(will be picking up today or tomorrow), alt brackets( Just painted yesterday), DA plug do I know what length to trim wires, and new 12v battery. I have a few batteries around the house that are 12v, so I will test with those first. Looking for rubber bumpers for the doors. A friend have me a few from his 55' for the drivers door and hood bumpers by the firewall. I see door kits from national chevy assoc and chevys of the 40s, but no rear hatch kits for a wagon. Not sure what I need yet, but will try a few different ones.

 

12v conversion done. She fires right up now. However, something starts to squeal when she warms up. The night I drove it home and had the transmission issues and it was overheating- it started to squeal. New belt, generator swapped for an alt. Would the bearing in the waterpump squeal? I put transx in the trans to test that, but not going to test drive more than pulling in an out of the shop until I narrow down the squeal. Dont want to tear anything up.

 

Let it warm up and start squealing and then take the belt off to eliminate the water pump. If the trans is squealing it's probably going to have to be gone through. And you still don't know if it's losing power on inclines??

 

It was not losing power on inclines when I got it out of the shop. The squeal is coming from the front of the engine. Either belt, waterpump, or new alternator. Will be this weekend before I get to go back by to work on it again.

I will let it warm up then take belt off first to see what it does at that point.

 

lube / soap / or one of many ( belt ) squeal stopping methods first , if it DOES not go away remove belt, away from the pump.

 

Hi. You say the wipers are not working. Unless changed they are vacuum wipers so that could indicate a leak & that would screw up your vacuum advance which would come into play when you try to speed up or load the engine on a hill.
The 235 is really a great dependable engine and yours has the updated oiling system as compared to he old slinger engines. There is no necessity for a V8 to make that one a great daily driver.
I have a 235 in my 46 Chevy coupe with a few engine mods & changed ring I pinion from the old 411 to the 355 and with 700 rear tires it will run down the road with any traffic here it Texas without screaming the engine. Only drawback with that gearing & rear tires is it has less acceleration but I have no intention on racing and want a daily driver. As I live out in the country most of my driving needs at least 65 MPH to not be a road hazard.
Good luck getting it running OK.
Jimmie

 

Isolate squeal using a piece of heater hose long enough to hold next to water pump and alternator with the other end at you ear. Works really well to isolate sounds.

 

Will try some soap. I don't necessarily want to spray belt dressing on it then get everything sticky for it to turn out to be something more. Thanks!

The lines from the "switch" under the dash had a cut in it, so I just removed. Since I converted to 12v, I will eventually get a 12v motor for them. I definitely would like to turn it into my daily!

I will give it a shot! Do I hold it up touching the pump and alternator, or just near it?

 

Touching it.

 

You can do the same listening with a piece of wooden dowel or old broom stick.

 

With the hose you don't need to touch it, just get near it. The rubber wall of the hose dampens vibrations coming from around the hose allowing only the vibrations from in front of the open end to travel up to your ear.

A wooden dowel, or even a long screw driver, placed against the object works too, but IMO not nearly as well as a piece of hose.

 

Sometimes old cars like keeping bees or having a pet rattle snake aint for everyone. The thing is if you cant do the work yourself and must pay others to do stuff. You and your money are at their mercy. It can often become a money pit. don't keep doing the same things and expect different results.

 

Now be carefull if you do/this ---->
A piece of emery cloth wire tied to a Paint stick ,so as to keep yer hands -n- fingers out of HARM'S way, hold it down in there to sand the BELT.....squeal


.

 

The ABSOLUTE best lube for a belt is dielectric grease. A pea sized blob is all you need. If it's a serpentine belt, a pea on top and a pea on the bottom.

 

Your work eliminating your vacuum wiper hoses for the wipers. Did you cap the source of the vacuum? You could get a squeak / squeal / whistle from a vacuum leak.