Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

Didn't feel like cooking today, so went pick up Chinese for dinner. Weather cooled off a little so I took the car; tune up was worth it, now doing about 14mpg.

Phil

 

Odd. I have had a few 1951 Ford V8's between 1957 and now and they all got 14 MPG in normal driving. I went on a 160 mile highway trip in my current car with a '51 Merc that is in very good condition and got 19 MPG. When I got back to the normal course of things, 14 MPG again. I think we're both doing just about what we should be doing.

 

Car started hesitating under acceleration today.
Stopped, popped the distributor cap off... Sure enough, the leading points had closed up. Set them by eye and carried on.

I do like faults that can be fixed at the side of the road.

Phil

 

Last bit of forecast good weather for the next couple weeks tonight, so I decided to take the car out for a quick drive around the block.

That turned into an extended 30 mile round trip at proper highway speed, held. Net result, burned about a quarter of a tank of fuel, a little oil and now it's running smoothly. It responds well to an Italian tune-up, especially after me just putzing about locally.
It's also me getting used to the car's limits and how it responds to being driven in various ways, being driven hard like this isn't an everyday occurrence so it feels wrong pushing the poor engine that hard until you realize it's quite happy settled into that stride.

Phil

 

I'm not surprised. Our parents (and grandparents) used these cars as daily drivers back in the day with no problems. I am a firm believer that when brought back to the original specifications, these cars are up to the rigors of today's driving.

It's only when people "short cut" things that problems arise.

@PhilA is not one of those people.

 

Absolutely. They didn't sit in the garage and get looked at. They got used, abused and sold on when they were worn out.
People sometimes look surprised when I drive it to work, or to the grocery store but I tell them it's doing quite good service just as a car!
Granted, at high engine speed like that it's still a little blue, and it does drag a fair bit of oil past the valves on over-run but it's only in smell, there's no big cloud behind the car. Ont thing I'll give the previous owners is they did put light alloy pistons in, and stainless steel valves. If those had been cheaply available back in the day those would've been in it back then, for sure. Ultimately at 55 the engine sounds like it's running pretty quickly (it is) but there's no vibration, buzzes, unhappy noises- it's 66F out and it was holding steady on the temperature gauge just under 180, the oil pressure was showing a steady 30psi which dropped no lower than 20 at hot idle.
I really do need to redo the suspension and steering though. It's Just Plain Worn Out. On smooth blacktop it's a pleasure to drive. Uneven pavement it's twitchy.
However it does do something much better than a lot of the cars I've owned- at speed with the window open there's no roar of wind noise, in fact at 55 with both front windows open you can have a conversation with only slightly raised voices. Impressive, but that does show up in aerodynamic losses at speed compared to modern peers.
But, given that all for what's essentially a stock mechanical arrangement bolted into the frame it does remarkably well, with only the most hardened tailgaters tagging along in the trunk.

Phil

 

Yesterday afternoon it started to rain- first time in a couple months.


Then it continued.


And continued



And it's still going this morning



Found a couple of leaks in the garage since the storm. One there and the other is conveniently leaking right into the electrics.

Forecast says this should be stopped by tomorrow, maybe.

Phil

 

Congrats on the car. Great driver.

 

My parents bought a new straight 8/hydramatic 4 door sedan in 1953 and put a ton (for the time) of non-gentle miles on it, then passed it to my oldest brother whose '53 Victoria died. We put a new engine in the Vicky and it became my other brother's ride. My oldest brother pretty much drove the crap out of the Pontiac, a lot of his miles were 60+ mph trips from Seattle to SW Washington. Did it for years, and a few times during his ownership, he raced the Victoria. Kicked it's ass every time! Even swapping drivers to eliminate that variable, once that Poncho was moving, the Ford didn't stand a chance. They don't like high revs, but the Hydramatic seemed to keep it in the right rpm range during shifts to help keep that looong crankshaft together. I don't remember the details leading up to it being sold, but he sold it to a neighbor who drove it for several years before it died (in the late 60's, which was a long life for cars of that era). Tough old birds, those things are!

 

In 55 my next door neighbor had a 54 the same color. I had a 50 olds 2 door that was the light blue.

 

Phil, That air cleaner you picked up is a Cadillac. My 46 Cad coup has the same one. You will need to support the oil bath end some how. I am impressed with your tenacity with the project. My friend Nick had a 49 Olds 98 four door. We called it the Motel 98 for all the same reasons you stated you like your Pontiac for. I hope you have as much fun with your Pontiac as we do with our Cadillac. Tim

 

It was also an option on the 53 Chieftain, I believe- I made this bracket up that fits to a top threaded head bolt, and a "fork" at the top which the plate slides over and the wingnut on top clamps down. Looks like the original bracket underneath was broken off. It's a heavy old chunk of steel!
The car runs better with it on, and it really quietens the induction noise down.

It's been fun learning about the car, it's also fun driving it.

Phil

 

It's not really a wet weather car.

But, it rained. The wipers work.

Phil

 

Ahh! You lucky bastard! I have two feet of heavy snow across my yard.
Just visit upstairs in my garage where some of my cars stay at winter..i started old reliable 401 nailhead and 390fe ..man do they sound good.
Few weeks,maybe days,and of to the road we will go cruisin.have a nice car, lady and kids, and life will smile with you.

 

I did 84 miles today.



It's hot! Car did really well, which was good.

Phil

 

Being as I had the face plate, and looking at some old photos it wasn't hugely uncommon to have a few extra gauges under the dash, I decided to fill the holes with some useful gauges.
The voltmeter is useful, goes nicely along with the ammeter in the dash; the vacuum gauge is a handy tool for setting idle etc. It's already proven itself useful because the needle was dropping a few in/Hg repeatedly at idle, which means I need to look at the valve lash again.

Handy diagnostics!

 

... to go along with that I just ordered a compression tester gauge. That'll isolate which intake valve isn't sealing well.

 

Aha, so that's what the "wiggling" vacuum gauge is telling you!

 

Yup, should just buzz fairly evenly. It sits mostly in one place, dropping a couple inches. It's just about audible in the cabin but the gauge validates it. Compression test will show before and after changes from setting lash.

Phil

 

I lit off the engine again in my 50 coupe this afternoon. It appears the straight 8 isn't going to miraculously heal itself. Damn!

 

Shame, but at least it's a simple enough engine to work on. You'll have it running well in no time at all.

 

I had a thought at work today. There's somewhere else the vacuum goes. So I bypassed the vacuum pump (booster pump for the wipers to prevent them stopping with your foot on the gas).



Well, that was successful. I need to order a new diaphragm.

Phil

 

If you look carefully you can also see that the car can now actually burn rubber!


Went for a quick spin down the bayou to grab dinner.
Si esta bueno, múy suave.

Phil

 

Gave it a wash this morning because the weather was fine.


Want for a quick drive to see how it's running now, particularly at high speed cruise. Much better, and the fuel economy is better too.

Ordered the parts for the pump today, too


Phil

 

I pulled the plugs this afternoon to see how they look after a bit of running sans vacuum leak. Not bad.



Ran the compressions.

1- 115
2- 125
3- 105
4- 120
5- 125
6- 115
7- 125
8- 130

Those aren't bad actually. The pot I thought would be the worst (7) was actually amongst the best. 3 needs the tappets adjusting, it clicks. Overall not bad at all.

Phil

 

I wanted to see if there was any difference in economy over the last 50 miles after fixing the vacuum leak.
Not really! 11.5 mpg again.

Still, could be worse- I did adjust the timing... Should probably set it up how it was.

Phil

 

What PSI you running your tires?

 

26psi all round.

 

My personal preference is about 32 psi for my ‘50 Chevy on 205/75 R15. It handles well, especially slow speed steering.

 

I may bump it up a little, I'm not running radials though.

Edit: Actually, I really need to check if these are radials or not. Coker Classics, I'll look up the part number when I get home.