Monthly Archives: March 2012

BLEEDING BRAKES AFTER REPLACING BRAKE LINES

by Art Gardner

If you replace brake lines and/or replace or re-do wheel cylinders, it can be a chore to get all of the air back out of the lines and cylinders. Here is a trick I came up with recently (this probably been used by lots of mechanics over the years, but it only occurred to me in the last month or so).
The idea is to fill the lines and the cylinders as full as possible with fluid before installing them. Recently, we replaced the rear lines, rear hose, F-to-R line, and rebuilt the rear wheel cylinders on my ‘50. To avoid endless pumping and bleeding of the brakes, I filled the cylinders as full as I could with fresh fluid, then attached the new (relatively short) steel lines and snugged them up. Then I filled the line and the cylinder the rest of the way by pouring brake fluid down the line, using a skinny awl to lead the fluid into the line like a reverse funnel. (See drawing on next page.) After filling the line and cylinders completely, we put a tight rubber cap on the end of the line and installed the cylinder/line. For the flexible rubber brake hose and the F-to-R steel line, we did basically the same thing.
We had removed the wheel cylinders to rebuild them and were installing new lines at the same time. So pouring the fluid into the lines up was no trouble. If you were doing it with the wheel cylinders still on the car, you could put a rubber hose on the end of the line and bend up the rubber hose to give you a vertical run to pour into and to provide the elevation change needed to force the air to rise up and out of the line. If you do it with the wheel cylinder still on the car, you might need to open the bleeder valve to let some of the air out that way. Since I had the lines oriented vertically with the wheel cylinders off the car, I didn’t need to open the bleeder and the air escaped up the line.
As a result, there was very little spillage and it didn’t take very long to fill the system or bleed the brakes. The net effect is that when we bled the brakes, there was very, very little air in the system that needed to be purged. We had a firm pedal almost from the start and the entire bleeding process only took about 10 minutes.

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WHAT TO DO IF YOUR MOTOR SUFFERS FROM VAPOR LOCK

Lately, I’ve been hearing more stories about ’49 Cads experiencing vapor lock. This ailment is due to engine heat causing gasoline to boil away or vaporize at certain spots in the fuel line. This makes for air in the fuel line, starving your engine of fuel, which will then stall or refuse to start. As ’49 Cadillacs were not known for having this problem in the past, it makes me wonder if it is not some new problem with the formulation of gasoline. The following may help and if any members have additional suggestions, please send them to the Times:

1. Check to see if air is freely flowing through the radiator and that the motor is running at a normal temperature;
2. Check your steel fuel line make sure it is not passing to close to the driver’s side exhaust manifold and check the flexible fuel line from the end of the steel line into the fuel pump to make sure it is not touching or passing very close to the oil filler housing or another hot part of the motor;

One possible solution is to wrap an insulating material around the rubber fuel line between the end of the steel line and the fuel pump. You can also do the same for the steel line between the pump and the carburetor. A good insulator is a length of rubber fuel line or, alternatively, insulated hose used for radiator return lines. It should be of the right diameter; that is, of course, bigger than the line to be wrapped. Cut it longitudinally (along its length) and place it around the length of the fuel line to be insulated. It’s expensive (at $4 / foot here in GA), but if it solves the problem is money well spent. Another insulation material is aluminum foil. I’m not sure about other alternatives to cover the fuel lines, but you can try McVey’s for some insulating material, as they do sell stuff of this type for exhaust pipes, or go to a hardware store and see what they suggest.
Another solution is to install an electric fuel pump. If you do so, I would not do away with the mechanical pump, but merely have the electric pump as an auxiliary. I have such a set up on 2 of my cars (but not my ’49 Cad which does not vapor lock yet). Install it so that the electric pump on a separate small fuel circuit with 2 “T” connections near the fuel tank and not merely in line with the mechanical pump. A more ambitious electric fuel pump installation involves installing a “T” connection just outside the fuel tank, with one branch of the “T” connection serving the existing steel fuel line and the mechanical pump. From the 2nd branch of this “T” connection near the fuel tank, install a short line to the electric pump. From the outlet of the electric pump install a second long steel fuel line, parallel to the long steel existing line, all the way to a rubber line going into a second “T” connection near the carburetor, thereby bypassing the mechanical pump altogether. This second set-up will look funny but will probably work well. The mechanical pump puts out 4 to 5¼ lbs, so the electric pump should not put out more than this.
If you suspect your engine temperature is too hot, a good way to accurately check it is to temporarily hook up a mechanical temp gauge to the same point on the rear of the passenger’s side cylinder head as the stock electrical sending unit. You can buy one and any necessary screw-in adapter inexpensively at an auto parts store. You install it by temporarily removing the passenger’s side ventilating tube, run the cable through the hole and gently close the vent valve over the cable to prevent most hot air entering the engine compartment. I’ve done this with my own car and have been surprised at the difference in readings between the stock electrical and auxiliary mechanical temperature gauge readings.
On the other hand, the motor’s symptoms may be due to something else altogether, a constricted fuel line. See John Washburn’s article in the May 2011 Self Starter.

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LISTING OF PARTS AVAILABLE FROM NAPA THAT MAY FIT A 49 CADILLAC

Part Description Manufacturer NAPA Part # Price
Contact Set (Points) Echlin ECH CS777A $ 17.29
Distributor Condenser Echlin ECH RR174 $ 8.49
Distributor Cap Echlin ECH RR1580 $ 15.49
Distributor Rotor Echlin ECH RR159 $ 14.29
Spark Plug Wire Set – Premium BEL BEL 700170 $ 38.99
Stoplight Switch Echlin ECH SL128 $ 24.49
Thermostat Housing Gasket THM STM1 $ 1.09
Thermostat – Premium (160?) THM THM 532060 $ 9.99
Thermostat – Premium (180?= OEM) THM THM 532080 $ 9.99
Thermostat – Premium (195?) THM THM 532090 $ 9.99
Radiator Cap (13 lb.) Balkamp BK 7031445 $ 6.09
Belt – Fan & Generator PBH NBH 257570 $ 18.29
Generator Bushing – Front Echlin ECH AD1238 $ 4.49
Generator Brush Echlin ECH SD725 $ 4.29
Starter Brush Echlin ECH R503 $ 3.29
Starter Repair Kit Echlin ECH SRK104 $ 27.49
Starter Solenoid Repair Kit Echlin ECH STK2 $ 14.69
Inner Wheel Bearing – Front Wheel BRG B62 $129.00
Outer Wheel Bearing – Front Wheel BRG B73 $ 95.49
Wheel Seal – Front Wheel NOS 19940 $ 13.49
Wheel Cylinder Kit – Front UP 36 $ 3.99
Wheel Cylinder Kit – Rear UP 20 $ 3.99
Brake Shoes – Front, Tru-Stop Tru-Stop TS TS127 $ 24.99
Brake Shoes – Rear, Tru-Stop Tru-Stop TS TS
Wiper Blade – Classic WIP 601233 $ 13.29


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IT WORKED FOR ME STOPPING A STEERING BOX LEAK WITH SPECIAL LUBE

Although my 49 steers precisely and easily, with no play or looseness at the steering wheel, my ’49’s steering gear box has always had a slow leak. I put a new gasket on the end cover a couple of years ago, but it did not improve things. Annoyingly, every month or so I’ve had to top it up.
After reading a CLC Forum thread on this subject and mulling over the suggested alternatives (all of which involve thicker oil or grease), I bought a ½ liter plastic bottle of Penrite Steering Box Lube for Vintage Cars (for anything without rack and pinion steering or power steering), an Australian-made flowable grease. It is sold in the U.S. by Restoration Supply Company in California and costs $17 per bottle, plus about $10 shipping. I ordered 2 bottles. When they arrived, I raised the front wheels off the ground, took off the left front wheel to provide better access to the steering box, and drained the oil from the steering box by removing the lower inboard bolt on the end cover. After replacing the bolt, I then removed the filler plug and squirted lube into the box by squeezing the bottle. To get it to settle in the box I had to turn the steering wheel from side to side a couple of times between squirts. One bottle was not enough to fill the box completely, so I had to use part of the 2nd bottle. It took several days before the lube totally settled, so I checked the box after every drive and topped it up. The box no longer leaks.

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AN ALTERNATE VIEW ON IDLE MIXTURE ADJUSTMENT PROCEDURES

by Art Gardner

Jon at the Carb Shop in Missouri suggests a slightly different approach to adjusting the idle mixture screws on an old Cadillac carb. According to Jon, the Shop Manual’s approach of first setting the idle speed and then tweaking the mixture is backwards. He says you should set the mixture first and then adjust the idle speed to achieve the desired/specified idle speed. Jon says that on a Carter 722, the mixture screws should be somewhere between 3/4 of a turn from all the way in to 1-1/2 turns. He suggests that one should break that up into thirds, so you would have more or less discrete positions of 3/4 turn, 1 turn, 1-1/4 turns, and 1-1/2 turns. He says for a brand new engine, 3/4 turn is typically the right position. As the engine wears, 1 or 1-1/4 turn become the norm. Moreover, he says that there is almost never a need to turn a mixture screw more than about 1-1/2 or 2 turns out from closed. He says that with these relatively steep mixture needles, once you turn the screw out about that much, the mixture passageway is fully open and further turning of the screw doesn’t make it any more open (open is open, after all). I followed Jon’s advice in fine tuning the performance of the Carter 722 on my last 1949 (sadly now enjoyed by someone else) and found it to be very sound. Give it a try!

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2012 TO BE A GOOD YEAR FOR 49ERS

ALOHA, my fellow 49-ers! I surmise that my greeting divulges that I’m in Hawaii as I write this! My sister from Florida decided to have her wedding on Maui Feb. 1st. When invited, I told her I’d much prefer staying home shoveling snow in the bitter cold, but she threatened to disown me, so here I am! We’ll be in Hawaii for 5 weeks…4 weeks on Maui & 1 week on Oahu. Being a WWII history buff, I’m excited about visiting Pearl Harbor. This is indeed paradise — 81 degrees & bright sun every day! Everything is exorbitantly priced, however, so I certainly couldn’t afford to reside here.
Fortunately, winter in New England this year was relatively mild — the exact opposite of last winter. I’m looking forward to, with great anticipation, the start of the car shows & cruise nights, and of course, the annual CLC GN to be held this year in St. Augustine, Florida. The New England Region will be hosting the GN next year in Quincy, Mass. I’m a member of the GN Planning Committee, which has been meeting once a month since last October. We have a wide variety of tours and events scheduled, and intend to make this GN a memorable event for everybody.
Don’t forget…dues are due! Dues remain at $8 and should be mailed to Jay Friedman, 1530 September Chase, Decatur, GA 30033 ASAP. “No duesy, no newsy!” If you don’t send them in this will be the last issue of the Times you’ll receive.” MAHALO! (“Thank you” in Hawaiian).
SPECIAL NOTE: We will conduct a chapter meeting at the GN in St. Augustine on Saturday June 16 (time to be determined). The GN will be a blast, so make an effort to be there if you can and be sure to stop in at the chapter meeting!

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