1929 Chevrolet International - 4 Door Sedan Project by BearsFan315

10 minute(s) of a 636 minute read

LED

Lambert LED Kit Tail Lamp (Park ON) 1-2

Lambert LED Kit Brake Light 3-4

6-6-2022

been rebuilding the engine for my 1929 and finally took it out Saturday and did a 3 mile loop for initial shake down and test run. Initial run was to make sure it ran, no major issues, and everything works and stays together.

car ran great, stopped good, and fired back up after shut down. it was about 85 out and the car did not overheat. it did puked a little when i shut it off, but it was full of coolant. so should be fine now, but will keep an d eye on it. also did not notice anymore air in the gano filter on the coolant return line.

found a few bolts i forgot to tighten up, and went around twice checking all bolts, nuts, screws.

did not get time Sunday to do a second test run, so did one tonight when I got home, after dinner of course.

set a personal goal when i got my 1929 running. that goal was to be able to start the car by hand crank, at least once !! i figure i would try tonight and see how that went. followed general guidelines, spin to compression and pull crank up and around, and not try to hold on to it as to break my arm !! i pulled the spark knob as to retard spark per manual, and away we go. i was shocked that it fired on first attempt, actually startled me. engine stalled out quickly. pushed in the spark button, and tried again. fired right up and kept on running.

dont plan on starting the car manually all the time, but wanted to accomplish that goal and know that i can start it manually if /when i desire.

after warm up took it out for shake down/ test run 2. car ran great, accelerated good, and stopped good. once the brakes seat some i will adjust and tweak them. same thing once i get some miles on it go back over and tighten up bolts, nuts, and screws. no noticeable issues or concerns at this point. next trip out i am planning a good 20-30 minute trip around town, stop & go traffic, and maybe a bridge (small one) test it out a little more.

6-12-2022

had time today to take the 1929 for another drive, this time was a 7 mile round trip, last 2 were only about 2 miles. no speeds over 35, some stretches were steady at 30 mph.

car fired up on first try, let it warm up for about 5 minutes, and drove off. accelerated fine, stopped fine, shifted fine. concern was that about 2.5 miles in the trip temp gauge was reading in the 3rd section. but would jump back to first section, not sporactically but randomly here and there. stopped halfway on trip and used my laser temp gun to pull numbers.  return line was around 180-190 radiator at top fins was around 180-190 and dropped as you went down to around 160-170. pulling temp off cylinder walls on drivers side 1-205 2-205 3-195 4-205 5-215 6-210.
did the same check when i returned home with the same numbers.  car fired right up every time I hit the starter button, not a glitch.

is this normal on break in or ?? what should i look for or do ?

engine has approx 15 miles on and maybe 1-1.5 hours running time. 

still has the timing gear (New Aluminum Gear & Near Steel Crank Gear) whine as discussed already, as well as the normal transmission whine

6-19-2022

well too the 1929 for another shakedown run, keeping them to under 30 minutes and 10 miles. this one was 15 minutes and around 7 miles round trip. Flat land, one small overpass.

today was a beautiful day, cool temps around 75, nice breeze blowing, low humidity. A near perfect day.

took the car out for a run, and about 5 minutes down the road there is air in the Gano, i can see it clearly while cruising steady at any speed. 15, 25, 30 !!  then when i stop i can see it burping up. a wave of air bubbles, break air bubbles, etc... over and over while sitting only for a minute. take off and can see the air bubbles in the coolant, does not matter that i am slowly accelerating or not. coolant level was just above core in radiator. stopped and check temps, return line is about 170. top of radiator is around 180-190 bottom is around 150-160. cylinder walls read around 200-215.

get back home and park in driveway, and air ensues, same as when i was driving. 

6-24-2022

well ran out to lunch today for work, and made a trip to Harbor Freight ;!

picked up a few items i needed, also picked up their Maddox Combustion Leak Detector and BLOCK-TESTER Combustion Leak Detector Fluid will see what it shows on the 1929. read reviews on it plus videos. seems to be a good viable test system.

last night i went out and checked all the hardware on the coolant lines and water pump, made sure everything was tight. did not go out and wrench down everything to break off screw & nuts 

also plan to run the test as Noted by Ted (Chistech). i am will to spend the time and check and recheck before tearing down and breaking down. been there done that once already!!

6-25-2022

ok so i ran a few test last night... mainly with the Combustion Leak Detector.

Fluid is Blue and if exposed to combustion gases it turns Yellow (for Gasoline Engines)

First Test was to see if the Fluid Changed Colors in Ambient Air, only sucking in air around me. car is not running, nothing is going on or anything else running.

Nothing happened fluid stayed blue

Next was a test to see IF the fluid would actually turn yellow if exposed to exhaust gases, so started up car and ran the test so it would suck in the air from the tail pipe. 

fluid quickly turns yellow, so we know the fluid works 

So next up was true car test. fired up car, let it get up to around 140-150 coolant temp and them ran the test, i used aa silicone funnel to seal around the radiator fill neck and the base of the tester. not 100% fool proof but the silicone funnel was snug around both.

fluid stayed blue. had a slight green tint, but i pumped air for over a minute and never changed.

seems like no exhaust gases are getting into the coolant, but no guarantees.

I ran the test on the car twice, once after idle warm up and then about an hour later after another warm up.

same results

Took car out for a test drive today, was a short trip about 1.5 miles nothing over 30 mph maybe 10 minutes. Clear Sunny afternoon, temps around 85F 50% humidity. coolant level was just over the core. car fired right up, let it idle for about 10 minutes.

about half mile or so in, started seeing the bubbles in the coolant via the Gano. as i drove more more bubbles arose. pulled back in driveway, ran the combustion check (engine still running bubbles running as well) fluid stayed blue.

When i cut the engine off bubbles erupted and puked coolant out the overflow. dumped about 1/2 - 3/4 gallon on the driveway. laser temp on radiator was around 200F at the top. 

seems to tell me it is overheating, and should not on a short trip like this one. 

6-27-2022

figured i would go back check everything... start at square 1

pulled all the plugs, and checked gap & coloration, they all were set to the .040" i set them to per VCCA recommendation, and they all looked really clean 

did a compression test on all 6 cylinders, and got around 65-70 on all cylinders.

6-27-2022

pulled distributor cap, checked point gap, .018" 

spun engine around to cylinder 1 TDC

checked where rotor button was pointing, looked to be a tad off, put it back together and ran engine, and looks like it was sitting right around 5-7 deg of timing !?!? 

so pulled distributor, spun it one tooth, reset oil pump to mate up, and put it all back together.

connected power and fired up car, it sputtered and stuttered. went around and slowly advanced timing, adjusted it till it ran smooth, and check on exhaust. I put my hand near exhaust to feel the output, feeling mainly for the sputter or puff out hte pipe. after about 10 minutes got it idling smoothly. pushed the throttle a few times, revved right up. 

decided to take it for a quick block spin, same 1.5 mile trek nothing over 25 mph. outdoor temps were around 85F and humid.

car ran fine, accelerated smoothly and pulled nicely. I did not see any bubbles, pulled in driveway and cut it off, no burping or puking. ran temps. top of radiator was around 180-185 bottom around 150-155. cylinders walls were around 210-220. fired it back up no issues, and pulled it into garage for the night.

seems to be a little bit happier, and will take it back out for another short trip and run the same tests, then maybe go out for a little longer ride and see how it does.