Recent content by Steve51

Good read. Details the Ocean to Ocean Race in 1909 fron New York to Seattle. Cars in the race were two Model T's, a Shawmut, an ACME, an Itala, and a Sterns.

That is usually used in salt water due to galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals in salt water, which is a very good electrolyte. It also protects from stray current corrosion in marinas with lots of boats plugged into shore power, some which may have dodgy electrical systems. In fresh...

Who spends that kind of money on a car and then two years later lists it for sale and may only get half of the investment back. More money than brains? This upside-down value/cost isn't that unusual to us mere mortals but we are usually talking about thousands of dollars not hundreds of...

It should require a bit of effort to operate the pump arm by hand. The pump on my 8ba has no problem lifting fuel from a gas can sitting on the ground. The gasket on the fuel bowl and the flexible fuel line are common sources of air leaks.

I think the main benefit of using the coupling is not having the risk of damaging the threads of the vaccum port. Having the inflexible steel line and tight access it is easy to get it cross threaded. A few times I caught this before I did any damage. Mine is complicated by the fact that the...

I got it at Ace Hardware but I would think it would be available at auto part stores. The 24 thread count UNF is commonly an auto part fitting. At the hardware store most of the brass fittings are NPT threads so have to search through to find the few UNF fittings. The NPT stuff is 18 or 27...

I would agree. The stock 8ba in my 51 was recently rebuilt with a recondition OEM radiator. I ran it this summer in 90+ temps with no overheating issues. I think the problems can occur when the engine is modified or there are tuning/maintainence issues or worn out parts. Due to the engine...

Further investigation tells me the Ford vaccum nut is worn out and will not seal on the vaccum line and the inverted flare portion has seen to many removal/installation cycles. The threads on the carb vaccum port are a bit delicate so I decided to replace the OEM nut with a compression...

Is there supposed to be a copper compression ring on the steel vaccum line? The line has a mark around it like you would see from a compression ring. When I slip the steel line in and tighten down the brass fitting the line stays loose enough to pull out. The same fitting on the distributor...

I did not see much price difference with other brands. One thing I did notice that seemed ridiculous was the price varied by $75 depending on the width of the whitewail. Seems unlikely it cost that much to make it 1/2 to 3/4 wider. As long as the quality is there its probably a viable option...

Nothing good will happen by by burning higher octane than an engine was designed for or modified for. It is essentially harder to ignite in the sense that it can withstand higher temps and compression before igniting. Burning in a lower compression engine leads to unburned fuel and carbon...

The vaccum port on the intake manifold where the wipers are connected is the usual spot for a vaccum gauge.

I had a stuck valve on an engine that had not been run in a few years. Put some Sea Foam in the tank and ran the car a few times and it eventually freed itself up.

Mustard or Ketchup? I feel my car has some additional pep when I use the mustard bottle to prime it. Maybe it's the residual mustard in the bottle. I have heard "some experts say" that horseradish is good for a 5hp boost.

As Tubman mentioned, I think it is fuel evaporating from the carb bowl as one issue but low fuel in the pump sediment bowl is another. It seems odd to me that fuel would evaporate from the sediment bowl over a week or two. If the gasket was bad and allowing evaporation it would also cause an...