1931 Pickup Journal

Love your truck. What is its name?
I'm with the others: do the safety work and drive it as it is. Grampa will be happy seeing it on the road again.
 
Hi Noah,

Sounds like you got the carb figured out and she runs well. To take full advantage of the B carb at some point you will need to either bore out an A intake or get a B manifold. The B carb has a larger throat than an A carb. If I remember correctly it is the one with the vacuum port at the back of the manifold. There are two different ones and one will line up with the A choke rod and one won't. You have a great truck and I am glad you are keeping it in the family.

Mike
 
Love your truck. What is its name?
I'm with the others: do the safety work and drive it as it is. Grampa will be happy seeing it on the road again.


Thanks. Truck doesn't have a name, we all just refer to it "The Model A." He and my mom, aunts, and uncles are all very pleased. I am going to have to find the pictures of them in the truck as kids.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That is my current plan. Clean off a bit of the dirt on windows and such, but not much more than that.
I, personally, would scrub it up REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good, EVERY INCH of it, with T.S.P. & water & scrub brushes. It will still have PLENTY of PATINA:)
Bill W.
 
Hi Noah,

Sounds like you got the carb figured out and she runs well. To take full advantage of the B carb at some point you will need to either bore out an A intake or get a B manifold. The B carb has a larger throat than an A carb. If I remember correctly it is the one with the vacuum port at the back of the manifold. There are two different ones and one will line up with the A choke rod and one won't. You have a great truck and I am glad you are keeping it in the family.

Mike

I had a B carb on my huckster. I found it did use more gas than my coupe. I did not have the larger throat bored out of the intake port so maybe that is why did not give good mileage. I finally took it off and put on one of my rebuilt A carbs and now the huckster runs great.

I think the stats say just using the B carb it adds a HP or so while if you bore out your intake port, you can get additional HP's.

Good luck with your pickup. BTW did you change the oil before you started running it around? May want to do that because the oil may contain a lot of stuff that doesn't do your engine much good.
 
I had a B carb on my huckster. I found it did use more gas than my coupe. I did not have the larger throat bored out of the intake port so maybe that is why did not give good mileage. I finally took it off and put on one of my rebuilt A carbs and now the huckster runs great.

I think the stats say just using the B carb it adds a HP or so while if you bore out your intake port, you can get additional HP's.

Good luck with your pickup. BTW did you change the oil before you started running it around? May want to do that because the oil may contain a lot of stuff that doesn't do your engine much good.


I think you're right. A shop had some dyno numbers with the various combinations, but the B carb didn't look like it really have any gains. I changed the oil before running it. The oil pan and rear main seals are leaking pretty badly so I will drop the pan and really clean it out and change the oil again this winter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I figured out that the bulbs are blown and that's why I lost the headlights during the last drive.

13da280a90a5fdc7e1213b570e3060f8.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I figured out that the bulbs are blown and that's why I lost the headlights during the last drive.

13da280a90a5fdc7e1213b570e3060f8.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You either reached the advertised 1000 hour use, or more likely had a voltage spike from a bad connection, if you use an unregulated generator. If you use an alternator, it's recommended to make sure the alternator is already kinked in and charging before you turn on the lights.
 
You either reached the advertised 1000 hour use, or more likely had a voltage spike from a bad connection, if you use an unregulated generator. If you use an alternator, it's recommended to make sure the alternator is already kinked in and charging before you turn on the lights.


I am not sure if I have an unregulated generator or not. Should I replace the bulbs and see how it goes or is there a good way to test the connections to see if there is a bad connection? They worked fine for a while and then blew when I was taking it for its first real test drive with the lights on. Sounds like it could be a spike because of that and what you said. Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Another topic, I have been trying to flush out the radiator and it comes out looking like this:

606f51560c39d740f1d8d0e9c962b91e.jpg


I have distilled vinegar in there now and already did that flush once. I got it nice and hot yesterday with the vinegar in there and will maybe get another shot at driving today. Would you recommended continuing to flush or just pulling the radiator to take it somewhere to get cleaned? I haven't flow tested it yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have been doing some work on the truck recently. I replaced the tires that had a date code from 1943 with some fresh Goodyears:

IMG_1062_zps6bwztym9.jpg


IMG_1080_zps6xullovy.jpg


IMG_1085_zpshjhato42.jpg
 
I replaced the spark plugs with some hotter ones. I went with Champion W16Y I bought on
After taking it for a spin, I still had bad overheating problems. I pulled the radiator to swap the spare I have that is in better shape. I am going to take it to a radiator shop to make sure its completely clean before installing it. There was a thick brown sludge that came out of the one I removed.

IMG_1184_zpsdy0ug2ve.jpg


IMG_1182_zpsehz7zuwz.jpg


"New" is on the right.

IMG_1183_zpshlorv4u2.jpg
 
Flush the block before you reinstall a radiator. the vinegar loosened up alot of stuff you never want in the radiator. If you are going to run straight water add soluble oil (napa carries it) to lube the waterpump, and maybe napa cool to retard rust.
There is another school of thought to use antifreeze.
Bob
 
Flush the block before you reinstall a radiator. the vinegar loosened up alot of stuff you never want in the radiator. If you are going to run straight water add soluble oil (napa carries it) to lube the waterpump, and maybe napa cool to retard rust.
There is another school of thought to use antifreeze.
Bob



What's the best way to flush the block? I have to imagine it's as bad in there as it was in the radiator. I was going to run distilled water with Redline Water Wetter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I rigged up some pvc fittings to clamp to the outlet so I could run water from a hose into the block and also have an air line coupler so i could push the water out the block inlet. I used a long piece of radiator hose on the inlet(drivers side of the block) to run it into a pan under the car. I then would strain the captured discharge and filter it thru a funnel with an old t shirt to see what was coming out.
I also reversed the setup to try and flush out the head and got more stuff that way.
 
Rube Goldberg back flushing contraption. Interesting to note difference in results after adding air to back flushing procedure. I had flushed this engine for several hours just using water and water looked fairly clean. Third photo shows results after first blow with air pressure.
 

Attachments

  • Back Flusher (1) Cropped.jpg
    Back Flusher (1) Cropped.jpg
    138.5 KB · Views: 39
  • Back Flusher (2) Cropped.jpg
    Back Flusher (2) Cropped.jpg
    129.4 KB · Views: 40
  • Results Cropped.jpg
    Results Cropped.jpg
    113.2 KB · Views: 38
What Bill shows in the pan is also what my sump pump drove out of the block and radiator times 3. That's why I would recommend a filter in the top hose, at least for several miles until you are sure you have trapped the junk before it plugs the tubes.
 
Back
Top