simple 59a questions

cuzncletus

cuzncletus

Senior Member
I'm starting to prep my '46 for its eventual place in my 29 AV8 roadster pickup. This was a good running motor that didn't smoke, knock, or overheat in the few miles I drove it. It was rebuilt .060 over in the early 70's and obviously doesn't have very many miles on it. I primarily just wanted to make sure it wasn't cracked before I got started with it.

Questions: When the engine was rebuilt the builder put in adjustable lifters. The lifter bores were drilled for adjustments. I have no reason to think it has a performance cam. Was this a common practice in stock engines?

The engine was from North Florida/South Georgia and it shows it. There are clay-like hard water deposits all through the water jackets. I'm filthy from poking, prodding, vacuuming, and blowing the passages; the last procedure producing a sand storm Saudi Arabia would have been proud of. But I'm thinking it didn't overheat before so why should it after it's cleaner than then. After cleaning as well as I can without hot tanking (I don't want to disassemble the block), does anyone have any recommendations for products to break the left over deposits free? By the way, I see no rust on the water jackets where I can scrape them.

I'd like to go with a Pertronix conversion, but I've read that they aren't very friendly towards generators. I've got a stock generator already converted to 12V and want a period correct hot rod. It look like adjusting the points is just as much of a pain in the posterior as I've always heard. How far can I expect to go with a stock distributor between adjustments? Is sending it to Bubba's a worthwhile investment? (He did a Chevy Mallory/Pertronix conversion on my 8ba and it works great.)
 
The lifter bores were drilled so a pin punch could be inserted to stop them turning while being adjusted. It is a reasonably common practice. Sounds like you've done pretty good with the water jackets. Have you removed the water pumps? I would, then stick a water blaster wand up in there and let her rip.
Pertronix not needed. A well set crab is as good as anything, and Bubbas will make it better than new. Absolutely a good investment. My 59A has a Bubbas crab and 12v gennie..... perfect. Easy to adjust points on a crab, just remove the dissy. Removal and replacement of a crab takes me about six minutes. Pop the cap, undo two bolts.... it's off. BTW, mine's in a 28 AV8.
 
Cuz on my 59a I drained all of the water out and filled it with 4/5 gals of white vinegar that I bought at Smart and Final and ran it for about 250 miles. When I drained it all out it looked like black coffee and there was chunks of flashing from the casting that must have been .25x.25 sq. It's run cool ever since.
H36
 
The vinegar should clean out the rust and so on, but don't think it will tough the casing sand. The only way I know of is to work on it with implements of destruction. It is a time consuming project and you will most likely get a lot of it out of there. I know the last engine I did had a least two rebuilds on it, so that means it had been through the hot tank twice and I had it hot tanked again, so that is three times through the tank and it was still loaded with sand!
 
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