Nother project or two

[Danimal]

A week ago Friday I was cruising the HAMB for 1946-48 Chevy stuff. We have a 1948 Sedan Delivery for my youngest son (the one who spent the weekend in front of the boob tube...). The frame was junk and they'd tried to make a gasser out of it at one point in time. Vance on the HAMB sold it to me 2 years ago after doing not much but using it as storage for a few years. He threw in enough extra parts that I've sold to make most of my money back.

We had set it up on an S10 frame in 06 but it looked stupid and the floor would have to be cut up to make it fit. I gave up on it and bought a frame from Fat Cat about a month ago. It needs some patching but it will be good enough for the time being.

We put the body onto said frame on Saturday and made it a roller again.

Back to the Friday HAMB search...found a '46 Styleline Sport Sedan (4 door with 1/4 windows). It was said to have had a bunch of rebuilt parts and a rebuilt motor. Price was right so Court (the 15 year old) and I loaded up last Sunday and brought her home. Left her on the trailer until Friday and did some clean up as the week went on. Put a gas can in the trunk and fixed the broken fuel line with hose into said can. After an hour or so dinking with it, we got her to fire.

Well, the PO had put Isuzu 14" 6 lugs on the front and they rubbed so you couldn't steer. After a wheel swap, she was a moving and a driving. After a few runs up and down the street (about 3 miles worth) she boiled her guts out.

We put a new thermostat in there yesterday but found that the previous one was non-existent. There were plenty of stalactites of rust in the housing. She still boiled over the next time. There doesn't appear to be any flow going on in the radiator. Should I go ahead and have the tank boiled or is it a good idea to start with swapping the water pump? The antifreeze was pretty green but that could be something the guy did just before I got there, but I doubt it. He seemed on the up and up but who knows, he wanted the car gone!

Any suggestions? The pet cock opened and I didn't get a face full of crud, just some pretty green!

[Danimal]

Oh yeah, this is meant to be a donor car to get the SD back on the road. I'm looking to get it 'reliable' enough to drive and then swap the body after I do some repair to it. The future hope is to have the 216 swapped for a later 235 and a T5.

[Danimal]

Found a 235 complete. I'll be thinking about doing the swap soon in order to beef it up. Anyone need a 216 that runs?

[Danimal]

Any suggestions on the overheating? How long does it have to run in order to flush a radiator? Never done it.

[phat46]

Sounds like my '46 Chevy when i first got it. Supposedly had a "cleaned" rad in it. When i got the SBC in and running it would heat up very quickly. I took the rad to a good local shop and they put in a "modern" core. The guy at the shop showed me the original core when i picked up the new rad; it was completely plugged, looked like every tube was plugged up. He asked me how many blocks of driving  it took to overheat the engine!!!

[Danimal]

Sounds familiar. I can get about 3 miles out of it before it pukes like prom night.

Sounds like it's going to Pete's Radiator this weekend!