1957 Ford Country Sedan mocha silver V8 4dr wagon

[John Palmer]

I went for the removable "class 3 & above" style, the only thing I don't like is the rattle between the two, I miht use shims to take up he slack.

Let me see if I can put this into words?

Here's what I do on my receiver hitches, because I also hate the "clunking noise" you refer to as a "rattle".

I weld a 7/16" by 20 thread grade 8 nut on the corner edge of the receiver tube.  It helps to grind a little seat area into the tube for the nut to sit on while your welding.  Don't drill the hole in the tube until after your done with the welding.  Then drill out the hole size for the proper 7/16 x 20 tap.  I use a 7/16" Allen Head bolt, as a set screw.  By placing the set screw and nut on the corner of the tubing it will push the tow bar into the corner of the receiver tube and eliminates any movement/rattling/noise.

It's all modified "in front" of the safety pin, and the further you can position it away/forward (space permitting) from the pin, the better angle you have, and the better it works.  It's easier to do the modification when the hitch is on the work bench, upside down.

Another problem we have towing small vintage camper trailer's in the US, is the 1940's and 1950's trailers were built with very short tongues.  It's easy to jack knife the trailer when backing up, denting the front of the trailer.  The quick fix is to use a longer tow bar.  Etrailer.com has a 16" long receiver tow bar.  With the modification I outlined above, this longer tow bar "will not rattle".  The extra receiver extensions are not very good "IMO", because you end up with two moving points.

[thomasso]

I have a number of nos heater vacuum valves and control valves that I've accumulated over the years.  All brands are identical be they Dole, Robertshaw or Ford so I'm sure they were all supplied by the same mfg.  gaskets for the core valve are hard to come by.  However silicone seems to work just fine.   All have been tested and are fine.  Boxes are junk. Will sell for 45 bucks ea plus shipping.  I started collecting them after having to pay $100 from a vender. Thanks.

[djfordmanjack]

Thanx, but for now this will do. I will get back to your offer in case.
@Jim, I had to splice the 2 together, because one had a working vaccuum diaphragm but rusted out water neck and the other had a leaking diaphragm, but a mint waterneck. When things need done, they need done. Sunday called for cruising...

There you go Rich. this is 10 minutes from my place, just up the hill. they are growing grapes on the hills ( most possibly since Roman times).

[mustang6984]

Your CS looks right at home there on that estate! SWEET!!!   

[lalessi1]

My car had the capillary style one piece non-vacuum style valve that was suspect. I replaced it with a repop two piece style vacuum type, it leaked at the diaphragm. I bought a rebuilt one like the original one and pressure tested the assembly, all was well.

I rigged a pressure test by connecting the assembly to a water spigot with a gauge and a bypass valve.

Unfortunately after installation my thermostat stuck, prassurised the system and apparently blew a gasket, my heater is    disconnected again.

[djfordmanjack]

Oh my.....I hear you Lynn. Jay made a very simple and clever solution with routing out the cable to a simple mechanical heater valve directly on the engine. The original design, if a bit complicated, works great though with effortless hot-cold at the control panel. it has a somewhat thermostatic self temperature adjusting built in as well. But they do leak now and then.

[djfordmanjack]

after that last test drive, I observed a very slight squeaking noise starting and it was coming from the valve cover.....you all guessed it. oil starvation on the top ends. Possibly old sludge came loose somewhere and got trapped in a passage. Now that I am using thicker oil, it wouldn't pass sufficiently. I pulled, cleaned and reassembled the rocker assemblies yesterday, but to be on the safe side I put on a top oiler kit for now, even if this is a make do method. Engine is running nicely so I don't want to tear it down for cleaning and a full overhaul at this time. I am glad that I pulled the valve covers again though to check what was just the earliest beginnings of a future mess. oil flow now is nice. Sorry no pics of final installation as I wasn't motivated anymore to take some at 2.30 am...

[hiball3985]

Thats the old solution/band aid that people used for years, glad it's working for you. A majority of the time the blockage is in the dog leg passage of the cylinder head. 

[Ecode70D]

Aside from removing the head ,   I'm curious if someone ever came up with a workable method of clearining up that dog leg blockage.

[hiball3985]

Aside from removing the head ,   I'm curious if someone ever came up with a workable method of clearining up that dog leg blockage.

Jay, I had luck one time many many years ago. Removed the rocker assemblies and kept pouring MEK down the oil passage and letting it soak, every few hours I would spin the oil pump drive with the distributor removed and it slowly started breaking loose spitting out junks of crap. It was a slow process that took a couple of days.

[djfordmanjack]

Jim, that sounds like a good method and might be a good solution for my engine, as the passages were never fully blocked. What do you mean by MEK ?

[hiball3985]

Jim, that sounds like a good method and might be a good solution for my engine, as the passages were never fully blocked. What do you mean by MEK ?

MEK= Methyl Ethyl Keytone. I tried originally with Acetone but it evaporates to fast. I used MEK for everything from cleaning parts to paint thinner 

[djfordmanjack]

sounds like the thing to use. been using alcohol based paint stripper with great results. should have thought about that before. Have liquid alcohol paint stripper that I use for small parts. anyways, probably only a complete teardown and reworking the oil passages would give 100% top end lubrication.
here are some videos of the oil stream @idle with oiler kit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1geANZIuj-o&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aoYSSyVJCs&feature=youtu.be

love to see that stream of fresh oil up there

[hiball3985]

G, the overhead oilers will work fine, they just look a little silly I remember seeing many old Y blocks using them. The problems were normally caused by a lack of maintenance, a lot of people didn't change oil and filter regularly. And we had crap oil back then like Quaker Sludge  

[djfordmanjack]

Jim, I cleaned about 2 quarts worth of Quaker sludge paraffin out of the rocker shafts....
The good thing for me is that I wasn't there in the 60's when people were just tryin to keep their 10 year old jalopy alive. To me the top oiler kit looks cool ( and a clever, cheap design), but I understand what you mean. young gearheads would have laughed about a granny driving that old beater with the plumbing on top... I'll get over it.....