The Ford Barn - View Single Post - newbee

david.skinner · 05-05-2015, 10:23 PM

Hello, Dave from Wellington NZ. My wife has just bought a 36 Pickup to replace her SL500. I'm quite thrilled with it. Paint, woodwork, upholstery is very good. Mechanically, my first impression is tidy but not at the standard I would like. While my wife is a car girl, I am a motorcycle fan and have strip restored a number of Japanese race oriented motorcycles, mainly 80s & 90s but quite hi tech so the Pickup is new ground for me and I would like some guidance.

On a bit of a side note, I am having trouble identifying the motor. It has 24 stud heads with centre cooling outlets. One head clearly shows made in Canada so to me maybe a C69A but the other head appears to have C81T-6050 stamped in it but its a bit hard to tell. - advice appreciated.

Anyway my first question is that it has been leaking coolant - actually I think it may have been overflowing coolant rather than an actual leak. I had to put 7Litres (~7 Quarts for my US friends) in it yesterday which was a bit frightening but I don't know how much was in it when we got it before we drove it and it has been out on the highway. I then left the radiator cap off and ran the engine for around 1/2 hr. I could see no leaks and the LH head measured 160F while the RH head measured 180F using my IR thermometer (usually used for setting bike tyre pressures on racetracks). All nicely stable.

My first thought after reading many threads is to pressurise the cooling system gently and use the well mentioned Skip's 3lb overflow hose relief valve and see how that goes in terms of coolant from now on. However I can't find the appropriate threads to find Skip or for what needs to be done to the cap and its socket to allow it to be pressurised.

So in short:
1. Am I doing the right thing at this stage of ownership?
2. if so, could you point me in the right direction.

regards
David.

05-05-2015, 10:23 PM	#1
david.skinner Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Wellington NZ Posts: 85	newbee - 36 Pickup radiator mod question Hello, Dave from Wellington NZ. My wife has just bought a 36 Pickup to replace her SL500. I'm quite thrilled with it. Paint, woodwork, upholstery is very good. Mechanically, my first impression is tidy but not at the standard I would like. While my wife is a car girl, I am a motorcycle fan and have strip restored a number of Japanese race oriented motorcycles, mainly 80s & 90s but quite hi tech so the Pickup is new ground for me and I would like some guidance. On a bit of a side note, I am having trouble identifying the motor. It has 24 stud heads with centre cooling outlets. One head clearly shows made in Canada so to me maybe a C69A but the other head appears to have C81T-6050 stamped in it but its a bit hard to tell. - advice appreciated. Anyway my first question is that it has been leaking coolant - actually I think it may have been overflowing coolant rather than an actual leak. I had to put 7Litres (~7 Quarts for my US friends) in it yesterday which was a bit frightening but I don't know how much was in it when we got it before we drove it and it has been out on the highway. I then left the radiator cap off and ran the engine for around 1/2 hr. I could see no leaks and the LH head measured 160F while the RH head measured 180F using my IR thermometer (usually used for setting bike tyre pressures on racetracks). All nicely stable. My first thought after reading many threads is to pressurise the cooling system gently and use the well mentioned Skip's 3lb overflow hose relief valve and see how that goes in terms of coolant from now on. However I can't find the appropriate threads to find Skip or for what needs to be done to the cap and its socket to allow it to be pressurised. So in short: 1. Am I doing the right thing at this stage of ownership? 2. if so, could you point me in the right direction. regards David.