The Ford Barn - View Single Post

Pete · 09-12-2021, 09:18 PM

Picture this, it is 1953. We are coming home from Bonneville after a successful week. (we did not blow up)
We are half way between Wendover and Wells, Nevada, middle of a barren desert, hottest part of the day, we are in the 41 panel truck in my avatar. We have absolutely NO money left but we have a barrel of gas in the back of the truck, some free oil that was donated to the race car and 10 gallons of water.. The very worn out 221 decides to throw a fan blade into the radiator, I see the blade disappear off into the desert. (no hood). It is REALLY bad. All water was on the ground instantly.
We pinched as many tubes as we could get at with a pair of long nose pliers and smashed a few with a screw driver we couldn't reach otherwise. We always carried plenty of Bars Leak and what was called Silverseal in those days. (similar to Alumaseal)
We put water, all of Silver seal and Bars leak we had in and watched the remaining leaks gradually stop. We proceeded with great haste for home.
We made it ok and 2 years later that old truck was still running with the same engine and radiator, although it ran hot most of the time.

09-12-2021, 09:18 PM	#16
Pete Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Wa. Posts: 5,409	Re: Is Bars Leak still a good temp fix Picture this, it is 1953. We are coming home from Bonneville after a successful week. (we did not blow up) We are half way between Wendover and Wells, Nevada, middle of a barren desert, hottest part of the day, we are in the 41 panel truck in my avatar. We have absolutely NO money left but we have a barrel of gas in the back of the truck, some free oil that was donated to the race car and 10 gallons of water.. The very worn out 221 decides to throw a fan blade into the radiator, I see the blade disappear off into the desert. (no hood). It is REALLY bad. All water was on the ground instantly. We pinched as many tubes as we could get at with a pair of long nose pliers and smashed a few with a screw driver we couldn't reach otherwise. We always carried plenty of Bars Leak and what was called Silverseal in those days. (similar to Alumaseal) We put water, all of Silver seal and Bars leak we had in and watched the remaining leaks gradually stop. We proceeded with great haste for home. We made it ok and 2 years later that old truck was still running with the same engine and radiator, although it ran hot most of the time.