Project midnight sunrise

Ideally warm the engine for 10mins, remove all the plugs, make sure you have a fit battery, use wide open throttle and do the test. Your numbers may be low if the engine is cold, battery not so good and the throttle closed.
 
Does the motor run, if so, let it run for a few minutes then let it cool down and try again. Also, did you have the throttle wide open when you did this? Those numbers should be around 150 as noted.
 
Agree with the others, it is best to warm up the engine first. If it hasn't run for a long time then the readings you got may not be valid. I've had situations where I could not actually run a engine of unknown history. So I put a little lube in each cylinder (you don't want to run them completely dry) and cranked it for as long as possible (you'll need a charger backing up the battery) - until the starter started getting hot. Then let the starter cool off and repeated that again. I found that every cycle of spinning the engine over resulted in higher compression readings. Basically the engine was warming up and the rings finding their seat. But be aware that adding oil to the cylinders may also give a little false reading. It will seal worn rings to some extent (there isn't that much oil in the cylinders under normal conditions). In fact that is one way to test for worn rings vs worn valves. If the compression is low initially, then raises considerably when oil is added to the cylinders, then that's an indication the rings are worn. But if it doesn't come up then it is more likely the valves.

A leakdown test helps to determine where any excess wear or damage exists; head gasket, intake valves, exhaust valves, cylinders/rings, etc. So redo the compression test as described first. If you get better readings then you may not need to do the leakdown test. But it also should be done with a warm engine.
 
Thank you for all the info.

As I'm already into it, my plan for now is changing all the cooling system, rebuilding the carbs, and sorting the manifold thicknesses. Hopefully it should run at that point.

I made up a leak down tester and used it on my dad's truck he's trying to get running. It worked. So I can borrow his air compressor in the future and do leak down test and a hot compression test.

Looking at the radiator bleeder, is it a 8mm square drive plug in the top?
20210215_161415.jpg

I know that isn't the greatest picture. Do I need to get some kind of 8mm square socket to turn it? It seemed quite tight and I really didn't want to round it off with an open end wrench.
 
That isn't the original radiator bleeder. That appears to be a standard 1/4" tapered pipe plug. If it is then it likely damaged the threads on the radiator when it was crammed in, as the stock bleeder is not a tapered thread and is metric. Not sure what you will find once you get it out. Worst case scenario take the radiator out and have a shop clean the internals (good to do regardless) and repair the bleeder fitting. Best case scenario I'm wrong and that plug has the correct threads and didn't damage anything.
 
I just remembered something about this bleeder issue. Previously a discussion came up with the idea of tapping the bleeder fitting on the radiator to accept a pipe-fitting (NPT) type thread. That way a little shut off valve or other fixture could replace the existing bolt plug to make bleeding easier. And from that came the additional thought of using a 90-degree barb fitting on the valve to reroute the bleeder through a hose to a lower point toward the bottom of the rad. That way it won't puke coolant on things when you bleed it.

So if your bleeder does have a NPT pipe plug installed, see how good the threads are in the fitting. If they are clean, or you can clean them up with a NPT tap, then consider it an opportunity to improve things with a similar mod. Turn lemons into lemonade. :)
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I just remembered something about this bleeder issue. Previously a discussion came up with the idea of tapping the bleeder fitting on the radiator to accept a pipe-fitting (NPT) type thread. That way a little shut off valve or other fixture could replace the existing bolt plug to make bleeding easier. And from that came the additional thought of using a 90-degree barb fitting on the valve to reroute the bleeder through a hose to a lower point toward the bottom of the rad. That way it won't puke coolant on things when you bleed it.

So if your bleeder does have a NPT pipe plug installed, see how good the threads are in the fitting. If they are clean, or you can clean them up with a NPT tap, then consider it an opportunity to improve things with a similar mod. Turn lemons into lemonade. :)
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I had mine tapped for a 1/8" NPT when I got it re-cored. I've got one of those T handle valves on it that were often used as radiator drains. It is a big improvement over the factory plug. Easy to use, no tools required.
 
So, I'm on the hunt for the heater hoses. It looks like the pipe under the car was changed for copper, while the internal pipe down the center tunnel was not. I got the heater box out, and the hose that connects to the pipe under the car.

Is the correct way to reach the back side of pipe in the center tunnel by pulling the parking brake? I pulled the carpet up to a few inches away from the rear wall but didn't find the end of the hose. The interior, though yellow and blue, is in very good condition. I hate to rough it up if I don't have to.

The real kicker is that the heater hoses don't look that bad. I just feel like if I'm doing everything else it's best to do them too.
 
Yes, to reach the end of the "hot" source line you pull the parking brake. Will attach a photo.

The pipe that goes in the lower tunnel area (under the car) is the return line.

IMG_20151011_165139.jpg

IMG_20151011_185354 (1).jpg
 
darwoodious said:
Yes, to reach the end of the "hot" source line you pull the parking brake. Will attach a photo.

The pipe that goes in the lower tunnel area (under the car) is the return line.

View attachment 43845
View attachment 43846
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On my car, the pipe in your last photo started leaking at one of the spot welds for the bracket at the end of the pipe. I removed the entire metal pipe in the upper tunnel, and replaced it and the rubber hoses at each end with exactly 10 feet of Gates 28411 Safety Stripe 5/8" heater hose using 3/4" conduit clamps to attach it to the tunnel wall in a few spots. That gets rid of a few unnecessary joints. I also noticed that there is also room in there to fit two hoses. Not sure why Fiat put one in the bottom tunnel.
 
Thanks for the info. Those pictures help a lot. Now I can pull the carpet going the right direction.

Is there any argument against just running a long hose from the engine to the heater core? For the radiator having the pipes is one thing, but if you're going to trust 4 feet of heater hose, what's 4 more?
 
My heater hoses are two runs of rubber heater hose from the motor to the heater box. In my case I run them in the passenger side up against the tunnel.
 
Kendall said:
Thanks for the info. Those pictures help a lot. Now I can pull the carpet going the right direction.

Is there any argument against just running a long hose from the engine to the heater core? For the radiator having the pipes is one thing, but if you're going to trust 4 feet of heater hose, what's 4 more?
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My experience is that the rubber hoses last longer than the steel pipes.
 
As has been said, those old metal pipes for the heater are prone to rotting out just like the larger ones for the radiator. But it is actually worse when the upper heater pipe leaks because it is in the upper tunnel, so now the leaking water is going onto (on top of) the floor pans instead of under them. Worse yet you may not even know it is happening because it is under the carpet and padding where you can't see the water collecting.

Considering you are redoing your coolant system I'd certainly address the heater pipes. Either replace them with new pipes, or even easier replace with long lengths of heater hose as suggested already.
 
Great. So should 10 foot lengths work for both heater hoses? Is there any sense in running one in the center tunnel and one under? Or is it fine to run them both in the center tunnel? Maybe there isn't room through the rear fire wall to run the second hose.

Also, I remembered that the heater core was just sitting in the box on top of the fan. I assume it's normally held up by something. Are there bolts or clips supposed to be there?
 
I did not do the lower hose so I can't say how long it would need to be but it is probably in the same ballpark as the 10 foot upper hose. I checked to see if both hoses would fit in the upper tunnel before I checked the lower metal pipe. Since it was fine, I did not reroute it. The upper pipe was in good shape except for where the spot weld for the bracket intruded into the pipe and fractured.
 
I recall someone noting that if you put both hoses in the upper tunnel then you need to secure them away from the long shift rod that travels next to them. Another option is to run one or both the way Fiat ran one of the AC hoses, outside of the upper tunnel along the floor where it meets the tunnel...covered by the carpet.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I recall someone noting that if you put both hoses in the upper tunnel then you need to secure them away from the long shift rod that travels next to them. Another option is to run one or both the way Fiat ran one of the AC hoses, outside of the upper tunnel along the floor where it meets the tunnel...covered by the carpet.
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I used 3/4" conduit clamps to hold the hose against the side of the tunnel to guarantee clearance. I would not recommend having them sit in there loose as there is a good chance they could foul the shift rod.
 
Hello all, I've got basically everything striped down for the heating/cooling system. I'll be placing an order soon to start getting parts. I had a local shop pressure test and clean the radiator, so it looks great.

I had a quick question about the block and head markings. Here is the block:
20210328_161715.jpg

For the head I only found a few numbers on the spark plug side.
20210328_161802.jpg

I was told it was a 1300 head with opened up valves and a stroked 1500 block. Do these markings match a 1300 head and 1500 block?
 
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