All,
My B lives again!! Vroom, vroom! Had the head trued, stellite
exhaust valves, hi temp valve seates, new exhaust valve guides, lots of
new studs and nuts - the PO had some mechanic, grrrr!
So I fired it up a few days back, vroom! Drove it to the store,
vroom. On the way back the temp guage sez HOT! PANIC!! What did I do
wrong? Did some cracks in the head get by the magnafluxing?? Did I
put the head gasket on wrong? I checked the thermostat, didn't I, did
it fail enow? Did I, did I... ????????
Wal, after I got it home I saw that it wasn'r venting coolant, so I
stuck a meat thermometer in the radiator and it showed 190 degrees F.
So after Fisher Jones (he's a helluvva guy) let me have a temp sender to
try and the guage read the same, I started suspecting the that the
system voltage was too high. Heh. So I checked the voltage across the
battery terminals with the engine running (14.25 volts), turned on the
headlights (12.25 volts) and the temp reading decreased! Hah!
Well, boys and girls, there's a little thingy called a voltage
stabilizer under the dash. It's a bimetal strip switch that cuts the
system voltage to ~10 volts after it heats up. This thing needs to be
oriented right-side up, within 20 degrees of horizontal, and has to have
a good ground through the mounting screw. I suppose it has mercury
contacts. Mine was upside down and the screw was loose! More grrr's..
I was torn between anger and elation!! Angry at the PO - or his
mechanic - and elated that I'd found the prob and it wasn't an engine
fault. Now I know why I ran out of gas when the gas guage showed almost
1/4 tank. The stabilizer feeds the gas and temp guages only.
Anyway, I drove the B around town and some twisty roads in 99 degree
temp and 90% humidity today and it didn't wimper. VRROOOOMMM!!!
FWIW,
Charley Robinson
Kerrville, TX
`69 B Roadster - running again, VROOM!
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