She finally got to see the road!

[jbento]

Well, after over 8 years of work, I took out the 1940 Series 72 for her first drive in over 30 years.  All seemed to function well with only a couple of very minor hiccups.

1) The fuel gauge is off by about 1/8 of a tank.  I learned this the hard way.  Duly noted.
2) Changes gears well, but does, on occasion, pop out of 3rd gear.  Doubt this is normal, but not sure what to do about it.
3) Top speed seems to be about 40mph.  After that, it seems to get a bit shaky.  I haven't pushed much past this since this was the first road time this car has seen in a good long while, but is this normal?  What was the normal operating speed of this vehicle?
4) After a few miles, temp gauge said she was running hot.  Engine has 4 miles on it now.  Maybe it's still tight?  Is this normal? 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Jim Stamper]

     Fresh like that there could be many things needing adjustment. I would recheck firing order and make sure the plug wires are right. Also that the advance is working properly. At higher engine speed it needs advance to run smooth and will only run so fast without it.

     I owned a 1940 LaSalle 40 plus years ago and it would go 80 easy enough, though there is not much left RPM wise. I have a 37 Cadillac coupe and a 39 LaSalle convertible sedan. They are all good for legal road speed without a lot of effort. These cars will move right along in good comfort when all is well.

     If your engine was rebuilt it is not broken in by any means at four miles, but the timing and other tuning problems can cause over heating too, as well as a plugged radiator or unclean water passages in the block or heads. You don't give enough information about what was done in the eight years to really diagnose much beyond the above. It probably just needs some patient sorting out and will be a great car for you.

                                                                                                    Jim Stamper CLC#13470

[jbento]

Thanks Jim.

Firing order, carburetor adjustments, timing, and "tuning adjustments" have all been checked and double checked.

Is there a way to check the vacuum advance?  Everything under the hood has been rebuilt EXCEPT the vacuum advance, and after 70 years, I suspect that may be the issue.

The list of what was not done over the past eight years is considerably shorter than the list of what was done.  If you care for some entertaining late night reading, search by my name and you can read the progression. 

[Steve Passmore]

If you can remove the pipe leading to the advance on the distributor and can slip over it a piece of plastic pipe, after removing the distributor cap you can just suck on the pipe to see if the advance is working, you will see the points plate turning, if not, the diaphragm is busted.
As Jim rightly states, these car will run easily at highway speeds but take it easy on that newly built engine.

[jbento]

Thanks.

I think I will just have the advance rebuilt.  No sense rebuilding everything else and leaving that out of the mix.  I have to admit, given the stopping distance of this beast at 35mph, I am not certain I want to go much faster!

I don't plan on driving this her on the freeway anytime in the immediate future.  Just short drives around town for the time being.  I am trying to find an affordable enclosed trailer to take her to shows and activities farther away.  After she has been on the road a bit, and I have a bit more confidence in her, we will see what happens then.

Any suggestions on the transmission popping out of gear?  Only seems to be in 3rd.

I appreciate the feedback!

Thanks!

[Steve Passmore]

The indent springs in the gears or the selector springs in the box are worn or broken. It requires complete disassembly.

[Jay Friedman]

Other possibilities re: the transmission problem are that 1. the synchronizer is bad, or 2. the 2nd-3rd linkage rod between the steering column and the transmission is out of adjustment.

[49 Convertible]

Another thing is possible vapor lock bandits....If your state uses unleaded fuel with ethanol make sure you use the lowest octane you can get as alcohol boils at a much lower temperature and lower octane is better.... another item in addition to above responses is to make sure your fuel line from carb to fuel pump is as far from the exhaust manifold as possible as they tend to super heat the fuel...and last but not least an electric fuel pump at the tank will definitely help.  Until you get  500 or 1000 miles on the engine you will have overheating problems, even if you recore the radiator, boil block and set timing etc. The old trick of wooden clothes pins does dissipate some of the heat when placed on the line from pump to carb but not enough.  Make sure your fiber gasket between the carb base and the intake manifold is there as it is very important to alleviate heat transfer from manifold to carb

[Tom Beaver]

Joe,
you did not say whether the engine, bell housing and transmission were all the original ones from the factory or not.  Besides the other suggestions, jumping out of third gear is a symptom of misalignment between the engine and bell housing or bell housing and transmission.  If any of these parts have been replaced I would suspect some sort of misalignment.  Also, if the transmission mounting bolt holes in the case interfere slightly with the mounting bolts it can force the case to be slightly misaligned (cocked) with respect to the bell housing and it will surely jump out of third.  I had this happen.  You will need to remove the transmission, at least, and probably the clutch plate also to check this out.  If the transmission is out, I would also check the 2nd/3rd shift fork (the little brass button) to make sure there is not excess slop with respect to the synchronizer.

Tom Beaver