It has been quite a while since I have posted an update on the 1961 Pontiac Laurentian. Unfortunately progress on the car has slowed but it has not stopped. The usual suspects of work, vacations as well as a server move on this site have got in the way. Additionally my wife decided we needed to sell our house and buy a new one so I am currently undergoing that process. However a side effect of the imminent house move is an increased priority for getting the car mobile to avoid another trailer ride. As you can see the new water pump is in as I concentrated my efforts on cooling and fueling issues.
After the water pump the radiator was cleaned up and installed back the proper place. Sure beats tripping over it every time I go in the garage. I certainly could have given it a bit of paint but that would have lead to a cosmetic overhaul of the whole engine compartment. Another day perhaps as I am aiming for clean and functional at this point. A new thermostat is a obvious item to change as the old one was well pass its best. The coolant passages were given a bit of clean as well.
The heater hoses looked really old so I figured they were worth replacing as well. So I bought about twelve feet of hose to cut up in replacement sections.
Connect one end, roughly measure and cut. Repeat. These are some of the longer heater hoses I have come across.
I was able to buy a new lower radiator hose. No such luck on the top one so bought one that sort of, kind of had a similar shape in a section. Again I had to cut it down. Happily each side would have worked so I have a spare now.
All the new hoses are now in with a few replacement hose clamps that I had lying around.
The hose fitting on the new water pump came with an absolutely silly end and when I poured in coolant it pissed everywhere. A more reasonable looking replacement was sourced locally.
Next up is the gas tank that was in unknown condition. It could be full of old and vanished gasoline as the car had been sitting since 1981 or so. The guy I bought it off bypassed the tank and used a whiskey bottle for fueling but that is hardly a long term solution. Interestingly the tank straps used wood as spacer. I was able to undo all the fasteners with only a brief struggle.
It is very possible this tank has never been out after the car was assembled. A fair amount of dirt and pebbles hit the floor.
Success as the tank is out. Luckily it was good news as it was left almost empty and thus looks very decent given the time it sat. This allowed for a quick do it yourself style cleaning before the re-installation.
Nice and solid under there.
The gas tank went back in reasonably smoothly after wrestling with the angles of entry. A new rubber hose is still needed and then it can be hooked back up for a test run.
One last minute detail before we close this segment is a Mexican blanket to cover up the not so perfect seats. I am not usually one for buying tourist items when on vacation but I was fine with buying this blanket in Mexico a few years ago. I neglected to mention it to my wife at the time but I was sure that I would eventually have a car that could make use of one someday. I have a couple other affordable accessory item ideas as well.
The whole Affordable Classic series:
To me, there are few more satisfying images than that of an old machine, brought back to life with a few, well-chosen, shiny new parts.
+1!
Coming along nicely. Old cars are so basic, tons of room under the hood and easy to work on. The top radiator hose looks a little collapsed, you might want to consider installing a large spring inside the hose to open it up, or maybe a universal flex hose, even though they don’t look so great. Although maybe the hose opens up once pressure builds up in the system, if so it probably will work fine as is.
Plus(es) of buying an “old” car? Easy to work on as few if any special tools and/or skills are required.
Cons? Depending on the car, parts can be difficult to find.
But in the end there is so much fun to be had when you drive that “resurrected” car (or truck), and the knowledge that you were the prime mover behind renewing that vehicle is near priceless.
I haven’t changed a water pump in a while, I can’t say I have ever seen that type of fitting used on a water pump for a car. It looks like the fittings on the remote oil filter mount that I used on my 69 VW.
I’m having a lot of fun watching this series—please keep it up! Looks like you have good luck with the condition of the gas tank.
One thing you might want to consider: waterless coolant. It operates at no pressure, yet has a much higher boiling point than the regular kind under the customary 13 to 16 pounds of pressure. Therefore, giant reduction in the likelihood and consequences of a leak.
Interesting. I’d never heard of that waterless coolant before.
It has worked very well for me; in my experience it is worth the extra upfront cost, for it does as claimed.
The waterless coolant is very intriguing. Though the expense of the coolant and preparation solution and the work involved in switching over are significant hurdles for me, I will keep it in mind.
It seems that you give up some of the thermal conductivity that water provides, and in exchange you prevent hot spots and pressure caused by water boiling.
Because it is, as far as I can tell, concentrated glycol plus some corrosion inhibitors, essentially concentrated coolant, would regular coolant concentrate, without added water, work as well, or almost as well, for a lot less money? I suspect the answer is no, but I didn’t see it addressed on their website.
I am not a chemist, nor am I fully conversant with the chemistry of the waterless coolant, but my understanding is it is not closely similar to conventional ethylene glycol or propylene glycol coolant. As I understand it, “glycol” is a category like “alcohol”: just because two substances are alcohols (or glycols) doesn’t mean they are functionally interchangeable. Brake fluid is a glycol, too, but we know that’s not interchangeable with engine coolant. Eventually there stops being a “Pffft!” as I loosen the cap, meaning all the water’s been driven off.
Also, regular coolant contains a great deal of water even before we dilute it; running straight (regular) coolant results in poorer engine cooling. The waterless coolant, in my experience, does a better job than water-mix coolant of effectively cooling the engine. I don’t have a test lab or anything, so I’m going by indications like markedly less tendency to ping with all other factors held equal: same gasoline, same timing setting, same road at same speed in same gear. The makers of the waterless describe a mechanism by which this is so. I don’t have a way of knowing whether there’s less ping for the reasons they say there’ll be less ping, but the fact remains there’s much less ping.
The initial cost of the waterless coolant is surely higher, but by my calculations the payback is large over the period of time I’m likely to own the vehicles I’ve put it in, even if there’s no leak or failure that could’ve been much more of an expensive hassle with pressurized water-mixed coolant. Of course I can’t control the fates; I could spend the money to put in waterless coolant today and the car could get hit and totalled tomorrow, but short of that, the math works.
I’ve never bought the “prep fluid”, which I understand is just alcohol of one kind or another. I drain the regular coolant, rinse the system out with clear water, drain the water out and blow as much of it out of the tough spots as I can (heater core, etc), then fill up with the waterless. Over the next week or ten days I pop the hood after going for a drive long enough to heat up the engine and carefully bleed off the steam (remains of my rinse water) by loosening the rad cap. No geyser because no boiling coolant.
(Uh…that’s weird: that last sentence of the first paragraph was meant to be the last sentence of the last paragraph.)
Concentrated glycol coolant would work, but remember that pure ethylene glycol has a freezing point of just -12.3° C (~ 10° F; starts to become too viscous much earlier) and for this reason is not all that useful as an antifreeze. Water is there to drop the freezing point, too – not just to make it cheaper (which may sound strange as water itself freezes at 0° C, but that’s how it works; that’s called a “eutectic system”, there is a Wikipedia article about that).
I just finished a great deal of work on my cooling and fueling issues too. I replaced the thermostat, radiator, and water pump, and as for the fueling issues, I only went as far as to change the soft lines and the injectors. The hoses were in okay condition, so I left them alone. Did you clean up the thermostat housing before you put the new thermostat in? Mine was so pitted on the contact surface that I had to sand it down. I used a milling table to ensure flatness.
It seems like the most satisfaction one derives from bringing an old, otherwise non-desirable (i.e., not a typical classic) car back to life is when the required mechanical improvisation is done in such a way that it actually makes it a solid, relatively reliable daily-driver that isn’t otherwise a common sight. A 1961 4-door Pontiac with a factory Chevy six-cylinder/manual combo fits that bill very nicely. It’s certainly much better than, say, a ’61 Chevy.
And then there’s the simple stuff like that nice looking Mexican blanket front seat cover.
Please keep posting these updates ! I like how a project comes together in basic steps. I recently replaced the battery on my ’79 Chevy and it was a very pleasant 20 minutes to have an excuse to pull out the old wrenches, take the time to clean everything around and underneath, etc. Such a simple task, but one I would rather not do on a modern car – too many electronics to reset afterwards and nothing to clean and detail, and with a new car you’re always in a hurry to minimize down time, so it’s just not fun. But on an older car, I enjoy doing simple stuff myself.
This is coming together nicely! What is left to do? Cleaning the carb? New points, plugs and wires? Can’t wait to see this Laurentian go on the road for the shake down!
I’ve been waiting and wondering how the Pontiac was progressing- knowing that you were busy with life. Thank you for the update, it is always satisfying to resurrect a long dormant vehicle.
This has become one of my favorite series here, David. Nice to see the progress. Quick question though: Is the Pontiac going to be ready for “The Great Beater Challenge” in a couple of weeks? Or has life’s events put this one off until next year? Perhaps the money you’ve put into the Pontiac has DQ’d you. Wasn’t there like a $500 limit or something like that?
I feel I’m living vicariously through you and these posts. Beyond oil changes and basic stuff like that, I’m almost afraid to work on my 2007 Mustang. Even though it’s moved on to hobby car status for me, I should be wrenching on it when necessary. I am impressed with your abilities restoring this Pontiac. I am amazed you can find parts for her. For example, I need to replace my driver’s seat leather, but am told it’s obsolete. My car is a 2007. Your car is one year younger than I am!!! How the hell do you find the parts? And NEW nonetheless, like that water pump.
Looking forward to the next post.
Oh, and P.S.: THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help with Paul’s sever migration!!! Things seem a lot better now. Not only do you have mad wrenching skills, you’re an awesome IT guy, too!
~ Rick
It will be tight for the Beater Challenge on August 25-26.
Budget wise it is ok as safety and routine maintenance items are excluded. I’d have a lot of safety items such as brakes, shocks, etc.Only the water pump has been out of that. Not sure if could really push the definition and say the water pump feeds the heater so its safety.
I had a 1955 Cadillac that was in need of some work back in the 80’s. I covered the front seat with a cloth from India that illustrated various positions that couples might want to try for their personal pleasure. Wrong. The neighbor kids were always hanging around my car. I guess that was why.
When I was a kid when I saw a movie description had “adult situations” I thought they meant things like marriage counseling or paying taxes. This has been a source of much merriment in our family.
Ha – education for the whole neighborhood.
The little known Cadillac Kama Sutra was a model released by Cadillac back in the mid 50s. It was influenced by religious art seen by ex-servicemen who served in India during the war and then came back to study automotive design courtesy of the G.I. Bill. Popular among teenagers and the emerging wife-swapping subculture, it featured a condom dispenser, insta-tint windows and the very popular but prone to failure vibrating seat option.
No examples survive to this day, despite persistent rumors of one in the Playboy LA mansion garage and a rusty example in Larry Flint’s backyard. A true unicorn.
I don’t know why I hate cooling system work so much. But I do. Which makes me happy that in my many years of twisting wrenches on my cars I have never replaced a water pump myself. I thought about tackling the job on my son’s 89 Grand Marquis but decided to pay my mechanic instead. It turned out to be a good call because he got to deal with the bolt or two that snapped off and not me.
But watching over your shoulder while you replace an old water pump? I’m enjoying this a lot.
I think because there is a good chance of bolt breakage like exhaust system and a good chance of leaks like brake line work.
This should be the official Curbside Classics mascot!
Looking great David. I hope you are able to get the project done for the rally but I know all too well how these things take a back seat to life.
What else is left on the agenda? I am assuming you are going to go through the carb, ignition and charging system? Good luck!
Connect up brake booster to vacuum, bleed brakes, front end alignment, some sort of exhaust. New fluids for the engine, trans and diff. Then test. A set of spark plugs woudn’t go wrong either.