51 Champion Distributor Removal, Cleaning Water Passages

[cbonner757]

Good morning, all. Getting ready to clean the water passages on the 170 6-cylinder, meaning I have
to pull the distributor and starter first.
Considering the end of the distributor has slots instead of gears, do I have to set the engine on
Top Dead Center, or maybe just set the mark to the pointer as a reference? I won't be
turning the engine, wheels on the ground. Of course I'll be making marks to get the distributor back
in the same way it came out, with the rotor correctly oriented.

I suspect the cylinder head water passages are clogged, given that the elbow to the heater hose was completely clogged. Can someone who has done this cleaning tell me if it's better to clean behind the freeze plugs first with the head still in place, then do the passages underneath the head? I know it will be messy, but want to avoid getting too much gunk into the cylinders as I clean.

Regards,
Clarence

[cbonner757]

I got it removed, and found that the drive end has a slot that is off-center, so it would be nearly impossible to install wrong.
I did feel for the valves to go down as best I could, and tried to feel for compression on the number one plug hole, but
got a nasty electrical shock when I touched the block while turning the engine over (suspect power is getting through
the spark plug sire shielding? I get a nasty shock touching any plug wire, too, but I'm replacing them all anyway.
Made several marks on the engine for orientation of the distributor body (cap clips, vacuum advance inlet) and
on the distributor body for where Number One is for the rotor.
Timing pointer points somewhat before the "IN-OP 1-6" marking on the balancer. Rotor pointing at number One plug wire on the cap.

[wolfie]

I get a nasty shock touching any plug wire

Chack all of your body and frame to engine grounds. Its probably just old/weak plug wires but.... Steve

[cbonner757]

Thanks, Steve, I only saw the ground from the battery to the engine...I'll take a closer look.

Regards,
Clarence

[unclemiltie]

I would clean it the best I could before I removed the head. I would pull the thermstat and but the housing back on and use that as my entry point for water under pressure. I would remove the rear most feeze plug first and start pushing water thru it, I would use a stiff wire like a coat hanger to clean around the inside of the engine block as much as i could. I would clean a little and then flush. I would repeat this process multiple times till the crud stops flowing. The rear is always the worse as far as the crud. I would then remove the rest of the plugs one at a time starting with the rear most plug. Repeat the clean and flush on each plug as the first one removed. It is possible that the heater hose outlet was plugged as the heater was used very little and thus did not have flow thru it. I would definitely check the 'TEE's" where the defroster hoses come off the heater hose as I bet they are blocked solid as that is not uncommon. You may find that by removing the freeze plugs and cleaning one at a time that you do not have to pull the head. When you start forcing the water thru the thermostat housing, you want the rest of the cooling system closed up, ie, you want all the hoses intact etc so that you are forcing all the water out the freez opening. I would also pull the water pump after this is all done. If there is crud behind it then you probably will have to pull the head. Have fun as that is one messy all day job.

[wolfie]

Thanks, Steve, I only saw the ground from the battery to the engine...I'll take a closer look.

Regards,
Clarence

I think there should be one from the battery to the body and one from the engine to the frame also. Seems like the one to the frame was in the vicinity of a motor mount (want to say right side) on the 53. Also seem to remember one from a bellhousing bolt to the firewall. I would have to break out my notes and pics to be 100% sure. Good Luck, Steve

[cbonner757]

Thanks, guys. I found a small ground strap between the timing cover and the frame, but it's so greasy it may not be getting a good ground. I'll run new ones from the engine to body, and body to frame somewhere, using a starter bolt for one of those,
finding a place higher up so it won't get so greasy.
Made big progress. Cleaned behind each freeze plug from rearmost working toward the front. and reached up, back, across the block as best I could get it. Front was quite a lot cleaner than the rear. Pulled the water pump, cleaned around in
there, not much crud, was able to get the coat hanger to go about halfway down the passenger side of the block via the water pump hole. Cleaned and flushed, washing the crud out the rearmost freeze plug (block drain would not budge, and
didn't want to snap it off--freeze plug hole is at same level or lower, anyway). I think I've done all I can, except the small freeze plug at the front is behind the oil filler tube. Unscrewed the pipe plug near the bottom of that tube, but
it didn't want to come out, so decided to leave that freeze plug alone. Even if I did remove the tube, I might not be able to re-align that hole again. Plus that freeze plug would drain right into the oil pan unless I was very careful and lucky.
Not much left but flush the heater cores and put in new freeze plugs before I button it all back up. Oh, the inside of the head had minimal crud - rodded it out with a coat hanger. Good advice on leaving it alone until I see how
it does. There is still one piece of casting wire in the rearmost freeze plug hole--I'll pull on it hard and if it still doesn't come out, I'll cut it.

I cleaned the heater T's and the heater elbow on the water pump when I went through the heater system, and found that soaking those in C-L-R did wonders in dissolving the scale. Wouldn't put it inside an engine, but cleans
those kind of parts really well without hurting them. For the heater, did all new hoses, repaired original heater core, replaced defroster core, removed and cleaned the defroster fan (which had a FISTFUL of rat poison
pellets in it!). And all new air hoses. I eventually found the mouse mummy beneath the back seat.

I much appreciate the solid advice.

[kurtruk]

Nice to hear the details. SOMEDAY I need to do that job.

[2R2]

I went through this cleaning a while back on the champ engine in my '49 2R-5. I removed the radiotor, water pump, freeze plugs, rear block drain, and the head. I rodded around the block with whatever took worked best to clean it; screwdrivers, and coat hangers worked the best. I also chucked a threaded rod into a drill to clean the vertical passages under the head in the block. I was amazed at the amount of crud that came out of the block; it is a messy job! The good thing is the truck is one cool runner nowdays.

[cbonner757]

Thanks, Eric. I'll see how it does with what I've done, then pull the head if it still runs hot.

Clarence