Hello Stovebolt 6,

Stalling: lugging engine down in gear, weak fuel pump/fuel starvation, vacuum leak/lean mixture. Oil pressure: 10W30 recommended, oil pump's internal pressure relief valve gummed-up/sticking. Tracking down external oil leaks: clean/degrease engine block at suspected leak areas, take car for test ride to heat engine to normal operating temp, returning home shutdown engine and using talc powder - dust suspected oil leak areas to determine source of leaks. Sloppy steering: on jack stands, check wheel bearings, king pins, steering rods/links, pitman arm for wear/looseness and tire pressures before suspecting steering box wear. Kerosine and Mystery oil may help keep a cleaned engine stay clean but a slugged engine, I don't think so. Drop oil pan, pull oil pump and manually clean insides. If your engine has the oil return check ball within the rear main bearing block, cleaning/freeing ball movement will keep oil flowing back to oil pan instead of dumping on the ground out the rear main. Your detour may have been a blessing as a realistic shakedown cruise. 

@stovebolt-6

Hi Rich 

Your oil pressure is fine... possibly a bit on the high side actually.

The oil pump does not have a bypass and spring.

The pressure is regulated by the oil distributor valve on the drivers side of the engine block.

Some people used to stretch the spring in the valve to raise the oil pressure a bit, which is actually a bad thing to do as the only thing that runs under pressure from the high pressure side of the valve on your engine is the oil gauge itself.

The '29 engine relies on oil FLOW, not pressure, and raising the pressure to the oil gauge will actually REDUCE the flow to the rest of the engine as it is fed off the low pressure (or back side) of the oil distributor valve.

The amount it is reduced will depend on the condition of and internal leakage of the oil pump itself.

With a perfect pump the reduction will be minimal.

With a worn pump it will be more.

Due to the nature of the oil supply system and the small diameter lines that feed the connecting rod troughs, lighter oils are best for a '29 engine.

A 10W-30 is the absolute heaviest I would use, and a 0W-20 would be better.

I personally used to run straight 10W, but that can't be found in better quality oils like an SN or SP oil.

As for the leaks, don't worry about them, they sound pretty normal.

The oil on the drivers side of the block will not be coming from the head gasket, as there are no oil passages any where near that side of the head/block interface.

It's probably blowing back from the filler cap or somewhere like that.

Don't worry about it.

Drive it and enjoy it!  🙂

@harry-truppner Harry, Thanks for the advice.

The fuel pump is newly rebuilt and the gas tank has been cleaned and relined. I will look at fine tinning the mixture and any vacuum leaks. I think I just need to drive this more and get used to how it responds. Dbl clutching on the up shift is easy. I am struggling a bit with the down shift but I will get there. 

On the steering. I cleaned and repacked the wheel bearings. I adjusted them according to the repair manual. They seem good to me. I greased the front end tie rod an and springs the steering wheel doesn't seem to have much play in it. Maybe an inch and a half. I do have a king pin grease fitting that is blocked. I took to the alemite fitting, cleaned in the hole and put a modern grease zirk on. I could not get it to take any lubricant at all. So i may have a bad king pin though there doesn’t seem to be much play there. I will try to isolate the play in the steering this week. None of what I have done so far has made much difference but i feel better knowing the wheel bearings are in decent shape. 

Thanks again

Rich 

@ole-olson Ole, As always, thanks so much for your advice. For the life of me I can’t remember what oil I put in this car. I believe it was 10-30 as that was something Tiny recommended. My 53 had straight 30 weight in it until it was rebuilt. Now I run 10-30 in that was well. 

I also add a lead substitute to the gas in both vehicles. The guy who rebuilt the 53 engine said I didn't need to but most of the research I have done says it’s best to put it in. On the 53 I use high test gas. I read somewhere the 29 should get regular gas so thats what I have been puting in there. Not that I have gotten gas much … yesterday was the first time this car has been to a gas station since the early 90s.

I do have a small leak at the speedometer cable. I am looking to get some 00 flowable grease for the steering box and the universal bell housing as I hear that can work for those areas and will likely stay where they’re supposed to be. I will be under the car this week looking for loose tie rods and such. 

Thanks again

Rich 

If the king pin that won’t take grease you may get it if you use heat. If it’s to tight part of your steering problem could from that king pin not letting steering return to center. Also check toe in.

@dennis-christianson Thanks Dennis. I checked the toe in when I repacked the bearings. It seems right to me. About an 1/8 inch narrower at the bottom than the top. It was hard to get an accurate measurement on the top so I used a level on the inside of each backing plate. My garage floor is dead level so I think this was a fairly accurate measure. Each side was just slightly in on the bottom (or slightly out on the top) however you want to look at it. 

The issue with the steering is play in the linkages somewhere (or maybe a bit at each junction). When driving I have to constantly adjust for drift. On flat straight roads it’s not bad but the roads here are not flat or straight. 

I will work on that king pin some more and see if I can get it to take some grease. It seems to turn ok. That pin doesn't seem to bind or squeal under movement. I will keep plugging away at the tie rods and pitman arm to see where the issues lie. 

Thanks Again

Rich 

Posted by: @stovebolt-6

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 I checked the toe in when I repacked the bearings. It seems right to me. About an 1/8 inch narrower at the bottom than the top. 

Should be measured dead center of the tread forward and aft rather than top and bottom. Top and bottom would be Camber.

@tiny thanks Tiny. Is the tow supposed to be narrower in the front of the tire?

Yep. Not sure what your spec is. It's usually not much. An eighth should be close.

I checked the pitman arm for movement and it appears to be ok. I also checked all the tie rod and drag link ends. One end of the drag link was a bit loose as was one end of the tie rod. I was abler to take up a half turn in each. Not sure how much difference that would make. The steering is still smooth with no binding. 

I do think I have a bad wheel bearing. The drivers side seems fine. The passenger side has a funny pop to it. It’s kind of random but despite readjusting the bearing it still makes a pop noise randomly when I spin the wheel.

I can’t seem to attach the video here. But I think I will upgrade to roller taper bearings to be safe. The filling station has the kit for about $200 plus the seals for another $40.

I always wanted to upgrade to roller bearings on my 53 but because it’s a 3/4 ton there is no bearing upgrade kit. You need to get custom bearings and races. Lots of money for those. 

I did replace the outer bearing on the passenger side. It was damaged when I inspected it further. The new bearing made a huge difference. The car handles as good as I would expect for 96 year old steering technology. Just a little tough on the rutted roads we have here due to the skinny tires.