The Rim Reaper - 1953 Pontiac Hearse by Barnette

This thread will be an on - going discussion about my 1953 Pontiac Hearse.

I was 12 years old when I realized the beauty that was sitting rotting away in Grampa's scrap yard. I proceeded to tell him how much I liked the big old car and asked if I could buy it when I got older, if I got enough money that is...

Well, Grampa passed away when I was 16, and I was fortunate enough to spend his last year running his store while he watched over CCTV from his bed. In his dying days he told my father that he was willing the Hearse to him, but that he intended for it to be passed to me.

I am not sure how long the beast lie un - fettered, but in the fall of 2000, my father fired it up and drove it 2 km down the road to his own scrap yard. He informed me that it definitely needed new brakes, LoL...

After moving it around a few times (a dying scrap yard has infrequent visits by a crushing truck) he finally moved the 56 Chevy out of the shop and brought the hearse in for safer storage, until one day when he needed to make room for a container load of terracotta figures from Indonesia. The Hearse was then moved from its nice dry pad to hiding in the trees, ensuring the crushers wouldn't eat it up. Two weeks later the shop burned down, but the hearse lives on!!!

In 2014 my father decided he was going to crush everything on the lot and sell the property, and so I had the mission of finding a way to get my cars out of there before the crusher got them. First priority for me was the Hearse, and sadly my 1982 Camaro Z-28 was left there with a perfectly good 350 engine, likely to be crushed...

It was 1 week before Halloween, and I love Halloween, so the hearse was a welcome addition to the spooky set - up I add to each year! Sitting in my driveway with fog machines underneath and strobe lights inside, the car drew more attention from the adults taking the kids around than they were paying to their own kids, LoL.

Now it is on the brink of being spring 2015, the weather has been favourable in Calgary, compared to the rest of North America it seems, for most of the winter, and I am beginning the task of bringing the beast to life.
 
Last night I gave it it's first oil change in what I am assuming was 40 - 50 years.

The 7/8" plug on the oil pan came out VERY easily, having only 8" clearance under the car I was prepared for a daunting task, but was pleasantly surprised. The oil drained out beautifully, and I replaced the plug and filled the engine with some old Rotella T6 I had lying around. I will not attempt to start the engine with this oil, I will just let it sit for a while and re - drain when I am ready for the proper oil.

Having an abundance of extra allotted time, I proceeded to find the transmission dipstick under the carpet on the hump in the floor in the driver compartment, and checked the fluid. It is way above the full line, I will check again once the engine starts. The fluid still looks beautiful, but I am assuming it needs replacing after all these years.

I still had some sunlight left, and obviously obsession had kicked in at this point. I took my 7/8" socket and cracked open one of the spark plugs. Again, it took little to no extra effort, just a small tug of the ratchet and it was loose. I took it out, looked at it for 3 seconds and put it back.

The fan on the motor spins very easily in the clockwise direction, giving me the impression that this just might be the diamond in the rough I was hoping it to be.

My first milestone after inheriting the old beast was to bring it home, milestone 2 will be to drive it, and that milestone is looking closer now than ever before.

If somebody could guide me on how to embed my photos into my posts I will upload them here.
 
yes we can use pictures. you must be a site supporter to post pictures. as this site is only supported buy the users not the PCS. yellow button top left, site supporters are the only way to pay the bill. it would be nice to compare efforts. I to have a 1953 pontiac sedan delivery ambulance stretched by armbruster. it was parked for a number of years. but not to hijack you thread. I'll let you continue.
 
The hearse at the scrap yard

Here are some pics from the last 15 years.
 

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First oil change in decades.

I did change the oil the other night, but was under the impression these cars didn't have oil filters. I was quite surprised when I popped open the big thing I had not seen in other pictures or even payed any attention to until now. Guess what, it's an oil filter!
 

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interesting oil filter. My '53 has no such thing so I'm guessing that it's an add-on. Be cautious of the lines that appear to run very close to the exhaust manifold without any type of shielding.

Keeps the pics coming.
 
Correction

...now that I've reoriented the photo, the lines are running next to the intake manifold so no worries then.

Does your car have a massive air filter? Is that just a cap on the carb or is that actually some form of filter?
 
That is just a cap, and I am not sure where it belongs???

The oil bath air filter is missing, I saw one at my dad's when I got the car, but didn't realize mine was missing it. The other car is likely crushed already...
 
What is covering your carb looks to be a Pontiac horn ring button. Your oil filter is a bypass style filter which uses a cartridge element. It was all that was available until the 1960 model year on GM products.
 
It was smart to have put the cap on the carb to protect it back then. Too many times I see them left totally open to the elements and whatever.
 
Thank you Kurt, I believe you are right about the horn button, mine looks similar, the one covering the carb must be from an earlier year, I am not full of this kind of knowledge, but the chief looks a tad bit more ancient...

As for the oil filter, it was a Fram C-181A, which I narrowed down to being an LF510 which I narrowed down further to being a WIX 51006 which is conventional paper style.

I bought the filter and a battery today, was nice to be able to find the battery so quickly, they are still used in industrial machinery...

yes Joe, my father and grandfather were both auto parts salvages, both had scrap yards and probably went through a dozen or 2 tow trucks between the 2 of them. I can only assume one of them put the rag in the carb and the cap on top for added security, LoL.

Thank you Yennifer, I look forward to continuing with the updates, and even more to the day I drive it to work to show off.
 

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No matter how many times I flip and re upload that image it stays upside down...

Anyways, I also was able to take out the spark plugs and inspect today, an OMG am I continually more and more stoked.

As I pulled the plugs I sprayed around them with air to get the falling rust away from the holes, none - the - less there was still debris inside, so I vacuumed it out. Upon inspection, I noticed all insides were very clean looking beside cylinder 5, which has some "growth" around the cylinder hole, I am hoping that is not a problem, see attached picture for clarity.

I went on to spin the fan, my neighbor told me last night that spinning the fan likely doesn't spin the engine, I disproved that theory today, and was quite happy about it. Pulling each spark plug one at a time and spinning the fan to see the heads lift, I realized that my theory was right and everything moves with ease!!! Time to drain the diesel oil I put in and throw in some SAE 10w-30.

Now I need to figure out where the fuel line is to disconnect and figure out how to run the engine from a Jerry can.
 
Well that would be great!

I bought a 3" universal clamp on K&n filter today just on the chance it might fit because the parts store has no record of any air filter for it. It had approx 1/4" of play so I would assume mine is 2-1/2" and you would have to stretch the rubber for the 3" to fit on a 3" carb...

I will check tomorrow, can you snap a few pics of the oil bath?

Thanx for the efforts!
 
I can't believe that you will have too much trouble finding the correct oil bath air cleaner for a '53 Pontiac, but if you do just let me know. The expensive part in shipping one from the states would be the shipping as they are heavy.
 
Here is a close - up of the rust in #5.

When I zoomed in even further than this pic, I started thinking the shiny balls must be oil that I've pumped through when spinning the fan. I also heard what i can only describe as an oil whistle or whoop! as if oils was forcing air through a smaller hole. If that is the case I can assume that I have some work to do there, any ideas?

I will check tomorrow to see if it is fresh oil. If it is should I keep spinning to try to re - lubricate it or not spin it and fix the problem?

Take to mind a few things...

1 - I currently have Rotella T6 in the engine, it sat in the shed more than 2 years so I figured I would use it to soak up some stale oil and change prior to starting.
2 - I will likely keep this beast as vintage as possible, so I don't want to do too much work to it, but it needs to be able to take me 1000 km on a trip if I want.
3 - My next milestone is to drive it, and I would prefer sooner than later.

Thanx,
Bud
 

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