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1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoration

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DennyDowning
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1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoration

Post by DennyDowning » Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:29 am

I had to replace the external oil lines on my engine. These external lines hook up to the oil cooler. I have been noticing more and more oil glair on the side of the engine after a few hour run. No problem as it wiped right up but I finally saw that it was leaking near the oil fitting which is a 7/16 copper line into a flair fitting attached to the cast brass fitting screwed into the block. I grabbed my Crescent wrench and thought to give the fitting a little snug. Well, when I did it became obvious that the fitting was broken at the block. No time to cry - it is broke - I removed the fitting. Had to remove the brass threaded piece out of the block. A sharp screwdriver and a small hammer did the trick - phew....

Now comes the fun part.
Have you experienced this?

The fitting with a 7/16 flair has not been made since about 1950. That is according to Mike Murley my go to engine guy. There are four fittings total. 3 @ 90degree and one straight. Long story short here - I just want to go riding so I replaced all the lines and fittings with new brass 1/2" flairs and copper tubing. It was a bit of a pain but no leaks found. The broken fitting could be tapped, it is very heavy casting, and re-used with a short nipple.

The reason I am writing is to see if anyone is interested in the old oil fittings. I know they have value if you need one and they are original brass castings not like the new machined stuff. Let me know. The fittings are still on the 7/16 copper lines which are about a foot long and not in nice condition but functional.

An interesting side note that I should pass along that Mike and I had talked about. Mike is a very strong beliver that oil is what keeps an engine alive. He showed me an engine he had recently restored where he removed the oil cooler and installed a conventional oil filter. Looks great too. Mike belives that original is good as long as it works. He explained that back in the day that oil had paraphin in it and had to be kept cool or the oil would foam. No parafin in oil today and heat is no problem at all. His idea is that the cooler is now only a restriction to oil flow; filtering the oil is so much better then just the screen in the oil pan.

I just thought it was an interesting idea and is great for the engine. However, that is another project and my engine is running very nice now. Oh yea, Mike is making me a set of copper ignition wires for the old Chrysler Royal. My recent posts about stalling and ultimately breaking down in the shipping channel happened because of a worn out distributor rotor and silicon/carbon ignition wires.

I will hold the cast brass fittings for a while. In the winter time I do sell stuff on eBay. So let me know if you can use them.
I put in some pictures.
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SteveH
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by SteveH » Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:25 pm

Hello,

I found the side note to Denny's post interesting. Any others wish to weigh in? If the majority of flatheads were offered without thermostats and run quite a bit cooler than those with thermos (140, 160 etc), what was the need for the cooler - not challenging, just wondering.

It seems smart to put a filter on these motors cooler or not, but the cooler also seems to be a potential trouble spot.

Steve
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DennyDowning
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by DennyDowning » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:12 pm

I can only repete what Mike Murley told to me Steve. The paraphin(sp) wax if got to hot would foam. I assume that when that happens lubrication would decrease. So perhaps the cooler was not needed most of the time but just once overheating could cause excessive wear on the internals.

With todays oil overheating is simply not an issue for oil; I'm told. The filter adapted nicely to where the cooler was. Looked good too; like the motor ment business. Hard to imagine what is getting sucked through the screen in the pan. I guess my concern is less why they used a cooler and more why they did not use a filter. I think we all agree that the cooler is a restriction; but it is still original and the motor ran for 41 years before I rebuilt it.

Denny

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tkhersom
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by tkhersom » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:34 am

Chris Craft did have a filter option on many of their engines. It was in line with the cooler. I think that is the way to go, even though the cooler may not be necessary at this time I would probably leave it in place and add the filter.

Another thing to remember is that these coolers were not a full flow item. Only a portion of the oil is flowing through the cooler at any one time, thus it will be the same with a filter. Better than no filter, but never cleaning all the oil.

Just realized you are talking about a Chrysler Royal. I do not know about the oil flow on these engines. :oops:
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
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jim g
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by jim g » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:38 pm

tkhersom wrote:Chris Craft did have a filter option on many of their engines. It was in line with the cooler. I think that is the way to go, even though the cooler may not be necessary at this time I would probably leave it in place and add the filter.

Another thing to remember is that these coolers were not a full flow item. Only a portion of the oil is flowing through the cooler at any one time, thus it will be the same with a filter. Better than no filter, but never cleaning all the oil.

Just realized you are talking about a Chrysler Royal. I do not know about the oil flow on these engines. :oops:

The chris craft hercules is full flow through the oil cooler.

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tkhersom
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by tkhersom » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:01 pm

Interesting! I have always been told otherwise. :?
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
1991 Formula 36PC "Band Aids"

Life Is Too Short To Own An Ugly Boat

jim g
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Re: 1929 Chrysler Royal Marine Engine Oil Lines / restoratio

Post by jim g » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:11 pm

Chris Craft blocked the hole off in the block above the pump. Some if not all the gray marine flat heads are partial flow through the oil cooler.

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