Wood clothes pins on the gas line

[Bob A.]

For all the "non-believers"
We were lucky to find a rare once in a life time original Ford N.O.S. barn find gas line/ water outlet cooling device. This instrument will prevent vapor lock and also can be used to drop the temperature of your engine water outlet by a minimum of fifteen degrees. I must confess, I did try it on my '31 ford for a test and it works !!! I ran my car today with this fine device in 95 degree temperature with no ill effects from vapor lock or overheating.This unit was found in a trough that runs behind and below the cows (where all the Bullsh** falls) in a abandoned dairy barn in upstate New York.
So in conclusion this should put the clothes pin theory to rest.

[29ModelA]

[Freddie (Memphis)]

Say...Bob....you got any more of those...? I've called Bert's and Snyder's and while they've heard of them, neither of them has one. Is that a rare NOS model...or a repop...?

You realize you're sittin' on a gold mine, don't you....?

[bobbycoke]

Pop was an old ford trained mechnic and worked onfords from the 30's- late 60's than went to caddys but on a trip in fla. with a 1953 flathead v8 {he bought it new cause they were not goinng to make them anymore} had vaporlock and he only had a bag of grapefruits..... yup he cut two partly in halve and put them on fuel line used friction tape[old time tape used like duct tape today for everything] to hold the heat sinks on and away we went, when we got to a store he purchased wooden closepins and put them on no more problems don't know why or how it worked but it did impress this 5year old!!!!!!!!!

[Old182]

By golly, Bob, I think you hit it a home run here! I see your secret is using modern PLASTIC instead of wood....clever.

[Mustang]

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Hmmm – I think the clothes pin topic has led your memory astray.
The grapefruit method was for the fuel pump.

[Rowdy]

The only slight relevance to the clothes pins it to add the use of tinfoil wrapped around the fuel line shiney side out. It has always been told to me to uise the clothes pins to hold the tin foil in place. I doubt if it does any good unless used in direct sunlight. Some people get heat and light confused. I have never bought into this theroy at heat is heat and light is light and it is possible to have them independantly so I do not believe the laws of thermal dynamics support the use of the tinfoil in a darkened enviroment to block heat has any affect. Rod

[Mustang]

Here are a couple of examples from the archives of Popular Science.

[Mustang]

My take on why it works . . .

It’s not the reflective aspect, it’s the conductive and heat transfer capacity
of the foil that does the cooling. Hot water baseboard heat uses the same
effect, and it’s semi hidden in it’s casing.

[jacob smith]

bob

do you have phots of the outlet cooling device

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I thought they were for DRYING YO' WET SOX.
Bill W.

[MikeK]

There is a clothes-pin cure that absolutely works!
Do NOT try clipping them on the fuel line, that never worked for me.
Here is what you do:
Get a nice big sack of clothes-pins, all wood or spring type, your choice.

When the car vapor locks, go and do your laundry. String a line and, using the clothespins, hang your laundry out to dry. It helps if you have some notched bamboo poles to prop up the line. After all is dry, folded, and the poles (optional), line and pins are put away, go start the car. Works every time.

[C26Pinelake]

Originally Posted by MikeK

There is a clothes-pin cure that absolutely works!
Do NOT try clipping them on the fuel line, that never worked for me.
Here is what you do:
Get a nice big sack of clothes-pins, all wood or spring type, your choice.

When the car vapor locks, go and do your laundry. String a line and, using the clothespins, hang your laundry out to dry. It helps if you have some notched bamboo poles to prop up the line. After all is dry, folded, and the poles (optional), line and pins are put away, go start the car. Works every time.

Now that is rocket science ( lol ) ! Wayne

[53RYDER]

Newbie here!

So roughly at what temperature range does vapor lock ocurr? Upper 70's? 80's and above? I do realize there's probably no set degree where vapor lock ocurrs. Just a wondering?

Glenn

[sphanna]

You got it Doug in NJ: Wooden clothes pins work just like blood letting at the barber shop cured disease in the 19th century!! Nothing more, nothing less.

[amodel25]

Back in the 50's my uncle had a '53 Ford V8. I was 4 or 5 at the time and I asked why he had all those clothes pins on his motor (must have been 40 or 50). He told me that was the only thing that would keep that car running in the hot Texas summer.

[Tom Foster]

Originally Posted by amodel25

Back in the 50's my uncle had a '53 Ford V8. I was 4 or 5 at the time and I asked why he had all those clothes pins on his motor (must have been 40 or 50). He told me that was the only thing that would keep that car running in the hot Texas summer.

My first car was a '53 Ford with heads and duals. I nursed it through two South Texas and Hill Country summers. Most ever'body I knew had clothespins on the gas line under the hood.
Fearless

[Mike V. Florida]

A couple of wooden clothes pins work as well as touching your nose and spinning around three times before entering your car.

[Chris Haynes]

My 1964 425 HP 409 Chevy had a third fitting on top of the fuel filter. A line attached to this fitting that returned to the fuel tank. This allowed vapor to get out of the fuel and breathe back to the gas tank. Many big block GM cars of the '60's had this feature.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by 53RYDER

Newbie here!

So roughly at what temperature range does vapor lock ocurr? Upper 70's? 80's and above? I do realize there's probably no set degree where vapor lock ocurrs. Just a wondering?

Glenn

Yup there is no set temp. You can have 15-20 Model A's driving on the same road on the same day and not all will have problems.

Here in South Florida where the temps are often in the 90's this time of year and no one in our club has ever had vapor lock.

It would be nice if there were a set of conditions that always caused vapor lock but there is none. some get it all the time, some never.