If there are any old school radiator shops near where you live, pull the radiator out and take it there. They can tell you if it can be saved and repaired in the condition it's in, whether or not they can re-core it or if you just need a new one. This is the radiator shop near where I grew up. The owner knew my Dad and Dad trusted Dewey. I know both Dewey and his son Chris and they're straight up honest, hard working men. Dewey has probably retired by now, but his son Chris has been working on radiators along side him since he was a kid and he's in his 50's now.

 

I ended up making a BeCool aluminum radiator fit my Crown Vic because the old school radiator shop that my Dad used to go to when he was running the '53 F-250 was long gone. Along with the shop next to it that would boil out gas tanks. Which would have been useful as well. But Jersey has been running people like that out of the state for decades now. And very few people actually work on their cars these days.

 

When cleaning out through the interior, I did find a handwritten receipt from a store in colorado dating back to the 1970s, and the only significant rust was in the corner of the fenders, and behind some of the chrome trim (including part of the front bumper, on which only the foil-like chrome material remains). This leads me to believe that it spent at least most of its life in colorado, where it gets cold...

 

I can not seem to get the crank pulley off. One of the coolant leaks was coming from the timing cover, and the crank pulley is in the way of removing it. It CRUSHED a cheap 1/4 inch 13mm socket that I was using to protect the threads where the crank pulley bolt had once been (the bolt was simply missing), and than it stripped the threads of my cheap 3 arm puller. Any Ideas for how to get it off?

 

Proper tools.

 

I got it off, The timing chain is loose, very loose by the standards of a modern car. I can push it half an inch side to side in the space between the 2 sprockets. It cranks, and has some compression... Is this normal for a car from 1964?

 

They would run until the crank slips inside the chain. So yes it is not unexpected to find a loose timing chain on a 60 year old car. That chain was probably that loose at the first 150,000 mile mark. It may have been sitting for 40 years.

 

So... should it be replaced? The plastic teeth on the cam sprocket are still intact, and it does not seem to have slipped YET, but I do not want to blow it up. Is it an intertferance engine? I am short on cash, and my parents are getting angry at how long this gigantic car has been taking both of their parking spaces...

 

Hell yes, if it has plastic teeth, you REALLY need to replace it with an updated timing chain set. After sitting for so many years, I'm willing to bet if you don't replace it, it's going to grenade into many pieces if you crank that sum beech up and get it started. Do it now while you have it apart as you don't want it stripping or breaking while it's going down the road. I don't know if that engine is an interference engine or not, but it's better that you don't learn the hard way. Just my two cents as I have repeatedly said I'm NOT a mechanic. I do have 1400 hours training as an engine mechanic at a vo tech school, but that was almost 50 years ago. Most of what I learned I've forgotten due to two brain surgeries. You should trust the guys here that ARE mechanics and go by what they tell you. Guys like 02 LW200 and gr8auto, I think.

 

The plastic disintegrates and then the already loose chain slips and the car quits. Depending on the engine speed a non interference engine can bend valves. I have seen that in an old small block .
Replace the chain and cam gear at least.