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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/26/2017 in all areas

  1. Some of you are connected to me on Facebook, and have seen the pictures, but the back story I want to share here might be of interest. Last week I followed a lead that took me to a house about 19 miles northwest of me where I found another P15c Plymouth patiently waiting for resurrection. The car, a nice example of loving care over its 70 years of existence, is now in my garage and has become the second in my permanent collection. In the past 6 months I've bought two other P15's but that I was tempted to keep, but they've since taken a boat trip to Holland where my business partner will find decent homes for them. The newest acquisition is a convertible. I've yet to have the documentation pulled from the archive, but the car is believed to have been sold in Massachusetts originally. I am very anxious to see which dealer and to be able to see if the building still exists. The original owner was from Lexington Massachusetts, as shown on one of the 30 or so registration cards that came in the glove box. He was a Doctor of Physics and worked at a small institution known as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Labs. Some may recognize the name of this establishment as being home of a small project code named "Manhattan". While unconfirmed as of yet, there is an endowment left in the owners name and I have written to enquire if this learned individual was indeed connected to Atomic research going on at the time. This gentlemen kept the car for many years, and I suspect the last year of ownership was 1964 which is documented in a Midas Muffler lifetime warrantee also delivered with the car. The glove box was filled with maps of the eastern seaboard and a list of antique shops in each state. Researching his name I found that this man and his wife amassed one of the countries largest collections of Shaker furniture, a portion of which was sold after his death and another portion donated to the Smithsonian in DC. Further research has shown me that the man died at the ripe age of 94, leaving a sizeable chunk of money to create an endowment that reports assets over $1mil today. The second owner of the car is another local gentlemen who owned the car from 1964/5 up until 2001. This gentleman is still alive and well and living in Concord Massachusetts. He started a small business in the 1960's that has now grown into one of New England's largest Asphalt paving contractors and does a lot of private and highway paving work in the region. This man was the last to drive the car up until this past weekend. The car was last on the road (legally) in 1980. In the trunk of the car were many treasures, one of which I was told should always stay in the car. Under a small blanket were a dozen small flat stones about 2" in diameter. The second owner stated he and his wife collected these stones on their first date in Wells Beach Maine. Coincidently my family has owned a home in Wells Beach since 1919, which makes the tie to this car and the story a little sweeter. Amazingly enough the car has never been titled as they were not required or needed during the use of the car with its first two owners. I will likely title the car due to its value and estate reasons, and will become the first titled owner. The fella I bought the car from almost backed out of the deal, having owned the car since 2001, he had ideas of restoring it, but I am glad he left it alone. Among other items in the car were three spare hubcaps, a set of spare leaf spring shackles new in their NOS boxes, an original cloth bag for the bumper jack equipment, a wooden hand screwdriver which I believe may have been Plymouth OE, five brand new pairs of windshield wipers, a dozen spare vacuum radio tubes, and a couple boxes of spare fuses. A few sentences about the condition of the car as found, what I've done in the past week, and what I plan to do; General condition; - The car has not run since 1980 after the keys were lost, but the motor turned by hand so I knew there had to be some life in it. - The motor has a reman tag on it, a sticker on the firewall and yellow grease pencil writing on the firewall indicating it was replaced at 99,257 miles. The car now has 27,175 miles, so relatively new considering. Inspection thru the #6 cylinder port has proven the motor is a 230. (big smiles on my face when I learned that). - The body has two small issues to correct, but I likely won't touch them for several years as the patina is very appealing to me. One area on the front edge of the passenger door, and another paint separation issue surrounding the rear stop light on the trunk. The rest of the car is undercoated (rather thickly too) as well as under the hood. - Braking is terrible at the moment despite replacing the right front lower cylinder to make it yard drivable. Brake fluid is orange proving that what ever is in the tubes is long overdue for replacement. - The interior is trimmed rather smartly in - The top is original to the car and has a HUGE hole in it above the front seat. Mechanism goes up and down by hand easily. Vacuum cylinders are as of yet undiagnosed. - The car came with a factory supplied boot cover that is in decent shape. I will attempt to use this for the moment and in the future have a new one sewn up from its pattern. - The car also came with a rather unique and suspected non-oem option: Full Custom Tonneau Cockpit Cover. At first I said to myself what a shame, then I saw it on the car and fell in love with it. Getting her running; - Drained the 37 year old gas, boy does that stink... now to find a place to get rid of 10 gallons of it. - Replaced a very worn fan belt. - Swapped out the ignition switch for an OEM that I had in my stash. - Swapped out plugs, cables, coil. - Replaced both battery leads with heavy gauge OE style. - Added some MMO to each cylinder, placed the car in gear and rolled her back and forth a few times. - Installed a new 6V battery. - Disconnected the gas line to the carb and hand fed her some gasoline whereupon after several minutes of cranking she jumped to life. (and shot out an dust pan full of mouse crap, acorns and dirt from the muffler all over the garage floor.) She ran fine for an hour then died rather abruptly, whereupon several hours of playing whack-a-mole with intermittent doses of ATF has resulted in some less-sticky valves. Latest suggestion was to run some lead additive and to pull the gas tank and clean it. Plans to get her roadworthy; - Remove the gas tank, and thoroughly clean it. Looking for suggestions as to what might be best to use to clean the inside of the tank, noting that it has been wet with gas so residue is assumed to be fairly motile. - New brake cylinders, new brake lines, new MC, new brake switch, all four corners and in between. Curious as to whether or not I will need the miller brake tool (or reasonable facsimile) since I will be using the shoes/pads that are on the car as they are nearly in new condition. Any opinions here? - New top on order from Bill Hirsch to match the original factory colors; Black on tan, (my irish blood appreciates this a lot). Local trimmer has been selected and reports having done two 40's mopars in recent months. (they are on my hit list for names and addresses...) - Fluid changes - ALL of them, including oil, coolant, gear box, and rear end. During the winter months; - Interior betterments. Haven't decided if I want to rescue the interior or go new. I am partial to the patina, but if the cost would be too much to repair it may make sense to spend some dough on new correct color leather. The leather is in decent shape with no holes, but the cotton stitching has disintegrated on the front seat. - Passenger side vent wing window has a broken pivot point and the threaded post that attaches it to the doors A-pillar is sheared off. Both will need to be repaired. Glass will need to be removed from the frame before it can be corrected. Working on glass will be a first for me, and with such a rare part, I will have to work myself up to the challenge. - Overdrive swap. Later this year I will haul the sedan down to our house in North Carolina and park for a few years storage until we begin to full time in the winters down there. Before she goes down I will likely pull the OD and replace shelve it for installation in the convertible. And before I end this, a few notes of thanks for guidance in recent days; - Robin Weathersbee for his enthusiastic support and un-ending archives. - Greg G for giving me his phone number 7 or 8 years ago and allowing me to ask random questions in the middle of any given day or evening. - Young Ed is always there with his matter of fact - Bob Toft for sending me a dozen emails and a bunch of pictures of his car which convinced me to open the safe. I'll be a pest to all you for a while - bear with me. - lastly to my wife, to whom endured the "surprise look what I bought!" without sending a waffle iron flying in the air towards my head. And to her credit has instructed me to hurry up and get it done summer is here! AND said why would you consider selling Ruby?! AND doesn't understand why a 70 year old car is so special but allows me to spend every waking non-wage earning hour with it.
    2 points
  2. Im so sorry, I just couldnt help myself. I have this weird condition which causes me to think of Monty Python sketches and or quotes at random times John
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  3. would this scenario be a candidate for the candle wax method?
    2 points
  4. get them both, decide later....sell the one you don't build....(after gleaming the better off two for the one)
    2 points
  5. Working on my 1949 P-15, encountering different problems, was reaching out for some opinions. 1. The door jam/base plates - I don't have any, I heard they were rubber OEM, is there a metal/aluminum replacement? 2. The third brake light, bulb and wiring is fine, still doesnt work, what does it come on with, tailights? 3. What was the original handle on the end of the gear shift on the collum? Thanks for any help... Here are some pictures
    1 point
  6. There was no paint on that name plate. Here's a photo from back in the day...
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  7. Thanks for posting the video. I've been thinking about doing something similar on my P15 using a remote fill m/c.
    1 point
  8. The area around the piston is not easily heated as the piston is deep into the block but anything is worth a go. Ballistol lube and getting a good grip on the piston should get it out.. I have removed several with the tap or threaded bolt method. I'd like to see the rusty block and piston.
    1 point
  9. I was afraid someone would say this....what I was thinking all along,
    1 point
  10. At those prices why say which?
    1 point
  11. some folks carry a 1" piece of scrap plywood, 12" x 36", in their tool box along with a trolley jack in a case, to avoid certain roadside problems... the board can be used to keep from rolling around in the mud when retrieving a spare tire from underneath the truck, then can be used as a pad to slide the jack under the axle...some folks might even be able to stow this gear under their removable seat, out of harm's way until needed
    1 point
  12. My '49 B-1-D-126 rides a LOT smoother than my '48 B-1-B-108...just like my '92 Dakota long bed rode a lot smoother than my '89 Dakota short bed...they all have a good ride, but longer wheelbase inherently has a less choppy feel
    1 point
  13. nope you are wrong!
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  14. Just like on my modern truck..undermount and you have to kneel and dig around on your back to get the spare off...
    1 point
  15. Fascinating history, Mark. Checking out the link to photos from the good Dr's travels, I see a '57 Savoy hardtop in the background - I'm thinking it didn't belong to the Shaker in the picture!
    1 point
  16. Mark, You're definitely on the right path, sir. Continue to preserve that wonderful car the way Dr. McCue had and would! Walt
    1 point
  17. I would agree... this goes for most pickups in general.
    1 point
  18. Another article I found on Dr McCue. Turns out he and his wife and his car spent many days roaming around Marlboro Massachusetts, oddly enough, the town where I was born. http://www.willishenry.com/Shaker McC 1/tyler.htm the article mentions a son, my next target of research. Dropped by Bernbaums today and picked up some new wheel cylinders for all four corners. Got one on tonight, the rest tomorrow.
    1 point
  19. Depends maybe where your from...here in Canada, short is hard to find, lots of 9' boxes, but also way more 1 ton then 1/2 here as well. Short will always be the more desirable truck to build, be it hot rod or restore
    1 point
  20. These pics are not mine.They only were in my archive.I decided to put my spare in the passenger side.
    1 point
  21. Nice pics, thanks. So if you are unfortunate enough to have a flat, you will be on your back in the rain/mud/snow/gravel or at best pavement loosening the wing nuts to retrieve the spare. Because you know, flats never happen on a nice day. I'm not sold on the underneath location, however it is original to the truck. Eh, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
    1 point
  22. Thank you, from the guy in front of you at the stop light.
    1 point
  23. Here are the pictures of the tools. Look in your service manual and you will see the pictures.
    1 point
  24. Gary There isa special tool that was used to hold the ball end of the drive shaft. The pin is then pressed out under a large bench press. The is a tool that also goes over the pin. so that the ends of the pin do not get mushroomed out. I will psot a picture of the Miller Tool and the pin. I have the tool and the vise that holds the ball in place when pushing out the pin. Do you have new Detroint U joints and Housing. I have several. Rich Hartung
    1 point
  25. I got some 2inch ones will be here Saturday lol
    1 point
  26. Would it be any easier if you undid the 4 bolts at either end of the driveshaft holding the flange on and do the ball & trunion repair with the driveshaft on the bench..........andyd
    1 point
  27. Okay I'll post a link for a video I made cuz it probably will be a little bit better because I'm terrible photographer, LOL... But basically I was showing here a few different angles... It looks like I'm going to stick with the Corvette style master cylinder and if I ever need to I can always find one that it has an inch and an eighth piston. I think I'll be fine... It turns out that the Corvette style master cylinder is one of those hot rod style ones with 4 different ports so you can put it in difference places. It also has in lodgings mounting holes. In order for me to use the Dodge Ram style of master cylinder it would need to also have the holes in large end and that may take away the structural Integrity of the unit. It's also considerably Higher by at least three quarters of an inch. I was also saying in the video that the benefit of the the Corvette style master cylinder is that you can basically stand on it and it won't go anywhere. So if the hole is not so big in the floorboards, you can always not worried about breaking the master cylinder or anything hitting it from underneath and breaking the plastic. Or stepping on it and breaking it for that matter. The other drawback to the Dodge plastic Reservoir master cylinder is that the Piston Rod barely protrudes inside and I just think for what I'm doing with the extra long Rod that I made, I feel better knowing that it's going deeper into the master cylinder. The Corvette master cylinder is definitely not level with the floor however my body mounts are pretty shot and I could probably gain at least a half an inch if I had changed them all. The other thing is, there is one part of the floor that has a gusset and that's the one that looks like it goes down below the master particularly. This is not really a big deal but you're going to have to modify your floor in order to make this work and I don't suggest not cutting a hole in the floor and not being able to get to the master cylinder. The only other thing I was thinking about is drilling a hole between the two reservoirs so it accepts fluid from either Reservoir and then comma drill a hole on the outside on either Reservoir section and Plumb in an external Reservoir somewhere. If you can Plum it in up through the floor through a smaller hole and have a reservoir under the seat that is easy to get to that might be ideal as well. I think I'm going to use the original rubber boot and put it back on the master cylinder to prevent too much from getting in with the rod that I made. I guess it also will help prevent anything getting caught in the hole with the rod period since the rubber boot already broke, I just figured I'd use it as it is cuz it's close to the size of the rod that I made... when I'm getting my free data I will download the YouTube video and put a link here. So far today I have only plumbed in the real lines because I was doing other things and getting the gas tank out as well... I'm kind of multitasking on this car and now my personal car, a Volkswagen diesel decided to have the oil pump crap out on it so that's another thing I have to do now...
    1 point
  28. Do keep up the updates, we are all here to help each other keep these old cars alive. Often, it is hard to find information on modifications. I kept the brake system original on my 48, except for the MC modifications, worked good....
    1 point
  29. I went to a swap meet at the Comcast center in Mansfield last Sunday. It was a two day event and I should have gone Saturday. When I got there at 9:30 am, half of the vendor spots were empty. Apparently some vendors just didn't show up on Sunday. It was a huge event, but apart from some front end sheet metal parts for a 1950 Desoto, and a very tired 1940 Dodge sedan, it was very slim pickings for old Mopar parts. i did find these two meters. One on the right was new in a box with instructions. It works great. I think that it is from the early sixties. The other one is older. It looks like it should work, but I have not tried it yet.
    1 point
  30. yah, MM has their own dies and presses Horky and Mar-K are the same parts...Chebby/Ferd parts. There is a thread on here someplace about that showing the difference in the profile. The Dodge profile is a bit smaller on the bumps compared to the others. If I have time I'll dig the thread out. Merle is a funny guy...but the center strips won't match the side strips on the bed sides.
    1 point
  31. Why would anyone not want you to update? Just because other people have also done it doesn't mean every installation was identical,and someone seeing how you did it might get a fresh viewpoint on how to do it. We all work off the backs of each other. You made your discovery on your own,so celebrate it. Someone else making the same discovery takes nothing away from your own. If anything it reinforces what a good idea it was because others chose to take a very similar approach. Besides,if you hadn't done this independently and posted about it,people like me would have never been exposed to the idea. You did good. Own it.
    1 point
  32. I prefer the spare tire hidden underneath as well. I would have thought that the side-mounted spare tire fittings would be on your passenger side in USA for traffic-related safety reasons. Our 'mono-style' truck body's here in Oz don't really allow us that mounting choice... although, I did see panel truck here a few years back where it appears that the owner modified his spare tire mounting to his individual preference...
    1 point
  33. There is also the weight of the solo driver and the battery to off set. That's why I moved mine to the passenger side.
    1 point
  34. My baby. This is Fiddy. I had a 2005 Harley FatBoy, her name was Fatty.
    1 point
  35. Here's something I got from a storage unit cleanout a few years ago.
    1 point
  36. Here are two recent ones of mine from Viva Las Vegas 2017. One solo and one with Audrey Hatchet from Germany. The photographers did take a little liberty with the filters to change the shade of the paint job.
    1 point
  37. Not mine. Random pic off the web. At least it's not on a bagged S-10 chassis...eh?
    1 point
  38. merging a number of hard drives came across this pic of the 41 Dodge I built some time back....375 HP 440 cu in, 727 (I first built with an A833 got tired of shifting) 4WD 3.73 ratio
    1 point
  39. stainless grill bars....drool...
    1 point
  40. Thought I posted a pic already but here are a few of my 1952 B3B....
    1 point
  41. So we all agree to never start an answering post " This is how I did it , it is the only way it can be done, and if you don't or can't do it MY way you must be ignorant!". I do not believe in the fifteen or so years I have asked and answered questions here, that I have ever seen that sentiment expressed. I have seen several instances of folks interpreting replies that way. But come on guys it is a hobby board. It is an international forum with folks sourcing supplies from varied sources, and various points of view. I am waiting for some one announcing that the transmission from the TATA mini bus in India is a bolt for bolt replacement and there are so many available that they are fifty bucks with free shipping, or that the Fish carburetor design has been rediscovered, and now that the big three have no more interest in carburetors the will begin to be manufactured and we can all enjoy increased power and unprecedented smoothness, all at a minimum of fifty miles to the gallon. So no Torrey's v workers, Liberal v conservative, moderates v zealots polarization is needed. Its pieces and parts and procedures and as been said many times before your car, your time and money, knock yourself out. Don't like an answer, say thanks, but no thanks and move on.
    1 point
  42. My wall cabinets from a vocational school with my layout. Drawers from my fathers filled with hardware.
    1 point
  43. My wife bought me a lift which I love them both. Here is my home built power hammer for my sheet metal repairs
    1 point
  44. Where I work they get rid of some good stuff from time to time. They give me this industrial box yesterday. One drawer needs a little work, it's a really heavy duty box. 61inch tall by 28 deep by 45 wide. It will allow me to get rid of 3 or 4 smaller boxes while adding more storage.
    1 point
  45. These coat hangers have come in handy painting so many parts. Especially with Por-15. Simple.
    1 point
  46. I use this tool to spread my leaf springs so that I can apply grease between the leaves . I use a needle fitting on my grease gun to get into the gap . I grease only my oldest springs as spring steel 5160 was introduced sometime in the 1950 ' s and that steel doesn't get along with petroleum products . This tool was probably made in the horse and buggy days .
    1 point
  47. 1950 Dodge Route Van, finished up the project and have been driving it for the last year. What a hoot it is.
    1 point
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