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Had the 1952 Dodge M37 out for her first event of the year last Saturday. An Armed Forces Day display. Not as many trucks showed this year but everyone had a good time! Our 2 vehicles, the Dodge and our Chevy replica M1008 on display, Wapello Iowa. 05/19/2018

November is anniversary. Three different forum software suppliers over the years and we are almost at 10,000 registered members.

Just noticed the copyright information on the bottom of each page of the forum shows 2018-1998 I hadn't realized the forum has been around that long. Pretty impressive!

Now that the warmer weather has arrived here in Valley Forge Pa. I have had some time to work on my brakes on my 39 Desoto. i puller the drum and found nothing leaking at the wheel cylinders. I did havea good pedal and then one day the pedal went to the floor. i was able to get pressure and a good pedal but a couple of days later it went soft again. Well i pull the front carpet out of the car, took out the two metal floor boards. Disconected the brake pedal linkage and removed the mastercylinder that is bolted to the frame. Did a rebuild. Took it all apart and there was no issues with the rubber seals and or any scares inside the MC. rebuilt it and then bench bleed the MC. It is now back inthe car with a good hard pedal all I need to do is road test. The other day I was looking at all of the internal parts and when i looked very carefully at the relief valved I then noticed a very small pin hole or tear in the rubber seal. After the air had dried the valve the hole was more visable. So the smallest compontnet is what failed after driving the car for 30 years. i rebuild the MC 30 years prior with Dot 5 fluid. i guess not too bad after 30+ years. Always look for the none obvious item. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com,

I remember my dad telling me that when cranking a car, do not close the hand around the crank, or the thumb may be broken by a backfire. Engage the crank with the handle at the bottom, and lift only.

The simple way to tell is the location of the overflow tube. If it originates from a turret on the radiator expansion tank or on the filler neck below the bottom gasket on the cap, it is a non pressurized system and the cap doesn't matter because it can not build pressure as the vent is below where the cap seals. If the overflow opening is in the filler neck between the top of the cap and the bottom gasket then that indicates it it designed to build pressure. Before 55/56 most systems operated in the 3 to 7 psi range. This is where the proper cap is necessary to assure your components, radiator, heater core, and hoses don't fail due to over pressuring the system.

May 21: Drove the Meadowbrook to work this morning not only because my newer cars aren’t reliable, but also because its more fun. Rained all the way home. Had a sock on the dash to catch the water leaking through. ? Will seal up the windshield soon. Stopped at the market for a few groceries.

No point being made. This is the Gates pump from rock auto that you mentioned. It matches the original pump. I have no input as to its quality or where it is made.

My son wanted to see the interior so one more video.

That is much better than the pricing mentioned earlier! I think folks were talking prices near $300. Makes the decision to not cut up a mallet much easier, and wiser.

That's odd. What about all the other pics I have been posting? Ok? Just the last batch is a problem? I tried re-posting the pics. Are they showing up now? Thanks.

On the front wheel you can start with the arrow on each anchor mounting bolt point toward each respective cylinder. On the rear brakes, the two arrows are to point toward each other. This will place the shoes closest together and allow the drum the be reinstalled. However, several adjustments are to be made. There is a special tool that not many of us own. It greatly aides brake shoe alignment. The rest of us do the best with multiple adjustments and feel. If you do a quick search you may find a lot of information on this site about proper brake adjustments.

I do have those. PM sent.

I like the trunks, yet I prefer the full cover. I placed a 2x6 "wall" across the bed to keep things near the gate, easy to load and unload and nothing is tempting. Full cover also helps some on gas mileage, but not much.

My 48 Plymouth is still 6v pos ground with an Optima battery, works fine, I did add a 10A 6v. to 12 v converter so I could charge phones and run GPS. I did convert the 51 B3B Dodge pickup that I just finished to 12 volts. I also wanted a modern sound system and plan to add AC and electronic ignition at some point. I also changed the generator out to a one wire alternator. As I had to put a new harness into the truck and replace just about everything it was much easier to go 12 volts. I am still using the 6 volt starter, no modification. I also put resistors in for the heater motor, wiper motor and horn. What I used there were 1 ohm 100 watt resistors. I'm currently still running a 6 volt coil with a ceramic ballast resistor. The starter does run very fast and the truck starts after about 2 revolutions, so all is good. From now on, finding parts, including batteries, should be much easier. Bill

I'm very close to a drivable chassis.

I have seen engines with that cup washer. No gasket is used with it.

150 Miles of all hi-way driving today. My car performed pretty well. Finally I am developing some seat time at hi-way speeds. Well, higher than town speeds anyway for this old 6 cylinder. My car is definitely most comfortable at about 55 mph. I will go faster but feels like it's labouring a little to hard for my liking. A good mix of 2 lane and four lane driving today with plenty of elevation gains and drops. I did notice that when I pulled off the hi-way the car wound not idle. It would just die. It would start up right away again and run just fine while under throttle. It was having nothing to do with idling. It happened multiple times today and I had lots of time to think it through. One might jump right into the carb thinking the idle circuit needs to be looked at. Or fuel delivery. When you stop and think things through a little sometimes it can be something so simple. The last stall occurred as I pulled up to my garage at home. I got out popped the hood. I thought about the idle screw backing right out maybe. Perhaps it needed adjustment. This what I found: My throttle shaft has walked to the left. See the throttle screw at the bottom? It's supposed to be contacting the cast, carb throttle body. Weird how it moved to the left as shown in the photo. No idle set screw action going on here. Full closure of the throttle valve. I will get in there and see what allowed this to happen and address it. Today's little cruise involved a couple of local friends. One fellow was in his 1955 Ford Crownline. V8 three on tree. The other friend was in is 1995 Jaguar XJS V12. Was great day for a cruise. This was taken from my drivers seat. Jag is in front of me here. Here is my friend's 1955 Ford Crownline. I won't lie, we looked great travelling down the hi-ways together. Similar body styling but his car was a paltry 17 ft or so long. My Chyrsler is about 19 ft long.

My first suggestion is no purchase the NOS items if there is any possibility. That is why i listed the wheel cylinder numbers. You can look on ebay or even at swap meets to find these. Before buying Chinese or foreign junk I would suggest that you have your sleeved and then you know what you have and they will work on your car. Look for NOS. This is why i have been collecting the catalogs and the parts over a 30+ year period for my 39 desoto. every year as it goes by there is less and less of the good old NOS items. Build up some good quality parts to support your hobby. Rich Hartung

Solved the problem. The oil bath air filter was overfilled. Some of the oil spilled into the carb. Fouled the plugs. Cleaned it up. Runs like new again.

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to carry all the odds and ends one needs given the limited cab storage space of a Dodge B2B half ton pickup. Many of the Guys on the P15-D24 Forum have come u p with some good ideas. Paul Flaming for example has a home built tonneau (aka plywood) cover that seems very smart and effective. Tonneau AKA Plywood and Rope Bed Cover Photo: Paul Flaming Long ago in my impetuous youth I acquired a steam trunk of substance. It has been a functional artistic decorator item in our home since about 1976. “Wouldn’t that be the perfect trunk for the truck?” I suggested to Jan Baby, my best friend and wife for over 40 years. She shot back: “It would get ruined in the weather and we need it where it is”. Thus began my Craigslist search for the perfect trunk for ‘ol Rox Baby’s bed. If you click that last link, you will see that there are lots of options. I’ve learned to take my time and cogitate on the options to eventually find something that suits my personal tastes while filling the bill of functionality. Several weeks passed and I started gravitating to vintage steamer trunks with the domed or camel back top. I found a couple prospects. One was twenty minutes from the house and priced at $60.00 while the other was an hour away and priced at $100.00. I decided to on a rainy Saturday to email the nearby trunk owner and setup a viewing. My plan was to arrive and negotiate the price down to $40 or so dollars. Norma was a delightful senior woman who graciously invited me into her garage to take a look at the trunk. She explained that it has held spare blankets for her bed for many years but didn’t fit in with her new homes decor. It was love at first sight. The lack of a key to the lock and missing side handles added to its character I thought. I held out $60.00 cash. No way was I going to haggle with such a delightful person such was Norma.

If you are up for rebuilding yours, I have kits for all wheel cylinders and the master I will send you for the cost of shipping. I swapped my rear end to a 8 1/4 and went with discs in the front.

Thanks for the compliments. Sorry I haven't seen that part but try asking jcmiller, I think he may have been selling that piece.. I check eBay very often so if I spot anything I'll send you a message.

Very close to wrapping this project up, or so I tell myself.... i know I have a long way to go. Last weekend got the motor painted to my satisfaction. Finally. Three tries to get a fairly smooth coat of paint. It’s not perfect, but it will do. Today got the oil lines fitted for the full flow oil filter. Recall I’d started out with AN-6 fittings in mind. Ended up going with a -8 fitting that matched the ID of the pressure side oil galley so as not to restrict oil flow. But the larger fittings would have interfered with each other unless I went with a different style fitting, such as a 45° angled nipple to keep the two fittings more separated. As it turned out there was a lot of meat on the nut side that screwed the 3/8” NPT threads into the block and I simply chucked each up in the lathe and turned opposite ends to make room. Now they’ll fit right in there without issue. Got the water pump mated up. Fuel pump on. Need to get some 1” heater hose for the bypass so I can permanantly install the water neck. It’s just perched up there after last weekend’s paint.

Actually, now that I see the photos from others... I recall seeing Brent's truck was like that when I was at the BBQ last year. Some joker's had placed a heap of beer bottle caps under the overflow pipe there ? There sure are a few differences between our trucks. We seem to have stayed with the same parts longer here in Oz and just changed the dash and the nosecone. The hood from my C series truck would actually interchange with my B series truck.

The regulator is usually the problem of no charging. Today's Chinese replacement regulators will most likely not work or not for long. A NOS never installed factory equipment Autolite regulator is what I use as a replacement.... i buy them off Ebay.

Used to be that money talked, now it just goes without saying....

I've used the POR15 chassis product and there are several other brand products on the market that are designed for similar use and their chemical composition is similar. Sometimes you're buying the name and sometimes the quality. POR15 has probably done the best job of marketing it's products so it's the name more people will be familiar with. Regardless, the prep work has to be done correctly before any application to best ensure product success.

San Leandro...The buildings still stand. I visited here a few years ago on a tour of Olsen Steel (non knowing the building's significance at the time). In the back of the taller building is Drake's Brewing.