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What have I done...? My wife fell in love with the little Metropolitans when we were at Back to the 50’s a few years ago. She recently found one for sale, on Facebook Marketplace, in a neighboring town and it was within her budget. It’s going to need some work, and she knows it. But she is willing to so as much of the work on it as she can. I’m sure I’ll be helping quite a lot as well. It’ll need some structural repairs on the body, including the door hinge supports. The passenger side lower hinge mounting point is pretty much non-existent at this point. I’m a little nervous about the metal work needed, as that’s not my strong suit, but I know she knows how to weld too. Between the two of us we should be able to get it structurally sound again. It runs and drives okay. The brakes seem a bit weak, and they just spend around $2000 on brake repair, and other things. I’ll have to inspect the work and get them better. The engine starts and runs good though. I couldn’t get it into 3rd gear though. It probably needs a linkage adjustment due to all of the mounts sagging.

they confiscated his torch same day they impounded the cat.....

On an overhead valve engine the concern is whether the valves will hit the pistons if the timing chain fails or jumps time. On a flathead that is not a possibility. If the timing chain breaks or the engine jumps time in a flathead, it will stop running and you will need to replace the timing chain and sprockets.

Compression is really low in a couple of the cylinders,so my best guess is to agree with Plymouthy Adams,and also suggest you start budgeting a ring and bearing job on your engine at minimum. Maybe a rebore. If you go that far you might as well take the whole ride and go for new timing gears,valve job,and oil pump. Do it right once and never have to take it apart again.

You know that the thermostat doesn't have any big effect on your normal operating temp. The listed temp for the stat is when it opens and allows coolant to flow to the radiator. So in theory a 160 might run a bit cooler because the full flow starts at 20 degrees cooler but after 15 minutes of running that difference is gone. Rule of thumb high temp at idle and low seed operation is air flow problem. High temps at high speed is coolant flow problem. Also water absorbs and releases heat better than anti freeze. If you operate and store at 20 degrees or higher, modify you mix. My car runs 70%water, 30% coolant, it hardly goes over 170. Mix is good to O or so. And boiling point is about 220.

Get some NGK replacements. I researched plugs by testing a bunch of manufacturers for the same application on primary resistance. NGKs are consistent at 5 Kohms, on a sample of 8. Of those tested, champions were the most variable and resistance was upwards of 15 to 20 Kohms. Significant because of ohms law - higher resistance = less spark energy. Furthermore I believe the high resistance causes more stress on the rest of the ignition system. I used to replace coils on my lawn boy once every 1-2 years. Since I put in an NGK plug the coil has lasted 5 years and is still working fine. I now insist on NGK when replacing a plug, and my mowers, snowblowers, cars, anything with an engine run better and start easier.

Just read that as originally designed, these were supposed to have a water cooled opposed six cylinder mounted in the rear with a trans axle. The Austin engine was selected once the flat six was nixed because it was narrow enough to fit between the inner fenders in the area that was supposed to be the trunk. Most were assembled in England and shipped here.

"CURRENT Champions are junk???" I had Champions die in a stock 48 Ford panel truck in less than 100 miles the 70's. I will smack anybody that puts a Champion plug in anything I own.

As a cousin to the Nash Rambler it should run 110 MPH in second gear so no 3rd gear required.?

A few months back i bought a 1937 royal. Ive been driving it quite a bit. Sorting out problems as i go. When i got it, the trunk i found a visor. It looks like the fulton visors i seen on other cars. Looks to be fairly strudy. Came with the left and right panels and the two center pieces they slide into. But no mounting brackets. Ive seen other 37s with visors on the internet but i dont see a source for the mounting hardware specific to my chrysler. And on some websites they say my year doesnt accept a visor because of the flat windshield. Anyone know what i can do to mount it?

Only five miles down the road to the GoodGuys show and since the rust and coat hanger were doing such a great job of holding my shock absorber on for the time being I drove on over and signed Roxanne and myself up. This made our second car show together - I don't think she'll want to do another. Rox is used to getting more attention. She just wasn't pretty enough for this one ?? The '78, and '49 Ferd trucks close by had twice the gawkers and the Bricklin had double and triple that at times. Must have been those gull wing doors. Big show with a dizzying array of vehicles and more. It took a couple hours to cruise through the cars, vendors and swap meet. Their mini race track was as amazin' as the carmel corn. Some skilled drivers putting on a show for bragging rights driving all kinds of muscle, sport, street and custom machines. Thar warn't a whole lotta Dodgin' going on... I saw maybe four altogether. This Power Wagon would have been cool (in my book) had it not been for the giant V-8 race engine stuffed under the hood. There was a Coronet convertible that was stellar and a Plymouth truck that was eye candy (but seriously, leather bucket seats?) I will definitely go again, but will likely leave Rox Baby at home, at least until she gets painted up a bit better - uh, if that ever happens. I didn't go crazy with the camera but here are a few more random shots. https://photos.app.goo.gl/PQeW3vcbJCMMBfPz8

Hey guys! It’s been awhile since I’ve posyed but I need some advice. I’ve been driving my D24 for a number of years now without an issue. Labor Day weekend, however, I got a ride home in a rollback. short story: I had some overheating problems on 300 mile journey to and from Michigan. Thankfully on the very last 60 miles of my journey, I heard some rattling coming from my engine, blue smoke came out of the tailpipe, and she died immediately at a stoplight. I didn’t want to chance it so I had her towed the last 60 miles home. I’m greatful because Hagerty covered the tow. today I finally got a chance to do a compression check. Here are the results: 1= 82 2= 35 3= 71 4= 80 5= 35 plug oil soaked 6= 53 Plugs all looked fine except for 5. I was able to start it and it ran smooth but after a few revs something started rattling inside the engine again so I turned it off as soon as I could get to the key. any advice on a next step would be appreciated. Thanks!