knuckleharley

Does anyone know how they did it at the factory?

You might also discover you will spend more time grinning while driving it than you would growling while trying to get mail order or junk yard parts from one manufacturer "play nice" with mail order or junk yard parts from another manufacturer,as well as you will have a lot more money and time to enjoy driving it. Almost nobody new to the old car hobby finishes building a "modified to be cool and modern" old car or truck because in the year to several years it takes to completely rebuild and modify it,they lose interest and sell it. If they are lucky it is still mostly together and they can get a decent price for it. If it is pulled apart and has boxes of parts scattered all over,it usually ends up going to the crusher because nobody else wants it. Sometimes things happen like loss of job,illness in the family,someone is injured or sick and out of work,you lose your storage space or even your house for some other reason like moving for a new job,etc,etc,etc. Any or all of these things can result in you never again seeing the truck in one piece,never mind being able to drive it. MY recommendation,and worth ever penny you pay for it,is to get this truck running and driving safely,and THEN buy something else to modify in any way you want. You will have this one to drive and enjoy while the other one is being modified,and that may even inspire you to finish up the project truck. A "beater" daily driver,and your truck is FAR from being a beater, that you can drive right now beats the HELL out of a trophy-winning show truck 8 years from now. Don't take my word for it,ask anyone who has been doing this for a while.

I don't mind giving you my opinion,but you will probably mind hearing it. My opinion is "if you want a low-slung blvd cruiser buy a new buzz-bomb and be done with it." I personally don't see a thing wrong with your truck,and my philosophy is "If it ain't broke,don't fix it". Rebuild what you have and enjoy driving it as the "unique-in -this-time" vehicle that it is,or dump tens of thousand it it to have a trendy truck like everybody else has. Seems like a easy choice to make to me.

I see the smaller fuel lines equating to MORE fuel pressure,not less. The fuel pump is going to pump at the rate it pumps,but with the same volume going down lines with a smaller ID,the fuel pressure out the far end has to be higher than before. Or am I wrong about this?

Not to mention a LOT easier to bend without kinking than stainless lines.

I am GUESSING a smaller ID fuel line would automatically equate to more fuel pressure,which would require a fuel pressure regulator inline. There may even be other issues involved like early fuel pump failure from the increased pressure,but I'm just guessing about that and probably wrong.

With no replies since 2005,it seems unlikely,but I sure hope it works out for you because I need one,too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Plymouth-Flathead-6-Engine-/142258712970?hash=item211f47b18a:g:nAQAAOSwjDZYijqZ&vxp=mtr Is complete down to the bellhousing and is sitting on a metal stand inside. Opening bid is $250 and nobody has bid yet and the listing ends tomorrow. BIN price is $750,so if you are restoring a 36 that doesn't have an engine,now is the time to jump.

Yeah,I can identify with that. I have friend that is a professional artist and engraver,and IF I can find a new serial number tag for my P-15,I plan on getting him to engrave the numbers. Just found out this morning from another member that the $125 exact reproduction of an original P-15 Serial Number Tag only fits 1941 and older Mopars because it is 4-1/4 inches long. Anyone know where I can buy a blank exact reproduction P-15 Serial number plate?

The first thing you need to do is get a really clear photo of a factory plate with the numbers stamped on it by the factory. You can then look around for a set of stamps with the same font to buy and stamp it yourself,or try to find an artist to engrave them by hand for you to match the original number stamp. If you go the "buy a set of number stamps with the correct size and font as the originals" route you could probably rent them out with a deposit large enough to cover the costs,and end up making a few bucks. Especially if the body number stamps is the same size and font as the serial number stamps. One thing I don't like about old Mopars is they were held on with sheet metal screws,and many were removed for paint jobs and never found their way back on the cars back in the days when nobody gave a damn. I personally had a serial number tag removed from a car I own while it was at a professional shop to have some chassis welding done. I know it was there when I drove the car in because not too long before that I had registered the car in my name and had it inspected by the DMV,but it damn sure wasn't there when I bought the car back home. Open the door and there is a strip of original black paint the exact size of the ID plate. Anybody know where I can buy an exact reproduction of a P-15 serial number plate?

Congratulations! There ain't nothing like that "first drive".

I think this link will provide some interesting data and photos for those interested in this issue. Yes,it IS a page about military Ford engines used during WW-2,so if the mere mention of a Non-Mopar causes your panties to get all wadded up,ignore it. For those of you who realize that if the military required Ford to do this they also required GM and Mopar to do it,also. Knowing something exists and then knowing the keywords to use to find it are the keys. I would be very surprised if the Mopar guys in the mid-west (Oklahoma) that sell all the surplus military 3/4 ton 4x4 truck stuff doesn't have these things for sale. I can't remember their business name right now,but I am sure someone reading this will know who I am writing about. http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=81075

DO NOT TRUST A OLD MASTER CYLINDER,EVER! It may be working now,but you won't be driving it long before it stops working,and the next thing you know you will be in a wreck you could have avoided. The same applies to wheel cylinders. The old rubber dries out and cracks and shrinks,and then you start using the car and the fluid pumping to it softens the rubber up and the next thing you know it's all leaking like a sieve. Brakes are not a place to screw around. You need to rebuild the master cylinder,buy new wheel cylinders because it is cheaper to buy new ones than it is to rebuild them,and you also need to replace ALL the brake lines and hoses,and the gas lines,hoses,and filters,too. Replace all the wheel grease seals and repack the bearings,too. All told you should be able to do all this for less than 200 bucks if you don't have to buy new brake shoes or wheel bearings,and you do the labor yourself. For example,it will only cost right at 26 bucks to replace all the hard gas lines,and then you don't have to worry about rust pits inside the line causing your carb to flood and catch on fire. While at it,replace ALL the rubber gas lines and plastic fuel filters with modern ones designed to deal with ehtanol. IIRC,I think I paid something like 5 bucks each for brand new Lockheed wheel cylinders for my 1939 IHC when I rebuilt the brakes in it a couple of years ago. IIRC,all three rubber brake likes cost me about 45 bucks in total. Cheap insurance.

All I can offer at this point is congratulations on finding and buying what looks like a very solid and complete car. Yes,Steele and Roberts are still in business. I just bought a new windshield seal for my 37 Dodge truck from Roberts maybe a month ago. Can't tell you anything about the other supplier. Never heard of them before. As for the press-on rubber that sticks,why not try it and see what happens? It's pretty cheap at any building supply in your area,so it's worth taking a chance on with a driver car. I do know it comes in various thicknesses, and see no reason why it won't work if you use one thick enough to compress when the doors are closed. If it doesn't work,you are only out a few bucks and maybe 15-20 minutes of time to degrease the area,cut the rubber with scissors,and press it on.

I look at that photos,and it just screams "IOWA!" at me.

....and that is how it starts....... BTW,don't forget to buy a lumpy cam and grinding the valves

Now you are sounding like I used to sound. Here lately is seems like I wouldn't even remember I had bought the alternator until I had bought and installed another one,then ran across the first one while looking for something else.

If it were me,I think I would contact the people that sold me the alternator,and tell them to provide me with wiring instruction and a schematic showing how they are wired. It's their product,and if they can't tell you this and provide this for you,you need to demand a full refund.

I wasn't a mechanic in the army,but I THINK I remember seeing the spark plugs in 3/4 ton trucks (Dodge's) sealed in a metal "capsule" to keep them dry while fording rivers. If the 3/4 ton trucks had them to ford rivers,it makes sense that the jeeps also used them. Maybe check with that outfit in the mid-west that specializes in surplus Moprar parts and see if they have them?

Do you already have a title,bill of sale,or registration for it? If it has already been registered/titled in your home state,don't fight gravity. Use what is already on your title or registration,even if it is just the body number. Some states have the engine number and the car serial number on the title,and those are the best ones because some states insist on using the engine number and some use the serial number. Never mind that some cars and trucks never had engine numbers even when they were new. If you already have it registered and have a matching title or registration,you have no problems if the numbers on your car match the numbers on the title. If your car still has the original engine in it,try to get it registered and a new title for it with both numbers on the title if that is possible. That way if you have to change engines 5 years from now you won't be driving around in a car with no valid registration numbers on the title.

My problem is my P-15 coupe is titled according to the tag in the door jamb,and someone has stolen that tag. Which means I won't be able to sell the car unless I can replace that tag or get it re-titled using chassis numbers. Anybody know where I can buy a blank door tag?

BTW,you might also consider going to a place that specializes in tires and wheels. Changing backspaces or rim widths by just removing the center and moving it in or out for clearance is no big deal. I once had 16 inch 39 Ford wide wheel centers like these cut out and mounted in 8 inch wide 15 inch Ford outer rims to put on a 36 Ford convertible I used to own back in the 60's.

One solution is to just drill a hole for rim locator pin in your new wheels. When i got to Ga to pick up the 55 DeSoto parts car I bought that was supposedly ready to roll on my trailer,I discovered it was sitting in a goat pen in a back yard,and had been there long enough the rims had settled into the dirt and the bottoms were rusted off. Since it would have taken more time and money to pull off the rotten tires,wire brush the rusty wheels,but new tubes,and hope it worked than to just replace them all,I went to a junkyard and bought 4 15 inch wheels with tires already mounted and holding air. Had no idea what they were taken off of,but they were 15 inch,5x4.5 inch bolt pattern,and the center hole was big enough to allow the axle ends to fit. IIRC,I paid 10 bucks each for them. Went back to where the car was sitting,jacked it up one tire at a time,and used my battery drill to drill locator holes in each wheel as I put it on. Don't know what to tell you about backspacing. All I can say is that this has never been a problem for me in all my years of swapping tires and rims unless I was putting a old rim on a modern vehicle with disc brakes. Also,I never tired to put any tire on a old one that was bigger than 2.35 x 75 or 78 x15. Lookf for rims that came off of mid-sized cars or regular half-ton pu's,and the tires should be short and narrow enough to clear. Maybe go to a junkyard with a tape measure and a flat bar and measure the backspace on the wheels there to make sure you have enough room to keep the tires you are buying from rubbing the wheelwell or the fender?

Bias ply tires generally steer with less effort because they provide less road grip. They also require you to do more driving because cars with bias tires on them tend to do more drifting around than radials due to uneven road surfaces. Which is probably one reason they wear out sooner,too. On some roads that are very smooth and straight,you might not notice the difference if they are properly inflated and your front suspension is tight and aligned right.

Thanks,Todd.