splat1955

Wow, it had been a while since I visited and said "Hi"....so I thought I'd say hi to you all, Reg, the " Norms", Blueskies, Don, Shel, and all the rest of ya. I've had a few projects the last couple years, not Plymouth or Dodge, but I have still been watching them in my area and have seen quite a few. Had to slow down a little because of Docs orders, but still gettin' done what I can. At the moment working on a '39 Pontiac 4 dr sedan....actually, I'm just getting started, but it looks to be a challenge. I'll post a pic if I can remember how. Also, I just wrote Shel, told him I was looking for some small parts for the car....trunk hinges, hood ornament/opening latch and a couple other small items so if any of you run across anything along the way, please let me know, I'd appreciate it. I also told Shel about a Dodge I'd seen just recently for sale....it was on Craigs List in our area. I mistakenly told Shel it was a '48, but just went back into my notes and it's a '46. There were pics at the time is was listed on craigs, and it looked to be complete, although it's been about 3 weeks, and the old memory doesn't work like it used to. But the car looked to be very straight. I was a coupe. Anyway, if anyone want's the phone # for the owner, I still have it. Again, it looked to be in very good condition, not sure if it ran, but I think it had the whole drive train and the ad didn't mention any rust issues. I talked to the guy via phone and he said there were none. Anyway, again, hi to everyone and hope everyone is doing good and glad to see the forum is still up, running and as busy as I ever remember it. You guys were a ton of help.....and fun....when I was putting the '48 together. I'll try to be a bit more diligent as far as stopping by more often. Brian

Thanks Pat..... Actually, they were a good bunch of guys...family owned and run business. But what happened was that when they picked up our new Furnace at the Rheem distribution facility in Sacramento, they also picked up the correct LPG valve for the unit. Because in this area so many folks use LPG, lots of new natural gas valves get returned to the facility. Well, when they picked up our new furnace and the box with the new (supposedly) LPG valve in it, it actually had a natural gas valve in the box that had been returned to the facility. And although it's a fairly big valve it does look a lot like the LPG valve, but this valve is kind of a newer technology cause it's actually 2 valves in one..and I don't think these guys had really seen too many of this type of valve cause only the 2 higher end models have them....and I guess nobody actually held both iin hand at once to compare. I guess it's a reasonable mistake and they were very apologetic about the issue. But, none the less, since that " flame roll out " seemed to have caused other issues with the new furnace, I felt I was owned a new furnace...since ours was just a few days old anyway...and they didn't have any problems with replacing the whole unit...cause it was their fault. Anyway, I gotta say, this new technology, compared to our old furnace, keeps every room toasty...with no cold spots....every room is pretty much within 1 degree of each other and the set temp. We are lovin' it!

Ya know, you are right about the Samsung being one of the top 2 in flat screens...and almost all of the Samsung models have the highest ratings. I'd read about our model and it's stats against other tvs by 3 independent writers....But, it seems that Samsung purchased a power supply board from one of the contractors they now outsource through....and a bunch of the boards have a problem....and it turned out that 2 models of TV's got them.....The model I have and one pretty much identical to mine but in a different screen size. Anyway, they just recently found out and we were first told that 1 in 700 had problems....I laughed at that because if that were the case, they wouldn't even condemn that as a problem. But since then I've heard it's more like 1 in 25 or something like that. And most have been replaced already....we just got unlucky and got one that still had the bad board in it. But when it's working...it's awesome. Hopefully tomorrow it will be working again...and I won't have to hear anything more about it from the wife..... ] ]

Thanks Ed.....I'm hoping tomorrow it will be working again. It's really not eating at me as much as it was when it broke.....but, my daughter and wife have had to resort to a 19" set in the living room while we are waiting for the repair to get done....cause I didn't want to give them back the 35" TV that used to be in the living room and is now in the bedroom where I watch TV....It's not I don't want them to have it, but it weighs a ton and its now sitting on top of a 6 foot amoire...and it took 3 of us to get it up there. So, for over 3 weeks now they've had to use my daughters 19" set. Hopefully all this changes tomorrow when they do the repair....

Okay, so, if things weren't bad enough with our furnace going out just before the holidays. At the end of Nov., my wife daughter and I went to Sears, we'd been contemplating the last couple years and doing research on flat screen TVs. So, anyway, just like everywhere I suppose, all the stores do a " Day after Thanksgiving " sale. So, we went shopping. At Sears. Ours is a small Sears outlet, privately owned and carries in stock only some hand tools, tool boxes, fridges, washers, dryers, tractors and some TVs. But you can order anything from the store and generally have it in a couple days. Anyway, one of the " After Christmas " items was a $1000 TV, don't remember the brand, but I remember it was definitely not one that we had been looking at online. Well, in the local Sears flyer, there had been a misprint. They advertised a 46" 1080P Samsung....with all the goodies, card slot, mulitiple inputs and outputs....pretty much a top of the line set at that size as written up by a few video mags. Well, Sears had mistakently posted the correct model number, but had advertized it as a 720i set, and having pretty much no extras, but still a decent TV. They had advertised it a about $500 off the reg price of $1800. Well, this store had recently been purchased and we really didn't know the new owners, but had purchased everything from this store and the old owners since we moved up here 6 years ago. Well, one of the new sales reps ( turns out the new owners son), after finding out we were not interested in the " Day after " $1000 TV, let us in on the error that had been printed in the " Day After Sale " flyer for this other TV. It turned out that the TV they had listed for just over $1300 was actually a $2700 set. Needless to say, I bought one. Now, this wasn't to be for me, but for my daughter and wife as they like a differenty type of programming than I do. It would be put in the living room and the 35" would come back to the bedroom and replace the smaller set I have back there. They didn't have one in stock, but got us one on Monday. Well, to make a long story short....I didn't actually hook up the TV until about the 28th of Nov. On Jan. 4th, I turned on the new set, it started to come on, then went off....and hasn't been on since. Called the owner of the local store. Told me that because it was over 30 days since purchased, that he couldn't/wouldn't get us a replacement, but would get service to fix it. Oh, and we also paid $300 for an extended warranty when we bought the set...and a complete Sony home theater sound system at the same time we bought the TV. Anyway, it took a week for the service guy to come to our home. Said it needed a complete circuit board...which is a power supply board. He ordered the board but said it would be 1 1/2 weeks before the board would arrive at our home, and 2 weeks before he would be back out to install it. Oh, also the new owner of the local Sears store had told us that if it turned out to be something that was not our fault, he would replace the whole set. Well, we told him it was a faulty power supply board, but he then he backed out of getting us a replacement set. Anyway, 2 weeks ago or so the part arrived...the incorrect part. I called the tech since he gave me his personal cell number(turns out he's a car guy too and thought our '48 Dodge was cool). I called him cause I could tell that the part was wrong, he re-ordered the part, and now, tomorrow, 1/31, a tech is supposed to be out to put the correct part in since it arrived 6 days ago. As you've probably figured, the TV has not worked for about the same amount of time as we had it working! Needless to say, I've contacted Sears Corp. office in IL and have sent multiple letters to each of the Executive Officers and am now in the process of sending the same letter to each member of the Board of Directors. I hope to hear something back from one of them soon as it's only been a few days since the letters went out. Although this is a Sears store, I have been loyal to Sears for many years, was was my father and nearly all my tool, appliances, etc have been purchased from Sears and I have never, ever had a problem before with Sears.....but this new owner has really pissed me off. I will still probably make purchased from Sears again, I am sure of it, but, I will drive the 30 miles to the full size Sears store that is not privately owned. Anyway, nothing but fun for me since the old year ended and the new year began. Oh, and sorry for being so long winded, but I just didn't know how to tell this story any shorter......again, sorry.

Hey guys, Well, I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. I haven't been posting for a while cause the last couple of weeks I've just been trying to catch up on the posts....still have a few pages to go. Anyway, some of you will remember that my furnace let loose a couple of weeks before Christmas, and we were actually having the system put in at the time I last posted. Well, even though things started out smoothly, they kind of took a left turn. Since most, if not all furnaces come valved for natural gas, they have to be re-valved for propane. At least that's the way it is up here. Our dryer was the same way...when we bought it, we had to install a propane valve. Anyway, when the company we hired thought they had installed a propane valve ( seems they carry both types in thier trucks), they somehow accidently installed a natural gas valve( which was already installed in the furnace from the Mfg), and fired it up. No problem at first....worked great. On Christmas eve, my wife, daughter and I went to a co-workers home for a small party. When we got home at about 8 PM, expecting the house to be nice and toasty, it was about 60 degrees. Long story short, it was a fairly cold Christmas day and the installer came out that day to take a look and that's how he found the problem. Unfortunately, he didn't have a propane valve in the truck and couldn't get one until the day after Christmas. Next day he got one, but because of the " Flame Roll Out " caused by the incorrect valve, they had to pull the heater apart, removing the heat exchange and washing it. Well, even after the new valve, it did it again, quite working...and again, no heat. The installer wanted then to replace the induced draft blower, stating that's the only other component it could be. Well, I pulled out the manual for the unit, and there was at least 10 other possibilities as far as I was concerned, and I told him to get us a complete new furnace cause I felt at that point that I was paying for a new unit but felt as this unit had already been through the ringer. Well, the end of the next day, the new unit was in, replacing the previous unit. A bit of an ordeal cause we ended up with about 5 days total without our furnace. But the fire place got a good workout, as did I. But man, now it's been nearly a month and the furnace is working great, better than our old system ever did. Just thought I'd update here. My next post is another tale of woe.

Happy New Year to this great group of folks...............Cheers!

From our family .....Happy New Year to everyone here. Hope you all have a safe and fun evening and they continue through a prosperous 2008! Brian, Laurie & Brittani

Hey guys, I'm behind in reading all the posts since the beginning of the month...just been too busy to catch up at a decent rate, but wanted to bring this post up again in regards to Shels' statement about a 6V float charger. There is a charger made by Schumacher (not sure if that spelling is correct)...anyway, it's a 12V & 6V unit. Pretty small in actual size. You can charge either the 12 or 6V at different amps, I think at 2, 4 and 6 if I remember correctly. Anyway, at any of the amp settings, once the battery has reached full charge, the charger switches over to a float charge, and I think it does it for either the 12 & 6V. I got a couple of them from a guy on the bay......He was selling them pretty cheap, although he stated they were returns but supposedly good. But again, the price was right so I bought 2...glad I did cause one seems to only work on 12V....or maybe it just seems that cause it kicks off on 6V but I think my 6V battery is fully charged and may be why it kicks off when I try to charge it. Anyway, just thought anyone with a 6V battery would want to know that I am pretty sure the Schumacher model MW-600A is the unit I have and allows a float charge for both 12 & 6V. Handy to have around this time of year....I originally bought the unit for my tractor battery, a small 12V unit that I've since figured was a bit to old to really benefit by charging it....needed replacing.

Merry Christmas and a safe & happy new year to all my new friends here on the forum. Since joining I have enjoyed many great conversations , sharing of ideas and information and have gotten a wealth of education on these old mopars from many of you. I hope that I've somehow contributed to the site in some way and look forward to being involved in the forum next year a bit more and for the last 5 months of you guys sharing all your knowledge with me and helping me with getting my '48 Dodge in better shape....I thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, again, Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you and your families. Brian, Laurie and Brittani

Sounds good Tim...will keep an eye out for it.

Hey Tim.....I'd like to hear more about the pumpkin rolls...Uh oh....hope we don't catch any flack about recipes again.. But, my wife is a big fan of Pumpkin....and although my daughter and I aren't, what's the possiblility of getting your recipe. I know if I made her some and some extras to take to the girls she works with, I'd be makin' points...and remember, I'll need all the points I can get cause after the first of the year, I'm going to be pushin' really hard for my new shop...and I've almost got her there!

Okay, I'm always quiet when someone rags on Norm......usually it's about his driving to the end of the driveway and back...Anyway, I've always been quiet...but secretly just busting up inside cause you guys are too funny!!...and this " leaving his cave painting behind".....oh man...my side still hurts from laughing.........Just know Norm....I'm not laughin at ya....but hopefully laughin with ya cause the way you and some of these guys go back and forth just plain cracks me up!

Good point about the oven being able to cycle for a set temp.....We only use the oven when the electricity is out for warming up the kitchen and living area.....but have used the top burners to cook on during those times. Hmmmm, that reminds me.....I quit smoking in the middle of Oct.....started using that Chantix....man, after just over 35 years of smoking and trying the different nicorette products...this Chantix is the only thing that has worked for me! I'm on my second of the 3 month prescription....and in the 2 months, I've had 2 cigarettes!.....I've never done that well before. Anyway...I'm pretty excited about that too....but not as much as having HEAT AGAIN....Woooohoooo!

Wooohooooo.....heat!! Man, what a difference.....even our old furnace when we first moved here didn't warm up the place like this new one. Man, what a difference. Heat in every room...even the mudroom! We purchased what they called a " Premium " unit....because it has a 2 stage valve...and a bunch of other qualities I can think of right now.....but, the 2 stage valve is pretty cool cause on intital heating, say if the furnace had been off for a while and the house was totally cold...the unit will use the 100% part of the valve in combination with the motor to get the house up to the desired temp pretty quickly....then after reaching that temp it will switch to the 2nd stage of the valve and varies the motor to run between 60 & 70%....and keep it at the desired temp without having to blast back on at 100% each time. Anyway, we'll see how that option works. But man, this is the first time I could walk to any spot in the kitchen or living room and never find a cold spot. And our new master suite....I'm probably going to have to shut one register in there cause when it was built I had them put 2 in.....and now it gets to the set thermostat temp too quick......But it is Great!! They'll be out this morning...any minute I hope, and finish up a couple hours of work......Wooohoooo!!

Yeah norrism......It's a tax credit we can claim for this year by purchasing our A/C & Furnace.......I think it's rebate either from PG&E....but either way, it will either be good for $300 or $400 off our taxes for this year....every little bit helps.

Yup, your right Norm about the heat exchanger being and item that can go bad and cost big $$ to fix.......we got a limited lifetime warranty on the heat exchanger for our new unit....then a 10 year warranty on everything else. Oh, also, we have the electric ignition on our stove tops and oven as well......and loose electricity about 3 times a year...never has been for more than 7 hours though.....but you can still light your stove burners and even your oven....all ya gotta have is a match.....and you can cook all day with no electricity....

I'd have to agree with you there.....if I could keep my garage even in the high 50's during the winter months...I'd spend more time in the garage and have a better outlook about winter....but to be honest...since we only get a small amount of snow (last year maybe 3 feet ...all in one month and all gone a week or so later) I really like winter......maybe I should think about insulating and warming up the garage as well as the house while I've got the HVAC guys out here. Of course, my 'ol lady would go ballistic if I amend our contract with the company to include heating the garage.....It better get real warm in there, cause I have a feeling the garage would be my new bedroom if I did that! But, hopefully, this coming year I'll be able to build the shop that I've been wanting since we got up here....and even if I can't heat the whole shop, by God I'll make sure theres at least a small room in the shop that has a heater....

If you've been in the computer business then you know you can bet on some electronic part going bad on your heating unit within 10 or 15 years.....but it will probably be fairly reasonable. I was told that about after the 20 year mark is when parts can become expensive...only because they might be harder to find....but I think with electronics as they are today, Boards, etc.....there won't be a problem getting a part for your unit down the road..and at a reasonable price. Our next home I think we may give radiant heat a try......the "above the slab " style where it is part of the sub-floor....I've been wanting to go that route for about 10 years....

Yeah, that's one thing I should look for in our new thermostat after they set it up.......I've always wanted to visit MN....my wife has even been looking at homes there on the internet......I just don't know if we could handle your winters but that being said....I like the cooler weather way more than hot weather...but we only get about 1 month of really hot weather here since we got up here....

I'm with you Tim......I'm not a fan of warmed air at night either. Even with our previous system, when we went to bed, we'd turn the thermostat either all the way off, or set the temp down to 32 degrees...cause it never would get that cold inside over night. Even during the day, while my wife is at work, our daughter at school and me home working, I'd still set the Thermostat to maybe the highest of 68 degrees on the coldest days. I'd rather bundle up in a flannel long sleeve shirt that run through the propane....On the weekends though, when everyones home, I'll keep it a comfortable 71 or so. Probably won't change much with the new system although I may try it for a 3 month period and see how much propane we go through during this time of year as compared to last year. If I can run it more during the cool days and use of propane stays the same....I can live with that. But at night, I don't even want to burn any....that's why we got flannel sheets, electric mattress heating pads.....they do the trick just fine.

You make some good points here grey beard.....I'd thought about the geothermal systems as well. But, we'd put a cap on what we thought the return would be when selling the house, although we have no plans on that until the market changes. Also, the initial cost, as you stated, was going to be much higher. Both reasons why we opted for sticking with the same type of system we have existing. Another point you touched on I totally agree on was based on our mortality......how long will we be around to enjoy or make use of a new system. My wife and I are relatively young I guess....52 & 50....So, God willing, we will even possibly out live the new system.....but, I do feel better knowing that if something should happen to me, at least my family would be set with a decent system for some years to come. And one of the things that are said to be a positive return when selling a home, is the heat/air system....so having the best that you can put your money on is almost a guaranteed return. Maybe not so in today's low market values...but during average market times for sure. Here in Calif, probably like most everywhere, home values took a dive...but since they jumped so much in the previous 6 years, most home owners probably still owe less than they can get for the home so, any critical home system like heat and air will probably never loose them money. Gotta say though.....they sure have gone up in cost since we last installed a system which was to our other home in Santa Barbara 12 years ago that we sold before moving up here. Oh, and 2 or 3 of the HVAC companies that I've spoken to in the last couple weeks said that all equiptment went up about 30% last year....and have been warned of another possible increase in equiptment next year if the economy doesn't stablize. Heads up for those thinking about replacing thier systems...

I know what you mean Eric.....we are going to be sooooo glad when they wrap up in here with the work. I would have had the old furnace repaired, but, a repair guy we had come in said that the parts for our old Lennox were going to be about $1000....plus installation. And the company that deals with Lennox here said that the repair guy was probably pretty close and that even though they were an Authorized Dealer, they don't sell the parts and would have to go through a wholesaler to get them....I couldn't see investing that much into our old system.....maybe if had only been a few hundred bucks to get us through till spring....but not $1000+. Anyway, the guys we have doing the new install say they are going to try and finish up today...but may have a couple hours of work tomorrow. Right now it's 58 degrees in our living room and about 40 outside.....and the outside temp must be dropping cause we just had about 30 minutes of hail. I've got one of those " space " heaters in the living room blasting away.....but doing about nothing. I thought by " space " heater they meant that it would warm up the space you put it in....depending on the size of that space. Now though, I think by " space " they meant that it could be used up in space in a space capsule....cause it's sure not workin' here on earth! Anyway, I've got high hopes that either today or tomorrow morning all will be toasty in the house again.........and hopefully an even temp thoughout the house with the new technology. We'll see.

Yeah Bob.....so far...so good. Although they use installers much younger than I'd like to see doing my install, there's probably not many guys much older, and definitely not my age, that want to haul furnaces in and out of an attic. And, the owner of the company was pretty young himself. I had also gotten a bid from the " big guy " company around here....owners probably 70.....lead tech about 45 and they have a huge building with lots of employees. But, the lead tech that came out first to see what was needed and then again to sit with us and go through thier bid, well, he just didn't make my wife or myself totally comfortable ....having mis-guessed the size/tonage/BTU's of our original furnace was one of the items that didn't really set right with us was one of the reasons we didn't go with them. The other reason was that they were pretty much about 2 grand higher right from the start...and going to be about another 2 grand if we wanted to entertain the idea of new duct work. In total to go with that company and do the complete system....it would have totalled a little over $13 grand.....although that would have included the very top of the line Lennox furnace....a unit they had supposedly purchased for another customer who couldn't get financing for enough money. The guys we went with gave us a quote of $8500 which included everything, including the new ducts and hardware....and my wife and I had already talked and decided to go as high as $11 grand on a system if we had too. So, with the $8500 bid, we really could afford to go another $900 for a better furnace that was going to save us that amount in propane and electrical usage in probably 8 years. Anyway, going with the company that we did, and the pricing being what it is, we were able to upgrade to a better furnace than what they had quoted in the bid. And I've already mentioned how many extras they threw in....not even counting all new ducting. Last night I decided to do a walk through the house and look at all the registers and thier condition....found 3 that looked to be as old and the original heating system. I mentioned replacing those this morning to the guy in charge of the installation and he's having someone bring 3 more out to the house this morning, and just going to give them to us and install them for nothing....You can't beat service like that. So, anyway, when you get ready to go with a new system, it doesn't hurt to shop it...and I did about a week of internet education on the 4 furnace manufacturers and models that I was interested in. All time well spent...believe me.

Hey Guys, It's been probably almost a month since I posted....or close to it. No, I haven't lost interest in the forum or my car.....that won't happen. As a matter of fact, I've been driving it a little more regularly lately....as we come to the end of decent weather here in the Sierra mts. But to touch on my last post...I did get my new piece of moulding on the drivers side fender and man, it sure makes the car look more complete....all I need now are the rocker stainless. Now, about the " Out of Pocket" heading to my post. You may or may not remember that we were/are having furnace problems. Yup, just what you want to hear around Christmas is that your furnace is pretty much toast. So, to make things more comfortable while we sorted out what we were going to do about the furnace, we purchased a couple little heaters and made more use of the fireplace......and started getting bids on a replacement furnace. Well, today is the 2nd day of the new furnace being installed......including all new ducts, boxes, some new registers and even adding a new outlet in the living room and an outlet in our mudroom for when the dogs have to put out there when we have company. Also a complete new air condensor outside and new coil for the condensor up in the attic with the new furnace. They have already gutted everything, have the new furnace and coil up in the attic and have removed or plugged any of the old plumbing and have already installed the new vent for the furnace. I won't go into all the bid quotes we got.....but we decided to go with a company that has been around for many years but not the " biggest " company in town. They were able to offer the " Rheem " unit and because we went with a little smaller company, we were able to bump up from the " middle of the road " model furnace to the second to the top of the model line. Also this company included new and higher " R " value ducting than we had to begin with...plus all of our hardware, furnace, air unit and ducting were all 20 years old except for the ducting we had in our new room that we built 3 years ago. This company also included the new ducting in the bid....but it hadn't even been mentioned as included when they owner came out to take all measurements and such for the bid....so needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised to see the bid come back to us with the ducting & ducting hardware included. 3 other companies wanted between $1500 & $3000 extra for duct replacing...plus they were only going to install the furnace and air units...no extras like new registers and adding the register and ducting to our mudroom and adding a register to our living room. Oh, and originally our old furnace was all the way to the rear of our home......the new furnace and coil have been placed on a platform in the center of the house so most duct runs are a more reasonable distance allowing for a more even temp throughout the home. So, yeah, Christmas time isn't the best time of year to have to deal with this costly repair....but we shuffled some monies around and worked some financing so actually, our bills are going to be a bit less each month...and would should start seeing a slight drop in our propane usage soon. Oh, and of course, they included the coolest new Honeywell " touch screen " thermostat....woohooo! So guys, possibly by the end of today or latest, mid day tomorrow, we will have central heat again.....and lookin' forward to it. Just thought I'd update and let ya know I hadn't been around cause I froze to death in my sleep...but because of all the bids, contractors and running around I've been having to do to get the info I'd need to make an " educated " decision on who to go with.