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Found this old cast iron tractor seat at a farm auction here in southern Alberta,(tractor was nowhere in sight). I was aware that Chrysler purchased Maxwell Motor Company and on further research via the internet I found that Maxwell manufactured a tractor post WWI,prior to the Chrysler takeover....Anyhow I now own part of a Maxwell tractor...?

I was doing some searching on motor oil for our old flat head with tappets. Alot of discussion has been posted over the years about the lack of Phosphorus and ZDDP in the motor oil and alot of owners are worried about the camshft lobes and flat tappets get excessive wear. Castrol has recently started a new product for our classic cars call CASTROL GTX CLASSIC 20-50 weight. I wrote to the Castrol Company and was asking for the amount of ZDDP and Phosphorus that is in each quart. They did indicate the parts per million for each. So if you are worried about the lack of these two products then you can use this newer product. I have found out that some Walmart stores carry the Castrol GTX classic product. The average cost is around $23 for a 5 quart container. Suggest that you either singon to the web page for each store and search for the product or go to your closest store. I have attached a copy of the information that they sent me. Please note that this oil SHOULD NOT BEUSED IN ANY OF OUR MODERN CARS THAT HAVE A CATALYTIC CONVERTOR. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Castrol GTX classic 20-50 oil zddp & Phosphorus.pdfCastrol GTX classic 20-50 oil zddp & Phosphorus.pdfCastrol GTX classic 20-50 oil zddp & Phosphorus.pdfCastrol GTX classic 20-50 oil zddp & Phosphorus.pdfCastrol GTX classic 20-50 oil zddp & Phosphorus.pdf

Nearly a year later, I finally got the cowl vent hinges unseized.

I did check them while hot and running. You can feel the right tug of the feeler gauge. I'd shut off the engine and to make an adjustment. Then fire it up again and test the gap while running. It was an interesting experiment. However, I also have achieved great results when setting them cold and adding .002" to the spec. If you do want to set them hot keep in mind hot coolant temp does not mean the oil and block are hot. It takes quite a while to get the oil hot, the block fully warmed up. Take off the inner fender access panels and go for a drive. If you can drive up some hills it will heat up quicker. Flat driving, it'd estimate 20 mins of run time to get everything up to temp.

Thanks everyone for the perspective. I am a driver of an original and not inclined to change things to modern. My problem is that 5 months of the year the car is parked due to winter conditions and I don't want to risk damaging my coupe. That means during the summer I take every opportunity to drive, to the store, to a car event or to the Provincial capital 75 Kms, that 46 miles away. Easy 55 mph and play it safe with extra distance, hand & mechanical signals, pulling over and making sure I know where I am going before I get into trouble trying to find a turn or off ramp. I think the most fun is when I am at a car show or club event and I invite someone to sit in the car and they experience the feel of the old stuffed seats that I enjoy during my drive. Yep it is a different world out there in an old car but I wouldn't change it for anything.

Is this what you are looking for? I haven’t used the PM feature before, but if this is what you need, PM me and I’ll try to figure it out.

In 1976 when i was in high school , driver ed class the tex book had a few words about 3 on the tree . when going into 1st & rev hold the palm of your hand toward you . when going into 2nd & 3rd palm of your hand facing away from you .

At the same time I was talking with the Zerex vavoline rep we also talked about the VR1 motor oil. He stated that the VR1 was developed for the more high powered cars, hotrod that everyone is switching to and for the performance engines. They added the extra protection becasue of the wear with added protection. He basically stated that with our low rpm flat head engine and with the average speeds that we drive them at and the low acceleration factor that the use of the ZDDP and Phospohous was not really needed. The regular oils of today do have stronger anti wear additives that are 100% better in quality than what was used back in the 1920 and later uptil the 1950's. So basically we even dicussed that the Walmart branded oil is of great quality and was entirely better than the oils when our cars were produced. My point that I am trying to get across to the owners is that you no longer have to go out and purchase ZDDP in a bottle as an extra additive. The Castrol GTX Classic now has it mixed in with the oil. So baiscally you will spend around 20 dollar for 5 qts of regular oil so why not spend the extra few dollars and th eoil will include the ZDDP and Phos additives. Yes this has been dicussed many time so basically it is personal choice for each car owner to determine if they want to use it. I am not getting any endorsment fees. Just rying to pass along new product info to the members as to inform them of the motor oil product that they can use. This is what the forum should be all about. Providing updates and links to information to keep our cars running and new products. Comments are always welcomed. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Horns & relays are a big mystery to me. Just throwing out ideas. Seems the horn gets power from the relay, pressing the horn ring makes the ground & complete the circuit for the horn to blow. So just touching the wire to the relay should not complete the circuit without pressing the horn ring at the same time .... maybe you did this? I have a long wire with alligator clips on the end I use for testing things. You tested the horns and know they work, I would use my test wire from the column to the horn bypassing the relay. Then test your horn button is making contact & it works. Wired this way the horn should activate when the horn ring is pressed. Again a truck horn button would be different from a car but I think the principle would be the same. Inside I would expect to to find a spring holding the horn button out, two brass or copper contact plates. The wire would be soldered in some way to a brass contact plate ..... There is a few potential failure points here. The horn button is a simple electrical switch & need to verify it is working.

To the best of my knowledge, there was never a DeSoto branded truck sold in the US. For Canada I believe they used the Fargo branding.

I was at a swap meet last week and ended up buying this 1965 Dodge D100 Utiline. She spent most of her life on a ranch in Coty, Wyoming. 225 slant 6 with 4 speed manual and 3.55 rear end.

I set mine cold mostly because of the headers I have. .002 added to the intake, .003 added to the exhaust spec. Checked one cylinder hot once and the intake was right on spec and exhaust was slightly loose. Remember, slappy valves are happy valves...

Yes they are certainly allowed. They were made 37-41. The 37-38 are a little more unique as they followed the car styling compared to 39-41 which is basically a dodge with a different upper grill and tailgate. I've got a basket case 40 stashed for a future project

Wow.....you got a color matching dog for it too! ? 48D

the same thing happened to me the clutch pressure plate spring are heavy not able to push clutch fork by hand that looks ok to me not saying throw out bearing is correct or not the leverage created with pedal is why we can compress the pressure plate springs at the clutch fork for my p-15 it says to have a 1/8-to-5/32-inch free play at clutch fork should give the one-inch free play at pedal the clutch return spring looks right to me should have tension when installed once it is all together you need to make all adjustments then and the pedal will bounce back into place you may need to adjust all linkages btw i learned some new things with the water pump thread who knew water pump grease

You are missing a washer between the pedal and the master cylinder. The parts manual shows it. The spring you are calling a clutch return spring, isn't one. It's to take the slop put of that part of the linkage and retract the release bearing.

Yep, my go-to oil for the past couple of years. I have it dropped on my porch by Amazon. ?

The plastic rub blocks on modern points without proper grease .... or even with! .... As it wears away, it will close the gap on your points changing the dwell affecting the timing. When you adjust your points, you rotate the engine til the plastic rub block is on the peak of the distributor cam for the widest point gap. Then you set the points to whatever it is suggested for your car. If the plastic rub block wears away because it has no grease, the point gap will get smaller & smaller .... to the point they no longer open the points. Naturally you want to check the point surface to see they are wearing flat & smooth with no pits burned into them. Example would be, If you leave the key on & walk away, the points are closed ... there is electricity passing through them & possible to weld themselves closed. When you start the engine, the weld breaks away but leaves a pit on one side and the points wear uneven because of the metal on the other side. Of course could simply be a screw that holds the points in place worked loose. Just need to re-adjust the points and tighten it. Just a few reasons why points were replaced with electronic ignition .... They work great but they require maintenance. All above could explain your issue. Could be many other things like a coil failing .... points would be the first thing I looked at.

I don't know the length, but it normally sold in bulk lengths Local hardware store handles 6 and 12". I think they are 3/8sq, but just measure the width of the axle groove. And, they aren't Woodruff keys, just plain key stock. Woodruffs are arc shaped, and the shaft socket is cut with a circular cutter cutter.

ALSO could be a condensor going bad also check the points gap and also the condition of the contacts in the top of the dizzy cap to see if there is any pitting and also the rotor. When the car is just started is there any type of sputtering when cold or only the sputtering when the engine has gotten hot? do you still have the original coli in the car. This also might be starting to wear out. Also check the little wires in the dizzy to make sure they have not lost the clot covering. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

problem fixed ,it was the rod into the master cylinder was too far in!

I contacted the Zerex Antifreeze technical service department regarding the proper Antifreeze that we should be using in our old cast iron engines. The rep informed me that we should be only using the Zerex Green Original Antifreeze for our cars that uses the IAT technology. We should not use the OAT type in our cars. Please read the attached information sheets to help you understand what product to use in your cars. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.comAntifreeze in classic cars.pdf Zerex Original Green Antifreeze .pdf Anti-Freeze and flushing cooling system.pdf

Wasn't 65 a cross over year where they had an early and late design?

Where I live in Maine, it's mostly 'back roads'. My P15 does 60 mph with no problems. I've been driving antique jeeps my whole life so I understand being aware of others on the road. When my Model A is finished it will be the same. My head is on a 'swivel' when I drive the old vehicles...no radios, cell phone to distract me. I also make it a habit to pull onto the shoulder, when safe, and wave the cars along that are behind me. (I actually wish modern cars would do the same if the driver is being a 'road hog'.) I keep my distance when in a line to be sure I can stop in time and use my hand signals when turning. What I enjoy most is the fact that the driver has to pay attention and actually drive the car instead of modern vehicles that are too easy to drive....meaning little challenge to staying aware of everything. Craig

You can't have too many cranking amps available from the battery. The starter will only draw the amperage it needs to run. The most common issue for good cranking function is poor, or too small, battery cables. Larger is better. Make sure all connections are clean and tight and the cables aren't corroded. Also, be sure your battery cables are 0 gauge at minimum. If the cables are too small, or there is a lot of corrosion within the cable and/or connections, then the cables will consume some of the available amperage which will cause a voltage drop at the starter motor. This voltage drop and poor current flow will be more detrimental to the starter than to much battery.

Using the new welder I built a sit down creeper. Started with 20 foot sticks of steel and ended up with this. Don't think I made a good choice on the rubber wheels so I'll probably change those out for steel wheels. I used the lay down creeper I have and pictures from the internet as a guide. This was a cut to suit, beat to fit and paint to match project. The end lifts I have only get the car about four feet off the ground so this will make it easier to do lube jobs and other work under the car. All in it cost about 75 dollars to build. The upholstery guy in our group gave me the material to cover it. I used hinges from a door I replaced for the pivot points. The back lays down so it can be used for a lay down creeper and then the seat raises for a head rest. There are ones similar to this for sale but I decided to try building one. It was a fun project.

There are two up positions and two down positions on the shifter. Up and towards you is reverse. Down and towards you is first. Up and away from you is second. Down and away from you is third. It sounds like you are hitting third, which is real common for someone learned a three on the tree shifter.

Thanks for the response. I did read up on the Truck O Matic and there were some diagrams and troubleshooting included and it all added up to why I always get manual transmissions in everything I own. It looked way simpler than the automatics and usually more fun to drive. I've been doing some research since you mentioned the M6 and it mentions a fluid drive coupling attached to the flywheel and conventional clutch mounted in tandem. I saw something attached to the end of the tranny tailshaft as well that looked like a torque converter. That wasn't part of the Truck O Matic? So the conventional 3 speed manual transmission from that era can mount with the fluid coupling in place? Does it require a special clutch from that era to clear the coupling? Will any later manual trannies fit? I'd really like a 4 speed manual on the floor if I could find one I really appreciate anything you can tell me! The truck looks like a pretty solid unit but unless I can find a solution for the Truck O Matic with a good donor pool, it will probably just sit in my barn forever and I'll kick myself for buying it.

1941 - Quite a fleet!

VINTAGEPIC: saw this'n on the FB