keithb7

I have driven across the USA border back and forth many times a year for the past 40 years. Don’t try to hide something illegal. Don’t lie about any questions they ask you. If you’re straight and clean you have nothing to worry about. If they want to search your let. Let them. Sit back and watch them go at it. They’ll find nothing anyway. Once in a while you get a mall cop who got a promotion to a border agent job. They are generally miserable at work. Seem to have a chip on their shoulder. Asking stupid condescending questions. Just smile and answer them. They can be ignorant. Don’t stoop to their level. Don’t be a smart alec or try to make a joke. Simply answer their questions as brief as possible. Leave your firearm at home. Don’t try to bring any food north. No fireworks. No booze. No carton of smokes or cigars. That kinda stuff they frown upon. If you have prescription drugs you’ll be fine. Enjoy your trip to Canada. You’ll be fine here. Fill up your fuel tank in the USA right before you enter Canada. When you get back to the border, to re-enter USA show up running on fumes. Fill up as soon as you get back into the USA. You’ll save likely at least $50. You’ll need a passport. Do you have one?

Looking here in my records the strait 8's of that era had various stroke lengths. You may want to measure your stroke to confirm. The optional higher compression ratios were created by different cylinder head combustion chamber sizes. 1935 Through 1942 the Chryslers, there were a 3 different of straight 8 offerings: Some have 3 ¼" bore x 4 ⅛" stroke 273.8 ci std compression ratio 6.7:1 optional 7.4:1 110 BHP optional 115 BHP Some have 3 ¼" bore x 4 ½" stroke 298.7 ci std compression ratio 6.2:1 optional 7.4:1 110 BHP optional 122 BHP Some have 3 ¼" bore x 4 ⅞" stroke 323.5 ci. 6.5:1 compression ratio 130 BHP It would be fun to take the 323 ci engine and put the optional high compression ratio 273.8 head on it. I did this with my Chrysler 6 and gained about 7-8 psi. Here's hoping you have the beefy-baby. The 130 HP offering. I love the purr and smooth balance of a straight 8.

Rock Auto. Your local parts store will have these. Just give him the Fel-Pro number. Don't tell him year/make/model. You gotta have the gasket in there. A little exhaust dope on both sides helps too.

By the 1970’s the rest of the industry started all doing what Chrysler had been giving us since about 1933. See here:

The seat is where the valve sits to cool. Although very briefly lol. The ejecting exhaust gasses are extremely hot. Over time the seats burn up, pit. Can’t seal. They don’t hold up well under the extreme heat. The intake valves remain relatively cool. They are cooled each time fresh cool intake air is drawn into the engine. They too are cooled when the valve sits in its seat. The valve seat area lasts as it stays cool. No need for hardened insert seats. Just the exhaust valves need them. Without them we’d be doing valve jobs alot more often. We would need lead in our gasoline like the Ford & Chev guys. Yet we don’t need lead additive. Thanks Chrysler for not cutting corners to save a buck and giving us lower maintenance costs.

Seen here the upper valve seat has an insert. It is an exhaust valve. The lower valve seat has no insert. You'l hear people often call them Stellite inserts. They are not. Mopar bought actual Stellite brand exhaust vavle seat inserts and ran a trial of them in their heavy trucks. In the early 30's if I recall. The results were excellent. So the metallurgists at Mopar got to work creating their own recipe for hardened inserts. Then they were there to stay. We all benefitted with them in our cars. When you cut your own valve seats, after doing a few inserts, the bare block at the intakes without any seats feels like butter. It seems to melt away so much easier. The inserts are very, very hard,

Had my Chrysler out last night for a cruise with Mrs. We went to Costco. Indeed we had conversations with strangers about it. “Is that an 8 cylinder?” “I’ll guess 1936”, another said. I educated the Ford and Chevy fans on the fine Chrysler engineering of the day. They backed off the dial a bit when I brought up full pressure oil system with oil filter. 😃 We came home on the 4 lane hiway. I pushed in the cruise control knob and floated home at about 55 mph. What a pleasure to drive.

I never noticed any smoke at all right from initial start up after I rebuilt my engine. At this point in the video link below I had less than 3 mins operating time on the new engine rebuild. What you see here is condensation from a cold exhaust system. It very quickly disappeared into the air. Smoke lingers and has a blue hue. Are you seeing smoke or moisture? https://youtu.be/7y6MCwyD4aQ?t=988 My oil control rings seemed to need no break-in time. They appear to have scraped the cylinder walls clean right from the get-go.

I’m not convinced a steel rim that was designed for bias tires is safe for use with a modern tubeless radial tire. I feel safer with a tube in there, behind the radial when used on an older rim. Tires that bulge and flex, absorb bumps, (radials) I think are transferring different loads and stresses to the rim. A rim designed for bis tires may be compromised over time with a radial tire on it? Wondering here, not sure on the facts.

My personal thoughts on whitewall or black wall tires: In 1938 the Chrysler was a fairly premium model. People who were pretty well-off was likely the target buyer. The bank manager might be an example. I like to think they would probably be more inclined to pay a premium for whitewalls. The Plymouth was the low price entry level model in the Mopar line up. The shoe salesman might have been more likely to buy one. Less bling. Fewer features. I tend to believe they would be less likely to pay extra for whitewall tires. This is why I have equipped my cars as such.

She's been well loved for sure. Ownership, care and maintenance is a major factor. Lots of people across the past 100 years have, and still do ,treat their car as just another tool. They'll defer costs and drive the wheels off it. Any hint of downtime, go get a new one. Many just do the bare minimum until something starts acting up. Preventative maintenance is unknown to many. I like the saying that many people treat their cars just like their fridge. You just buy one and use it until it breaks. Then buy another. In many instances its as true today as it ever was.

One of my ‘38 cars has bias. They are brand new Cokers that I ordered. My other ‘38 car has white wall radials. Bias size and look, but radials. I don’t notice the difference any more. I must have just gotten used to the way each car handles. I too like the original driving experience of bias. Its fun. No complaints.

It could throw off your valve timing. Is your engine running rough after you set the valves?

I bought my ultrasonic cleaner based on the plan if I rebuild a carb once it’ll pay for itself. It worked awesome. I did my ‘38 Chrysler carb. Excellent results. Then my lawn mower carb. Its as good as new now too. Then a hydraulic block. Some head bolts. Thermostat housing. On and on. It will get used many times. It’s earned its keep. Now it just keeps saving me money and time. I have been adding 1 cup of Spray-Nine. Then fill the rest with water. Works great. Mine is the 15L size.

I like The Carb Doctor. I’ve bought a couple carb kits there. No issues. My advice is, if you are going to attempt to rebuild a carb, you should acquire an ultrasonic cleaner. They work amazing.