keithb7

Ok getting to relays again. Further to what @Merle Coggins had to say in post 78 in this thread. I went thru a box of spare parts. Located 3 relays. Also removed a couple that were in my ‘38 car. They were not wired up properly to work. I have 3 different types here. I believe all are grounded thru relay frame, thru car frame. Two top right are Relco Remy. Stamped 775 6V. With both “H and S” stamped on the both outer two terminals. Centre terminal not labeled. Bottom right also Delco Remy with integrated fuse. No terminal markings at all. There is a terminal on each end of the fuse. That'll be a fuse in series for the hi-amp circuit I suspect. Safe to say these two types are both suitable for head/fog lights? On for long periods? Far left two no brand name. Made in USA. “H B S” terminal marking. Horn, switch, battery. Better suited for intermittent use such as a horn? I’ll get to testing these now. Ensure they all work. We have working stock hi and low beam headlight circuit tonight. The light is certainly not all that bright. I hope to improve that with 2 relays, 1 for each beam. Hi and low. The stock circuit has full lamp power from the battery to ammeter, then going to the headlight switch then down to the hi-low beam switch, then out to the lamps. Lots of room for resistance there! Then there's the ground wire soldered to the inside of the rusty lamp bucket. "Good clean grounds" that I always hear about here, is what I kept hearing my head while I worked on the circuit. Pre-war old cars. So much fun!

I too have warmed up to a drive-on scissor type lift. They often get up high enough up to sit on a shop stool while under the car. Additionally brake and wheel work can end up at a nice waist height for working. Their downfall is tranny, drive line access is sometimes limited. Depending on design. There always seems to be compromise. For me the ultimate solution would be a 2 post lift. No room though. I digress.

I have not used those particular ramps. I have however given these type of ramps some considerable thought. I think to myself: This hydraulic set only allows you to lie down under the car. Ok for oil changes. Ok for some other work under the car. Like oil pan reseal. Bottom end engine work. Tie rods. However you can’t do wheel & brake work. Tires must stay on the car to use these. If you had four of these could get all corners of the car up. However you can’t sit up on a stool to work under the car. These take up considerable storage space compared to a bottle jack and two safety stands. Using safety stands under the frame rails gives you access to everything. What is the benefit of these hydraulic ramps versus the old drive-up simple $50 set of ramps? Or folks who cut and stack 2x12 lumber to build their own drive up ramps? For a person who may struggle to get jacks and stands under a car these may be better. That’s about all can think of. Not very useful for me in my experience. I prefer a floor jack on wheels and safety stands. Feel free to convince me otherwise.

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to post and share this. Great to see mopar lovers around the world.

If you are unsure what to order call a parts company and tell them what you need. Let them provide the parts. If they get it wrong it's their problem and you can send them back. As mentioned there is a left and right inner, left and right outer. RH and LH threads. In my car the left outer and the right inner are the same part. The Right outer and the left inner are the same part. So you are likely buying 2 of one part number, and 2 of another. Having a parts manual for your car can be very helpful in times like this. You can look up the original part number and search it out on Ebay. I found two NOS tie rod ends listed by the original Chrysler part number. Seller did not know what they fit. He just had the part number as listed on the box. I got a smoking deal on a pair of OEM originals. Off-shore cheap ones made today are not great and would have cost me considerably more. Out smarting the seller is a good tactic! Keith

Thanks for the tips folks. I removed the knob and bezel last nite using taped up needle nose pliers. Then the switch easily came out. I decided to order an NOS replacement switch. I decided its 81 years old so a replacement won’t hurt. Although I agree I could have likely opened it up and cleaned the contacts. New switch was $25. I will attempt to make a tool for reinstallation.

I found this on here, but info is dated. Seller seems to have vanished off of E-bay. http://p15-d24.com/topic/31764-dash-nutbezel-removal-tool/?hl=%2Bbezel+%2Btool

Try pic attached here. Does that work? Thanks @RobertKB

If someone has some clues on how to remove the pull-knob type light switch I'd appreciate it. I can't seem to locate any info in my OEM shop manual. The old switch seems corroded up pretty bad internally. Lights are flickering and dimming when I wiggle the switch. Thinking I will replace it. There is a chrome ferrule on the dash where the pull knob comes though. I suspect it dresses up the mounting nut that I think is behind there. Not wanting to get ram-y and pull stuff apart so thought I should ask here first. Pic below.

Use the minimum amount of gas you need to run the engine briefly. That way if an accident occurs and flames erupt, you have little fuel to burn. Get a fire extinguisher and have it nearby. Always a good idea. Then later mount it in the trunk of the old Desoto.

My wife is laughing at me while I sit in my black dark garage, inside my ‘38 tonite. Today was a small step for car repairs , but a giant step for my own benefit and motivation. Tonite we have dash lights in the Plymouth! Super exciting stuff. I felt nostalgic sitting in there enjoying the old gauges. Feeling like a passenger might have in 1938. The wiring re-work is progressing. The rear chassis harness and fuel tank are back in place. Today I cleaned up a fair bit of badly deteriorated wires. More to go, but just wanted to share my progress.

@desoto1939 is right. A service manual is so very important if you own, and want to work on these great old cars, yourself. I have spent countless hours researching books in a small vintage Mopar library that I seem to be building. I cannot imagine how I’d have progressed without my old books.

A real life pic:

My ‘38 even has a stock hydraulic activated switch. Follow your brake line along the LH side of the car frame. Under the seats look for a hydraulic switch. 2 wires plug into it. Brake lines screw into it. See here, black arrow pointing to it in my ‘53-‘54 parts manual. Yours will likely be similar.

Re fall photos: The leaves aren’t quite as far along as I’d like. I will have to try again every Saturday for the next several weeks. I was thinking, we can sure get to know these cars inside and out. We spend so much time going over every little thing. Tuning & adjusting. Repairing & Rebuilding. Maintaining them. We cruise and build memories in them. They become endeared to us. We can almost feel a pebble stuck in a tire. A tiny new little noise or a shimmy leads us to our garages immediately, to address. Great times these old cars create!

It’s Canadian thanksgiving again. How time flies! I have so much to be thankful for...Really. Its a great long weekend to take an old car out. I have come to realize it’s become a yearly tradition for me since I bought my Windsor. A thanksgiving cruise to enjoy the fall colors and snap a few pics. Here I am about to leave my driveway. The engine seems to be purring as good as new. All proud and dressed up for a tour today, she’s giving me her best.

Wow. Some great pics of the fall colors and your Meadowbrook on your property. Your personal refuge looks very peaceful and beautiful. How very fortunate. The Meadowbrook looks right at home there too. You've inspired me to take my old girl out for a drive today. The foliage is turning nicely here too. 39 F here this morning. At this time of year the heater in these old cars brings some sort of magic to a cruise I can't explain. So cozy. So relaxing. Like a heated warm blanket somehow. I am excited now to get out. I will also post some pics on my thread!

I hear a low pitch noise under certain conditions in my ‘53. Could be gears. Could be a bearing. I have an interesting howl in my ‘38 drivetrain too. I do hope this tool helps me narrow it down. I’d rather not spray parts at various systems and hope I get it. This is why I commented that I look forward to using it. I have two good opportunities in front of me, for it to earn a spot in my tool box.

Found thi diagnostic tool for $3.50 today. Pretty happy about it. Works really well! Very sensitive. I look forward to trying it out on a noisy bearing.

Legally I am not allowed to guide, however if you’re coming thru Kamloops on your way to Alaska, l may be able to bring you along with me moose or deer hunting. I just got in from an overnight hunting trip with a few buddies. Lots of hiking, I’m sore tonite. No bucks seen but we had fresh grouse for dinner. Lots more hunting to go as the season here in my area ends on Dec 10. My grouse gun seen here is a Henry .22 lever action. This gun is amazingly accurate. Great stuff out of New Jersey.

I installed my rear frame harness today. I am getting ready to install the fuel tank. Before I do that I opened up my fuel line at the front of the car. I blew compressed air through it. There was a fair bit of gunk in it! As seen in the bottom of this container in the photo below. Next I’ll pull out the questionable 6V pump that is mounted up on the firewall, pulling fuel. I suppose I’ll research prices for a new mechanical diaphragm fuel pump. The quality of a new mechanical pump could be questionable. Then decide if I’ll run a mechanical pump along with a 6V back up. Or run just the 6V pump only. The new 6V pump, I’ll install near the tank to push fuel, versus pulling and lifting fuel.

I am interested in learning why some exhaust valves are whiter in color than others. I assume they are running little hotter? Maybe from a tighter valve clearance? Maybe other cylinders are a little lower in compression, leaving more residue on the valves, so they are darker? Or maybe the darker cylinders are burning a little more oil?

A stimulating topic! I’ll say my part. 2 things: I have the fluid torque drive in my ‘53 265 Windsor. The engine oil is pumped out the rear of the block and into the torque. Then cycled through and dumped back in the crankcase sump. Continuously! It takes about 13L each time to change my engine and torque oil. I suspect this system will stay cooler in stop and go LA or San Fran traffic. I must admit that on really hot summer days, I’ll clutch in at a red light. Not sure why really. It just seems helpful. Have you ever had your old Lockheed brakes staying on? It happens and its not fun. My ‘53 was new to me and I had no idea. In the beginning I noticed the rear brake lights were staying on. When I walked away from the car I’d see them. I started pulling the rear 6V bulbs to save battery power. That was 2 years ago and if I recall those 6V bulbs were dang hot! Burnt my fingers pulling the bulbs. So ya they get hot. Since then I rebuilt my brake system and all is well.

Can’t remember the last time I had to parallel park this big old classic. Strong arm arm steering. Had lots of room luckily. No bias tires helps too! No complaints. Just an excuse to post.

We all get in a funk from time to time. We can’ see clearly through the self induced fog we create in our heads. We get frustrated further and further. We say it can’t be this or that because we dealt with this or that already. A fresh set of eyes and a rested brain go a long ways when we get frustrated. We can do ourselves a favor by walking away for a week or so to cool down. Not many of the vintage Mopars here are daily drivers, nor our only car. So we often can just walk away and wait ourselves out, to calm down. I like trouble shooting engine issues with a compression test. A vacuum test. A good known strong battery and fresh highly volatile fuel. Even a little gas in a hand spray bottle! I can usually stay on a good path with all those variables behind me. Lord knows I’m not infallible though. Everything car related that I learned in the first 40 years of my life, I think I took the most difficult path possible.