keithb7

An alternator is sort of like a really efficient charging device, when compared to a generator. A generator does the job however only when a certain rpm is reached. An alternator charges very well, even at idle. A generator does not. Lots of idling, say in a traffic jam has your old 6V generator equipped electrical system running off your battery. Draining your battery. Especially if it’s dark, headlights, heater and radio on. draining it. That won’t happen with an alternator. Additionally I think the voltage regulator needed for a generator, is not required for an alternator. Another item that needs maintenance and adjustment. Your generator may appear to be spent. However it could also be the regulator needs adjustment. Get a good battery. Charge it fully. Get a multi-meter. Check some DC voltages. With and without the engine running. Drive the car some. Monitor the voltages and you’ll know what’s going on. Does your car have an ammeter in the dash?

To confirm: You installed new cylinders and brake shoes. Correct? Now you cannot build brake pressure to bleed. Did you do anything to the master cylinder? You mentioned that you were away working for a while. By chance were the lines at the cylinders left disconnected while you were away? Possibly draining the MC, allowing plenty of air in the brake system? If so, and you are starting bleeding from scratch, using the brake pedal, it can take considerable time and pumps to get air out. Also, if there is excessive shoe to drum clearance, the shoes may not be able to contact the drums. You press the brake pedal, push the wheel cylinder pistons out, but it’s still not enough to travel the shoes out far enough. Then you don’t feel pressure at the MC pedal.

Seems for old Mopar car owners this is the top spot to hang out. It can be difficult to gather much attention in a “Parts Wanted Ad” in the classifieds. The best place to be, from what I can tell, for the home of old Mopars is here. Probably worldwide, the top spot. Unfortunately the classifieds section is a ways behind.

1 have been using 1/O. Works well but could be a little stiff for some tight areas. Check your routing.

Lots of great contributors here on this wonderful forum. Everyone helping each other out. I’m personally considering a trip to Hershey in 2020. Just to take it all in. Enjoy the car culture. Tour the car show. Attend the huge swap meet. Visit other interesting sites in the area. My understanding is, Hershey is one of the largest old car gatherings in the USA. I’d be flying there. It’s a long drive from Western Canada. I was thinking there may be other members like me, who have never been to Hershey. Folks here who might be interested in attending. Also folks who have been before. While we’re there in a central place, perhaps we can meet up and have a good social. Perhaps some folks who are able, will travel in their Mopars. Maybe we could organize an unofficial P15-D24 car gathering, and meet in a parking lot somewhere nearby? Perhaps a brief group tour could be organized? Maybe to a few surrounding historic sites. Anything interesting. There are many, many helpful folks here who I’d enjoy meeting. I’m wondering if an event like Hershey would attract several of us? It would be fun to possibly see any member’s cars. We’ve got a year to plan, gather support and ideas. The fall Hershey meet takes place in the first week of October every yearbb Any interest? Thoughts and ideas are welcome. Keith

Nice car. Good deal. Old 4 door sedans are fun cars and are to be had at very attractive prices. They don’t have the 2 door cool factor that many want. However if you just love old cars, working on them, driving, and maintaining them, sedans fit the bill nicely. Especially if you like to keep your hobby expenses in check.

Jealous!!!

It’ll be up to you if the hiway speeds bother you or not. I’d be more concerned about stopping at 60 mph. As you eluded to, taking a “long-cut” is part of the fun in an old car. I am set up with a truck and trailer for long distance trips. If I want to take my old Chrysler. I get thinking about something breaking down 100’s of miles from home in my’53. I ponder powertrain wear and tear. I think about driver position. My back issues. No AC. I can make lots of excuses not to drive it 200 miles each way in the summer heat. I think the main reason is I just have not gone through absolutely everthing. The engine is using more oil lately. The diff and tranny I have yet to get into. I have no idea when everything was last rebuilt. Everything works, however do I have the confidence for a 400 mile round trip? At hiway speeds? No. So far I’ve put about 3500 miles on the car with no major issues. Some regional hiway trips. Upto about 100 mile loops on the hiways. Just the one time, we ran out of gas due to the inaccurate fuel gauge reading. Recently I’m now hearing a howl in the rear end. I’ll get to it this winter. Likely a pinion bearing. This confirms I made the right choice when I trailered my car to a distant car show earlier this summer. The car, how much confidence you have in it, it’s mechanical condition, it’s comfort and drivability, your own personal wants, all will dictate how far, and how fast you’ll drive it. I swear, ignorance is bliss. I’ve seen folks with old cars they just bought. Barely a thought about then car’s mechanical condition. Very limited mechanial experience, driving to distant car shows. Happy as a lark. At hiway speeds with old unknown bias ply tires. One guy had a tire separate on the hiway and damage his rear fender. Throws on a spare and carries on. No worries. I can’t/won’t do that. The more I know, I can manage my risks accordingly.

Posted for sale locally here this week. 1951 218 engine. $100 CDN. That’s about $65 US funds. It’s a 218 ci 25” Canadian built block. Was running when pulled. Certainly tempting to go grab it. Am I correct in that this block could be bored to a 250, or even a 265 size if one needed to? Several parts should transfer over to my ‘53 265 engine. It’s difficult not to become a hoarder. How do you guys walk away from this stuff? Or do you just keep buying it and stacking it up out back? He’s also selling the matching 3 speed manual tranny for $50 CDN. Including clutch and bell housing. Right here in my back yard. No freight.....Sigh.

Out for a cruise and some ice cream tonight with my car club members. Nice warm night. When I got home I did my final checks on the car. I noticed that the carb will need to be resealed soon. Parts are wet and I actually saw drips. Guess I’ll order a new kit right away. Starting to hear a gear howl developing. I susepct diff. Sounds like another winter project.

Re bearing installation: Hammer won’t work. I tried. You need a press or at least access to one.

Interesting. The car has horn wiring hooked up. I might add, with no relay. It certainly looks like someone got creative with the horn. Lots of fun learning here. Thx.

Traceing what I “think” is the original harness around the car I’ve found another head scratcher. A wire comes down the firewall, mixed in the large wire bundle that is sheathed. I traced the wire to the end of my steering gear box. It goes into the centre of the cover/end plate of the gear box. This seems odd, no? Looking in my original ‘38 manual I see nothing related to this wire. I took a pic. You can see the black wire and a connector in the wire. The other end of this wire was flopping around not connected to anything. Near the oil filter/starter area. However it was encased in the original factory harness. Any ideas? Thx.

LOL. I bought a carb kit recently for my carb. About $50. I disassembled the carb and soaked everything in lacquer thinner for a couple weeks. Reassembled...Set it up. Done. It appears my labor is worth $645. Good to know. I'll quote that amount next time someone asks if I could rebuild their carb.

My first new harness will be installed tonite. The headlight harness. I used 14 ga throughout. Deutsch weatherproof connectors inside the headlight pods for ease of pod removal, when necessary. I bought new 3-connector headlamp plugs with wires. I quickly reasoned that they were built for 12V use. I removed the smaller wires and upgraded them to 14 ga too. Mo’ better’r for 6V lights. My lovely wife builds electrical harnesses at her place of employment. I gave her my removed, original 1938 harness and this is what she brings home. I guess I have formally decided to build a safe, reliable 1938 car. I’ll keep it stock where it makes sense. Upgrades where it makes sense too.

I am pretty sure I see a seal in that pic. Not all seals look the same the metal outer flange area of the seal. The seals in my '53 video are different. Just different manufacturing process. Some look like this: Some look like this: Or: I have also seen another design looking like the seal in your axle photo. Based on what I saw in my axle, there was no fine machining to look like your axle housing does in the top pic. In your pic I see see a line where the seal housing ends, pressed into the axle housing.

Here is some info on the outer seal that is mounted in the backing pate: https://youtu.be/E4FiF6h5mtQ

Slide hammer with the little triple claw on the end pulls the old seal out nicely. Here's how I did a few things. Seems to have all worked out well. A press is recommended to remove the bearing race from the axle shaft. As well as install the new bearings. https://youtu.be/2TlQvMxLeEY

Thanks @dpollo. What you say about the input bearing makes sense. When I let the clutch out in neutral, I hear a bearing. I was thinking clutch pilot bearing. However both pilot and transmission input shaft would be spinning too, correct? When I get in there I’ll change both. Do think that hole in intake manifold the pipe plug is for wiper vacuum? Thx.

With my vacuum gauge in that intake manifold hole, the needle is rock steady at 20 in/mg. Blipping the throttle the needle quickly drops to zero. Then upto 25-30 in/mg briefely. It soon settles down back to a rock steady 20 again. Seems really good? I’ve never done a vacuum test on an engine before. I was hoping the gauge would assist me to find the right idle mixture setting. Turning the idle mixture screw in, eventually the vacuum reading starts to drop and the engine sputters. Taking the screw back out the engine settles at 20 again. If I keep backing the screw out the gauge does not change. It stays at 20. I must do more research on this task. I’m missing something here maybe. This 1954 228 L6 seems like a pretty solid old engine. I have little clues on how long ago, if ever, it was rebuilt. It has no smoke showing out the tail pipe. I recorded decent wet/dry compression around 100. It starts up very quickly when cold. Oil pressure appears very good on the gauge. Idling and purring nicely here now. I’m feeling a little fortunate with this engine. We’ll see how it performs when I start taking it out in traffic and pulling the big hill home.

Vacuum wipers...I hadn’t thought of that. Well before my time. The wipers don’t work. I hadn’t gotten to that project yet. I bet you’re right. Wipers...

I found the problem with rough idling. I was looking for a place to hook up a vacuum gauge. I found a spot alright...A pipe plug with a hole in it. Wonder what maybe was supposed to plug into this pipe plug back in '54? Maybe some type of dash pot at one time? It is a good future tap to test vacuum. Maybe I'll tap the hole and install another tiny pipe plug. Thanks. Keith https://youtu.be/cfwg-3xpeYI

@Sam Buchanan you make a valid point. Perhaps I’ll change the oil and get a visual on the oil. After I run new oil for a while maybe send an oil sample to the lab for analysis. That would tell me if bearings were failing. I drive a 1928 Dodge once in a while. The tranny gears howl pretty good in it too.

Thanks for the tip John Reddie I will place it nicely and keep it in mind. Well the points bolt is not a 4mm. I crossed my fingers and got the old one re-installed. I have located a good stock one from a contact on line and will put it in when it arrives. The car is running better. Here's an update as of this afternoon. Gear two seems to make it sound like an old Mack Truck. Keep in mind carpet & underlay are all removed so it is louder in the cab. https://youtu.be/mHlEWJQ5_UQ

Thanks. I do quite enjoy driving, showing, and talking about my Windsor around these parts. So far I have yet to see another at a show I have attended.