keithb7

Today was a nice warm spring day. We headed out in our Plymouth with our grand-dog for a romp. We stopped at a coffee shop briefly. When we went to order, the cashier, a young immigrant from India said in a heavy accent, “Oh, so you’re the one with the premium car. I love! It’s premium! I love it!”. I laughed and replied, “Yes that’s my car. I’m not sure its premium, but yes we do like it too”.

Upon reassembly you don’t push the axle, cone and cup all the way in. You put the shims in then tighten the brake backing plate. All gets sucked down to the depth you set with the various shim thickness.

On the 6 cylinder cars I have removed drum. Removed woodruff key. Replace drum loosely. Put nut on a few threads. Use loose drum as a slide hammer. Easily pull axle out.

Do you have a shop manual?

Adam what year is your car? Model? Engine size? Stock tranny and type? Crown & pinion ratio. Tire size and type? Bias? Radial? Brakes stock or upgraded? Stock worm gear steering? It all makes a difference on the car’s capability and comfort (risk) level for the driver. Stock brake systems with skinny stock bias tires on my 1938 stock Chrysler feels a whole lot different than my ‘53 stock Chrysler with 265 ci engine and wide balloon radial tires. ‘38 aerodynamics and the center of gravity sure is tons different than my ‘53 also. At the time 15 years difference was more like 40 years worth of engineering improvements.

Cool. Are you able to offer any explanation on all the punched holes?

Replace shoes is my experience. No amount of break clean will remove the soaked-in brake fluid in the brake pad material. Once the contaminated shoes heat up, when braking you'll feel the car pulling in the direction of the bad brake side.

Sorry edited to removed redundant post.

I thought I start a new 2022 thread of all the fun things I like to do in my ‘38 cars. This evening after work it was time to get under my P6 and hook up the speedo cable again. I missed it with all the excitement of my new engine. I adjusted my clutch. It was a little too high I think. In 3rd if I floored it at low speed i could feel it start to slip. Maybe it’s the extra torque we picked up with the 237? We’ll see. Tonight I headed out for brief trip to the carwash. Then pick up a little beer for Sunday’s practice with my band buddies. Gas was $1.959/L. About $6.16/US gallon in US funds. She’s running good. The tranny appears to be all sealed up well. The modern output shaft seal I got on e-bay did the trick. A little sealant on the main and countershaft ends before reassembly dried those up. Getting better every day. Odometer 99,626 miles

Start at square 1. Release upper cams all the way in. Release lower nuts that you've been playing with the past couple of days. Turn the lower eccentric bolts so the shoes heels are all the way in. Then the drum fits, right? You already sorted that out. Start adjusting from that point. Its not hard. Really. I have no complaints about these Lockheed brakes. They were fun to sort out and made me a better Mopar mechanic. Good times. No complaints.

I woke up at 3 am and the answer hit me. "How fast should I drive it?" 100 then subtract your your current age. Using this formula your current age also represents your chances of survival in a crash at calculated speed. You are 20. Max speed 80 mph. Chance of survival 20%. You are 80. Max speed 20 mph. Survival rate 80%. ?

My ‘38 is seen here. I’m not convinced they improved upon this later. As seem in Harmony’s photos.

Agreed! Much more fun to drive the car and yak with folks at the DQ. Compared to 8 hours hovering over and protecting your car at a car show? I definitely prefer low key, local car scene hangouts than actual formal car shows. At a show last summer I did not enter to be judged. I am not too interested in having someone tell me my trunk floor mat isn't stock. Or my spark plug wires are not period correct. I did't restore my Chrysler anyways. If it won any award that would be awkward.... It would be way more exciting to judge my car's performance versus other same year Mopars. Driving up the big hill home. A timed event. Only flathead Mopars 54 and back. Now that would be fun! 1st, 2nd, 3rd place showing would mean more to me. 1 place for best performance of a tuned up stock flathead with points and mechanical fuel pump. Single cab and single exhaust. Stock air filter, coil, distributor. etc. 218 class, standard and fluid drive for all classes. 230 class 237 class 251 class 265 class. Is there any regional P15-D24 meets? My personal preference, we need one in the Pacific Northwest!

Look at little flat spot at the end of the bolt threads. Thread your nut past this. Grab your pliers or vice grips. Grab on this point to hold the bolt still. Then torque the nut down.

Interesting read. I agree. 50 mph in my 3spd non OD ‘38 Plymouth is comfortable and gives me a bit of peace of mind if there were an accident. Or a deer were to jump in front of me. It seems that at age 50, my perspective has changed. I weigh safety a lot higher on my scale than I used to at 25. Being able to increase my odds of living thru an accident ranks quite high. 50-at-50. Seems like a catchy phrase for my old Mopars. Lol. I will use that in the future. Added anxiety comes from impatient drivers tailgating and showing aggression. I like to minimize this by driving on 4 lane hiways if possible, if I am leaving town. Or 2 lane hiways at first daylight. Summer months, the roads are pretty dang quiet at dawn. Yet my ‘38 Plymouth maintains 90% driving time as a in-town cruiser. Coffee or ice cream gatherer. Showing off at 25 mph and being the center of conversions often.

With an open carb intake, a simple shop rag in your pocket will allow you to choke out the intake very quickly. Have a fire extinguisher nearby too. It never hurts.

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that the dry clutches used in the fluid and torque drive models are not designed for regular clutch use. Slipping and engaging the clutch under load will cause it to fail quickly. Is that true?

Motivation can and often does wean after some time passes during a large project. Simply owning and maintaining an old Mopar is a sizeable project. I can also relate to your comments about the economy and rising costs. It is getting a bit depressing. Yet I do know how good it makes me feel to jump into my old Mopar. Go get a coffee and relax. Just go out and drive it. People love to see it. I can’t help but feel uplifted by all the strangers who approach me to talk about my old Mopar. Whether its my rough looking, beat down ‘38 4 dr Sedan, or my near perfect restored ‘38 coupe, the results are the same. People are very interested in both. Its rewarding, very cool and quite unique to be out there daily driving one of these old gems. These feelings help give me motivation to work on my old Mopars. Yes they are inanimate objects but they do somehow give back for what you put in.

My engine that I rebuilt and documented is actually a 25" long Canadian 1954 Dodge engine. It was 228 CI.

That timing chain was done when Buzz landed on the moon. Suggest upgrading to strutted chain and sprockets. More robust. Springs are cheap. I suggest Buy 12. See Andy Bernbaum. You can view my updated chain and gears here: Goto 3:22 mark.

I too am a couple years into cheapo female connectors. I trim and tin the wires. Side connector on. Crimp. Then solder. Then heat shrink over top.

Vapor lock solutions in 50 words or less: 1. Non-ethanol Fuel 2. 6V Electric Priming Pump w/toggle switch 3. Fuel pump heat shield 4. Thin metal base plate at carb base 5. Phenolic spacer adaptor at carb base Two other options I have not tried: Heat shield around fuel lines. Cloths pins, I simply refuse to try this.

Every time I take my '38 car out, on the way home every time , it's wide open mashed in 3rd for about 3 miles up the hill home. My modern vehicles record very poor average MPG. I really don't want to know what my flathead would net. Unfortunately no, I cannot answer the original question. Sadly we hi-jacked the thread. Yet it was a fun discussion. Sorry. I'm guilty.

Every time I take one my cars out, I get approached. People ask questions. They want to take photos. Sometimes I pop the hood and proudly display the engine. I beam about Chrysler engineering as I point out the hidden unknown things from 1938. Imagine the embarrassment when I opened the hood to show them clothes pins! Nope. Not gonna happen. Not on my watch Walter P.