keithb7

Good to see a great car, out every month of the year. In Canada. Unseasonably warm here too. Felt like May today. Sun shining. T-shirt weather. We hit 15C today. Planning to take mine out this weekend.

I wish...Born too late I guess. By the time I was 16 and buying gas, it was all selfserve in my area. The mom & pop gas station was pretty well gone by my time (1987). I’m enjoying the early job stories here so I’ll share too. I think I began a paper route at at 10-11 yrs old. Pops encouraged me (actually more like a threat) to work and earn my own money. I remember it was an early morning paper route. I’d set my alarm for 5AM. Rip up the road on my bike. There was a wooden bin box up the road where I grabbed my bundle of papers for my subscribers. I timed my self each day, working my route. I worked and found efficient ways to get papers delivered in record time. 6 days a week. I recall getting back home 25-27 mins later. Sweating pretty good. I’d strip down and hit the sack again. Heart pounding. I could fall asleep again in seconds. Then wake up for school at about 7am. Lots of memories out there killin’ it in the dark on my bike. Pedaling like a maniac trying to better my record time. I went on to picking vegetables by hand at a local farm. Then finally I was legal to work at 14. Took my first formal job at McDonald’s flipping burgers for $3.65/hr. Worked like a bugger all through high school to keep my crappy cars on the road. Weekends and evening shifts were needed when dating hot chicks! Lol. I was busy. My grades suffered. To this day I still can’t turn away an opportunity to make a buck. Silly jobs that I don’t need. We make a good living, my wife and I. Yet I can still be found plowing a neighborhood driveway with my ATV for $30. Or some other simple task for cash. Silly me, I can’t help myself. Work ethic was ground into me. Thanks Dad. My wife shakes her head at me sometimes for sure.

Following-up to close out this thread. Thank you to a couple of outstanding members here who “pay it forward” I secured the proper gland nut. Tonight I took my head to my local friend’s garage. He used his machinery to drill and tap the probe hole to ½” NPT. Now we should have a properly functioning bourdon tube system from 1938, in my 1954 engine. I too shall pay it forward when the opportunity arises. Thanks.

Great news. Glad you were able to solve it completely, and quickly.

I was trying to tear down a frozen engine last year. I finally got the piston rings freed up. Pistons and rods out the top. Crank still would not bar over with a 32" long breaker bar. Then I got to the valve train, as it was still frozen and not allowing the crank to turn. Guess that point I could have removed the timing chain to see if crank would turn. You can't remove the camshaft until the valve lifters are out. Cannot get lifters out until valves are out. What a bear of a job that was, to try and teardown rusty valves that were frozen. I reassessed the situation and stopped. I took the whole lot of it to the scrap yard. My goal was the learn all about the internal workings of the Mopar flathead 6. I accomplished that. The block had been sitting partially disassembled since about the early 70's. Frozen valves, with the tools and methods I used...Not fun. I found another pile of scrap Mopar parts including another 1949 218 engine for a heck of a price. I tore it down happily and easily.

Things can happen unknown to us, causing bad symptoms that leave us scratching our heads. Try and erase all you have done, and start over like you have no knowledge of the work you did. Start fresh and begin trouble shooting. The recent work you have done is likely influencing and limiting your troubleshooting to solve this. Here is an example: I had a decent running engine. I took out the spark plugs to gap and clean them. Put them back in. All plug wires were labeled upon disassembly and put back in proper order. Car would not run right. Very hard starting. Misfiring bad. Would not idle. What the heck did I do? It was a simple task. I started tearing in and checking things. Ignition system, fuel, you name it. I was scratching my head like you are now. I was running out of things to check strictly related to the work I had just done. I was flustered. Finally I broke down and started over with a compression test. I found a couple of low psi cylinders, and 1 was completely dead. I took the head off and found a bent valve. WTH? Why? I dug around a bit with a flash light and a mirror and found the remains of a small hex screw. 1 piece was in the cylinder, another in the exhaust port. The screw sure looked like one that would mount a voltage regulator to the firewall. Which happened to have 1 of the 4 mounting screws missing. The car was new to me at the time. I had only owned it for about 3 weeks. The previous owner had probably dropped a screw and never found it. Seems that it landed down in the well of the sparkplug mounting hole in the cylinder head. Where it sat, until I lifted the plug out. Into the combustion chamber it dropped. Unknown to me, I had put the sparkplug back in and started the engine. A bent valve was the result. I learned a couple of good lessons from my example: 1. Be diligent in using compressed air around the spark plug base to clean out any dirt or other foreign objects 2. Asking questions on the internet will get you tons of different answers, leading you down various paths. Getting the right answer from someone, is like winning the lottery. Kind folks offering assistance are blind to what you are seeing there at the car, throwing out ideas to check. Also their responses are influenced by their personal experiences. 3. Open your mind to any and all options when troubleshooting. Don't zone in on the work you did. Old cars have about 1 million things that can go wrong and compound. 4. Study automotive theory. Read lots about it. Then lots more. A deep understanding of all automotive systems will improve your troubleshooting skills immensely. 5. I leaned how to do a valve grind by hand. Lol. That was the biggest lesson. My problem is likely not your situation at all. I used it as just an example how things can unfold with car maintenance sometimes. To maybe guide you to remove the blinders you may have on, due to the work you just did. Good luck. Keep at it and report back. We can help guide you. Just because we all like photos....Here was my eureka moment when I pulled the head. Doah!

I’m doubting the exhaust flapper valve has much to do with the rpm complaints. However we are blind here, can’t see whats going on. My exhaust flapper valve is wired shut on one of my cars. It doesn’t seem to cause me any issues. I don’t drive it in winter months though. You’ve certainly got an interesting combination of symptoms going on. Maybe more than 1 thing is acting up. I’m thinking fuel related somehow. Yet carb swapping never fixed it. Back firing thru the carb? High idle. Wont run. Hmm. Wish I was there to help troubleshoot.

If you are interested, here is a pic of the underside of where your carb mounts. Bottom view of the intake manifold. The exhaust gas is deflected up into this cavity area to quickly heat up the carb base. Helping gas vapors stay in suspension.

Interesting...The KEW stamped engine was in cars down under. Indeed the engines could have been built at the engine foundry in Windsor, Ontario Canada. My understanding is they only offered the 25" engine there in the in-line 6 engine. Small 218 (218.06 ci), up t0 265 (264.5 ci) engines were offered by mixing and matching various throw cranks and bore sizes. I believe bores were either 3 ⅜ or 3 7/16 only, in the 6 cylinder. The 250 you mention in your Dodge , is this the one many folks refer to as the 251 that was the Chrysler engine? Spec'd at 250.6 ci, 3 7/16" bore x 4 ½" stroke? Have you measured your stroke? The pipe plug atop #6 cylinder, in the head allows easy stroke measurement. I am not sure if the 38 Dodge ever had that engine when new. Sorry I can offer much info. I am interested in learning more.

A/C Service instructions are available if needed. Let me know. Sorry I couldn’t find anything in my library on decoding the build tag.

I had a look in my original ‘53 Chrysler owner’s manual. Nothing mentioned on how to run the AC. I did find operating instructions in a service manual I have here. It covers all Chryco cars in ‘53 and ‘54. 3 pages to show here:

So this A/C speak of is indeed real? I’ve never witnessed it outside of the book drawings. Cool!

Herb really gets into the meat. Pretty deep. I quite like his writing and delivery. This new found book and knowledge, should really help my trouble shooting skills overall.

I feel compelled to come back and declare new further research, and depth of understanding. An old book from 1942 era helped me understand fuel droplets and condensation at cold engine temperatures. Today I happened upon a used bookstore in a town outside my home region. I enjoy seeking out old automotive technical books. This book seen below was published in 1972. A lot of further research and development occurred since 1942. The section I just read on intake manifolds, manifold heat, and fuel delivery was fantastic. I won’t go on to bore you with too many more details. However, I learned that the ability for droplets of fuel to stay suspended in the intake air is not only effected by air temperature, but also air velocity. The slow moving intake air /fuel mixture at idle can tend to allow fuel droplets to fall out of the air and collect on intake manifold floors and walls. When cranking over to start an engine, the crankshaft and pistons are turning relatively slow. Air is moving slowly thru the carb and intake manifold. Fuel droplets fall out and drop down. The fuel droplets also condense on cold parts (as mentioned in my earlier post). A double whammy as the engine tries to flash up. Add a poorly maintained 6V system and a cold weak battery, the cards truly are stacked against the poor old engine to start. Eventually as the engine and the A/F mixture gets heated up by the engine heat, now we get good efficient delivery to the combustion chamber. Air/Fuel that has condensed and may have collected at manifold floors evaporates now too. It takes flight now, and finally arrives at the combustion chamber efficiently. My goodness, good stuff! Worth the $5 alone I paid for the book. If you seek earlier automotive technical learnings, this book delivers. Sorry if I interrupted this thread. -K

I ordered and installed brand new bias black walls on my '38 Plymouth. I figure it was a lower-priced model car, for the average working Joe or Jolene. Who buys the cheaper car in 1938 and puts white walls on it? That's just my opinion. I went with Coker. Bought them from Summit Racing web site. Free freight. Coker was charging a premium for freight. For my 1953 Chrysler, I bought brand new Coker Radial, wide-white walls. Expensive? Ya, sorta I guess. But the old car deserves it. The Chrysler was a premium product. Good chance I figure that back in '53 folks might have been more inclined to buy white walls and fancy chrome spoked rims. The difference? The radials float along and offer a cushioned, track-free ride. However my big old Chrysler does not have power steering. The bulge in a radial tire makes it harder to steer in low speed applications. Like pulling into a parking spot. Or parallel parking. The bias are firm and do not flex. Low speed, strong arm steering wheel manipulation is easier. However the bias tires do want to follows ruts, cracks in the road. Sorta like they have ADD. Ya gotta be ready with the steering wheel at all times. I read that putting radials (they bulge and flex) on original rims designed for bias tires, can cause pre-mature failures of the old rims. Cracking can develop from all the tire flexing. Transferring additional stresses onto the rim. Seems believable to me. I run tubes inside both types of tires. I am fortunate to own 2 cars and 2 tire options. Spoiled. Preference today? For me personally it makes no difference to me. Both tires have good and bad points. I just can't imagine putting wide white wall radial tires on my '38. For me it just doesn't work. You do whatever you like and I'm good with that. Just leaving my experience and opinion for you. - K

I don't know where the dealer would have installed it, however personally I don't like adding anything to the ignition circuit. I'd tie power into the aux circuit if there is one. So when the key is on then power is sent to a switch, then on to the blower motor. 6V? Will probably need about a 7A fuse. I'd add one.

All this talk about graceful aging has stirred up some feelings about my '38 Plymouth sedan. The engine is currently out and I am in the process of rebuilding it. I have the opportunity now to clean up the engine bay. Paint the engine. Coat engine compartment body parts in POR-15 or something similar. Really doll it up. Now would be a great time to unbolt the fenders. The radiator nose cone, hood and side panels are already off. I could clean everything up on the front end. Sand it down. Prime and paint it. Then eventually work my way back toward the rear. Yet, something tells me no. There is something appealing about the car looking like it just came off the farm. I can't quite say what or why. Maybe it's the running board's rubber worn right through to the metal underneath? From 80 years of families going on vacation. Or maybe blue collar working Dads going to work every day? The dent and dings here and there from a teenager learning to drive. Or a house wife going to the grocery store every week. There is something oddly appealing about a mechanically sound, reliable daily driver. One that looks like it's been driven every day for 50, or even 80 plus years. There is something satisfying about good old American grit that is still out on the roads today. An example of great American engineering that just keeps going. I can't say with confidence where my '38 will end up while under my care. Yet the journey to get there will likely be the most enjoyable of any car I have ever owned.

All the scars revealed. I still like it. I respect it as it still puts on the miles and bring the smiles year after year.

I gave my chosen parts supplier my VISA number on Jan 1. As of yesterday my engine rebuild parts have still not shipped. I asked why. They are still trying to locate connecting rod bearings. I immediately did some research and found some within 15 mins, on E-bay. I found .0001" oversize. My crank is in decent condition. I will polish it 0.001" and use those bearings. Should be great! I wish they told me a month ago my entire order was held up due to the con rod bearings. Why do all these businesses like Eggy, Vintage Power Wagons and others, advertise parts and prices for items they can't supply? I have not yet taken my block to the machine shop. I won't until I have all my parts in-hand ready to go. This winter engine project began in late Oct 2020 when I pulled the head. I did not expect to be starting engine re-assembly in mid to late April 2021.

Agreed, fuel evaporates. You might have a little left in the carb bowl. When you floor the accelerator pedal once, if there is enough fuel left, you might get 1 squirt from the accelerator pump into the carb throat. The engine may fire a couple of times then die. You could also not get any fuel into the cylinders. Depends how much has evaporated from the carb. The mechanical fuel pump has to crank over, pumping fuel from the rear fuel tank, up into the carb bowl again. That can take a while of cranking. This is likely what you are experiencing. Refiling the carb bowl is accomplished by cranking the engine over with the starter. This turns the camshaft, which causes the fuel pump to do the work. You could install an in-line 6V electric fuel pump. You turn it on for 5-10 seconds, before cranking the engine over. The electric pump will fill the carb bowl quickly. For further depth if wanted: The fuel bowl is vented to atmospheric pressure. Fuel can and does, easily evaporate. Especially with all the ethanol in it. When the pistons are cranking, up and down, they are creating vacuum. This vacuum is present and manipulated up in the carb venturi. A low pressure point, less than atmospheric pressure is present now in the venturi. This little magical situation draws raw fuel from the carb bowl, via the jets into the venturi. If the car has not sat for an extended period, there is enough fuel in the bowl to allow this to easily happen. Saying that....You need lots of extra fuel when the engine is stone cold. The reason is, the raw fuel that enters the venturi is vaporized into a very fine mist. Like a heavy fog hanging over a cool swap at dawn, in the fall. When the engine is cold, this misty air/fuel mixture sticks to the intake manifold walls, and intake valve ports. It condenses and form droplets on the walls. So a lot of the fuel does not make it inside the cylinder to combust. So we choke the air supply off. Closing it with the choke valve. Then the vacuum created by the pistons, draws additional fuel, more than normal, into the carb venturi. So more fuel can get into the cylinder, even though much of it is sticking to walls and forming droplets. We often experience and recognize this as a rough running engine, until it warms up. This is due to uneven amounts of air/fuel mixture getting into each cylinder. As the engine and all its parts warm up, the nice misty fog does not condense any more. The choke opens up. Some automatically, some manually. A nice even-flow of air/fuel reaches the cylinders and we experience a nice smooth, even running, idling engine. This image illustrates this phenomena.

21" TV was considered a giant screen! Go back and tell someone in 1954 that in the year 2020, an 85" TV might be considered half decent, in your living room. They'd look at you dumbfounded and probably write you off as unstable.

I don't follow the news much. All I know about the cold weather and snow in Texas is what I read here in this thread. Sounds like a rough time. 40 hours without power or water? How cold did it get down there? I am hearing more of these disasters where the power grid goes down for a considerable length of time. I recall an ice storm in Quebec a number of years ago. Then there was the fires in CA last year. Generators got all bought up in both instances. The Texas cold mentioned here recently. I assume some folk's water pipes in their homes freeze up and burst? Then there is the hurricanes and tornadoes. Maybe I should invest in a bigger gen-set? Mine won't power up much. I am not a doomsday'er type but the recent news in Texas is making me think about my back up plan. I do have an RV trailer. I keep about 80 lbs of propane on average around here. If it were winter, It could run the RV furnace to heat the trailer for quite a while. I should maybe stock up on a little extra bottled water. I don't keep much here other than what comes out of the tap. A good reminder how dependent most of us are on modern supply chains of food, fuel/energy and supplies. If the trucks ever stopped rolling the stores would be barren in short order. This thread is about gardens. Majority folks today could barely yield a carrot. Let alone a crop, then store them for a year of eating until the next harvest. Look at how people panic'd when covid was first spreading? They all ran out and bought toilet paper! Lol.