keithb7

The first car wash of the 2020 season was just completed on my Windsor today. My annual insurance ran out a couple weeks ago. So no joy ride today. I’ll likely insure it tomorrow and get out for a cruise. This pic tells a good story about what goes on around here in the spring. I work on cars. I help my son get his motorcycle serviced and ready to ride. Then in the background, if you look, you can see my lovely wife pressure washing the driveway. She’s a keeper man. The pressure washer has a Honda gas engine that can kick pretty good. She even pull starts it herself. I tell her I love her everyday!...No not the car.

I have a plan for pin stripes on the rims. I have a question. Should the Plymouth writing on the centre cap be painted red?

Is there anything else is tied into the 6V circuit when the key is turned on? For example electric fuel pump? Check that the wire from the coil down to the distributor is in excellent condition, especially where it enters through the distributor housing and into the points. These little fibre washers in there have to be in place. Ensure the wire is not grounding out in this area.

Bob the transmission noise could be caused by a couple of things. A good start to troubleshooting the repair is understanding how it works. The transmission needs signals from various sources to work properly. Your problem could be related to electrical, mechanical or hydraulic problems. Have you checked your tranny oil level? It's important. Low could mean the piston is not able to fully engage a shift. A partial shift could lead to gear clashing and the awful noise you are hearing. If you are inclined here is some great reading that will help you. http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/023/Cover.htm http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/012B/cover.htm http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/024/cover.htm My initial thoughts are the tranny is trying to shift so the hydraulic pump, valve, and cylinder should be ok. Lastly, I put this video together to help people understand how the tranny works. Perhaps this will help a little in understanding things:

Today I was out for a walk in the warm weather. I happened to walk past a local independent garage. Above each bay there was a message; “Tire changes”....Ok. “Oil Changes”....Ok. “Tune Ups”....Huh? So I continued to walk, and now my idle mind had something to think about. I thought about a tune up for our old Mopars. Which might include: Oil bath filter. Clean filter wire mesh in kerosene. Change oil in filter housing. File and set points. Change capacitor. Set ignition timing. Check and set idle RPM. Pull, clean, gap plugs. Check, inspect, replace if needed distributor cap and rotor. Maybe check engine vacuum at intake manifold. Check choke operation, set as required. Tighten carb assembly and mounting hardware. Check & replace if necessary sparkplug and coil wires. Engine compression test. Grease 50 plus points. Possible additions: Minor/major brake set. Check axle bearing end play. Clean grease/repack wheel bearings. Set clutch free travel. Set master cylinder free travel. Test, clean, set voltage regulator. Valve grind. Compared to a 2019 Car that’s due for a “Tune up”. What exactly are people paying for? Plug in and check for fault codes. Reset tire pressure sensors. Toss and replace air filter. Fill window washer fluid. Lol. Us old guys who look after these vintage cars are patient, determined people, mastered in a dying skill.

Thanks. Could only do so much with my iphone to fix it.

Mine’s Canadian build. So maybe they used the I-beam axle. My stock front axle has upper side leaf spring mounts. However no spacer blocks, as the one for sale does. Mine seen here: have no idea why its posting upside down lol.

Hopefully not hy-jacking the thread, away from the original question. That is a nice looking car. Front and rear suspension looks like stock type leaf system on all corners. My stock 38 axle is I-beam type, this one appears tube. Diff carrier looks maybe stock type however upgraded rear drums appear more modern. Spacer blocks used to lower. There is a ton of good work here. Thinking about the time invested, wow.

https://www.uniquemankato.com/vehicles/1477/1938-plymouth-coupe-street-rod

Those attachments won't open for me. I am interested to see what was done to this car. I'm imagining 75 mph speeds in a car that was never engineered to likely go over 55, could have some serious safety issues.

Did you go with the Dodge 3 speed manual transmission? Will it have a steering column shifter? If so, have you found a steering column with shifter? I have a car with a fluid torque drive. So far so good, but a back up plan is reassuring. I picked up a 1949 218 with flywheel, bell housing, clutch. Also thrown in was a 1953 speed manual tranny and another bell housing. I think the tranny and 2nd bell housing came out of a 53 Belvedere. With the bell housing and clutch I may be able to make these parts work if needed in the future? I will follow along your tranny swap and learn how you do things. Thanks for posting.

Any theories on why the main jet seemed to be adequate as the engine was operated when the transmission was 2nd gear? Yet in 3rd gear the air/fuel ratio fell flat?

I've made a great living, from what started out as a Parts guy. An official "Partsman", used to be a red-ticket recognized trade here in Canada. BC anyway. I went to 1 year pre-apprenticeship school. Studied all the systems and parts of automobiles. Air brakes. Warehousing, Inventory control...Everything. it was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I maintained high grades. It seemed I had truly found something that I was interested in. After that schooling, I broke off into Heavy Duty Equipment parts studies. Now I was at a larger trade school studying earthmoving equipment. Dozers, loaders, graders, excavators. I remember inspecting and measuring my first set of dozer tracks (undercarriage). I really liked learning about hydrostatic drives and axial piston pumps with swash plates. I tried to drop the term "hydro-static drive" into a sentence whenever I could with my common friends. It made me feel smart as they had no idea. After about 18 months of studies I started looking for work. I wanted to work in the Heavy Equipment industry. Ideally at the local Caterpillar dealer I figured. I took a job quickly at at local Auto Parts store on the front counter. That was fun and I learned a ton dealing with people. I kept applying at heavy equipment dealers. I did get hired at the John Deere construction dealer. Not farming equipment, the yellow earth moving Deere equipment. Dozers, loaders graders etc. I was offered an official part apprenticeship which I completed over a 3 year period. Now I was a Journeyman Heavy Duty Partsman! I was happy. I worked the parts counter for 10 years at that Deere dealer. Then I quit to go work at the Caterpillar dealer. 1 year on the parts counter there really opened my eyes at how massively large Caterpillar is in the heavy equipment industry. It was after that one year that I was lured into outside sales. I sold parts and service in a sales territory. Then later I became a machine salesman, selling new and used CAT equipment to various customers of all sizes. 10 years into the CAT dealership I had a pretty darn good grasp of the business. Parts, sales, and service. However I had not really too much experience with large mining customers. So I made a move into mining. I worked closely with massive mining customers helping them keep their CAT equipment running at maximum efficiency and profit. I still do it today. I am in my 17th year at the CAT dealer. I started as a "wet behind the ears" parts guy when I was 20. 28 years later, I can say it has served me extremely well. The companies I have worked for have spent a ton of money training me over the decades. So much technical stuff. Failure analysis studies is amazing. Today I still read and study automotive engineering books to really grasp what I am doing when working on my old Mopars. I work and play around some pretty cool machines and people. The days of the official Partsman seem to be fading into history. I have been very fortunate. Here I am at work about 15 years ago. Just a parts guy who kept at it. I was sure excited to be out there. Still today, a trip to the bottom of a large open pit mine visiting equipment and customers beats a day in the office every time!

If you can rev the engine up under load to high RPM in second gear and all is fine, yet in the third gear, at same RPM the engine acts up sputtering....I'm stumped. What's so different in the engine when it revs to the same RPM? The engine does not care what gear the transmission is in. I suppose air speed is greater to overcome in 3rd gear at 60-63 mph, compared to the same RPM in second gear. So there is a greater load for the engine to overcome. More torque is required I suppose to overcome this wind resistance, as well as the 3.55 diff gears while maintaining 60-63 mph. I assume you don't have a tachometer to tell us what RPM the engine is running at 60-63 mph in 3rd gear?

Two years of putzing with your rebuilt 230. Are you able to provide a summary of some of the things you have done, and tried? I'm thinking about all the various things that could make your engine run out of oompph at higher rpm and load. The engine starts to bog down. Under those conditions you are running off the main jet fuel circuit. When you push on the gas pedal for more, the accelerator pump should provide a squirt of raw gas into the carb venturi. To provide the extra fuel needed. Is that happening? Instead of quickly pushing the gas pedal, if you slowly and gently depress it, does the engine slowly pick up RPM, or still bog down? What if the valve timing chain is out 1 tooth in either direction ? At higher RPM it sure might bog out.

Some perspective:

What model/year car do you have. What tranny? Recently I tore down a 1938 201 engine on an engine stand. It had a 2 pc rear seal. There are 3 small bolts that hold each seal half, in place. They are located between the flywheel and the engine block. Specifically, between the crank mounting flange for the flywheel, and the block. The upper seal half mounting bolts are difficult to access. Removing tranny and clutch will gain access to flywheel mount bolts. For some reason I recall the flywheel will be stuck up inside the bell housing and not come out the bottom? Perhaps it can somehow be propped out of the way to access the seal bolts? The flywheel housing is not overly easy to remove either, with the engine installed in the car. I suspect it can be done but I’d be inclined to think it’s a fairly time consuming (aka frustrating) job. I tend to think that pulling the engine seems like a better option if you have tools and space. While the engine is out lap the valves too! Roll in all new main & rod bearings. Slide pistons/rods out, hone cylinders and re-ring it. See this is what gets me in trouble and why I have not done this yet. This video shows my findings. https://youtu.be/cIzZAhkxJIU That’s my perception. Fine folks with more experience will reply shortly.

Someone mentioned vacuum advance. I was wondering for my own understanding: I thought vacuum advance initially activated early stages of timing advance. Due to opening of the throttle, initially causing high vacuum. Then as the engine sped up, centrifugal weights took over the breaker plate advance. Therefore top end engine speed would be more effected by centrifugal advance. As opposed to vacuum advance. Am I understanding the theory correctly? Thx.

I have a tweed suitcase I throw on the passenger seat with my fedora. People notice and I get some comments.

¾ of my brakes have been reassembled. Everything cleaned up. New seals. New lines. 1 more to go. Soon. Staying with the budget theme, I started to paint my rims. A friend thought POR-15 for my sandblasted rims would be ok. Would work well against any corrosion he said. I painted the inside. 3 applications. Seems like good hearty paint. I won’t use it on the outside though. I’ll prime and spray paint with something else. The POR-15 is thick but will run. I just brushed it on. Every time the can is opened it seems to be thicker the next time I use it. Tonight I added a little lacquer thinner to it. Seemed better. Good enough for inner rims on this budget revival. Would make great paint for a trunk lining too. I may just do that. Should I be priming the inner centre part of the rim? It’ll get a rubber strip around it, then the tube, at time of tire installation.

I went with Coker radials on my '53. 225/75R15. I had removed bias ply tires. I do love the radials on this car. Much preferred over the old bias tires. Smoother ride. Easier steering. Less tugging and following the road ruts. Saying that I just ordered 6.00-16 skinny little bias tires for my '38. More authentic look for it I think. No white walls either in '38. I guess I'll have 1 car of each type of tire.

Really? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Worden_(CG-18) Cool. Now we know the name association! Keith

Well that's great news. I hope it all works out for you and it's worth the trip and back to collect the parts. I keeping hoping my lucky break materializes some day. LOL.

@Todd B call Sam Howell 570-751-8929 after 5 pm Eastern time. FB has evolved tremendously since early times. There is no need to friend anyone. No need to see or read any stupid drama. Join your favorite “Private or Hidden” only hobby groups and utilize marketplace. Good to go. My daily feed on FB is dedicated to vintage Mopar cars. Which incidentally, is how I saw today’s ad in Kentucky for 1928 Dodge Bros parts.

No number listed on the ad. Facebook uses its own instant messenger system. I have contacted the seller on your behalf to ask for a phone # and or email address. Will let you know if he responds. Facebook sucks in a lot of ways. However, unfortunately many millions and millions of people use marketplace to sell items these days. Ads you may never see if you are not a user of FB. When it comes finding parts for a 92 year old car, I recommend all options be considered. Regards.