Fluid drive

Have any of the other brethren that contribute to this forum found a reliable re chrome shop? The last adventure I had was harrowing; I wound up sending a pair of bumpers back to the shop I used three times- Rock Island Plating . I've been thinking about having the bumper bars on my '36 Plymouth sedan refinihed but I do not want to go through the process of trial and terrible errors again. Thanks! Fluid Drive

Bam: When Don asked you why you would torque those studs 'wet' he was asking an important question. It is important that the threads and nuts are clean and a free fit and that they are dry. Any oil on the mating surface between the nut and the head can cause serious over torquing and failure unles things were radically different in the 1920's. Fluid Drive

Don: If you are working on either stud and nut or capscrews in the head it is very helpful to install grade 8 washers underneath them so that a true torque reading can be obtained. L heads on the MoPar engines are thin and prone to leakage in between the cylinders and the use of washers ( I buy them the size of the head pads and bore the I.D. to a free fit on the bolts/studs) and Copper Plus head gasket cement will greatly reduce the chance of that happening. I agree that this is the time to replace that clutch, have the pressure plate (the single most out of balance part of the drive train) and flywheel computer balanced along with the internal engine components. I've been rebuilding these engines professionally for 40 years and the improvements that can be made while you have it apart are well worth doing. Fluid Drive

Thank you!! Roy was one of my heroes!! FLuid Drive

Although the 'official' word is that Plymouths were not offered with overdrives in the 1930's I have an old AC speedometer box that lists cables for the 1936 models equipped with overdrive. Chrysler was a company that has been known to offer Plymouths with Chrysler equipment if the customer wished to pay for that equipment. I have an overdrive in my '36 that I completely rebuilt a number of years ago. I rememebr that it is labeled "Motor Improvement Corporation" and is simply a mechanical overdirve without the ignition interrupter and kickdown switch the later O.D used. The early units were housed in a one piece case and I had no modifications to make to my clutch or linkage but I did have to shorten the driveshaft. If you have questions that I can answer regarding the installation of that kind of an accessory please email me. Fluid Drive

In some states they can /will consficate the vehicle if they stop you and the numbers do not match--VIN and title. In many places it is possible to obtain a title through the state by going through the motor vehicle dept. I have been that route in th epast; I had to post a bond and wait while they researched the numbers to make sure no leins or record of theft existed. Then a DOT officer visited me and verified that the car I was registering was in fact the car they were issuing the tags for. Then I was able to get a legal and matching title. Fluid Drive

All of the originals that I have seen ( the older models that had firewall mounted coils ) were like that. Usually the wires were spread around the protruding brass end instead of being left in one bundle. If any sort of a cap was ever used I'd like to know about too! FLuid Drive

Please do not think that I am trying to impose my tastes upon anyone else but I wish they had left that bus an original + It is a '37 anyway! Unless I'm wrong again Plymouth didn't start their truck line until the 1937 model year. Anyhow Thanks for posting those pictures Michael! Fluid Drive

About 20 years ago a young couple brought a 48 P-15 CLub Coupe out to my shop that quit running just when the husband decided to teach his new wife how to drive a std. trans. I found the problem (hole in the intake thru into the heat riser) fixed things and shortly after that when she went in to labor they were forced to drive the Plymouth through the foul weather to the hospital. Their MK 4 Lincoln wouldn't start! Fluid DRive

Had the same thing on my '47 Windsor a few years ago. The only way I could remove it was by the use of a friend's beam type puller. That puller was strong enough to pull the thing free. The puller in question is manufactured by Proto Tools -- if you have access to one it will get that off for you. Fluid Drive

And then there was the blonde that sold her car for gas money----Ford I think! Fluid Drive

I'll second Jim's appreciation for Rockwood's generosity. This is the age of unbridled greed and it is great to see someone who is still willing to help others!!! Fluid Drive

I don't know which model you have Joe. I'm still stuck in the 1930's! Fluid Drive

Sorry -- this computer has such a radical firewall that sometimes things do not load

Joe: The steering column jacket should slip nearly all the way over the machined portion of the steering box casting. Most all of those older MoPars had a clamp that retained the jacket and an oil hole that was covered by a spring steel clamp that allowed access to a hole in the housing so that the upper worm & tube shaft bearing could be lubed - make sure that is lined up. I've never seen a steering box that rusted under the column usually that portion of the casting is protected by the column jacket. Fluid Drive

For all of you who haven't seen this ........ Fluid Drive

Rockwood: At the risk of being baraged by a boatload of antaigonistic responses I'll post a suggestion; Does your car seem to be flooding? If so your car may be suffering from the old chronic 'fuel pump on a push stroke' carb flooding when you stop. It often happens that when you shut off the ignition the fuel pump lobe on the cam winds up in the push position and that will cause the pump to overcome the needle and seat in the float bowl in your carb. If that is the case we used to install a return by pass on the fuel pump which will take care of that problem. Fluid Drive

I believe I used to own that car! It belonged to a woman named Fanchen Winsler who bought it from Roy Brooke Motor Co. new. I sold it to a guy from Bakersfield named Bowersock back about 1995 who sold it to someone in Arizona. If that is my old car I had overhauled the D-24 powerplant back in the 70's. It actualy is a '48 but some early 49's were still that body style called a club coupe. Fluid Drive

Greg is right.....plus if you look closely the end that is bigger will have about four stake marks around it. Fluid Drive

Art: That serial number ---oops! showing my age, I mean VIN number--- was usually stamped on the frame too. In the 1930's cars it was located on the left frame rail close to where the gas fill tube went into the tank. Back then it was the engine number that served to be the actual vehicle ID number. So many things were not changed after the war until the '50's so your truck may have that number stamped on the frame somewhere too. Fluid Drive

OLdguy: I grew up installing those windshields -- P-15? The garnish mouldings in a P-15 fit against the rubber channell that seals the windshield and I doubt that you started that runner by tightening the screws - although it is possible. If you are using an old rubber look carefully to be certain that there are no remaining small pieces of glass still hiding in it or any uneven or sharp protrusions in the body flange. More than likely there was an edge defect in the glass when it was cut. Those windshields are cut from flat laminated safety glass over an original windshield or a pattern. Any goof up on the part of the glass man cutting them can result in a small chip that will show up a crack or 'runner' when a slight amount of pressure is applied to the glass. Unfortuneately most 'tinted' safety glass made these days is only tinted in the poly vinyl center not the glass. After prolonged exposure to the sun they fade until the only tinted potrions are those in the rubber around the edges. Fluid Drive

40: I would love to have them! I have been interested in Chrysler history for many years. They will probably end up framed and hanging around my house. Fluid Drive

Oldcar: I restored my 1936 P-1 Buisness Coupe a few years back and my partner and I throughly sandblasted every available surface ( he was a Korean war vet and profesional body man who had been using a sand blasting set up for years) and then sprayed tar type undercoating on all of the interior surfaces. Before the application of the undercoating the doors and trunk lid were treated with rust mort liquid which was applied to the inside so that it ran through the folded edges of the skin and out through the outside as the doors were rotated. The undercoating provides a permanent rust barrier and sound deadening that is far superior to the original factory glued on tar paper. I've never used the POR product but have heard that it does a good job. Fluid Drive

A transmission in put shaft works well too - anyone you can borrow one from? Most guys that have a basic metal lathe can also manufacture one very easily too. Fluid Drive

Don't forget to apply some sealant to the axle key slots! Fluid Drive