Sam Buchanan

I wouldn't worry about the linkage......now, my leg is another matter......

My 2022 F150 (2.7 turbo) also has the cannister filter on top of the engine. I suspect Ed is correct about easier access, I've had a couple of modern engines where the spin-on filter is barely accessible even after dropping all the plastic....plus having to clean up the mess caused by turning the filter sideways to get it out of the chassis. Sure would hate to be that guy in the pit at the 10-minute oil change chasing a slimy filter on a 95 degree day!

I definitely have a driver, not a show car. A quick look at the engine compartment of my P15 will show daily drivability and reliability is a higher priority than originality (alternator, dual-circuit master cylinder, spin-on oil filter, paper air filter, H4 lighting with auxiliary relays and fuses, full-time electric fuel pump, etc). I now have a readily available bypass filter where there was none for 70+ years. No oil drips from the adapter when the filter is changed, no need to suck out old oil or handle an oil soaked filter. Looks like I gained quite a bit..... To each his own, it is good to have options.

My spin-on bypass filter installation in the P15: https://p15-d24.com/topic/50622-installing-a-spin-on-bypass-oil-filter-photos/#comment-537063

15-20 minutes seems to be the threshold for my P15 when the engine is hot. Hot start prior to that is immediate (as is a cold start with choke applied), but after a lunch break the excess fuel requires about 4-5 seconds to clear which seems much longer as visions of a drained battery dance through my thick head. 😜 It has never failed to start, but it cranks long enough to get my attention. I too use the partial throttle method when hot starting.

In addition to the vented cap on my P15, which I have verified is venting, I have a small hole in the filler neck that will vent the tank in case the cap malfunctions. I'm convinced the reason a hot start can take longer for my car is fuel percolation in the carb.

Most likely the problem is not lack of fuel but too much fuel. The hot carb boils fuel and it overflows and puddles in the intake manifold. When we try to restart the engine the puddle creates a mixture that is too rich to run until the engine turns over enough times to pull the over-rich mixture out of the manifold and cylinders. Once that happens, the mixture returns to normal and the engine starts. I run a full-time electric pump and still have this heat-soak issue in my car so the electric pump isn't the solution. Some have suggested adjusting the carb float to lower fuel level in the carb to inhibit boil over and flooding the intake manifold. Using non-contaminated gas might also help but I've always used cheap 87 ethanol. This is a well-known problem, best remedy is probably a healthy battery that can spin the engine until the flooding is cleared.

It doesn't matter....it'll be finished when it is finished. If someone asks when it will be ready to run, just tell them "Thursday". No need to specify which Thursday. Enjoy your new engine!

The young computer jockey in the store where I bought the battery didn't know batteries had dates, it was only after I inquired about shelf life that the manager got involved. He said he thought the old batteries had been returned.....whatever. Yes, the seller should be keeping only fresh stock, but the ultimate responsibility is on us to be an informed buyer. I hope I didn't replace a battery that was still working fine with a new battery that will have a short life. I've had batteries suddenly refuse to crank and don't want to be stuck with the hassle of getting a stalled 6v car restarted away from home. The flimsy lightweight jumper cables that are so common might melt or fail to carry enough current to spin a warm 6v starter.

It's possible for a 6v battery to be on the shelf a long time. I recently replaced the battery in the P15 that was coming up on six years old because I felt the odds of it stranding me were increasing due to age. There were three batteries in the store (Advance Auto had a pretty good price), two were over a year old, I bought the one that was only three months old. Always check date codes, the 6v batteries probably aren't sold very often.

Disconnect all the wires and see what stops working.

Might be a good excuse for pulling the tank drain and dumping whatever sediment has collected.

Polarity of ground makes no difference in this case, my ammeter has been wired both ways. I had to reverse the wires on the meter when going from positive to negative ground to make the needle swing the correct direction. My apologies for participating in thread creep!

We may be stumbling around with semantics, it seems there are two lines of thought in play. One line of discussion is about whether or not the meter terminals are isolated from the mounting plate. Yes, they are, by both the shape of the phonelic meter body and a paper gasket under and around the wire connections. The other thing under discussion is whether or not the mounting plate needs to be isolated from the metal instrument cluster with a gasket for electrical reasons. No, it is grounded to chassis via the two mounting screws. The gasket is there for reasons other than electrical isolation. If either of the two leads attached to the meter come in contact with the mounting plate a dead short to ground will occur because the plate is connected to ground irregardless of whether or not a gasket is present under the plate. The two screws provide a direct path to ground.....smoke/fire is released. Bottom line, make sure the harness leads can't touch the metal mounting plate because it is grounded. Here is the ammeter in my car, it appears to be an intact installation, but still not sure about the little washers around some of the screws.

Curiosity got the best of me so I went out to the P15 and put an ohmmeter across the ammeter body and chassis ground. The meter body is indeed grounded so the gasket has no electrical function. I still suspect it is to prevent dust in cluster. Update: Took a second look at the ammeter. Mine also has the little gaskets around the two mounting screws. Why are they there? Possibly to prevent the tip of a screwdriver from slipping off the screw head and coming in contact with the hot terminals on the meter???? I dunno.....I would disconnect the battery before poking around back there...........

I have the same question, what keeps the screws from grounding the meter to the frame? And is this even a concern? I assumed the gasket was to prevent dust from getting into the cluster and onto the gauge faces.

No. However, the diameter of the drum is derived per the following procedure. The drum is installed and one minor adjustment is made so a shoe lightly contacts the drum. The drum is removed, the tool installed and set to the diameter of the drum indicated by the high point (maximum diameter) of the minor adjustment. Then the concentricity of all shoes are adjusted so they match the dimension derived from the first minor adjustment. This is a work-around that is necessary because we don't have the old tool (Armstrong?) that measures the drum and directly transfers it to the shoes. But our simple tool is a good work-around that yields excellent results. This procedure is detailed in my old thread when I built the tool: https://p15-d24.com/topic/50182-brake-adjustment-tool-updated/

Excellent, glad the alternator is working well for you. Most likely you will never have to address charging problems again. I encountered the fan and alternator pulley nut interference, too. The nut is machined to where it protrudes quite a bit beyond the pulley, may have something to do with its original application. I changed to a slightly longer belt to move the nut outside the arc of the fan blades and all is good.

There's no problem, if using a ruler works for someone, fine. The reason for using the tool is try to get the measurement within the 0.006" tolerance called for in the manual. I'm not good enough to get that fine an adjustment with a ruler....... No need to attempt to deflect the discussion with timing belt changes on a modern car, I was just commenting on adjusting brakes on an old Mopar.

Please explain how the brakes are adjusted with just a simple ruler......

https://www.ledlight.com/g18-s25-6-12v-non-polarity.aspx Yes, you will need a brake light feed to the trunk light if you want if for brakes.

My P15 is 6v negative ground but here is the positive ground version of the flasher I use, it works perfectly and is compatible with either filement or LED bulbs, even if used in combination: https://www.ledlight.com/flasher-6-volt-led-3-prong-120-watt-positive-chassis.aspx Here are the LEDs I use for tail/brake light, they will also work for the front signals if you intend to use dual circuits. Order red for the tail lights and warm white if you want to retain the original color for the front signals. https://www.ledlight.com/ba15d-1158-6-volt-60-smd-5730-dual-filament-reduced-profile.aspx

I was referring to physics not emotional reasons for disconnecting the battery. The point was if there are residual drains in our old cars it could be beneficial to address them. The only exception I can think of is a clock, I don't know how they interface with the car, my P15 doesn't have one. Driving it is timeless.......

Do you have a residual drain on the battery? If so it would be a good idea to eliminate it and if not there isn't any reason to disconnect the battery.

Joe, I don't know the "best" interval to use but I can tell you what I do. I usually change oil in the '48 P15 yearly (or when I get in the mood to do it) which is less than 2000 miles. The spin-on bypass filter gets changed every other oil change. I use a 10W30 oil. You will get a lot of opinions on your question, probably not much consensus. But considering the low quality of oil in use when these engines were daily drivers back in the day, and for which these engines were designed, we probably change oil much more frequently than is actually needed.