Sam Buchanan

The bearing that came with a clutch kit for my P15 was junk, very noisy, rough and slung grease. I ended up reinstalling the USA branded bearing that had been in the car for an unknown number of years,it works nicely.

Absolutely! https://www.ebay.com/str/HowardEnt?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

It's just a matter of semantics but a "closed" heat control valve is a good thing, that allows exhaust to exit directly through the manifold. An open flapper directs exhaust up through the intake manifold. I doubt you can access the flapper through the carb port but if it is free to rotate you can wire it closed from outside the manifold. By the way, the purpose of the heat control is for atomizing fuel when cold for smoother running, not to prevent formation of ice.

Very nice image, the large B/W negative has a unique (in this day and age) quality. Nice job with the split lighting, too.

Yep, carb ice is a real thing but having the intake manifold attached to the exhaust manifold probably minimizes the problem for our flatties. But would it be more probable with aftermarket intake and exhaust manifolds? Ice is much more likely at low throttle setting than wide open due to the venturi effect and accumulation on the throttle plate. The chart below shows how ice can occur even on warm days if the humidity is high enough. I've had ice form on a small Continental on a warm day while taxiing to the runway but it has a carb that is slung below the crankcase and doesn't get much warming from the engine.

Since it is serving no function, and you can't figure out why it is there....cover it up. If it is needed later for some reason, drill another hole.

The 218 in my '48 P15 runs great at 10* BTDC. The manual suggests advancing the timing until there is a little pinging under heavy load then retarding enough to eliminate the pinging. I've never tried this so don't know how close my timing is to the 'ping setting'. But the engine is very responsive at 10* on cheap gas.

It will only install one way due to the spacing of the holes.

Just as a datapoint, steel AN fittings are commonly used on aircraft (and maybe other applications?) where there is a concern that vibration might crack an aluminum fitting. Examples are oil coolers and oil pressure ports.

I find it interesting that article was written by a Parker employee whose company is pushing the SAE fittings. Just sayin'........ I've been trusting my life to AN fittings for thirty years of building and flying my aircraft, they are certified by the FAA for use on general aviation aircraft fuel, oil, hydraulic and brake systems. I've also used them many times for automotive applications but wasn't aware some states frowned on them for automotive brakes. Alabama doesn't have safety inspections so watch your backside when you venture across our stateline....one of my AN-equipped vehicles may be about to crash into you! ?

I've used this one many times, works very nicely. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/flaringtools2.php

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Buy the Chrysler line if it fits the fitting on your gauge, cut the engine end off so the line is the correct length and flare it for the flex line.

Just to close the loop, here is my montage in a 16x20 frame. I like! I can email this file if anyone wants it, it is sized to print correctly on a Staples 18x24 poster print.

A little time in Photoshop and an 18x24 poster has been ordered from Staples.

These are awesome, thanks for sharing! What is the highest resolution scan you have? I would love to print a couple of these for my office.

The Mustang conversion would be cool, then since the front of the car is modern might as well bring the rear up-to-date with a modern disc-brake axle. Since the modern axle can handle a lot more power than the old Mopar piece, and there is now a Mustang front end on the car, it would be a shame not to drop a small-block Chevy in the hole with a modern automatic transmission. Of course the steering column needs to be replaced with a tilt unit so it looks better with the Vintage AC system and Toyota bucket seats. Now you can really utilize your 'old' Mopar! ? Or......you could just install a disc kit and enjoy your vintage driver. ? The above scenario is what we call "mission creep". It occurs when we don't establish what we really want from the car and stick with that framework. We see it all the time in the custom-built aircraft community, the basic set of avionics ends up being $70K..........and rarely gets used to its full potential. But I respect everyone's right to decide what they want to do.

Ok...a classic 'apples to oranges' thing going on here that really has no relevance to installing modern disc brakes on our old Mopars. Thank you for the clarification.

Uncle Tony may be a smart internet guy (I'm not familiar with him) but I don't know why he would say a disc conversion isn't as good as the original brakes unless he is referring to some sort of cobbled together conversion. No fading, no maintenance for the lifetime of the car (we'll never drive these things enough to wear out the pads and rotor), no adjusting and modern wheel studs. That is not as good as the old drums??? Interesting...

I wonder if all those batteries (five batteries in one year??) are actually ruined. It looks like you are using a "smart" charger that requires the battery to have some amount of voltage before it will begin charging. If the battery has been run down all the way the charger will indicate a faulty battery. You will then need to put a "dumb" charger on the battery to bring it back up to voltage so the smart charger will work properly. I also wonder if the charging system on your car is faulty and not charging the battery. In that case you are storing a battery in a depleted state and it doesn't take long for it to go flat. A voltmeter across the battery terminals when the car is running will indicate ~7.5v if the battery is being charged properly. I have never needed to disconnect the battery between drives, the battery stays connected all the time--I will put the smart charger on it maybe once to bring it back to full charge in the winter when temps in the garage drop.

If the only problem is they're too tall you could cut a section out of the vertical legs (use a diagonal cut) then glue them to the covers. A little extra sealer in the joint should make it good. Or buy another set.

I perused the P15 Service Manual for torque values and locations for the exhaust/intake manifold nuts and the only thing I found was in the Engine section where it stated 15-20 ft/lbs for manifold stud nuts. There are three types of nuts and washers used in this application, some brass and some locking steel. The illustration below may offer insight to their proper placement. However, if only the outboard studs get the spherical washers and self-locking nuts but all the nuts are torqued to the same value what is the purpose of the special washers and nuts? I assume the concern was expansion changing the length of the exhaust manifold due to heat cycles but how do the special washers accommodate that change? Is 15-20 ft/lbs loose enough to allow the manifold to "slide" under the washer but still tight enough to seal properly? Beats me. Hopefully someone can offer more background details. The image below, which looks like it is from a truck manual, shows the spherical washers and steel lock nuts located on the four outboard studs.

Hmmmm.....I perused the Service Manual for torque values and the only thing I found was in the Engine section where it stated 15-20 ft/lbs for manifold stud nuts. If only the outboard studs get the spherical washers and self-locking nuts but all the nuts are torqued to the same value what is the purpose of the special washers and nuts? I assumed the concern was the length of the exhaust manifold changing due to heat cycles but how do the special washers accommodate that change? Is 15-20 ft/lbs loose enough to allow the manifold to "slide" under the washer? Beats me, maybe someone can offer more background details. The image below is from the thread Sniper referenced, looks like it is from a truck manual. This probably needs to be in a separate thread. I'll start one.

For clarification, do these specialized washers and nuts go on the four outboard studs or the four studs that are common to both the intake and exhaust manifolds? The common studs would make more sense to me but...........

Since you asked so politely ? I stepped out to the shop and grabbed this pic, tranny in neutral, please excuse the gunk, that is the anti-corrosion system: