Sam Buchanan

Always interesting to see how much smaller folks were in 1938...... I'm envious of your car!

I really don't like jack stands but find them necessary. Here are the wood stands I use when there is going to be a lot of tugging and yanking...I trust these:

Before going any deeper I would put a new rotor and distributor cap on it. A worn rotor might be wobbling around and randomly disrupting the ignition.

They may be 3/16” with an OD of about 1/4”.

Yep.

What I noticed in the slow-mo is how freely the #1 lifters were spinning and the others didn't appear to be turning. Wonder if the valve lash is too loose on #1. But I have no idea if this has anything to do with the glitch....

You can be almost certain the entire brake system is corroded beyond repair. Brake fluid adsorbs moisture and 15 years is usually a death sentence. Instead of trying to repair the brakes piece meal your time and money would be better spent just stripping everything out and replacing the entire system so you will have brakes that are reliable for many years. A package with everything you need is available from vendors----I would have been ahead doing this on my P15 instead of trying to replace stuff one or two items at a time.....lesson learned. Very nice car, it will be worth whatever effort is needed to put it back on the road!

You can't bend steel lines with your hands so you must be getting the softer stuff.....3/16" is a lot easier to work with.

You can bend the copper-nickel 3/16" lines with forefingers and thumbs. Just do one bend at a time.....

Well......it works on car bodies.......in both cases primer and paint seal filler from moisture.

Wouldn't body filler be better for a smooth finish than JB Weld? Sure does sand easier....

Exactly....no natural light....everything set up for cinematography. I'm always intrigued while watching the old movies how every shot of an actor's face (especially female) is set up with "portrait light" the same way it would be for a still photo.....and the background lighting coordinates with the foreground. No color to enhance scenes....just shades of gray. Very cool.

Man.....those B/W cinematographers sure knew how to light a scene.....

I would take them to a locksmith, I wouldn't trust the big box stores with valuable blanks..... A well-stocked local locksmith had generic blanks for my P15 and cut an extra set of keys for $10.

It can get weird. I built a StalkerV6 which is a version of the wonderful Lotus Seven with a '95 Camaro 3.4 V6 (Holley four-barrel) and S-10 transmission. It was inspected by the Alabama dept of revenue and registered as a 1959 Lotus Seven replica so it would not be subject to emission testing. Even though Alabama doesn't require vehicle inspections this came in handy when the car was sold and went to an emission-testing state.

Original brake lines on my 1948 P15 were 3/16" and that is what I used for the replacements.

That is exactly what I did a couple of times last week. The car and I felt refreshed after an hour touring the countryside. I'm almost certain I heard the little flatty chuckling.......

I really enjoy driving the P15 and I drive it often. However, I realize that a seemingly minor collision will most likely end my relationship with this car. I have classic car insurance through Heacock with a policy that has an agreed value of the car. If the car gets hit and repair estimates come in above ~%70 of the $15,000 value on the policy a check will appear in my mail instead of a repaired car in my garage. But the reality is that all it would take is a crumpled fender and damage to underlying structure or frame and it is a total write off even though most of the car is unscratched. You can barely drive a car through a body shop without coming out with a $10,000 repair bill.....paint can run almost that much even with no repair. So.....I guess the thing to do is just drive the thing, enjoy it, hoping for the best, and realize none of us, or our cars, are going to be here forever. Maybe some ambitious shop rat will buy the salvage and the resurrected P15 will live once again in a few years (with a salvage title!). ?

I think you will enjoy driving the 218......it's an eager little buddy that makes me grin every time...... ?

Sniper wanted a MoPar alternator. The Delco one-wire alternators sold by the vendor I linked do not need an external regulator. The installation for the one-wire units is very simple, just connect the alternator output to the lead that is presently on the regulator "Bat" terminal. That's it.....ammeter will still work normally. The old regulator can be tossed on the workbench or remain in the car to look purty....your choice.

Get a one-wire alternator and you won't need a regulator. Here is where I got mine: https://www.ebay.com/str/howardent This vendor also has a bracket: https://www.ebay.com/str/howardent/Universal-Alternator-Bracket/_i.html?_storecat=7040873016 Make sure you order an alternator with the correct pulley width to fit your application.

Nick, here is the thread about how I stopped the leaks on my transmission: https://p15-d24.com/topic/50800-chasing-transmission-leak-48-p15/?tab=comments#comment-538887 At this point it would be very easy for you to pull the transmission and reseal it. I had rather try that first than mess with the rear seal.

There may be some problems with the math. I ran those numbers with my 3.91 car and 3000rpm@65mph is reduced to 2100rpm @65mph by simply using a .70 correction. Does OD reduce rpm that much? That would result in 1800rpm@55mph..... A 4.11 final drive goes from 3200rpm@65 to 2200rpm@65mph with the ".70 OD". A 1000rpm drop?

Yes, might be a bad fuel pump and/or a restriction in the tank pickup or lines. I would think a healthy flatty would pull the 3.55 final but I have no personal experience with that setup. I was just showing how rpm degrades pretty quickly with changes in the final ratio. Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed so drag increases rapidly.

Just for comparison here are the numbers for my P15 with 3.91 final: 3.91, 28.36" tire diameter, 3000rpm = 64.76 mph Change this to 3.55: 3.55, 28.36", 2700rpm = 64.20 mph 300 rpm drop from the 3.91 ratio. The little 218 may not be making enough power at 2700 rpm to push the brick into the wind any faster....... It would be making even less power at 60 mph: 2550rpm = 60.63 mph All 95 angry horses don't appear until 3600rpm. Transmission ratio calculator: https://spicerparts.com/calculators/transmission-ratio-rpm-calculator