Kilgore47

Yes - part of the problem could be old eyes

Went to the local down town cruise night yesterday. I usually get home before dark. But - - A friend that was with me needed to go to the farm store. That gave me a reason to drive the car more so I agreed knowing that it would be dark before I got home. Thought it would be OK because the car has been re wired and has new 6 volt sealed beams and a new alternator. It was not OK. That was a scary two mile drive home. I stopped twice and checked to make sure the head lights were on. It was that bad. The lights do need to be adjusted but I'm not sure that will make a big difference. Not driving that car after dark again until I can figure out how to make those lights much better. PS: Plan on staying with the 6 volt system

So that's where the face on Mars came from.

Looks like a new water pump so those bearings should be good. Check the generator drive end bearing for play. It could be going bad.

I was able to replace the master cylinder on the P15 from under the car. I believe that from the factory the shaft that holds the clutch and brake peddles has a roll pin that holds the shaft to the master cylinder. That pin wasn't present on my car. If the pin is present then you would have to remove the floor pan to get the master cylinder out. You wouldn't be able to remove the shaft to free the peddles. All that said - the reason I removed the MC from under the car was that I didn't know any better. Didn't know the floor pan could be removed. Then I joined this site and I check here first now. Note: The MC I got was a reproduced part. The hole for the shaft was about a millionth of an inch too small for the shaft to fit through. Found this out after I had the MC installed. Took it back off and went to the machine shop to have it bored to the 3/4" dia it should be. Should have checked it but I didn't. Probably a millimeter conversion problem. Live and learn - sometimes the hard way.

Check the base of your carb. I have had recent problems with the P15 and found that the base of the carb was warped enough to create a vacuum leak. Used a large flat file to draw file the base until it was flat enough to seal. Also made new gaskets with a larger sealing area at the spacer.

As stated above. Pull the axels and check the seals and bearings. When I got the P15 the previous owner said they did a break job. When I pulled the rear drums I could see that they had indeed done a brake job but they didn't replace the seals. The new brakes were covered in grease because the old seals were shot. So I pulled the axels and found that the bearings were shot also. The bearings were rusted and fell apart when the axels came out. When I saw the rusty axel bearings that scared me and I thought the pumpkin might be rusty also. Pulled the pumpkin and all was good there. Replaced the pinion seal while it was out. The rear axel bearing grease is an often over looked maintenance item because it doesn't have a grease zerk. That's on purpose because a grease gun can apply too much pressure and blow the seals. I wonder if you could leave the inner axel seal out and let the rear end grease lubricate the axel bearings. Latter models did that.

I use the connection for the vacuum windshield wiper motor on the P15. Pull the hose off and attach the vacuum gauge.

Thanks - I'll do that.

Harvested the sweet potatoes yesterday. In the spring I had a sweet potato growing in the bin in the kitchen. So I decided to plant it and this is the result. About 5 pounds worth. Guess I'll try that again next year.

The 10 dollar Desoto fuel gauge got here today. It is NOS in the original box and looks really good. Probably never find a deal like that again.

Maybe you installed it

I found a gauge cluster from a Dodge on line. It has all but the temp gauge. Took the speedo apart to clean and lube and it works. Switched the faces on both the speedo and fuel gauge to match the others in the P15 and installed them yesterday. I'll take the car for a drive today to see if the speedo is accurate. Check it with the GPS. I remember we used to have to find a highway with mile markers to check the speedo. Then try to hold the car at a constant speed (before cruise control) for a few miles, do a quick calculation to see if it was accurate. Now just hit the GPS button. It's nice to have a full set of gauges. Now I can take longer drives without stopping to check the engine temp with the hand held laser.

When I first got the P15 I went to the local auto parts store and they didn't have the correct cables for a 6 volt system. So I used double 12 volt cables. Worked OK but still didn't spin fast enough. Last summer I ordered 00 cables and installed them. Didn't really make a difference. Turns out the battery I had was weak. It didn't have enough cranking amps. So I bought an expensive battery with about a million cranking amps (may be an exaggeration) and that did the trick. Spins like a 12 volt now. And the big fat cables are a big hit at cruise nights. It's one of the first things people notice under the hood. What big cables you have!!!

It's in the last place you look because you stop looking after you find it !!

I buy extra wrenches and sockets from the pawn shop. 5, 10, 15 cents each. That way when I can't find the one I just laid down I can go to the tool box and get another one. Until the ones in the tool box are all gone

I found a Desoto fuel gauge on line for 10 bucks. It looks like the mechanism is the same but the backing plate is different. I can switch that out with my old one. The face plate on the Desoto gauge is purple and a different size. I can switch that with my old one also. Should be here next week. For 10 bucks it's worth a try. Total with shipping under 20 bucks. Going to leave the classified add open until I get this to make sure it works. More news latter

Rewired the P15 last summer. Finally got around to connecting the new gas tank sending unit yesterday. The gauge did not work so I pulled it out and found that the coils are fried. Just one more thing and all will be fine. Always just one more thing. But that's part of the fun about owning one of these old cars. It's very satisfying being able to find what's wrong and then being able to fix it and drive away. I found a couple gauges on line but you don't know if they work. Talked to D&M restoration and they said they could fix it. Also put an add in the classifieds here. It would be nice to have a working gas gauge. Next the speedometer -- it's stuck on 100. Been using an app on my phone to tell how fast I'm going -- not 100!!

Had the same problem with the P15. Hard to start when hot. So I started looking for the problem. I installed a plastic fuel filter in place of the metal one so I could see what was going on. After everything was hot I shut it down and looked under the hood. I could see gas bubbling up into the filter. That's bad. I re routed the fuel line away from the exhaust manifold and re installed the metal filter. Also split some rubber hose and used it to insulate the fuel line. Now the car starts with a tap of the button. Even when hot.

I would do that. The foot rest is awesome. Lay a blanket over the chair seat to hide the tie downs.

Saw that in the news this morning. Really surprised me that leaded gas was still being used.

A new wiring harness is cheap insurance. And not that hard to install on these old cars. I installed a new wiring harness on the P15 last summer. Complete with a fuse block. About 300 dollars for the kit I used.

My first car was a 1961 Comet. Dad gave it to me. Probably should have been sold for scrap metal. Burned oil so bad that oil dripped out the tail pipe. Didn't scare me (probably should have). Rebuilt the engine (inline 6), fixed the leaking automatic transmission and put it back on the road. In the beginning, the Comet was designed as an Edsel model and not officially a Mercury until 1962. I called it a Mercury Comet for decades until I found this info.

Here is a tip for installing your new brake lines. Cap or tape the ends of the lines while installing them to prevent debris from getting in them. I installed new brake lines in the P15 last summer. A little tedious but not that bad. I was able to re use all the old clips. Bend open for removing the old lines and bend closed after installing the new lines.