Kilgore47

I think this information may be in the downloads section of this site. I requires removing the major adjustment bolts and cutting a screw driver slot in the back of the bolts. Then adjustments can be made with the drums installed. It's important as mentioned above that the drums are in good shape and that may require having them turned. I used this method on the 47 P15 after replacing all the shoes, seals, cylinders and lines and it worked. After about a hundred miles I remover the drums and checked for proper shoe to drum contact and all looked good. Brake Adjustment.docx

Check where the exhaust pipe passes over the frame cross member. As the rubber engine mounts age they loose height. This allows the engine to get a little lower in the mount. This also allows the exhaust pipe to get closer to the cross member and can sometimes contact the cross member and cause a knocking noise. When I got the 47 P15 the exhaust pipe was touching the cross member.

I finally got tired of nursing my old riding lawnmower along. It was getting hard to steer and would bog down on taller grass. And mulching leaves in the fall was almost too much for it. So I bit the bullet and got a 0 turn. A little scary at first but I'm getting used to it. Should be the last lawnmower I'll ever have to buy. My hands and shoulders would hurt after using the old one. Not so with the new 0 turn. Traded the old mower for a mulching kit and a trailer hitch.

The engine in the 47 P15 is reddish. The PO said that they put a rebuilt short block in the car when they pulled it out of a field in the mid 70's. At the last cruise night one of the people looking at the car said the engine was red because the PO got the rebuilt engine from Sears or something like that. Has anyone heard of this? One of these days I'll clean up the engine compartment and paint the engine silver.

The old battery was a little over two years old. It didn't have the cranking amps to do the job. The new optima spins it like a 12 volt. This is a picture from yesterday. Not a good picture. My car is the one in the middle with the stick holding the hood up. It's missing one of the hood springs. It really amazed me that so many people were interested in that old crusty car. Most of the cars there were modified and mine is original. Modified is OK. As people looked under the hood I could almost heat them think "does that run". There were many younger people looking and asking questions. That surprised me.

The Optima battery did the trick. Reach through the window hit the starter button and it cranks right up. Did a road kill tie down for the run downtown tonight. I have some brass sheeting to make a hold down tomorrow. After I fix the VR. Looks funny with that little battery.

The word cruise may be a little deceiving. It's about two miles to down town where we park along the street, walk around and talk to everyone. Small town. Then about two miles back. The fire extinguisher is a good idea. I'll take the one out of the old jeep.

Thanks for all the input. I prefer to stay stock so a 6 volt Optima is on order. I have re wired the car complete with 00 battery cables. The tune is good. I believe the starting problem is being caused by the 6 volt lead acid battery wearing down. When I come back from a run the top of the battery is wet and the level is down. That makes me think it has been boiling. That's why I got the meter out and started checking everything. I keep adding distilled water and that is slowly diluting the acid. There is info on this site about adjusting the voltage regulator. I'll track that down and get that done. After cruise night tonight. First get together in a long time. Have jumper cables will travel

There was no battery in the car when I got it. Just wondering if the PO set it up for an 8 volt. Are the above numbers correct for charging an 8 volt battery. If yes then I'll try to track down an 8 volt. I not then I'll have to fix the regulator or replace it.

I have a 1947 P15 with the original 6 volt positive ground. There is a 6 volt lead acid battery in the car now. At idle the volt meter reads 8 volts at the battery. With the engine revved up it reads 9 volts at the battery. After running for a while and then shutting the engine down the battery reads 6.9 volts. Could this car be set up to use an 8 volt battery? I am getting ready to switch to a sealed battery and wondering if I should go with an 8 volt. Or does the charging system need to be fixed.

Sounds like you have already pressure tested the tank. Glad it went OK. Your idea of moving the switch to a higher location sounds like a good idea. Some tanks have larger bungs that can be removed for inspection and cleaning. There should be a date on it somewhere telling when it was built. A friend was given a compressor recently but the tubing from the compressor to the tank was missing. Told him that was an easy fix. I went over to look at it and when I stood the tank up we could hear rust rolling around inside. That machine was built in 1997. We decided to put that one in the scrap pile.

If the tank is that old and rusted you may need to retire it. These are pressure vessels and designed to hold the original advertised pressure. The lack of maintenance you described may have compromised the tank wall thickness. If the tank wall has become too thin the tank can fail with catastrophic results. The only way to insure it is safe would be to have the tank pressure tested and that would probably cost more than you paid for the compressor.

I used a universal 6 volt positive ground harness from Rebel wire. Not original. Comes complete with a fuse block and wiring for turn signals and all the connectors. All wires are labeled every 6 inches telling you where they go. Phone help was excellent. It's a universal kit so you have to cut the wires to length and add the connectors. Just took my time and double checked everything as I went. Everything worked when I was done.

Maybe this is true or maybe it's not. I remember hearing a story about a country naming one of their cities USA. Then they could say that their stuff was made in USA.

I would like to keep the generator. Depends on the cost of repairs verses the cost of a 6 volt positive ground alternator. I've looked up the alternators and know about how much they cost. Had the generator apart when I first got the car and some of the windings look a little toasted. It works but while it's off I'll take it by the rebuild guy and find out how much it would cost for a rebuild. The good thing is that either way once it's fixed I shouldn't have to worry about that again.

I recently had a new exhaust system put on the P15. Now that it's nice and quiet I can hear the noises that were hidden by the leaking exhaust. Could hear the valves clacking before but now they are louder than I think they should be so they will need to be adjusted. Not a big surprise and I'll get that done. The one that surprised me was an intermittent crunching noise at idle. So I got out the stethoscope and tracked it down to the front bearing on the generator. It may be time to make the switch to an alternator.

The elephant garlic blooms are looking good. These are planted for show. The blooms get cut off the ones I harvest.

When I have lubricants that loose pressure I punch a hole in the can and pour the contents into a spray bottle.

I consider myself lucky that there local shops that work on old cars. I do most of my own work so I don't use them often. One of the shops is here in town about 3 miles away. Recently had them install a new exhaust system. I could have ordered a new system on line but after paying for shipping it would have been very expensive. The local shop installed a new system for under 300 dollars and it looks stock. Also had them replace a couple of seals while the car was there. There is always a car from the 30's or 40's on one of the lifts when I go by. Another shop is about 15 miles north of me. They are capable of ground up restorations. Or replace a wheel bearing if that's all you need. This shop restored a 1946 Cadillac and that car made the front page of the local news paper. Small town. I started using this guy when he was still working out of his garage. He is set up in an old car dealership now. The local glass shop can order and cut to fit any of the flat laminated glass. I'll try my hand at replacing the windshield soon. Haven't decided if I'll go with tented glass. There are probably others but these are the ones I work with.

You should try to verify that there is good grease in the bearings while you have the plug put. I have read that the axel bearings tend to get over looked when doing maintenance. When I pulled the rear drums off the P15 I found that everything was covered with grease. The seals were bad. When I pulled the axels the bearings were dry and rusted and fell apart. The bearings were also installed backwards. All is fixed now. New bearings, seals and brakes. That rumbling noise went away.

I have had this meter for decades. There are no names on it so I have no idea where it was made. It came in a set. A timing light, a remote starter button and the meter. Still have all three. Haven't tried it for a long time so no idea if it still works. Took it apart to look inside and the circuit board is hand soldered. There are some numbers but no names.

I'm not familiar with the P7 so this may not help. On the P15's the fuel line is routed from the fuel pump up to the carburetor on the passenger side of the engine. This runs the fuel line close to the exhaust manifold and causes vapor lock when hot. I rerouted that part of the fuel line and the problem is solved. Starts when hot now. The other option would be to build a heat shield for the fuel line. I saved the original steel line and may do that one day.

Replacing parts may be required. But I have always tried to fix what is there first. I will try to explain what I would do if this were my distributor. A copy of the picture of your distributor is attached with comments. Orange - This wire is there to ground the body of the dist to the points plate. Check for continuity. Yellow - Check this with the points open. The wire from the coil to the points, the copper strap from the condenser to the points and the points should not be grounded to the body of the dist. The copper strap should be insulated so it will not touch the dist body. This could be done with heat shrink tubing. Purple - There is an insulating bushing here to insulate the points from the body of the dist when the points are open. Red - This is the wire from the coil to the points. It appears to be there but it is stuffed down in there somewhere. Reroute or replace this wire so that it does not ground to the body of the dist. Blue - This is where the wire from the coil connects to the dist. Check this through connection to make sure it does not ground to the body of the dist. You may consider replacing this wire also. It looks a little worn. Green - This area looks a little tattered. When you reassemble the dist I'm sure it will look and function better. I know that this is probably not as clear to you as it is in my head so feel free to ask questions. As stated above you should remove, disassemble and clean the dist on your bench. Or the kitchen table if you won't get in too much trouble for that.

Carl - Go to the upper right hand side of the page and you will see an email symbol. That's where the text will be

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