Loren

I believe it is a #6 with 3/8 pipe thread. I got these from NAPA on a Sunday, so I wasn’t going to ask a lot of questions. There’s hydraulic supply company I do a bit of business with that I am going to buy more of these from. They are not really unions, I just used them that way. They are meant to attach hydraulic hoses to cylinders and valves.

One of the unforeseen things about the heater valve replacement I did is how easy it is to disconnect the valve. In fact the connection with hydraulic hose fittings can be applied to any valve you might choose. When you need to remove the head (or the entire engine) one wrench will disconnect the valve and you don't need to disturb the hose or the cable! Just pull it out of the way and secure it with a wire or a bungee cord. I didn't realize this when I put it together, but I will tell you this is how I am going to do it from now on. Further, they make caps which seal those 37 degree fittings without any gasket or seal. So if you put one on both heater inlet/outlets you can take the heater out of the system without any drama. (except remembering where the caps are. lol)

Just to throw this out there. vintage power wagons has brand new surplus flywheels with 146 tooth ring gears and 8 bolt patterns for a price so reasonable you can’t rebuild a old one for. Since they new they have a new ring gear and are freshly surfaced. Only issue is they are drilled for a 10 inch clutch but that’s not much of an issue if you plan on a new clutch anyway. Recently a member had post about a diaphragm clutch. Big cities usually have a shop which does friction materials. If I were doing this I would consult with them on a modern diaphragm pressure plate. They have a much lighter pedal effort (that is until they are worn out, then they get stiff fast). I would pick a popular one that is going to be in production for a long time. If you have to re-drill the flywheel that’s okay.

Silicone Spray. Feed the wire from the straight end at the distributor cap. I’ve heard they are not that effective but don’t have any experience with them.

When I need a cable I go to my speedometer repair shop. They make custom ones for every purpose. One they could not make was an “Engine Stop” cable for bus that had to be 45 feet long. They ordered it from the manufacturer of the cable materials. If you have the knob you want to use I am sure they can match it up. If nothing else they can re-thread it to the knob. I am picky about cables. Seems like they never want to cooperate. When I replace a control cable I go for the best I can find. An extra few bucks is worth it when you don’t have to fight it every time you use it.

I put Chrysler 12 inch brakes on my 49 Business Coupe and found they ever so slightly bump the stock wheels. That was unexpected as the Chrysler wheels I rejected looked exactly the same as the familiar Plymouth wheels. ( a costly mistake which kept me from driving the car for weeks ) What I finally ended up with are U.S. Wheels p/n 65-5612, these are 6 inches wide vs the stock 4.5 inches. They fit under the fenders and happily don't rub anything with 205/70x15 tires. You will have to drill them for the "Pilot Pin". I had an old drum which had the pilot pin knocked off, so I ground the remainder off and took a hammer and a pin punch and knocked the stub out. Then I used it as a drill guide to drill the wheel. One thing that offended me about these wheels is that they are dependent on the lug bolts to center the wheel ( they are made this way so that they will fit other vehicles which use 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern but with the larger center hole. The lugs fit tightly so they do center properly and wonder of wonders they are made to a very high standard of being true. Apparently the centers can be welded in in either direction, then the lugs are drilled and chamfered. Even though they have a part number these are made to order and that is why they took so long to get. The p/n specifies the back space and everything else except color. Lastly you won't be using your dog dish hub caps. Stock Plymouth accessory wheel covers do fit and unless you've got a real sharp eye you won't notice the wheels are wider. Slow speed steering effort is increased but not enough to worry about and certainly less than my modern pick up which has power steering!

My car has the Mopar 100 series heater which has the pull knob dash control. I got the original heater valve with the car and was told it leaks. What the previous owner replaced the original with was a Ball Valve at the cylinder head. I like being under the hood but I don't care to "dismount" every time I want to change the cabin temperature. So...49 Plymouth heater valves are not on every venders shelf and if you found one it might be a little pricey. Generic valves seem to cover almost all cable controlled heaters. One that I've bought a lot of are the "in-line" type, which have a hose barb on each end. The cable on my heater was long enough for a valve mounted on the head and not much longer, so the in-line valve was out. To keep it a clean installation I found a 90 degree design with pipe threads on one end and a hose barb on the other. Once I got the valve I found it operates very nicely but... and you know there is always a "but".....the cable lever is "OFF" with the cable pulled out and "ON" with the cable pushed in. Not a deal breaker ( for at least 3 months of the year lol ) Next issue, it would sit very close to the head...if you could screw it in but...you can't because the firewall is too close. SO...You need a "Union" Now I know what you are thinking because I thought it too. "I don't want some "cobby" plumbing union under the hood of my car!" Besides just try and describe what a Union is to the average parts counter guy. Kids are smart nowadays and when you think they are looking for a part number they actually consulting Google for a photo of the thing they've never heard of. While standing at the counter I saw the sign that read "We make Hydraulic Hoses" So I asked do you have the fittings for those hoses? Yes most of them. What I ended up with is a 37 degree flare with a 3/8 pipe thread end (male) and a captive nut mating female with a 3/8 pipe thread end (female). It elevates the valve, allows you to position the valve exactly where it needs to go and best of all it is clean. Amazon delivers to my little hide-away free so I use them a lot. Additionally they have photos and descriptions that I value for generic items. The valve is a Four Seasons p/n 74682 $52.78 Spark Plug Wire removed for photo

What you’re describing happened to me with an electric choke. You applied electric current and the spring closed the choke instead of opening it. I fixed it by prying the bi-metal spring off and reversing it on the center shaft. Then I re-installed the electric choke housing 180 degrees from normal. You’d think they’d test these things.

I used to make a fair living correcting the same mistakes over and over from a big shop in town. Folks would have this shop replace their clutch but it would last only 10,000 miles and it would slip again. It seems that this shop had a policy of putting thin wave washers under the pressure plate on every clutch job they did. The reason was that they couldn’t always adjust the clutch afterwards and they never bothered to find out why. The cause was a worn out Clutch Fork that would not push the throw out bearing far enough to disengage the clutch or would actually bump the rotating pressure plate. The wave washers made the pressure plate fingers stick out further. However the clamping force of the pressure plate was compromised. I would remove a small plate from the top of the bell housing then turn the engine until a pressure plate bolt came into view. You had to loosen them in two stages then take the bolts out to let the wave washer fall out. 6 bolts, two turns of the engine to get the washers out then two turns to tighten the bolts. From then on the clutch life was normal. I would warn the customer that when they next needed a clutch that fork should be replaced. At the time they were about $23. My clutch jobs also included a rear motor mount if need, which was something nobody else even thought of looking at. The point is if the mechanic doesn’t know what they are doing, they take short cuts. If the repair lasts 90 days they are off the hook. With a old car you have to be very meticulous, do real failure analysis and be willing and able to take it apart again to get it right. Shops won’t do that. They think they can’t afford too. That’s why I do my own work.

Okay From the parts book you will find it with code 10-26-6 which tells you where to look. Once there the part number is 1324-999 I also have photos of the base which has casting numbers.

I just found one on eBay for my 265 project! So they are around. I found filters made by Wix p/n 51062 at Rockauto.com for a reasonable price. This filter is a 25 micron unit like most full flow filters. By-Pass filters are typically 10 microns. (Wix p/n P73 also available at rockauto for a Plymouth) I know of no reason why you could not use both and I intend to do so. One last thing, the O-rings which come with the filter are the flat type not the round O-ring that the Chrysler canister uses. So you might have to hunt for those.

Just wondering: If you can ask for help with a problem and that’s okay and expected, then why is it unacceptable to mention you are looking for a worthless junk part as a set up piece? In this thread the offering is for reference, to expand the knowledge base. I should think that is a noble purpose with no intent for personal gain. I see posts mentioning venders all the time. Some of those venders use this forum’s members to work out how to make their products actually work! I personally find that unacceptable. Commercial gain with no responsibility to document how the product is supposed to be used? You will find post after post of people struggling to work out issues with these products and not one complaint about the lack of documentation from the vender. If it is important to protect the members from the commercialization of the forum, then each and every post that mentions a product from a vender who does not include detailed documentation should include a disclaimer by the moderators of that fact and the fact that members have had problems making that product work. Just sayin’

For reference see "Increasingly Stiff Shifter P17" November 2021 (about page 9) I ran into the "Soft fabric Bushing" thing myself. Every time I drove the car the shifter got harder to move. I isolated the problem to the top bushing/mount of the shifter near the steering wheel. I had no idea it was a fabric bushing. Once I cleaned it up and the shifter rod, I lubed it up Vaseline, end of problem. Of all the lubes you can use most dry out and become like glue. Vaseline seems to stay soft forever. I first encountered its use on seat tracks which could have frozen solid if something else was used. The great thing about it is it's cheap and widely available. And yes painting the shift rod might be a problem.

The 4x4 shops change ring & pinions all the time and they will have plenty of extras. Also there are shops which overhaul truck transmissions and rear axles. I've found they also rebuild car stuff too.

Okay you asked a question, does the timing matter? Yes it does. Away back in the 1970s the manufacturers were dropping compression ratios and retarding the timing like crazy. What they found was that in stop and go traffic the cars were overheating because the timing was too retarded. Retarding the timing causes the exhaust to still be burning when the exhaust valve opens, which increases the engine temp. To prevent overheating some cars ran the vacuum signal from the carburetor through a temp valve on the thermostat housing then on to the vacuum advance chamber. Thus when the engine temperature got to a certain point the valve opened and gave the engine some advance until it cooled down. Savvy mechanics took the valve out of the circuit so the engine had a normally working vacuum advance. Further some manufacturers made distributors with no advance at all! I replaced a worn out Mazda pickup distributor with a Mallory dual point and it was shocking how much better it ran. Too much advance is not productive either and can be destructive. The usual tune instructions are to find a good long hill and make some runs on a hot day. Advance the timing until the engine pings and then back it off 2 degrees and retest. You want it as advanced as you can without pinging. Of course some engines might not ping and then you have to guess. 35 degrees total advance is a good start point. A bad carburetor mixture setting can be compensated with a timing change. The ideal is to have your mixture correct before you play with the timing so you actually reach the optimum fuel/air mixture and the optimum timing and not a compromise.

Well....On my 49 the switch is part of a cable that connects to the wiper motor. I can't imagine it is much different on your 48. To remove the wiper motor you would take the switch out too as it's easier to then remove the cable. My parts book says: code 23-67-188 CONTROL, Windshield Wiper 1941-48 All with Vacuum Wipers P/N 898-522 That should get you close. The code will tell you what section (23) of the parts book to look and the location.

My experience with S10 pickups has colored my opinion of the choices the General has made for me. This I admit. One truck I had to use from time to time had an automatic and this was the worst! During the 55 mph speed limit era this thing could not be driven 55! You went 50 or 60 but not 55. With the song "I can't drive 55!" playing on the radio the frustration level was to the max. It would bog at close to 55 then shoot past when it down shifted. Lifting the throttle and you were back to 50 and the cycle continued to your destination. When offered the use of the company truck, I always declined as it was pure torture. In my Model A, I found the T5 just as frustrating. The catastrophe is compounded with a poorly designed kit which removes the torque tube and depends on the original radius rods to locate the rear axle (something they were never intended to do). The ratios are just terrible and make no sense at all unless you plan on never using certain gears which kind of negates any reason to have a 5 speed and the butchery involved with putting it in. There is a very nice kit available that uses an S10 4x4 transmission with the torque tube....BUT it's still an S10 T5 with its crappy gear ratios. Thank you NO. I will be installing another excellent kit for a 1939 Ford V8 transmission with Lincoln Zephyr gears which will work much better. If I still feel the need for Overdrive that is still an option. There are two one mechanical and one that uses a Studebaker R10 mounted on the torque tube. Now of course one could change the gear ratios to a Mustang or Camaro but doesn't that jack the price up? Then you have to deal with a shifter coming out of the floor. All things considered I think the Mopar 833 looks pretty good by comparison to a T5. I have an R10 in my Coupe and I really really like it! I have a spare I bought which I am going to put a 1940 Plymouth cluster & 2nd gear into. If that works out I'll change the first Overdrive to that gear set for my Suburban. Again my thinking is colored by my experience and your mileage will vary. Life is way too short to put up with stuff that just does not work for you. I always get the best combination for me.....after I've tried everything else! lol

The T5 is a floor shifter. I don't like them. I have one in a Model A and I hate the doggone thing. Most are sourced from Chevy S10 pickups because the shifter location is better and they have a mechanical speedo drive. The General must have been on crack when he choose the gear ratios in that gear box. I am going to replace the T5 in my Model A with a 1939 V8 transmission. Now all I need is a sucker to take the T5 off my hands. In praise of the Overdrive, they use the stock column shifter. In fact on the long wheel base cars an Overdrive is a bolt in. The P17s require shortening the drive shaft 6.25 inches and making an extension for the hand brake cable. That's it except for adding the electrical system, which is easy too.

I have some experience with that particular Toyota differential (except the one I dealt with had a locking differential). Toyota found out that they had undersized the rear axle for the vehicle and uprated them to the next size bigger later on. The failure I repaired were the bearings, everything else looked good. Horrible noise. The dealer did not stock any parts, only complete assemblies because they had no technicians capable of rebuilding one. The beauty of the Mopar axle is the removable differential carrier. It is so easy to pull it out for a ratio change or a rebuild. If my memory serves me it is called a Hotchkiss design after the French car that first used that type. Yes, it is an old idea. In point of fact it has been found that all things (automotive) mechanical had been tried before 1905, including Turbocharging! The only reason manufacturers use the integral design (such as a Dana 44) is that they are cheap. The Ford 9 inch is also called a "Straddle" mount type, referring to the way the pinion is lower than the usual hypoid gear set. The pinion gear kind of straddles the ring gear. They are very strong because of the greater tooth contact BUT because of that they not very efficient. The Mopar 8.25 (such as used in flathead 6 Plymouths) and the later Mopar 8.75 (1957 on) rear axles are hypoid and therefore are more efficient than the Ford 9 inch but not as strong. The 8.25 axle served well into the V8 era so it is plenty strong enough for any flathead 6. At issue are the ratios available. The lowest commonly available is the 3.54 (I believe there is a 3.36 but haven't seen one). It is my opinion that the stock Mopar axle is a very good design well executed. You're not going to get an improvement by changing it. If you want an alternate gear ratio there are several between 3.54 and 4.3. Lower numerical ratios also create a new problem. With each step lower you create a taller mountain for the engine to climb every time you let the clutch out. So your highway engine speed might go down but it will take longer to get there. The stock ratio delivered a quarter mile ET of around 20 seconds so there's precious little room for further degradation. The most elegant solution is an Overdrive which drops the engine rpm 30%. That gives you all the gear ratios you have now plus one more. A T5 gives you one more up and one more down. Instead of three to get to 1 to 1 (high gear) you row through 4, then a fifth gear which is a 28% overdrive ratio. The beef about Overdrives is expense but that is not necessarily true. As an example: a reproduction Overdrive relay is around $129 but a 6 volt modern relay is $5 to 8 and 12 volt relays are half that. NOS throttle switches can be found as low as $29 rather than $129. They should be only $5 to 10 but I am still looking. If a person were to feel the need to change the rear axle for strength reasons, my first choice would be the Mopar 8.75 (1957 and later) rear axle. It has a well earned reputation for strength, lots of ratios and limited slip differentials and the fact that it even looks like the stock axle is a plus. You can even get keyed tapered axles if you want them! lol

I would do an examination of your cap, rotor and wires. If there is a crack or a chip in the cap or rotor, the high voltage will follow it to ground. Dirt will "carbon track" to ground. The center electrode can have crud behind it as well. A bit of modeling clay would tell you if the center electrode actually touches the rotor. The plug wires should have no more the 10,000 ohms resistance. The coil wire where it plugs into the cap or the coil could be bad. WD40 is a good cleaning agent for ignition secondary parts. Finally make certain somebody hasn't miss wired the coil. On a 6 volt positive ground car the point side of the coil is positive and the ignition switch side is negative. Wiring it backwards drops the output of the coil 40%. Back in my misspent youth in San Diego, the first good rain always brought cars in on the hook which needed tune ups. The mechanics would be gleefully singing Queen's "Another one bites the dust!" with the lyrics altered to: "Another one rides the bus! And another one's down, another one's down! Another one rides the bus!" WD40 which was created in San Diego should have been in the trunk of every car because a few squirts would have kept them going. Just sayn'

Years ago when they sold real Italian FIATs in this country the dealer I worked for sold a lot of the 124 Spiders. The truck that brought them in held 9 at a time. When the FIAT guys saw the truck pull up they all ran out to help unload them. The driver always needed help. I overheard one conversation with the truck driver, "How many of them run?" "5 sort of, the rest we pushed on." As each car was assigned to a mechanic for it's pre-delivery inspection (PDI) they were handed 4 NGK spark plugs and a set of bumpers. It seems from the point that the car left the assembly line till it got to the dealership, the choke was never pushed in. Each time the car was moved the choke was full on and no one could tell how many times it had been moved and never fully warmed up. Once the mechanics pulled out the factory Champions and installed the NGKs they ran well indeed. The bumpers....well every one of them were replaced at the dealership because sitting at the port in Italy, then sailing across the Atlantic to Panama, through the canal, then up to Long Beach harbor and sitting there for a while caused them all to turn green. The SAABs however always ran like brand new watches because they were fuel injected and years before so did the carburetor versions. The carburetors had automatic chokes that were reliable. The point I am getting around to is that the automatic choke was a real technologic break through that Chrysler pioneered. A savvy driver may prefer a manual choke but to the average driver an automatic choke has very real benefits. I consider myself "a savvy driver" but I like the fact that when I want to launch on a journey to the market warming the car up is one less thing I have to worry about. The automatic choke on my 49 works very well and my car starts very well because of it and you know what they say: If it works don't fix it. I was talking with a Mopar buddy and I was describing the idea I had for putting two of the electric choke controls on my exhaust manifold for dual carburetors. There's two spaces for them and Plymouth at one time or another used both. He said I only needed to use one choke. That one choke on one carburetor would do the job. Hmm That simplifies dual carburetors a great deal! I'll try it with one first. I've never had a choke cable that I liked so that is one reason I am loathe to use a manual choke. I am not saying you can't have a good one made, because I know you can. I've just never experienced a good one.

Big Diesel engines use them. They work just like by pass oil filters, just filtering a small amount at a time. Some come with additives in the cartridge. They rattle when you shake them. Not a thing wrong with the idea. I would use hard tubing like the diesels do. Less hoses to have leaks in.

My Dad had been going there since before the war. He said lots of guys got killed on the way up there and his Mom really didn't like him going. In those days he said he'd take a Model T up there, set the steering wheel in a gentle circle and crawl into the back seat for a nap. The car would turn circles for hours because there is no self centering in a Model T. You have to turn the steering wheel both directions! I got a driving lesson from the late Tom Beatty (P38 Drop Tank, last seen at the Henry Ford Museum) that I used to great effect and pissed my Dad off good. When the race cars drive over the lake bed at speed, they tear it up and put up a "Roaster Tail" of dust as they go. So all this horse power leaves a layer of dust and marbles on the course. The later you run the greater the amount of loose stuff is under your wheels. The "slippage" can be around 12%! We'd drive the same car on different runs and I would always let him drive first. When I drove I would pull away from the start line and when there was a goodly amount of dust behind me I would move over as close to the cones as I dared. Nobody drove that close so it was like getting the first run of the day and I always went faster than he did. He never did figure out how I "cheated"! The first couple of times he chalked it up to a Tail Wind but after a while he knew I couldn't be that lucky. After that I had to be Cheating. I just told him I knew a shortcut. Which of course is non-sense, so then I told him it was driver technique...which it was.

According to automobile-catalog.com the theoretical top speed was 85 mph. However, a July 1949 Mechanix Illustrated test by Tom McCahill said, "When I was through with the ruff stuff we headed for some open stretches and speed runs. The Chrysler is fast and has a top actual speed of 96.5 mph...." (He was referring to the 1949 model of course but I can't imagine there was much difference and he said as much) "These cars are not radically different from the former Chrysler models in any important way." So who ya gonna believe? You just might have to do an experiment, he he he! In my younger days we'd head to El Mirage Dry Lake for an SCTA meet and get a real honest to goodness Timing Slip from my buddy Julian Doty. Which was much cheaper than a speeding ticket! If you joined a club, paid dues and performed a duty at the Lakes, you'd get a Brass Timing Tag to screw to your dash board! The black enamel ones were just the speed you went and the date you did it. The Red ones indicated you set a record.