Loren

Years ago there was an outfit in SoCal that made an item they called the "Educated Nut". My Dad got all the car magazines and I remembered the adverts. Here is a write up from the October, 1952 Hop Up magazine Tire Mileage Increased Polizzi Precision Products now makes available to the motoring public an amazing tire saver used successfully by fleet operators for years. The Educated Nut gives you perfect adjustment on front wheel bearings every time. When you back off your present front wheel bearing nuts to insert cotter pin, you loosen your bearing adjustment enough to cause as much as 1/8" wobble on the tread. This causes "scuffing" and "snake tracking," costs you speed, rubber, gas, brake lining and $$$. Easy to install. Send only $2.98 together with your name and address, make and year of car, for a set of 2 Educated Nuts postpaid. Polizzi Precision Products Co., Dept. HU8, 5024 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, California Ed. Note: These educated nuts were used on the Xydias-Bacthelor SoCal special in 1949 and 1950 when it achieved the speed of 210.896 mph on the Bonneville salt flats. lol You really don't want the dreaded "Snake Tracking!" $2.98 was about the price of a good pair of shoes in 1952 so they weren't cheap! And you have to remember those shoes were hand made in the U.S.A. then. My Dad was a machinist at Menasco in Glendale at the time and made about 55 cents an hour. With drum brakes I suspect there wasn't that much value to these devices (at least not for the price). With disc brakes I can see a great value. The brake pads live in very close proximity to the rotors and actually touch more than you can imagine. The only thing that retracts the pistons are the squire sectioned O-rings which parallelogram when you step on the brake. The self adjustment is done by them slipping on the piston surface. An accurate adjustment of the wheel bearings means less travel of the pistons fore and aft while in use and less drag (although with discs there is always some drag). Here's pdf of the Educated Nut. EducatedNut 1.pdf

3 way switch? I am curious how the Overdrive/Hydrive combination worked out....that is before this problem. My understanding of the Hydrive was that it replaced Fluid Drive with a torque converter which allowed torque multiplication. It therefore was the logical higher evolution of Fluid Drive. Combining it with Overdrive seems like a great idea. Also I understand the Hydrive transmission had different ratios than the standard transmission. Some say better ratios. I am an advocate for installing an Overdrive with all the components that make it Automatic to prevent situations like you find yourself in now. Is there any reason the Automatic feature can't be used with Hydrive? I am also wondering if having a torque converter would improve Overdrive reliability or hurt it. Seems to me it would help it by softening the shock loads. Certainly we've all noticed that Automatic transmissions seem to help engines to last longer and most of that can be credited to the torque converter. Anyway I'd sure like to know more about your car and how it was done.

"Spindle Nut"? I was surprised you didn't called a "Knuckle Nut" after all it threads on to the "Knuckle." Previously you had pointed out that I erred by referring to a "Spindle" instead of its official parts book/service manual name, "Knuckle." Plymouths of this vintage don't have "Spindles" they have "Knuckles" which upon reading the parts book I found to be true. Still a little sensitive about that correction, I reviewed the parts book for the official name of this item. The parts book calls it a "Nut" P/N 33-208, thereby dodging the Knuckle vs Spindle confusion (the stinkers). I suppose you can call it anything you want, if it enables clarity of what you are talking about and so "Spindle Nut" works for me.

This is the beauty of the Plymouth Borg-Warner Automatic Overdrive. It uses a Plymouth transmission as its base. You can swap your speedo gear from your old 3 speed and it will read just as it did before. If the input shaft is wrong you can use the one from your old 3 speed as well. The ID cast into the OD unit reads R10 G-1 on the two I have. Because the base transmission is Plymouth/Dodge I am planning to swap the second gear and cluster for a 1940 version. (it is an alternate ratio) A lot of the parts fit other car makes. B-W supplied them for 11 different cars. Relays, switches, solenoids, control cables, etc. can be sourced from a Ford transmission specialist (Van Pelt Sales) at a much better price than other places. Do not over pay for one! $1,100 to 1,200 is the typical going rate but I have bought them for under $500 and some folks say that's as high as you should pay.

I bought one too. It is in fact off-center. The casting is made that way. I have seen originals and they are off-center too. So the part is okay. However, (and you knew this was coming) if I had designed it the threaded hole would be off-center the other way. When you put cast aluminum valve chamber covers on they interfere with the casting. If you'd like to double check, the factory drawings and installation instructions are available in the "Downloads" section of this web site.

This is not your problem of course but when I read the title it reminded me of another problem I've encountered. I am glad you found the leak in the vacuum advance which is related. The symptom I was tasked with finding the cause of was a miss on the highway at cruise speed. There is a ground wire between the breaker plates and when it is broken or missing the electricity has to pass through the pivot between the plates. In this case the wire had been gone so long the pivot point had been eaten away from the current going through it. Every time the engine throttle closed a little the vacuum advance pulled on the top plate breaking the circuit and causing a miss. Once I replaced the wire the problem went away but it still wasn't fixed as now the breaker plate was sloppy and the timing was too variable. A good tune up used to mean removing the distributor and running it on a synchrograph (distributor test machine). The synchrograph has a vacuum pump to check that whole system and a vary-speed motor to test the centrifugal advance. However you only see those in private collections nowadays. Since 3/4 of the time the problem was found in the ignition a synchrograph was a good investment for a shop. Carburetors always TRY to work and sometimes you can clear a problem by putting your hand over the inlet of the carburetor causing vacuum to pull the crud through. But if you can't light the fires a perfect fuel/air mixture isn't going to burn. Just sayn'

Over the automotive period, the chemistry of gasoline has changed dramatically. In the 1920s a change in refinery techniques caused a rush to exhaust heated carburetors. Apparently gasoline got "oily" and hard to vaporize. Model T Fords came equipped with these crazy "Vaporizer Carburetors" that included the exhaust manifold (1926-27). Currently the Federal Government mandates 9 different custom blends of gasoline for local and seasonal use. The purpose of manifold heat is to counter "Icing". As gasoline vaporizes it cools and since air always includes water vapor, it can form ice in the manifold. That ice cools the carburetor and blocks its passages. Since for every pound of fuel the engine ingests ideally 13.2 pounds of air, that can be a lot of water! The whole thing is a balancing act. Heat expands the air so the engine gets less of it. Which hurts power output but if ice becomes problematic the engine won't run at all. Engineers finally figured out that "perfect" atomization of the fuel displaces air, which is why carburetors CAN get better mileage and power than fuel injection. A carburetor spews globules of fuel (along with atomized fuel) which displace less air and that is the reason why. The fix for that problem is direct injection of fuel into the combustion chamber. Thus there is no displacement of power producing air. Think the efficiency of diesel. Fuel also needs to be dense. Again it's a balance. Engineers find the worst case situation and add things like phenolic spacers until the problems go away. One of the things that get tossed are the tin heat shields over the fuel pump. Those things solved a problem (vapor lock) yet guys throw them away. There are no "off the shelf" categorical fixes. Each engine, each situation has its fixes when a problem is found. My general rule is that if the engineers felt something was needed, you'd better keep it and if it works, don't fix it. If you identify a problem, then find a fix. Solutions in search of a problem are just wheel spin.

Okay back to intake manifolds. I have a Thickstun and it doesn’t take flow bench to figure out that it is better than an Offenhauser (which I also have). Then there’s the Edmunds..... When you look at the two of them (Edmunds and Thickstun) the Edmunds seems like it has the edge for flow. It certainly mounts the carburetors higher with a more direct flow, if longer. The Thickstun is lower and has a novel way of attempting to achieve an even flow but there is a more pronounced 90 degree turn under the carburetors. So which one is going to work better? I am leaning to the Thickstun for a mild street engine and the Edmunds for something with more steam. Any thoughts?

The urge to modify is very strong among gear heads. Sometimes they make smart choices and sometimes the other kind. If your not Smokey Yunick or Barney Navarro or Doane Spencer perhaps you should stick to what you know works. It takes a lot of reading and research. Some guys refuse to do the work. If you live in the L.A. area you will find Jay Leno at the annual Throttlers Picnic. He's not spouting off about the great cars he owns and his next project.....he's listening. He wants to know what the guys who did it back in the day are saying. It's the history, the stories, he wants to hear. He's comparing notes and sorting out fiction from fact. He does not care who makes the best disc brake kit or T5 adaptor. I have a car that he has that he bought from a guy I know. It is bone stock with a 750 engine prone to head gasket problems. Mine (I have more than one) have later 850 engines that are reliable. His has a 3 speed transmission, mine have later 4 speeds. His has drum brakes, mine have later disc brakes. It is a whole lot easier to make the switches I have than to try and preserve the original stuff. I did it because it was cheaper and easier and added performance at a time when I didn't have a lot of money. I drove one car in particular everyday. His car is a museum piece, mine were daily drivers. I am certain he knows everything I know about those cars and with one phone call he could find out more than I know. The car he has gives him pleasure. The cars I have gave me transportation. It's a balance between originality and utility. Jay can afford originality, at the time I could not. But since I got used to the way my cars drove....I am not going back, they work.

My 49 Coupe didn't come with a "sway eliminator" bar, so I had to find a used one and all the hardware. The bushings should just slip off. The question is where do you get new ones? I am thinking I'd like to make a new heavier bar for this car. The bar I have is very corroded but will make a good pattern.

In the time that this and another crazy priced Plymouth Overdrive have been on eBay, 7 have sold for much less (while I've been counting). Why somebody would pay eBay fees for months to list something so ridiculously overpriced is a mystery to me. By the way the final bid price for the last Overdrive sold on eBay was $470. That's a far cry from $2,100! So yes they can be purchased reasonably. Replacement parts seem to be better sourced from places other than eBay. I bought a shaft from a shop in So Cal over the counter for much less than eBay. I found the parts I needed for my installation for $200 less at a Ford transmission specialist, Van Pelt Sales. You just have to shop. Fair market price for an Overdrive should be no more than $1,100 to 1,200 and should include some extras. The fact that one can be had for less should not be over looked.

I chatted with the fellow who is reproducing the Thickstun/Tattersfield manifolds. He is the son of Frank Barron who was one of the major players in the company that originally made them. He has all the patterns from the company and says he is refinishing them and will make new manifolds as demand indicates. They did (so he says) make a Chrysler/DeSoto manifold but at the time I talked to him he had no plans to make them. If enough people bugged him to buy them maybe just maybe he'd go into production. The problem guys in the reproduction business have is that once production starts the demand dries up as buyers figure they can put off a purchase. Barney Navarro said when somebody asked him if he had any flathead Ford cylinder heads left, he replied "Well, yes I do but only two pair." That always got the guy to pull out his wallet and buy two pairs instead of the one he wanted. That's why these guys are a little gun shy.

Please, Please, Please install your Overdrive properly. It's so easy to do. No toggle switches, please. The large throttle switches are intended to be installed through the floor under the throttle pedal. When the pedal is "floor boarded" it should trip the switch and that is why there are so any threads (adjustment). This is the way they are intended to be installed on Ford products. I prefer the smaller carburetor switch but sometimes you just don't have one so many people mount them to the linkage. Mopar had a better idea mounting the switch in the engine compartment. That keeps the wiring where you can service it easily. I said before they are available and not to over pay. I found one on the Sacramento.craigslist.org and on eBay. I bought the one on eBay for $470 with a shipping cost of $213 (they are plenty heavy). As I said before there are two guys offering Overdrives for around $2,000 which is way too much and 6 (now 7) have been sold for way less on the same site. Do not over pay, it drives the price up for everyone else. When you wire the relay, switch and solenoid for 6 volt remember the lower voltage requires heavier wire. Power to the relay and to the solenoid should be 10 gauge. The rest can be 14 gauge. It will work with all 14 gauge but it really is too light for reliable service. The plans I have for the new Overdrive I just bought are to pull it apart and change the 2nd gear set to the 1940 ratio and to make sure nothing is broken or worn out. Since it is so easy to change the transmission in a Plymouth I will compare the two in the same car. If I like it, I'll change them both to the 1940 ratio. In my 49 Coupe the car is so light your gear shifting is all done by 30 mph. It has 3.73 final drive gears and I intend to change the pumpkin to 3.54. As long as the engine can pull first gear its fine. Plymouth I believe figured on flat surfaces most drivers would start in second gear. That's why it is so low in all but the 1940. With speed limits of 55 mph that worked fine. 65-70 is another story however. Raising the final drive to 3.54 means you'll be using first gear from every stop. Raising second gear reinforces that but gives you a more even rpm drop between shifts. The Overdrive slows the engine speed another 30% at cruise quieting things down greatly. The engine now relies on its torque to maintain road speed. You'll be holding the throttle further open but at lower rpm thus saving fuel. The kick down will come into play more often with the 3.54 final drive but since it is automatic that doesn't add much work for the driver. What was intended as a 2 speed transmission with a "Granny Gear Low" becomes a 4 speed with these mods and it easily becomes a 65-70 mph car.

My 49 has a Stromberg replacement for the B & B. I was told by the P.O. that the car's original maintainer said they started better than the B & B. I can't confirm that but it does run very nicely and I have had no trouble starting. In my stuff I have three intake manifolds, a Thickstun, an Edmunds and an Offenhauser. I had an opportunity to buy two NOS Strombergs so I jumped on it. The nice thing about the Stromberg is that the inlet is on the side instead of the front, which makes fitting them on a dual manifold much easier and cleaner looking. eBay is my source of choice for carburetors because you can get NOS ones and once in a while they come with the mount for an Overdrive switch. I managed to get a Bendix-Stromberg WW with the switch bracket and the throttle lever was made for the Overdrive Kick Down, brand new in the box. This would be the ideal carburetor for the "Power Pak" manifold if I could find one. Tom Langdon likes the Pinto Weber because it is a progressive type with a small bore for economy and a bigger bore for power, I think it's too small. Other 6 cylinder guys are into a Rochester carburetor. I can't judge those because of a lack of experience with them. For performance I've had real good luck and thus more experience with the WW. I first used them on 1.7 liter SAAB V4 (Ford of Germany) engines. They were used on a surprising number of American V8s from Studebaker, GM stuff, and lots of Mopars including the previously mentioned Power-Pak flathead Plymouth. That is a testament to their versatility. 104 cid to 318 cid is a pretty wide range. I believe that single WW gave a 230cid Plymouth 107hp in 1956. Because they use the same jets as a Stromberg 97 they are real easy to tune. So what would I do if I had a B & B that was shot? I think I'd do what they did in the 1950s....replace it with a new Stromberg. The only issue is moving the fuel line to the side inlet by putting in a 90 degree street ell (which comes in the box). Otherwise they are made to fit. Or you could get an adaptor and use a WW on the stock manifold for a wanna be Power-Pak.

An IND 5 equals 218 cid

From page 90 of Chrysler Engines 1922-1998 by Willem Weertman: Displacement 241.5 cid Bore 3.375 Stroke 4.5 93 or 100 hp Compression ratio 6 to 1 or 6.5 to 1 Torque 180 or 185 lb-ft Block length 26.75 (note this is not the head length) 4 main bearings The C7 of 1936 had integrally forged crankshaft counter weights (some earlier engines had bolt on counter weights) I bbl downdraft carburetor Does that fit your request?

There is a group that does vintage racing VORRA I think is it name. I once took in a race in Reno that a friend was driving in. One of the highlights for me was watching a very well driven ESSEX 4 racer (between 1919-23 they were powered by an F-head 4 cylinder). This rather large high wheeled (wooden spokes too!) racer really showed what an old car could do sliding around corners and powering out. Then there is the La Carrera Pan Americana. Which is a revival of the Mexican Road Race done as a Rally with speed sections. A branch of that group ran a race in Ensenada, Mexico that I participated in. It starts with a hill climb for qualifying then the next day a race from Ensenada to Valle de Trinidad on the highway with a lunch break then back. It favors the 1950s cars but you can run cars up to 1968. The U.S. stock classes have to run drum brakes as only Jaguar had discs in the early 50s. A favorite Unlimited Car is the 1954 Studebaker Coupe with an SBC (since the last Canadian built Studebakers used Chevy engines) In Mexico the rules are a little more casual with regard to safety. They figure it is your responsibility to do things right because it is your hide on the line. American cars of the 1950s are highly encouraged and gain the most attention.

In my misspent youth I did a lot of Dry Lake racing and I knew a lot of the "Old Timers" (we call them Legends now) who knew what they were doing. I got frustrated with SCTA/BNI because each new group of administration loved to put their stamp on the rulebook and they never corrected or updated old rules they only added new ones. So the rulebook grew from an 1/8th of an inch to 5/8ths thick by the time I threw in the towel. The rules were ridiculous contradictions of themselves and good engineering as well. At a time I was driving a 1000 miles off road in the Baja with a co-driver in wheel to wheel competition they would not let me drive 5/8ths of a mile on a flat level smooth lake bed with my co-driver. What put me over the edge was the case of the late Don Debring. He was a Lockheed engineer who had been very successful with a FIAT powered streamliner. With no more records to break in his class he sold his streamliner and took care of business pre-retirement from Lockheed. After a short period he got the itch again and started building a new streamliner. Once it was completed he called for an inspection. The inspector then told him the new rulebook would be out in a month and his new car would not met the new rule for tubing thickness! Don passed away from cancer before he could rebuild his new car. It was fun in spite of the politics until too many folks decided to race. The lines get so long at Bonneville you might get one run a day. We used to race down then turn around and go the same speed on the return road to get back in line. Then they made a rule you had to be towed back at no more than 15 mph and had radar gear set up to enforce it. For a bucket list item it would be fun of course, as a serious hobby not so much. It's amateur racing...just a bit too amateur for me. They would say safety is the goal. I would say if you want to be safe do not race. Use good sense and the best engineering to anticipate and manage risk but you should have no expectation of being safe. All things considered it is way too expensive for the fun factor. There are other alternatives.

That's a really good idea! If I were doing it (and I might have to) I think I'd get a large bolt and grind down the end to fit into the pocket in the drain plug, then weld it. A nice big hex means a nice long wrench. Okay I have a plan now for the inevitable.

A 230 Dodge crank and rods is one choice (the pistons are the same per standard Mopar practice). If you wanted to push the envelope a 265 Chrysler would be my next choice. Canadian cars came with a 25 inch engine. You practically have to have a tape measure or a very well trained eye to tell the difference. Besides a longer stroke for more torque the 237/251/265 have bigger ports than the Plymouth/Dodge 23 inch engine. They are very similar because the same engineer headed up both design teams. Lee Petty in his 49 Business Coupe ran Imperial springs, shocks and wheels with 4.1 rear end gears (to compensate for the Imperial Tire size). His car still went 92 mph for 500 miles. The stock 3 speed has an alternate 2nd gear ratio if you find you need it. The 1940 cluster and second gear is what you're looking for. They were made one year and can be had NOS pretty cheap on eBay. If you want a taller high gear you can go with the Plymouth B-W Automatic Overdrive and you can still use the 1940 2nd gear. The stock rear end is plenty strong and uses a 3rd member design. Which means you can change ratios very quickly by exchanging the Differential Carrier. The ratios are nice and broad ranging. You can up-rate the brakes from stock 10 x 2 drums to Chrysler Windsor 12 x 2 drums. So yes a Plymouth can be used as a vintage racer.

There are two types of batteries, starting and deep cycle. "Starting" batteries give you the surge of energy to get an engine started but they don't take well to being drained to a low charge. They re-charge quickly if not run down. "Deep Cycle" batteries don't perform as well in starting because they are made to take a steady load over a long time. They are slower to re-charge but they willingly take to being drawn down. They are used in applications like RV battery banks or solar. There are batteries which are built as a compromise between the two but they really don't do either job well. Optima batteries are AGM type which is about as good as you can get in a lead acid battery. What sets them apart from other AGM types is their construction and the ability to mount them in anyway besides straight up and down because they are not vented and therefore don't leak. The red top Optima is a starting battery and a good one. If you had one battery to swap between several cars that would be my choice because they are compact and easy to move. A daily driver might be better with a Tractor Supply 6 volt. Or if you sell a car once in a while, I put the battery I use in my daily driver in the sold car and get a new one for it.

Tractor Supply has 6 volt batteries in stock in various sizes and shapes. They'd be my go to for 6 volts.

Seems like a lifetime ago now, I put a Mallory Dualpoint on a 1972 Capri 4 cylinder. It went about 100,000 miles with zero problems. This in a day when 6,000 miles was the norm for tune ups. One set of points took the wear so I moved the other points to that position and installed one new set in its former place. When points open they are breaking a circuit and there is a spark. The spark vaporizes a tiny bit of metal each time so after a while they wear out. In the dual point system one set of points serves to open the circuit and the other closes it. The next big thing in ignitions was the Capacitor Discharge Ignition. This fundamentally changed Charles Kettering’s battery coil ignition. Where battery coil built up a magnetic field in the coil when the points closed then when the points opened the field collapsed and created a spark. In Capacitor Discharge the energy is stored in a capacitor then discharged through the coil which acts as a transformer to step up the voltage. The resulting spark is very short and fast acting because it is not the product of a magnetic field collapsing but of the discharging of a capacitor. Using the points as a low voltage low current switch to trigger the circuitry controlling the capacitor caused them to last practically forever, the limit being the rubbing block wear. Ignitions such as Delta Mark Ten and the kit forms (Archer and Heathkit) could be tuneup free for seriously long times. The fast acting sparks kept plugs cleaner too. I’ve been looking for a Mallory Dualpoint for a Plymouth for some time with no luck. Mallory used to be based in Carson City where I used to live and you could go to the factory and have them “make up” stuff not in their catalog. Some mismanagement caused a collapse and bankruptcy of this fine old company. The successor moved everything to Ohio and is slowly phasing them out of business favoring their other brand ACCEL. My experience with the Delta Mark Ten dates back to the 2 stroke SAAB. Not being able to find a Dualpoint I thought I’d try for a Delta since I knew they made 6 volt positive ground systems. I found a guy who had a negative ground version for sale and since he was into repairing them I asked him what it would take to convert it. He told me it could be done. Before he started I found a 6 volt positive ground system in a photo of a car advertising something else on eBay at French Lake. I made a quick deal for it and sent it to him. It needed repair too and he was able to get both working properly. So now I have my ignition covered times two. The Delta system has a ribbon cable which connects to the stock coil. You simply remove the stock wires and attach the ends of the ribbon to the coil and the original wires to the adjacent location on the ribbon cable ends. If you want to go back to the stock ignition for some reason you reverse the process. The Delta Mark Ten B had a push button switch on the end which did that for you. However, Delta never made a 6 volt version of the “B” model. (So don’t bother looking) Of course if you are going to go 12 volt negative ground you can get Langdon’s HEI. For my Coupe I wanted to stay with 6 volt. While Langdon’s doesn’t mention it, you can hook up an MSD unit to the HEI. This gives you multi spark up to 3,000 rpm. Summit racing sells a house brand version which is cheaper and has great customer reviews. MSD also sells the four prong HEI modules that these ignitions use. I am not sure if there is any advantage to them. So there are plenty of ignition options available for you, these are just the ones I know about. Have fun!

I agree on the Powerflite. Be sure it's a 1955 or earlier or you'll be dealing with the push buttons. My Mother had a 55 V8 and it worked very nicely. I kind of liked the dash mounted shift lever that was so light and delicate instead of big and clunky. It had an air of refinement. Being two speed they were really simple. The early automatics got an undeserved reputation for being "unfixable" largely because the mechanics were in over their heads. Once the skill sets caught up with the technology the results got better. On the brake pedals: In stead of going to all the trouble of re-engineering your car for hanging pedals, why not try a remote reservoir? It's a whole lot less work and has the same benefits. I have worked on cars that were twins except for hanging pedals vs through the floor pedals. Yes, hanging pedals are easier to service and more likely to have the fluid checked but....and it's a big but....the task of moving them in a fashion that's not "Mickey Mouse" is a project I'd choose to avoid on an effort vs benefit basis. Besides how often do you plan on replacing the master cylinder? I'd guess the average car gets no more than one or two replacements in it's useful life, if that. A remote reservoir solves the fluid check problem and increases the volume of the reservoir. If you use a plastic one, you can see the level every time you open the hood without taking the lid off. As far as the driver/pedal interface, I see no difference having driven both in the same style car. I do prefer a hanging throttle pedal in most cases but that's not being considered here. I can tell you the Plymouth throttle is far and away better than the Ford of the same year. The Plymouth has a pivot bearing while the Ford depends on the rubber throttle holding the linkage in position. If the rubber gives out, you can't drive the car. Just sayn'

Being the Devil's advocate here I fully get the position of "new-er" vs the stock old. Just remember Newer will become Old and obsolete very quickly and then where will you get parts? Who is going to keep track of all your mods? Let see an axle from here, a transmission from there, brakes from some other place and pretty soon nobody will know what you have. Rather than do the detective work to figure out what something is, the mechanic in 2050 will likely junk your car. After all where in the parts book will he find what you've put in the car? Disc brakes are not the panacea people think they are. I've driven cars that had them and found them horribly lacking. Some cars with 4 wheel disc brakes I've driven can not be stopped smoothly. Their stopping power is not linear and can't be modulated. Its always herky jerky. My Dad refused to buy a new car after they changed from the Lockheed style brakes to the Bendix style "self energizing" type because he said they locked up. I think he was right in that the self energizing feature deadens the feel and the modulation you CAN (I didn't say DO) get from the Lockheeds. YES, working on the older stuff takes some knowledge, tools and skill but isn't that what the hobby is about? Honing your knowledge and skill? There's not much bragging rights to "I put new pads in my Disc brakes this weekend" vs I got my 12 inch Chrysler brakes to stop straight and quicker than your Disc Brakes. I am old school of course. The old car hobby to me is about bringing back the simplicity of 1950s. No electronics, no plastic. I grew up in Southern California and my Dad knew all the guys who hot rodded before the war and came back from it with new knowledge and skills. SoCal was THE car crazy place then. Getting the most from those old cars was the science of the day and those guys did pretty good. Lee Petty found a 49 Plymouth could beat a new V8 Oldsmobile in a stock car race. On paper OHV V8 beats L head 6 every way you look at it but he found a way to make a living doing it. (and others followed him) Everything that I have suggested is in the Mopar parts book. Everything that I have suggested is less work to get the same results. Nothing I have suggested will reduce the value of a car. All of the replacement parts are being reproduced right now and thus MAY be available in the future. That can't be said for the strange parts suggested by others. There is no standard for performance with strange parts and components. Going from a Plymouth 3.9 final drive to a 56 Dodge V8 automatic 3.54 final drive is a known quantity. Going from a Plymouth 3 speed to a 30% overdrive Plymouth transmission is a known quantity. Going from Plymouth 10 inch brakes to DeSoto 11 inch or Chrysler 12 inch brakes is a known quantity. There are entrees in the Plymouth service manual regrading the service of all these components. When any of them start making a funny noise you can inquire at this very site. With a strange part or component, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters? Just sayn' This is how I do my car and if asked this is what I will tell you. Your car can and should be your own. Do what you want.