Cpt.Fred

it's always fun to see how other people think we're talking here... tee-hee. you mean "Schatz", which could be best translated as "treasure". personally i think it's a strange word... cooper's a real dandy, you should watch the odometer and check if he's not cruising around and picking up girls in his fancy ride while you're not watching!

thank you, tommy. i just bought them, and i'll keep an eye open for others to come. what's the other material, the original looked like brass to me? now for some locksmith research... so i'll have to get the cylinder out of the inginition lock, or the door. i hope it works out fine. feel soooooooo stupid for loosing this key. arrgh.

glad you like it, joe! normally the place is completely crammed because there's also a friend of mine in there with a '67 Fury III, plus my scooter and some prewar bicycles, but the other car was at a shop for new weather striping so i took advance of that... do you mean if i attached a vac gauge on the manifold while timing the engine? or if i tested the vac advance that way? i used a strobe light 12V and an extra 12V batery, like merle said in the other thread, and tested the vac advance by connecting and disconnecting the vac line during the strobe test.

i managed to load up this video of the motor at idle after the adjustment:

are the blanks all the same for these cars? were can i get them? thanks, fred

i managed to get the plymouth ready to go to a race near berlin over the weekend. just had to take part, just to know were i'm standing with the car's performance. lost every race, but all of them very close. i was really happy about it since the 40 was the only car without headers, cams and dual carbs, and it was my first drag race ever. the weekend would have been perfect (sun, beer, cars, beer, more cars, nice people, more beer) if i wouldn't have lost my car key that night. i put it on my key chain i had under my overall, but it somehow managed to get away from me, and that was it. it was my only key and i had to hotwire my own car to get home with it... is there any chance to get a new one from the states, maybe with a serial number from one of the locks? the key was for the ignition, door and filler cap, trunk is different (and that one's missing, too, never had it)

ok, i took everything apart on early friday morning, pulled the rear drums, checked all 4 wheel cyls, changed another seal on the front driver's side. bleeded the system. still no pressure on the pedal. then i had the idea to do the same thing i did when i assembled everything for the first time: since the piston in the repro master cyl is different from the original, i had to adjust the lenght of the push rod to get decent pressure. i did this, and there i was, everything alright, firm pedal, no pumping up. funny thing (or not funny at all) is, my other old problem now came back, too. after driving a few miles in city traffic and using the brake a couple of times, the pressure point starts moving up slowly, ending up with locked brakes after a while! i have to take out the service lid in the foot panel and readjust the push rod, before i can go on driving. i realised over the weekend that this is heat related, too. and, after the car sits a while, pressure goes back down again. i read something on here about this little hole in the bottom of the master cyl, maybe i should have a look at it...

since mine is broken as well, i was planning to order a new one at andy b.'s. i think they want 70$ for it, plus 30$ core charge.

joe, i have the same indication on my gauge: week springs, burnt stuff, sticky broken blah. i didn't really want to read it all... my needle wasn't jumping, though. i'll try checking again since i adjusted the valves a third time yesterday morning and i think i'm good to go now. hooking up a 12V sure helps, did the same here. that's how i found out my vac advance wasn't working. i'm feeling with you, sure hope you get it all set up! best wishes from over here! greg: thanks for the link, good read!

thanks guys. i am very, very frustrated at the moment. i tried to bleed the system four or five times, there was air in there and the pedal got a little firmer. but still, after a few minutes i could push the pedal down to the floorboards by hand. second push: it pumped up, there was pressure, about 2 1/2" from the floor. when i first did the brakes a few weeks ago, i adjusted the pressure point to be at a very high position, so that i did not have to push the pedal to far. this tended to lock the brakes after a few miles, very slowly. i adjusted the pedal at a lower point and that was it, no problems anymore. afterwards a few weeks of happy driving. i pulled the drums on the front and noticed the wheel cyl on the right side (10 weeks, 12 weeks old, brandnew, andy b. reproduction) had a small leak on the 1 3/8" diameter side. i pulled it, took it apart, changed the seal, bleeded again. still, i can pump up the pedal. here's what i will do: i'll pull the rear drums (ooooh, how i longed for that) and check the wheel cyls (all new as well), then bleed the system with the front lifted, like you told me. the wear marks on the linings were really good, i was very happy with the braking effect (230pounds on both sides on the test bench). i did readjust the wheels to have a small drag before and after bleeding. daniel, i bought the glas from some belgian dealer, it is a reproduction of the brake reservoir of some prewar citroen. i might find the adress, if you really want, but i can't say much good about the quality. glas is not good, seal is cheap and leaking, the whole thing was really expensive. next time i'll build one my own out of an old jar.

yes, that's what i meant. feels like the gauge would get chewed between the tappet and the valve shaft:) sound is quite alright, i guess. maybe i'll try shooting a video and load it up on youtube. you can still hear a fine ticking and sort of knitting sound, but the gaps are alright. everything else drowns in the exhaust noise.

thank you! that's good to know, i'll test it later today...

yes i am. i used the system you described on my previos car, too, it worked great. i inserted an old tire valve into the cap, filled the reservoir and compressed it with a foot pump. my actual setup is the original master cyl (brand new) and the 4 original wheel cyls (also brand new). only adition i made you can see on this photo: a glass reservoir up on the firewall for more comfort and control. only problem is, i don't know if it's a good idea to put it under pressure...

i'm really sorry that i'm flooding the forum with my strange questions at the moment, but there's a race tomorrow where i want to go to on my own wheel set, and i have to do a lot of work untill then... so i am not only asking for kicks, but i'm really doing the work and your knowledge won't be wasted, i just fight different frontiers here at the moment as you can see from my various posts over the last few weeks. my problem is, that on my brake system everything is new, but 2 days ago it started the old game again: pressure point dropping, obviously air in the lines. i am using DOT 4 brake fluid on the car, can that be a problem, is it too agressive? i can't find a leak though... but i have think about every possibility. it's funny, this is the most simple brake system i ever worked on, and it keeps on fooling me, i don't get it:confused:

thanks, andy! good info on the seal types, i have to look at a blueprint of the engine again to see were exactly everything goes and how it is constructed. i already cleaned the pan and looked were the oil came from; the drops first appear on the very front of the pan at the lower rim of the chain housing and n the back the oil gatheres in the metal cover of the clutch housing and starts dripping away. i cleaned the engine and tightened the pan screws a little, then i changed the valve cover gaskets after adjusting tappets, that helped a little. problem is, i can't drop the pan without having new gaskets. ordering stuff from the US is expensive in freight and i have to go through customs all the time, very annoying. so i try to gather as much articles as possible in each order. i hope maybe the people at andy b.'s can tell me what type of seal i have by looking up the engine number...?

do you use the vaccum port from the manifold, were the wipers are connected to, or the one on the base of the carb, were the vac advance of the distributor is controlled with? what would be a normal reading on the gauge? i still have not fully understood how this is related, vac and timing...

i am ordering gaskets today and i was wondering if it would be possible to put in new shaft seals/main seals (what's the correct name in english...?) without taking the whole engine ou of the car, just pull the pan and get the tranny out. (i need to look at the clutch anyway.) since the engine is dripping in the front and in the back, i guess that's what the damage is. has anybody on here ever done this? which gaskets do i need to perform this task?

hey aero, that's very nice of you, thanks! does it fit a 201? it seems from recent posts that there are differences in pre and post war engines? same friend who brings the tool also has a rich collection of various springs, he'll bring them along and i'll pick one that doesn't let the pressure rise above 40 at idle when cold, since i'm going to do an oil change today and start using SAE40. i'll let you know about the outcome, thanks again! best, fred

that is a very good question, i was already thinking about this when i sat in front of the engine. i don't know, but i guess it's just the most accurate way to adjust them hot, but there will be a reason that they print the measures for cold setting in the manual. i would say sticking to the manual cannot be wrong here, if it says it's possible, it should be possible. i adjusted with engine running again yesterday night (neighbors were very pleased:rolleyes:) and found the inlet of cyl #5 and the exhaust of #1 to be the noisy ones. i narrowed the gap untill the noise stopped and checked if it would still eat up my feeler gauge, which it did. new gaskets, a little sealer, that's it for now. i hope i didn't screw up... edit: just been to your profile, don... you have a very nice car! looks great! dual exhaust to the side is a nice idea...

a friend of mine will bring me one this evening (hopefully, so i can do a little more fishing. good idea! i took a small mirror and a flashlight to look inside the plunger's hideout. i couldn't see or feel any more pieces of the spring. when i put the pieces next to each other, they add up to approximately 2", which should be the right size if i recall that correctly. the screw i used lays its head snugly inside the plug and is about 1" long, the biggest piece of spring is fitting around the threads and now has enough pressure to hold the plunger down with more force than before. i'll try get a new spring somewhere, maybe stovebolt or even ford V8 parts will fit, who knows? gotta make some calls... anyway, i'm happy to know now. once again, thanks everyone!

taking the plugs out is a good idea for turning it over by hand. i tried to push it on the fan but the belt is slipping. i guess i'll try again with engine running to kill the noise and afterwards leave it alone. i guess i have to be happy with what i got. now for the brakes again... thanks, guys!

i checked the clearance with the feeler gauge with the engine off, but still hot. manual states 0.010" for the exhaust, that's 0,20mm on my gauge. i could slide the 0,25 through there easily, so that's a little loose i guess? i have another manual where tappet clearances are written down for both hot and cold engine. it says 0.014" for exhaust and 0.010" for inlet valves on a cold engine (a 201, that is). i'll just give it another try today or tomorrow. but still, how do you turn the engine by hand? best, fred

me neither, cranking and even starting didn't force it out. well, it's moving and i have more pressure now, so maybe i just leave it there for now.

i adjusted my valves yesterday, engine running and hot. i used mechanics gloves and got away without burns, though i must admit you get roasted down there in the wheel well. nice job for the winter:rolleyes: i could use regular wrenches, didn't have to grind anything. it would be nice to have longer handles, but this is ok, too. all valves seemed too tight. since i had the feeling of not doing a very accurate job, i did a static test of the tappet clearance afterwards. they were now all too loose. so i took my printed tech info from the tech tips here and proceeded to adjust the tappets again this way. afterwards I HAD A NOISY VALVE! i don't get this. one question: how do you turn your engines by hand? i can't get a wrench on my pulley since there appears to be some connector for a hand crank, not a regular screw nut. i used the starter and watched the distributor and the marks on the pulley, but that wasn't that accurate... that was a bad day! no success on the tappets, a broken release valve spring AND my brakes ceased working. i don't know why, but suddenly there seems to be a lot of air in the system and i can't find a leak. i hate this.

alright, bull's eye. i opened the release valve plug and the spring slid out in 4 (in words: FOUR) pieces. i'm beginning to think bad thoughts about this engine... i didn't get the plunger out, but i could feel it moving, so it's not stuck completely. how did you get yours out??? i took the largest piece of the spring and put a small screw with the head down into the plug. oil pressure shoots right up to 40 at idle, climbing even more when i rev it, 60-65. engine wasn't hot, though, but this looks a lot better now. how much is too much? joe, i use your valve thread for my valve story, if that's ok with you...