Cpt.Fred

that's right, and you know what? it even works intercontinental! thanks again to anthonyb for my front brake cyls...that's what globalization should be like:) and i do not need to mention all the info and laughs i got from here.

hey bob, thank you for the photos! that's the one, it looks quite similar. i have a wiring chart also, i found the switch in there already. it's the one in the middle named "U", and actually everything looks really easy... i wonder what i did wrong there. i already replaced the whole wiring harness with a newly built one from rhode island wiring. the parts going to the back of the car where not available, so i built them myself. anyway, now i know exactly where to look and for what! sometimes your own eyes are not enough and you need help;) (mainly because my eyes are connected to my brain and that's where the problem might hide... but thats another wiring chart and way OT:D) i'll keep you updated! frederic

thanks guys! so you say it might be the one in the middle? it has three positions, if i remember correctly, so that must be it... absolutely impossible to figure this out of the manual, in my opinion:rolleyes: the one on the right i reused for the electric fuel pump i installed, it makes a nice anti theft device, i think, because you don't find it that easy if you don't know where to look. the engine's turning without it but it just doesn't fire up... i hope the thief gets bored and hits the road next time i'm in the garage i'll start tracing the wires from my mystery switch. if my fingers don't freeze on the door handle...

hi everyone, first of all i hope you had a great christmas! i got a new master cylinder for my 40 from my parents (actually they gave me money for clothes and stuff and hate me now for throwing it away on old car parts...hehe) and can hardly walk because of all the delicious things we had on our plates! i just read the other thread about dashlights and that reminded me of a little problem i have. under my dash there are several switches that don't really belong there, so i got kind of confused during rewiring the car. after rewiring everything, my dashlights don't come to life anymore, but everything else does. in the wiring chart there is a switch for the dashlights, but i don't know which one it might be on my dash. i tried all of them but they didn't change anything. i guess i forgot what i was doing with the wires under the dash, maybe i had too much blood in my head then... do you have a photo of one from a 40 plymouth? i cannot tell from this one... it looked like this under there:

your car looks great, wow! the bumber is far better than the one you had on there before. i love it!

thanks for sharing, jim and blueskies! this is really helpful, because you cannot get stuff like this around here. hope i don't need it too soon, but some day the old girl will get a new, stronger heart and then i'll know what to do:cool:

another 2door sedan! nice car, have fun with it!

great video! how on earth did they do the filming?

wow, great patina! hope you're going to save the most of it. have fun here, it's the best place for old mopars! greetings from berlin, germany, fred

ok, but keep posting when you go on, it looked great already!

hey tom, i was wondering about the same in my car, armrest looks like a raw steak and i get beat up by my girl if i put it back in there. i can't find proper upholstering materials, though... i still think it looks pretty good for something someone has laid his sweaty arm on for 70 years... fred

i like it. grill's something to think about twice, but the chop is perfect. wouldn't chop may 40, though. not for a million. but someday another car may come and THEN... do you have some more pics of your progress, dezeldoc?

hi everybody, after some time thinking and talking i finally got to build my remote reservoir. now i don't have to spill brake fluid everywhere and creep under the car or dash to check the fluid level. yeehaw. first, i did a little research and finally found out that citroen used nice little glas reservoirs on their early 11CV traction avant (front drive, eeeew:eek:) for everyone interested, here's the link: http://www.citroen-traction-avant.com/Content/DetailArt.aspx?COD=550.878-G&SPR=1&AKTSEITE=022&RETURNURL=http://www.citroen-traction-avant.com/Content/C_Produkte.aspx?SPR=1&KATSEITE=022 this glas however comes with a pretty ugly bracket, so we made a custom one: i decided to put the reservoir on the upper part of the firewall for good access and visibility and build an adapter for the whitworth threaded plug in the main cyl to attach a 10mm copper lining: it looks nice i think, when the copper gets darker over the time you might think it belongs that way... now i only have to find the reason why there's still air in my system and i can't build up brake pressure properly... it's a never ending brake story on this car, i tell you.

berlin, germany... now i'll go check my profile if everythings alright.

first of all, great article! thanks for sharing and i'm looking forward on the progress! also,i am interested in the brake parts! do you know if they fit a 40? they are dual simplex, mine are duplex systems, but the mountings look about the same... i'd also need to know what you'd charge for it, including shipping to germany. we can do the rest by pm.

tool this, tool that:rolleyes: i did the touchy-feely thingy and i saw my whole drum and wheel setup move around when someone steps on the brakes, so i guess i still didn't center correctly (i still don't understand completely how that stuff works, though i have read the shop manual over and over and everything looks very simple, but still...) when the shoes hit the drum and are not centered, i seems to me that could result in ugly steering behaviour when riding higher speeds. i will build a pressure bleeding system now. i had the thread of the main cylinder closing measured and it's 1/2" whitstock thread. we were a little surprised because we thought it would be a standard american pipe thread, but anyway, i'll have an adapter built the next days and build a remote reservoir on the firewall. afterwards i'll put a simple valve from a tire in a second cover and put pressure on the system (garden sprayer is a good idea, jim!) afterwards, i'll build that adjusting tool. build this, build that:eek: i'll keep you updated! still frustrating, though.

had another bleeding session yesterday. i found a leak on the passenger side, brake fluid came oozing out between the hose and brake line fitting on the frame. i fixed that by opening and retightening a few times to make the seat settle down. but still - there must be air in the lines because i have to pump the pedal 2 or three times untill i have a normal response. in the back everything seems ok to me, but on the front there are thousands of microscopic bubbles in the brake fluid when it comes rushing through the bleeder hose. how can i find the leak if i do not see any fluid leaving the system? will i ever get this ride on the road?

now that is what i call the flying dutchman look! looks like some spooky old galleon from the bottom of the sea... eerie:cool: looking forward to the pics of the complete car, seafoam green sounds interesting!

just to let you know: i put the new pump in yesterday and she fired up right away and ran beautifully! happy man, me. just had to share...

i googled as well and i found several different spellings snd names, would be nice to have the correct one when i sent the little fella all my best. is it like this? Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountain View Circle South Lyon MI. 48178 poor little guy...

hey todfitch, lighten up! if i'd pull up in front of my local autoparts store here in berlin with that heap of iron and demand spare parts for it, they'd probable shoot at me:D i'm always surprised how easy it is to get parts for these old ladies, when i still had had my 69 opel it was a lot harder, can you believe that? ok, now i have to wait a few weeks and hang around the customs office all day to get my stuff, but at least i get it at all! one more reason to love these cars!

todfitch: kanter still has them, so has andy bernbaum. they seem good in quality and fit really well. i bought an extra package so i wouldn't have to wait so long next time i need them. rich: i read everything about adjusting and the ammco gauge i could find, was very helpful! (also thanks to mr blueskies here:)) i think a less complicated version of that gauge can be easily fabricated to fulfill the basic adjustment needs. i'll keep you updated when i build it, already pulled a good friend into the boat who's a great metal worker:D i did a "freestyle"adjustment yesterday with the drums on and will bleed the system first. afterwards i'll go on constructing the tool.

yes, those are 1940. i think they've built those since 36 or 38, i don't know. i can look it up in the parts manual.

and part 2, finally! the other drum came off, too, but gave me a bad time i tell you. because the garage is so narrow and there's my friend's '67 fury III in there next to my car, i had to squeeze in between the car and the wall. i had to whack the puller for about half an hour, and just when i wanted to stop and least expected it, it came loose with a huge POP and i jumped out of my skin... badly hurt my head in the wheel well:mad: boy, my ears where ringing:D i dragged the drum and puller out there in front of the car, sat on a chair and emptied two beers staring at it and grinning like a cheshire cat:D now i'll build me a brake shoe adjusting tool, bleed it and that's it. finally. all the best from berlin, fred

i switched from mechanical only to electrical only, no problems so far (the pump died on me a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn't belong here...) it's important to know the exact operating pressure of the pump when you do run it alone, too. if it's not to high, you can simply connect it to the carb, without a runback. i'm using a fly pump/ vane type pump producing about 0,4bar of pressure when run on 6V, and that's just fine. the float chamber valve is strong enough to close when the chamber is full and the pump just keeps on running without causing any trouble. i have a switch as well, so when i turn the ignition on i have to turn the pump on seperately. not original, but cheap and efficient, and you save a lot of battery power because you have correct fuel pressure from the beginning on and the engine fires up right away without endless turning after a long sit in the garage. if you run it in line with the old pump, you might as well switch it off, but only if that old pumps works correctly, otherwise i'd guess it wouldn't improve anything, car might still stall because of insufficient fuel / fuel pressure.