47heaven

The way I have my music set up in the car is I have the CD player in the glove compartment, like many of you probably have, as well. I don't have stereo speakers installed...just the one where the original one used to be in the dash. Anyway, I made a CD consisting of songs from the mid-40's to the early 50's, with vintage commercials form the same era thrown in there. At the end, I have a 30-minute Jack Benny radio show from 1950. Listening to it as I drive really gives me a good feeling for what it might have sounded like back then. The only problem is that I don't have the voice of a disk jockey or radio announcer on there from the same era. I looked on the internet, but couldn't find any old raidio air plays with the announcer talking and introducing a song or going over the news....etc. Anyway, the CD goes like this: "How High The Moon" - Les Paul and Mary Ford Phillip Morris Cigarettes Halo Shampoo Winston Cigarettes (Winston tastes good like a cigarette should) Chiquita Bananas 1948 Lifeboy Soap Commercial "Tiger Rag" - Les Paul and Mary Ford "Twelfth Street Rag" - Pee Wee Hunt "Besame Mucho" - Andy Russell Lucky Strike Cigarettes commercial Bromo Seltzer commercial Camel Cigarettes commercial "Temptation" (Tim-tay-shun)- Red Ingle Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer "Frenesi" - Artie Shaw Rinso Soap commercial Pepsi Cola commercial (Pepsi Cola hits the spot...) "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue" - Gordon MacRae "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place" - Benny Goodman "Who Wouldn't Love You" - Kay Kyser Pepsodent commercial (You'll wonder where the yellow went) Nash Automobile commercial (couldn't find a Plymouth...LOL!) "Mule Train" - Frankie Laine The Jack Benny Show (Lucky Strike Cigarette commercials) Anyway, that was my attempt of recreating the past. If anyone knows of pre-made CDs with old radio air checks and songs...etc, let me know. This is great stuff to have playing when your car is at a car show and people are looking inside your car.

Well, I was cheap and bought crazy glue...and it worked! LOL! I couldn't find the kind you have, so I bought that instead. I did find the right McGuire's wax for the cars, so I'll wax it this weekend.

The other day I attempted to get the temp gauge, that Norm and I converted, into my cluster. Unfortunately, during that first attempt, the needle got hung up and broke off. It was a real bear trying to get it in there. Since it was getting dark, I decided to stop, glue it back on and attempt it today. The problem I was running into was trying not to hang up the needle on the opening, but I kept running into the problem of the needle getting bent up against the plastic face. So I had to keep taking it out, bending it back and trying to stick it through the opening until finally I got it to slip in there. Putting the other end into the engine wasn't too bad, but boy did that anti-freeze gush out quick. Luckily, I was able to get the temporary one out and carefully insert and tighten the converted one in there without losing too much...maybe a quart. I wanted to test and make sure that the needle moved freely, which it did, and now the temp is registering between 160 and 180...like it should. Thanks again, Norm! When you are ready to put in your gauge...let me know. I can help you on that.

Norm...you read my mind. I was just going to mention that. My cluster is dusty, too, but I think if I pull the speedometer (which is easy) and maybe the oil, fuel and amps, I think I can get enough air in there to blow the dust out. Like it's been mentioned...pulling that dash is a living hell, but being 5' 8", I can get under there somewhat, but it's easier with the front seat out. Robert, I'll try it on mine, first, and if it comes out okay, I'll help you with yours. The only tough gauge is the temperature gauge because of the sending tube. That might have to be left in.

It wasn't accurate at all...never has been. Like Tim says...it's probably the way it's connected. No, I would never test that thing near the gas tank. I'll give it a shot, and if not, maybe you and I can troubleshoot it, if you want. After all, you have all those neat testing tools...LOL!

You know...I don't know because the mechanic that did valve job over a year ago had the glass pack put on it from the neighboring muffler shop. I can find out, though. I'm going to have to take a video of it and post it.

After the temp gauge conversion that was just done, I was wondering if I could do that same thing with the fuel gauge. When I was at Norm's, he showed me a '53 Plymouth fuel gauge and I think with a little bit of switching the mounting plates and swapping the face plates, I can make a '47 fuel gauge that will run on one wire. There is a '51 and '53-'54 gauge on Ebay. I have a a J.C Whitney fuel sender unit that is sitting in the box, still, which I think will hook up to it. I really would ike to get away from the two wire system because it's been nothing but a total dissapointment. I just want to wash my hands of it and go to a one wire system because I'm tired of having to keep topping off the tank and guesstamating how much gas is in it. I think I read on here that Plymouth fuel guages went to a one wire system in 1949. Any feedback or suggestions?

Norm...those lines are actually stress cracks, but since the gauge was turned sideways they showed up better. Looking straight on you can't see them.

Pete...that's the plan, but I need to get this carburator and fuel gauge issues solved before real long trips. Someone on here mentioned that they might have a carburator for the '49 engine, but that's all I ever heard about it. I inquired about it, but never heard back. Are there other one barrel carbs I can put on there besides a Carter?

Bob...yeah, went to 12v not long after I bought it. I was told that the 12v, one wire alternator was the best route to go, and so far it has been. I had to do it anyway because I bought a 12v wiring harness, and installed the electronic ignition. Also, have a CD player in thee...so the 6v wouldn't have been usefull anymore.

Hard to tell. The '55 crank was in better shape. Even though they are the same size engine, the '49 originally had 103 hp and the '55 had 115 hp...so something gave it more uuuumff!

Yeah, Robert...the freeze plug isssue was taken care of. The mechanic told me what might've pushed that one out is pressure that could have been in the block from when his other mechanic added the water and anti-freeze and forgot to release the trapped air by losening the heater hose a bit. That is something I didn't know. I took it over to Norm's and he said she sounds and runs nice, in his opinion. I think it sounds good and the glass pack on it gives it a nice, throaty sound. Let me know how this weekend is and I'll drive it out and show you so you can see for yourself. It should be a nice weekend for a drive anyway.

Hi Don...I'm going to sound very naive here, but what is the internal thermostat by-pass system? You are going to have to school me on what that is. I mean, I may know already, but just not by that name...who knows! As far as the water pump...it's new. The one on the '55 had some life to it when I bought it, but died soon after. I was told that the '55 crank was more powerful than the '49 Dodge one and it was also in the better shape of the two.

Here are some pics of my rebuilt engine. Again, I have a P15, but when I got it there already was a 1955 Plymouth engine in the car. When I took it in to be rebuilt, the mechanic discovered that it was already bored at .060 and taking it to .080 would have been risky for overheating, in his opinion. Sleeves were an option, but a very expensive one. Luckily, he was told about a woman that had an engine and other Plymouth parts for sale. Long story short...we found a 1949 Dodge engine and an OD trans there and bought both for $300. Turns out that the engine was in good shape and only bored at .040 and would be able to be bored to .060. Nonetheless, the engine was machined and rebuilt with new parts, but he still used the crank from the '55 engine that was used previously so that it had better horsepower. He also kept the '55 head because it was in better shape. The OD was still in great shape, but needed major cleaning. Below are pics of the end result. See what you think. PS: I know thw air cleaner isn't correct because that was on the '55. I thought of putting an oil bath one on, but this is less messy.

Went over Norm (Normspeed's) house today and we converted the '42 Plymouth temp gauge into '47 one. If you recall in an earlier post, I mentioned that I had purchased a NOS temp gauge assembly to replace the one the mechanic damaged, but that it didn't fit the '47 cluster, due to the different back plate it had. Also, the '42 one had a different face than that of the '47, as well. Anyway, using Shel_Bizzy's photo that he posted, Norm made a nice, but wider cut into the mounting plate of the '47 gauge with a dremel tool and slipped it off the coiled tube. Next, he cut off the mounting plate of the '42 gauge and we disgarded it since it was of no use anymore. The result was a perfect fit: Then, since the needle off of the '42 was shorter than that of the '47, I snipped them both from the gauges, being sure that I left enough so that the longer needle could lay over what was left of the smaller one: Then, I glued the '47 needle on top of the existing part of the '42 with a super apoxy and kept them held together with needle nose pliers for about 5 minutes. They adhered together very nicely: Then, I repainted the back of the face plate and Norm polished up the plastic face. We then assembled the plastic face back onto the back plate only to realize that the back plate had to be screwed onto the gauge before the plastic piece could be assembled back on. That's okay though...we all go through that...LOL! And the result was a nicely restored P15 temp gauge made from '42 gauge. Just so you know... after we assembled the gauge, we then tested it's accuracy with some boiling water and found that it wouldn't quite reach the 210 degree mark, so Norm tweeked part of the mechanism so that the needle just about touched 210 at boiling. Now it's ready to install into the cluster...that's where the fun begins.

Matt...I'm not actually into chopping cars because I think it's butchery of those little pieces of American history, but there are some cars that actully look better and improved with customizing and the '49 Plymouth is one of them....and yours looks pretty good! I don't know why Plymouth went to the "boxy" look that year and the following few years after, but it totally lost it's lines and sleakness after '48, in my opinion.

Well, I took it on a fairly long drive this evening and put the overdrive to the test. I have heard someone say before that the cable can be pushed in all the time, which I tried, but when I come to a stop or slow down it feels like I've lost power when I try to accelerate again...like the overdrive is still engaged. I tried to pull it out when the car was sort of coasting, but when I pulled it out the trans made a funny sound until I pushed it back in. It just doesn't want to pull out when the car is moving for some reason. My mechanic didn't put a kickdown switch on the car because he said that it wouldn't be good for that electronic ignition to be cutting the engine like that. I think the switch schematic might be a good idea to see. Send it to jailhouserock1950@yahoo.com Thanks!

Yeah...I saw that Borg Warner overdrive tech manual already, but I just wanted to get a person's personal analysis. Norm...when I see you this weekend, I'll show you what I am talking about.

Hey...can anybody here that has a car with the R-10 overdrive help me out here? I've been out driving and trying to get used to the new overdrive trans. Took it on the freeway and when it got up to about 50 mph I pushed the cable in, let off the gas and then accelerated. The overdrive didn't kick in so I repeated the step a couple times and then it finally kicked in. My question, I guess, would be why it took a couple of times and am I doing something wrong? Another thing is knowing when to pull the cable out to disengage the overdrive. Does the car have to be completely stopped to do this because even at a slow crawl, when slowing down, the cable doesn't want to pull out. I have to be completely stopped to be able to pull it and it's still hard to pull, but it at least comes out. The cable pushes in easy. Am I doing something wrong or is it the overdrive?

There are no fires near where I am, but the smoke is now settling into the valley and ash is coming down from the Lake Arrowhead fire. The wind blew all the smoke and ash out here this morning and now the winds have subsided, leaving the smoke to just sort of not move and settle. This kind of reminds me of the 2003 fires out here, but the smoke isn't as bad as the smoke was during that time.

What did you do to make the needle longer? I figure that I just snip off the needle on the '42 gauge right where it starts to bend down and leave that to solder the '47 gauge needle to.

How ironic...one of my freeze plugs came out partially yesterday when I had just gotten onto the freeway to test my new overdrive. Luckily, I looked at the temp gauge and saw it climbing pretty quick, so I got off of the next exit and pulled over. Some passerby pointed out the front of the car and when I got out to look I saw steam coming out. So I naturally thought it was the radiator, but when I opened the hood, I then saw the stream of water coming out of the freeze plug. Needless to say, it's back up at the mechanic's being repaired....and it's such a nice weekend to be out driving the car.

Anyone out there have a carburator for a 1949 Dodge 230 cid engine w/auto choke? I can't use the auto choke with the '47 Plymouth Carter carb I have. Besides, the carb I have now is on it's last legs with a small crack near the gas inlet, so it has to be replaced anyway.