47heaven

I may have mentioned before that I have a 1955 Plymouth 230 cid engine in my P15. There is no oil filter on it and I can't see where one goes. The kid that was doing the lube job on my car noticed an area on the engine that was capped off. I was wondering if that is where the oil filter went at one time or did it have the same contraption as the original P15 engine had with the tube feeding into the filter and then back out? Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

As you may remember, last week I had a clutch issue due to overlubing from Jiffy Lube. Well, I've pinpointed what I need, but now I need to know where I can get the items. What I need are what are indicated by the arrows and listed as bearings. These are what I was told popped out. They seem to come apart into two pieces. Also, on the braket with the ball on the end, there seams to be something called a snap ring that fits on where the bracket forms into the ball. I'm not sure if this is a needed item to keep the bracket from slipping out. I would like someone who knows a lot about this area of the clutch to shed a little better light on it, if possible, and let me know how this works and where to get the parts. Hopefully, these are not something that need to be pressed in by a machine shop.

Yeah, I think I'll just take the car out Bob Amos in Riverside for the annual lube job from now on because I know he and his guys will know how to do it right. It's just that I wanted to have it greased and lubed before my long trip to Redlands. I do want to say, though, that they guys ay the Jiffy Lube I went to were very coordial and polite. I haven't told them what happened because, like I said, nothing broke, but I will stop by and let the kid know not to put so much grease in the fittings on these old cars because they do get them from time to time.

Man, I took the Plymouth to Jiffy Lube today to get the oil changed and have the trans and differential levels checked and topped off. Also, to get lubing done where it needed. The kid that did it was simply amazed at the car and acted as if it was an honor to be the one lubing it. Well, to make a long story short. About a half a mile away from the lube place, I came to a stop sign. When I proceeded to cross the street, the clutch pedal made a popping sound and went straight to the floor and the car started jumping. For some reason I couldn't get it out of gear. So I proceeded to pull over and turn the car off. I started it again, but when I tried to put it into gear, it would grind as if it was trying to change gears without the pushing the clutch in first. (I guess it had popped out of gear before I stopped the car). So I had to get it towed to the mecahnic shop (where I had the valve job done), but he was just closing up for the holidays. Nonetheless, he managed to look under the car to see what happened and discovered that one of the ball joints that serves as part of the linkage to the trans had popped out because too much grease had been injected into it. The good thiung is nothing is broken, but the bad thing is that he can't get to it until Tuesday. So there go my plans on driving the car to Redlands to some friend's house for Christmas Day. Was really looking for the nice drive out there on the old highways. I'm not mad at the kid because I know he tried, but I really should have taken it to a place that knows a little more about how these cars are supposed to be greased. If I had known that you should only squirt in a small amount, I would have told him.

John, the temp gauge will not hang, actually, but will kind of stay there suspended from the strength of the line it's connected to. Be sure it's clear or any wires before pulling the dash out so that it doesn't snag. The indicator needles are very fragile. REMEMBER that what I described above may not be the OFFICIAL way to take the dash out, but's what worked for me, except for when I got angry...LOL! Good luck!

John...removing the dash was a real learning experience for me and I said a lot of swear words that I hadn't said in a while. The best thing to do is disconnect the gauges from the back of the cluster before anything. I didn't do this and busted the amp and oil gauges. The cable to the temp gauge cannot be disconnected from the back of the gauge. You can either unscrew it from the engine and lose all your radiator fluid or just unscrew the whole gauge from the back of the cluster like the rest and let carefully hang loose in the back. The oil line will unscrew from the back of the gauge with a small wrench. When disconnecting the fuel and amp gauges, just remember what wires go where so you don't get confused when reinstalling. Unscrew and disconnect the high beam indicator, unless it's no longer connected. I would disconnect the choke and throttle cables from the engine, pull them through the firewall and keep them in the dash because they, especially the throttle pull assembly, is virtually impossible to unscrew from the back. It would save you a lot of time and stress to just pull them out with the dash....believe me. These and the high beam indicator also keep the gauge cluster assembly bolted to the dash. The heater control assembly with the ignition under the radio grille work can either be removed from the dash by the removing the nuts that are holding it up under it or you can disconect the heater control and inition switch from the harness and disconnect the defrost and temp control cables from the heater. Then, unbolt the dash support in the center under the dash near the heater control assembly and then remove the windshield moulding and you will see the screws holding in the top part of the dash. Remove those. Losen and lower the steering wheel column from the dash by unscrewing and removing the botom portion of the support. You might want to put a support under the steering column to let it lower enough so that it doesn't damage it, but still allows you enough room to remove the dash. Remove the kick panels and you will see a bolt below each end of the dash that is screwed into the body. Remove these and becareful that the dash doesn't suddenly fall. In most cases, you might have to lift up on it a bit to losen it. That should do it. If I've left something important out, I'm sure someone else can chime in. Good luck!

Yes, I'm using #1 and #2 as A and B. Same on the sending unit. The black box below the unit represents the float. I realized after the fact that I hadn't labeled it. I did have the sending unit grounded when it was 6v. I had connected a wire to one of the screws that is used to screw the unit into the gas tank. I felt that it would be a good source to run the grounding wire off. Then, I ran the wire to the bolt that bolts in the catch for the trunk latch. I'm not sure if this grounded it or not. The reducer I am using is exactly like this one: Would something like this work instead, since it's meant for a fuel gauge? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fuel-Gas-Gauge-VOLTAGE-REDUCER-12-Volt-to-6V-conversion_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33674QQihZ008QQitemZ180065250824QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Since I haven't had the new wiring harnes installed, yet, I'm using the old lead wire and connecting that to the end of the reducer that is labeled "bat" and then a wire leading from the other end and connecting to the bottom terminal of the gauge. I then took another wire and connected it to the larger part in the center of the reducer and connected that wire to the center dash support. I sanded the metal before bolting the wire to it to be sure that it had good contact. Does there have to be two places where this fuel guage system is grounded; one for the gauge and one for the sender? Id having it overgrounded not good? Now, you are saying that the guage will work without a reducer because it has a built in 5 volt bi-metal regualtor (whatever that is). I've been told by so many people that the guage cannot run off of the 12 volts and that a reducer needs to go in between the lead wire and the gauge itself. This is where I'm getting confused. Note that this is not the same guage that I had repaired. This is a NOS gauge that I won off of Ebay, so it hasn't been upgraded. Also, there's never the chance that the sending unit will spark, will it? If so, that would not be a good scene.

Okay...before I do any tests, I wanted to show what happens to my guage in two different stages. The first diagram shows how everything is connected when the guage reads past FULL and stays there until the ignition is turned off. Below is the same diagram, but with the wires switched at the sending unit. When I did this, I got an EMPTY reading and the needle twitched a couple times, but never advanced. Again, I am using a 12v to 6v voltage reducer that is wired between the ignition lead and the guage. The reducer is grounded by a wire from it to a bolt on the dash/cowl vent lever support. Also, the gas tank is full. When I connected the ignition lead to the guage without the voltage reducer, and wired as shown in diagram 1, the needle did the same thing and shot past FULL. I didn't try it with the switched wires. As far as I can tell, the guage is not fried, yet, because it didn't smoke during these tests. I wanted to post this and have you look it over to see if maybe this is enough info to possibly see what may be wrong before perfoming the other tests. Note: I made a mistake when I initialized "ignition" on the voltage reducer diagram and put "ing" instead of "ign."

Pat...a while back, someone won a couple of old promotional 8mm films on Ebay especially made for the P15 from 1946-48. I've been waiting for those to be posted on YouTube, but nothing yet. I was also hoping that maybe this person would've reproduced these on DVD or VHS for the rest of us to buy and enjoy.

After beating my head against the wall with the first gas gauge, I had one of the members on here offer to fix it for me. Not just the gauge, but the sending unit, as well. I sent it back to him and he repaired both of them and said they worked when he tested them. To make a long story short, I got them back and hooked them up according to how he told me, but still couldn't get it to register correctly. I know he repaired them and that they were working for him, but just couldn't get them to work for me. I tried to troubleshoot with the book, but still without any positive results. I recently purchased an NOS gas gauge on Ebay, and since I just converted to 12 volt, I bought 12-6v voltage reducer for it. I connected the reducer between the ignition and the gauge. I made a new wiring harness from the gauge to the sending unit (+ to +, - to -) and grounded the sending unit to what I feel was a good ground...the bolt for the thing the trunk latches to. As a result, when I turn on the ignition, the needle shoots past the full mark and stays. Usually, it would take a few seconds, but this one just moves immediately. Does the voltage reducer have to be grounded, too? I know ziltch about elecronics.

I recently had a new clutch put in my P15 and was wondering why when I first start driving, after starting the car, I can shift the gears smoothly, but as the engine warms up and I have been driving for a little while, there is minimal grinding with the gears when I shift. This happens more with first and second. I push the clutch pedal all the way in, but still get the grinding. What could be causing this when the car has been driven a for a while? Is it merely a clutch adjustment needed? Also, does the clutch pedal return spring tend to snap after a while? What are the warning signs to be aware of? Mine has been making a squeeking sound lately. Could use some lubricant oil probably.

Hey olddaddy...by chance do you have the link to that? I tried to look for it on Ebay, but it must be titled under something else besides turn signal.

Congradulations Bob! What a nice Christmas present for the entire family. Don't spoil her too much!

Dwight- I couldn't use my old radio because it was in the way of the new 12v wiper motor. Plus, as I've mentioned before, all we get out here on AM is talk radio, Spanish and other languages I can't figure out so I figured why bother even restoring it. What I've done is completely remove the back portion of the radio (case and tubes) and kept the front part that houses the dial, station buttons and light. I use it as a dummy so that it looks as if the radio is working. What I will do next is use a modern tuner with CD and Mp3 player and have the music play out of the old, reconned speaker. I may put a couple speakers in the back, but haven't decided yet. If we got good AM stations out here that played oldies from the 40's and 50's, then I would have figured something out. The only thing is that with the absense of the tube radio, I won't get that mellow, amplified sound that only comes from tube radios.

Norm...I also bought a NOS gauge off of Ebay. When I put in the 12v alternator, I had to buy one of those voltage reducers and connected that between the gauge and the wire coming from the ignition. Now, once I turn on the ignition, the needle move almost instantly past the "full" mark and stays there until I shut the engine off. It doesn't even wait to heat up, it seems. I don't know what's wrong now, but I'm tired of messing with it and trying to guess. I've used the book to troubleshoot, but still can't seem to solve the problem. So I just make sure I have gas in the tank until I can see if the guy that's doing the wiring can figure out something. It would be nice to have an accurate reading, but it's not worth stressing out over...not yet, at least.

Norm...I went to it, but couldn't find the perfect fit seat cover you were talking about. Do you have a link that goes right to them?

Bob...I'll check into the mixture screw, but I bought new cables from Napa for the throttle and choke. I did connect the choke, but not the throttle. I read somewhere on the old site that the throttle was only used for colder climates, but it's ready to be connected whenever.

Norm....is this stuff pretty pricey?

Greg...thanks for the detailed troubleshooting information. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to be able to work on the car like that nor do I have a hydralic lift to lift it into the air, but I will keep the info in my notes. Most likely I will end up taking it to a driveline place and either have it balanced or replaced. Bob A. said that the dent was big enough that it could cause vibration. Not sure how well off the u-joints are either. I certainly don't want to cause any damage to the rest of the car with the vibration, as Frank had mentioned.

Well, I've tried to drive off without letting it warm up all the way, but it stalls on me and keeps stalling untill it's warm enough. I'm sure the heat riser must play a big part, but like other's on here, mine is broken too. In fact, I think one of the manifolds has an exhaust leak. Since I'm planning on having the manifold split, should I just have the two manifolds replaced with newer (or better) ones and then have the exhaust one split? Also, who repairs or where can a new heat riser be purchased?

Just wondering what is the proper warm up temperature for the inline six engine before driving it. Lately, it's been kind of cold in the mornings here in Southern California and my P15 does not want to drive until the engine has been warmed up to about 140 degrees. Sometimes it take numerous starts before it stays running. I first tried pulling the choke out, but it seems to starve the carborator of air and it doesn't run as well as when I have the choke pushed in. I just wasn't sure if there was a "known" rule about how warm the engine should get before it driven. Anybody know?

A few weeks ago I had taken my P15 out to show Bob Amos at his shop. While it was up in the air, he noticed that there was a dent in the drive shaft and said that it would cause it to spin off balance a bit, which is true because I notice a viberation as I reach higher speeds. Can the dent be taken out and fixed or do I have to buy a new/used one, and if so, where? I was told a driveline place could fix it, but where do you find one of those?