Don Coatney

Harold; I lived in the snow belt at Orangeville Center on RT 20A 8 miles west of Warsaw (Wyoming County) and 19 miles from Pavillion. I used to go to the cattle auction in Pavillion. I have a son (pictured on the right in this picture) who lives in Akron, New York.

David; Define "mild" modified??? Is your car "mild" modified?? What is the next step in modifications? Would my car be severly modified or some where in between? Just curious!

Nice tractor Dennis; When I lived near Buffalo, New York I owned a Case-International 3 cylinder diesel. I parked it in the field one night after bailing hay and when I started it the next morning I was showered with black water coming out the exhaust. I drove it to my shop and called my neighbor who was a diesel mechanic. He said he would check it out on his way to work. I knew the head gasket was blown or possibly the block/head cracked so I tore it down. When my neighbor arrived I handed him the head so he could check it out. No cracks and the head gasket was the problem. I went to the local International Harvester dealer and told them of the problem and ordered a "valve grind" gasket set. The gaskets arrived with no head gasket. I soon learned (although the dealer did not tell me so) that International Harvester head gaskets do not come with the valve grind set. Re-assembling this diesel was a challenge. There is a valve adjusting/timing procedure that must be followed. I had a shop manual and followed this procedure. Got it back together and had no more problems. Sold this tractor at auction a day before I moved to California. I last saw it as the auction winner left my place and was driving it down the road on a 40 mile trip to its new home at a grape orchard on the east side of Lake Erie.

Dennis; Car looks terrific (actually bofe-um). And your new digs look good although a bit empty. Tell us about the tractor.

This is the Desoto owned by James Douglas.

Randy; This week I made a repair to some stripped out threads on a 9 pin computer plug. The stripped out piece appeared to be chrome plated plastic. I filled the stripped out holes with super glue. Let it set for 4-5 minutes then screwed the small sheet metal screws into the gelled super glue and parked the piece for a half hour or so to let the glue set. I then unscrewed the screws with no release agent and now have a new set of threads to work with. I had to install and remove these screws several times until the final assembly and they worked great every time.

Reg; Just mapquested you. Next trip for sure. Want a taxi ride so you best buy another or revamp yours by the next trip:rolleyes:

[quote=Reg Evans; PS...Don if you are still on the road and heading north from Fresno stop by my place. Reg; Not sure where you are located north of Fresno. I will look you up on my next trip out west. I head back to Tennessee Friday morning.

Here is my bay bought vacuum can. Good for five wiper swipes five minutes after the engine is killed.

James; Makes me glad I will be out of town when you buy the new sun scope so I do not have to help you carry it upstairs to store it! Chet is in town and we may go to Joes to eat tomorrow night if you want to join us. I will call you tomorrow if Chet is in agreement.

James; Distributor machine looks good. Have you tried it out yet?

Shel; I bought my mid 80's GM rebuilt alternator at a bubble pack store for less than twenty bucks a few years back. Check my bucket alternator album for pictures.

Pizzafrank; I will be heading home on Friday. Good possibility I will be out here again within the next couple of years. Sorry you could not attend as we had a lot mof fun.

Nelson; Sorry we could not connect yesterday. Glad you had a good ride today. Did you get the Plymouth up to 90 on the freeway:confused:

My good friend James Douglas once again hauled my balloney butt around today. We went to the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, California. Pizzafrank was supposed to meet us there but did not. Hope everything is well with him and sorry we did not connect. Very interesting and fun Museum. Highlight of the day was I got to actually drive an electric railway trolly. This car runs on 600 DC voltage. What a trip!!! I have watched the electric trolly drivers run the cars while going to and fro work for the past two weeks. Today I got to be in command. The process is easy but it feels strange not offering up direction as the tracks controll that part. Here are a few pictures. View more at the link. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v65/DonCoatney/Road%20trips%202004/SF%201-2007/

I do not recall ever putting a new head gasket on a single cylinger flathead air cooled engine Briggs or otherwise. Is it the water cooling that makes a difference?

I went the other way. I used my P-15 (short block) flywheel and coupled it to a Desoto (long block) engine. In doing so I had to mill off some metal on my bell housing to compensate for the different crankshaft flange. Not sure how it will work going the other way.

Looks way too "staged" to me. Why would the guy re-open the gate and walk away quickly knowing that the gate needed to be closed again? And why does he close the door after the letting the victum out?

Is there something especially significant about them and the houses they live in? I paid a visit to Bob VanBuskirk (47 P-15 woody) at his Indianapolis home and learned of the historical significance of his castle shrouded with mystery. I paid a visit to Chance Moore (49 Plymouth woody) and not only discovered that if you have one woody they replicate and sprout as he has several. Not only that but he has a watch collection that Oprah knows about. Jim Yergin (another old Plymouth woody owner) in Virginia lives in an old historical saloon and I am sure there are tales from there that are not suitable for publication here. Today I paid a visit to Bob Riding in Fresno, California. I discovered that in addition to his collection of a Mopar woody and a 2-door Plymouth panel truck (plus more) that he has a home that is featured on PBS for its energy efficiency. His cars will also be part of that presentation and he told me he will let all of us know when that will happen. The best part of the visit was that I got to get some windshield time in his Dodge Coupe. Not from the passenger seat but behind the wheel. I still have a grin on my face! His dodge runs like a champ and (unlike wimpy Rodney Bullock) I let it “eat” as it has a George Asche twin carburetor setup and runs like a top. My view from the drivers seat. Couple pictures of the car. Bobs two-door panel wagon. Bobs solar (electric generating) panels. And lastly a picture of the house where I lived in Madera, California. I planted every tree in this picture.

And my thanks once again Bob; Looks great on my car.

Best to return the car to the mechanic and have him fix it. I (or others) may be able to tell you what is wrong for free. But if I (or others) do so and you then tell your mechanic what was told to you and he does so then charges you to do the recommended work I am a bit uncomfortable with that.

pizzafrank; James Douglas is making plans for next Sunday. The electric railway museum looks most positive at this time. I believe it is north so meeting you there may work. Hope it does as I would like to meet you.

Lou; I have 3.55/1 gears in my P-15. My big block Desoto engine pulls them well even when in 5th (overdrive) gear going up hill.