jd52cranbrook

Went for a test drive yesterday. MAN it is nice to have close ratio tranny with no electric to worry about for overdrive. I still have things to do, and learned a few more things. 1. Still have to make a floor cover for it, right now I have the carpet over it. 2. Had a issue with it not sliding in all the during install. I had to pull it snug with the bolts. Turns out it was the excess RTV around the front bearing retainer holding it off. Once I cleaned that off, the next install went right in. 3. Another issue was the adapter plate bottom was hitting against the cross member for the rear engine mounts. Also learned that my rear motor mounts were not correct, and shorter than should be. I have a new set of rubber I had been saving, so put that in. Also heated the cross member with a torch and pounded it in a bit for good measure. Also had to be careful of the length of the bolts holding the tranny onto the adapter plate. If too long they dig into either the cross member on the bottom, or the bell housing on top. 4. But the main thing I learned is; same part number does not mean same physical qualities, as in The front bearing retainer, even with the same part number 027.931, have different lengths of "shoulders". (the part that holds the collar for the throw out bearing to slide on.) Mine is 2 inches, Paul Curtis's the adapter kit person, is 1 1/2 inch. The reason this matters is throw out bearing travel. As it is now, mine barely has any room, if any to slide back off the pressure plate when the clutch is released. So my clutch slips a bit with a heavy gas pedal. See below So Earl Johnson, the tranny builder is sending me out another, "shorter shoulder" retainer. (confused yet? lol) BTW Earl has been great during this whole process. If anyone wants to do this conversion I would recommend him if you want a "built" transmission with no hassles whatsoever. While waiting for the retainer I will have time to do the floor pan. I have a piece of 16 awg sheet metal to fab, I think I may include a center console that will hold my stereo components.

My mistake, with the valve open it would allow oil back into the crankcase. Sorry.

You might try another gauge, or test that one with a air line briefly.

But even with the valve stuck and all oil is going through the filter the pressure should be much higher. Its just that, pressure, ones the circuit, or fluid reaches everywhere it's going to go, the pressure is still pushing. Unless the oil is leaving the block somewhere new, something is wrong.

20 at higher rpm is not good. Could be several things, but I would but a secondary pressure gauge and put it on one several oil outlets on the side of the block to be sure yours is working. But I would not run the car until you find out.

I care too,,,, Tonight our Sharks, with the Canadian line, PLUS Joe Pavelski play tonight, with the Russian Goalie who gave up 6 to Canada, (Nabby). Will be interesting how they get introduced.

cool site, gonna save it.

Great game is right. Wow. Anybody could have won,,,,,,,,,,,,, wonderful. Congrats to Canada,,, see you in four years,,

WOW,,,,,,,,,,

I hear of some hockey game happening,,,,,,, I'm pulling for the US, (even with my sharks line out there for Canada), but will be tough to beat them twice so close together.

What am I missing here? What forum is not as active? This one seems to be the most active, and in my opinion has the majority of "Old Grouchy Mopar Guys" Either do their way, or be wrong according to all the lemmings on here. That doesn't stop me from trying to get information out of it. And even post some new ideas once in a while that don't follow the normal procedure of one or three posters on here. The Old Plymouths Home web site is very very quiet, yet it is my home page as it covers the year of my car. The POC has it's own venue and tries to keep all cars stock, which is admirable in it's own way. Who the hell cares how many posts one site has compared to another? I am so tired of people throwing stones for no reason, just cause they are not doing it "their way" The whole friggin society in general is getting that way. Anyway, maybe I am missing your points and if so, I apologize. But I would much rather see new ideas versus the "my way or the highway" trend that you see so much of.

I'm a firm believer of a clean engine and surroundings,, good job.

Now might be a good time to remove that dash if it needs any work. I do like that body style.

Very true, not a good image for sure. Was all over yahoo news and now in today's paper. To be honest I don't think they were trying to rub in anyone's nose. And I would think many teams would have done the same. The one thing they did wrong was do it in a public location, or at least where the press could find out. I hope it goes away, but nowadays it seems the world wants to exploit any mishaps of this nature.

All the advice I get on my Eggy head, (aluminum composite), is to torque it while completely cold, to avoid warping. Sound right? So I check it after long usage, the day after.

man, look at all the new sheet metal for it... looking great. keep us posted.

You can keep the top and bottom if you just have yours re-cored. less cost I would think. And by re-cored I mean with a modern type flow one. I changed mine to 4 row type.

With most either retired, or close to that age I wonder what's going to happen to all these cars?

Kathleen has been my partner through out the restoration of my 52. We consult on everything that goes on with the car. She loves the car shows, loves the cruising. She's been to Detroit with me twice with the car. She is not only supportive, she has been dirty right there with me. She would kill me for showing these pics with her hair so messed up. My next step is talking her into taking some "Betty" shots of her and the car,,,

I'm a partially employed, partially unemployed small business general contractor,,

From the picture, I think that is a good solution.

Honey comb radiators are very pricey. Modern ones are efficient, and much less cost. If your looking for judging points it will cost. But the modern style ones work fine.

wow,, didnt realize we were holding all this good information in.

Quit yellin, I know what I'm doin.

Man that looks like fun. Great job.