Dan Hiebert

Maine has an excise tax that has to be paid in addition to registration fees, basically part of the registration. It is based on MSRP, regardless of the year of the vehicle's manufacture. The Town Manager in many small communities, like ours, is also a state BMV agent. Ours is continually amused by how little I pay to register our old cars, and kinda brags about it to other Townfolk. I'd be careful with insurance winter lay-up, unless the provider offers it. Only our D24 and Terraplane have it through their antique auto coverage, I can't get it with the Beetle since it has regular (Allstate) insurance. I asked about it, but I would have to drop the insurance on it for the winter, causing a "lapse in coverage" that would increase overall cost. All the auto insurers I'm aware of require the MSRP. Some of them will adjust for inflation, some won't, and with some it's just a box they have to fill out on their forms.

You've got that handy-dandy new welder. Build yourself a metal cradle/stand with caster wheels. Relatively straight forward project that won't take too long (unless you overthink it...like I would). May still be a bit tricky to get the flywheel on, (as in - awkward), but the engine would be well supported, easily accessible, and mobile until time to stab it in. Otherwise, leaving it hanging on the hoist would not be an issue in my book, especially following Moak's advise with the timbers, don't need many/much, just enough so the oil pan clears the floor. Temporarily draw the boom down into a higher weight section.

Just grocery gettin'. We like to take the ol' D24 to the farmers' markets when they're in swing. I'm getting a kick out of the original post, I've lost count of the times potential sellers would tell me how much wood you could put in the trunk of cars I was looking at... Except in NJ...there it would be how many bodies...

Huzzah! on the folks that readily divulge their sage wisdom and advise. There's one old-timey old car mechanic up here that refuses to tell anyone what he's doing or why, you can't ask him any questions, the only redeeming factor is that his work is always flawless. His customers are the folks that don't know squat about their old cars in the first place, and don't care to learn. (Alas, those types do exist!) The guys n' gals that only post a question or problem once in a while get a hats-off from me, even if it's a redundant issue, makes us put our thinking/memory caps on. This Forum wouldn't be as much fun if there weren't the occasional issues to help with.

He has a '47 Dodge. Assuming it's original, it has the three-speed manual transmission behind a fluid drive unit. Without more info...First blush is that he may have a simple misunderstanding or misinformation on what he has. Perhaps he's been told it is an "automatic" transmission because he doesn't have to shift once he gets going. We need a better description of the problem.

You'll find it after you don't need it anymore. Regardless of the deminimus off set, it would bug me to no end until it was corrected. But that's just me.

In 1993 when I was stationed in Ft. Hancock, TX, I assisted the Texas HP in a rather long pursuit along I-10. Once the guy got stopped due to a blown tire (surprising that was all that blew, we were having trouble keeping up with his hooptie '67 Impala) and arrested (he ran because of outstanding warrants), the Trooper also cited him for speeding at every mile post we passed, about 40 of them. The Trooper wouldn't have added that insult to injury, but the mope kept throwing bottles and trash out at us, which pissed the Trooper off more than the chase did. And yep, he got a littering ticket, too.

All the glass except the rear window on these cars is flat. Available on-line through various vendors, but any auto glass shop worth its salt can cut them for you. Not all that expensive. Easiest for them with an old one for the pattern. Appearance between old and new depends on how much abuse your original glass has taken, i.e., sand crazing, scratches, wiper streaks, delamination, etc. Personally, I did all the side windows at once and just got it done, that was 25 years ago so I don't remember the price, except that it didn't hurt to get them made (installed them myself). Parts in general - there is a "Links Directory" under the browser tab with a lot of sources. Start there. I haven't had bad luck with any of them I've used, but some folks herein have had issues with some of them. I redid all the brakes on our D24 with parts from Kanter Auto Products.

jgreg53, what you are describing is how you are supposed to take up the free play in the steering shaft. Similar if not same procedure Loren describes. Shims are available out there, but I made my own many years ago when they were kinda hard to find. But, if I remember correctly, removing shims is what tightens up the steering shaft(?).

You probably know original Beetles ride like ox carts in the first place. Aren't those torsion bars adjustable? For both ride and height? I know they have to be checked during one of the maintenance intervals. (Don't remember off hand, and currently too lazy / cold out to go out to the garage to consult my manual.) Front tires (radials) on my '70 Bug only call for 18 psi, makes a huge ride difference from the 32 psi the tire folks put in them when I had them mounted.

Yep, if it is unsolicited, just delete it. Regardless of apparent source. Resist the temptation to open them. Although the initial opening of the message shouldn't harm anything, I still delete what I didn't ask for, even "mind-reading" stuff from sites I was looking for. Most are just advertisements, but the bad actors are out there among them. Spam filters don't catch everything.

Yep, "First series" 1949 Dodges are the same as '46-'48. Easy enough to determine, they are still D24, and they look the same.

At first glance, that wheel cylinder doesn't look all that bad, and should clean up well. They'll make good spare parts. What you described when bleeding that one does not sound like a problem with the wheel cylinders, though. That's exactly what was happening with the right rear when I bled the brakes on my VW this spring. In my case it was that the flexible line had deteriorated. I did not have noticeable differences in the wheels braking either, but that one just wouldn't bleed. Always a good bet to replace / rebuild brake systems with an unknown history.

I'd double check the free play and such before any major work. The first one I dealt with started with a squeal, but turned into a chatter like you describe because I didn't fix it in time (early in my shade tree maintenance "career", didn't know what it was at first). The learning curve there was a bit skewed because the next couple I fixed didn't squeal first at all, just chattered. They all got new clutches as a matter of course. My reasoning is that with well used clutches, there are general wear and tear issues that helped lead to the bushing/bearing failure anyway. None of them had just a bad bushing. None of them were our D24, either - newer vehicles.

In my experience with manual transmissions with other vehicles, that always turned out to be the throw-out bearing.

Congratulations on reaching retirement! One of those things that make you go "hmmm". Some don't know how they're going to get there, some (like me) had a plan from the start. Some figure it out about halfway through. Some don't ever figure it out. The "congratulations" in my book is that you figured it out...hopefully on your terms...now you get to enjoy your idea/plan for retirement...not mine, "the man's", your neighbor's, etc.

I have the group 2 NAPA Commercial 6v batteries in our D24 and Terraplane. Almost too big for the Terraplane, but otherwise good fits, good cranking amps, and both have been in service for 5 years. (I used Group 1 batteries from AutoZone in the D24 for the longest time, kinda wimpy and never lasted more than 3-4 years.) No trickle charging, but I do check voltage at least once a month if I haven't driven one or the other, but neither have needed to be topped off. Both cars are in a heated garage for the 5-6 months of winter up here. No issues so far. Batteries have a finite service life, some more than others. Some need more TLC than others.

The solenoid, relays, and regulator on our D24 are all original to it. These are rugged components, and thankfully, our car spent it's "rode-hard-put-up-wet" days in the southwest, so there are no rust issues with those components either. I cleaned and painted ours over 25 years ago, and although they are fading a bit now, no issues at all. They stand up well to refurbishing. That being said, I also bought new components over 25 years ago - just in case. That "case" not having arisen yet, but still possible.

Beltline trim - push down on the top while pulling, or prying, out on the bottom. There are several clips per panel. Fender spears are bolted on from the back. Rocker trim has bolts at the front and rear fenders. It's clipped on like the beltline trim along the rockers. On D24s, the beltline trim carries over to the lower outside edge of the hood, and is bolted on. I'm drawing a blank right now whether or not P15s have that hood trim, too. The center trim on the P15s I don't know about.

FWIW (and future planning?) they've vastly improved the trail into the "Ghost Trains of the Allagash". The missus and I went out there last month. Unfortunately, that means more people, but that's a relative term depending on what you're used to. Still just short of a mile, but the formerly difficult areas are now planked. Safe travels!

I have to snug those bolts on our D24 every year, and sometimes during the driving season when we put good miles on it. I put new bolts & lock washers in a couple years ago, which helped alleviate the loosening somewhat, but the car still leaks oil like there's no tomorrow. Seals need replacement I imagine, but for now I chalk it up to "character".

YnZs Yesterdays Parts; has a pretty thorough selection of electrical parts, components, and supplies.

I usually clamp onto the "L" with a vise grip and tap it off with a hammer. Try using the side of the hammer for more swinging room. Sometimes it comes right off. Other times, once I get enough space between the closed end and the line, I insert a flat screwdriver and twist to work it off. The side we're seeing is pretty clean, may help to clean the other side, there may be just enough crud there to keep the line from backing out enough for the clip to, well, unclip.

Same genus, different species. Something like that. Not enough difference for me to notice with my limited arboreal identification skills ?. Someone from Maine seeing a larch in California would call it a tamarack, and someone from California seeing a tamarack in Maine would call it a larch.

Drats. Northern Maine is well past peak colors. Most of the leaves are off now, and the tamarack are starting to brown up (only conifer that loses its leaves [needles] for the winter, pretty much the last trees to lose their leaves every season). Woulda been out with the D24 but issues in NJ took precedence, trip back this weekend was nice through New England scenery wise. But - we still strive to get the D24 out until December when the "winter layup" kicks in and she gets tucked in for the winter.