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Dan Hiebert

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Everything posted by Dan Hiebert

  1. Yes, the cooling systems in our cars are pressureless. But pressureless means they don't use pressure to raise the heat range of the system, it doesn't mean they won't take any pressure. Either way, filling with water, or with air while under water, works. Not as much equipment needed to fill with water, but you need a keen eye, and you can still miss tiny holes. Filling with air takes a tub of some sort, and as andyd notes, some fittings to seal up the inlet and outlet. I had a couple radiators checked at a local shop recently, they used some of those rubber freeze plugs with the bolt that tightens to seal the inlet, outlet, and filler neck. Then they ran air at low PSI into the overflow tube. Not sure how much PSI they used, but the systems in our cars can handle 4 PSI just from expansion of the coolant. Readily and quickly apparent where the leaks are via that method.
  2. I've read horror stories that they do, but via separation from the tank, versus dissolving. I think that has more to do with proper preparation of the tank, though. I had the tank in our Terraplane sealed with that red stuff about 15 years ago, no issues thus far.
  3. Sometimes a thorough cleaning and proper lubrication of the entire door latch mechanism will solve that drooping problem. That's what did the trick for our Terraplane and D24.
  4. That was indeed for applications with a smaller center tube or bolt, or that require a gasket for the bolt. If your cartridge fit snug on both ends you didn't need it, as Rich noted. I put a new Carquest 84366 oil filter cartridge in our D24 yesterday, it didn't have a small gasket but the applications included farm, industrial, and timber machinery, which is probably the only reason any shop up here would have any in stock. I had bought a case of Fram C134PL filters many years ago and used the last one last year, that one had a smaller rubber gasket that went on the center tube to seal the bottom of the filter, as that filter did not have a rubber fitting at the bottom.
  5. "Paint Details" under your car model in the "Resources" tab above lists what was painted that gray color. As for the reason, my understanding is that with the painting process back in the day, it was less expensive to paint all the non-exterior / non-visible parts of all the cars one color. That much of one standard color is far cheaper than the exterior color coats. The savings, of course, were intended to be passed on to the consumer.
  6. That looks like a nice find. I would first clean it up and see if I could get it running, driving, and stopping before venturing into something else. I prefer original but am not opposed to newer powertrains if the original stuff is grenaded.
  7. Assuming you mean rims - besides MoPar rims, Ford rims will fit.
  8. Ditto. I have replacement mats in our D24, too. They are not fastened or glued down and have not budged in 10 years. I like being able to readily take them out when needed, too.
  9. I missed the original post. I too am curious regarding an update. And, it is green...Keith seems drawn to green late '30s MoPars?
  10. Whether the original title used the engine number versus the car serial number depends entirely on which State it was titled in. That could still be the original engine, block cast in '46, but installed at the factory in a '47 car. If the block was older than the car, that would most likely be a replacement. The assembly line doesn't care which shelf the parts come off of, the engine number was added to the build sheet when the engine was installed. There's been some discussion herein about engine numbers vs. serial numbers on titles or registrations, and the issues some DMVs have with that, since 99.9% of their personnel have no idea that used to be the practice.
  11. Good info, thanks for posting this. My Plymouth manual is 1946 - 1954. It lists only 11 torque specs for the engine, which I've always thought was insufficient.
  12. I had been keeping the oil pan bolts torqued to what a table I use lists for 5/16-18, that being 17 ft. lbs. Neither of my Dodge or Plymouth manuals list a torque setting for the oil pan bolts. I've found I have to re-torque them every year without fail, or the gasket will leak, meaning 17 ft. lbs. in that oily and high-vibration environment won't keep them tight. This year I torqued them all to 20 ft. lbs. and felt they cinched up better without mashing anything that's not supposed to be. We'll see how that plays out. In checking my manuals to ensure I didn't stick my foot in my mouth, they also iterate installing the oil pan gaskets a la Rick D's post, although there's no mention of pins or studs - those are lesson learned / common sense things.
  13. Thanks! It is the original, unmolested, distributor. I made a halfhearted attempt to source a replacement distributor and so far found only one that looks like a bear ate it then pooped it over a cliff. Bushings and breaker plates I can find. Something else to add to the to-do list with a note to check the timing more often for additional indications of wear. I'm thinking 2 degrees wobble or noticeable running issues, whichever comes first, would be about time to definitely fix it. I have no recollection of it doing this beyond the most recent timing session, which of course doesn't mean it hasn't been doing it all along. If push comes to shove, there's a high-speed-low-drag auto electric shop in lil' ol' Houlton that I'm sure can rebuild it for lots of money.
  14. Someone else will have to chime in for '41, but for consideration; the '46-'48 Dodge panels are not interchangeable with the Plymouth ones.
  15. When I timed our D24 recently I noticed that the timing vacillates a bit. I time it at 2 degrees after TDC. (Don't let that be the squirrel of distraction, that's not the question.) The mark is right on enough to easily time it "correctly", but it does retard and advance 1 degree without input often enough to readily notice. It doesn't jump 2 degrees, just the 1. This still happens after the distributor clamp is tightened. What could that be a symptom of? Something appears worn, but what? The shaft? Should I even worry about it? I can find all kinds of information and opinions on timing, but have yet to find anything that touches on the above symptom. The car runs great, no noticeable miss or anything. I'm not overly concerned about it, except that none of our other cars do that.
  16. Pretty good bet those head winds are what did your mileage in. These cars have the aerodynamics of a chicken coop.
  17. Yep. Paid to rent the car for the movie, paid me to drive it (and the best part, drive other old cars as well). Anything on anyone's car that broke while on their set, they fixed for free! They even repainted one!
  18. Or at least give it a shot for poops-and-giggles. If it works, you have a spare, if it doesn't, you've already got a new one en-route.
  19. I'm with Sam on this one, too. We had the exact same issue with our D24 many years ago after I had installed a new fuel pump. Some bits of metal from that new pump kept the needle from seating, so as long as the car was running, the fuel was overflowing. Happened to be when we drove it to a movie set, and the transportation crew there fixed it really quick. Didn't remove or disassemble the whole carb to fix it, removed the top, ensured the intake port was open, cleaned some shavings out of the bowl, reassembled, then installed a filter between the pump and carb. No problems since.
  20. I have a period Fulton Sunshield on our D24. The side brackets are not clamped onto the rain gutters, they are screwed on beneath the gutters, and are quite stout. I don't know what brand was on the car before we got it, but at one time it had a different outside sunvisor on it that was also screwed on that was no longer on the car. The center of the Fulton visor is clamped onto the windshield divider in two places and is also quite stout. When we lived in the southwest, we drove the car occasionally on really windy days, with up to 60-70 mph winds, with no sun visor issues. The car would get buffeted around pretty good, but the visor held up, although I had to check and tighten the center clamps regularly.
  21. Yesterday we took the ol' D24 out for its longest, well, actually first, significant ride since installing the restored radiator. A mere 60 mile round trip to Island Falls, ME with our car club for dinner. Apologies for no photos - I had a camera, but it was also the very first time since we've owned the car that we drove it in the rain. I had to think about that for a while, in 32 years, it had never been driven in the rain. Of course, that served to verify what I already knew from washing it, the windshield seal leaks like a sieve, and 30-year old wiper blades don't work very well. The only saving grace is that water did not get on the inside of the windshield, just everywhere else. The Missus' and mine legs got rather wet. Oh well - "it's only water". I don't plan on doing anything about it until the fall, I'd penciled in replacing the windshields and gasket when it comes time to put her to bed for the winter. I'll just have to manage expectations and/or avoid driving it on rainy days. We had the trip planned for a month, if you're wondering why we went out on a rainy day. In Maine, if you wait for a nice day to do things, you won't get much done. Still, a nice trip, and the Dodge ran flawlessly.
  22. Don't know if they include instructions nowadays, but when I installed new gaskets in our D24 many years ago, the Fel-Pro gasket set's instructions cited installing the oil pan gaskets as per the illustration above.
  23. How time flies. Almost done with the BIL's '57 Ford sedan. Had to do much more body work than planned, the whole bottom of the car body is now "new", about the only thing I didn't have to replace was the trunk floor. Anyway - the reason for the original post - the transmission issue with shifting seems to be fixed. I found a repair kit for the synchronizer gear, it has new tabs so I could replace the broken one. Sourced some replacement needle bearings and thrust washers that were in better condition from a friend who often works on older Fords. And that thorough cleaning already mentioned. First road tests are encouraging with the shifting but have to get an alignment done before I try highway speeds. I think the broken synchronizer tab, bad thrust washers, and extreme "gunkiness" were the cause of the shifting issues, since I fixed all of those and the tranny now works. Manual transmissions are very similar between makes, so my hope is that this may assist others if they have similar issues.
  24. I don't have pictures handy, but I've seen aftermarket mirrors designed just for hanging from the top of the door a la DonaldSmith's solution above. They clamp directly to the door frame so you don't need to fabricate an additional bracket. You have to get used to looking a tad further back to catch the mirror, though. Hot rod and custom supply shops may be the best option to find those. EBay occasionally has swan's neck mirrors that everyone seems to like both the aesthetics and function of, but some you have to drill into the door frame to bolt on.
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