knuckleharley

Maybe you just need shorter floors?

There may be some differences that would matter between the 218 and the 230 head,but I am not aware of them. IF you are doing a show-quality restoration the casting numbers might make a difference,though. Since this is an unknown head to you,have it magna-fluxed to check for cracks before you spend the money and time to mill it and put it on your block.

The way I see it,you don't have much choice. Your engine is "broken" now,and you have to mill the head to fix it. MY best advise would be to tell the machinist to mill as much as he had to take off to make it flat,and not one thousandth more. Make sure he keeps track of and tells you how much it is milled. You hear all kinds of stuff,but these old heads were thick,and they had very low compression ratios. Since you already have the head off,that makes it a no-brainer.

That is one VERY cool and very expensive umbrella! I'm betting it was made back in the days when you could buy a VW Bug hood for 10 bucks,though. Ya gotta admit,the man had a creative eye. Sadly,it would never occur to me to do something like that.

As CSGM Bill Edge,one of my friends and heroes from my army days used to say after he retired,"Getting old ain't for sissies!"

My uncle George was obviously the offspring of the Highland Scots. HUGE man that could palm a basketball,but if he was sitting down he just looked a little wide. He didn't really look tall until he started to stand up,and once started,it seemed like he just kept going. At least 6'8",but probably taller. Ran away from home in 1910 when he was just 13,and got a job as a cabin boy on a 3-mastered schooner working the China Trade. Didn't come back home for 30 years,and that was when he married my aunt and started fishing and shrimping commercially near the Outer Banks of NC. The man spent his whole life picking up or moving heavy items. I think it was around 1956 when I first became aware of how strong he was,and he was in his late 50's,then. He had a Dodge pu that was the only vehicle he ever bought new in his whole life,and when we were visiting with his family one day I watched him pick up a straight 8 Buick engine off the ground and set it in the back of his pickup,using nothing but his own body. Even for someone 9 years old,that was pretty damn impressive! Fast forward to the time I was 16,and we had moved back home and we were fishing also. I went up to the "ditch" one day to bail out our longnet boat,and Uncle Jorge was up there working on his. His was powered by a straigh 6 Falcon engine. Since he had the engine housing off the boat and was tinkering with the engine,I asked him what he was doing and if I could help him. His reply was "No. This old engine went bad on me,so I'm just taking it out so I can put another in." He then bent over,picked the engine up,flywheel,clutch,bellhousing,and all,and threw it up on the bank that probably 3 feet higher than the floor of his boat,just like there was nothing to it. He then got out of his boat and picked up the engine and sat it in the back of his truck. He was probably in his mid-60's then. AFAIK,he was never sick a day in his life or ever saw a doctor. He died at home of a heart attack in his 80's. He had a low-stress life. My father knew him from the time he was a boy,and he said that as far as he knew,he only saw Uncle George get mad one time,and that one time the game warden that was screwing with him had the good sense to back off. Smart man.

Very nice Plymouth. Are those running boards peeking out below the door? Are they wide enough to be functional?

I think it is too late now to do anything about it. It would cost him a couple of grand to get the chrome redone and get a shiny paint job on it,and that doesn't include new springs,spindles to raise it and original seat covers. He would be money ahead to to take the 8 grand if he really needs or just wants to sell it. Otherwise his best bet is to just keep driving and enjoying it,and taking it to every rod run,swap meet,etc,etc,etc he can atttend,with a For Sale Sign in the window with his phone number and the price. There IS someone out there who would be happy to spend 10 grand for a car like that he can just hop into and go riding. Let's face it,10 grand ain't what it used to be,and to someone who wants a early Plymouth wagon it is a good buy when they consider all year or two,or more,that it would take them to turn the average project wagon into a driver that nice and reliable. You can and will get more money. You will never get more time.

Pulls old Ford.Mercury, and IHC,too. I MAY be wrong,but I think it is also necessary on SOME Rambler/AMC vehicles. You can buy one new from amazon,ebay,or one of the other usual suspects for 50 bucks or less,and it's value is priceless because when you need it,you really,really need it.

True dat. You will still get a odor that will bring back memories,but not good ones.

"What is it in that interior that makes it smell so darn good (to me at least)? " It's called "memories",and you can't buy them anywhere. You CAN relive them however,by getting in your old car on a warm summer day after the windows have been rolled up,close your eyes,and take a deep breath. It just doesn't get any gooder than that,and it doesn't cost a dime. It's a part of the package.

If it were me,I think I would try to drill out the center with a drill at least half the diameter of the head bolt,and then immediately use a broken stud remover to try to unscrew it. The heat from drilling it out just might allow it to come out easily. If not,keep drilling it out with slightly larger drills until you are close to the threads,and then try to take a punch and tap what is remaining of the threads away. If that doesn't work you can always drill it out close to the threads and then use a tap to cut it out. Chances are the heat build up will have broken the thread "seal" long before that,and the broken stud remover will back it out,though.

Thanks,I love it,too. Mostly because of the way it looks,which is basically the way it looked when it left the factory. If it ain't broke,don't fix it.

Ok,this one used to be my semi-daily driver until it backfired and caught fire under the hood. Luckily for me I make it a practice to carry a fire extinguisher with me,and while the fire melted the AFB carb and burned all the wires under the hood,the car didn't burn. The car was a slopped together piece of crap when I bought it,and the engine fire was the straw that broke my back on it. It has a Camaro frame clip,tired 305,and junk Turbo 250 trans that didn't start slipping until after I got it home. The frame clip was done right,but basically just tacked together. Had to put finish weld it and add a couple of re-inforcement plates. Plus the engine only had one motor mount bolted to the clip,and the trans was just sitting on two "L" shaped brackets tacked to the chassis. When I went to see why the speedo didn't work,I discovered it had never been installed in the transmission. The trans was "kept from leaking" by tan tape like painted use on chrome that was wrapped around the tailshaft several times. So I had to drill holes and bolt the tailshaft to the trans mount. Once I plugged the speedo cable in,the trans quit leaking,but it was too late. The patient was dying The wiring "harness" had red and black wires,and if there were any fuses in it,I didn't find them. I was hoping to get by while I gathered the parts for a rebuild,but no such luck. The fire was the last straw. I decided I wasn't going to touch it again until I have everthing in my possession I needed to put it back together to suit me,done right and trouble-free. The two photos are how the car looked when I bought it. It's going to have the same color paint and style when I put it back on the road. The tired 305 and junk Turbo 350 are getting replaced with a blueprinted 412 small block assembled by a NASCAR speed shop that has Keith Black flat top 10 to 1 pistons,gapless rings,hot cam,roller rockers,and 202 stainless valves in ported cast iron hi-po GM heads,and roller rockers. Also has 350 Chevy rods for a little more torque. Has a Holley 750 on it now with a medium rise Weiand intake. Also has a Pete Jackson gear drive. The trans is a modified Turbo 400 with a 2,000 stall torque converter and manual shift valve body. I used to have this combo in my 1-ton extended GM window van that I used to pull trailers,and it would almost scare me in that rig when I punched it,so it should do fine in the little P-15. I had it built to put in a 39 Ford,but the engine in my old van took a dump,so that's where it went. The third photo is of a digital instrument cluster make to fit inside the stock P-15 instrument housing. I had it custom built to my specifications I also have a new Ron Francis wiring harness for it,and all the chrome has now been done and is wrapped in paper. AFAIK,I think I now have everything I need to blow it apart and start on the body work,paint,wiring,etc,etc,etc. Everything but the time,that is. Had a local scrapper come by right after the fire when it still looked as good as it does in the photos,and the license plates were even still good,and he offered to haul it off to the crusher for me,"And I won't even charge you anything!" I rejected his kind offer. This one is a keeper that won't get sold as long as I am able to drive.

Thanks for the tip. I bookmarked it for possible future use. https://www.yellowpages.com/wichita-ks/mip/wichita-trim-6927773

Sorry,I am not the gooroo you need to ask about this. Maybe someone else will chime in? If not,just email Bernbaum and ask them directly if it is a direct swap requiring no modifications or complications.

Given where you live and the shipping expenses,you only want to do this once. Do yourself a favor and buy a new or rebuilt one from someplace like Bernbaum or White Post Restorations and be done with it. AFAIK,Bernbaum buys the ones they sell from some manufacturer,but White Post rebuilds originals by boring out the bore and then inserting a brass sleeve and come with a lifetime warranty. They have been doing this for decades now and have an excellent reputation,so if I were you,I think this is the way I would go. Given where you live,you might ask them how much they would charge to supply the core. You might save money as well as time by not having to pay shipping and customs twice. http://whitepost.com/brake-sleeving-rebuilding-services/

I am guessing you have a short in your wiring/ground problem.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1951-1952-Plymouth-Stainless-Steel-LH-Rocker-Panel-Molding-NEW-OEM-NOS-1349119/291170469078?hash=item43cb1cc4d6:g:lwAAAOSw-ndTnweU No,it's not mine and I don't know who is selling it.

I never did get the cops in England straight. I do love pretty much everything in the Masterpiece series,though. The British tend to take their acting seriously,and it shows.

Even back then the Max Wedge 413 make them look good. Ever hear one of those things idling through the pits with open headers after a run? They hit so hard you can almost FEEL the combustion in each cylinder as it idles by.

If there was,it was lost in the ozone.

Good move on the gas lines. Ethanol eats rubber like acid unless it is special rubber made for fuel lines on cars running ethanol gas. Change any inline fuel filters you might have,too.

Looks to me like you are making excellent progress and that you will have a very nice car when done. My only advise at this point is to take a couple of tranquilizers before going to the chrome shop for a re-chrome estimate.

Just watched an episode of Edeavour on PBS. It is a series based around a couple of Scotland Yard Detectives in England in the 1960. The younger brother of the older detective shows up for a visit driving it,and it and this 2 door hardtop is freaking immaculate right down to the "foot deep" black paint and the period English license tags. I always thought these things were uglier than homemade sin when I was younger,but damned if I wasn't admiring it's beauty. I also remember wondering how something that big and heavy that has the aerodynamics of a brick could be so damn fast. Someone in "Old Blighty" owns a VERY nicely restored 62 Polarara D-500 2DR HT!