knuckleharley

They are as reliable as a rock if properly maintained,and most cars in 1949 were 2nd,3rd,or 4th to the Chrysler. Including every Chevrolet and Ford. Anything you could do with your 51 Chevy can not only be done better by the DeSoto,it can be done better by the Plymouth. Chevrolets were still using splash lubrication in 51,and Mopars have had pressurized oil since forever. My 1931 Plymouth came from the factory with a oil pressure pump and hydraulic brakes.

I am far from being an expert of these things,but IMHO the first thing you need to do is determine if it is a Canadian Dodge or an Ameircan Plymouth. It looks suspiciously like a 51-52 Plymouth to me,but I understand that was normal for Canadian Dodges. Did you get a title or any registration or ownership papers with it. If so,check the paperwork to see what the Canadian DMV was calling it,and then check the numbers to make sure they match your paperwork BEFORE you put any more money into it. Once done,make another post here and give us the pedigree. There are several Canadian Mopar guys here who I am sure will be willing to help you,but they have to know where to start.

No photos. It was already done when I bought it,but the car has to come apart for a total redo soon,and I will take both before and after photos of the process. It was half-assed when I got the car. The engineering was good,but at places it was just tackwelded with no reinforcement plates. In fact,there was only one bolt in one motor mount and gravity holding the engine and trans in the car. The trans was just sitting on L brackets on each side. No holes in the brackets to even put a bolt though. I was shocked at what I saw when I got it up on a lift so I could take a good look. Still,I drove it and enjoyed it for a couple of years before the engine backfired and caught fire under the hood The 305 had low oil pressure when warmed up,and the trans was junk. Replacing them with a balanced and blueprinted 412 small block and 700R4 or Turbo 400,and I'm damn sure going to recess the firewall so it's not like riding in a sauna in the summer. VERY pretty paint job with faded flames that was put on over surface rust that is popping out all over,etc,etc,etc. Still,I got it so cheap I can't complain. It owes me nothing.

I was talking about the width of the Camaro frame clip,and the width of the P-15 Frame,and yes,your centered wheel explanation makes perfect sense/

Did you go to the general repair section,or stick with the section specifically for your car? The general repair section is where they explain how things work and how and why to do repairs. For example,look up "starters" and not "1947 Chryslers,and then looking for the "starter removal and replacement" section. The vehicle specific sections don't get into the "whys" and "hows" so much.

Adam,my 48 P-15 has a 76 Camaro frame clip,and everything attached to it is stock Camaro. I don't know/generally don't care a whole lot about Camaros,but I was thinking the 71's and 76's were the same because the body shell seems to be the same? Obviously they weren't or you wouldn't have had this problem. BTW,mine still has the 305 and piece of crap Turbo 250 that was in the 76 Camaro in it. Think maybe the donor car you used was a hi-po version and that's why the control arms were different? BTW,mine was pretty much the same width as the P-15 chassis,and the front and rear tires on stock Camaro Rally wheels are centered perfectly in the wheel wells. It also has the stock 76 10 bolt GM rear from the same donor car.

http://shoebox-central.com/1949-1950-1951-ford-deluxe-dual-reservoir-master-cylinder-conversion-kit Look at the link above,and it you think you can make it work for you,call them up first and ask them about it. Sure,it's for a 49-51 Ford,but I see no reason why you couldn't modify the mounting bracket to make it work with your P-15. They also sell a more expensive kit that has a mini-booster on it that sits below the floor if you think you need or want PB.

Best thing to do is do a web or yellow page search for auto electrical repair shops in your area,and then call each to get an estimate for a 100 percent rebuilt. Chances are all it will need is cleaning and new brushes and bushings,but it's better to know what the upper limit is going to be before you drop it off. NOT going to be cheap,though. The last one I had rebuilt a couple of years ago needed a new armature because a previous owner had taken the one in it to a wire wheel to clean it up,and polished all the shellac/whatever off,causing it to short out. Cost me right at $100 by the time the dust settled,and that was with me taking it off,delivering it,picking it up,and putting it back on. The good news is once it is fixed,it's pretty much fixed forever from your POV. Even if you drove it daily it would take years for it to need brushes and bushings again.

It would be a lot simpler to just cut a "U" shaped section out of the bottom of the K-Member,blast,clean,and coat the inside,and then weld in a donor section to replace it,or just make a new one that fits.

It came from the factory with an independent front suspension. You need to be more specific about what it is you hope to gain from any suspension updates. You may not have to spend as much money as you think.

I suspect it was a Pratt Whitney design. People who were making bomber engines wouldn't see making a 2 cylinder auxiliary engine as much of a challenge. Am I the only one surprised about the rope pull start?

Well,it would definitely be heavy enough,but you would have to put chains on the tires. Hell of a jump start battery though,huh?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Airport-Ground-Power-unit-Motor-Gernerator-Corp-airplane-tug-Flathead-6/282831477053?hash=item41da11d93d:g:Lu8AAOSww85acz0z&vxp=mtr I do not own or know who does own this,but if it were closer I'd be tempted to own it just to own it. Talk about a cool toy to tow your project cars in and out of the garage with!

Before,you just had money. Money is only good for spending. Once spent,it's gone forever. You spent the money,and how you have a nice truck that's not going to get spent,will be right there as long as you want it,and will put a smile on your face as it removes stress every time you get behind the wheel. I call that a hell of a good swap.

Don,Tom,I have been told that they fill the cavity in the head around the spark plug so that no water gets down there. At any rate,I just ordered a set from Andy Bernbaum,and will let you know how well them work on my flat 6 non-Mopar with a split hood because water in the spark plug recesses has been a problem with that one ever since I have owned it.

You are a sick,sick man. What if you cut it in the wrong place,and all that smoke that's locked up inside it escapes?

From what the old-timers used to tell me when I was a kid,it wasn't the expense of a car radio that was the problem as much as it was the answer to the question "How close is your nearest radio station?" Yeah,people everywhere were listening to the radio at home at night,but they had big antennas mounted on the roof of their houses. Not much reason to buy and have a radio installed in your new car or truck if you lived so far out in the sticks you couldn't pull in any stations. I was told that generally speaking,if you bought a 30's car that had a radio in it,it meant the car was probably bought new in a city. Although my 1939 IHC PU came from Minnesota,and had a factory 2 piece radio in the dash when I bought it,and a radio antenna on the cowl. Then again,a pu in the rural midwest in the 30's doubled as the family "car" in most places in farm country,and farmers do like to hear news about stuff like approaching tornadoes or hailstorms while out in the fields. Lots of flatland out there,and I'm guessing the radio signals carried pretty good.

-I'm betting that thing was almost never driven. Can you even to begin to image how poor the performance was with a Model T pulling that much weight? The guy even has a brick chimney and a fireplace! You would think that steam heat would be lighter and easier,or just one of those old tin stoves with a tin chimney. If I had to guess,I would guess he used the generator to provide electricity. Anybody know if there was any such thing as 6 volt radios for cars in the 20's and early 30's? In addition,add the weight of all the reinforcing welded to the chassis to keep it from looking like a big "U" with a bunch of wood in between the uprights? Looks like there is a box under one axle to get the wheel off the ground. I'm betting flat tires were a common problem,too. Still if you are homeles,poor,and just need a shack to get out of the weather,you could do worse than a mobile one that high off the cold ground.

They can't be very rare because I bought a set from Bernbaum last night for 33 bucks,plus shipping.

I don't know because I don't own either truck,but I am guessing the early 60's pu is heavier. The odd thing is IRRC,my friend told me his grandfather ordered the truck with something like 4:30 gears in the rear because he liked to idle up his produce rows,and because the truck was so heavy when he loaded it down to take to the market to sell produce off the back of it.

I sold a 48 Dodge pu with a 218 in it to a local friend a few years back. This guy owns a commercial garage,and collects cars he likes. One is a early 60's half-ton Dodge stepside his grandfather bought new. He restored it several years ago and keeps it inside. I am pretty sure he told me it had a 225 slant 6 in it,not the 196. I remember him telling me when he first put the 48 on the road he was shocked at home much more torque it had than the more modern slant 6. There is an arched bridge not far from his shop that he has to drive over,and he said the power increase of the 48 over the newer one was really noticeable pulling that grade in high gear at highway speed. BTW,the 218 is bone stock,too.

I suspect that is true of all the cars or trucks that are driven daily,but let one sit around a couple of weeks at a time or longer without running them enough to get up to normal temps,and you have rust. I have seen some so rusty no wrench or socket would fit the spark plugs.

Thanks,I will check them out.

For many people originality is important regardless of what type of vehicle it is,but you can't compare the value of original muscle cars and original trucks. Original muscle cars sell for stoopid money,and original trucks usually sell for roughly the same price as "mostly original" trucks unless you are talking about dedicated show trucks that ride around in closed carriers and are pushed around so engine heat doesn't discolor anything. Other than making sure all your serial numbers match those on your title,don't worry about it if you plan on driving and enjoying your truck as a truck.

I'd like to have a set because I have a car with a split hood,and rainwater weeps past the seal and fills/rusts the spark plugs and the recess in the hood. I am considering just using regular household caulking in the recess when I redo the car if I can't find a set,though. Right now the car paint is so bad I just used duct tape and don't worry about it. The chrome piece that covers the gap is missing,and it would probably work to keep the rain water out,but I don't have one and am not sure I want to use one on the car when it is finished. BTW,I THINK this kit was mostly used in military vehicles or in trucks originally,but I guess it was also popular with the cars that used the hoods with hinges in the middle.