mrwrstory

I looked for a Merry Christmas thread but could not find one so,....... Merry Christmas to one and all and the best for the NewYear!

Here's the modified intake manifold. I've decided to paint it to contrast the polished aluminum valve covers and the shiney stuff on the carbs and air cleaners.

That is scary!

My first at age 16 in suburban Detroit. Of course I wish I still had it.

Got back into the 3x2 setup to figger out how to make it run. Found the receipt and the company that sold it to me 8 years ago is still around. They said that, except for the manifold rework, it was ready to go as a legit "tri power" with primary and secondary carbs and progressive linkage acting as a system. So all I gotta do now is modify the manifold and replace some gaskets. The plenum below the ports is large enough to accomodate this change with grace. The reason for doing this is to allow the carbs to be evenly spaced. I've been opening boxes of parts purchased years ago to discover a lot of cool stuff I'd forgotten about. It's like Christmas. These ARP head bolts are like jewelry. They're almost to nice too cover up. - Heads are torqued for the next to last time.

me too!

If your truck has the stock rearend, then it's probably geared low. If mileage is an issue then the smaller 318 might be you best bet. A Hemi of any Mopar origin would be the cat's *** although much more costly to rebuild and challenging to fit. However if you're a hot rodder, you know there's no substitue for cubic inches. Around here the wrecking yards a full of vans and pickups with 360's. The down side is, like most engines of the era, they are weak as used stockers because of emissions tuning and equipment. If you're planning a rebuild anyway, go 360 and an overdrive trans. I did. See the thread "I'm back"

Saw this P-20 Phaeton this weekend. Kinda a shame in my opinion.

I've lost track of where you are on the purchase and on the price. My advice if you are still in negotiations is; If you like it and you're only $400 apart, that's only 5%.....less than the sales tax, I bet, don't let that be the reason for letting it go. I say buy it and figger the diff. is amortized over the period you own it. Also, you'll kick yourself for letting it go for that small diff. Good luck!

Ta Daaaaaa! - - - Another milestone.

Does anyone have, or know where to get an accessory "bull nose" ornament that replaces the stocker? I'd consider trading my original for one.

Too much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's great. I'm hopin to do a "start-up video" in a month or two.

I believe most welding supply houses have a weld through primer. Also check Grainger and/or McMaster-Carr. Brush on or aerosol also as I recall. Not sure if rust would be an issue if you can't get it cleaned up. Now that I think of it, I'll bet Eastwood would have something too.

Andy, expedited answers.... #1-I mounted the Kugel Komponents IFS. #2-It's a 48 P-15 Club Coupe. The 40 is next. #3-For more pics, check http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v92/wstory/PlyProj2011/ they are more or less in reverse order. #4-see #3 #5-I will post more, as updates, as the Persistant Plymouth Project Progresses. I note that you are a Aussie. For you and any others who might enjoy similar postings, check http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=149 It's a fun group of Old Farts. Besides mine, there are two other projects documented i.e. "Project 33" and "Project 32 for me",....Aussie entries. I wanted to contribute something with the steering wheel on the other side of the drive line.

Here's the latest. Made a second trip to the wrecking yard to exchange the cool manifolds for these center dump pieces. Theyre not bad, especially for an interim solution. Lotsa clearance and I will clean and paint them before final installation. - Another goof that I have to own up to is that I assembled the engine, trans and torque converter incorrectly. I had always heard that one should not pull the engine and trans together using the bell housing bolts. I respected that but was ignorant of the dictum that the torque converter must be mounted to the trans,....and then attached to the flex plate after the bellhousing bolts are cinched down. A good friend who is also a crack general repair guy said, by the sequence I took, I may have damamged the front pump in the trans. So,....today was spent pulling the engine and trans, removing the trans from the engine, visiting the trans shop (who confirmed my ignorance) but also determined that I didn't break anything, and then reassembling the engine torque converter and trans in the proper sequence and then reinstalling the whole package. I guess I can feel good that I it all done in one day.

I took the opportunity that the above question asked, to attach this lucky shot that I think is really cool! To the question, It's a Kugel Komponents kit,...not necessarily made for P-15's. It's geometry is basically Mustang II. I patched it in retaining the Plymouth core support and fender/splash panel mounting holes. Note about half of the original spring pocket detail just ahead of the upper A arm pivot bolt.

Starting to get exciting!!!!! The painted engine and trans w/torque conv. installed,... drops in place as planned - - - Although the long range plan is to build headers, I went to the wrecking yard last week for exhaust manifolds to use for the initial startup. Scored these really nice ones from a van that someone had removed in order to get to the heads. Didn't even get my hands dirty. How often does that happen in a wrecking yard? The passenger side worked better than expected. Note the engine is mounted high in the chassis,... for pan clearance. The car is really low. - Unfortunatelly the driver side manifold, a mirror image of the passenger side, was a great fit for connecting the exhaust to the steering column. - With uncharacteristic forethought, I paid an extra $5-$6 each for the manifolds for the privilige of exchanging them. There were quite a few options to choose from so I'm off to the wrecking yard for a second try!

The green and yellow car is a Lister Corvette. The creator formerly used Jaguar power and suspension. Those cars were serious "specials" that competed at La Mans in the 60's,.... I believe. The concept was brough t to the states shortly after that and Corvette power and suspension was used. My friend bought all the components from the East coast a couple of years ago and assembled this car. It performs as good as it looks. Yes, we missed the crash, that would have been right at our feet in Section 3, by about 2 hours

It's satin black bumper and trim paint. Available in both quarts and aerosol cans. Very close to Rustoleum satin black which is a quick and easy touchup also.

It's a foot rest. Intertained my self with the idea that folks would stick their head in the window and figger it was a manual trans.

The links below are to a two part slide show. It records a bunch of Hot Rods on a 5 day trip from So Cal to Reno and back. Kinda an Industrial Revolution Cruise as we had cars, trains, airplanes and boats. - http://public.fotki.com/wstory/2011-run-to-reno/?cmd=fs_slideshow - http://public.fotki.com/wstory/reno-part-2/?cmd=fs_slideshow ...ENJOY!

Okay fellers, here you go. I have not been sleepin but I've suffered from believing I could get things done sooner. One excuse is I organized a trip to the Reno Air Races in late Sept. and that took away from my Plymouth ProJect. Check the thread "Reno Air Races" if you'd like to ride along from So Cal to Reno for the best Motorsports action you'll ever experienced. The dash is finally done ,...but for instruments. - - The front suspension was done some time ago. However, I have just cleaned up the firewall, note the modifications for the V8. Also installed the coil overs. - Installed a diff. cam, buttoned up the bottom end and painted the the engine and trans. Planning to install the engine for the last time next week. - I'm getting pretty excited for how this is all coming together!

I like the Red Ram/5 spd part. I've got that stuff sitting in my stash waiting 'til I can get to the '40 Ply 2 door.

Here 'tis. Anyone know how many diff. screw/thread sizes in the back of a P-15 dash? Must be at least a dozen, ....thought I was workin on a Ford. And yes, the little spring thing does indeed pop the door open. How the lock works is a mystery, but I'll leave that for another time. -

Here's another. My friend Dave McLaughlin's Coupe featured in Rod & Custom. Who woulda thunk Chevy headlights! http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1102rc_1948_plymouth_business_coupe/viewall.html