old rat 49

Have been driving the old girl just about everywhere this month. Love it and am getting quite comfortable with its handling and stopping. Steering box a little worn but that's another project. Took it out for a longer run the other night; about 10 miles each direction at a faster prolonged pace and she seems happiesr at 50-55 mph. Rained a bit and must get the vacuum canister built to keep those wipers going on a grade. Work on it is on hold for the time being as I must prep home for sale as I am moving to Atlanta area from NC. Next house WILL have a garage.

Going to have mine made taller because I don't have rocker trim.

I want to have some new rockers bent for my P15. What gage or thickness is the sheet metal on these cars ?

Check for bad or broken wire coming out of lower end of steering column. Also hot wire horns to make sure they are working. Had both problems with mine.

Thanks. Just wanted to be sure before getting in to it.

1 guage from TSC has worked quite well for me.

Bump

Took the cap off steering box just for a look see. Filled with grease of a putty consistancy. Want to clean it all out. To remove the steering selector only; all I have to do is pull the pitman arm, the cover and push it out through the top, right ? And if I pull the bottom/end cover also that should enable me to clean most of the old gunk out. That all sound right ?

OK. I'll leave alone. Made the valve all nice and shiny again. and as an added note I pulled the cover off of oil pickup/strainer to see inside and the screen itself was very much clogged up and there were three large pieces of the peel off seels from oil bottles or something in there.

Already had the homemade flange tool but am going to make the edge bender vise grips.

Don; Oil pressure was running about 40-45 while driving. 20 or so at idle. Using a poor man stethascope ( a big screwdriver with the handle at my ear and the tip on the pump) I can here some noise I didn't like. Will pull the bottom plate off oil pump to give it a quick look.

After much cleaning and eyeballing I am pretty sure that most of my leaking is from the oil pan not front and rear seals. Pulled and cleaned relief valve. It was quite clean actually. Made a block off plate for the no longer used mechanical fuel pump. Had a slight leak at oil filter line. The pan had a fair amount of sludge for a car tha sat for 3 decades and Who knows when it was last cleaned. Absolutely no sign of any metal in the pan. Quite surprized at that. My main question is this. Shoud I pull a rod cap just to check for wear or should I leave well enough alone as I don't hear anything knocking and should I drop the rear main cap and go ahead and do the rope seal. Was out running arround yesterday and put 36 miles on it with no problem and finally got to drive it at night. Those #81 bulbs in the dash make a world of difference and I love the lighted hood ornament/high beam indicator. Input appreciated.

Love it. What's it off of ?

The first style would be great but need 6 volt. Not looking for bulbs alone. Have plenty of them.

Where the heck can I find some ? Would like something to use for turn and parking brake indicators and any ideas for a parking brake switch set up.

That was great.

Sewing 101: Keep the fingers from under the needle, measure twice, cut once. Rip out the stitch and do the darn thing again.

Nice to meet you this weekend kkaiser and the windows are cleaning up great. One little patch under the rust I will have to repair. Thanks a lot. Also have found pics of window welting and am good to go. Got my welting feet in for sewing machine this morning.

I bought those 5 49's and they look fine. Not in the greatest condition but look similar to the dog dis,trim ring combo. And mines a 49 first series so that kind of makes them legal.

Just do a search for F1. It allows the shock to have full dampening action as opposed to the partial movement that Plymouth had designed. It does make ride feel better.

This post got off track. Still looking for info/photo of that welting.

Ditto. Mine stops like a champ. And while you are at it I highly reccomend the F-1 shock mount relocation.

Thank you again guys. Will check when it stops raining.

My lights flicker some when at idle. Is that normal or an indication of some electrical problem.

Thursday April 19 thru the weekend. Auto Fair show and swap meet at Charlotte NC.