Merle Coggins

From what I can see you have the correct orientation. Have you tried to slip the seal over the pinion flange/drive yolk to be sure it fits properly? How was the first seal damaged? I would certainly lube up the new seal before installing the drive yolk. Also, when driving the seal into the housing be careful that the spring doesn't pop out from behind the rubber lip. That would also make the seal not seal properly against the yolk.

I got to thinking... (not always a good thing ?) Brake drums for 3/4 ton Pilot-House trucks can be difficult to find which got me thinking, "do any of the cars of that era use the same 11" brakes and possibly the same drum?" The 1/2 ton trucks have 10" X 2" brakes up front and 11" X 2" brakes on the rear axle, and they use hubs with wheel bolts with 5 X 4-1/2" pattern like the Plymouth's use. The 3/4 ton trucks have 11" X 2" front and rear and use hubs with wheel studs and 5 X 5" pattern. Do any of the cars, presumably the heavy long wheel base versions, use 11" brakes with 5 X 5" bolt pattern? If so this may give us 3/4 ton truck owners another source for brake drums when needed. Also, if anyone has a master parts catalog, or a cross reference guide, are there any matches to my part numbers? The truck parts book shows all 4 brake drums to be the same. P/N 1188218 The front hubs are P/N 923063 The rear hubs are P/N 1194136 No rivets are listed for 3/4 ton trucks. Apparently the studs retain the drum to the hub. Stud P/N's (10 each) are 593978 for the Left side, and 593979 for the Right side.

I could see them just fine from here in Wisconsin. The must not have the proper ID to cross the border. Now I see them twice...

I've been at Stage 3 for about 12 years now. There always seems to be something to tinker with, when time allows... ?

This is actually a good plan for anyone, regardless of health conditions. Especially those with limited shop space and technical ability. Good plan.

Low compression on that cylinder that has been improving with more run time and a ticking valve... sounds like a sticky valve, hence the valve guide cleaning mentioned by Tim. If it is sticking and not returning fast enough, or not closing fully, that could cause your noise. Once you get the covers off you could crank over the engine and watch the valve movement to see how it returns. Although at manual cranking speeds it may be able to close, but at running speeds it may lag behind. Spray some lube/solvent up on the stem and let it work up into the guide as the engine cranks over. Since you could run the engine as it sits now (hopefully not long without coolant flow) you could spray down the valve stem/guide while running to see if it frees up.

Yes, you will need a puller to remove the pulley. Be careful not to run the puller bolts to deep into the pulley. There's not much room behind it and you can end up driving the bolts into the seal area. Place a board under the front of the oil pan and jack up the engine so you can remove the front mount. Since you'll have the water pump off you can then just remove the front cover. Keep in mind you will disturb the oil pan gasket where it seals against the bottom of the front cover. You may need to replace the front section of oil pan gasket at minimum. However, before I tore all that apart I might verify that the noise isn't coming from the fuel pump.

Since that cross member unbolts and comes out, you could remove it for the modifications. Then you could install the trans without the cross member in place, with some support under as needed, and test fit things as you modify.

Looks like I’ll be gassing up the Ol’ Dodge for another road trip... Just returned from a 1000+ mile road trip to the WPC Meet and Woodward Dream Cruise. Another 600+ mile weekend is nothing... If it’s an evening shin-dig We’ll have plenty of time to make the 5 hour ride on Saturday. Just need to secure some lodging.

Come to think of it, I have seen ‘53’s done up in maroon and grey. This one was at Mopars in the Park in ‘09. (Got your back, Brent. ? )

Oops... Sorry. Try it again.

When there is an open circuit (not a completed circuit to ground) there won’t be any current flow. Without current flow the resistor won’t drop the voltage. Hence you have the same voltage readings at both ends. When you add another load (ie. the coil) to the circuit and current flows you will be able to measure the voltage drops across both loads. Or you would need to measure the resistance value, in Ohms, and calculate the voltage drop(s) using Ohms Law. Voltage = Amperage X Resistance (V = I x R)

Here’s the full photo album.... http://s66.photobucket.com/user/mac2026/library/WPC 2019 Detroit

Also had a chance to meet Don Smith and check out his DeSoto Suburban. He stopped by and crashed the party too. I think his Suburban got more attention than some others “in the show”.

John, we didn’t get to see the Chrysler museum as they had a “special event” using the building that they couldn’t talk about. So we were not able to go there. However, they did open up their restoration shop/warehouse where they restore their museum collection and house many prototype and concept vehicles. It was an interesting visit, but we weren’t allowed to take any photos. Show day started out with a wet truck. Apparently it rained a bit earlier this morning. But I could easily wipe it down and get it prepped and staged. But it turned out to be a nice day, and even got quite sunny by afternoon. This year I had better competition in the truck class. Nice ‘67 Jeepster. And a few others that I liked... Not part of the Club show, but looked good parked right along side us...

Not all horns use relays. Do you have a single horn or duals? From what I’ve seen the single horns didn’t use a relay. Dual horns did. And as has been said, that wire is the ground side of your horn circuit. It goes up to the horn button/ring.

I don’t see a seal in that first picture. If you didn’t remove one then a previous “mechanic” didn’t put one in there. Does the replacement seal not fit tight into the housing? You also have it in there backwards. The lip needs to go towards the axle oil, or away from you. I don’t have a parts book for a ‘49 Plymouth to cross P/N’s with the trucks. I wouldn’t have expected it to be different, but maybe you don’t have a ‘49 Plymouth axle???

We’re in St. Ignace today. Touring Mackinac Island tomorrow. Then across this bad boy Tuesday morning on our way down to Auburn Hills/Pontiac.

2 seconds is about right. “Thousand One”, into neutral/clutch up, “Thousand two”, shift to next gear.

I don’t even know what a feather washer is.

Almost all packed up and ready to go... Well, I’m all packed and ready. Waiting on my better half to finish packing, then we’ll be off on our next Ol’ Dodge road trip. If anyone is going to be there, keep an eye out for me.

Are you sure it's not a metric thread? An M5 screw would have a 0.8 thread pitch, which would be pretty close to a 27TPI measurement. And 0.18" converts to 4.57mm. A 4 mm screw would have 0.7 threads. I don't have all of those size thread pitch gauges on hand right now, but I did have a 27 and a 1.0 in my desk and they are pretty close. The 1.0 is slightly off from a 27, when I hold them tooth to tooth. The fit is similar to holding a 27 and 28 gauge together. This makes be believe the 0.8 metric pitch may be pretty close to a 27.

Installation... without scratching the paint. ?

Then and Now Automotive has excellent fuel pump rebuild kits, and their customer support is top notch. http://www.then-now-auto.com/fuel-pumps/ I even had a pump that I couldn't fine any good identification marks on. I was able to send them pictures and they identified it and told me which kit to purchase. That one is now my 'back-up'/'spare' pump. Also, on my pump there is a long stud with the wing nut at the top for my heat shield. This never comes with a new pump. If you purchase a new pump you would need to remove the long stud and put it in place of one of the cover screws on the new pump. I would highly advise against a new pump, and instead opt for rebuilding the current one with a kit from Then and Now. New pumps have a tendency to have their pivot pin walk out over time. The kits from Then and Now have a new pin with retainer clips to prevent this.

For a "first start" in your situation you could just connect a wire from the battery to the coil with a toggle switch in between. Hook up mechanical oil pressure and temp gauges, and run it. If you have a stomp start starter you're good to go. If you have a key start, or push button start, you may also need to wire up a start button and starter relay. For a longer term way to run your engine in the chassis you could make a small control board with the gauges and switches. Then attach your voltage regulator to the board and wire it up to your generator. This will allow battery recharging during your run cycles. You could also wire in an ammeter if you so desire. I rigged up a panel like that on my truck when I was in the build process. I had to park the truck chassis outside during the week and would pull it into the shop over weekends to work on it. This setup allowed me to easily run the engine when needed.