DutchEdwin

At first, welcome to the forum. If an engine has sat for 20 years and needs a new head gasket, I would take it apart to the last bolt. The thing is, the old oil from the past had the habit of sticking to the colder engine wall. If you put in modern oil, the greasy stuff will get loose and could clog up an oil channel, only detected when it is too late. Also it gives you a good look inside on what is broken and what not. You can get a lot of help over here. Just my opinion. Good luck.

Hi, As my 3 speed transmission has a broken synchroniser and broken bearing, I'm considering building in an OD unit instead. Does anyone know what type will fit my car, is there only one type or do more types fit?

I did put in a little more effort. Mine is working like a clock. It took me half a can of WD40, and 2 month of cleaning a bit every day and spraying with wd40. Perhaps a high frequency cleaner could have done it more quickly but I don not have it. I tried to move it every day. Heated it up carefully in a oven to 80C. and tried to move it again. At last it started moving. Then cleaned it with hot water and wd40. took it apart but did not remove the pin. Greased the pin with copper based grease. Now it works great, like new. When driving, it's in the blocking position after about 1 or 2 miles. I'm a summer driver too. So blocking will do no harm.

P.s. how long can you drive with a broken bearing like I have? My plan is to drive short distances,20 to 50 miles in one day. I have one long trip planned in September for 100 miles.

My guess is a bearing too. The sound seems to be staying longer then a while ago. I did fill up the oil at the rebuilt of the engine 300 miles ago. It could be there is a leak but I doubt it because there is no oil on the floor. When I looked last winter there was no oil spore under the car visual. I'll check this weekend. Thanks all. I know my tranny has at one synchroniser ring all pins broken. This means when I shift up from 0 to first gear, the teeth will rattle. From 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 at 15 and 25mph for smooth shift. Down from 3 to 2 only at 15mph. Having all this problems after the rebuilt of my engine I thought of changing the tranny to a 3 speed with overdrive. If I do so what do I need? my list: from pete's mail a few years ago, http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=2830&highlight=dutchedwin - A seller http://www.westerntransmission.com/ or someone else? - tranny with overdrive - electrical stuff....relay and knob in the cabin? - is the overdrive tranny the same length? so new drive shaft needed? - lockout cable to activate the overdrive? - the layout and electrical scheme to build it - ....what else, apart from $

I thought a throw out bearing spins the bearing when you push the clutch, so the engine does not spin the gearbox. When you do not push the clutch, the bearing assembly as a whole spins with gearbox and crankshaft at the same speed, doing nothing.

Hi Joe, I've been on this world, but busy doing the thing my other half wanted me to do NOW:(. you know, happens to all of us some times. In my case NOW took a bit longer...

If you mean this thing?, it is 300 miles old.

I have a manual 3 speed. After driving for about 2 miles, a howling sound appears. It stops when I push the clutch, comes back when I release it (when driving). It only comes at high speed (35-40 mph and faster), in third gear. Most of the time the sound disappears after 5 to 10 minutes of driving. It it doesn't disappear after this time period I push the clutch pedal. Most of the time it will have gone when I release the pedal. Does anyone have a clue what this is? I'm thinking of a worn bearing. P.s. the oil in the gearbox was changed about 300 miles ago. Before that I do not know it this sound was there.

Last year my car (1955 Plymouth V8) was hard to start when hot. I did some improvements I like to share. 1) The fuel pump, attached to the engine. I insulated it with a 4mm thick plate of nylon. 2) replaced the fuel pump with a new one. 3) checked the fuel line to be free and shielded from hot places 4) replaced the coil (4 weeks ago). In my case, the carb didn't overheat, so no evaporation thing. Only doing all things solved the problem. These improvements give me the possibility to stop at the gas pump and stop the engine without needing to drink a cup of coffee for the next 30 minutes. Thanks to everyone who helped. Next....find out if it also solved the problem after a 50 miles drive. Any way, result was my son's girl friend didn't have to be pushed the last meters to the red carpet when driving her to the school prom, like my son last year, pushed in by the school director. Not many students can tell a story like that .

Hey Joe, Good luck on the run-in. I had a lot of sweat on the first key turn. Ran the engine for 30 minutes at about 1200 rmp with some idles in between (I had no instructions from my machine shop on this. I just tested and was careful on higher and lowering the rpm's. Check your tailpipe for white smoke. also on the second start up. I read in the manual I should tighten the head bolts again after about 500 miles. Had to do that after the first run of 30 minutes already. It was smoking like a steam train. Could tighten those bolts a lot more after that first run. I sure retightend these bolts after every of the next 3 short drives, just to be sure. Fingers crossed for you.

Hi Joe, I know it's a late response but.....anyway like to share this information. At what temperature did you put the pin in? The expansion of aluminium is different from steel. factor 23x10e-6 for alu, 10x10e-6 for steel (at the celsius scale that is). This means when you try to put it together in mid winter at freezing temp in your garage it will not fit. The hole in the piston has become much smaller then the pin outer diameter. Do put it together indoors at 20C /70F (let the parts warm up first for one or two hours) and you will have no problem. Trust me, over the years aluminium or steel do not shrink or grow when there is no corrosion. To your engine, it they fitted right then, no problem for that. Will still be ok on the fit. Good luck. Edwin

As I'm in the Euro zone I had to convert from sealed beam to the Bosch like lenses. I used Alfa Romeo classic lenses as they are fit for 60W H4 lamps and the looks is almost as sealed beam, without H4 visable in the glass, but on the rear of the lense. My experience however is that the light isn't that bright. I know I can improve by connecting the lights directly to the battery with a relay in between, so reducing the resistance of the wire length and switches. However.....as technic is improving to power led light (I have one on my bicycle as bright as a car light) is there a led bulb that fit's in the buls eye giving more light then a H4? It should also use less amps as led needs less then halogene. Anyone heard from this.......

I did put anti seize on the axle. I know you are advised not to. The mechanics on this not to....could only be friction. As we have a key way for this there is no other reason I can find. So....lube them up, including key. I also did this with the cones of the tierods. Sooooooo easy to get them off when needed . Had no problems when driving the car.

Joe, you might try calling eggy.com. They sell a set as also the parts seperate. I got my parts from them, all very good. Good luck.

Hi Woody, I did make my heat insulator for the fuel pump. Made it from 4mm thick PA (nylon). I checked that the arm still touches the cam, with 1/4 inch to spare. Also the bolts still have enough length. I also installed a new pump. Took the car for a drive to heat up the engine. Stopped and started after two minutes. No problem, started up right away, Also after 5 and 10 minutes. I hope I have solved the hard starting problem this way. Also the pump was only a bit warm at the arm where it is bolted to the engine. I'm going on an oldtimer trip tomorrow in Germany. My first long trip, about 150 km. Hope all things go well.

I received the tech data from SMP. The coil Standard UC14 has a primary resistance of 1.04 - 1.27 ohms; secondary resistance of 7700-9500 ohms; output voltage of 25kV; draws 5A. The coil type is a CAN, whatever that means.... It surprises me how fast SMP gave technical answers on their Standardbrand parts.

Hi Suntennis, can you tell what type of pump you used for the electric? and is it protected for too high pressure with a shut off?

Woody, glad that's sorted out. Be aware, when you move the timing too much deg BTDC you can get an engine knock, that can destroy your engine. Although I've heard Greg mentioning 6 deg as a good result before. I'm still working on a method to detect engine knock. But I'll guess that's the winter job research.

Thanks for the replies, glad the number of cylinders do not matter. I'll look for the beatle type coil, see what I come up with. Now I know the right answer to ask. Is there a brand (and type) in the US that is the correct one for 6V? and where do they sell it, just in case I do not get the right answer over here.

Woody, Are you sure you are at ATDC and not at BTDC? At modern fuel your car will probably run best about 4 deg earlier than on old fuel from 1950 as it burns more slowly. Greg G has written a few posts in this issue. When I did my timing I came to the same conclusion reading the vacuum meter.

Tim, Thanks for the advice, but I already know this. The resistor gets hot, thus resulting in a drop of voltage of the coil output, in the end just a low spark and bad running engine. I need the 6V coil.

I ordered a new coil from Rockauto for my Plymouth Plaza suburban, V8 engine and 6V battery. Rockauto got an error in there catalog and shipped me a 12V type, from Standard: UC12. They are helpful and advised me a type from a 1954 Plymouth suburban 3.8l 6 cyl engine: from Standard, type UC14. However this is not a V8 engine. Is this coil the right coil for me, so does it matter if a coil is used for a 6 cyl or a V8 engine? Thanks. One good word for Rockauto. As I'm at the other side of the ocean and shipment and tax are a high percentage of the part they offered me a refund on the 12V coil. They will get back on me to let me know if they want the 12V coil back or not. Is yes they will take care for the shipment. If the UC14 is the correct one, I will only have to pay for the part, not the shipment. That's what I call service.

I thought of that point. What I do is measure the wear point on the area where the arm touches the cam. Then estimate how much I can move it forward with only reducing the stroke just a very little bit. I hope I get some time to do it this weekend. Further, as you probably have read in the other post about vapor lock, not starting engine after you turn off the ignition, it could be solved by cooling the fuel pump. Gives me the idea we are thinking in the right direction, either keep the pump cool or put an extra electric fuel pump in line to break the vapor lock.

That's good looking. Hope it stay's that way. Mine looked like that until I heated up the engine. After that the silver got a slight yellow shine over it where the intake got hot like the heat riser gate.