DLK

Thanks - I have a shop manual and guess I should have started there! This morning I did take the cover off and did a little filing of the points but it didn't help.

I bought one on ebay today for $20 I figure it's worth a try since Rock Auto is $75 and Bernbaum is $50.

On the drive yesterday I put 68 miles on my car. After about 30 miles the ammeter was suddenly pegged on +45 amps for about 3 miles then went back to normal (slight charge). Then on the way home with about 10 miles to go it pegged to +45 amps again but just for a minute then went back to normal. About 5 miles from home it stopped charging at all and just showed discharge. I started the car this morning and it is still not showing any charge. Reading old posts it appears that the original regulators were pretty bulletproof but the foreign-made replacements are less than reliable. My car has a replacement that looks quite new. I am concerned because there is a major cruise event this coming weekend and I need to try to solve this. Can someone direct me how to measure output from the generator to make sure it is not the culprit? I have one of those Radio Shack OLM and Volt meters but must confess I am pretty dense when it comes to electricity and how to use that meter. One other odd thing - I had the radio rebuilt and when I turn it on now it shows a discharge of about 15-20 amps. I can't believe an 803 MOPAR tube radio uses that much current - or does it?

As a matter of fact I think there was just enough heat coming through the firewall to keep me comfy. Here is a picture of "Young Ed" and his fiancee admiring a 39 Plymouth that was along for the ride. What a beautiful car.

I got my car together just in time to drive to a local Plymouth Club get together about 25 miles from my house today. Who would have thought on May 8th I'd be driving there in 43 degree weather. My California-built car has no heater.

What fun it would be to get up and decide which of those rides I will take out for a spin today.

Young Ed has a 51 Plymouth and maybe someone else has a 49-51 with horn wire connections similar to mine. It is different than the earlier models the contact plate has a slot to slide in the wire and there appears to be a cable contact retainer to hold the cable contact in contact with the contact plate. Unfortunately I did not pay close enough attention on disassembly and when removing the old badly worn wire from the column. The contact retainer fell on the floor. Now I do not know how the cable contact retainer gets fastened to the cable contact. I suspect it should have been slipped over the wire before soldering on the cable contact. Can anyone address how the retainer is put in place? I have attached a picture from the shop manual with the exploded view and a picture of my contact plate and the retainer. You can see the difference from the contact plate on a P-15 or D-24.

Here in Minnesota it's nice you can crawl around these old relics and not worry about a nasty snakebite. When I needed a ring and pinion set for my DeSoto I just called and they located one that fit and pulled it for me.

I agree - get them involved when they are young. I have three sons 33, 31 and 26 and a daughter 28 and none of them have any interest in tinkering with my 50 Dodge or any other old car for that matter.

I suspect the wire that goes to the horn ring should go to the bullet terminal since all the others agree with your 50 Plymouth arrangement. I will try that.

I spent half an hour checking old threads but don't find my answer. I guess the horn wiring and relay on my 50 Dodge are different than a P-15 or D-24 and it is on the firewall not in front of the radiator. I hope someone with a relay similar to mine can offer some help. I am in the middle of rewiring my car and am hooking wires up to the relay. The horns have not worked since I bought my car and I suspect it was not wired correctly. (I should have tested the horns direct to battery but failed to do so - yet). Across the top of the relay are two screw terminals and one bullet terminal. On the lower right is another terminal. When I got the car the wires were hooked up as follows: 1. top left - wire to horns and the ground wire that goes up the steering column. 2. Top middle - wire to coil, wire to ignition switch and wire to turn signal flasher 3. Top right bullet terminal - no wire 4. Bottom right - to starter solenoid I have attached an illustration. Questions: Looking at the wiring diagram for my car it does not appear that the ground wire should go to the same terminal as the wire to the horns or does it? Nothing was connected to the the bullet terminal on the top right - does anyone know what it is for?

I looked at and drove several 47 and 48 Windsors before I bought my 50 Dodge. I loved those cars but in the end the ones I liked were more than my budget could afford. I can see why they hold their value well.

Like you I usually go into the store but when I called the White Bear NAPA store they said they would have to order and I would have to come in and prepay. I finally talked to a real person on their on-line 800 number and he said the dimmer switch was on back order. I then called Bernbaum and he said they are out of stock on them too. Since there are so many 6v MOPARS from the 40's and 50's that use this dimmer stitch I am surprised there aren't more options. The wires to my old switch are in tough shape but the dimmer itself seems to work so I suppose I could splice new wires to the ends of the old ones that go into the switch. Unfortunately my switch does not have screw terminals it looks like the ends of the wires are soldered in.

Anyone else have a bad experience with NAPA online? I ordered a dimmer switch from them. It has been 12 days and the order is listed as "picking parts". I sent an email Monday and got no response. I called today to follow up on the order and they do not even take phone calls they told me to leave a message and someone would get back to me. I need the part - I'd have been better to pay the extra $10 to buy it from Bernbaum.

I think you probably hit on the explanation. While the car was 6 volts when I bought it it may very well have been run with 8 volts at some time in the past. The 53 DeSoto I owned before this Dodge was running 8 volts - I switched it back to 6 volts - I found that with 6 volts and zero gauge cables I had as much starting power as the 8 volts with 4 gauge it had when I bought it.

I am halfway through my wire-by-wire rewire of the front half of my 50 Dodge. NAPA is taking a long time to ship my new dimmer switch which will slow me down since a number of the wires hook up to it. I hope someone can explain what this ceramic thing is that is in one of the wires halfway between the headlight switch and the front of the car. Sorry for the poor picture quality - if it helps I can retake them. (You can see from the picture how bad the insulation was on most of my wiring.) I thought maybe it was a fuse but the ends do not come out. Is this something I need?

We have had great weather in Minnesota too. It is is painful being unable to drive my 50 until I finish my rewiring project. You have a nice looking car.

If you're like me, you guys should be glad she doesn't complain about you having a hobby that takes so much time away from her and money you could be spending on her.

I sold a 60 Chrysler to a guy in St. Louis, MO in 2003. I got an email a week later saying the car drove well from Minnesota to Missouri. That was my last connection with him. Today I got an email saying how much he has enjoyed the car over the past 7 years. What a good feeling - having been a less than satisfied buyer of a collector car in the past it makes me feel good I had a well satisfied buyer.

Does anyone know what MOPAR models used this heater. The seller on ebay thinks it was used in 49-52 Plymouths and Dodges. If so it would fit my 50 Dodge which has none. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-MOPAR-HEATER-1949-1950-1951-1952-DODGE-PLYMOUTH-53_W0QQitemZ120549867186QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item1c1154feb2

I guess I should just be happy it's NOT rust. I had a 60 Chrysler that came from near Biloxi, Mississippi and the interior was all rusty. I suppose it was from the salt air in the Gulf and humidity. The area behind the dash was badly rusted as were the seat springs and hardware.

I pulled my front seat this morning so I could tackle rewiring under the dash. I was a little panicked when I saw all the red particles I thought were rust from my seat springs. I looked at the bottom of the seat and the springs have no rust - it is the burlap that was put on top of the springs falling apart. I suppose I should be glad it was what it is. The upholstery is in very good condition so I sure don't want to mess with it. I guess I will need to regularly vaccum under the front seat. Any ideas to stop this process or slow it down?

PLYMOUTH RUBBER REPLACEMENT PARTS 1946-48Parking light lens seal $ 18.50 1948-Parking light body seal $ 10.00 1948-Trunk Lid Guides coming soon 46-48 Hood bumper kit 8-pcs $ 21.00 46-48 2 ¾ floor plug $ 3.10 each 46-48 1 ½ floor plug $ 2.85 each 41-48 Door check rubbers (2-pcs) $ 8.50 1949-Parking light lens seal $ 15.00 41-54 gearshift grommet $ 7.50 48-50Parking light wire seals $ 5.00 41-52-Muffler Hanger Grommet $ 3.25 each 1950--Parking light gasket $ 18.50 Parking light wire seals (2-pcs) $ 5.00 License plate light lens seal / wire seal $ 8.50 Hood bumpers ¼-20 screw mounts 1” O.D. $ 7.50 Hood bumpers push in mounts 5/8” (2-pcs) $ 5.00 Fender to Hood bumpers push in 5/8” (6-pcs) $ 12.00 Inner Fender wire grommet (2-pcs) $ 6.00 Door a Pillar bumpers 1 ” O.D. (2-pcs) $ 6.00 Door check rubbers (2-pcs) $ 8.50 Door sill plate mounting grommet s $ 2.50 each Trunk Hinge bumpers (2-pcs) $ 10.00 Trunk floor plug / sending unit cover (1) $ 16.00 Splash pan bumpers front and rear $ 12.00 Dash rubber isolators $ 10.00 Heater blower mounting grommet s $ 5.00 Glove box bumper and plug $ 7.50 Head liner top bow bushings $ 2.50 each Window stop bumpers push in 7/8” (2-pcs) $ 2.50 each Wiper post seals (2) $ 18.00 Wiper arm rubber bushings(2) $ 5.00 Wiper 5/8 hose rubber grommet $ 3.00 Leaf spring rubbers front $ 25.00 Leaf spring rubbers front Urethane $ 30.00 Shackle rubber bushings $ 20.00 Shackle rubber bushings Urethane $ 28.50 Tail light lens seal $ 18.00 Fire wall plug Wiring Harness $ 21.00 Fire wall oval plug $ 8.50 Fire wall round plug E-brake $ 7.50 Fire wall round plug temp line $ 7.50 Vent drain tube Grommet $ 3.50 Gas filler neck grommet (large size) $ 18.95 Gas filler neck grommet (small size) $ 18.50 Suburban tail gate bumpers(4) $ 18.50 Suburban seat bumpers(2) $ 8.50 Suburban rear floor plugs(4) $ 12.00 Suburban tail light seals $ 16.50 Suburban License plate light lens seal $ 7.55 Woody tail gate bumpers(2) $ 9.50 Woody tail light seals coming soon Spare Tire mount grommet $ 5.00 Body Mounts Call 48-52 Swaybar Bushings $ 28.00 48-55 License plate wire seals $ 2.50 49-50-Tail light lens seal / wire seals $ 18.50 1951-52--Parking light lens seal kit $ 22.00 51Trunk floor plug / 3” hole cover (1) $ 16.00 51-55 Parking light wire seals $ 5.00 51-55-- Suburban seat bumpers(2) $ 8.50 51-52-- Suburban rear window handle seal $ 10.50 Hood bumpers push in mounts 5/8” (2-pcs) $ 5.00 1953-Tail light lens seal $ 18.75 53-54Gas filler neck grommet $ 18.50 1955-Parking light gasket/wire grommets $ 18.50 Dodge49-Parking light gasket set $ 16.50 Dodge49-Tail light gasket set $ 18.50

Yes Dave Kruse is a great guy to deal with! I emailed him and he shipped the piece to me with prepaid freight and said I could just return it if it didn't fit or send him a check if it did. It does fit and looks well made.