DLK

Thanks for all the responses in the end I just have to decide if wide whites are that important since I have gotten used to the ride and handling of the radials on the car and don't want to go back to bias ply. If I spend over $1100 I will sure be upset if in 7 years and 15K the tires look like Barabbas's. Perhaps being outdoors in the wet winter Puget Sound weather and summer sun played a part - at least I hope so. Yet look at Reg Evans tires after 9 years?? Oh well it's unlikely I will have the car in 7 years.

You are right about the cars generally being easy to work on. My biggest problem is I moved to a townhouse with an undersized two car garage (only 19 feet wide). With three regular vehicles plus the old Dodge I can't tie up the whole garage as a shop. I have replaced single action pumps a number of times - this is more difficult as the dual action housing blocks any easy access to the mounting bolts. I could go back to single action and just run the vacuum wiper line to the manifold but I know how crummy my wiper action would be. But then I rarely drive the car in the rain anyhow...

Needless to say that shop has seen the last of me (or any of my friends). I had to pay $106 for the diagnosis. I ordered a new pump from Rock Auto Friday but will be sending it back. Unfortunately I went out to the garage today to pull the old pump and was surprised to see it has a dual action pump for the wipers, I would have never thought a budget car like a Wayfarer would have had that. I suppose it will be hard to buy a dual action pump and I will have to get mine rebuilt again. I forgot what a b*tch it is pulling the pump without a hoist. I put the front on heavy duty jackstands but it is still hard getting my old achy body under there to do all the disconnecting. We are leaving tomorrow for a 10 day gulf coast (New Orleans) trip - now I have this project and probably our first snowfall to think about when I get back to Minnesota.

Things have been going too smoothly the last couple months. Yesterday I decided to take my Wayfarer through freeway traffic to get my paint matched at NAPA for painting my wheels body color. Everything going great until I am in the middle of traffic on I-94 between Mpls and St. Paul and the car just suddenly dies at 60 mph. Since I was in the middle of the freeway approaching rush hour I had the car towed to a shop that has done work for me before. The fuel pump which was just rebuilt in Massachusetts three years ago went bad. For only $550 they would put in a new pump! Needless to say the car is now being towed to my home where I can do the job for $100. I can't believe that I sent my pump to the experts in Weymouth MA and I only got three years out of it. But maybe when I get it home and pull the pump it will just be a broken spring or some such simple thing.

I think I know what the consensus here will be but I will throw it out anyhow. In my size I can get four Chinese Kenda tires (Diamond Back M5)for $796. I can get four Toyo made in USA tires (Diamond Back II) for $936. The warranty is the same and I drive maybe 1200/yr max. Do I want to spend that much more for made in our USA? Even $796 plus delivery and mounting is not cheap. PM me if you rather not post here.

Nice pictures and story.

The seat belts were easy to install. All I had to do was remove the rear seat cushions and drill holes through the floorboards. The belts come with reinforcing pieces that cover the area around the holes. I did jack the car up so I could slide myself under to put the reinforcements on the bolts. I bought the belts on Amazon.

I promised them for a couple years I would get seat belts in the back seat. Finally in July this year I did, and they love riding in the car. If the weather holds out we will do an encore ride Sunday the 4th - with the camera this time.

If it didn't mean winter was around the corner this is the best time for weekend drives with the Wayfarer. Last Saturday we took the 8 and 5 year old grandkids (seatbelted in legally) for about an 80 mile trip through the countryside with stops at a couple county parks and a pizza place. I can't tell you how nice it is after years of work to have the car run and stop so smoothly and not leave a cloud of smoke at every intersection. I was really frustrated how poorly it ran after the rebuild and in the end the problem was simple, it just needed new spark plug wires. Since putting them in it runs like a top. My only regret is I didn't bring the camera so didn't get any pictures of Gabby and Austin in my backseat. I guess we will have to do it again before winter closes in. The wiring to the back of the car is in bad shape and for three years I have planned to rewire it but again I guess maybe next year.

If it didn't mean winter was around the corner this is the best time for weekend drives with the Wayfarer. Last Saturday we took the 8 and 5 year old grandkids (seatbelted in legally) for about an 80 mile trip through the countryside with stops at a couple county parks and a pizza place. I can't tell you how nice it is after years of work to have the car run and stop so smoothly and not leave a cloud of smoke at every intersection. I was really frustrated how poorly it ran after the rebuild and in the end the problem was simple, it just needed new spark plug wires. Since putting them in it runs like a top. My only regret is I didn't bring the camera so didn't get any pictures of Gabby and Austin in my backseat. I guess we will have to do it again before winter closes in. The wiring to the back of the car is in bad shape and for three years I have planned to rewire it but again I guess maybe next year.

I now have about 1000 miles on my rebuilt engine. It has had 30w non-detergent oil since the rebuild. I plan to switch to 10w30 detergent oil before putting it to bed for the winter. I have searched the related topics but have not found the answer to a simple question. How well do I have to flush the engine, filter canister etc. of the non-detergent oil? Is there a problem if after the change there is a small amount of non-detergent mixed with the new oil? Will they mix?

What made me look for 40's MOPAR'S is they are what my Dad owned. When I was born he had a 41 Chrysler (on blocks) and a 41 DeSoto he was driving. They were followed in 1954 by a 49 Black Chrysler New Yorker 4 door with the red plaid upholstery. I loved riding in that "limo". I know it was a terrible gas guzzler and my Mother had difficulty steering it. He sold that car to a neighbor in 1959 for $100 who after 2 years just for kicks drained the crankcase and ran the straight 8 until it seized. Even as an 11 year old I was upset about it then. The other former car I wish I could have back was a 66 Pontiac Tempest Sprint hardtop with the OHC six and 3 on the floor I bought in college with 22k miles. It was a beautiful body style and that engine was red-lined at 6500 rpm. I went in the Navy and sold the car and never saw it again. But I am getting off topic discussing that GM car.

Does anyone else miss the ones they bought and sold on the way with this hobby? I started in the 90's with a 47 Plymouth Speclal Deluxe. I drove it for several years and finally decided with the cracked block and rusted out body mounts it would be too expensive to fix (big mistake although money was a lot tighter then). My next purchase was an e-bay purchase "sight-unseen" from 1500 miles away. It was a 60 Chrysler that looked great in the pictures but when it arrived we had to push it in the garage and a rebuilt transmission was only the start of the many repair issues with that fraudulently advertised car. But it was a beautiful 20 footer and got noticed! After taking a bath on that car in 2003 I bought a 53 DeSoto Powermaster 4 door from a nice trucker in rural Indiana. The car had been in the family since new. Unlike the other cars it didn't need a lot of work except for brakes - but it too was a 20 footer with an older paint and interior redo by the prior owner. I didn't care for the tip-toe shift and never got the kick-down to work properly. When i sold that car my wife said this is it. Well you know how that goes when you get the itch. I started looking again within a year and drove all over the Midwest looking for a P-15. None of the ones I looked at were in good shape or priced in my unrealistic price range. (I should have spent the 5 figures to get a restored one) I ended up with the 50 Dodge Wayfarer I still have. What has changed is I am through looking around for something else and determined to stick with it - enjoy it and stop worrying about it as an investment.

The rear harness on my car has needed replacing since I bought my car in 2009. I keep putting it off - dreading what's involved. Maybe seeing this thread will get me motivated.

Sounds like a very interesting car. Let us know what you find out.

As usual Don Coatney is right - I should not have created multiple threads on this brake issue. Instead of posting questions here I should just call or email Young Ed - he seems to have good logical answer for all my questions as I am sure many others have found.

I can get wheel cylinders from them but wonder if they are USA or cheap foreign copies. Does anyone have experience using their wheel cylinders? I don't want to make the same mistake twice.

I am seriously considering what you suggest for the fronts. For the rears if I get decent wheel cylinders and shoes hopefully with new grease seals I won't need to pull the drums again as few miles as I put on the car.

Thank you for suggesting the Resources-Tech section. With October here I probably should just park the car and spend the winter making an informed decision about disk conversion and get all the new parts for a spring brake overhaul. Unfortunately this is Minnesota and it will not be in a heated garage. A couple people suggested I loosen the rear axle nuts 1/4" and drive the car in circles to break the drums loose. I guess I have nothing to lose.

I wouldn't assume anything.

I fairness to them they are trying to avoid a broken drum and having my Dodge tie up a hoist until I find a replacement. I will be interested to see what they are using for a puller. Thanks for all the suggestions - I haven't pulled a rear MOPAR drum for probably 45 years (then it was on my 59 Saratoga).

Rich I thought I was dealing with an honest shop. They did a brake job on my 53 Desoto in 2008 and I was pleased and they have the same management. I was NOT happy with the shop that did the prior job in 2011 on this car (came highly recommended) which is why I did not go back to them. After work I will stop and talk to them about what puller they are using. 1. On the re-sleeving question can I have those cheap knockoffs re-sleeved or do I need NOS cylinders? 2. How hard is it to find a used brake drum for my car?

I wrote earlier about my brake issue last Friday. I called the brake shop and they have two hours labor into trying to remove that left rear drum with no luck. They are concerned they may have to break the drum to get it off. As if that isn't bad enough the four front wheel cylinders with less than 1500 miles are leaking. I spent $1300 on a brake job in 2011 and at the time the brake shop told me the wheel cylinders I bought were Chinese knockoffs and junk. Clearly they were right and they were right in saying I should have re-sleeved the NOS ones in the car. Any thoughts other than putting heat on that drum to get it off? They have fried it and tried to pound it off. I suppose it is so grooved it won't come over the shoes. Are used drums that hard to come by? I hope my Wayfarer uses the same rear drums as Plymouth's. They don't want to break the drum without my "blessing".

They did new wheel cylinders and hoses but surprisingly told me the shoes had plenty of wear left in them. I can only imagine what those left rear brake shoes look like now. I just hope they didn't ruin the drum.

Thanks for the illustration. I am going up to the brake shop this morning to arrange for pulling that rear drum and seeing what is inside. Is it just me or do others feel the brakes were the Achilles heel on these Mopars of our vintage? Two wheel cylinders per wheel in front, rear drums that are near impossible to remove they are a real headache to work on.