stangracr

Thanks for all the great ideas. The wheel cylinders were rebuilt with new rubber cups so the pistons should be good. The shoes are relined ones and are bonded not riveted. I will lay one of the shoes in the drum and see how it looks. Its just crazy. I never thought it would be any big deal to get the drums on. Im starting to feel like the shoes are incorrect or something. They look correct. I have all adjusters turned where the shoes are in as far as possible. Still no way they will go on. We have a parts store here in Kansas City that carries lots of old car parts. They had the shoes in stock for the car. I will have to do some more checking I guess. Hate to be baffled by such a simple thing. Keep the ideas coming if ya think of anything else I might be missing. Think I will call the parts store and see if my old shoes are still there. ed

I have searched the forum and read about the tool for fitting the brake drums. Here is my question. I made a homemade tool like others on the site have and I cannot get the drums to get even close to fitting. I took the rears apart to rebuild the wheel cylinders and purchased new relined shoes. Any ideas as to what might be going on? I have adjusted the shoes using the 2 lower adjusters and also the 2 mid adjusters. Still now way to get them on. The car is a 1950 Plymouth. I dont have my old shoes because I turned them in a the parts store for the core so Im not sure if they were just like mine but the seem to be the same. When I use my homemade tool it measures that the drum will not fit. Is their something Im missing? I didnt take it apart, its my brother in laws car. Any help is appreciated. Thanks for a great site. ed

mystery solved guys. Firing order was off. Crazy thing is the car ran the same with the old plug wires as it did with the new ones. Anyway, I checked the firing order like some suggested and 3 and six were switch. Fixed and drove it down the road. Thanks tons for all the ideas. Thats what fixes cars sometimes is bouncing thoughts and ideas off eachother. ed thanks again

If I read the manual correct the only way to inspect the valve train is to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds and remove the inner fender. Is that true? Just for thought here. I put a timing light on the car and it is impossible to time the car where the marks line up. It wont run. It already feels like the timing is slow to begin with. Think I will start over and check firing order and wire placement. What is the easiest way to get the #1 piston on tdc to check this all out? ed

Yeah I will try putting a vac gauge on it. Thought of that last night but didnt have a gauge with me. Im afraid the findings wont help due to the rough idle. I do know what you mean though. I will give it a try. ed

I have not replaced the cap recently. I guess I will try that next but not sure its gonna help. It has good spark on that cylinder. None of it makes any sense. I wondered if the carb could cause this. I know a missfire on 1 cylinder would not normally be caused by the carb but I was just wondering it the carb was too rich if it could affect the cylnder closest to the carb. Dont think thats the problem though. It has my baffled I work on cars for a living but I dont have any experiance with a car of this age. ed

Did that. Actually replaced plugs and wires when this first started. ed

I tried that last night. Misfire still on number 3. I know it sounds crazy. I thought I would have this figured out in a few minutes. I did the compression test twice with the same results. When I installed the plugs back in the engine after the compression test I put one of the end plugs in that cylinder. It was clean and white. Still wont run on that cylinder. Originally I thought the engine might have a compression concern thats why I waited so long to check it out. After the compression test revealed 125 psi I knew it had to be something else. Just not sure what. ed

It is only on #3 This happened with the car sitting. It ran fine last year and has ran bad all year this year. Usually take the car to cruises and such but it has ran so bad this year that it hasnt been out much. Already has new plugs and wires which helped nothing. Engine runs super quiet no clicking or anything. ed

I will check that. It seems to have real good spark on that cylinder. When I pull the plug wire off while it is running it will jump spark strong. ed

Im new here on the site and I am looking for some help on my 1950 Plymouth. The car has a dead miss on #3 or at least the 3rd plug from the front. I did a compression test tonight. 125psi on all cylinders. Car has new plugs and wires. Still has the missfire. It makes no difference when you take the plug wire off the plug. It runs just the same. When I pulled the plugs the 2 center plugs were wet with fuel. Could this be a carb concern? I just wondered if the cylinders closest to the carb could suffer and the other cylinders be fine. Car has good spark on all cylinders but just will not run on the #3 cylinder. Any advice would be great. I checked for a vac leak using carb cleaner and spraying it around the intake area. Nothing makes a difference. Thanks in advance for any help. ed