Ivan_B

+1; I would not consider swapping one old engine with a different but also old engine, given the overall circumstances of this project. One of those working OEM engines for sale on the forum might still be available.

I am doing some maintenance, and thought I'd share some good things. Removed the oil pan, today, for cleaning and gasket replacement. The engine insides look great, almost no sludge; some sediment at the bottom of the pan but not too much. The pan has definitely been down before. One of the screws was missing the split washer, and one of the flywheel studs is not sitting correctly. Why would anyone do something like that? The studs have a flat spot for a reason... 🙄 Also, the pan gasket is rubber (not original) while the valve covers still had the fossilized cork. I was a bit concerned about the pan not clearing the steering rod, but it did.

Isn't the one available for loan from a local parts store going to work? The easiest fist would be a direct OEM replacement, for sure

Seriously? For a 50-s engine with no repairs - it is probably done. Very sorry to hear that. I am just curious, how much did you pay for this car, $2-3k?

What kind of prep work was done on those parts, before painting?

Since TS ordered another one, let's try to crush this one in a press to see if anything comes out

Ok, still no leaks, I assume?

I was also under impression that softer metals are usually used for such applications where there is not much lubrication and sliding friction involved. How's steel expected to work? Wouldn't it either eat away the input shaft of the crankshaft side? 🤔

Yep, I figured that with the expense of "small production" labor, getting a new/re-manufactured one would cost very comparatively I am still using the stock ones, with 50k on them. Hopefully, these will last a while.

The likely culprit of what? The carb could cause a no-start, a flood, rich or lean running condition. What you've described in the first post does not seem to fit here 🤔 I might be in SJ in July, maybe we'll figure this out together 😅

Did you figure out how it broke off? Seriously, no way that pushing on the rivets (essentially the hub) would break the cylinder off. Maybe it was just a coincident? The new drum looks bad... Probably out of specs if you resurface it to a reasonable degree... I was thinking, maybe there is a way to adapt some modern drums to the hub? Or, sleeve the old drum? Some "modern" cars use an aluminum alloy drum with a steel/iron sleeve inside. I was very skeptical of this, when I first saw it, but it works. So I suspect that sleeving the old iron drum might work too 🤔 Later: this guy did a motorcycle hub: Do you have an industrial lathe around? 😅

That looks like a hydro-vacuum unit.

I've read the instructions completely, there is no info about operation principle. It just states at the end that the pedal might feel softer and have more travel If @Plymouthy Adams is correct in his assumption, I suspect that this operates as an additional cylinder, effectively changing the "leverage" in the existing system. I also saw the eBay listing. 150 is a bit high for an experiment, but if someone is willing to split the cost, I'd take one @Loren Are you in, on this?

Hmm, something like dual lever metal cutting scissors, where they play with two shorter levers instead of a single big one? 🤔 Have you ever used these brakes? Do they provide noticeable boost? How about not getting stuck in the applied position?

I am not finding any information about a "stand-alone" (no vacuum, no pump, no electricity) hydraulic brakes. Come on, how do they work? Something silly like pumping the pedal 50 times in advance to build-up pressure? 🤣

Very good. Did you also measure the input shaft tip? I am just curious because it looked dead to me. Does not count, sorry 😂 Is that fully assembled, under load, or still without the rear-end connected?

I suspect that if it was that simple, we could just play with the volume difference between the master and slave cylinders or, even simpler, just use a longer lever at the pedal... 😅 I am, now, curious, I'll look it up. Maybe I should get myself one of these too, after I go over the brakes 🤔

What kind of troubleshooting have you done so far, to determine that it is not charging?

There are probably some o-rings inside, which could use replacing, but that's not as bad as a 50-years old diaphragm So, this is not a hydro-vacuum unit? How does it work, where is it getting the extra power from? Modern versions attach to the power steering, or use electric power, etc. I cannot find any details on it. The instructions indicate that it connects instead of the master cylinder end cap.

This is exactly the kind of vintage solutions I was referring to. How old is it? Are there rubber parts inside?

A remote booster can certainly be installed, and is often considered for classic cars. Some cars used it stock; never dealt with these, but read that these might be not very reliable. I would definitely not recommend looking for a vintage unit, though. The booster is expected to greatly improve the performance, however, I would probably still recommend to do the original brakes properly first to see how that works. Because, it seems that: a) on 90% of classic cars the original brakes are not working correctly, and people falsely complain that the brakes themselves are bad b) using a booster with the original brakes not working properly is a questionable way to fix them c) using a booster with the original brakes (even 100% functional to specs) would allow you to do things that the car was probably not designed for

Correct.

You can probably drill the rod, tap it, and get the butterfly attached with a machine screw 🤔 Or, you can just buy this for $20. Is this the right type?

Oh, sorry, I just googled G78-15 and Coker came up... I thought it was a brand-model. In this case, something between the max rating (on the tire) and what the manual suggest (for this same size) should work for you. Also, here are more links you might find useful: Previous model years Plymouth service manual (goes up to P14, but plenty of things are the same or very similar) P15 introductory update It looks like the 46-54 service manual covering your specific car is not available online (or at least I could not easily find it) but there are plenty of inexpensive books on eBay.

The title actually says that the TS is using Coker G78-15 tires 😅 Coker rates them as 1620lbs@32 psi. I would probably inflate to 28-30 and call it a day. Running BP tires too low creates a risk of overheating. I am running similarly rated 16 tires at 28 (per user's manual, no highways), and did check them for overheating... Doing good.