Ivan_B

Actually, not necessarily a good idea to tighten literally "as much as possible". You just need it to have a snug fit, before lowering the car. I do use the tire iron to do that, instead of bare fingers, but never really tighten it much as possible because if the car is on jack (no stands) it is not safe to attempt tightening the wheel in the air. For centering the wheel - correct point, but not the best approach. Also, if the wheel is hub-centric (like most cars are) does not matter much at all. if the wheel is centered by the bolts/nuts, slightly tight is good enough. Once you put the weight of the car on it, it is not fixed in place, it will move to accommodate correct position once you properly tighten the wheel.

Oh no... Get a large torque wrench (if you do not have one) and make it a habit to always go over all the wheel bolts/nuts, twice, as soon as you lower the car to the ground after service. Glad to hear that no one got hurt, though. So, instead of being upset about the whole thing, let's concentrate on this. It's a good ending, after all. My dumbest accident, thus far, was driving into a motorcycle engine, while parking into a tight garage. I was too lazy to move it completely out of the way and it dent-scratched the fender and the door. ? As for the fender repair, if this one is original to the car and you want to keep it, I would investigate with the paint-less dent repair people first. They can hammer out some pretty bad dents. It will take them the whole day, and you will have to pay for it, but the results could be amazing, assuming that the metal did not get stretched, etc. After the dent is gone, you can use just a tiny bit of body filler to compensate for the lost paint, and re-paint it as usual.

How much oil did you put in there? As it was mentioned, for storage purposes you use just a table spoon for each cylinder, and crank it to spread it around the cylinder walls. If you are fancy, you can also get a spray can storage oil, which you are supposed to spray into each cylinder for a few seconds while cranking. This also lubricates the valves. In order to have a hydraulic lock-up, the cylinder must be full with liquid...

When the engine reaches the operating temperature (thermostat open, cooling through the radiator), I do not believe that you'll be able to tell the temperature difference between top and bottom with your hand. Or maybe I am just a not very sensitive person 120F for a fully warmed-up engine is very cold. Check the temperature around the head with an external thermometer, etc. Could be that either your gauge or the sensor is not accurate. You should be around 190. In fact, that's when standard thermostats open-up.

That's a classic... ? Are you sure it's the sender? Did you check it for proper operation?

A lot of information about science and surveys... Do the aforementioned reports have any information about how the sample for the given survey was established, besides the statement that it was somehow randomized, to back-up the arguments that the chosen research method is incorrect? As far as I recall, there was a whole college course just about surveying and sampling for social sciences

Found the threads I was talking about, turns out they are not so recent after all ? Feel free to read through those for more information. As for the overflow tank, I do not believe it is necessary with the OEM radiator with huge top reservoir, but if it's a period-correct quality job, keep it :) What about the engine temps? @D35 Torpedo is correct, you are either running very hot or cold... Are these off the dash gauge? You might want to check that with an IR thermometer.

I think this was recently discussed in another thread, and the general consensus was that a little smoke/steam is normal. I only found the other thread myself, because my cap was smoking also and had me worried Is that a DIY coolant expansion tank? ?

As far as I know - yes. If you take a new slave cylinder and remove the rubber seal from the piston - it will slide rather freely inside the bore. It should not be able to go sideways, etc., but it is definitely not a tight fit. I could not find any diagram with specs, for reference, to see how loose it should fit, though. There are two types of popular seals - the cone and the o-ring, both work in a similar way. The shoes should be very close to the drum for proper operation. The pistons should not be moving much at all. It just applies pressure to the shoe. In fact, when you adjust the brakes, you push the shoes out so that the aforementioned return springs do not push the cylinder too far back. With the self-adjusting cylinders, you have a special sleeve inside the bore, which fits very tightly and moves forward with the piston when you press the pedal hard, but does not allow the piston to go back more than a tiny fraction of an inch. Do you see any kind of wear or other irregularities on your pistons? If not, I would leave them alone. You do need a new rubber seal and a good "mirror" inside the bore, since this allows the rubber seal to do its work properly. Later: found a slave cylinder specs for a random European car. Nominal cylinder size - 0.63" (small cylinder). Gap between cylinder bore and piston: minimum - 0.002" maximum - 0.004"

Oh yea, looked it up: Annandale, MN. For some reason I though it was in Colorado... Never mind Haven't been to Twin Cities in years. I used to go the U pull R parts in Rosemount, they had decent prices and good selection of vehicles.

Good point. By the way, the proper way to do this, is to insert the spring into the shoe, first, and then pull the shoe over to its mounting points using both hands and a foot. Do not attempt to pull the spring into the shoe, already installed, with pliers, etc. This is not safe

Assuming that the "mirror" is still good, and the cylinder bore is within specs, of course Also, as it was already mentioned, pretty sure that when a cylinder is sleeved, they bring it back to the original size. As for the Chinese parts - many-many parts in new cars are made in Asia, this is a big part of how the manufacturers were able to reduce prices (maintain profits). I would personally prefer NOS parts, but this is mostly out of authenticity considerations. Chinese parts can be poor quality, or they can be great quality. You get what you pay for, just look at the parts beforehand. You can usually tell how well it is made based upon the visible appearance of casting, and machining. You can also always measure the new cylinder with a micrometer to make sure it is within specs.

Either new ones, or the old ones. The rubber seal is what does all of the hydraulic work. The piston just keeps it in place and a firm shape, it is not quite the same as the ones in the engine. This thread must've collected a record amount of replies in one day I am not personally familiar with the "subject" matter, but i do "like" those people in the business of making favors so much! They are only rarely surpassed by folks in the business of big favors... Always surprises me how do you stay profitable with this kind of attitude.

It always made me sad to see a car on the yard in better condition than the one I drove in ? Looks like a good place... Did I saw a Minnesota tag in there?

Good story. Should've just replaced the battery before the trip, in the comfort of your home. No need for taking chances and an extra stress later on Did you put in some new bright bulbs into the instruments? Seem a bit unnaturally bright. As for the radio, etc., this sounds like a perfect case to install a battery disconnect, especially if the car is in storage most of the time.

Sorry. Had not see the whole car, of course, but by the look of those floors this car will probably need everything. It is rather unlikely to be a quick fix to drive around. Reminds me of my first truly antique project 58 Cadillac, a while ago. Came from southern MN, you betcha... ? The car was in extremely poor shape, but I did not know how to tell it at the time. Rockers and everything were gone, the frame was flaking, I did manage to get it running, fairly quickly... And then had to sell it for unrelated reasons. And I sure am very glad I did. We live and learn You can fix virtually anything, don't get me wrong here. Whether or not it will be worth your time and effort is for you to decide.

This is extreme ? Minnesota, in general, is probably not a good place to buy classic cars (unless they were garaged 100% of winters, or were originally from a different state). Minnesotans buy their cars from the south... How much is shipping to Hawaii going to be? Are you sure it is going to be worthwhile to fix that, rather than saving some money for one in good condition to begin with? This is a parts donor (maybe). Unless this particular car is rare, or has unique sentimental value to you, I would not touch it

How does it sound at 70-90? I would think this to be more appropriate speed. Take the right lane and take your time. That's what I usually do

There is nothing on the island, this is probably the only 48 Plymouth as well ? $400 for a drum? Is it gold-plated? Shop around, old NOS parts and aftermarket alternatives are still available. Look on Facebook and Craigslist, many sellers will ship if you ask them nicely, or there are people on this very forum who'll probably buy stuff locally and forward it to you. In general, however, the more complete/stock/working the car is, the better off you are (unless you are really into never-ending-projects, that is)

Looks good! You did not oil it yet, did you? ? For the vapor problem, have you already confirmed that it runs well with a little starting fluid?

Lots of interesting points discussed in this thread, here are a couple more: - Ignition temperature of generic gasoline is listed at 495-535F (depending upon the source, and I did not check myself), the temperature of the exhaust manifold is listed way over the place, but several sources say 400-500F, I suspect that we would generally be a few degrees short of igniting spilled fuel (especially with a low compression engine), so I would probably be more concerned about a stray ignition spark, rather than the manifold below the carb. I've also never heard about melting a plastic filter under the hood. It should obviously not be touching the engine, though. - Injector hoses are not necessary for a low pressure carburetor system. If the new hose fits tightly, it will hold even without a clamp (although, you do need one because rubber gets old and looses its useful physical properties). They do not look authentic, the OEM wire clamps don't fit, etc. I prefer to use low pressure hoses (often available at motorcycle stores). If they crack, this probably indicates that the rubber is not good, or not rated for automotive application. - Classic style bowl fuel filter should be sitting vertically, with the bowl pointing down. The bowl collects the dirt, water, and everything else you don't want going up the line. Some older filters with a metal mesh filtering element even had a drain plug at the bottom. Commercial trucks still use them, I believe. You unscrew the plug, and all the dirt, condensed water, rust, comes out. Once you see clear gas, you close the drain and carry on. - @Dodgeb4ya, you should clean your air filter ?

If the mirror is gone, you should generally toss it. It's not like these are not available anymore (are they?). Each cylinder has a specific OEM tolerance range, which you should normally be able to look up. The proper way to check the cylinder is with a bore gauge micrometer.

For the dash indicator, I am pretty sure that you should also be using an LED of appropriate specs. My flasher came with a little diagram indicating how the pilot light should be connected. For the wiring, make sure that the flasher is wired correctly. It might not work if you simply install LED bulbs and plug in the new flasher instead of the old one.

Any brand is fine, as long as it is specifically rated for applications involving contact with gasoline If I remember correctly, there are also some glue/sealants available for gas tank repairs, etc. But I would not use these, because you will eventually need to take the pump off the car, some time in the future. Also, an OEM-style gasket by itself should also do the job just fine, assuming that the contact surfaces on the pump and the block are still true. I do prefer to dress-up all of my gaskets, however, so I understand the concern for extra protection ? Just don't forget to carefully wipe the gasket and both mating surfaces with alcohol beforehand, otherwise, the sealant will be useless.

Just go to the applicable auto store section and get anything that says "fuel resistant" on it I personally prefer the non-hardening ones, I think Permatex gray or black, or something like that, came in a tiny tube at Autozone. later: probably this one.