hkestes41

Here is a link to the rest of my pictures from Good Guys. http://tornadowarning.smugmug.com/gallery/6142998_n2QGb#386667386_czpav

Went to the Good Guys Lonestar Nationals at Texas Motoro Speedway on Friday then camped about a mile away with about 30 Jr High and Highschool kids from our youth group. Got up this morning to play paint ball with them until early afternoon. All morning long around the campfire during breakfast you could hear the guys going into and out of TMS. Walked the entire show and didn't see a singe P15 or D24. Did see a couple of neet Mopar wagons one with a Hemi and a 53 convertable for sale. Here are a few pictures. Bob may recognize the black 38 Packard Sedan as it is from Joplin and a beautiful car. I will add a few more pictures in another post.

Totally off topic but a very cool site and amazing effort/outcome. http://www.moyermade.com/chevyV8.html

August was rather warm here in the Dallas area and my electric bill was $480 we keep the A/C at 75. Use gas for hot water and heat so our gas bill was $34 then another $92 for water. September was much nicer to us and our electric was only $310 others about the same. Now that my oldest daughter is gone there are only 3 of us in a 2800 sq ft house. Youngest is now a senior in highschool and as soon as she is off to college this puppy is going on the market. Down sizing considerably.

Guys, I am cleaning out the garage and have the carcas of a Model 800 Radio that needs to go. Take a look at what is left in the pictures below and let me know if you want it. It's your for the price of shipping from Plano, Texas. Otherwise it goes to the recycle collection center next weekend.

Haven't had mine in all that long but did go through about a week of daily driving in upper 90's days with no problems. I agree the header is very close to the pump and had some concerns but no problems so far.

If you have it 180 out, you can take the #1 wire off the dist cap and put it where you currently have #6. Then finish your firing order around the cap 5 - 3 - 6 - 4 - 2.

Well, got my new engine in last night, finished things up this morning and took it out for a quick shake down. Everything seems to be working fine other that a very minor water leak from between the water pump and the backing plate. Will take care of that this weekend. Running 2 inch duals from the headers out the back with a balance tube and 14 inch turbo mufflers. Sounds pretty good right now will have to wait and see how it sounds once the mufflers have a little age on them. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AxfKQ4KMM9s

I think I may have identified the source of the smoking. Number 2 piston is missing a significant chunk of the edge. Also a much smaller divit in the edge of number 1 that shows as the light square spot along the edge facing number 2.

Guys, Thanks for the replies. I ended up using a small pointed cutting tool in my dremmel to cut everything out of the hole and then tapped the hole to get the threads. Got is slightly off perpendicular but I don't think it is off enough to keep me from running it as I was able to get it torqued to spec. We will see.

Rear dirvers side head bolt broke flush with the deck of the block. Drilled to use an easy-out which promptly broke flush with the bolt and deck of the block. Since the easy-out is hardened steel it is next to impossible to drill. Have been using a carbide bit on it and at this rate will take a month of Sundays to get this done. Also tried welding a nut onto the bolt a few times and then trying to use the lowest setting on my impact wrench. Thought for a minute it was coming out but then just broke the welds. Any other ideas?

Bit of an update and questions. I replaced the draft tube with a PCV valve plumbed directly to a threaded port on my Offy intake. Now the engine is smoking out of the Oil FIll Tube. In fact I ran the engine with the oil fill cap off and then noticed oil spatters all over the distributor and plug wires. Oil level is actually about 1/2 quart low so it is not because it is overfilled. 1) Could the smoke have shifted to the oil fill tube because the PCV valve spring is too strong? 2) What engine should I be using a PCV valve from on this engine? 3) Should I expect oil to be expelled from the fill tube when the cap is off? 4) If not any idea what could be causing this? 5) Any suggestions for addressing the smoke or oil out the fill tube?

Don, Thanks for the advice. Did as you suggested and removed the fill cap. Noticed that the smoke out the draft tube decreased significantly within 15 to 20 seconds. I had soaked the filter in the cap in gas to clean it out before installing the engine but guess I didn't get it clean. Used about 1/2 a can o carb cleaner on it and it has made a big difference. Never though that the fill cap filter being clogged could have made that much difference.

Ok, I took a chance on a 53 model 218 that came with an overdrive. Really only wanted the overdrive but he would not seperate the two and I ended up getting him down to $275 so don't think I got hurt at all. Anyway I talked to the guys mechanic who was putting the Hemi in his 53 suburban and both said the engine ran great with no problems. So, as I said I took a chance, cleaned both up, painted, added my new offy intake, carbs, headers etc and put them in my coupe. Engine seems to run good and no problems with the transmission in standard mode (don't have the electrical hooked up yet), but the engine smokes like crazy out the road draft tube. Nothing out the exhaust, but when I look in the mirror it looks like I am driving some kind of old beater. What's the deal? I would think that if I am getting enough blowby to produce that much smoke out of the draft tube it would be smoking out the tailpipes. Any suggestions? If nothing else, I guess I will just add a PCV and drive it while I rebuild my old engine.

Just did mine after removing the front sheet metal/radiator and support. Removed the sheet metal by myself after removing the front tires. Also removed and installed the engine/transmission as a unit again by myself so it is not that difficult. You do need to heed the advice about the wiring though. Mine had been converted to 12V by the previous owner who unfortunately was a hack. I took the time to label every wire's location before pulling the sheet metal. What I was not aware of was that he had not used a single crimp connection in the conversion. Just twisted the ends of wires together. So, when the wiring was moved around during the removal/install they all fell apart so my labeling was out the window. Now I'm in the process of rewiring, which I guess is a blessing in disguise considering I was driving a fire in waiting.

Well things are really looking up. I placed my original post on the HAMB as well, a local HAMBer that lives about 15 minutes from me offered to help, Said he loves electrical (sick puppy). Anyway, I bought an EZ Wire harness and he came to my house 2 nights in a row and basically rewired my car. He took the time to explain what he was doing and why which took some of the mystery out of it. He left me the dash wiring to do and I have worked on it some in addition to bending up the fuel lines, cleaning up the speedo and some other small stuff. The motor starts and once I get the shift linkage adjusted will take it to the muffler shop for new exhaust. Will be traveling for work next week so it will have to wait, but much closer than I was a few days ago. Have to give a huge thanks to SpecialK and I owe him big time.

Have my gauge cluster out cleaning and trying to figure out what is wrong with the odometer. Even with the speedo apart, I can't get the odometer dial to turn. All the gears are meshing but I can't get them to turn either. Any suggestions?

Anyone have a photo of the backside of their dash after rewiring? I am in the process now and will be tackling this tonight just wanted to see how others have routed things and overall view.

Took a weeks vacation to install a new engine and overdrive in my 48 P15 Coupe. Got all the mechanicals bolted up ready to go, then my troubles begin. Since I am no wiring expert (hell, I'm not even to novice level) I took the time to label each wire with its location before removing the front sheet metal and old engine. A PO had converted the car to 12 volt and installed a Delco alternator with a 2 pin connector and a lug on the back labeled "battery". I have to give the PO props since everything worked electrically when I bought the car with the exception of the gas gauge. However, that is all the credit he gets. What I didn't know was that hidded behind the electrical tape and plastic wire looms was a nightmare of wires joined together with nothing more than a few twists of the ends, or wires with insulation removed so that another could be spliced into the middle by wrapping the end around the other wire. Needless to say, once I started moving things around during the engine swap, wires seperated and all my work of labeling went out the window. Put everything back the best I could figure out but now I have NOTHING. No lights, horn, or cranking. Don't know why but the thought of trying to rectify this mess intimidates the hell out of me and the wiring diagram in my manual doesn't make me feel any better. I don't even know where to start with the plate of spaghetti under my hood. After that rant, I do have a few questions. 1) On the horn relay, solenoid switch and voltage regulator does it matter which terminal a wire is connected to? 2) If the answer to #1 is yes, since it is now 12V - ground, do I need to reverse all the connections? 3) If the answer to #2 is yes how do I know which terminal to move the connection to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Howard, Osborne Reproductions http://catalog.osborn-reproduction.com/index.php has them. Click on the "Full Size Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth-Desoto-Imperial" link next to the Mopar logo. The decal you are looking for will be the 11th one down number DD0003. Pretty good price at $4.00. They also come up on EBay packaged with the aircleaner decal and an oil filter canister decal at around $20.00.

Suddensix, Don't know who's HEI you are using but you might want to try about doubling your plug gap into the .060 to .070 range. The HEI will operate with a much wider gap than the stock disty.

Guys, Thanks for the input. The front sheet metal is now off and setting in the middle of the garage. Norm, wanted to remove it so that I could clean up the inner fenders, frame etc and put a coat of paint on it before the new engine and transmission go back in.

I am in the process of trying to remove the front sheet metal on my 48 P15 to do an enginge/transmission swap. Just looking for a few points of advice. 1) Should I remove the inner fenders along with the fenders, grille as a unit or should I remove the fenders and grille as a unit then remove the inner fenders? 2) Will the radiator and core support come out with the front sheet metal or will it remain and then remove seperately? 3) I have removed the bolts at the rear of the fenders into the firewall. Looked but didn't see anything bolting the inners to the frame. Where do the fenders bolt at the front? 4) Do I need to remove the panel below and in front of the radiator and the gravel pan behind the bumper before removing the fenders etc? Any help anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.

There are also several discussions on the HAMB of guys lightly grinding their white letter or skinny white walls to make a wide white. I guess that if there are white letters or a skinny white wall on the tire it is made by having a wide white which is then covered by black on the side wall. They remove the black to uncover the wide white that is hidden. One of the threads included a video of a guy doing the process.

Might want to look at these guys. I installed one of their motors in my 48 coupe. Took about 25 minutes start to finish. This is an especially good option if you are only using the radion head as the motor will not fit with the body of the radio in place. For installation you simply unbolt the vacumn motor, disconnect the transmission arms, bolt the new motor into the same location as the vacumn motor, connect the transmission arms, place the new brace with 2 bolts, put the switch through the standard hole in the top of the dash, push on the knob, plug in the wires and your done. https://www.newportwipers.com/index.php