Rusty O'Toole

I think they had alternative positions for adjustment purposes. Either at the factory, or if the hood springs sagged after long use, you could put them in the other position for more tension.

If you are not doing anything else to the engine headers are a waste of money. If you are doing a hop up, all the parts have to match and work together. A mild hop up or stock engine, would do well with a stock exhaust manifold, just have a larger exhaust made up if you need a new exhaust.1/2" larger diameter than stock. In other words if your old one is 1 1/2" get one 2" diameter. Next step is to split the manifold and run dual exhaust pipes all the way to the back of the car. Final stage would be headers and dual exhaust. This would be if you had a completely hopped up engine with dual or triple carbs, hot cam, aluminum head, and shaved flywheel. It's all according to what you want to do.

Slightly off topic but if you coat new carburetor gaskets with a thin coating of silicone seal and let it dry the carburetor top can be removed without tearing the gasket, and the gasket reused. Just smear it on with your fingers and let it dry while you work on the carburetor. It stops the gasket from sticking.

The 3 wheel Jeep was an effort by the Davis 3 wheel car company . It used the Davis car chassis. Why Davis built them, I don't know. But in the end the whole business turned out to be a scam to sell dealerships and stock with no intention of selling any cars.

Check out the Vintage Power Wagons web site, they are very knowledgable and have good prices on parts, last time I looked NOS pistons for $75 a set pretty good.

I think you should give her the $200 bucks or at least treat her to a nice night out! She saved you a lot of money and work.

Wait till you finish the build and drive the car for a few weeks. If the springs are new or the weight has been off them it takes a while for them to flatten out and take a set.

They used the same motor up to 1959 in Plymouth and Dodge cars and Dodge light trucks. 54 up were available with 2 speed Powerflite automatic and 57 up 3 speed Torqueflite was available. So it is possible you could find a used trans that will fit your motor. The alternative is to buy an adapter and put on a better, more modern trans but this is expensive. At times like this you might think about swapping in a 3.9 V6 or a 318 V8 with matching automatic. Would probably be about the same cost and not much more work. But at this point I would be thinking about trading for a newer car with auto trans. By the way in 1948 there were hardly any automatics. Old ladies and grannies used to drive cars like your Plymouth with no trouble. They were made to be very forgiving of unskilled drivers, and require minimal skills. Your wife might not mind driving a standard if you give her a lesson, or get someone else to. Might be worth a try.

Some good suggestions so far. You have to be careful the filter fits down tight on the carb and the clamping ring is fitted on accurately. Then it should tighten up. If not, the ring could be stretched or expanded. This happens over the years. To fix it, lay the ring on a hard flat surface and tap tap tap with a hammer to flatten it slightly. Go easy when you do this. Do not mark or dent the ring. Do not go too far. You just need to flatten it a little tiny bit and it will once again clamp on tight. I have had to do this on several old cars. If there is a strut from the engine to the air filter make sure it is in place, if it is gone you should see where it bolted to the engine and to the filter. Make a new one out of a strip of steel. Drill a bolt hole at the engine end and make a slot at the other end. The strut is important, the weight of the filter will eventually bend the clamp as the engine rocks and moves around.

There is a second way to find TDC. There is a small plug in the head above #6 piston. If you take out this plug you can stick a screwdriver or wire in and feel the piston rise and fall. Turn the engine forward until the piston is all the way up. #1 and #6 rise and fall together so #1 will automatically be at TDC or top dead center. If you use a wire for this bend it into a T shape and make sure it can't fall into the hole. There is a slotted plate at the base of the distributor. By loosening the bolt you can rotate the distributor to adjust timing. To adjust point gap you must loosen the screw that holds the points to the distributor and move the bottom point.

For timing the engine... with the #1 piston on compression check your timing mark on the vibration damper.... set it to the TDC mark. If crankshaft is past the TDC mark back it off and slowly turn crankshaft forward by turning the fan. You may have to press down on the fan belt to make it grab. Points should JUST be opening with rotor pointing to #1 plug wire. 2 ways to know exactly when points are opening. Loosen the clamp that holds the distributor down. Put a bit of cigarette paper or cellophane between the points. Slowly turn distributor forward until you can pull the paper out. The points are just open. Or, use a 12 volt test light. Clip the wire to the movable point, or to coil wire that goes to the points. Same thing. Ground the test light. Turn on the key, the light will be off. Turn the distributor until the light goes on. That will be the moment the points open. With the points set, clamp down the distributor (not too tight). Now you KNOW the points are opening at the right time. By the way if you want to adjust the points gap now is the time to do it, before you reset the timing. Points gap .020. If points are not new you have to file them flat to get a true reading or clean with 600 wet or dry paper and a shot of contact cleaner or brake clean spray. Don't forget a dab of grease on the cam about as big as a match head.

I don't mean a hard disc. I mean the flexible disc you use for bodywork. When the sliders wear out, the end of one leaf can wear a ridge in the next leaf. This acts as a stop when the spring flexes, bringing it to a halt with a jar. By polishing the spring smooth and putting in new plastic sliders the spring works more smoothly.

"For sale, 1928 Rolls Royce. One careful owner from new".

As a general rule the long leafs carry the weight and the short ones add stiffness. To soften the springs you can remove every second leaf. Polish them smooth with a disc grinder especially any wear ridge at the end. Then reassemble with new sliders. POR15 or grease will keep off rust. Do not do this unless you are not going to carry heavy loads.

First car ever to offer power steering was 1951 Chrysler. They had a completely different steering system to Dodge and besides, the early Gemmer system was not that hot. If you really want power steering your car features a modern style steering box with a vertical shaft. This is a very common type of steering box on more modern cars. If you can find one that will take your original pitman arm, and adapt it to your frame, and put a power steering pump on your engine, you could have power steering. Before you go to all that trouble may I make a suggestion. Have your front end gone over by a good mechanic and replace all worn parts. Then have an alignment done. To put the frosting on the cake get a new set of shock absorbers for all 4 wheels. Finally pump up your tires to 32 PSI. I know guys who have done this and were amazed. Their car's steering and handling were transformed. They lost all desire for power steering or new suspension. One more trick is to have the alignment done with little or no caster. This sharpens the steering and makes the wheel easy to turn at low speeds and when stopped. But it encourages wheel shimmy. So, if you do this, you have to add a steering damper. I got this trick from older German cars. Mercedes, BMW and even VW were set up this way for many years. It was one of the ways they got superior handling and steering from a conventional non power setup. PS if you go over your front end and get an alignment, and still aren't happy, all is not lost. You can still put on power steering and be confident the rest of the front end is perfect.

They did do it. Every car maker in America copied the 1934 - 1937 Airflow as fast as they could. Just look at the typical 1933 or 1934 (pre Airflow) car. Then compare with the 1938 (post Airflow) car. All the 1938 cars copy the Airflow chassis layout (engine forward, cab forward) and the Airflow silhouette. The only difference is chubbier fenders. Lincoln Zephyr was Ford's answer to the Airflow. The original Zephyr prototype was a rear engine car with sloping nose. It looked exactly like a king size, 4 door VW. The production Zephyr was a front engine car but it kept the sloping nose, with a conventional hood and grille added. Look at the 1936 and 37 Zephyr and you can easily see where the VW style hood used to go. Here is an article on the prototype developed by John Tjaarda of the Briggs Body Co, that later became the Zephyr. Note the resemblance to the VW. http://www.idsa.org/briggs-dream-car-1933 Ferdinand Porsche visited Detroit twice in the thirties to pick up the latest design trends and mass production methods. After the second trip, in 1937, the VW was redesigned into the form we all know and love, resembling the Tjaarda car or the 37 Zephyr/Ford line. He also adopted the new Ford "wide 5" wheel bolt pattern.

Stanley that is a very good question. I wish more people thought things through this way, it would save a lot of heartache not to mention save a lot of old trucks from getting messed up. The best advice I can give, is to buy the best truck you can find and afford. It is possible to find quite good trucks for under $5000. It is not possible to buy a bad one and fix it up for that kind of money. Having said that you should expect to spend $1000 or $2000 the first year on things like brakes, tires, etc. Deferred maintenance if you will. It might not cost that much, on the other hand you might run into something real bad, but it is smart to be prepared. You probably already know this but old cars and trucks require a lot more upkeep than new ones. Things like grease jobs every 1000 miles, oil change every 3000, tuneup once a year, brake flush every 2 years etc. On the other hand the work is usually easier and cheaper than on a new truck. But if you want your truck to last and run trouble free you have to do the maintenance. This is also pretty obvious but a Pilot House truck is a low speed truck. You can take it on the interstate if you have to but will be a lot happier if you don't. Engine, suspension, brakes, gearing, are biased towards a more utilitarian approach. So keep looking until you find a good truck you can afford, maintain it by the book and you will have a lot of fun at minimal expense. O ya most parts for the Pilot House trucks are available from your local auto parts store and they are cheap. Otherwise there are specialists like Vintage Power Wagons , Andy Bernbaum and Roberts Auto Parts. Things like brakes, fan belts, etc are surprisingly available for such an old truck but there are still a lot of them in service in small town and rural areas. Dealer only things like body parts, sheet metal, chrome trim, etc. not so much. The only source for a lot of these things is junkyards, swap meets, Ebay etc and the supply is getting a little thin in spots.

Good question. They used basically the same body 1949 to 52, but with a heavy face lift for 51. How much did they change the body? They made the dash different but how much did they change the body where it went in? Another question, did the dash bolt in or weld in? It might take some modifying or adapting but it should be possible to fit it in. You will probably have to take the windshield out to do it. Also rewire the dash. Up to you if it is worth it, I think I would learn to like the 52 gauges lol.

If pulling out the choke helps then it is running lean. Is it fully warmed up? Then check for accelerator pump not working, vacuum leak, loose bolts holding the carb on, etc. Could also be carb gummed up.

You can get a timing tape to put on your balancer. Don't know if they make one specifically for your engine but if the balancer is the same diameter it will work. http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS/JEGS-Timing-Tape/1336612/10002/-1

For your purpose the only dimension that matters is the overall width. If the seat fits in the body you should be able to make it work. I suggest you look for a seat that is about 3 or 4 inches narrower than the distance between the door posts. You will need to build it up to get it high enough. Or maybe an SUV will have a tall seat. They make some nice SUVs with leather upholstery and power seats. The problem is getting a seat that folds forward that is not a bucket seat. Don't know what kind of vehicle might have such a thing these days.

The factory made different length front yokes for just this purpose. Maybe you can find a longer one to fit your shaft at a wrecking yard or driveshaft emporium.

Probably a part of the assembly process. I know in the sixties, on the car assembly line, there were stations where the ball joints and tie rod ends were tightened up. The workers used an air powered socket wrench and inside the socket was a sponge with yellow paint on it. This left a yellow mark on every nut they tightened up. The inspector could tell at a glance if any nuts had been missed. It could be the yellow marks on the axle were something similar, indicating the front end alignment or something of that kind. Could also indicate different parts. For example, a 1/2 ton front axle could have been marked with a different color from a 3/4 ton, or the same axle with heavy duty brakes, etc. By marking different parts with spots of color it was easier and quicker to pick out the right parts than by reading the parts numbers every time. This was done for convenience in stocking and assembling the parts on the assembly line.

The fact that 98% of scientists agree on something does not mean much if they are up against a very vocal pressure group and not agreeing can cost them their jobs. Did you see the remarks by Al Gore that "the science is settled?" Well Albert Einstein's science is still up for debate, so is Darwin's, and so is Sir Isaac Newton's. In fact science is never settled, it is always open for revision in the light of new knowledge. So when Gore says "the science is settled" that is not science, it is religion. He is not talking like a scientist, he is talking like a pope. If that offends you I am sorry because I AGREE WITH YOU. I don't like Global Warming either. I am sincerely looking for evidence that it exists. Unfortunately when you look at the evidence you don't have to search very far before the orthodox view starts falling apart. It would be good to know first, exactly what the Global Warming situation is. Second, what we can expect in the future. And finally what steps, if any, should be taken in remediation. So far there does not seem to be much agreement on any of these points except that the orthodox view is filled with errors and propaganda and the suggested solutions won't do much if any good, even according to the people who propose them. The reason I asked the question in the first place is that it might be enlightening to get the facts from people who are in a position to see them with their own eyes and who have no axe to grind. Would be interested in the ice coverage videos. Where are they?

Dual carbs and dual exhaust work best with a reground cam and high compression or milled head. This combination should be good for a 25% to 40% increase in horsepower, depending on the cam, compression, size of carbs and size of exhaust. Should be done only on an engine that has been rebuilt, or a known good engine with less than 50,000 miles on it. An older engine might go for years if you baby it but if you hop it up, the life will be measured in weeks or months rather than years. Another old hop up trick, not often spoken of these days, is to lighten the flywheel for snappier acceleration. Old cars typically had very heavy flywheels in the interest of smoothness and easy driving. A machinist can put the flywheel on a lathe and remove up to 10 pounds of weight. This has the same effect as removing hundreds of pounds of weight from the car.