TodFitch

That is how I got mine out when I was rebuilding everything. No need for a special purpose tool for single use. That is true on my '33 and it seems pretty standard for Chrysler product cars for a lot of years. Trucks with full floating axles are different.

If you waited overnight and it still won't start, then it is something other than vapor lock. . .

If the battery was installed backwards you may have to polarize the generator. Have you gotten the engine started? If so does it show its charging?

Sweet looking power plant. I'd been told that they never went to the full length water jacket on the straight 8 as there wasn't enough sales volume to warrant the work. But you photos show that the person who told me that did not know what they were talking about.

I've heard of people using transparent amber paint from the hobby shop to tint the bulbs.

Yes, the 5-13-22 is a part type code. I guess I should make that a hyperlink too. The first part, before the first dash, is the parts group. 5 is for the service brakes. Here is the table for that: http://www.ply33.com/Parts/group5#5-13-22 If I've entered the data correctly, you are looking for Chrysler part number 859164: http://www.ply33.com/Parts/group5#859164 Looks like there is some question about the exact cross for that seal. That note was copied directly from the '36-'48 parts book. Seems like the P14 and earlier had a bolt on seal with gasket so it was serviced as a kit while the P15 looks like it is a press in seal with no gasket. Don't know why they decided to change the listing from the rear axle group to the brake group, but my entries mirror the parts book for that. I'll look into detecting a reference to a parts type code in the note text and see if I can make it a hyperlink to make that easier in the future. Thank you for letting me know of a confusing aspect that I can work to improve.

Is this the area you were looking at?

Notes are on the same page as the link, just under each part type table. If I have information about the part(s) listed in the note then there will be a link to the/each part. Since there is some confusion, I guess I did a poor job on the information presentation design. So I guess I had better come up with some improvements. Out of curiousity, what specific part were you looking up? I'd like to look at how that was presented. And if you have suggestions on how the parts and cross reference information could be better presented, I'd love to improve things.

Should be able to click on the link. Unless I've badly messed up the server side code, anything in the parts area that says "note n" where "n" is a number should be a link to the actual note information.

Don't know where the old parts list is on this site, but I think I have most of that information in the database that drives the parts area of my web site: http://www.ply33.com/Parts/numeric Browse by parts book section or search by part name or part number. For front wheel bearings and seals you'll be looking at http://www.ply33.com/Parts/group22#22-06-18

I am out of my "era of detailed knowledge" with this, but I think the suffix was only on the engineering code to designate the trim level. I don't think it made any difference on the engine. Sort of like P15S (DeLuxe) versus P15C (Special Deluxe) both had just P15 engines. But I could be entirely wrong.

It depends on the actual filter or filter housing currently installed on your vehicle.

Front vibrating won't be solved by putting in an overdrive: You'll need to fix your front end. You can probably swap differentials in the original rear axle or you can swap rear axles. But the original drive train should be good for running at 65 MPH. It will be turning over more than a modern car at that speed, but that is not a problem. The original brakes and suspension are probably getting near their safe top speed at that point anyway. So you have a couple of choices. The easiest, simplist thing is to fix the original front end so you don't get the shaking, then see how it runs. It may just be that you aren't used to the sound of a car of that era going 65 and think it is broken. Or maybe it really does have some issues. If it has some issues then decide how you want to go forward. Might be rebuilding to stock or might mean modification. But fix the front end before you throw money at the engine/transmission/rear axle.

My father held the view the power anything was just one more thing to break, so the '63 model year car I learned to drive on had a reasonably sized V8 with non-power steering, non-power brakes and manual transmission. But it was a station wagon, so no where near as desirable now as that sharp red convertible. Anyway, I guess the original purchaser of that car shared some of the same automotive prejudices as my father.

You have a negative ground system?

Sounds like Don is changing from a curmudgeon to an old curmudgeon. Probably only a year or two ahead of me on that transition. . .

The circular holes on the leaves of the springs on my car were for holding the oilite anti-friction things in place, not as jack points. I suspect the same is true for your newer truck. I too have troubles getting a hydraulic bottle jack under the axle if the tire is flat. But the screw type axle jack that was in the car (perhaps original to the car but I don't know for sure) fits nicely.

I figure about 10K to 15K miles on a set of plugs in a car equipped with a traditional points and condenser ignition system, so they are not a "forever" thing. Get something now and drive it. If you get static on your sound system, go for resistors next time. By the way, static in a car radio can come from other parts of the electrical system like the generator too. Don't get rid of the radio: A number of options: 1. There are places can gut them and install modern electronics. 2. There are places that can add a hook up on to them for a MP3 player to the original radio. 3. You can get a MP3 to AM radio adaptor to play through an unmodified original radio. In the latter two cases you get the mellow tube radio sound with all the tracks on your MP3 player.

Getting a head gasket for a '33-'34 Plymouth is probably harder than getting one for your DeSoto engine, so by that logic I guess I should get a spare and bring it along with me. But I dunno. What can go wrong that only needs a head gasket? Just the gasket itself and if it hasn't failed by now it isn't likely to fail. Seems if I need to pull the head its time to call the tow truck (local trips) or expect to spend a few days in a town with a decent garage (non-local trips). And with a few days lead, I can order a gasket and have it arrive nearly anywhere in the US. Maybe I'm pushing my luck. But other than a small box in the glove compartment that holds some fuses and spare light bulbs I don't bother to carry parts. If you check things over pretty well before any long trip, replace or repair any suspect items (hoses, belts, ignition parts, filters, etc.) you should be good to go without having to worry about roadside repairs. My old Plymouth has no trunk so finding space for luggage, tools, parts and people inside the car can be difficult. People and luggage are manditory. Tools are nice to have for peace of mind. Parts are optional. Now if my car had a trunk I might be tempted to change my tune.

Yes, I would expect more fuel to be used at speed. . . But for the first approximation that ought to set an upper limit. Forgetting all the nasty details about the internals of a carburetor and just assuming that it does a perfect job, make the assumption that it is getting the theoretical best fuel/air mixture of 14.7:1 by weight at all times. The amount of fuel/air being sucked into the engine depends on displacement, RPM and absolute manifold pressure (atmospheric - measured vacuum). Displacement is constant for any given engine and RPM is the first approximation dealt with above so we are left with fuel consumption being proportional to the inverse of the manifold vacuum (high vacuum => low consumption). (Thus the reason they used vacuum gauges on the dashes of some cars in the 1970s that were labeled in MPG to assist the driver in being economical.) Since the vacuum is, or at least should be, higher at idle than under load the fuel consumption per revolution will be lower at idle.

Might have been a "yes man". . .

Maybe you could have just linked to the web site where you took that screen shot. . . http://www.ply33.com/Repair/turnsignal (Sorry I'm being grouchy about it. . .)

I'm getting confused on the math, old age. But maybe I've got it: My '33 Plymouth gets about 17 miles/gal on the road. It is geared such that at 60 MPH (1 mile/minute) it is running about 3000 RPM. So in 3000 revolutions of the engine it goes through 1/17 of a gallon of gas. Or to reverse things it uses about 1 gallon every 51000 revolutions. If you idle at 600 RPM for 120 minutes, that would be 72000 revolutions which, if it uses gas at approximately the same rate as when driving, would be a bit under 1.5 gallons.

Never occurred to me that it would be possible to get new shoes for my '33, I've always taken them to the local brake and friction shop to be rebuilt. Different shops in different towns, good results each time. Just find out who the local repair shops that specialize in brake work use for their supplier. I've done that since the 1970s.

Guess you are referring to this: http://www.plymouthbulletin.com/DVD-Plus/Issue320s.pdf (slow download adde image below) It was a good little (approx 920 miles each way) drive. Did a short video on it: