TodFitch

https://www.ply33.com/Repair/tempgauge

My general impression is that Mopar mechanicals had a pretty solid design from the mid-1930s on up. So to make the car a strong, reliable driver that you can take everywhere should just be a matter of putting the car back into good working order. Getting a factory service manual for the car is a good first step. I prefer to go over brakes and suspension components firsts as I really, really, really don't want a failure there while driving. The only concession to modern conditions that I think is required is to replace any rubber fuel system components (flex line, fuel pump diaphragm, etc.) with parts compatible with the additives in modern gasoline. If the car has been driven significant distances in the last 20 years that may have already been done. Some people will insist on changing to 12v. I find the 6v system on my old Plymouth works just fine though I did hide a 6v+ to 12v- converter under the dash and I use it to charge my cellphone, run a dash cam, etc. And some people believe that you need to change the brakes to disc. My feeling is that this is not necessary: The main issue with drum brakes is fade. Unless you are going to be racing/rallying the only place that might be an issue would be on long mountain downgrades. For that you can down shift and use engine braking to keep your speed under control.

Just noticed this thread on the AACA web site: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/327261-high-compression-head-for-28-std-six/ The car owner wanted a higher compression head but wanted to be able to return the car to totally stock in the future. So that ruled out milling the original head. If I read the follow on correctly, he did the milling on an old non-CNC machine so I guess he is pretty talented.

I make it a habit to record the original and current part numbers on anything like that. Then the next time I need that part I don't have to pull anything first. And sometimes you'll find years later that people can no longer cross the original part number but they can still cross the "current" number you found before. If/when I need tune up parts for my '33, I simply look at my notes to get the current part numbers. I call the local auto supply in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon after their warehouse delivery occurs.

Bad idea. If/when you get your brakes bled you will find that they will lock up on the road almost immediately. When the pedal is released the cup must clear both holes in the master cylinder. The reason my father avoided automatic transmissions for decades was so that he could get compression braking on mountain roads. I was on a Chrysler club tour back around 2000 where we headed down the back side of Mt. Hamilton on a very steep and long down grade. Even with the tiny drum brakes in my '33 Plymouth I was fine. Just kept it in 2nd. The car behind me, a late 1950s DeSoto with an automatic transmission, started overheating his brakes. Fortunately he managed to get it stopped before ramming me and the whole caravan of cars had to wait until his brakes cooled down. Again, just this last March my wife and I took the '33 to car camp in the desert. The downgrade from Julian to Anza Borrego loses about 2000 feet in maybe 8 or so miles on a very curvy road. No problem even with a full loaded car: Just downshift as needed and keep it slow using the brakes only for fine adjustment of speed. If I had an automatic transmission that prevented me being able to use engine compression for braking, I'd seriously consider switching to disc brakes. But with a manual transmission drums are fine on long downgrades. You just have to drive it differently than a new car which is fine by me.

Reminder: Request to buy parts must be in the classified ads section.

I will defer to B-Watson as he is much more knowledgeable than I. Looking through the responses I don't see mention that for at least several years the export versions sent to the UK had a smaller bore than those sold elsewhere. Apparently there was some sort of tax based on an arcane formula such that a smaller bore engine was desirable. I've got a book of reprints of reviews of the Chrysler badged cars sold in England in the 1930s. The English reviews are pretty detailed about specifications and show things like bore and stroke as well as total displacement. But the book only seems to cover Chrysler, DeSoto and Plymouth cars what were rebadged as Chryslers when sold in England. Maybe your local library has copies of the old magazines like The Motor and/or The Autocar that would have reviews showing the displacement as sold in England.

I must remind people: Offer for sale of cars/parts need to be in the classified ad area. If you believe a specific forum member would like some parts you have, then send them a PM (personal message). Posts offering parts on the general will be removed.

Reminder: Request to buy (or offer to sell) parts need to be in the classified ads area.

Please avoid personal attacks and comments or this thread will be locked.

How long since the car was driven? Reason I ask is there is a residual pressure valve in the master cylinder that is supposed to keep just a little pressure in the system so that the cups all seal. If it sits for a long time you can lose that pressure and then get some air into the system. This is especially true if one of more wheel cylinders are pitted due to internal rusting. I'd do a full inspection of all cylinders and joints (brass fittings, hose connections, etc.) and see if there is any indication of leaks. Fix any leaks found, then fully bleed the system. Once it is bled, you can apply some pressure and then recheck for leaks. There is a reasonably good chance that the issue is not in the master cylinder and you'll want to find out where it is rather than throw time and money into an arbitrary part based on a guess.

Front drive door post should have a serial number. That will tell you exactly what it is, about when in the production year it was built and what factory it was assembled in. If you want more information, that number is also what the Chrysler Historical Collection will need to dig up the original "build card".

There is no body number information on ply33.com If you enter a body number into the serial/VIN lookup it will guess that the number is a numeric serial number and give you garbage results based on that.

A nice read about crossing the country on Amtrak: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/20/magazine/train-across-america-amtrak.html

Might not help if they don't know how little is it worth, but. . . The dash cam I have has a mount that is semi-permanently attached to the windshield with really strong double side foam tape. The GPS version of the mount is a massive $12 if bought separately. The original box for the dash cam had two separate non-GPS mounts, so the cost of those is close to $0. And the way I've got the wires run under the interior trim in both cars that's not visible. The dash cam itself slides off the mount and could easily be brought into the house. The setup takes enough windshield space on the '33 Plymouth that it is noticeable. But on the new car most people don't even notice I have one even if riding in the car as a passenger. Basically the whole system is pretty discrete and the expensive part (a massive $80 to $100 depending on where you buy it) is easily brought into the house.

Don't know about WD40 as petroleum products and old natural rubber are often not a good combination. But I agree that warming it up in warm or hot water and using some soap as a lubricant should work.

About 5 years ago I was in a collision with a vehicle that ran a red light. Fortunately I gathered enough information at the scene to prove the other driver was at fault and their insurance covered the repairs to my car. But I realized how close I came to a “he said, she said” situation so I bought a dash cam for my daily driver. As time as marched on, I began to realize that I feel unprotected if I am driving a vehicle without a dash cam so I finally decided to install one in my ’33 Plymouth. I’d already mounted a 6v positive ground to 12v negative ground inverter under the dash to run a cell phone charger and it has a lot more capacity than needed to run a dash camera too. And I had a “hard wire kit” for installing a dash cam taken out of our old car. All I needed was a compatible GPS mount for the dash cam I have in the daily driver. Today I installed that. The first test has the camera aimed a bit low. And YouTube seems to have cropped in an greatly reduced the resolution, but you can see my test at https://youtu.be/RnQhnx1WqpM The original is 1080p and is a lot clearer than the YouTube one.

Friendly reminder: Offer of items for sale should be either by PM or placed in the classified ads area.

That is an amazing story. Do you have the drivetrain for it?

I've had a 1943 copyright version of Dyke's for quite some time. Based on the one I have it seems that Mr. Dyke was not into removing old and outdated information and was a bit slow with adding the newest technology. Most things in my 1940's copy were long out of date for even my '33 vintage car. Quite a lot of information about how cars worked in the early 1900s and into the early 1920s though which can be interesting.

When I purchased my '33 Plymouth the number on the NY State paperwork was the engine number. Bingo. Post the number on the paperwork, or at least the first few characters/digits. From that we can help tell if the number was an engine number, serial number or something else. One issue that sometimes comes up is it was fairly common for an engine to be replaced without changing the paperwork to show the new engine number.

'32 (and earlier) Plymouths had an I beam front axle. '33 Plymouths had a tubular front axle '34 PE and PF and independent front suspension, 34 PG had I beam front axle '35-38 All models had I beam front axles '39 and up had independent front suspension

I'm pretty sure your steering box is different from the one on that thread. I suspect that this will be more useful for you: https://www.ply33.com/Repair/steering

+1 on this. If you observe the steering parts while someone moves the steering wheel back and forth you should be able to see areas where there are slop. Since the box has been rebuilt and new "ball joints" (I assume tie rod ends) have been fitted I assume the wear must be elsewhere. King pins can be a big contributor to this. Also, the '33 had a pretty thin walled drag link and the key shaped area were the pitman arm from the steering box goes in is often very worn and will definitely cause this issue. Rare Parts has a replacement drag link made of a bit heavier weight material than the original which I highly recommend. For '33 the box is directly bolted to the frame, no rubber isolators to get squished. However, it occurs to me that the rebuilt box may not have been adjusted, so you may want to check that too.

For any given level of technology you can trade off fuel economy and performance. And on the performance side you can trade off acceleration and vehicle weight. It is my observation that US manufacturers were happy with building cars that delivered between 12 and 20 MPG from about 1925 until the 1970s fuel crisis. So the average driver in the average car got 14 to 16 or so. A performance oriented driver, especially in a bigger heavier car got closer to 12. And an driver with a bent toward economy in a smaller car might touch 20 but would more likely be around 18. Didn't seem to matter the make, model or manufacturer, those number seemed to be industry wide. I think that all the improvements in engine design were used to increase performance and/or passenger comfort rather than increase the efficiency (MPG) of the cars built.