TodFitch

The '36-'48 parts book I have shows type code 23-19-8 as "Trunk and Luggage Compartment or Deck LID Assembly" as one thing. I thought the terms were interchangeable but maybe officially its called a trunk lid on some body styles and deck lid on others?

My reading of their instructions and looking at the chart on the the back in indicates that the no load output should be 12.6v as long as the input is between just over 4v and 16v. The amount of power/current you can get out before the voltage sags depends on input voltage with about 1.4 amps at 4v and nearly 5 amps at 15v. My battery and generator are good. 6.3v reading with engine off and when the engine is started I go up to 6.7v, both measured where the wire to the inverter is connected to my ignition switch. All my readings done on the same volt meter that is showing 13.66v on a 12v battery I have connected to a trickle charger. Anyway, the output voltage is enough that the USB power adaptor is happy. So my smartphone with its navigation software is happy to run all day and keep the cellphone battery charged. So it is working for me. Just wanted to let some others know that at least one of their units was putting out a bit below 12v so if they had a voltage critical application they'd know to check.

The Custom Autosound PGPI-HC unit I ordered arrived today a day or two earlier than I'd expected. They write "check the output voltage-it should be about 12.6v with no load". But the output seems to be 11.88v with no load regardless if my engine is on or off. That might be a bit low for some devices that have a low voltage shutoff but does not affect what I want it for. The blurb says that there is no transformer in it which allows the quiescent current draw to be about 10 milliamps (I did not measure so I don't know if that is accurate or not). I hooked mine up to work off the ignition switch as the car sometimes goes for long periods of time without being started and I would like to reduce the odds of draining the battery during those periods. Anyway, I think I'm good to go now and if I accidentally touch the ground shield of the USB cable to something in the car nothing bad will happen.

A bunch of Chrysler products did that to in the 1960s.

The standard for Chrysler engineering back in that day was for the engine designs to be able to survive a 50 hour test under load at wide open throttle at 3600 RPM with no evidence of damage. So the redline value is going to be higher than 3600 RPM. I've only seen one factory torque and horsepower curve for the L-6 engine and the engine in question was a Canadian one which is more like a Chrysler or DeSoto engine than a Plymouth or Dodge. That chart went to, if I recall correctly, 4200 RPM. So I'd put maybe 4000 as a reasonable redline. For everyday driving, especially for cruising longer distances on the highway, I use 3200 RPM which with my 4.375 rear end works out to just over 60 MPH. You guys with new (1940s) cars with 4.11 rear ends ought to be in the 65 to maybe 70 MPH range for long distance cruising. My impression is that Chrysler did a fairly balanced job of engineering: The suspension and brakes get pretty scary when you exceed the speed the original drivetrain was designed for. So if you are "upgrading" the engine, transmission or rear end for higher speed you really ought to be looking at the brakes too.

Putting out 18v would be one way to do it. I'm not sure but I think they work by turning the 6v DC to AC (kind of like the old vibrators) then run it through a transformer to step up the voltage and then rectifying and regulating it down to the desired voltage. With a high frequency on the AC you could have a very small transformer. The way a transformer works you could easily have a positive ground on the input connected to a negative ground on the output as they are isolated by the AC section of the circuit. With modern electronics there are probably better (lower cost, less power loss) ways of doing it but I think that concept handles it. I've got one on order to replace the 6v to 5v regulator I was using to power my cell phone via a USB plug. I was relying on the fact that the cell phone has a plastic case so I could cheat on the grounds. However the shield on the USB connector can (and did) come in contact with the metal dash when the cellphone is unplugged. I doubt that I'll tear it apart to see what is in it when I get it. Just going to hide it under the dash and mount a 12v accessory plug on the bottom of the dash. With that I can pop in one of those cheap USB power plugs. Seems a bit of a waste to go from 6v to 12v to get to 5v but at least I shouldn't have to worry about the grounds touching anymore.

Supposed to allow the exhaust manifold to expand and contract with temperature changes so it doesn't crack or break. Not sure when they started using them, my '33 has had hardware store variety brass nuts on it for the last 40 years without apparent harm. I did notice in the parts book a little while ago that it too is supposed to have some special hardware instead of regular nuts. Of course the '28-'33 parts book has no illustrations for it and the numbers listed are different than given in later books so I don't know if they are the same with a superceded part number or were different.

+1 I've come to the conclusion that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a great rule to follow. Trick is knowing when its broke and the factory service manual will tell you how to check that.

In the bin next to the right over U bolts.

Changed the title to 1950, if you'd like it back to 1951 let me know.

At least on my '33, you can remove the flywheel with the engine in the car, I imagine it would be on later cars too as it is something that would be done on a major clutch repair job. Interesting thought about the cold temperatures possibly affecting the press fit of the ring gear. Seems conceivable, but then leaves the question about how to deal with it on future visits to the frigid north.

Seems like the original sediment bowl on the fuel pump does an adequate job on my car. . . In the last 15 years of driving the car I haven't had a dirty fuel related issue. I did, however, make sure I did a pretty good job of cleaning the gas tank and I replaced all the tubing and hoses in the fuel system.

On my older car there are a number of circuits on the back of the ammeter that are simply metal strips that have riveted connections. Over the decades those rivets loosened some and created bad connections with lots of heat. Enough heat to melt the solder on the Buss fuse that mounts to the back of the ammeter in my case (they moved the fuse later). A through cleaning of the connections and rivets followed by soldering them and I haven't had a problem in the 30 years since. I don't know how the back connections and circuits are on that vintage truck but if it has riveted connections you might want to verify that they are in good electrical order.

I think this is a better link for that: http://www.classiccarstereos.com/product/6-to-12-Volt-Converters/PGPI.html And I think that is the way to go. For about the cost of one 12v lead-acid storage battery you are permanently done. No futzing with charging an auxiliary battery with a finite lifetime before it needs replacement.

Interestingly, at least to me, the new POC president just posted today in the regional events area of the Plymouth Club's forum a request for regions to post copies of their events on the web site. I wonder if that was instigated by this thread. . .

I too have pretty much given up on Teflon tape sealers. Pipe dope/compound does a much better for me.

Got my '33 up to 70 MPH per the GPS on a fairly long level stretch of US 101 south of King City where the posted limit was 70. Took a long time to get there. I imagine the top speed of pretty nearly any car, at least small car, is about 500 MPH if you do it this way:

Haven't got a clue about why it might have been back dated except possibly when the membership secretary was catching up on paperwork after he recovered from his heart attack this year he might have gotten confused about when various checks came in.

"Oogah Horn"? I was unaware that a 48 or 51 Dodge truck was a Model A Ford. I suppose that a really high wattage wire wound resistor of appropriate value could be used to keep from having a 6v horn fry itself on a 12v system but it would be much better to find a 12v horn. The little set screws with locking nuts are used to tune the horn but the range is really, really narrow. The instructions call for turning the set screw only a very small amount, maybe 1/8 or 1/16 of a turn, re-locking it and then trying again. The range between not working, working sort of, working well, working sort of and not working is really, really small.

I believe that Antique Auto Parts Cellar makes the spring that Bernbaum's sells. . .

There were, I think, more P15 cars built from 1946 through early 1949 than 1949 "second series" cars so getting body and trim parts might be a bit easier. Your serial number should be on the drivers door hinge post. You can look it up on the tool on the left side of the page at http://www.ply33.com/Misc/vin or post it here for someone else to look it up. Serial numbers were assigned by factory, model and year so that will tell what your model really is, what year it was built and in what factory it was built.

A 49 DeSoto in stock condition ought to be able to handle any of the hills I recall in Upstate New York. For what its worth, there was a P15 with us on the tour to Tucson last year which had a horrible time getting up any type of grade. And since we were avoiding freeways we crossed several mountain ranges on relatively back roads some with substantial grades. Max elevation wasn't all that high, only about 6500 ft, but the some grades were in the 10% range. The '35 PJ, '37 P4 and my '33 PD had no issues but the P15 did. Come to find out later that the issue was a weak coil: You need a hotter spark to ignite the fuel when the throttle is wide open than you do at partial throttle. So don't just go assuming you have to shave heads, go to dual carburetors or dual exhaust, etc. to be able to go 55 on your back roads. That car was able to do it when new and if it can't now then something needs to be fixed and it may not be the engine itself.

I think I've seen ads for them in some of my 1920s and 30s automotive trade magazines. As I understand it, it often was not possible to see the truck driver's arm when they were hand signaling turns so they used devices like these to show the old hand signals further out from the cab. The neighbor's big truck that I remember as a child had a lever in the cab connected to the arm and it had at least two positions it could be set too, one straight out for left turns and one up for right turns. It could well be that they were all aftermarket accessories. Or it could be that they were required in some states but not others. Here is a slightly set of them all different from one another which suggests multiple manufacturers:

Actually, I was thinking more like one of these:

Forgive me for forgetting, but do you have the old mechanical semaphore turn signal arm on the truck? I recall a few trucks of about that vintage around when I was a child that still had those. My understanding is that they are not legal now, at least being used as the turn signal, but if you have regular turn signal lights it seems like you could get away with having one.