bosworth

Thanks everyone for your very generous comments. We did some color shopping around the new car dealerships, I think I made a few salesmen pretty unhappy when I told them we were only shopping for colors. We saw the gray that we eventually chose at our local Ford dealership. Our choices were between blue and Gray if we went with blue it would probably have been the Dodge Viper Blue, but the interior was blue and we felt that it would be to hard to find a blue that would be compatible with the interior color. I don't know the origin of the back up light, it came with the car, but I believe it was an add on extra. The light is turned on from the dash with a switch that lights up bright red when the back up light is on, pretty basic, but it works and it does throw quite a bit of light for backing up. Bill

I'm thinking trim rings would be nice. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a set. Do I have to know anything more than 15 inch? Bill

It's been just over a year since I started working on the old girl, but she is finally on the road. She is an early 49 p15, that spent most of her life in Virginia. Someone did a bit of restoration and a paint job in the 60's. The car found it's way to North Carolina where it was last registered in 1978. She sat in a barn for the past 35 years. I found her sitting along side the road with a for sale sign. My wife thought I should have a project so she encouraged me to bring her home. There are still a few things to be done but I entered her in her first (might be last) car show. I find that it's just fun driving her around and collecting some really nice comments. Thanks for all of the many tips and and answers to my many questions along the way, I never could have finished without your help. The folks on this forum are the best! Bill

I was looking at what I think was an unrestored 49 dodge at the Charlotte autofair yesterday, the gasket is around the opening, but the trunk lid just has a flat lip, no groove or channel around it's perimiter. I'm leaning twards putting the seal into the channel on the lid so that the water can drain through the channel around the opening but I would like to be correct Thanks Bill, 48 p15 club coup

Joe I hope I'm not hijacking your thread, but I'm also installing the trunk gasket on my 48 club coup. My question, does the gasket go into the groove in the trunk lid or in the channel in the body around the trunk opening. It seems to fit well in either place Thanks Bill

This is the bulb that I got for my tail light http://www.ledlight.com/24-led-light-s25-6-volt-dc-positive-or-negative-chassis-non-polarity-sensitve.aspx I talked technostalgia into selling me the trunk/brake light fixture without any electronics. I plan to convert it using the 6volt, positive ground bulb. I also got a pair of their 6 volt tail lights that will serve as brake, turn signal and running lights. Just painted the car and have yet to put the trim back on, sure are looking forward to seeing all the bling in action. Bill

I'm finally at the point where I can replace the fuzzies for the side windows in my 48 club coup. I got the fuzzies from restoration specialties. Both the inside and outside fuzzies have a black metal bead along one edge. It looks like the old fuzzies, now without any sign of fuzzie left, had the bead facing down so that it wouldn't show. Is this correct? I'll try to reatach the inner fuzzy with staples and hope to save most of the clips from the outer ones. Are there any better ways (glue) to reinstall them? As always, thanks for your help. You guys have sure made this restoration a lot easier for me Bill

Today I was able to pull the door latch mechanism out of my '49 P15 and replace the broken spring that was causing my droopy door handle. The spring I used was an Au-ve-co rotary door lock spring #2041 that I got from daves-oldcars on e-bay. It turned out to be an easy project, as I already had the inside trim panel off of the door. I followed the directions in the plymouth repair manual to remove the mechanism. I found that the mechanism contains three small springs that control the rotation of the latch and one larger spring that raises the door handle. I spread the spring retainer with a cold chisel, to remove the broken piece, put the new spring in and reset the retainer with the chisel. Thanks to everyone for your information and help with this project. Bill

Thanks Don; that's just what I needed. Bill

Thanks again; I agree, finding the support would be best, there are a couple of leads I will follow up on. Bill

I need your help yet again! When I got my early 49 plymouth coup last year, one of the many things facing me was that the radiator had been replaced with what turned out to be a 55 chevy radiator. In order to make it fit, they cut off all of the mounting flanges from the radiator, as well as removing the radiator support from the car. The radiator was just sitting in there, one side tied in place with a piece of rope! I have since purchased a new champion aluminum radiator. I have removed the fenders and inner front fenders from the the car. After doing so I wondered what was supposed to support the weight of the front end, everything couldn't be just hanging there from the firewall! So it occurs to me that there must be a structural part, radiator support, to carry the load to the front cross member. I've done a search on radiator support but haven't been able to see any pictures to let me know what it should look like. I would like to fabricate something to take its place. I see that there are two elongated holes near the center of the front cross member. I assume there was something like the "U" bolts that bolt on the front engine mount, for attaching the radiator support. I would appreciate input, pictures or diagrams that would get me started. Thanks Bill

Well the IAT 4101 sounded like the best bet, so I ordered one that I found on e-bay. I hope it is in decent shape. I'll clean it up when I get it and put it in. I Just finished painting the engine tonight, so should be able to put the parts back on the engine and replace the fenders. Hope it starts again after having been pulled apart. Thank you all for the great info. Bill

Jerry; the block measures 23", Greg; your right, the crimped off vacuum line is from the lower half of the carburetor. The engine color is blue, I would imagine that it has been repainted over the years, but the paint under the paint (?) is also blue. I don't know if that helps identify the engine. I should say that the only times I ran the car was on our rural road. It seemed to run pretty well, but broke up at higher speeds and or acceleration. I figured that a carb rebuild, tune up was in order. I have been doing body restoration, and all of the sheet metal parts from the firewall forward are off. So this seems to be a good time to get at the engine. Any ideas on the IGS-4207 A-1 or IAT- 4101 distributors or should I keep looking? Thanks.. Bill

I'm trying to bring my early 49 p15 back to life. The engine number is D 34-42 151 which according to the charts is a 50 Dodge engine. The very strange thing is the distributor which has no vacuum advance " IAY 4330-1 " the vacuum line from the intake manifold is crimped off. I wonder if this distributor will be sufficient, or should I be shopping for something with a vacuum advance. I found a couple on e-bay an IGS 4207 A1 and an IAT-4101 neither of these are listed in my manual. Any thoughts on this strange situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Bill

Thank you for all of the replies; This forum is amazing Bill

Joe; that must be what I need. I found a piece of spring that looks like what you have, when I pulled the inside cover off of the door. I would like to have them, Thanks...... Bill

One of the many things that I still have to address on my early 49 plymouth club coup, is a droopy outside door handle. I assume that there is a spring that keeps it up in a horizontal position. What type of spring is used, where is it located, how do you get at it? Thanks.... Bill (I did a topic search but couldn't find any threads on this question)

Brian; A plug and a vented cap sounds good, I just got a new cap from Bernbaums. The outside looks like my old one, but I'm not so sure the inside has the same vent device. What is a Stant cap? thanks....... Bill

I'm also about to install one of these tanks, they told be the old one would be $400 to repair. What did you guys do with the vent line and vent fitting. I'm thinking I would mount the vent in the wheel well near the filler hose. Also plan on blocking the tank down an inch to allow for the elbow. Thanks.......... bill

Hi; I'm new to p15-d24, and a new owner of an early 49 Plymouth (p15). I tried to replace a universal dust boot today and only managed to rip it in half. I took the universal apart, removed the balls, end caps etc. cleaned out the old grease. I then greased both inside and outside of the new rubber boot (andy bernbaum). I pushed the housing up to the drive shaft and fed the rubber boot over the trunnion. I then tried to force the boot through the housing. I was able to get it about half through, but it got really stuck. I tried to force it and pull it through, but ended up ripping it in half. Is there a trick I need to know, or is it time to look for a leather boot? thanks.......... Bill

Hi; I just got a 49 plymouth special delux P15. I'm trying to redo the wiring, I can't find where the horn button/ring wire comes out of the steering column. Thanks Bill:confused: