squirebill

More to my last entry. I checked my B1B inner door panel and the nut I referenced above can be accessed through a hole on the inner door panel. I'm guessing for crank force adjustment.

So I looked at a diver side regulator I have out of the truck. In your second picture there is a nut showing at the upper right corner. Maybe this is a "tension" adjusting nut. Looks like if it was tightened the bar it holds would be clamped tighter to the main plate of the regulator. I didn't pull mine apart but it looks like it goes through a slotted hole in the main plate.

Did the engine run before you pulled the distributor? Did you install a new distributor cap? When your all set at TDC for #1 cylinder (top of compression stroke), where is the distributor rotor "pointing"? If all is set up correctly the rotor should be pointing to approximately the 7 o'clock position with respect to the distributor body. Then the #1 plug wire should come off the cap tower above the rotor and up to the #1 plug. Then clockwise rotation to other plugs in 153624 order as you stated. If however the oil pump was removed and then not properly indexed when reinstalled the rotor position could be somewhere else other than the 7 o'clock position. This is no real big deal as long as #1 plug wire comes off the tower above the rotor.

1949 Plymouth suburban. So I took off the front brake wheel cylinders to inspect/rebuild them at the bench. In the process also took the brake backing plate off. ...actually it fell off. I always referred to this part as a "backing plate" but according to my parts manual it is actually called the "Brake Support Assy." Who knew? So in the process of cleaning off years of caked on dirt off the back of this plate (got a full cup of it) noticed a round metal piece spot welded to the center of the plate on the inside. It's got an outer flange at the bottom where it is spot welded , comes up about 1/2 inch and then has an inner flange at the top. Seemed to be loaded with oil soaked dirt that I cleaned out. Does anyone know what this part is for? Looks like it might hold some kind of seal but nothing is shown in the parts manual. The inner nose of the brake drum hub looks like it extends into this hat section. Also, this nose of the drum hub looks to have a machined surface on the OD. Maybe a sealing surface? Just wondering if anyone might know why Mopar might have gone to the effort to spot weld this piece to the backiing/support plate and machined the drum hub. Maybe someone is familiar with another application where a seal is used with these parts. Regards

Great idea!! Is the mounting nut internally threaded or a smooth 3/4 inch bore?

Sounds like you have it pretty much straightened out. That stray jolt you got from the ignition system is an indication of a leaky ignition circuit. Check all your high voltage wire connections form the coil to the distributor and then from the distributor to each of your spark plugs. If the plug wires seem dried out and cracked that could be the leakage point. Replace them. Also, look for dust,dirt , grease around the distributor cap terminals. Regards.

OK, if I'm understanding you correctly, the picture is what you see when the timing light flashes. That being said looks like you are firing about 15 degrees after Top Dead Center. My manual says your P15 should be set to fire right at Top Dead Center. Adjustment is required. Since the rotor in the distributor goes in a clockwise direction, rotate the distributor body in the counter-clockwise direction until the timing mark moves under the pointer when the light flashes.

Same thing happened to me with '49 B1B truck. Broke the bolt trying to back the nut off so could turn the bolt to do the brake adjustment. Also, the remainder of the bolt was seized in it's bore in the knuckle. Don't remember exactly how i got it out but do remember using PB blaster for days, heated it with Mapp torch , rigged up a fine thread "C" clamp. Finally got it out and remember the bolt body and knuckle bore was coated with rust powder. The PB blaster didn't seem to penetrate at all unless it dried out when I put the torch to it. General pain in the butt. I tell you this in case you try to pull the backing plate off and it does come easily you could end up with a bent backing plate. Get the remainder of the bolt out first would be my recommendation.

To answer your question in post #26: seems like you can cover the rod bolts with hose or tape and tap the rod and piston assembly up into the cylinder bore. Once the rod end is clear of the two bearing shells they will probably fall out or need some gentle prying where the two halves meet. regards

Take a good hard look for it down in the bore. I recently rebuilt 3 BB carbs. I thought one carb was missing both check balls.....turned out, they were both in there but held in by a powdery deposit between the ball and the bore that almost completely covered the balls. Worked at them with a long sewing needle and some spray carb cleaner and finally got them free. Also, on one of the carbs, marked BBR, there was a very light compression spring between the discharge check ball and the brass plug. This spring doesn't show up in any exploded view I could find for a BB carb so I left it out when I put the carb back together. Somewhere in this carb's long lost past someone must have put it in there. I'm not quite sure where I got this carb from, it is an extra for me right now, but maybe someday I will mount it on one of my 218s to see how it runs with and without the check valve spring. A project for a later date. Regards.

My hearing isn't what it used to be but it sounds to me like an erratic metallic "clack". I would take off the fan belt and check all pulleys for wobble and end play, especially that crankshaft pulley/vibration damper. You could start the engine at this point ,with no fan belt on it, and see if you still have the noise. If you do, it's something internal to the engine. If not, it is something belt driven. To confirm, put the belt back on and see if the noise comes back. My neighbor had a similar noise on his '65 Dodge Coronet and it turned out to be endplay in his power steering pump. Just saying. Regards

Anything to do with a clutch, I would recommend Tennessee Clutch and Supply. I was having trouble with my clutch pedal free play and it turned out my flywheel had been resurfaced by having 0.200 inch machined off. As recommended by others on this forum contacted Randall at Tennessee Clutch and Supply. He adjusted the clutch assembly as required for my use. Very quick turnaround and not a whole lot of $$$. Google them and give them a call. Worked great for me. Regards.

Sniper.....I see proportioning valves for the rear brakes on the picture you supplied. Did that vehicle have front discs and rear drums? Since my '49 Plymouth originally had no proportioning valve I wasn't planning on using any on the split system. From my research it seems the general thinking is that the front brakes supply about 66% of the braking force and the rear brakes supply the remaining 33%. So in a front/ rear split system if something failed in the rear system I would still have 66% braking from the front brakes. If something failed in the front system would be left with only 33% braking from the rear brakes. On a diagonally split system, if something failed on one leg, would have one half of the front system and one half of the rear system (about 48%) still available. That doesn't sound too bad but I would be concerned about steering with only one front brake working. Anybody have any thoughts about this or my reasoning?

In my internet reseach it seems "diagonal" , "cross", and "X" system are all the same thing. .....left front and right rear on one leg and right front and left rear on the other.

Definitely going to dual chamber master cylinder on my '49 Plymouth Suburban and new brake lines. Does anybody have any thoughts, pro or con, on plumbing it up for a diagonal, X, cross system? Seems this was done on some cars after gov't mandated dual chamber master cylinder and before front disc/rear drums. Any thoughts? Regards to all.

Franklyn49, your pain in summer of 2016 was my pain in winter of 2020. Glad I had this forum to reference. I did what you did and tried to remove the MC from below. Disconnected the two brake lines at the rear of the MC and removed the three mounting bolts. Tried to figure out how to slide off the brake pedal arm from the MC but no room. The clutch rods and various mounts were in the way as well as the shift rods for the transmission. At that point I consulted this forum and saw that step one seemed to be "remove the floor pan". Naturally, the previous owner glued the carpet down when he replaced it. Although the parts manual says the floor pan is attached with hex head bolts mine had philips head bolts with the philips head drives filled with carpet glue. Once they were finally removed ran into the problem of the throttle linkage bracket that is mounted to the floor pan from the back up by the steering column. Got them out from below using a 7/16 socket on 1/4 drive extensions that totaled about 14 inches long. Once the throttle linkage bracket was disconnected form the floor pan was able to remove the floor pan and wiggle the throttle linkage out with it still being connected to the gas pedal mount. As stated above , once the floor pan was removed the master cylinder/pedal assembly practically flew out of the car. Thanks for this forum and your input. Regards to all.

Here's my '49 B1B (with '52 doors) in the 2019 4th of July 2019 parade

My thoughts exactly.

Yes....I left the flange on. Tapped the speedi sleeve on until the edge of the sleeve just cleared the OD radius on the nose of the pulley hub. Used the 99218 sleeve like you ordered. Worked like a charm.

For your consideration: when building up my 218, after the speedi sleeve install and getting ready to finally put it all back together....I put some non-hardening pipe threat sealant on the nose of the pulley hub so it would seal against the face of the crankshaft timing gear. Not sure there is a leakage path between the face of the timing gear and the nose of the pulley hub then up the OD of the crankshaft and or along the key/keyway but a swipe of sealant seemed like cheap insurance.

Camshaft rotates clockwise looking at the front of the engine (same as the crankshaft and connected by the timing chain). Seems to me the dwell portion of the fuel pump cam lobe would be in the center of the wear pattern on the fuel pump arm. As the lobe continues to rotate the high point of the lobe would swipe the pump arm out towards the free end of the arm then come back through the center of the wear pattern and swipe through the wear pattern toward the fixed end of the arm. As long as you gasket thickness is less than the distance from the free end of the pump arm to the begining of the wear pattern you should be good.

When I was checking my brake shoe and socks, I noticed my tires were so bald I could see the air inside. It was winter air from last winter since I never changed over to summer air when I should have. So I have brake socks and winter air..... all good.

OK...so just out of curiosity and for the purpose of conversation: what would have been the answer to my questions? Regards.

I'm about two hours away by highway. Is this a tagged and operational car that can be driven, a rolling car that could be flat towed, or non-operational requiring flat bed trailer? Regards.

My story about the hole in the distributor cap. So in the late '60s I was an 18 year old in my freshman year at college. I was a "commuter" and took a bus from my home town to the college that was in a city about 20 miles away. The man who eventually became my step-father had purchased a '50 Plymouth 4 door for $50.00 to use while his primary ride was in the body shop to be repaired from a collision while parked by a drunk driver. Once he got his car back he offered the Plymouth to me to drive back and forth to school. I was working under the hood of the car with the engine running and a neighborhood kid about 6 years old was standing on the front bumper asking me about all the things he saw under the hood. "What's this?" I'd look at what he was pointing at and say, "That's the radiator." What's this?" "That's the generator." "What's this?" I looked to see what he was pointing at and it was the distributor. But as I looked, the distributor cap was kind of dancing around on top of the distributor but the engine was still running. I turned off the engine and checked out the distributor cap and sure enough both the clips were unclipped and the cap was just kind of sitting on top of the distributor. I inspected the cap and noticed the sharp edges on the cap were the clips connect were rounded off and figured that was the problem and I needed a new cap. Went to the NAPA store for a new cap and as the guy behind the counter opened the box to show me the new cap he said, "Oh, you got the new design cap....the one with the hole in the side." I asked him why it had a hole in the side. He said on these cars fumes from the crankcase can come up past the distributor shaft and collect under the distributor cap. Then under the right conditions a spark from the points or rotor can ignite the fumes and blow the cap off the distributor. To stop this from happening a hole was put in the side of the distributor to let this pressure escape. Thinking back I remembered that on very rare occasions I would hear a "puff' from under the hood when I would start the car but it didn't seem to hurt the running of it so I would go happily on my way. Guess I was hearing those vapors lighting off and didn't know it. That's my story. Regards.