Bmartin

I've got some new latch springs to install and I can't seem to find any information on removing the back panel that holds the springs in. I bent the three tabs straight that hold it in, but it won't budge. It looks like the pins for the star wheel and the dove tail block need to be ground off. Is this correct or can the rear plate be removed without damaging anything? Thanks.

Thanks guys.

Just an FYI, a few years back Optima was sold to another owner and all production was shifted to a MUCH cheaper factory. Not sure if it was originally overseas, but it is now. All the 4X4 shops used to swear by Optima and we'd all run them in our Jeeps because they could take the pounding. NO ONE runs them anymore, they fail more than the generic Autozone batteries out here in the desert. Most have switched to the glass mat type, I run the Die Hard in my Jeep. I don't think there is any reason to go that extreme in a street car, just a heads up on Optima.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the adjustment. One of my main problems is with the striker plates, the springs are off, or broken. The striker flapper rotates on a pin and the pin is staked (smashed) to keep it from coming out. I'm going to have to take it apart to see if it can be fixed. Has anyone found a good way to remove this pin and still make it usable after wards?

Just a quick update. The latches, star wheels, and strikes are not avaliable from bern baum at this time. Ebay is a source for the springs, I saw some strikers, and I believe you can find the star wheels there as well. I ordered the springs and I'll be rebuilding my existing latches. I am going to take apart the strikers and see if the spring is replaceable.

Ahh yes, that was another question I had. The tab is still there but there is no spring action any more, it just flops there. There is a spring in there, but its not connected to anything any more. Looks like I need those as well. You are correct, the star wheel still has good spring action and not a lot of play. Still wondering why I need to move the handle so far for it to release.

My door latches do not function well. For both the outside and inside, I have to really crank on the handles to get the latch to release, only the last millimeter releases it and no fully. I still have to pull on it. They are also hard to get to latch closed and stay closed. I took out the mechanism and I don't fully understand how it works. Would replacing the star wheels fix my issues or are there other springs that need to be replaced? I have no problem buying the new complete mechanism from Bernbaum, but I'm worried the repro's will not work like the factory, anyone with experience buying new? Here are some pics for reference. Also, do most people just use some mystery oil on the moving parts. Any pointers on where to put the oil are appreciated.

I checked out REM's website and they list a bunch of retailers that you are supposed to buy through. None of them list the box for the 1940. Looks like you need to go through epay

I came across this at the junkyard yesterday. Not sure what it is, but it looked a lot longer than a standard flathead. Did they make a spitfire for the trucks in the larger blocks?

Bumping this back up to the top since I'm looking for a glove box for my 1940 plymouth. First question, are they made from cardboard from the factory? I was thinking I was missing something made form metal and the cardboard was just a liner. Or is the glove box liner the only thing that goes in there? Next, anyone know the vendor Bob got his from? I found them on ebay for between $40 and $65. $30 would be better. Does the glove box have its own key that is different than the ignition and door? I only got two keys.

I measured the actual resistance tonight. Its about 2.4 ohms from the wire to the armor. Its pretty much zero from the armor to chassis. Wonder if the coil has a resistance of approximately 2.4 ohms?

I've got three inch blocks and sagging rear springs that give me 4-5" of drop. I'm right at the scrub line on a factory 16" rim. I've had a flat in the rear and nothing actually scraped the ground. I'm sure it was close though.

I'm going to piggyback onto this thead as its a similar question. I have a 1940 plymouth and the coil is mounted on the firewall,the same as Todd's above. I've been having intermittent shorting issues. Tonight I narrow it down to the armored cable under the dash. I even saw a little puff of smoke from the inside firewall at the back of the coil when moving it around. The wire inside is pretty mangled. Here is my question. When I perform a continuity test between the center wire and the armor of the cable, I get continuity. I would think this would inidcate a dead short, but my ammeter is only reading a very slight draw with the ignition in the on position. When I get the shorted condition, the ammeter goes full negative. Any ideas on how I can read this short, but not have a full negative current at the meter? Is this something to do with where the points are in the ignition? All help is appreciated. Funny thing is that after the little puff, I can no longer recreate the dead short by moving the cable around.

http://p15-d24.com/topic/33585-new-ways-to-lower-the-rear-end/

All good reasons, just curious if there was some difinitive power gains over single. I'll have to check out the sound of the duals next time I come across one, hadn't considered that.

So what is everyone's motivation for the dual exhaust? Is a it style choice, perhaps based on how things were done in the past? Or do you actually see a noticeable performance increase? If you keep posting pics of those custom Mopars I'm going to lose my patience and start on the suspension before all the other stuff is fixed. Man those look good!

That helps a lot, thank you very much!

Deathboud - I saw in another post that your front end is up on jackstands. Can you take a measurement of the minimum inner diameter of your wheels? I'm not sure of the differences between the 38 and 40 wheels. Thanks! Its looking like the Rusty Hope kit might work, fingers crossed.

I stuck my head under the car last night to look at the wheel. The area that has the 12" inner diameter is the furthes towards the face of the wheel. Then the wheel diameter steps wider at two different steps. When mounted, very little of the drum actually resides in the small diameter area. For the disc's, the wheel will mount on the face of the disc hat. I wonder if the caliper will sit far enough back from the hat face to clear this small inner diameter and clear the wheel? I'll dig into it more later in the weekend.

Don - All I would really like to know at this point is where my baseline is. Have I got them working as good as can be expected or are there improvements that can be made. I can live with the brakes for now, but eventually I would like improved braking for emergency situations. I actually plan on buying the kit from Butches Cool Stuff that has the dual master with vaccum booster and new pedal. fstfish66: Thanks a bunch for the measurements. Those sound like the rims will not fit. I do find it interesting that no one has brought that up as an issue yet. I'll pull a wheel and measure to be sure.

I had the drums turned. I had trouble getting them on because the first time I did the adjustment, I didn't use the feeler gauge, just set it tight against the tool, so there was no room to get the drum on. After I used the .07" feeler gauge, they went on with a little pressure and spun with a little bit of drag. I was not happy with the pedal or master cylinder travel. After taking up the free play, I still had close to 2" of pedal travel before it becomes firm. Manual states max pedal travel is 1 7/8 to 2 1/4". So I put a plug on the master to just see how much movement was in it. I get over 1" of travel, after free play, with the master capped. I don't see why it would be designed to do that, the fluid would need to be dispaced somewhere if there was a good seal around the piston. I can see some going out the relief port till its blocked, maybe that is it. The only thing I had left at that point was a new master to replace the already new AND rebuilt master. So I made the decision to stop with this setup and save money for a modern master and front discs. For now, I adjusted out all the mush in the pedal with the push rod and its firm as soon as I touch it, it just does not travel much more than 1/2". As stated earlier, I don't remember how it braked before, so I have no comparison to find out if its better or worse. I drive it, it stops, I can lock them up at 30 MPH. With safe following distances I feel comfortable with it. I don't think the push rod adjustment took slop out of the wheel cylinders because I did not feel any change in drag after I did it. Brakes are currently adjusted on the tight side with a fair amount of drag, similar to how a newer drum would be adjusted. If you see something obvious or have something new to try, I'm all for it. But at this point, I am a bit burnt out. I need to drive a little and get my motivation back. EDIT: I was thinking about my post while I went for drive. I think I've got closer to 1" of pedal travel. So maybe that's not so bad.

I adjusted the shoes with Ammco brake guage and a .07" feeler gauge. It was even top and bottom and center was a little tight, shoes are arced, drums turned. The pedal does not get stiffer when pumped, I've bled using the pedal, using vaccum, and finally pressure. Replaced a couple hardlines that may or may not have been leaking. The master has (what I feel is) excess travel even when its capped right at the end. Its new and has been rebuilt just to see if it would make a difference. I've tried everything twice or even three times and they are as good as they are going to get by my hand. I can live with it in the short term, it may even be back to where it was when I started - been too long to remember (November). I always planned on going disk for added braking ability and to go with something I'm more familiar with. So from this point forward I will concentrate my efforts and funds there. Thanks for the help though.

50desotocouple - Thanks, its good to have other options. I'm actually sticking with the stock 16" wheel, but the inside diamter is only 12" due to the channel for the air tube. I'll check them out. fstfish66- Thanks again for taking those measurements, its a great help.

Fred, you car is about 2" lower than mine in the rear. So that is a good data point for me when considering the posie rear springs. Thanks for the measurements. OT: Interesting that your antenna is on the opposite side than mine, but its still left hand drive. Unless that is one of those flipped pictures.

Man that looks good! I measured my fame distance to the ground just in front of the spring shackle and it was about 6.5 inches. If u get a chance post what yours is. I'm trying to get a feel for how worn out my springs are. Actually, how many leafs are in a stock pack? The prev owner may have pulled some.