soth122003

According to the Motors Manual the doge 230 engines valve clearance from 1941-53 are: hot/running engine, .008" intake and .010" exhaust. (1935-40 are .006 I and .008 E and .012" timing) The manual did not list a cold setting, but the manual list a timing clearance as .014, which is basically a cold clearance. This is the base for installing valves/cams after a major repair or rebuild. Set to .014 the run the engine and after it is at running temp adjust them to .008" for intakes and .010" for exhaust. Most people do one of two things on an engine that has already been used/run/broke in. 1. Run the engine up to temp. Shut off engine and adjust to spec. 2. Set the valve at .002-.003 over the spec cold and run the engine to temp and check the valves and adjust the ones that need it. Now I have not done this check but after the valves are set hot, you let the engine cool down (24hrs) then check the clearance and see what the difference is between hot and cold and this should be fairly applicable to any other Mopar you work on. Most of the mechs use option 1 as the least labor intensive option. Hope this helps. Joe Lee

The small hole is to relieve the line pressure after the brakes are released. The 2nd rubber cup on the MC piston sits between the large and small holes when the brake is at rest. When you do a pedal adjustment, make sure the cup does not cover the hole or the brakes build up pressure and will not release. It must be open. Best thing to use is a piece of .020" safety wire. A bread twist tie can work as well. I usually put the wire in the hole when I make pedal adjustments to make sure the cup doesn't cover the hole, but comes right up to it. Joe Lee

When These vehicles were made, the bumpers and accents were chromed or steel polished to make the car stand out. They also had a fairly straight color palette to use. Today with the advent of meta-flake/pearl enhancement and clear coat epoxy style paints the car itself attracts the attention with out the need of the chrome high-lights. If you are going to go with the standard paint job or originality, stick with the chrome to make the car pop. If you are going to put a $5k to $10k paint job on it, then you can probably match the bumpers to the car and it will look good. Especially with the enhanced color types available today. I've seen a lot of pic's of these old cars with the newer styled paint jobs with the bumpers the same color and they look good, real good. The pics of the cars with the old style paint with matching bumpers just seem to be missing something. My personal feeling is, new modern paint with high-lights match the bumpers. Old style paint, chrome or... paint the bumpers a different color to draw the eye. The only problem with this is some people have really, really bad taste. (Like an orange car with green bumpers. UUNNGGHH) Joe Lee

How long has the oil had time to soak in? Going from not working to pegging at 100 says it needed lube, but it might need more time to completely lube all the parts in the speedo. Granted it will probably need a rebuild, but you might want to give it a little more time to soak in and maybe it will work as needed, but probably not accurate. It might also help to slowly exercise it by using a low speed drill to turn the cable and work the speedo at a low speed. Joe Lee

Loren, I like the way the chrome color pops against the red rims. Makes it stand out really well. What color is the car that these go on? Joe Lee

Plymouthy is right about reading the white paper. More knowledge about the what's and why's will help in decisions and applications of what to use. Sam is right about the oils of today being way better than the oils of yesterday. With that said the big difference in oils to me, have been the detergent vs non-detergent oils. Switching from non-detergent to detergent can wash away grime and crud in critical areas the will induce slop and wear that can damage an engine. The crank bearing races especially. As well as the seal areas causing more leakage. Once an engine gets set to operating with crud that doesn't move it covers up or clogs areas that have not had proper oiling in a good while. Back in the day you could take your car to a garage and have a top end or bottom end rebuild done in an afternoon. This was done on a time chart every few years or so and the crud problem was taken care of at that time. When time and advancements in oil properties made for a longer lasting engine, these services slowly went to to wayside. Plus people were trading their cars in every 5 years or so as America became a throw away society. Now you get an old car that hasn't been maintained properly in decades or you don't know the history on the car, you put in the modern oil w/detergent and in few months to a year or so it starts making funny noises (squeals, grinding, or whines) or it starts leaking because the detergent has washed away the crud. Or you decide to stay with the non-detergent oil and the car suddenly breaks down because it has been properly lubed and you spin a bearing. All this is to say if you don't know the history of the car you could be taking a chance either way. Doing a bottom end or top end or total rebuild on car is not in itself hard if you have a lift or don't mind laying on your back and know what to look for. A lot of this will boil down to time and money willing to be spent to make sure the car is in good mechanical shape. As for which oil to use well one cleans and lubes as it works and one lubes but can leave deposits that build up over time, but will require more in depth maintenence at a regular intervals (other that just an oil change). Check the back of the service manual for all the things that are supposed to be done by mileage. There is a lot more that the newer cars. engine tune up minor every 3k miles, engine tune up major every 12k miles. At the time these cars were made the oil filter was an option because the mantenence was easily adhered to and done in a fairly timely manner. Now to do the required things needed to do to these old cars are done by the owner or a specialty shop that cost and are not available at many locations. These cars were made to worked on by the average person with a few mechanical abilities, but now the know how is sadly lacking as most people can't change a tire with out google telling them how and even then they get frustrated that it happened to them and they actually have to do something themselves (whiney bunch of snowflakes). Anywho that's my basic rundown and understanding as well as my story and I'm sticking to it. Joe Lee

Sweet ride Bob. Does it have hubcaps for it. I think that would really set it off. Joe Lee

Hate to tell you this Ffreeb, But removing a dash is not so simple or easy IMHO. It will probably be easier to pull the front seat and seat track, then lay down a mat and get comfortable. If your older or have infirmaties, it sucks. If you have a kid who likes to help that will make it easier. There really isn't a lot of wiring or cables to get in the way, it just looks like it. Just make sure to label the wires disconnected from the gages. Ask me how I know. lol. Most of your gages will be held in by 2-3 screws or nuts. Once you pull the fuel and ammeter gage the wires will be able to be pushed back out of the way. The temp gage will be the hardest to put in and the oil pressure gage I would loosen the line at the gage then remove the gage and take the line off with more room to see how it connects to the gage. Take it slow and take your time. Once the job is done, you'll see it wasn't that bad. It just looked tough. Best of luck and keep us posted. Oh, and post some pics cause everyone loves pics. Joe Lee

If you haven't pulled that lead plug on the side of the carb and removed that jet in the circuit, it is possible there is some crud in there that is causing the dribble. When I checked my pump for function, the stream shot across the throat and thru the middle support and helped atomize the fuel better. But like others have said if it still works, i wouldn't worry about it. Just make a note the next time the carb is out to be cleaned to check and clean that particular jet. Joe Lee

Let me just mortgage my house and soul. I might be able to swing it then. LOL Though the Airflow is awesome, I'm more partial to the convertable coupe pictured. Joe Lee

I'm guessing just 4 gages. Temp. Oil, fuel and Amp. Of the 4 the Temp gage will be the hardest. The temp gage is one unit from the gage to the engine block. The tube being fairly fragile will have to be handled with care when removing and installing. One sharp bend and poof there goes the gage. The gland nut holding the temp bulb in the block can be tricky too. If the gage is good and looks decent, leave it alone. If it doesn't work and needs to be replaced, make sure the replacement is in good shape and test it before installing. There are numerous threads on the temp gage. Read them. They will help you understand about the removal and installing procedures. Also ask questions. The other gages are fairly straight forward and pretty easy to replace just read the service manual. Although the manual doesn't get into the heart of removal and replacement of components, It gives a good accounting of how they work and that makes replacement easier to understand. Between all the members of this forum there are about 200-300 years of experience on these old cars so ask for help if you need it. Joe Lee

36 here, supposed to go to 18 tonight. Since this is the P15 D24 website, here ya go. Joe Lee

0v currently. We got about 6 inches of snow. It quit about 11pm last night. Joe Lee

While today Florida is living up to it's name "The Sunshine State", I don't think this is what most people have in mind. Joe Lee

We're in the mid 20's right now with a low of 17 at 7 am tomorrow, but the feels like will be 7. These old bones do not like this at all. Joe Lee

Plymouthy, your pic looks my area except it is still snowing, Niceville, Florida is currently having a snow fall that will amount to about 3-5 inches from 1pm to 10pm. Crestview 20 miles north is expected to have up to 8 inches. It's pretty but if I wanted this I would have lived in one of the northern states. Joe Lee

Man Vintage, did that thing owe you money? When I first saw the pic I thought it was wielded. I remember working on my fuel sender and how soft the metal was. It looked a lot like that when I finished. But if it works, you did a good job. Of course, I am a function over form kinda guy. If it has to look pretty, I get some one else to help. Joe Lee

I'd like to get one of those for the pocket watches I have. Joe Lee

Hey all, I too would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I would also like to wish the families of members no longer with us a Merry Christmas as well. They may not read this, but they are remembered fondly. Joe Lee

Davidjose1, We're not poking at you on purpose, it's just the situation is funny from a certain perspective. You're statement that a twin turbo 53 is finally going but the trunk latch has you kinda flumoxed is funny. Like the nuclear engineer trying to open the pull door by pushing. Sam Buchanan's post was my first thought after reading your post and I hadn't seen his reply yet. As far as your trunk latch goes a junkyard will probably be your best bet. The price shouldn't be too bad, but watch out for the shipping. Ebay might also be a good source as well. Joe Lee

Hey Steve, Is your car Left hand drive or RHD? Next, I would try to temp fit the cable from the box to your 37 Just the cable housing. The inner cable should pull out. Does it screw on at both ends? Does it kink or bind? Is it to short? If the fit is good, measure the length of the cable. There are speedo cable replacements that are just the inner cable. This link is just to give you an idea of what your looking for, not an exact match for your car. https://www.ebay.com/itm/315921496791?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D278005%2C277954%2C277961%26meid%3Df849996987dd46f98e3fb095222d0baa%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D315921496791%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRPbooster_BP%26brand%3DDorman%2FHelp&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3Acb6307271930a47d696585c5fffff782|pageci%3Adfd72357-bb0a-11ef-aec0-725184b148cd|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage Sorry I don't know how to make the short link. If the length is good you can order one of these and use it. As far as lube YES!! I use white lithium grease. Just spray some into the cable housing and spray the length of the inner cable. As you insert into the housing it will spread the lube. My general understanding of speedo cables is that most period cable housings from that era as long as it is from the Chrysler Corp will fit your speedo and tranny connections. The only difference is the length of the cable. You can't go to short but a little long won't hurt. Hope this helps and gives you some ideas. Joe Lee

The shop manuals say to use nothing at all, due to the parts being machine fitted. With that being said, after 60, 70 and 80+ years of wear, I believe the machine fit is a little worn and moisture can seep in, causing a sticky drum. I clean the shaft and drum surface with a green scrub pad then I use a little bit of grease smeared on the shaft surface then wipe it off with a clean rag. The residue (IMHO) will act as a filler and lube to keep out the moisture and crud that loves to make the drum a nightmare to remove. I believe this will aid in the drum removal process in a few years if I need to remove the drum for brake shoe replacement of brake maintenance that will eventually be required. The first time I removed the rear drums, the right took about 3 hours and the left took about a day and a half. Replaced the shoes and leaky wheel cylinders and cleaned the shaft and drum, greased the shaft and put all back together. About three years later pulled the rear drums looking for a brake fluid leak and the drums popped of with about 20 minutes of the puller and impact gun. I also cut notches in the brake adjustment stud that the nut goes on, on the back of the brake plate, so I could adjust the rear brakes using a flat head screwdriver with out pulling the drum. That worked great. I've pulled one or the other of the drums in recent years for maintenance and had no problem pulling the drums. Joe Lee P.S. reminds me I gotta pull the drums this spring to check the shoes and cylinders. been a couple of years since I checked the shoes and the pedal is riding a little low.

If you want to store it outside, I would build a box to store it in and use a regular motor oil to "pickle it". Then put in a couple of moisture absorbing packs in the box and put the lid on tight and cover it. While the climate control is nice, Most places before the 70's, climate control was out of the elements in a room or shed, and the parts lasted for decades. After all, look at how many barn finds or field finds there are and the engine usually needs only a little bit of TLC to get it running, despite spending years at the find sites. Joe Lee

I started this reply as a joke, but after some thought, my post might have some credulity. What if the tranny is for a right hand drive car? and the speedo cable only appears to be on the wrong side. Since I know nothing of how the RHD cars are set up, maybe one of the down under members can set me straight. Joe Lee

The 1934 to 1940 Motors Manual will also have a good bit of info on your car, for those more in-depth repairs that might pop up, that your mechanic (if you have or can find one) or you will need to know how to work on or find parts for. I find that I use my 35 to 53 Motors manual about 2 times more than the service manual due to cross referencing between model cars of the same year as my Plymouth, since most engine, suspension, tranny and other parts will inter change for repair purposes. Joe Lee