soth122003

Thanks Shel, I knew it had a 6 in the measurement. I just had fractions on the brain. Joe

Hey Cerick, I/ve got the same deal on my brakes. Chances are your back brake shoes are not adjusted right. The bottom line is your shoes, when adjusted properly, are only about 1/16 of an inch from the drum. If any shoe is more than that, it takes more fluid to move the piston on the wheel cylinder further out to take up the space between the shoe and the drum. Your Master cylinder only moves so much fluid per push of the brake pedal. When the brakes are adjusted right it will only take about 1/4 to 1/3 of pedal to have firm brakes. The reason after 10 seconds or so you have to pump again is because the brake shoe return springs pull the shoe back to the full retract position. The fronts on my P-15, I can dial right in. The back brakes need the AMCO tool to do it right. The fronts can be adjusted easily because taking the drum off is easy and you can adjust the major and minor with very little trouble, but the back needs a puller to remove the drum and then you adjust the major adjustment and re-install the drum then adjust the minor adjustment. Because the cars only had the single master cylinder, the pressure will only be firm on the first pump when all shoes are in adjustment. My back shoes are out just enough to require 2 pumps for a firm high pedal. So I drive really conservative. I would anyway so some clown doesn't plow into me or me into them from them not paying attention. Joe

Glad to see you got it running good. I see you mentioned it has been setting for about 30 years. The old girls need their exercise and some prune juice. I mentioned in a previous post to use about 1/2 a quart of seafoam in the oil. When you set the valves was it kinda gunked up in there or was it clean? Try the seafoam and it may clear the tick. As far as the oil pressure, the book says from 20-40 psi is good. If you're using a 10-30 oil you pressure will be about 20-30psi hot. A straight 30 weight oil will run at about 30-40psi. Joe

Are the timming marks on the damper in line with TDC on the #1 piston? If you have a 17-19 reading on the vacuum gage and idle is good, then I would suspect the timming marks. What is your idle speed currently?

I know what you mean Niel. But the question you have to ask is, are repeating the same mistake or is each one a new level of dumb mistakes? Joe

Sounds like me when I changed the oil on mp P-15. No problems until I changed the oil filter. Pulled the old one out and dropped a new one in put the cap back on went to the parts store for something or the other. Autozone was only a couple miles away, but by the time I got there my oil pressure was reading about 10 psi. I had forgot to make sure the filter cap seal was centered. I had blown about 3 quarts all over the side of the engine and the road to get there. Needless to say, a lot of these mistakes are self correcting by the feeling of stupid you get when you realize what you did. Joe

Welcome to the forum. Since you cleaned out the oil pan and filter housing, you might want to add about 1/2 a quart of Seafoam engine cleaner to the oil and run it for about a hundred miles before your first oil change. This will clean out the rest of the oil ports and journels you can't get to short of a rebuild. Joe

Hey Tat, When Don says to cut back on the igniter base or the screw, I would cut back on the ignitor base. This is just in case you have to switch back to points and condensor. My Pertronix unit failed after a year and a half, but I reinstalled the points and condensor and was on my way again. Joe

You're right. MEK is viscious stuff. I used it a lot in the military and it would eat right through those nitrile gloves as well. The military even scaled back its use because it was a serious carcanogenic. And when even the military says its bad, you might want to be wary. Joe

Hey Fargos, Pick up a gallon can of Berrymans Chem dip carb cleaner at any auto parts store and let the carb soak overnight in it you'll be suprised at the out come. Joe

Don't know much about the huffer, but if you add the Flux capacitor maybe you can go back and get some answers. Joe

Had the same problem on mine, cracked ear on #6 and a hole in #1. Put an ad on this site for a manifold and got a few replies from members who went with dual exhaust and still had their old manifolds. Picked up an intake and exhaust for about 100.00. Only difference was the old ex man. had the exhaust port on the #6 and the replacement had it between 4-5, I believe, had to put a 2" extension from autozone in the exhaust pipe and PRESTO back on the road. Joe

Looking good Tat, I like the red wheels and if you have the baby moons that will really set it off. Joe

The condenser is also my first thought after looking at the age of the wire coming off it. Points are strictly mechanical, where as the condenser can be intermittent and fail just from setting. You said you had problems before and cleaning the points would help. If your condenser was going TU, this may be one of the symptoms. Joe

Just like everyone else said. Jump in and have a manual and a camera. If you want a real challenge work on any car newer than 2000. Just a tune up on these is daunting and frustrating. Unlike new cars, these were made to worked on by anyone with a lick of sense. Joe

I'd get a carb kit and rebuild the carb. Reason being, any gas that didn;t evaporate has turned to varnish and will clog your jests and passages. Your accelarator pump is probably dried out as well. As far as the fuel pump goes, pull it and clean it for the same reasons. Double check the diaphram for cracking and tears. Joe

Hey Tat, I'm with Shel on this one. Pull the plugs and spin the engine to check and build oil pressure. If you haven't already done it, static time the engine. If everything looks good, put the plugs in and hook up the coil wire and let her rip. As previously stated use a vacuum gage to check engine condition. I used a timing light to set the timing after I got it running. I just hooked it to a jump pack and used it that way. I also hook it to my six volt battery just to check timing about every 2 months or so. It is a 12 volt timing light but works off the 6 volt battery, just the light is not a bright, but it will flash bright enough to see. Joe

I've had my P-15 with a 230 engine in it and original rear end with 15" radials up to 75 maybe 80. (the needle bounces a little). The steering an the suspension let me know to slow down though. Spooky at that speed, it likes to run at 55-60 best. Joe

I jump mine like Greg g does. I went to Harbor Freight and bought their jump pack for around $60.00. Theirs had the long cables, the on/off switch, air compressor, and USB port. It will turn over a flathead like there's no tomorrow. Joe

Iowa51, If it still leaks at that point and you don't want to mess with it until next driving season, use a small bar of Ivory soap on the area. Just spread it around the area of the leak and smooth it in with you fingers. Gas will not eat through soap and I have used this method to stop leaks before. Just remember to fix it before driving on wet roads as water will dissolve the soap. Joe

I had mine disintegrate. So I looked around for one, but couldn't find any. I measured the post (1/4") and measured the inside dia. of the rod that holds the bushing as well as the width. and found a close enough sized one at the shop I work at and trimmed it down with a dremel and it worked great. That was 2 years ago and it's still going strong. Joe

Sounds like you found the problem. To be sure, jack up the tranny about 2-3 inches and check the shifting. Joe

You can check harbor freight for a comp tester. there not a bad product and cost about $30. As far as a t-stat, your choice, The thing I was trying to point out was water flow through the system is supposed to be a set rate of flow. To fast or slow will result in higher temps. Joe

When I had a 180 t-stat in my P-15 my car would run at about 190-200 at speed. I switched to the 160 and my temp stays at 170-180. That being said. What is the flow rate of your new radiator? Is it an after market? The purpose of the t-stat is to regulate the flow of water. If your radiator lets the water flow to slow from being clogged up you will overheat. The same goes if your radiator is a straight flow radiator. The original rad's were honeycombed to allow water to flow at about 20 gpm. This allowed enough time to cool the water as it passed through. As you speed up the water pump moves the water faster through the system. For me the answer was a good flush and cleaning of my original rad and a 160 t-stat. In the manual, it states that the 180 t-stat is for cold weather conditions. The normal t-stat was a 160 for Plymouth cars from 1946-54. You should use your IR temp gun to check the engine at all areas along the water flow path to check for hot spots and possible clogged water jackets. Joe

Hey 46Ply, If it is just a small pinhole, you could try a leak stop treatment. However since you have it out, like Donald Smith says, trim the fins around the hole, clean the area well, use soldering flux on the hole and surrounding area, use a soldering iron to heat the hole and area around it and apply a small bit of solder, when it melts pull the iron away, let cool, then using your air supply leak test it again. If it still leaks you can try again or have someone do it for you. It's surprisingly easy to do. And like you said it's a zero pressure system. Joe