Ulu

I wrote: "Because the current goes through both filaments in series, and then to a ground which is all the way back at the switch under the dash, the light flashes weakly." Sorry, that's wrong. It doesn't ground under the dash at all. I wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote that. It typically flashes weakly in these "feedback issue" problems because one tail bulb isn't grounded. The juice goes through one stop filament, (on a bulb without a ground) then through its tail filament, to the tail light wire--which is hooked to nothing under the dash when the light switch is off-- but is hooked through the other tail light filament, to ground. So the weak flash is because you're running 3 filaments in series on voltage adequate to run only one. This is a very common problem, and I used to see it all the time when I was renting out trailers to people, 40 years ago.

...so the center light is bright when you brake, but dim when on the 4-way flashers? And the two taillights flash OK on the 4-ways?

You mean one filament. I totally misread the first bit though, when you said, "I split the brake wire (circuit) to the center brake light" I thought you meant you had put a dual filament bulb in the third light.

'Course not. Ya gotta check it out. Could actually be a SanDiego car. Now there's where you find some real rustbuckets. ('50s cars are not my cup of tea though.)

Try putting a temporary ground wire from a center lamp housing screw right to the battery ground terminal. See if this makes the "ghost" flash go away. This weak flash usually happens because of a poor ground. Current goes up one filament and there's no good ground, so it goes backwards down the other filament, because they are both connected at the brass bulb base (which should be grounded.) Because the current goes through both filaments in series, and then to a ground which is all the way back at the switch under the dash, the light flashes weakly.

I abused my old Plymouth transmissions a lot, and I thought they were pretty solid units. HOWEVER: If you're getting wheel hop on a burnout, stop! It can take the power of a burnout, but it can't take the pounding of hard wheel hop. Mine needed traction aids to do a proper burnout without hop, because stock it was rather underdamped and undersprung. .

Yeah, but stuff doesn't rust much in Visalia, PA. It could be a really solid car.

More rusty amusements.

Mine is filled with about 1% 90wt and 99% STP. Didn't have any cornhead grease at the time... That only works if you live in the desert. LOL In Minnesota winters you'd rip the wheel right off trying to steer.

HehHehHeh...I was a Rookie! The structure was still OK. Still is too. I still shop in that store from time to time. It was mainly an architectural facelift on a 20+ year old building, but they "had" to cut the trusses (!!!). Their compulsion became my profit. Several years before that job, I had left this aluminum mfg company to work for a high rise contractor, my first project was to do the walls for a job I'd just done the windows for. Man, stuff better fit together when you're in that situation! There's nobody else to blame.

When I took my current job almost 22 years ago, one of my first projects was to rehab a job I drew 40 years ago, when I was a total rookie. (The Wherehouse, in Clovis.) That made me feel old then, but I was only not yet 40!

I've seen people "lose" parts in hot tanks and chemical tanks too. They just dissolve in time. But some mistakes dissolve overnight! One of the guys put his boat porthole frame in the hot tank overnight. The thing was an alloy of some metal, and it almost disappeared in 16 hours of hot caustic etching. Anyhow, the electrolytic method does not seem to remove any steel, just rust. I've had some parts in a tank for months now as a test. the rust was gone in 3 days, but no visible changes since then. I'm still not sure the best way to remove the carbon "smut" left behind. I often wipe it off with an oily rag. I'm normally never ready to paint anything when I first take it out of the tank, so I grease it and wrap in paper or plastic. Synthetic grease seems to last the best of what I've tried. anyhow, I have a few parts stacking up that need painting, and still have grease and smut on them.

I could afford to buy that Mack, but probably could not afford to ship it.

What's not to love? Still I'm wondering how it'd work with no distributor, a crank trigger, and one coil per plug like my Tacoma.

I used to arc my shoes by hand, with sandpaper stuck inside the drums too. I used skateboard griptape, because I always had big scraps left over from building boards.

It has advantages and disadvantages like everything else. I would use it for some things and not for others, based mostly on shape. This removes rust. It doesn't convert it to something else. Any rust it doesn't get is still dangerous & must be removed by other means. When you remove the parts from the tank clean, they are so clean in most places, they'll start to rust again immediately, as they dry. Dry them with a displacer like WD-40 and grease or oil the parts until you're ready to actually paint them. Strip with solvent, prep with Jasco or Ospho or similar conversion preps, then prime & paint.

I don't know if the assist spring was a stock item or not, but it really helped with pushing the cable back in smoothly.

I think the hopped 218 will wind up faster (if it's in a car that won't bog it.) The 230 has more bottom end torque & won't bog as easily under load, but winds up much slower. At least this is my experience, driving a Club Coupe with hopped 218, and 4dr P15 sedan with stock 230. So the hopped 218 would be better in a lighter car than the stock 230, but the 230 probably better in the heavier car.

Hah! Thank you Mark. The first good engineer I knew told me about the same thing. "This is a job you do because you'd do it for free....because you love to do it, 'cause it sure ain't for the big money..." OK, I make a reasonable income for this area. I'm not pampered, but I don't worry about paying the bills either.

I loved architecture before I was persuaded to become an engineer. Dad told me: "There's a lot more starving architects than starving engineers." To this day, I'm not sure if he was right. But old stuff isn't structurally safe & the rehab we have to do saving public stuff & old school buildings is very expensive--and challenging. We like the challenge, but too often the real budget comes to head with the hoped for budget, and it happens when the contractors see the structurals. At that point our clients like us to re-design everything for free so they can make it less expensive. The challenge is harder to accept at that point. But our clients like "team players". That means we bail them out at our expense. Well, ya do what ya gotta do to keep clients.

Paul, You posted them in Don's "Interesting Photos" thread.

I think all Metros were made by IHC, but I believe the bodies were not all made by Metro. I'm not sure at all. Anybody know this history?

We saw a dozen more fire trucks going up the mountain this AM to the Kings Canyon (Rough) fire. They have over 2000 men on that one fire, (it's one of several) and it's only 25% contained. Fortunately the wind is blowing the smoke away from Fresno/Clovis. People in Washington can't breathe the air!

Thanks Jon!

Rust-O-Rama continues....