Ulu

Clearly you are taking this way too serious. You didn't even laugh at my "stretch" joke.

Yes, the wire from the generator goes to the (+) input of the rectifier. The other input wire of the rectifier (-) goes to a metal ground, but instead I'd run a separate ground wire from the body of the generator to the (-) input of the rectifier. And isolate the lights completely. Don't ground the lights, but use two wires from the output of the rectifier to each lamp. Output polarization doesn't matter to normal lamps if they're not grounded, but some LEDs do need to be polarized and some do not. Look at the directions with the LED. I use several 12v LEDs to light my aquariums, and you want to keep the water out of them. Some sealant on the housings might help. Look up "wheatstone bridge full wave rectifier" for a diagram of what's inside the rectifier. It's just 4 diodes in a diamond pattern.

Oil gets acids and other crud in it from combustion, and they sit in the engine and eat metal. Smell some fresh oil, then smell the oil from a junkyard engine. The difference is very obvious. Conventional motor oil should be changed every 6 months regardless of mileage, to control this. I suppose that's about when the corrosion inhibitors wear out. Synthetic oils last far far longer in this respect. But you better have very tight seals to run synthetic. It's so thin when cold, it leaks easily compared to conventional oil.

As an engineer I find it offensive when the trim has to reinforce the structure. Offhand, I can't think of another place on the car where this is so. I guess you could say the windshield garnish does, but that's a stretch.

Actually yours sounds fairly normal. After a week's storage it was normal to pump the accelerator pump a few times before starting. Gas would evaporate a little from the carb, and you'd get a weak mixture because of that.

I thought modern gas was actually supposed to have more stuff in it to "stabilize" the chemistry.

I have a few along my drive. Brought by some landscaper from who knows where.

BTW It looked like this before I stripped the paint.

Rat Rod! Oh, Good Lord! I've gored the Sacred Cow! Plymouthy, there's ONE THING I don't like about my car. Please don't take it like a personal affront, bud.

I straightened the bent louvers with my bare hands. Easily. I'm not a blacksmith either. I push a mouse at work. They're just long and flimsy, plus there's so many holes they're like swiss cheese. Now, I did say "I've never seen a custom P15 grille that I really liked..." You said: Which I take to mean the same thing. Neither one of us has ever seen a good one. Cheesy louvers...

I think I said that.

For me it's the fenders and the ogee bodywork. Really every bit of the body except the grille and & I thing the styling on the club coupe greenhouse is a masterpiece. <Edit: Is there some way to delete a post here without the admin? I got crossed up a bit.>

Argh...cross posting.... I like the shape just fine. But it looks like tin when you get close. Thin and flimsy Also the fascia panel behind it is a flimsy bit of swiss cheese. Without the trim to stiffen it, it'd flap in the wind.

Amazingly long. Dad had a box that was at least 30 years old when I inherited it, and while the top layer was stiff, the second layer was still soft. (BTW, it was called "Scotch Caulk" on the old box. They changed the name in the 60's I believe.)

Some silicones don't like some vinyl type wiring insulation. They seal OK, but years later they start to get gooey. There's an chemical reaction. Anyhow I try not to use silicone on wiring. I do sometimes use Plasti-dip, which so far has worked well.

He didn't mention what it smelled like? (Gasoline + oxygen = varnish-like crud. PEEEEYeW!!) It goes stale with time, as does the oil. You can get an idea of how bad an old engine is going to be by how bad the oil smells. Now if that gas smelled like alcohol? Look for a chlorox jug with the real gas in it.

The one thing I've never loved about my P15 is the grille. When I disassembled it I looked all over for "Tonka" logos. It's a wart on a lovely design,and not because of it's basic artistic design, but because the manufacture is so obviously cheap. Then I took a good look at the grille of every other typical '47 car. Only two look better to me, & that's DeSoto & Cadillac. I thought I'd like the Canadian grille on mine (Plydo style ) but I really like it less than the P15 grille, if from an asthetic point. From a practical standpoint it's probably much sturdier and a better grille, as is the US style Dodge grille. Anyhow I've always thought the stamped tin look of the P15 grille was designed to look cheap on purpose, just to make status-conscious people buy a more expensive Dodge. It's the only thing I've truly and honestly disliked about a car that, in nearly stock form, repeatedly earned my respect as a well built and well engineered car. That grille is the main thing I wish to customize on Edith d' Plymouth, rather than merely mend. But evidently it's a difficult feat to pull off. I've never seen a custom P15 grille that I really liked so far.

The mantra up through the early 70's was "longer, lower, & wider". Every year car were generally getting longer, lower, & wider. Shorter & often wider wheels were a real factor in that. I have some 12" Valiant wheels somewhere. That'll bring the CG down.

Hmmm...come to think of it I know where some abandoned mining tracks are. Leftovers from the past, but they're under snow right now. I remember driving my truck along the old rail bed that ends at the Golden Spike Monument in Utah. My buddy was riding on the fender and the rails and ties were all gone but there were spikes and plates and insulators here and there and he'd jump down and pick them up. I still have a spike or two from out there on Promontory Point.

Thanks for the links, Linus. While I have no interest in shoeing horses, that 70 lb Carroll anvil is now on my Christmas list; because I do often have the manly desire to heat steel until it glows and smash it with a big hammer. This usually results in something useful like a trailer hitch or a barbecue grille. Also sometimes scrap metal. What I have in mind is some suspension customizing and making nerf bars. I have this gasoline fired blower device which once was slated to be a military jeep engine heater if I decide I need to build an actual forge. So who besides me thinks a forged steel anvil might be easy to crack? I thought they were typically cast iron and not steel just for that reason. Also, seeing as how I live in a rodeo town....I have these 4 horseshoes which would make cool nerf bars . I've been using them to weight down a tarp. ​

Yeah. The bell housing's not totally ruined, but it's compromised a bit. I don't imagine they're that rare. That's why it's in my junk pile. See that red regulator cover on the OD solenoid of a '59 Ford OD trans? That trans is why I don't own an Edsel anymore. Strong engines, but a weak first gear . Suitable for the junk pile, but that solenoid is 12v, and I suspect it'll fit a Plymouth OD trans. That's why I saved a junky Ford trans.

I've been shopping for an anvil online, but haven't found a good used one for a reasonable price yet. Plus they're all on the east coast & probably real civil war relics, costing way too much. Not to mention shipping. Most folks don't want to ship a 90lb+ anvil. I found a 65 lb forged steel anvil new for a more reasonable price ($1.25 a lb roughly) and it's in California so shipping no problem. Probably from Mexico. Not sure you could ship an anvil from China so cheap. But then I found people trying to sell short hunks of rusty railroad track for $50 + shipping too.

I didn't use a gasket. I just glued it down with 3M strip caulk. that seals the wires and screws. Do they still sell that? I dunno... Otherwise I'd use rubberized cork .094" thick.

I've owned a lot of cars and they almost all started irregularly with automatic chokes and wound up with manual chokes installed. I never liked automatic chokes. They're fussy little nonsense that wears out quickly. If you can drive you can use a choke, and factories all went to automatics generally because people would forget to turn off the choke.

Aw thanks Don. I have a manual, I just hadn't gone to look in it 'til after my musings here. I took the engine out of Edith in....mmmmm....1992 I think, so I forget all the little details. Oh, sorry for being so cryptic. I have a '47 P15 & I bought a 230 Dodge engine for it 20+ years ago. It came out of a '48 Desoto, and that's the bell housing which came with it. As far as I can tell, my old bell housing will fit fine, but I completely forgot what that plate was actually for... This is one part of being a Senior Citizen I'm not going to like: CRS syndrome.