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Check the vacuum modulator on the trans. It's the little flying saucer with a vacuum hose coming off it.

Wilf, The oils you mention will be fine. Those parts aren't to critical of the lube as long as there is some so things don't rust. But the grease isn't the best choice. New points used to come with a tiny bubble of lube. It's been 20+ years since I bought any points though. I'd check an electronics shop for switch grease. It mainly has to stick where you put it when hot or cold, and it has to prevent corrosion. It's lubrication duties are modest. Anyhow, I'd test that coil, by running it on another car if possible, or swapping a running one onto your Desoto.

Don, I believe you're right I wasn't thinking that tiny water pump impeller could pull much vacuum when there's a good head of water above the pump's port (the P-15 radiator being so tall.) That being said, I always ran a pressure cap & a recovery bottle on mine & always had a spring in the lower hose too.

I thought manual trans cars never had a safety switch until modern times. Thanks Niel. My memory isn't want it was and it was never perfect. I thought one variation on that system had a floor switch.

The starter button was on the dash unless someone installed a Carter Car-Starter system, which had a switch under the gas pedal. With it a stalled car would restart just by mashing the gas pedal. There was a switch on the carb to make it work. I don't think these were popular by the postwar era.

Yeah WTH has happened to Champion plugs? They used to be the best ones in the 60's.

The spring is needed if you run a coolant recovery tank and a pressurized radiator cap. I don't believe unpressurized cooling systems need a spring, as they just can't suck any vacuum.

When I bought my P-15 I was a struggling young guy with a wife & 2 kids to feed. I actually borrowed the money ($3500) from some chattel mortgage broker at 21% interest & made payments for 18 mos. If you buy the car for cash. you might be able to borrow against it to make repairs. I just did some side jobs and made the extra cash to cover my purchase. Don't just accept what you have as all there can be. Extra work = extra money. One other bit of wisdom (and please ladies be gentle if you're offended...I know I'm an old chauvinist.) Your girlfriend will let you "get away with things" (like spending all your money on cars) if she wants you enough. The car won't do that. BUT, If it wants new points it ain't taking you to work until it gets them. You can't sweet talk a car. It won't wait until payday. Owning an old car as your daily driver/commute-to-work vehicle often requires more commitment than having a girlfriend. They (the girlfriends) almost never take it well when they finally realize that fact.

I too have had the coil go weak when it gets hot. Car starts fine, then eventually starts to sputter as it warms up. I'd certainly look for a vacuum leak. Particularly one that opens up under heat, like a cracked carb base. The cold propane test might prove useful. As an aside, it's funny how engineers often look at things from different angles. A Carter "step up" piston does the same thing as a Holley "economizer", but they describe it in reverse. You can think that its purpose is to lean the mix slowly as vacuum is increased, or to richen the mix whenever vacuum is reduced. The classic glass half-empty/full conundrum.

Wow! Looks like you midwest guys had megatons of Atomic fun. (P-15's rock!)

Last time I did mine i laid under the car with the transmission on my chest and pressed it in by hand. It was the OD trans too.....OOOOF! But that was 25 years ago & I think I'll be using a trans jack this time LOL.

It's not the last cool old car you'll see for sale. They'll wander through your life every now and then.

And here I thought they were cast aluminum. I'll have to have another look. Thanks Neil.

If you're prepared to work on your own car, there aren't many easier to fix than an old Plymouth. They were well designed and well built. They have a few quirks, but in general they are about the most straight forward cars to fix and maintain. I will say this: You must replace the original wiring on these cars. when I started removing my original wiring, the insulation simply crumbled in my fingers as I pulled the wires out. Inside the wire was dark and corroding from moisture which had penetrated the old cloth insulation. The wiring is very simple to do, but if you try to use the old wiring you'll have problems. I've never seen a Plymouth catch fire due to old wiring, but I watched a '53 Pontiac burn the original wiring & nearly the whole engine. The engine was simply started after not running for a while, and the normal vibration knocked insulation from the ignition wire right where they were clipped to the car. Fortunately the car was parked with the hood up, so we got the fire out in seconds. But if we'd been driving it at the time the whole car might have burned.

Is anybody reproducing the star wheel or wheel assemblies? Mine work put are pretty worn out. I was considering just carving some new ones from scratch, from aluminum stock. I might actually try to cast some.

The engine bay is looking really good. The cross-flow intake runners are just too cool.

Good Lord guys, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but my mind is bending over backwards right now & I'm turning 180. It's regarding what's "correct" as far as vintage hot rod stuff goes. See, I was leafing through my Dad's yellowed old 1957 Motor's manual when I found some pages he cut out of the Dec 1955 edition of Speed Mechanics magazine, titled "Hopping up the Red Hot Chevy V8". I'm looking at this article thinking that in 1955, any guy with a tired Plymouth and easy access to a Chevy V8 engine would have jumped at the chance to swap engines. So while dropping a SB Chevy in a Plymouth might seem trite and uninteresting now, back then I believe it would have been quite the thing to do. Brand new V8's were hard to get in '55 though, so this mod was seldom done back then. But it seems that in the 50's, dropping the Red Hot Chevy in a Plymouth would have been as desirable and therefore as "period correct" as can be. I think that anyone who sneers at that idea now is missing out a bit.

Mine had copper tube on it for 60,000 mines with no issues. The trick is to just put an extra loop in the tube so it has lots of freedom to expand and contract and vibrate. I bent the copper around an old 2" pipe, to make just one loop, close to the engine side.

Thanks Thumbtack. I'll need to do a lot of research before deciding, but clearly there are a number of good choices for the rear axle in these cars. BTW, I have one of those ram's head hood ornaments. I don't recall what year it was used, but when I was a schoolboy I cut it off the hood of a junkyard Dodge and put it on the front fender of my sister's Stingray bicycle. Too bad I cut & drilled it as the chrome was still nice.

I'm definitely going to change out my rear axle, but don't have one yet. (I haven't even picked one yet.) Is that one 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 5? Does that 8.8 have an extra pinion bearing like a Ford 9"?

Mattias, that's a nice coupe' there. I'm so impressed that guys in Europe are importing these old American cars for hobbies and fun. I've sot some nice cross-bar snow chains to fit it if you decide to get more adventurous. Haven't been touched in 40 years. Personally, I avoid the Great Frozen North Lands now, having survived many Minnesota winters.

I just pulled my front brake lines and stop switch last night, and the lines were still full of (old rusty brown) fluid. I last filled the brakes 24 years ago. The master cylinder had leaked out, but the residual pressure valves kept the lines from leaking down. That's why you can just fill the master cyl and pump it right back up. The lines and wheel cylinders didn't leak out.