Ulu

I don't use Facebook at all, so I didn't see the video, but I think the idea of vintage drag races is too cool. I've had a few street races in mine, back in the day. Never been to a real track day.

Rain mighta helped. Actually it'll lay down better if it's slightly damp. Car trimmers keep a spray bottle handy when fitting stuff. EDIT: I'll be buying carpet for mine soon. Hopefully I can find a matching trunk kit. how do you feel about the value of the kit you bought?

JR, I might also loosen the steering gear to frame bolts, and the clamp from box to column, and col to dash, then just play with the steering wheel a bit and re-tighten them all. There's going to be vibration, but the rubbers are supposed to isolate it. If they're in a bind, or actually the box/shaft/dash is, they may not & So I'd try this to try and make them "float" into the proper alignment. To relieve any bind, as it were.

Not the bad guy, Lumpy. Just a guy with a different opinion. To me the coolest cars are the ones built up out of unique stuff which works well, that somehow was brought together from different corners of time and space, by a mechanical artificer. To others the coolest cars still have the factory paint and upholstery. We're not gonna argue about that and spoil everyone's day. But in the interest of clarity, it's not cool IMO to, for instance, stick a Ford engine in a Jaguar just because it's different and nobody's done it. What can make it cool is that either the Jag parts are just unobtainable and this keeps it on the road, or that the Ford engine is a superior engine to the one replaced. Now some guy who stuck a Stude flathead in a Desoto just to be different, ehhhh....not too interesting.

I have some little magnets which came from a computer hard drive. They're very strong compared to common magnets. I stick them on stuff like this where there's a chance screws will fall under the car or get lost inside things. Don't put your finger between one and any steel. They are STRONG.

Lumpy, your view of the world is pretty accurate. Lots of people will find a reason not to like a hybrid vehicle. (Those johnny-come-latelys who think that a Prius "hybrid" means electric/gas power are goofy. It's a compound engine, just as if the electric motor was a turbine or a diesel or any other engine, but I'm ranting again...) Anyhow, the Mopar fanatics and Chev fanatics might not like it, but that's exactly the reason to do it. De-value? Who the heck is in this hobby to make money? It's about fun and value takes a back seat for me. I started sneaking my dad's hotrod magazines 50+ years ago, and not only did those guys love swap jobs, they were celebrated as the cleverest of things. Sic transit gloria of course. Last year's sensation is next year's fodder. The SB Chevy, an icon of the age, became so common as to have lost that charisma of the old days, but the different-is-cool school still rules in the Rod & Custom World. So Ford-in-a-Ford and GM-in-a-GM may be sentimental realities for the masses, but to a guy weaned on Car Craft, Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Tex Smith, Say Smoky and Ed Roth, I say BORING BORING BORING. That being said, Tex convinced me in print that putting a V8 in my P15 was too much hassle. No More. I say if I'm having fun and loving it, no hassle is too great to do something cool enough.

The shifter should come off pretty easy. On the Plymouth there's two nuts & a couple cotter pins under the hood & two screws to the steering column, then it just pulls through the dash bracket into the car.

You don't need an internal trans switch to have backup lights. You just need a switch somewhere on the linkage which activates in reverse. Any modern pedal type brake light switch could be used

Mine had stuck pretty tight after only about 10 years, but there was nary a drop of anything on that taper. I definitely would not assemble dry.

I found little x-shaped dents in a piston top once. A choke plate screw had cracked or something when I overtightened & staked it. Anyhow the head had gone through a cylinder. Any chance maybe there was some valve float on that cylinder? I doubt these engines turn fast enough normally, but if there's one weak valve spring then perhaps.

I never knew they were available stainless. Wish I had as mine were so dang rusty. In fact, the inside of my block was a bit crusty and yet that 218 never overheated even after the head & block were milled (and I did pick up some power when that was done.)

My paper filter used a 9" dia X 1.75" as I recall. When I hopped the engine up, I actually stacked two of them, so it was 4" tall. Anyhow, what you do here depends on if it's just a show car, or if it needs to be a real driver.

I used one similar. There's really not enough lip on the top of the carb to mount one properly. Mine wasn't air tight either. It was rather loose in fact. I made a gasket from some neoprene tape to seal it, as it's split with a clamp screw, not just a set screw. The set screw mounting type is for a show car only IMO & will rattle loose in 5 miles on the road.

Some years ago I picked up a roughly 8" circle cut from 1/2" plate. I drilled 5 on 4.5" plus a 1.125" center hole, then welded a 1" fine thread nut in the middle. Grade 8, plus the middle bolt was grade 8. I used 5 grade 8 bolts the same threads as the lug bolts but about 6" long. I find that pulling at all 5 bolts at once works better than my 3 leg puller. At one point I actually warped the circle when I got the 5 bolts unevenly tightened, but even bent a tad It still works fine. Cost me about 1/4 to build, compared to what I paid for the forged steel 3-leg "steel donut" puller..

Too long to read at work. how about a condensed version of whatever clue this offered? EDIT: Ok I skimmed the article, and it's true that if you're too lean at cruise it'll overheat on a good long straightaway. It can accelerate well and yet not cruise well at speed. A cracked carb top cover gasket (or cracked carb) can do this to ya if it leaks air into the wrong passage. It can do the opposite as well. If you have a gasket leak around the economizer, a carb might never lean out enough at cruise. The plugs foul on the freeway.

It must be done after. there's no other way.

If there's nothing physically wrong with the cylinders/pistons/valves, then perhaps a new head gasket will bring up the compression in #5. But I'm still thinking about the cooling system. If cyl #5 is normal, it shouldn't be the only one running lean. They should all be lean and burning electrodes like matchsticks. If the distribution tube is plugged/rusty/collapsed/missing, then maybe cyl 5 & 6 aren't cooling right, but because 6 is on the end it can't get as hot as #5. I don't really know how much effect this could have, but everything I read says the distribution tube is critical to keeping the engine temp balanced and uniform.

You install it after the glass goes in, but you need the correct rubber seal. It has an extra groove on the exterior side. So, yes, if you already have the seal which requires trim already installed..

Actually almost anything will work, there's so little pressure. The trick here is to get the metal really clean so you're sealing metal to metal and not metal to rust or rust to old permatex, or such. I've used permatex, RTV, silicone, Never-Seize, Copper Coat, teflon pipe dope, and plain old K-mart aluminum spray paint. It all works fine if things are clean, and you don't put on any excess which might foul things up.

A victim of Brute Force Methods...

Yup. That's right where mine leaked too...

I built a 5-bolt puller and still have this issue. but I also have an 8-lb hammer...

My car is missing the springs. just the padding in the upholstery was enough "spring" to keep the handles on.

There's a reason they changed that uniform... Dad was in the USAF, and in those days they wore khakis. Dress uniform went to blue, while common uniform went to sage green. He became a staff officer (NCO) and always wore his class-A blues after the 50's. Anyhow, aside from that and the radiator, the car seems to be going amazingly well.