3046moparcoupe

Thanks Tim, I always appreciate you taking the time to share and help..your knowledge and experience is second to none...again, thanks for being here on the forum to help so many.

Well, as far as locateballbearings.com goes, and these MRC bearings I now have in my possession,...and if they are the real deal / built to spec, A stock, obtained at a really great price ???? I hate to say it guys - we will never know I have spoken with two tech engineers who work for SKF (the company that now builds the MRC line of bearings), both told me, you bet - send me the pictures of the bearings you have and we'll be glad to take a look at them and let ya know what we think, (could they possible be counterfeits, etc...), and neither one has returned my emails or called back as promised. From what I've read on the topic, since purchasing these bearings so cheaply, I've learned that it can be so difficult to tell a fake from the real deal, that the metal sometimes actually has to be tested as the only way to find out for sure, etc..lab work type stuff...also, I've discovered it is common for re-sell places, or ebay sellers / amazon,... to buy old stock and run it through their process of re-storing or cleaning them up,...you can also read that these places will often buy B stock....etc...and guess what - this company boasts as being the largest volume dealer on both ebay and amazon....Course, everything is just speculation, and I may be chunking three of the best MRC bearings ever known to man, bought from a company that strives for ultimate customer satisfaction and quality....but unfortunately, in todays environment, it's a gamble - and according to what you read - a much bigger gamble than purchasing from your local retail provider. I don't know how much of this is factual or possible thrown out there to keep the retail prices as high as possible...but, I just don't think there's any way I can feel good about taking the risk. I'm never lucky with stuff like this.. One things for sure, we're working way to hard on this project to gamble when not necessary....and I haven't cut corners yet, so I won't start now. I believe I'll go down to my local bearing supply, and pony up,..as this has turned out to be my $50, learn a good lesson experience..... Onward through the fog !! Steve

46Ply, this sounds like it might go hand in hand with Mike36's reply to this post, above. He really added in some value with his experience as a machinest, and when he spoke of the drill bit moving faster, and producing larger shavings, the risk of bit breakage increases...as the fragment have a more difficult time getting out of the way.... There is so much awesome knowledge here on this forum. I would be completely on my own here, were it not for the forum. There are lot's of vintage car guys in my area, but they are all Chevy / Ford,...and when you try to talk old Mopar with them, it doesn't seem to translate, they don't seem to wanna or feel like they can help... Steve

Thanks Andy, it's a start on getting the metal cleaned up, but as ya can see in the pics,..I've got to get deeper into the crevices, etc...or it'll just come back on me. Trying to avoid the phosphoric acid if possible, but that may be the best way to get into those crevices...I know one sand blaster who might be carefull enough with these as well to maybe get into the corner areas and under the lips where the brace plates are spot welded to the frames... Regarding the screws, I appreciate your reply,....I don't know if they even had grade 8 back in the mid 40's...anyway - my parts book just shows them as steel. I'd think even at mild steel there gonna be fairly strong for holding the hinge to the door pillar, but I'd sure think a harder grade would hold up to not rusting better than a softer grade....anyway - if I anti seize the heck out of em where the threads contatc the nut, and also maybe even cover the interior exposed threads up inside the kick panel with a rubber boot, over a layer of anti seize as well,...hopefully that would keep things gold in the future... Always good to hear from you, regards. S.

wise words Mike, some of this I knew,...some I didn't (thanks for the valuable input).. Steve.

Very very True Jan, you are wise,....great to get a reply all the way from Germany,...that's a beautiful front nose piece you have their for your truck...Yes I can't stand to put these parts out in the humidity. It has so much helped to keep them inside while working on them, under AC, etc....I did however recently find out that I had made a mistake .many of my sheet metal parts that have been worked, welded on, sand blasted, then shot in urethane primer, etc....I then brought inside to keep them clean,....we have been so careful (haven't fried a single meal in 3 1/2 years tp keep grease from becoming airborne, etc...and I now discover that me laying plastic over my parts in urethane was a bad idea. the wrong kind of plastic, just generic drop plastic from the hardware store. turns out it is a petroleum product and has probably leached out onto my urethane surface,?? I wouldn't have guessed that one,....I will have to clean all of it to keep from getting fish eyes,...all of it will require sanding anyway, but my understanding is I now have to clean and degrease before I sand, or I'll just spread it around.....oh well, better to find out now than later I suppose, I sure didn't see that one coming... Steve

This drwg view is from inside the car looking forward.

I hope this will help someone down the line. Granted it usually takes me longer than most, but I probably have a solid 48-60 hrs of work and research in figuring this out and making sure the info I'm sharing here with you is correct. In short - the installation instructions that currently come with the Newport Clean Wipe Electric Wiper Motor conversion kits for the 1946-1948 Plymouth cars, are in error in regards to how the wiper linkage arms are supposed to connect to the new Newport wiper motor drive bracket. The way Newport currently has this drawn is exactly opposite of the only way they can/and must attach. I have written Darrel at Newport to let him know, and have not yet received anything back from him. I'm sure when many folks figure this out for themselves they just move on, but I have received a lot of help here on the forum and when I get the opportunity to help back, I am going to do so. If your the guy that's putting the kit into your daily driver car, this error in the instructions won't throw you as big a curve as it does to the person that's building from scratch. Reason being, you can't even see much of your wiper linkage arms underneath the dash cowl, and you probably just connect the only arm that will come close to reaching the nearest anchor post on the drive brkt......but if your the person building from scratch - this is a real delima. Anyway - this might possible explain why the error in the installation instruction figure drawings has never been corrected. Anyhoo - here's the sort and skinny of it...look at the hand drawing I have attached to this post,..it shows how Newport currently shows you to connect the wiper linkage arms to the new electric motor drive bracket. Connecting them this way is physically impossible, it will not work. Newports instructions/drawings were of such detail that it didn't make sense to me for them to be wrong, so I spent a ton of hours researching every aspect of my vacuum motor, the linkage arms by part number / TRICO, etc...trying to find out what might be wrong on my end of things, again giving Newport the benefit of the doubt - that their instructions were correct. Nearing the end of all this researching, I thought I'd figured it out.....the linkage arm drive brkt on the oem vacuum motor is shaped like a boomerang, (V shaped), just like the drive arm brkt on the Newport electric motor, .........BUT..........the Newport drive arm brkt is clocked 180 degrees out of phase with the way the oem drive brkts are built. I thought for sure I'd found the problem,...and Newport gave me their blessing in removing the drive brkt and turning it 180 degrees so that it would match the original curve of the oem brkt...again, I was sure this was gonna be the answer - but it wasn't,....the arms would hit together when the motor was activated....so I put the drive brkt back in its original orientation, and worked with the unit to get this resolved. Here's how I did it. (I would like to be able to take credit for thinking of this, but I can't - I have to thank Darrel at Newport for making this suggestion I positioned the brkt to where the linkage arms looked evenly spaced and clocked in as close to the same position as I could tell by eye, then I snugged the screw down to hold the brkt in place, then I took a 12v pwr supply and just touched pwr to the low speed wire, the arms would move a tiny bit and stop, then I'd repeat the process, etc, until the linkage arms were nearing their most outward movement of travel, then I could stop and compare and loosen my brkt screw, adjust accordingly, and continue moving the arms through their entire wiper motion. This resulted in getting the brkt attached to where it needed to be, without having the motor extend a linkage arm out too far on either side, hitting the stop posts, and putting the motor in a bind. Then I tightened the motor drive brkt down. Now their is a slot on the bracket that attached the entire Newport wiper motor to the cowl of the car, and it's there to allow you to move the entire motor a bit either up or down, to fine tune adjust,..(which is basically the same thing I did here in the paragraph above, but in my case - it would not move the drive brkt far enough and I was trying to hit on the passenger side first when the wiper went through its cycle). In my opinion, the following note regarding the connection of the brkt to the motor is sort of a bummer, but as long as it works, no foul I suppose...it didn't give me much of a warm fuzzy when I was tightening it back up, that's for sure. ....###note###when you look at the drive brkt on the back of the Newport Wiper Motor, you will see the edge of splines where the brkt attaches on to the motor shaft....I was saddened to find out that the splines are only on the brkt collar itself, the motor shaft is completely smooth, so the only thing holding your brkt in place on the shaft is how tight you torque down on the allen screw compressing the brkt collar onto the shaft with friction...it took a short cheater wrench on the end of my allen wrench to get the screw to originally break loose, and it gave me 4 little bark noises when I un-did it to remove the brkt, so when I tightened it back up, I repeated the process, tightened the screw down snug by hand, than used my short cheater hand wrench and got 4 little barks from it. as I torqued it on down,....pretty un-easy feeling for sure, I wasn't too happy to say the least,...how tight is tight ?? is this gonna try and move sometime in the future ? problem am I fixing to break this screw off ? problem,...anyway - I made the decision to stop, and the screw didn't break off, or crack " to my knowledge" , again, (peace of mind - oh yeah ! oh boy ! are we having fun yet ), I am not here to bash Newport, I am thankful for their kit, and maybe my wiper linkage arm drive brkt being off enough to cause me the issues it did, was an isolated case,....you may not experience that. Seems like most everyone out there in the internet world has nothing but praises to say about them,...but I can tell ya for sure, at present the instructions for adding this kit to a P15 direct you to attach the curved linkage arm to the bottom post of the motor drive brkt., from the RH passenger side of the car, and to connect the straight linkage arm to the upper post on the motor drive brkt, from the LH drivers side of the car,...THIS IS 100% BACKWARDS AND IN CORRECT.....and NO, this is not a matter of looking at the instruction from either inside the car or from the front of the car, the drwgs are clear about what they are saying,and the drwgs are basically all ya get ,.. Do it exactly the opposite, curved arm from the LH driver side to the upper post and straight arm from the RH passenger side to the lower post...as shown in the attached drwg. Best of luck, Steve Gentry

My Jana puts up with me and my projects - somehow I am thankful, to say the least...I often wonder if the tide were reversed, would I be as understanding ?? The inside of our house for the last four years. ( and there's actually 2 more rooms full not pictured here ).. Thankfully she can see that most of this will be back on the P15 over the course of the next year or so... I am blessed to have her, that's for sure.. S.\teve

Well, I received my new bearings from Locateballbearings.com....Not sure yet exactly what to think about them....Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees, that for sure, and as a buyer (in hindsight) I should have been a bit slower to act on this. Again these may be fine, but I'm super anal about not taking chances. All that said here we go, here's what I basically know so far. Initially when I searched for MRC bearings (which I had never heard of before, but is what I found to be inside this manual transmission when I took it apart), I was led to the locateballbearings.com web site. The web site looks state of the art, A+ BBB rating, #1 government bearing supplier, etc... Called their sales desk and told they were available, as NEW - made in the USA.and the total price was $54.00 delivered to my door for all three bearings (pinion drive and front and rear main shaft). Why so cheap ? I asked, response - you are cutting out the middle man.....so I ordered them. They arrived in 4-5 days as promised, shipping container was very good. The following pictures show what was received. After receiving the bearings I called them again and spoke with customer service. I asked where the bearings came from and was told "our west coast warehouse". I inquired about the generic blue boxes the bearings came in and was told, that the original boxes usually have shelf wear, tears, etc...so they re-box them up when they ship them out. So in result, at best, what we have here is original MRC bearings that were purchased somewhere from surplus stock and re-sold. After doing a little more digging, I ended up speaking with some folks at SKF (the Swedish bearing company that now supports the MRC bearing line) and they were good enough to ask that I send them pictures of the bearings, showing the engraving, etc..in effort of determining if these are real MRC or possible forgeries. My hats off to SKF for being good enough to do this, course I can see how they would be interested as well,..but still they reached out my what offering to help determine, if possible. Waiting to hear back from SKF, I'll keep you posted on what I find out. Purchasing these bearings would be a result in savings of $100 or better, probably more like closer to $150 - $175,....depending on where you bought the Timken interchange bearing. napa was the most expensive,...but honestly in hindsight I don't know of this is worth the uncertainty , etc... if the bearings aren't up to spec, no matter how cheap they are, it's nothing but a loosing proposition.... Again, I'll keep you guys posted on what SKF has to say about these. Steve

I was able to get all of my door hinge frame attaching screws out of the door pillars, however a few of the screws gave up some thread due to severe rust. Found these 5/16 - 24 screws replacements on ebay. I like the idea of the extra length, which will allow for a back up nut if some of the nut threads inside the door pillars also have deteriorated a bit as well..the stock screws are 7/8" long, these are 1 1/2" in length. My only concern was that every 5/16 - 24 oval head, phillips,...I could find was listed as Mild steel, (one place went as far as assuming that theirs were grade 5 ?? ) that really gives you a warm fuzzy,...:) anyway - I do not know what grade the original hardware would have been, if anyone out there knows, I'd appreciate the feedback...the individual I purchased these from had sold a boo kooz of them, and in all honesty said they didn't know as well, what grade they were... I knew I didn't want to use stainless steel, and the only grade 8 hardware I could find was offered only in a flat head / allen wrench or torx configuration...I'm guessing if I lube these well, and with the car being garage kept and babied so to speak, these might work just fine....again, any and all input is encouraged and appreciated.

Well it's trying to rain here a bit in NE Texas today, so I'm inside and thought I'd post on the past 2 weeks of work on the Club Coupe's door hinges. Three of my hinge pins came out of the hinges with just a bit of penetrant and a few taps of persuasion, however the 4th (lower hinge drivers side) would not give it up. I quickly discovered that my propane torch wasn't going to even scratch the surface in regards to breaking the rust bond, so I began drilling out the pin. I do believe that everytime I've tried to drill out a broken bolt, stud, etc...I have done this,...TEP - you guessed it, broke off the little drill bit inside the material....finally - I have learned my lesson,....when drilling your 1st tiny pilot hole down the center,....go a ways - then stop and go to a slightly larger bit and drill almost as far as your pilot hole,....then go back to your smaller bit, and so on,....there may be other successful ways of doing this as well, but I've determined that this method will help prevent you from breaking off your small bit, as the slightly larger hole opening made by the larger bit will give you some room for your little bit to flex and move, as it is difficult to keep the drill perfectly still and perfectly straight. Anyway - I do believe I've learned a good lesson here,...as the little bit I broke off was Titanium and made this even more difficult. What saved my bacon on this was the small set of 1/8" shank diamond tipped dremel bits that are available at Harbor Freight, I think the little set sells for about $7.99 and comes with a dozen or so different shaped bits....some of which are fine pointed - even smaller than the end of a toothpick. In the past I've used these to scratch rust off metal in tight crevice places...anyway - patience here is your friend,.....unfortunately I had about 1 1/4 " of Titanium bit broke off inside the hinge pin I was drilling out, so this took me quite a while,...but I was able to slowly drill out the steel of the pin, with getting into the wall of the hinge. I expected that I would be able to drill enough steel out to expose the bit and then be able to drive the bit back out or grab it and pull it out, but it never happened, I would drill a ways and get the side walls of remaining pin as thin as a sheet of paper, then taker a small screw driver and small tack hammer and peel away the thin sleeve of side wall, exposing the undisturbed hinge pin bore..I repeated this process over and over until I had about 1/4" of solid pin with bit inside it, remaining,...and the bit finally drove out, leaving me a 1/8 through hole I could now drill out, attached you can see the pic of the sleeve of remaining hinge pin that finally pushed out of the hole once enough material was removed.....morale of the story don't give up - you can do it,...rather than spend the money for a new hinge on ebay, which could very well put you right in the same place you already are...see attached pic 5174 below. Now with the last pin out, and all did-assembled, I've started the process of cleaning then up for paint...see attached pics 5171 & 5179 All of the hinge pins I removed from these hinges were basically the same / but different. They were all in the .340 - .342 diameter range on the pin shaft itself, but the knurling was different on each pin.. see attached pic 5178 In looking at hinge pin kits for sell, when you compare the pin diameter and the bushing ID - I was typically seeing a couple thousands difference for clearance, so my 1st effort in replacing these hinge pins will be in that same regard for a close fit with room for a good coating of anti seize on the pin shaft itself. At present, with my three best condition hinge's, I have pins that measure around .342 with a bit of wear, also the pin hole bores show a bit of light surface rust,....I'm gonna gently remove as much of that surface rust as possible from the bores in effort of starting fresh, and initially try a new pin with a diameter of .345., if that feels too lose the next step up in diameter is .350. Initially I could feel the movement and see the slop in my worst hinge. The pin was frozen inside the hinge strap/tongue, but was spinning inside both ends of the hinge frame. Obviously this had opened up the hole end where the knurling is located, however the opposite frame hole was wallered out and showed the worst movement. On the hinge frame of these hinges, there is a steel reinforcement bushing (if you will) around each hole, that supports and anchors both ends of the hinge pin. Since on this hinge it had been wallered out some, I was able to grab it with a pair of large pipe pliers and compress it down enough that the old pins would now fit snugly, then I took a small piece of copper tubing, cut it to fit the inside diameter of the pin hole, and welded around each pin hole to reinforce the area..see attached pic 5183. My initial try .345 dia. hinge pins will be here in a few days and we'll see how they fit. hopefully the new knurling of the slightly larger pin will snug this all up, again if I find that I feel I need some more meat on the hinge pins themselves, I will go to the .350 diameter as I can always remove a little knurling if necessary... I believe the stock hinge pin for these Plymouth cars had a .280 diameter, so someone has already oversize drilled these hinges at least once. I did study the thought of trying to modify these hinges to add copper bushings, like a more modern hinge. The copper bushing would have to be added into the hinge tongue strap itself, and would be a one shot you better get it right thing, or you've ruined the hinge strap, therefore I elected to try this route 1st, and if to no avail - I can always attempt the copper bushing modification later - if necessary. Hopefully down the line, this post will possible help some Newbie, like myself - in getting this done,....biggest tool you have, I can't stress this enough - P A T I E N C E its your best friend.

Thanks for the reply back Branded, you may have a good solid point there,....just trying to do the right things with these hinges 1st time around...as I figure I only get 1 shot to do it right before it ends up being a botched process.....thank you.

Branded, I like the idea of any repair/restoration, that has as long of a working life as possible...(never have been interested in the quick fix that isn't gonna get ya down the road very far), in saying that, I'm truly not sure that using the more modern style setup of a hinge pin used with bronze bushings,...is an example of that...?? Certainly later in auto technology, mfgs went that route, and decided that it would be better to have a wear point that could be replaced,...but also the more modern era doors I believe are quite a bit lighter in overall weight, than what these old doors were ?? Yes , absolutely I had thought about maybe trying to modify the door hinges to accept a hinge pin/bronze bushing setup,...but also wondered why Mopar didn't do it that way originally to begin with ?? They were already using bronze bushings in the clutch and brake pedals, as well as in the torque shaft.. ?? Sorta figured it might be due to the fact that the weight of the doors would take the bronze bushings out so fast, that they might have decided against it ? Just my SWAG (sophisticated wild ass guess on all this. Have you had any experience with restoring these hinges with pins and bronze bushings ? or know of any success stories in that regard ?? Steve

Thanks Mr. Moose - heat it is,....next step - get that last hinge separated,.....It would make sense to me that you want your pin to have it's interference fit on both ends of the pin, where your knurling is located and the far opposite end, to hold the pin firm inside the hinge frame itself,......then your non interference fit would be a bit larger around the center of the pin - where the hinge tongue itself (heavy strap section of hinge that attaches to the door),...can rotate freely around the mid section of the hinge pin, when the door is opened and closed.....any recommendations on how many thousands of clearance is optimal ?? too tight a fit not good, too loose a fit and you shorten the service life, a couple thousands if possible ?? The other element of these old style hinges I caught myself looking at, was in respect to gravity's basic pull downward on the door, which is always gonna have the door hinge tongue resting/riding on the bottom pivot surface of both the upper and lower door hinge...looks like eventually no matter if the pins are tight, this metal to metal area, on the bottom, where each hinge tongue to hinge frame contacts, and pivots when being moved,...is gonna wear so far that the hinge is no longer any good ?? When that happens - I suppose you could add material back with a welder and resurface, (don't know anything about how hardened this steel on these hinges is - and probably way easier said than done), or possible adding in metal shim (to take the place of the metal now lost to friction/wear ) to raise the hinge tongue back up slightly - in effort of re-centering the hinge tongue back in the middle of the hinge frame ?? Maybe I'm trying to take on too many aspects of refurbishing the hinges, at one single time ?,.....is it best to tackle the pin fitment 1st, then look at the tongue alignment secondary ? I suppose my reason for asking, is in effort of avoiding a lot of work that could end up being for naught - if the hinge frame to hinge tongue pivot opening fitment has become too sloppy vertically, and that turns out to be the kiss of death for an old hinge of this style ?? Wouldn't be the first time, I spent a bunch of hours on a part, to find out later that I (other than learning a good lesson), had just wasted my time... Don't know if it's possible for anyone to give me any pointers on this part of the hinge's wear,....as being within tolerance or out of tolerance....maybe a few thousands of wear here in this area is no big deal ? The hinge frame does sorta seem to give you a reference to look at - when the hinge tongue is installed with the pin, you can operate open and close the hinge tongue while holding the assy in your hand and eye the clearance gap on each side of the hinge tongue, (small space between the edge of the hinge tongue and the edge of the hinge frame on both sides of the tongue), if a person did whatever was necessary (adding shim stock) to get the hinge tongue centered,...would that be as good as possible ?? I'm thinking maybe my forum member name is gonna need to be changed from "3046" to "Mr.Question"... God bless you all for your willingness to share your hard earned knowledge with others, like me Steve

Got all the hinges off the Club Coupe without stripping anything,...not much if any paint left on the hinges anywhere (lots of rust inside and out). Oddly enough, the drivers door didn't seem to have much if any sag, but the passenger side had some. from memory you could see the door raise probably a 1/4" when it was shut and hit the striker. When I grabbed these hinges to feel for play, 3 of them felt tighter than I had expected, but you could feel just a slight bit of movement,...(something like what I would guess to be maybe between a 64th and a 32nd or so, not very much,....but the 4th hinge (passenger side bottom hinge) had what felt like at least twice or triple that amount of play in it, you could see it moving... A little penetrating oil soaking, and a hammer/ punch / and a deep socket as a backup removed the 1st three hinge pins with just a few medium raps with a small hammer....but this 4th hinge pin (the one that was so sloppy) isn't giving it up....I've got it to move a bit,....but I am a little hesitant about hitting the assy very hard with a hammer...you can tell the pins is free on both ends (where it anchors into the hinge frame, but it's froze up in the middle section (where it slides through the hinge strap itself) - yuck not good,....my mind is telling me this one is definitely gonna have to have more done to it than just possible adding a new pin,..with it turning on both ends like that, it would look to me like it's gonna have to be oversized to be saved and made to work...?? Any thoughts, experience with this ? So just as I've learned with rusted frozen bolts, I'd like to use some heat to try and break that rust bond up,....I've just read on the HAMB where it seems to be fairly common practice to use a heat wrench (Torch) in getting these things out....Just thought I'd ask about putting heat on this hinge here on the forum, don't wanna make a mistake,..I'm thinking anything to do with these hinges is pretty much a one shot thing, better get it right the 1st time...?? if you guys here on the forum confirm that using heat on a hinge is OK, my 1st run at it is gonna be more like using warm water on it, in comparison to what you guys normally do. I don't have a real torch rig yet with a nice rose bud tip,...so my 1st run at it would be with a small hand held torch,.....not a fraction as good - but I have found that if you just stay the course, eventually it will heat up to almost a hint of reddish,...anyway - I figure it can't hurt to try,....that is - if Heat on a hinge is OK ???? My book says that the hinge pins for these 46-48 Plymouths were originally 1/4" diameter, I guess someone has already drilled these and oversized,..mine are around the .341-.343 diameter, so I'm thinking they are 11/32 diameter pins,....anyone out there know for sure, if the original pins were 1/4 dia or 11/32 dia. ?? These pins I got out all measure right at 2 - 1/16th inch from under the head to the tip of the pin, 2 - 3/16th " overall....there's not anything out there I can find that's 11/32nd's dia and that short, course I know people cut them off to the size you need, butt these really don't look like they were cut...if they were cut by hand - they did a nice matching job on all of them...I looked through Dorman's complete listing of hinge pins today and found a couple of long ones that might work for me, one pin had a diameter of .350 and the other was .352.... This is really gonna be a learning experience, you guys you've been there and done it, I'd sure appreciate a word of advice from your corner. many thanks - AGAIN Steve

Some weeks back, a forum member was good enough to reply in regards to one of my previous posts about avoiding dash rattles,...I remembered that he had said he chased a dash rattle for some time that ended up being a defrost vent nozzle, and he mentioned that it was hard to get to....so I messaged him about this question of whether the vent nozzels screwed in from up top or down below....he replied back today and said that his were screwed in from underneath the dash pointing upwards - just as I had found mine when I took it apart... Always more than one way to skin a cat, and I'm not trying to make something out of nothing here, (although I seem to be pretty good at it sometimes ..... In all honesty - I could see advantages and dis-advantages to either way,..... 1) : screwing in from the bottom - you give yourself additional clearance in regards to the screw itself (eliminating the presence of the screw head) and the closest mounting ear of the dash itself (which is really close - like so close I believe your average screw head would hit the edge of it, at least when I measure mine it looks that way),...but - if the screw ever does work itself loose - much harder to get to,...... 2): screw in from the top,....always really easy to get to if you need to tighten it, but you'd have to work the mtg ears of each vent nozzle over and up through the vent opening, if ou were to use a sheet metal screw like I found had been used previously (I can see all my new paint on the vents scratched to crap ),...then you'd have to contend with your screw head rubbing or interfering with the dash mtg ear....also it was kinda hard to see, but raising the vent that additional height to allow the mtg ears to ride on top of the dash, might have caused the vent nozzels themselves to rub underneath, and so on,....so it begins to mushroom into using a screw with a small head and a lock washer and nut, thereby allowing the vent to remain butted up against the bottom side of the dash....ya da ya da yada,..... With this forum member also finding a long sheet metal screw inserted in from underneath the dash pointing upwards, I'm not alone on this, and this method should help insure that the close mtg ear on my dash won't be trying to ride up in the heads of these vent screws. Now, let's see if I can stay clear of those sharp screw threads, when I fit that newly painted dash into place...!!!! Thank you Forum Steve

Glad to post, definitely want to help back any way I can - as I've received so much help here on the forum, stayed up most of last night reading about this company,....they have an A+ BBB rating, but I've also discovered that as of late the Better Business Bureau has been charged with given folks a minimum of an A- rating for a $425.00 fee they call a club fee (no matter what or how many complaints they have),....when I looked at their reviews on the BBB, it was based off of just a small handful of reviews, (something like 8 positive, 3 neg, and 1 neutral),...I also noticed that a bunch of the positives were dated on the very same day,..(which seemed a little suspicious to me),...after ordering I also discovered that they sell on ebay,...99.3 satisfaction rating there, but I don't think I'd buy my bearings off of Ebay,....the more I've read, it sounds like these guys at locate bearings may be buying their bearings from anywhere, or anybody,...so if there's ac chance your getting a bearing that's been dropped, a second, etc....I sure don't want it...... I point blank asked the fella, are they New,..answer (yes), you are just cutting out the middle man,.....are they usa made , (yes), .. and then when I read that MRC was now a product of SKF, I ordered them.... One thing about the few complaints I did see on the reviews is that they were consistent, company sent the wrong bearing - very poor communication, delay in getting refund, and in final was charged a 20% restock fee even though it was their fault,......?? Locate Ball bearings shows to be in California and Ohio,....I found where the Ohio branch showed annual earning of $7 million, that's quite a few bearings, I believe I read 3-4 really bad reviews,....don't order from this company - they are crooks, etc....same thing on ebay,..1779 positive, 8 neutral, 13 negative.... I'm usually not one of the lucky ones All responses encouraged and welcome....actually very much encouraged....:) Steve

Wanted to share this with the forum. I just placed the order so we shall see if it turns out as good as I'm hoping for. The bearings in my 3 speed manual tranny were as follows: pp# MRC207 SFG (main pinion drive bearing shielded one side),##note##thxs to DB4YA I knew the shielding on one side was important and has to be there. pp#MRC207 S (main shaft front bearing) pp#MRC206 S (main shaft rear bearing) My understanding is that the main pinion drive bearing is typically the one that will go bad 1st, and sure enough when I checked these (as instructed by PlymouthyAdams) it was the one of the three that was noisy. Wasn't finding much on the MRC part number, however did find where it had been previously discussed here on the forum once before, and DB4Ya had helped another member cross the original Mopar part number (619167), over to a Federal Mogul p# of 1207SL....I thinking like other company's and in respect to the economy, they can sell off/ merge/ etc...seems like business as usual these days, anyway - the best luck I was having on the 1207SL part number was under Timken. The bearing looked correct by description, so I'm thinking Federal Mogul and Timken may all be the same now,.. lastly here, I'm a newbie, that's learning,..but even I can understand the importance of quality in respect to bearings,...and Timken is a name I've seen since I was young..however today when I discovered that MRC is a division of SKF,and that they were USA made, I purchased a full replacement set (all 3 bearings) MRC207SFG, MRC207S and MRC206S, for a total of $42.00 + $13.00 (4 day shipping) = $55.00 to my door from locate ballbearings.com. According to the Fella I spoke with (Mark Hoffman, see the info below), by ordering through him, I cut out the middleman....he told me he stocked and sold quite a few of the bearings I purchased, that he recognized the numbers, etc...course, only he and the man upstairs know if that's actually true or not. Typically I've learned, " if it seems to good to be true, it probably is - too good to be true ", so I was/still am a bit skeptical, but I needed to make a decision and pulled the trigger and ordered from them....so well see, I suppose. Just wanted to share this info with the group, as the prices I was getting on a Timken 1207SL bearing were ranging from around $70 + shipping and upwards towards a $ Benjamin. I'll follow up with this, once they are received, etc.. Mark HoffmanLocate Ball Bearingswww.locateballbearings.commark@locateballbearings.com75090 St. Charles Place, Suite BPalm Desert CA 92211 Steve

Dr thanks for your reply back,....not trying to make something out of nothing here,....but mounting them the way you are seeing yours would raise the vent slightly (not much but a smidge), and it would definitely keep those screw threads away from your molding/piping/and dash edge....sorta crazy why someone would do it the other way around, like I found mine....I just say that because it would seem the more difficult way to mount them, (as the screws are a bit harder to get started from underneath, especially one of them which was partially obstructed by the 1 3/4 heater duct opening....if your screws are entering from the top, then the mtg ears of the defrost vents themselves have to be worked up and over the opening in the cowl, as the screw holes in the vents themselves are oversized. The screw only tightens down into the smaller hole below in the cowl metal itself... thank you...any other p15 owners out there with similar or different observations please respond as well..... thanks again, much'o Steve

Saw a really good picture Young Ed had posted on here back from Dec of 2008 of the dash on his P15....just about everything was in place but the garnish molding was still off. When I saw the picture I was sure it would show me what I needed to know, but I just couldn't quite tell for sure....as the picture was taken straight on facing the dash.. I just re-attached my defrost vent brkts/bezzels.knozzels - back to the car,...and I installed them exactly the way they came out per the notes and sketches I made,....I don't remember anything looking odd when I got the car, as the garnish molding sorta covers everything up around that top edge of the dash...but when I put it back together today - the shiny threaded ends of those sheet metal type screws, pointing straight up and staring me in the face,...got me to second guessing whether I was actually putting these back in correctly... Both of these defrost vent pieces were attached to the cowl, from underneath,....with the screws inserted from below the cowl and threaded into their respective holes from below. So the 2ea mtg ears on each of the defrost vent brkts/bezels/knozzels are pushed up against the underneath side of the cowl, then the screws are also inserted from below, and threaded up through the bezel, and through the cowl...leaving the screw threads exposed up top, until the garnish molding goes on...?? I was sitting watching TV this evening and it dawned on me, obviously the defrost vent brkts/bezels,...have to go in from underneath the dash,...but it might be possible to feed the mtg ears of each vent through the slot in the cowl, up and over one and a time,..then the screws could go in from the top side of the cowl, leaving the screw heads exposed from up top, rather than the screw threads being exposed from up top, the way mine was and the way I currently have it... Hopefully this makes sense,....if any P15 forum members remember, or if your garnish molding is still possible off, don't know if a peek through the windshield down through the slots in the garnish moldings would allow a person to see or not,....it would be nice to get these installed back correctly.. Thanks again for all the help you've sent my way so far... Steve

Wanted to share this with folks. I just purchased a new 1st /rev slider gear off ebay from a seller, 100% satisfaction rating, he offers a return policy, his seller name is jrvintagegears. The gear I received is amazingly clean and truly looks to have never been run. In comparison to what folks are asking for this stuff, ( especially in respect to the quality ), he also seems reasonable on his prices....this gear was $69 Along with posting here on the forum, I also messaged him (Jim) asking if he had any interchange documentation for the Republic gear, due to a previous conversation we had about the Borg Warner gear I purchased, and he had been willing and offered to fax me interchange info on the borg Warner WT243-12 interchanging with a Mopar 853886. He answered me back today as follows: Hi ---- I checked my republic interchange book WT243-10 -- K207-8A ---952244 -- all part numbers are the correct same gear ----- JIM I thanked Jim and messaged him back, that if possible - I would appreciate having a copy of the info he found regarding these gears all interchanging....I'll let folks know if he is able to follow through with the fax... So far, I would highly recommend jrvintagegears on ebay, from me experience, fast excellent communication,..Jim seems to value and appreciate his customers and doesn't try to sell inferior stuff. hopefully I'll possible have a copy of this info early this next week and I'll share it here on the forum. Steve

Trying to confirm if a Republic 15 tooth Gear, part #K207-8A, is a good interchange number for a Mopar 952244 15 tooth Reverse idler Gear. My understanding is that the aftermarket Borg Warner version of the 952244 gear is Borg Warner part # WT243-10. (If that helps in any way). I've tried different search engines and nothing's coming up for the K2078A part number. hoping maybe someone here on the forum who's been doing this since dirt was first invented might have some old cross reference books. Many thanks Steve Gentry

Thank you Don and Dpollo, I'd say that's about as much help as a person could ask for...I appreciate it. Steve