rallyace

Road trip! Sign us up!

If you cannot find neetsfoot oil you can use baseball glove conditioning oil. It is basically the same stuff.

You should see at least 13 volts while charging, 14 or 15 is not abnormal with a generator charging system. My immediate guesses are improperly polarized generator or bad voltage regulator. Do you have an ammeter on the dash? If so it should show a decent amount of charge immediately after starting the engine.

Some jobs are just made to be done on a lift. I am fortunate that a friend has a lift in his shop and I can schedule time on it. I lubed my 51 Cambridge on Monday. It took me about 20 minutes to lube every fitting and a half an hour per corner to change out the shocks.

I usually travel with greg g so I don't bring anything. He has it all.

Years ago I was told that the Europeans determined that if you do not have to remove the headlight from the mount then the alignment would not drastically change with a bulb change, thus the replaceable bulbs. FWIW, it is easier to change the headlight bulb on a European manufactured car than any Asian or US designed car that I have worked on.

The angle of the floor is less than 1 degree. It will not pose any type of issues. When using jack stands, I always block the wheels still on the ground and keep the jack about 1/4" under a frame rail if possible when working under a car.

If you are buying a new tap to chase threads in a blind hole, get a bottoming tap. There are two main types of tap, a taper or starter tap that has the first few threads ground on a taper to make starting the tap in a new hole easier and a bottoming tap which does not have a taper. I use a bottoming tap when chasing threads as it will clean the threads a little deeper into the hole. You must be vigilant when using this type of tap as the hole will have been made with a taper tap and you can waste effort cutting the threads deeper than the original and also risk jamming and breaking the tap in the hole. I have no idea what the taper was on the original tap and using a bottoming tap assures me that I have cleaned all of the usable thread. I stop when I feel the tap start to cut at the bottom of the hole. As has been mentioned above, proper lubrication of the tap abd thoroughly cleaning out the hole after chasing the threads is paramount to doing the job correctly. Just my two cents worth.

I'm guessing that this has been asked before but I could not find anything in the archives. I just picked up a 218 inch motor and I want to convert it to a 230. I know that a 230 has a longer stroke will require a crank from a 230. What other parts will I need. Are the pistons the same or is the wrist pin location higher on the 230? Thanks, Mike

i will measure the rear window on my 51 Cambridge later today and post it here.

In response to the sealing of welch plugs...clean the surface in the block until you don't think it can get any cleaner and then clean it again. I use a small wire brush on a die grinder but a brush in your drill works just as well. Once clean you can spray with brake cleaner to remove any oily residues. I take a piee of steel wool and polish the sealing surfaces of the welch plug and clean with brake cleaner too. I use aircraft shellac gasket sealer on the mating surfaces and then install making sure they are well dimpled. Knock on wood, I have never had a leaker using this method. As far as MMO, the stuff scares me on a bypass filter engine. There are far too many nooks and crannies for sludge to build up and the MMO will break the deposits free. Stay with non-detergent oil until you can do a full rebuild and get the block boiled out and magnafluxed. Once you know you have a clean, crack free block you can use modern detergent oils. FWIW, a detergent oil does not 'clean' it holds the contaminents in suspension. The earliest detergent oils were called suspension oils but the name was quickly changed to detergent oil by recommendation of the API as it lead to confusion at to its purpose. Some eople thought it was for oiling suspensions

As has been mentioned above, rebuilding an engine as simple as a flathead is not an overly difficult job if you possess decent mechanical skills and have a clean and dry place to work. Yes, several specialized tools are needed but they are available for loan from most of the chain parts stores and Harbor Freight can be a source for decent quality tools that you only use on occasion. I would purchase a dial indicator with a magnetic base and a 6" digital caliper as you will find a lot of uses for them. They will set you back about $50 or $60 at HF. Other than a gasket set, I would not buy any parts until the machine shop has finished their work as you may need oversized parts. Start by reading up and making sure you have all of the information needed like specifications, clearances, etc. You will need an experienced machine shop for some of the operations. Ask a couple of independent mechanic shops who they use. Personally, I avoid the ones that do a lot of racing engines as they put a one time customer at the end of the priority list. I saw that there are some local folks who will provide advise and possibly assistance. Use this forum for help, these guys know their old Mopar engines. If you have the room, a couple of old engines to use for parts is a very good idea. Just my 2 cents worth. Mike

Thanks for the help. There were a lot of sources on ebay and you never know who to trust. I will be in touch with Champion today. Mike

I am looking for sources for a radiator for a 1951 Plymouth Cambridge. Bernbaum does not have any and it looks like there are several "universal" ones out there that I just don't trust to fit without a lot of work. I don't mind having an aluminum radiator as I am looking for reliability not show points. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Mike Mazoway

Pertronix has had a quality issue over the last couple of years. I have had issues with failures on British cars in the past and many friends have had the same issues. It is not uncommon to find a Pertronix bad out of the box or fail ourtright at the least convenient location (my MGB unit failed while I was in 70 MPH traffic on I-81). When they are good, they are great. When they are troublesome you will get stranded.

Is the coil mounted with the secondary lead (heavy, high voltage wire to the distributor) up or down? If the secondary is up and you have an oil filled coil (almost all 6 volt coils are oil filled) then the coil windings are not being properly cooled by the oil. This causes the coil to open due to a loose connection internally to the coil. This used to be a common problem with older British cars. If you have a new coil, install it so the secondary (heavy, high voltage coil wire to the distributor) is either horizontal or aimed down and try to see if it keeps running.

OK, another question that has most likely been answered a zillion times. Where are folks finding front shock absorbers for a P23 (1951 Plymouth Cambridge)? I can find new Gabriels for the rear for about $15 each but front shocks seem to be as rare as hen's teeth. There are a couple of sets of fronts and rears on ebay but $180 seems a bit steep. Mike

I am sure that this topic has been discussed numerous times but I am a newby here and am still having trouble searching the forums. Anyways... I have a newly acquired 51 Plymouth Cambridge and I was wondering where folks are finding 6 volt bulbs. Are most folks finding them online or are there some places like NAPA or farm supply chain stores that stock them? Thanks in advance for the replies and, again, sorry if I am just regurgitating someone else's request. Mike

Count us in! Looking forward to the trip.

Just purchased, Now I have to determine the best way to get it half way across the US.

A 6 volt system with 55 watt headlights should draw about 18 to 19 amps so seeing 20 on the gauge is not bad. Watts divided by volts equals amps so 110 watts (two headlamps at 55 watts) divided by 6 volts equals 18.33 amps. Add in a little for the running lights and dash lights and you are where you should be. I agree with Greg, clean all connections and make sure you have good grounds both from the lights to the chassis and from the chassis to the engine block.