rallyace

If you do have this problem, plan on stripping off all of the paint and starting over. Incompletely hardened paint will have a disasterous effect on any paint placed over it. Here a dollar saved could cost you a mammoth amount of time and money.

They are available at most NAPA stores. You may have to wait a day if they have to get them from the warehouse. A decent commercial tire shop, not a chain store catering to cars, can get them or may have them in stock. My tire guy got them in a couple of hours from one of his suppliers. If you run full wheel covers, get the ones with metal stems. Wheel covers will 'walk' and pinch the stem.

Similar to the fixture that Sniper indicated, when I did my rebuild I went cheap but effective. I took a piece of coathanger wire and a couple of pieces of scrap lumber and made a similar fixture. I was astounded how well balanced the stock rods were.

I have found that the kitchen table is not the best place to work on car parts unless you are single. If that is the case, go for it and the dishwasher makes a great parts cleaner.

For dimpling the plugs, I rounded off the end of an air chisel tip and give the plug a quick hit with the air chisel. Works like a dream, especially if the engine is in the car. I also use Permatex aviation gasket sealer on the plugs when I install them although I will be using JB Weld in the future.

Have you lubed the front suspension? I forget the actual number of places but I believe it around 12. A-Arms, king pins, ball joints, etc. I would start by jacking up the front of the car and putting it on jack stands and performing a full lube. To diagnose the issue I would then turn from full lock to full lock while observing the linkages. At first thought it sounds like something is binding but without seeing it in motion it is tough to tell. You can adjust the backlash in the steering box but it sounds to me like it is something else.

Looking forward to the Picnic. Reservations have been made!

This is the fellow I spoke to a couple of years ago about repairing my radio. https://www.everythingradio.com/services/antique-car-radios-and-repair/

There is a fellow near Binghamton, NY that rebuilt radios, I don't have his name at my fingertips but I found him through Google and have spoken to him about rebuilding my radio He said that the biggest issue is that the capacitors will need replacing. That black tar is very likely the dielectric that has melted out of the capacitors. If I can find his name again, I will post it here.

Usually about $50 to $60 here for test, clean and new brushes. A good starter tech can do the whole job in less than a half an hour if everything comes apart smoothly.

I watched a friend do the razor blade trick on a run. He said only on clear coat and only on fresh paint. If the paint has not cured properly it will tear and pit. If it has cured fully it will chip and pit. Don't ask me how to know exactly where the difference is between too soft and too hard paint. I am not a painter.

Are you measuring manifold vacuum or carburetor vacuum? You want to be using manifold vacuum for timing. Start by disconnecting the vacuum advance and plugging the line. Adjust timing for max vacuum and then adjust the idle speed and mixture to get a smooth idle at about 600 RPM. You will very likely have to fine tune the timing as you work through this process. This is what I did when I first started my rebuilt engine three years ago and I have not had to touch it since.

My recently rebuilt 218 engine runs quite well at 185 F with a 185 F thermostat. I have not had any cooling issues. I did install a new pump with a cast impeller and a new water distribution tube, and the block and head were boiled out and clean on the inside. We even pulled out a couple pieces of the wire that reinforced the casting cores out of the head. On a 90 degree day in a parade it will get close to 212 F but I have not had any issues. If it gets close to 200 a quick run up of revs to about 1800 RPM will bring the temp right back to normal. I should also mention that I have a three core aluminum radiator.

The valve guides are installed to better control the heat transfer from the valve stem. The intake valves are cooled by the intake charge, the exhaust valves do not have this cooling as they see all of the heat from the charge.

Watch the spring rate. I got a new relief valve kit when I rebuilt my 23" 218 and the spring was too weak and would not allow oil pressure to build. It took me a while to diagnose the problem. When I compared spring rates the new one was much weaker than the original one. I put the old one in and it solved the problem.

Those parts are readily available from multiple sources. Try Rock Auto, Andy Bernbaum, Roberts, Egge, and a host of others. The motor mount should be under $25 and about $250 for a clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing.

Just a couple things to consider when going with a paper element. A paper filter's efficiency is based on the media and the velocity of the air passing through it. Ideally you want to keep the velocity below 100 feet per minute to minimize the pressure drop across the filter (lower pressure drop means a better breathing engine). A 230 ci engine at 3000 RPM will need about 200 cubic feet per minute to pass through the filter. That means you need at least 2 square feet of filter media for good filtration and a low pressure drop. A commonly used 6" diameter chrome filter that stands 2" high only has about 1 square foot of actual media area and at above 1500 RPM it will start to starve the engine of air. The paper filters used in the conversion of the oil bath filters have about 3 square feet of media area.

I must have been lucky, I did not have any issues with that when I rebuild mine a couple of years ago. My transmission has to come out this spring as I have to replace the gasket between the trans and OD unit. I will find out soon it it will become an issue for me.

Beware of where you drive

I have a Schumacher SC1200A that I got at one of the national parts retailers. It is no longer available but the SC1301 is available and it appears to be very similar to the 1200A. I think I paid about $60 for it about 5 or 6 years ago. It works fine for all of my needs (51 Plymouth, two daily drivers, camping trailer, lawn tractor, and motorcycle).

i went the rebuild way and ended up with a driveshaft that still vibrated. I took it to a driveline shop to have it balanced and they got it close but it still vibrated. I took my spare driveshaft to them to have Spicer u-joints installed and they said it would be quicker and easier for them to just build a new shaft. It cost me just a bit over $300 but was well worth it in my opinion.

As was mentioned above, brake drum springs were used to help dampen the vibrations that we hear as brake squeal.

If you are planning on having a machine shop do work on your motor, have them remove them. When I rebuilt my motor, I considered removing them myself and then thought that the machine shop would do a better job. I had them remove the old ones, install the new ones and ream them to the correct diameter for the new valves. One thing to pay attention to is that the guides for the exhaust valves go in 'upside down' compared to the intake valves.

I did my 218 ci engine two years ago and did all that you did but also had it aligned bored. I had the machine shop install the cam bearings. I spent just under $3K including buying the tired old engine, machine shop work, parts and the beer and food for the crew that helped me install the engine and transmission. The only issue I had was the oil pressure relief valve spring on the new relief valve was wrong and would not allow any pressure to build while cranking it before the first firing. It took a while to find the problem but since then I have put about 5,000 miles on it with no issues.

I should have made a bowl of popcorn and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator before starting to read this string????