dpollo

The P 15s are among the finest low priced cars. Thousands were still in daily service 20 years after they were built.Your car has a very attractive body style that is, the Club Coupe. It has a much nicer rear window design (in my opinion) than the business coupe. Interesting heater connections, it must be a lot warmer in Scotland than some of my ancestors recall. dp

Red Sails in the Sunset I agree with those above.

Yes, The R10 was used from 52 to 56 but there is an earlier R8 (I think) which was used mostly in Chrysler in 40 and it will do the job. I think someone with a mid 30's Plymouth may be keen to get the trans you have. The downside to that unit, unless it is a 39 is that it has noelectric kick down feature.

No. It may fit the bell housing but is shorter than the 40. and has the floor shifter. The R10 is your best choice for the 40. bolt for bolt swap,

A friend in Oregon put a 36 Plymouth engine in his SA. he used the 36 bell housing and transmission Nice fit. I bought his original SA engine and a member of this forum now has it and a number of new parts. It was a good runner. We are both in western Canada so shipping would be costly. I will give you his name if you send a PM.

The shop manual shows this in detail and I have seen it posted on this forum. The brake pedal mounts on a pin on the master cylinder. Closest to the center of the car.

I used the belts from a Nissan pickup in the front of myP20 sedan. The over the shoulder pivot is anchored by a hole already in the B pillar and the roller device fastens to the body mount bolt with just enough room for seat adjustment. The center anchors and center belt fasten to the driveshaft tunnel. I chose these belts because the seating positions are similar with regards to the distance from the floor and the B pillar.

The differential used from 37 to 48 in most all Chrysler products is a very durable and trouble free unit. I have seen them stand up to much abuse and even a few V 8 swaps. If you are changing your engine and trans the limitation the stock rear end imposes is the lack of a parking brake.. As PA says above, have a real good look at the stock front .suspension . These were nice handling cars when equipped with a sway bar as most P 10s were.

It is the grille for a 49 Dodge There is a trim piece at the bottom of the hood which fills in the space at the top of the grille.

Matt, check out who wrote the article in the Don Bunn book. I first wrote it in 1980 for the WPC news then revised it for the Plymouth Bulletin who then permitted the Dodge truck book to use it. There it suffered some BAD editing and some pictures of what appears to be a Hudson six. Also, George Ashe is completely correct . Just as the limousine driver I mentioned earlier Good clean oil is important.

I am sure that the flathead has been swapped into many more applications than I am aware of. For my part, I have seen one in a Morris Minor and another in a late 40's Vauxhall ! I never heard either one run. I read of one which was swapped into a 52 Chevrolet sedan with good results. The whole power train from a 48 Plymouth went into the Chev for the simple reason of necessity and no money. Same reason why I swapped one into my 57 half ton Fargo when the V-8 croaked. It may have cost me in excess of $150 to repair ! A long time ago now. By the 50s these engines were definitely yesterday's news, but I like the way they run and they will run a long time if treated with respect.

I have been using cars powered by these engines for over 50 years. It was not unusual that a well maintained flathead would travel 100000 miles but most needed service by 75000 . I drove my first 50 with a Canadian 218 from 56000 when I got it, to 179 900 but that involved three overhauls, the second and more thorough included a rebore at 95000 miles, At 150 000 I went through it again. I never had any crankshaft problems but did put new shells in at each overhaul. The engine still exists and is in good running order. I had a nice 55 Plymouth which needed a valve grind at 70 000 and a chain at 75000. My present 51 Convertible has travelled over 50 000 since its restoration in 1983 and runs just fine. A rebuild done in 1990 for a customer who used his car daily logged over 70 000 miles on unleaded gas and without any intelligent care at all before a tree fell on the car. That engine is in another car now and is well past 80 000 miles. The most trouble free crankshaft-wise were the Chryslers with a full flow filter. The highest mileage car I have seen is a 48 Dodge Limousine whose owner used it commercially and did his own repairs logged 650 000 miles on three engines, each with one overhaul and the last a preventative teardown and rebuild when the owner was over 80 years old. These were the Canadian 25 inch engines. The owner, Gretton Brown of Victoria BC changed oil at 2000 mile intervals. By 1957 when the venerable flathead was required to haul around a much heavier car and at higher speeds, some owners found that the engine was worn out by about 25000 miles, but others , perhaps gentler drivers got the usual 77 to 100000 miles. I have repowered some of my cars, one with a 283 Chev and another with a 225 Slant six but while these swaps had merit, I always returned to the flathead. I even put a flathead in a 57 truck which was a v 8 and it worked really well since the 8 came with a 3.73-1 rear axle.

The fastest repair is to take up Caspar 50's offer. Manifolds for a 23 inch engine will interchange from year to year. This would be the most likely one as all USA Dodge and Plymouth used them. If your car was built in Canada it will likely have the 25 inch head and these will all interchange but not with the 23 incher. The heat riser is helpful in cold weather but since your car has a hand operated choke you can get along OK without it. Glad your clutch repair worked out.

If you have a half ton pickup, the rim size is 16 by 4.5 Passenger cars are 15 by 4.5 and the 49's offset is slightly different from 48 or 50. Any good clean 16 inch passenger car wheel would be OK for a spare. As Los_control has noted, some wheels have given their all and I would not want to use either of those pictured. Still, and all, they are not hard to get. On a clean wheel , there is often a date and size stamp on the inner surface.

If this is the duct that goes across the cabin side of the firewall on a 53-4 passenger car body, I just happen to have a new one (NOS) send me a PM. I was wondering how to get rid of it.

Nice work, Don, and great self explanatory pictures. I think I may have hit Unlike instead of Like on your posting and if so, I apologize. The pan used on 53 and 54 Plymouths with the 25 inch engine has a shorter sump. Hard to find nowadays.

Putting the 25 inch engine in a car which was built for the 23 inch engine is not that difficult but on some Plymouths , the steering box is further forward on cars built with the 25 inch engine which results in the tie rods hitting the oil pan. Some minor massaging with a hammer might be needed. Other differences as noted above include the radiator and it may also be necessary on some frames to modify the area ahead of the front pulley. Cars built with the 25 inch engine also may have had heavier front springs and use needle bearings on the top of the king pin instead of the bronze bushing. The Spitfire series engines were 251s and the cylinder head with the Spitfire letters seems to be most popular on 49 Chryslers. It was not a performance option but looks great. As it was intended for use on the 251, putting it on a Canadian 218 or 228 resulted in lower compression.

All you can do is bench test the engagement solenoid and keep your fingers crossed. I am assuming the R7 is what was found in 40 Chryslers and Export Plymouths. It will do the job for you although how it would be installed in a Coronet with Fluid Drive puzzles me unless it was originally in a Fluid Drive car.

.o80 would be farther than I would like to go not so much for the sake of cylinder wall thickness but for the very small surface that the head gasket rests on between cylinders.

Tractor and equipment supply stores often stock six volt batteries . I always buy a "Group 2" size if it will fit in the carrier. I cannot recommend a brand name as these vary regionally and Virginia is about as far away from BC as you can get. With reasonable care I have had batteries last up to ten years but having said that I will likely find one flat .

I think we have all discovered what " Job Rated " was intended to mean,

Goodyear. Don't overlook the change to 15 inch for 48.

I have put a 50 radiator into a 51 but it was a long time ago and as I recall the top tank comes very close to the hood.This was a Canadian radiator and they are not the same as USA models. Even so, I'd give it a trial fit before selling.

I wrote an article in the Plymouth Bulletin entitled Who says 49-52s are all the same. It defines most of the differences. As Robert KB says above, your car has the look of a 51 BUT I have encountered some which were built with a mixture of defining parts. Here are several things which will define a 52 Canadian car. Ball and Trunnion U Joints rather than Spicer, Main wiring passes through the side face of the firewall rather than through the firewall pad Silver backed instruments with red needles No over center spring on the clutch. Several trim differences noted above. I have a 52 Kingsway convertible which is a different kettle of fish in that it was built in Detroit with the 23 inch engine !

I was browsing and found your post for information about the water fitting. The ONLY time I found a fitting in that condition was on an engine which had had a leaky head gasket which had acidified the coolant so badly it ate up the fitting. (aluminum in this case). This engine was badly seized because the same coolant had leaked into 4 of the 6 cylinders and jammed things up fairly well after the vehicle had been parked for awhile. Sorry if I am the bearer of bad news but it would not hurt to pull the head and have a look.