Mark Haymond

I am putting a radiator and the radiator U bracket back in my P15 Plymouth. There was a rectangular nut plate with two long slots in it that goes under U bracket somewhere. Does it go between the U bracket and the frame, or does it go with the two large nuts and washers inside the frame in the hole underneath?

I am putting a mopar 318 in my 47 Plymouth, and with a mopar 8 1/4 rear axle. It is just a style choice. I am not sure putting the incorrect mopar engine and tranny in my car is much better than your SBC. I am keeping the appearance stock otherwise because I love that old car for its age and history. Enjoy your ride.

Hi Drew, I have a 50 Plymouth. What was important to me was the car I bought had all the dash knobs, emblems, engine parts and other small parts and the body was straight. If it has all the pieces that means you will spend less time and money getting missing parts. The upside is that it is not a popular or valuable collector car. So the parts on Ebay are pretty cheap and do not go for high prices. I have not seen it, but his price seems high.

By coincidence I just went through my model 36 (I think) heater. I think if you measure the shaft of the motor and the size of the blade you might google "where to buy a fan blade for a heater" and find http://www.blowerwheel.com/ I noticed they might have fans for bathroom exhaust fans which might be just the right size for you. Or take the one out of your microwave. Gotta be something available that will do the same job for a (?) 1/4 inch shaft.

Ahh, the thrill of towing a new car home. Magic.

Welcome Phil, I bet you will enjoy your old/new Mopar wayback machine since you had one when you were young and probably feel connected to it. I have a 50 Plymouth, not much different from your car. Mark

It cost little to try some WD-40 or some kind of "break fee" solvent. My rear trunk lock tumbler would not turn for years and I was about to take it to a lock smith. I often worried that someone could get into the trunk when I was not around. With nothing to lose I sprayed some WD-40 into it and it started working.

The old Plymouths had a lot of body roll compared to modern cars. They had bias ply tires that squealed loudly when cornering hard. You will see this in old movies of the era. I plan to put a stiffer sway bar in the front of my 47 and I will be checking hot rod sites to see if anyone has installed a rear sway bar. I don't expect it to ride like a modern car, but I just want to improve it a bit, like you do.

As martybose indicated, when you jack up the car to undo the U bolts, LIFT THE CHASSIS UP TO RELEASE THE TENSION ON THE SPRINGS. Do not put a jack under the rear axle. If you jack up the rear axle the springs will still be under tension and may injure you when you take off the U bolt nuts and the springs let loose.

That's a new one on me! Congratulations on solving it yourself. But having struggled with it you may have the opportunity to diagnose the same problem in someone else's vehicle. It may take a decade before you see another case like it. But then you get to posture like an actor, throw your arms up and your head back and pronounce "Oh good grief, it is just another vacuum advance ground out. Everybody knows about those."

I always have a list of things to do for the 50 Plymouth, it seems. Immediate: One rear window is down and won't roll back up. Repair leaking rear main oil seal. Use something else instead of duck tape to seal the heater box to bulkhead connection. Replace gaskets in carb to stop fuel seepage leak. Fix exhaust manifold heater valve. Install seat belts in the rear seats. Bleed brakes again. Pedal is a little soft. BUT NO, instead, I will probably install my brand new gear shift lever on the Mopar Torqueflight automatic transmission in my 47 Plymouth coupe.

I have drained my 50 Plymouth block several times over the years and usually made a mess. It spills down the block out of the petcock and some of it always misses the pans I position underneath. Today I had a simple low tech idea - that actually worked. I used the plastic nozzle that comes with tubes of silicone sealer and a short length of plastic hose to make a drain hose. Stuck the nozzle in the petcock, then stuck the hose inside the nozzle where it found a snug fit in the tapered shape. Here are some photos of My Amazing Invention: Not Sold in Any Store! http://picasaweb.google.com/lenscaptain/OldPlymouthProjectCar#

I went the spendy way and bought a complete six volt wiring harness from Y n Z's Yesterday Parts for my 50 Plymouth. I liked their use of all the correct Plymouth wire colors and the use of all those special terminals at the ends of the wires. They sent a wiring diagram too. After 6000 miles and several years of use, I have not had a single wiring failure. Sweet! Just so you know, six volt systems can be perfectly reliable.

She's a keeper.

This looks like some of the car houses used by dust bowl era migrant workers in California. Some used conventional tents on the ground as they followed the crops. Some built a box like this on a car chassis and stayed in it at night. Photographer Dorthea Lang took some photos of these vehicles in her travels.

It will be fun when math challenged youngsters ask if you bought it when it was new.

I think you are getting closer to solving it. Like Neil, I suspect the ignition switch. Your symptoms in the parking lot indicate that. The last two things you touched were the ignition switch (off a couple of seconds and back on) and the starter switch. If it was my car I would hot wire it to test the theory. I would run an extra wire from the hot side of the coil to the passenger compartment. Run a wire from the hot side of the battery to the passenger compartment. Connect both wires to a toggle switch, the kind that is either OFF or ON, not a momentary push button kind. Available from a hardware store. Put it within reach while you are driving. Heck, just tape it to the dash or something. Next time it dies on the road turn the switch on and see if you get your spark back. You can test the switch at home by turning the switch on and pushing the starter button. The engine should start. WOW, NOTE: Don't forget to turn you toggle switch OFF before you leave the car. You don't want to drain the battery.

Go to a store that caters to trucks. The truck steering wheels are larger than the smaller ones seen on modern cars.

Dezeldoc, Had to think about what you said. I went out to the garage to check. With my seat back into place my knobs are still about an inch or so under the front edge of the seat. Later I am going to fix the seat adjust sliders and then I will be able to see the full range of front to back movement. Hopefully the knobs will still be out of the way of shoelaces and other possible driving hazards! I made that hole extra big so I would have plenty of room for my hands to flip those lid bails and attach a pressure brake bleeder in the future. Might have to check it some winter night with a flashlight and bad eyesight and I do not want to hurt my hands fiddling through a small hole. Hah, hah, so I made it Grande size!

Don, I used a Rotozip tool with a cutting disk attachment to cut the hole. It is like a combination of a circular saw and a big Dremel. It's small but it can cut into a P15 frame if you want to. As with other cutting wheels, patience results in a clean cut. It will cut straighter than a jigsaw blade or a (gasp) sawsall and can make short work of cutting bolts to length or other jobs that would otherwise be done with a hacksaw. http://www.tylertool.com/rotozip.html

Actually my new hole starts about two inches to the rear of the transmission floor panel opening. The door and knobs will be under the front seat and out of the way, thank goodness. I guess shopping packages could snag there if I stashed them under the front seat.

I wanted the round plastic knobs but they did not have the nut clips in the larger thread size so I settled for the triangular ones. I may attach a photo of the master cylinder on the lid. I am thinking of another mechanic's convenience if my wife drives it and wants the brakes "checked" for some reason.

i bought a master power brakes kit about 3 years ago

Sheet metal, clip-on nut plates, and knobs came from Orchard Supply Hardware, did not cost much. I will still use a screw driver to get those stiff clip bails swung off the master cylinder cap, but that's normal.

I am doing a photo shoot of a 20 yr high school reunion this weekend at the Santa Maria Inn. They gave a discount to the reunion committee. Of course they may expect to get a firm number of travelers before they offer a discount.