steveplym

I thought I did Marty, but maybe not as well as I'd thought. I know I will for sure this time. Check and recheck.

Yeah I'm not sure if I didn't get the head clean enough or if the gasket was no good. Either way I'm going to do my homework and make sure the gasket is good, then clean the head and the block really good. Hopefully this will take care of things.

Well folks I was able to check the valve adjustment this afternoon and do a compression check. Couldn't get more than 20lbs in cyl 5. So I decided to pull the head and check the valves. Didn't have to go to far though when I saw that the head gasket was torn in two places. This is a new gasket from Kanter, so unsure what happened, but glad it was not a valve problem. Checked all the valves and readjusted them just to be sure they weren't too tight and all are seating correctly. Ordered a new gasket and should have it tomorrow. Now I hope I can get back on the road soon. I get tired of working on it. Also gonna take the head to the machine shop in the morning to make sure all is good. Hopefully I can just get it cleaned up and put back on.

That is what I guess I'm going to do next. I'm figuring I've driven it about 1,000 miles since I adjusted them. So I'll just have to find out. Gotta work out of town all week this week, so hopefully I can check it out next weekend.

Well I have noticed lately that my car just doesn't have as much power as it used to. Found out why tonight. I have a miss in cyl #5. I have checked the ignition, spark plugs, and wiring. All is good. So next is a compression check when I get time to do so. Probably later on this week. My suspicion is that when I adjusted the valves on it I might have got them a little tight. I've got a popping back through the carb on acceleration. So I guess the next step is compression check, then check the valves. Wondering if I burnt a valve or what other issues do I need to look for?

Well I spent about an hour last night cleaning up the base of my spark plugs and repainting my head from last years frog follies trip. When it rained really hard and filled up the spark plug valleys with lots of h2O. I was wondering what do you guys do to keep the water from getting down to the motor off the hood? I know about the ever-dry kits, but since I have the updated ignition and different spark plug wires I'm looking for some other idea. Like sealing up the hood or something. I guess the only other idea I have is to take a small plastic tarp with me and when the car is sitting outside put it under the hood over the engine. That is what I do when I wash the car.

Washed my car last night and planning on heading down to a local cruise in tonight. Should be a good turnout, the weather isn't going to be too hot. Looking forward to driving the car, I haven't had it out for about three weeks.

Really enjoyed your pictures and videos of the trip Mark. Congratulations on a successful trip. Glad you got there and back with only a few small issues. Hope to catch up with you this month somewhere in the St. Louis area.

Here's what mine looks like. Sorry about the photos, I took them with my cell phone.

Good luck on your trip Ed. Glad you got it fixed.

Yep there is a rocker trim piece that goes there. Not sure if the fender hangs lower on all P-15's, but it does on my car. Mine had some body work done there several years ago as well, so it is possible they got the best fit they could.

I'll try to help with a few. I've got some pics of my car when I painted it without the rocker trim on. Might help you a bit.

Don, I've been going to the Frog Follies for at least 10 years now. It is a great show. $15 entry fee which includes lots of goodies and a free t-shirt. You can beat the concession stand prices on food either. It all goes to charity too. This years show is August 27, 28, 29th. Hope to see you there some year. You would really enjoy it. Lots of old mopars there. 1948 and older show only.

I left yesterday morning for the 2 hour drive over to Evansville for the West side Nut Club cruise in. Lots of vehicles there, even though it was very hot and humid. Heat index about 100 to 105 degrees. Went out there for a few hours and decided to head back to the hotel and check out the pool. There was only one other P-15 there. It was a convertible, didn't see anyone around it so I did not get to speak with the owner. Nice car. Other than that I just enjoyed driving the car. With the 12 volt electronic ignition and my overdrive now it just runs great between 55 and 60mph. Rebuilding the front suspension didn't hurt either. It still wanders a bit, but for the most part goes straight down the road. I took several pictures going over the Wabash memorial bridge. It is a toll bridge that connects Illinois to Mt. Vernon, IN. Which is about 15 miles from Evansville. I have been toying with some type of radio to put in the car. So on this trip I decided to take my XM radio boom box. It runs on 6 "D" batteries and really did great. I put the antenna on the dash to face the window and off I went. Got to listen to the classic rock station most of the way without any commercials or losing signal. All in all I had a great time. Here's a few pics of the drive and the show. Click here for the entire album. http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u122/siufan6/West%20Side%20Nut%20Club%20Cruise%202010/

I have the same issue with mine Ed. The fan is so close to the radiator I have to pull the rad out before I can pull the fan. I feel better doing it that way anyway. I changed the water pump on mine several years ago. It was running out. I bought it from Andy B and found out it was pouring out the weep hole. I remember calling him and him saying "It's just the weep hole, it is supposed to be that way." So I said maybe so, but probably not pouring out like it was. He replaced it with another and it was fine. I thought I had a gasket leak, but not so.

Welcome to the forum WF. Looks like you have a very nice, complete, car there. Nice find.

Nice car there. Welcome to the forum.

Seems like if it weren't for bad luck you'd have no luck at all JD. Hate to hear you are having problems. Good luck figuring it out. If you are like me sometimes you feel like you just keep spending money on it. Gotta find that light at the end of the tunnel.

I don't think they have a museum Tim. I know my car was built there as well. Would be interesting to speak with someone who worked at that plant. The west side nut club is a funny name. They do a lot of stuff for charity on the west side of Evansville. Check out their website. http://www.nutclub.org

Leaving tomorrow morning for the annual Nut Club cruise. Guess no one else on the forum is heading there. Hoped to meet a few people. Oh well, I'll enjoy seeing a lot of this tomorrow.

Just wondering if there is a seal or gasket in there I am missing. I've tightened it up. What tool do you guys use to tighten the governor? I used a pipe wrench, probably not the best tool to use, but don't know what else to use. Any ideas?

Sure will Randy. Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to try advancing it a bit and see how it runs. It starts great, but it isn't as great going down the road. It has all new plugs, wires, ignition, and coil. Carb is rebuilt as well. I'll see if I can improve the performance a bit, and if not I'll leave it alone. That is the one thing I seem I can't do is leave stuff alone.

Pete I always enjoyed you and your car. If I had the money, or the room, I would have bought it myself. Hate to see you part with it, but you did what you had to do to take care of your family. I commend that. Thanks for all your help in the past and I'm sure in the future. Your knowledge on this forum is very valuable. Don't become a stranger.

I've been running mine at about 5 degrees advanced. What is everyone else running theirs at? Langdon advises to run it at almost 15 degrees advanced, but after blueskies adventure with damaged wrist pin bushings, I didn't want to push it. It just feels like to me it could run a whole lot better a bit more advanced, but maybe I am just too picky.

I've got the 4-way flashers on mine too. Haven't had to use them yet, knock on wood, but they are nice to have. The heavy-duty switch was much better than the cheaper one I bought on ebay.