D24 Build Card

[Carl Lohn]

I hope it is OK to post this as my son is in school and I am posting under his name---Please remove if it is not OK.

We ordered a Owners manual,Parts book and Service manual for his 1947 D24 from Bishko books.We hoped it would tell us what we had on the car.The nice guys at Bishko and other people told us to order a build card and it would tell us what came on the car.We ordered one with decoding but we still don't know what came on the car and it is hard to see.We don't know what size engine and if it is original- we sent the engine number.We don't know if it is a Fluid Drive transmission.We don't know if the tires are 16" or 15" as there are both on the car. Etc,Etc,Etc.We wanted to know what we had before we jumped in and started tearing off parts to repair/replace and discover the water way over our heads.

In other words,the build card was not what we expected and we feel we wasted $45.00.On the plus side,we now know what color it was and we have a new birthday to celebrate.

Thanks,

Greg Lohn (Carl's dad)

[Young Ed]

A lot of the options were dealer installed so the build card won't help with that. If your engine number starts with D24 its most likely original to the car. Down by the dist is a casting date that will also help determine if its original. Expect that date to be 6mon to a year in front of your cars build date. Mopar liked to let the blocks season for a bit. This shows P15 timeline for 15" wheel introduction you could guess about the dodge one but I didnt see it listed

http://www40.addr.com/~merc583/mopar/framesets/referenceframeset.html

[billwillard]

I can't answer your questions but wanted to say it more then great to see a father so interested in what his son is doing. THAT IS RARE TODAY. It is more rare to have ones dad helping out on his sons projects. Thanks for posting P15-D24. We WELCOME your questions.

Bill

[BobT-47P15]

He Greg. Nothing wrong with Dad joining in.

I have a 47 Plymouth, and owned one D24 briefly about 30 years ago.

I think all the D24 models were Fluid Drive. Does it have any script

to that effect embossed into the rear bumper? (Dodge experts--

please correct any of my comments if needed) You can usually tell

if it's fluid drive if you put it into gear, let out the clutch, and

the car still rolls on a slope. The clutch will not hold them, like

a non-fluid clutch.

Plymouth changed from 16 to 15 inch rims about middle of 48. Don't

know about Dodges. Unless you are going for absolute correctness

for judging - I would say use either size you like. I run 15" on my Plym,

which came out with 16s. Nobody where I show it even notices or

seems to care. But, I don't belong to the Plymouth Club who does

judge for total originality.

I would guess the engine to be a 230 c i as Dodges were a little

larger and heavier than a Plymouth.

[Carl Lohn]

Thanks Young Ed and billwillard,

The car was a gift to Carl from a longtime friend's family after he passed away.I am using it as a tool to help him better himself and where we can do the restore together.My dad was not around when I was growing up so I guess that I am being selfish to want to be there in my son's life.He kinda wears me out wanting to shoot his muzzleloader ,go gold panning , weld, work on his car,----not enough hours in the day but I love making memories with him.

Greg Lohn

[Carl Lohn]

Bob,

The rear bumper has "Fluid Drive" on it.I try to do the legwork to know what we have to better teach/explain to Carl whats what in terms of the car.

Thanks,

Greg Lohn

[Young Ed]

Greg keep up the good work. I've been working on cars with Dad for as long as I can remember. My first old car was my 21st birthday present from him. This is what I got 2 days before my bday. It came with 3 truck beds full of parts. My birthday is the end of july and by the end of summer it was driving.

[BobT-47P15]

There should be some past threads on this forum, giving an explanation of

how "fluid drive" works. Basically, it's a fluid coupling to the engine. A

Dodge engine will have 8 studs on the back end of the crankshaft to hook

to the torque converter. (A Plymouth, with standard clutch, will have only

four studs). (Plymouth in the 40s never used the fluid drive. There were

some automatics and semi-automatics in the 50s).

Try this link......I think it will take you to a line of posts about fluid drive. May take a while to

wade thru them. Just click on the title of the first post, and more will open up.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/search.php?searchid=170898

[JIPJOBXX]

Fluid drive right out of the owners manual

  Quote

[JIPJOBXX]

You should check the oil in the fluid drive. You haft to remove the carpet below the glove compartment and there is a access cover on the floor at that position. Remove that cover and you will be looking down at the rear of the bell housing and a pipe plug that goes into the bell housing. Remove that pipe plug and you will see the the rear end of the fluid drive. Rotate the engine till that unit rolls around till you see another plug. This plug is the fill plug hole for installing the oil that operates the fluid drive. It takes tractor oil and you can buy that at NAPA. Be very careful when you remove that second plug as you can loose it down the side of fluid drive coupling. I usually take a rag and stick it down the access hole around that second plug and if I do happen to drop it, it will not drop down to an area where I can't get it.

You can change the oil out of the fluid drive. On some units there is are two plugs hole in the fluid drive unit itself. One is on the top and the other is on the bottom.

Just take both plugs out and rotate till the oil comes out the bottom. There should be a plug under the bell housing to drain whatever oil is coming out of the fluid drive. Some fluid drives only have one plug but it the same process remove the plug rotate the coupling and drain the oil out. Then just rotate that plug hole back up to the inspection hole and refill with fresh tractor oil. Easy as 1,2,3.

[JIPJOBXX]

Nuber 34 is plug to remove oil from fluid drive.

[Carl Lohn]

Thanks to everybody for their answers-a LOT of knowledge here on this forum and a Lot of nice folks ,too.

Thanks,

Greg Lohn

[greg g]

Just another point about fluid drive. Since there is no connection between the engine and the transmission unless the fluid is being pumped, you need a good operational parking brake or wheel chocks. Don't want yer project wandering around the neighborhood when you're not looking.

[JIPJOBXX]

Here is the story on Fluid Drives! Hope it helps. Jon