51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 What's up everyone. This is only my second post. Been lurking for a month or two. Just bought a 51 cambridge as a surprise wedding present for my bride; married exactly one month ago and we drove away from our reception in it. Bought it from a guy at work through our classifieds after striking out trying to find a classic car to borrow or rent for the reception. Ran accross the car and instantly fell in love with it. My wife was thrilled when she finally realized I bought it for her. Anyway, it runs great; purrs like a kitten. I think its got about 48K or 148K milese on it; I don’t think it’s been rebuilt or overhauled, but what do I know. Not original paint, but everything else seems to be original and stock (except 12v light bulbs, new solenoid, plugs and wires, ignition coil, engine oil, etc.). I think it was painted some 6 or 8 years ago. It has a crack in the exhaust manifold. I just had the carb rebuilt, but it’s leaking like a sieve on my exhaust. I’ve read a ton about float height adjustments and such on this forum and my Dad (whose an aircraft a&p mechanic from back in the day) and I are going to tackle that this weekend. We drove around in it all day the day after the wedding visiting family around town and she’s in love with it as much as I am which is awesome. However, she’s already talking crazy talk about upholstery colors, some of which make me dry heave a little; but whatever makes her happy… Short-term goals: - fix carb leak - replace rotor, dist. cap, points & condenser - adjust timing, dwell etc.. - brake shoes, springs and cylinders - oil pan gasket - change transmission and rear-axle oil - replace as much of the bare exposed wiring as I can - compression test on cylinders - flush radiator - fix dash lights (I suspect the old 6v bulbs are still back there or something like that, 6v bulbs were still in the brake light assemblies. Replaced with 12v bulbs and now they’re working - replace cracked ballast resistor Long-term goals: - update upholstery - new wiring harness - address what few rust issues there all. All-in-all, the body and chassis are in great shape and relatively rust free - teardown and overhaul engine - re-chrome a lot of trim - probably a new paint-job while we’re at it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50desotocoupe Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hey, great looking car. Welcome!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 more pictures to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 rear left Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 rear right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 right side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 front right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 starter solinoid and cracked ballast resistor. Btw, this car was converted to 12v. what size (ohm) resistor should i get to replace the cracked one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 engine bay as I bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) engine bay as I bought it. coil was leaking, so I replaced it. weeping out of some of the freeze plugs. spent an embarrassing amount of time two weekends ago looking for oil filter when i changed oil. Finally figured out what was up. Edited June 25, 2014 by 51CamClub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 she needs some work, but she floats at 60, and smells like gas. Figured out she was leaking a little out of carb so I took the carb off and had her rebuilt with all new gaskets and such out of a kit I bought. carter ball and ball single barrel downdraft yada yada... Well, got her back installed and she was fine for an hour or two of driving time, now she's leaking like a sieve. me thinks I need to adjust the float height or something, or maybe put an inline fuel filter in there somewhere to keep the junk out. Not sure, but will tinker with it this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Welcome. You can add multiple pictures to one posting. Suggest you check out your wiring as it appears the ballast resistor is wired incorrectly. It appears the pole it is wired to on the starter solenoid is only hot when the starter is engaged. The resistor should be wired to lower the voltage to the coil from the primary source normally the ignition switch. Great looking car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 engine bay after replacing starter solinoid, coil, and rebuilding carburetor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 never seen a grease fitting on a water pump before, but I'm no pro either. spent even more embarassing amount of time trying to figure out where to add the oil. I figured it out. I'm learnin.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 more pics of the engine bay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 new plugs and wires. Old plugs came out super easy. was really surprised at that. My last old car, a 70 VW Camper, had a plug we broke off. had to put a sleave in to get er back on the street. I was really nervous with this car as its 19 years older than the camper was. i squirted penetrating fluid on the plugs every night for a week. must of worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51CamClub Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 @Don Coatney I was hoping to add more than one pic per post, but I saw that the max file size to upload was 1mb. All my pics were taken with my iPhone and were close to 3mb, so I resized down to just under 1mb. Is there a way to upload say,... 4 pics that are almost a mb each? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Haymond Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 It is a nice 51. Welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDaniel64 Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Very nice lookin' Plymouth! 12v system will definitely fry the 6v filaments in the older bulbs, also be aware if you have any vintage electronics (i.e., radio and such). Good luck with the '51! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyHarold Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Welcome to the forum. Great looking car. Early fifties Plymouths are the best....I have a '51 and a '52....you made an excellent choice! Harold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennCraven Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 Welcome to the forum, congrats on your marriage, and what an awesome old ride! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent B3B Posted June 24, 2014 Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 more pics of the engine bay Nice looking car. in the photo in post #15 there is a bracket with a spring hooked up to it... what is the bracket for or where does that spring go? i also take photos with my i phone, i am able to use "Microsoft office pitcure manager", "edit pictures" "resize" to "web-large 640x480 px" (add to post and then choose another file and repeat) looks like others use "photo bucket" but i am not a computer guy..... so don't listen to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kented Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Looks awesome! If you're re-wiring the car I suggest a american autowire highway 15 kit. Just installing mine right now and its great! Looking forward to updates 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam H P15 D30 Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 My ballast broke like that and I found the lead to the coil to be too tight and pulled on the resistor. Added a little slac and all is well. My motor mounts are good too. FYI Nice car btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Nice looking car. in the photo in post #15 there is a bracket with a spring hooked up to it... what is the bracket for or where does that spring go? bracket.JPG i also take photos with my i phone, i am able to use "Microsoft office pitcure manager", "edit pictures" "resize" to "web-large 640x480 px" (add to post and then choose another file and repeat) looks like others use "photo bucket" but i am not a computer guy..... so don't listen to me This photo shows the bracket and the spring is the throttle return spring on this Chrysler. I found that bracket in my "hell" parts stash a couple days ago. This bracket was on my Spitfire head when I got it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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