Look what I found!

[dale]

6 hours ago, Mark D said:

Other than a general cleaning and some mechanical surety's (and a new top) she will stay as-is.  I am in love with the honest patina on this car.  Hoping the auto trim shop that is going to install my top can re-sew the leather back together for smaller dollars than a new interior.  I may try to find an old industrial machine and give it a go myself.

Yes, great find Mark... I think the seats would look great getting sewed up.  Bet a shop could recondition the leather.

[greg g]

3 hours ago, dale said:

Yes, great find Mark... I think the seats would look great getting sewed up.  Bet a shop could recondition the leather.

WE used this stuff on a late 60's Imperial and old gent brought to the dealership to have the interior detailed.  The pass side front seat sat where the afternoon sun shone on it everyday for 10 years.  One application made a big difference in how it looked and felt.

 

http://www.autogeek.net/lereoil.html

[Mark D]

1 hour ago, greg g said:

WE used this stuff on a late 60's Imperial and old gent brought to the dealership to have the interior detailed.  The pass side front seat sat where the afternoon sun shone on it everyday for 10 years.  One application made a big difference in how it looked and felt.

 

http://www.autogeek.net/lereoil.html

Just ordered a bottle - will report back.

[Mark D]

Another article I found on Dr McCue. Turns out he and his wife and his car spent many days roaming around Marlboro Massachusetts, oddly enough, the town where I was born.

http://www.willishenry.com/Shaker McC 1/tyler.htm

the article mentions a son, my next target of research.

Dropped by Bernbaums today and picked up some new wheel cylinders for all four corners. Got one on tonight, the rest tomorrow.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Mark D

[49D-24BusCpe]

Mark,

    You're definitely on the right path, sir. Continue to preserve that wonderful car the way Dr. McCue had and would!

Walt

[RNR1957NYer]

Fascinating history, Mark.  Checking out the link to photos from the good Dr's travels, I see a '57 Savoy hardtop in the background - I'm thinking it didn't belong to the Shaker in the picture!

[mightmo52]

such a nice car, good luck you can buy a new tank on ebay that look so nice. dont paint it just fix the mechanicals, the patina is great. is it for sale ?

[oldodge41]

That is a beauty! Nice find!

[BobT-47P15]

Glad to see that progress is being made.  Always a thrill when some item is repaired and resumes working

correctly as it should.....like brakes, and other systems.  Just takes a while.  We got our convert out this

afternoon as temp was in the 80s.......wrestled with putting the top down......then took about a 40 mile

round trip to a neighboring town for some ice cream.  Won't be too long before you can do that, too.

Regarding that thing with a flasher attached.....does your car have the factory turn signals, or some

aftermarket ones?  

     

I

Edited May 29, 2017 by BobT-47P15

[classiccarjack]

What a beautiful car.  I hope you get many years of joy from it.

[BobT-47P15]

Regarding new gas tanks.......I had saved this eBay seller sometime back.......so I presume he is still in business and the price of a tank is still the same or close.........Tom's Classic in Isanti, Michigan.............says he has new original style tanks plus original style sending units for Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler.   Price in the saved ad was $349.   Here is a link to that ad:       

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231616569157?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Vintage American Parts also offers what sounds like the same tank, at a higher price.....and also have the float.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-1947-1948-PLYMOUTH-P15-REPRO-GAS-TANK-FUEL-FITS-LIKE-A-GLOVE-NEW-METAL-/182434024154?hash=item2a79ea4ada:g:UXkAAOSwd0BV5GWk&vxp=mtr

[classiccarjack]

As far as gas tanks, give Vans Automotive a call.  Might be more competitive with pricing.

https://vansauto.com/

[Mark D]

Bob the turn signal indicator looks original to the car, but I am unsure as to whether or not it was factory installed. One of our fellow English comrades remarked it appeared factory in a foto that I had posted on Facebook. Still unsure, but here are the fotos.

[Mark D]

Spent nearly the entire weekend working on the car, new brake cylinders on all four corners. Right rear gave me some heartache, kept blowing by the piston gasket, so I pulled another from my stock and that did the trick.  Also emptied the gas tank and started cleaning it in place by recycling 5 gallons of gas through the sending unit port and out the bottom drain into a pan.  Have since decided the tank needs to come down and be cleaned out.  Too much crap in there for my liking. The crap that came out was just gross, stuck to the bottom of the pan I was using to collect it and hardened to a varnish in the sunshine (what little we had on Saturday.)  Valves are still sticking... Went to start her today after I got her sneakers back on and all I her was a starter whirring and a lots of back fire through the carb. So I played whack a mole again on #2 and #4 and got them freed up again and she started with some gas dumped in the carb.  Friday night was a late night in the garage, stayed up there until 12a, went home and hit the sack only to be woken at 3:30 by my wife telling me that my grandson had been born!  Daughter and baby boy Jace are doing terrific.  I am in head over heals in love with the little guy, and can't wait to take him for a ride in the convertible. 

[busycoupe]

Congratulations!  There isnothing like grandchildren.

[Robin (UK)]

5 hours ago, Mark D said:

Bob the turn signal indicator looks original to the car, but I am unsure as to whether or not it was factory installed. One of our fellow English comrades remarked it appeared factory in a foto that I had posted on Facebook. Still unsure, but here are the fotos.

I'd say that the indicator bezel on the dash is factory which would suggest that the full turn signal kit was originally specified. But the Signal-Stat switchgear is a replacement unit.

 

[Mark D]

13 hours ago, busycoupe said:

Congratulations!  There isnothing like grandchildren.

Thanks Dave - Hope you are well.  How's everything down in Chocowinity?  We went down to the plantation in March and had a glorious 10 days.  I'll be own again in December with Ruby the four door sedan to put her into storage in one of the garages. 

[Mark D]

8 hours ago, Robin (UK) said:

I'd say that the indicator bezel on the dash is factory which would suggest that the full turn signal kit was originally specified. But the Signal-Stat switchgear is a replacement unit.

 

I tested the signals yesterday and the dash indicators do work.  The light indicator on the end of the selector work only intermittently. Front parking lamps are not blinking but rear lights are working fine.  I will pull the lenses later this week to see if the car was wired to include front dual filaments or not.  Under the dash, someone has replaced the tin style flasher unit with something more modern, a square plastic deal. Removed it and plugged in an NOS unit I had in the garage and it did not work at all, so I will need to grab another vintage style unit.  Noticed also last night that none of my dash lights are working.  Dash switch toggled to no effect either.  Switch mounted fuse was in place and was not blown.  More sleuthing to do for another upcoming weeknight.    

[Mark D]

I think we all know what this is, and I know it was a factory provided device. The one installed on the reman engine in the convertible is frozen with what I assume is rust on the interior.  I've doused it with PB blaster on the back side, as well as lubricated the cable.  The knob on the dash is a 50%.  Not sure if there is water going past at the moment due to the fact that I have not run the engine for any length of time.  I'd like to remove it to bench service and swap for another that I have in my stash, but this is so close to the firewall, I don't see how it would rotate out of the head without damage.  Really don't want to remove the head, but if that's what it takes... thoughts?

[Young Ed]

2 minutes ago, Mark D said:

I think we all know what this is, and I know it was a factory provided device. The one installed on the reman engine in the convertible is frozen with what I assume is rust on the interior.  I've doused it with PB blaster on the back side, as well as lubricated the cable.  The knob on the dash is a 50%.  Not sure if there is water going past at the moment due to the fact that I have not run the engine for any length of time.  I'd like to remove it to bench service and swap for another that I have in my stash, but this is so close to the firewall, I don't see how it would rotate out of the head without damage.  Really don't want to remove the head, but if that's what it takes... thoughts?

in the junkyard I put a prybar between the engine and the firewall and push it forward. I'm going to assume you don't want to do that here  

How are your engine mounts though? Could they be sagging enough that the engine is back a little? 

[Mark D]

4 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

in the junkyard I put a prybar between the engine and the firewall and push it forward. I'm going to assume you don't want to do that here  

How are your engine mounts though? Could they be sagging enough that the engine is back a little? 

Haven't checked the mounts yet, assume they cant be that bad as they didn't get much road time. They were changed out with the new engine 27k miles ago.

Pry bar my firewall??? eeek....

[Young Ed]

Just now, Mark D said:

Haven't checked the mounts yet, assume they cant be that bad as they didn't get much road time. They were changed out with the new engine 27k miles ago.

Pry bar my firewall??? eeek....

You might be able to accomplish the same with a jack under the transmission. I don't think mileage matters on the mounts they've still been supporting the engine whether it was running or not. 

[scotty t]

i love it when the story follows the car. i've got one that came with a folder with the original dealer sales receipt and a bunch of paper work showing it gradually moving south from Wisc. to ILL. then to me in IND. it even included some speeding tickets! Please do your best to maintain the history and add your own for the next caretaker.  

[Mark D]

27 minutes ago, scotty t said:

i love it when the story follows the car. i've got one that came with a folder with the original dealer sales receipt and a bunch of paper work showing it gradually moving south from Wisc. to ILL. then to me in IND. it even included some speeding tickets! Please do your best to maintain the history and add your own for the next caretaker.  

Absolutely a priority for me.

[1940plymouth]

if you and Greg do it the old fashioned way in Dec, please, please take lots of photos, 
Seeing Ruby move south in Dec, sure would warm up the cold winter nights here in the Catskills