Another Plymouth on the road well almost

[oldmopar]

With the nice weather we have been having I decided to push up my plans to get the 52 on the road by spring. So today I took it for a road test. Everything was going well until I was a few miles from home and it felt like it was running out of gas had over 1/4 of a tank so turned around started he heading home but never made. Well it was a nice day for a walk.

Picked up my truck and a tow bar and brought it home of course it started again in my driveway. Still was not running right banged the carb with a hammer and ran better maybe float or something is hanging up. Will go to NAPA tomorrow and pick up a carb rebuild kit and maybe another fuel pump. Well here is a photo now that I have it back together.

[Young Ed]

My 48 was doing stuff like that because the gas tank was full of rust and the old float was bouncing around in there too. Pull the carb and see if its full of particles inside.

[greg g]

Disconect teh fuel line at the inlet side and put some low pressure compressed air thorugh the line back to the tank. This will clear the line and blow away any debris that may be accumulated near the in tank filter. Also pull the fuel pump and check the screen in the filter inlet side. this may be plugged with debris. Also you can check the flow of the pump easily by disconecting the line from the carb and directing the flow into a clear container. Then with the coil disconected from the dizzy, have an assistant crank the starter while you count fuel pump strokes. You will easily see the pulses of fuel into the container, 12 strokes should yield about 8 ounces of fuel in the container give or take an ounce. If these things are all good you should be able to narrow your running fault to the carb. If it has been sitting for a while you may have a stuck needle and seat. But a carb kit won't do you any good if you don;t have sufficient flow to it.

[oldmopar]

The tank was sealed before I got the car so its clean. I put about 90-100 lbs of air into the tank to clear the filter so it should be clean. The caucus of a dead mouse did come from under the tank filter when I put the pressure so the tank should be ok.

click the link if you want to meet him

http://oldmopar.com/P23/tankmouse.jpg

But I was thinking similar to your suggestions maybe crud in the screen of the fuel pump or dirt or other carb problems.

Ed

[JerseyHarold]

Good to see you got it going. When you get the bugs ironed out, you should come visit me in Freehold. My Cambridge wants to meet one of its cousins.

Harold

[oldmopar]

Good to see you got it going. When you get the bugs ironed out, you should come visit me in Freehold. My Cambridge wants to meet one of its cousins.

Harold

sounds good give me about a month and I will send you a pm for your address

Ed

[david lazarus]

Nice looking ride Oldmopar.

I had similar problems, and also found that a small amount of crud can bring things to s spluttering halt (in my case just a few old bugs was enough to stop it).

If you don't already put a cheap inline fuel filter in and change it a few times over the first 100 miles or so. I was amazed at what got caught from a system that I thought was clean.

[oldmopar]

Nice looking ride Oldmopar.

I had similar problems, and also found that a small amount of crud can bring things to s spluttering halt (in my case just a few old bugs was enough to stop it).

If you don't already put a cheap inline fuel filter in and change it a few times over the first 100 miles or so. I was amazed at what got caught from a system that I thought was clean.

Thanks, I have a filter before the carb its a glass filter with interchangeable elements that looks ok but not sure what when on in the past so going to redo everything and see what happens.

Ed

[Young Ed]

Ed Napa has paper elements that fit in those old precarb glass bowls. I can post the filter numbers if you need them

[oldmopar]

Ed Napa has paper elements that fit in those old precarb glass bowls. I can post the filter numbers if you need them

Thanks but this is not a old style one just a new style inline filter with interchange elements about $10.00 at auto parts stores.

[Norm's Coupe]

Next test drive just be sure to take a hammer and a screwdriver. I've heard people say the only tools you need is a hammer and screwdriver to fix anything.

[oldmopar]

Norm, a screwdriver might have helped but next time I think I will take a bicycle so I can get home faster.

[Norm's Coupe]

Never know whats going to happen on a maiden voyage. Right after rebuilding my engine my coupe also died about 6 or 7 blocks from home as I was turning a corner. Could not get the car started again, so pushed it off to the side of the road. Was dark out, had no flashlight or tools. After pushing it over to the side of the road I got back in the car and decided to try and start it once more. Thats when I noticed I had the turn signal still turned on. So, turned it off and the car started right up. Turn the signal back on and it would die again.

Finally figured out why when I got it home and traced the signal hot wire. When I bought the car the switch on the column was broken. When I hooked up the new one I didn't bother to see where it was hooked up. Also when putting the engine back in and hooking up the coil I noticed I had an extra wire hooked up to it. Didn't trace it, just put it back where it came from when I put things back together. That extra wire was to the turn signal and it was hooked up to the wrong side of the coil. So..........whenever you hit the signal, it acted like a cutoff switch and killed the engine. Removed it from the coil and put it on the ignition switch where it belonged and no more problem.

[teardrop puller]

Oldmopar

When I tried to tow with a tow-bar, the zero caster would cause the wheels to go to one side or the other and then skid. How do you tow with the tow-bar?

kai

[oldmopar]

Oldmopar

When I tried to tow with a tow-bar, the zero caster would cause the wheels to go to one side or the other and then skid. How do you tow with the tow-bar?

kai

Well not really sure I just connected it to the car tightened the chains the car follows tow vehicle and I towed it home. I only went about 2 miles I have a trailer that I use for long distance but a friend borrowed this and towed a car about 50 miles no problems that he told be about.

[JerseyHarold]

I have towed a number of cars (including several old Plymouths) with a tow bar and the only trouble I had was with a P15 that would sway on bumps at highway speed after any dips or bumps in the road. Don't know why it happened but very scary when it did!

[Norm's Coupe]

I bought a P15 rolling chassis and a few other parts from a guy who lived about 30 miles from me right after buying my coupe. We towed it home with a tow bar in my sons station wagon. Talk about a scary ride. We had to get off the freeway because that thing was all over the road at freeway speeds. Even on the side streets it was swaying back and forth, bouncing and squealing the tires at 30 and 35 MPH. At the time we just assumed it was because it was just the chassis and was too light, but from what I'm reading I guess that wasn't the only reason.

[Young Ed]

My p15 was towed behind a motorhome from Wyoming all the way to MN by the guy I bought it from. I didn't specifically ask him about any issues but he obviously made it in one piece. And he spotted my coupe in Wyoming while on his way back from CA with a 50 plymouth in tow.

[Merle Coggins]

If the wheels are toed out slightly, or if the tie rods are loose, it'll wander like that. We used to have that problem with hay wagons.

Merle

[Niel Hoback]

The only problem I had withusing a tow bar was that the towed car didnt want to go around corners. I learned immediately that it would push the rear of my pick-up sideways if I went over 5 mph around a corner, and I was only pulling an old falcon that couldnt have weighed squat. Long curves were ok, but corners, yikes.