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1948 New Yorker 2 year road trip


48NWYKR

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So......

Well as I said I sent the carb, distributor and solenoid out for a rebuild just to be sure everything is good for our trip. Carb and Distributor came back great, Solenoid.... not so much!

This company, well established and well known to many on this forum I'm sure, in business for over 50 years, claiming to do it right the first time!.... did not.

 

I took the solenoid off the starter motor and sent it (the solenoid) to them for a rebuild, naturally I sent the complete unit with the solenoid plunger, spring and dust cover as a working set. It came back sans plunger unit & dust cover.

They told me they do not deal with the plunger and dust cover as they only rebuild the actual core, the plunger is reusable and the customer is supposed to keep that... well that's news to me after the fact, and now I have a solenoid that is useless!!! They claim it never had the plunger in it when it arrived and was most likely stolen in transit... Not sure about you but I'm calling bullshit on that! Somebody will open a package containing a carb/distributor and solenoid and ONLY take the plunger...... right!!!

Anyway, they can't find my plunger - deny getting it in the first place, don't have another one to sell to me and don't have a complete unit in the warehouse either... and told me to go look elsewhere on the internet to find one. FML!!!

 

Does anyone have any input for me? I have tried Ebay etc with no luck

 

If anyone has a picture of a 48 starter solenoid/plunger/spring and dust boot that would be helpful as well, does anyone think I could have a machinist make one? Does anyone have one to sell?

 

It sucks when you send them a complete set and only get half back..... and that turns into a complete mess....

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, countrytravler said:

 I have a complete rebuild in a 40 Chry that were selling with a 48 engine. The customer told me that he had it rebuilt with solenoid and paid 800.00 to have both units rebuilt. Will be home in about 5 weeks.

 

Yup that's the one! I have everything in working order just not that dam plunger bit, Any chance you would sell just the solenoid? or know of a stray plunger looking for a good home?

 

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On 10/4/2017 at 10:51 AM, 48NWYKR said:

Do any of you guys have information on this brake booster? I can't find it in the C39 manual so I doubt its factory... does work nice though!

20171003_201714.jpg

 

Yes, this is a type of booster unit used in mid 50's Fords. I have an NOS unit waiting to be installed in my 56 Fairlane.

Edited by Bleach (see edit history)
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5 hours ago, 48NWYKR said:

Yup that's the one! I have everything in working order just not that dam plunger bit, Any chance you would sell just the solenoid? or know of a stray plunger looking for a good home?

 

When you say plunger, just which part is that? The part that slides into the solenoid?

I have an old starter that I think I remember a similar solenoid. And possibly the piston thingy and rubber cover.

If that's what you need I will have to dig deep but would at least look.

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On 11/21/2017 at 9:09 PM, JACK M said:

When you say plunger, just which part is that? The part that slides into the solenoid?

I have an old starter that I think I remember a similar solenoid. And possibly the piston thingy and rubber cover.

If that's what you need I will have to dig deep but would at least look.

Yes Sir! that's it, the part that slides into the solenoid (piston thingy with a rubber cover) I sent the solenoid with said inside piston and cover away and only got the solenoid back... so its pretty useless without that!

I would appreciate it if you would take a look! Thank you very much! (probably has a spring in there as well? maybe?)

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Hey guys, another question, does the 8cyl with fluid drive have a clutch release overcentre spring or not? I bought mine without a spring and I drove it without any problems, however taking things apart I noticed all the brackets are there for a spring, a quick ebay search showed that you can get a spring but they all say in big bold letters NOT FOR FLUID DRIVE... is that because the 8cyl with fluid drive has a different type/size spring (that I can't find) or does it not have one at all?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-1947-1948-P15-CLUTCH-SPRING-BRAND-NEW-Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler/182643955277?hash=item2a866d964d:g:2usAAOSwgv5ZVZox&vxp=mtr

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12 hours ago, c49er said:

My 1946-8 C39 cars have a over center spring.

Correct part # 869248

 

Hey Bob, thank you for that picture, it looks so similar to the parts on ebay that I'm just not sure why they say it won't fit....And just to be sure that flat metal part resting on the spring is the gauge for setting it up correctly by adjusting the clutch turnbuckle? I take it that does not stay there permanently right? 

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On 11/29/2017 at 7:29 PM, c49er said:

Yes that's the miller tool for setting up the over center spring.

I was doing an adjustment on my convert.

Thank you, that's what I thought! the part number on the spring for the 6 is different, I wonder if its a size thing. (# 866589)? I say that only because I can't find one for the 8 and I'm wondering if the one from the 6 will work?

Edited by 48NWYKR (see edit history)
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Wellllll............ , this is an unexpected turn of events , at least to me. What provoked this "retrograde surgery" ? This will justify an extensive list of "as long as I am here I might as well do ................." items. As someone who has accumulated years of "total immersion" Latin American road adventures and exploration going back to 1954 through the end of the 20th Century , I offer what MUST be the cardinal rule of your upcoming trip : DRIVE SLOWLY (do as I say , NOT as I do - I have a couple of unofficial Andean speed records considered impossible , and a stern admonition from a commercial transport driver I had earlier passed) , and NEVER DRIVE AT NIGHT ! At some point you may well find yourself needing to drive at night. Slow down to no more than 1/2 your daytime speed. And with your surplus electrical capacity , install the best brightest off road type driving lights you can buy. Make sure the upper cutoff of the illumination pattern is gradual , NOT SHARP. Weld the threads , or make stealing these lights very difficult.

 

My mileage "down South" includes the Pan American all the way down to maybe an hour and a half South of Santiago , Chile. Many side trips in my own and rental vehicles to coastal delights and otherwise , down into the Amazon jungle , up to 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 thousand feet at many points along The Andes , etc. I am totally fluent in Spanish. What is the proficiency level in Spanish of a member of your family ? If it is quite high , sometimes during Southern "cultural exchanges" , it may be advisable to pretend your linguistic abilities are limited. Of course fluency , or better yet bilingualism , in any Romance language , will make achieving a working level in Spanish relatively easy.     It will be thrilling to "ride shotgun" (don't take firearms into Latin America - in any hostile confrontation look humbly at the ground and graciously offer anything or everything you have to avoid harm) , with you by way of the Internet ! Buen Viaje !   - Carl 

 

P.S. : NEVER ATTEMPT TO BRIBE POLICE IN COSTA RICA OR CHILE , and very sadly , it is HIGHLY inadvisable to take road adventures in Venezuela anymore. It was FANTASTIC when I was there in 1998 ! 

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Well, how does any journey down the rabbit hole begin? It goes a little like this... I knew I wanted to pull the radiator to have that thoroughly checked out so I pulled the fenders to make my life easier, and give me a chance to clean up in there a bit, then I decided to pull the carb and distributor and have them fixed up. Well then the starter motor was right there..... naturally I pulled the wheels off because I am going to upgrade to disc brakes up front...so I decided to pull the master cylinder in anticipation of that.... that's when I saw the engine mounts were in terrible condition, and I mean really, really bad! Then l took some engine cleaner and washed off years of dirt, grease and oil... great now that everything is clean lets start really looking at how things work..... good idea right? Well after a good clean I decided to grease the suspension... saw the leather covers on the old tie-rod ends were pretty bad and pulled them wanting to just replace the boots, well I noticed that they had a little wiggle in them... not much but hey they are probably at least 50 years old right? So now I'm replacing them.. and then one upper and the opposite lower control arm bushings would not push grease through and had a lot of movement in the wrong directions... so now those need to be replaced..... and now that the engine was nice and clean I started giving it a good eyeball,  that's what led to the discovery of two freeze plugs that were generously smeared with JB weld, so I poked at it (as one is bound to do!) found years of gunk accumulated behind the plugs because of the copious amounts of JB weld that was forced into the leaky spot, it really needed a good flush, and that is kinda when I decided that I have come this far I might as well pull the motor and clean everything nicely. Maybe replace a few of the leaky gaskets. I'm not planning (sure I say that now) on doing and work to the engine (all 8 cylinders test around 100 psi with less than 5psi over/under)  I really want to stop pulling parts off because each time I do, I find more stuff I want to fix!!

I have a full gasket set for the gearbox as well but now that its clean I don't want to pull it apart in case I end up making more work for myself!

All this and I still need to get to the back half of the car.......oh myyyyy!

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Lots and lots of built up oil and gunk at the front and rear of the engine, in the front I'm thinking timing cover gasket? Maybe the main bearing seal? In the rear I'm not so sure, could it be from the gearbox side leaking into the clutch bell-housing area or the rear main seal leaking from the engine side? See! here we go again... since its out should I replace the seals? anyone on here done it before? is it a big mission?

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At the least, flip the engine on stand. Pull oil pan. Pretty sure cork areas at front and rear are hard and no longer sealing. Clean up all and consider fromt and rear seals as well. Rear most main bearing cap I believe houses the lower rear seal. 

 

With the engine this accessable I’d certainly be doing it. 

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Be careful! I know of a fellow who rolled under to tighten up the sump bolts to slow leakage and pretty soon had the whole car apart for a full restoration!

 

My sump leaks too. All the bolts have one end in the oil and one end in the air. Oil comes up (down) the threads. The sump top surface is not flat after the bolts were over tightened, crushing the cork gasket around them.

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Also bear in mind that if you make it too nice, you won't want to drive it, particularly on the voyage you have planned. Yes, yes, I know, not you, you won't have a problem with that, that's not what you're into. Yes, I've heard that fifteen times before. And of those fifteen times, the guys who said it eventually discovered that they were unable to enjoy their cars because of the time and money spent, and the cars either remained static garage art or were reluctantly sold to get something that was "just a driver."

 

You are halfway down an extremely slippery slope and by pulling the engine "just to clean things up," you just spilled oil all over the place...

 

Restoration paralysis: it can happen to anyone.

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14 hours ago, 48NWYKR said:

is it a big mission?

 

No. It is a small mission. One of many small missions, of which there are thousands.

 

To change a front seal, I assume you would remove the timing cover. How is the timing chain? Or is it gears?

 

Typical American "silent chain" timing chains don't last worth a damn. In fact, they are probably usually shot according to the specs in the book at 20k miles. They work fine with slightly retarded and erratic timing up to 150k or more (as long as there are no plastic sprockets involved).

 

Nobody knows the chain is shot because unless the engine fails early, the chain never gets looked at until the engine is old and tired.

 

On the other hand, is it gear driven? Often a fiber gear was used in engines with a gear driven cam to combat noise. When these fail they fail suddenly and completely. Well.... better change that.

 

To get to the rear seal out you will have to pull the rear main bearing cap. How are the bearings? Let me guess, just a little bit past wear limit. And of course the rods are more heavily stressed than mains. Better pull one apart to look. Hmm... a little past wear limit. I guess it wouldn't make any sense to have it this far apart and not stuff in some new rings..... I wonder how the valves look?

 

Do you want to overhaul an engine or drive the car?

Edited by Bloo (see edit history)
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26 minutes ago, 48NWYKR said:

So I know a lot can happen in 70 years but what is this stuff I pulled out of the water rails? (all thanks to me poking at the JB weld on the freeze plug... deeper and deeper goes the rabbit hole!

 

It is good you found that. JB weld wont hold a freeze plug for long. I would replace all of them. The wire probably held the sand core together when they cast the block. I would run a bunch of water through there with a hose. Maybe poke around with a coathanger. Get all the crap out of there. In addition to the scale and crud that builds up you might find some casting sand. A long time ago, I flushed about a coffee can full of sand out of a Ford 352.

 

I am fairly sure this engine uses a water distribution tube. Since the engine is out, I would definitely want to assess that and probably replace it.

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2 hours ago, Bloo said:

Whats wrong with it? It looks like a screw bushing. Is there noticeable play in it? If not, just grease and go.

 

See the grease on the outer edge? it popped that entire top off that the grease nipple screws into, I'll get a better pic tomorrow. and it has a lot of play :(

Edited by 48NWYKR (see edit history)
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Yeah pulled all the freeze plugs, took a pressure washer and sprayed the daylights out of it, super clean now! and the cooling rail is in very good shape, I can see all the way down it with a flashlight and I can see the back end of it where the final freeze plug sits on the block. its got hardly any corrosion and still has that new metal colour to it, I think it has already been replaced!

20171204_123952.jpg

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