keithb7

I was very fortunate to find an original 1938 Mopar parts book. I have used it for illustrations. Also to verify part numbers and score good deals on NOS parts on ebay. Sellers don’t always know what the part fits. They just have a part number sometimes. When you can find those listings you usually find good deals in my experience. A Motors Manual from the period is also a good book to own. I located one from 1940 or so. It has plenty of good info on my ‘38. Here’s my ‘38 grill for comparison.

From here, not knowing anything about the car's history, I'd want to dig in and learn about the condition of several parts. Points, cap, rotor, coil, wires, condenser and surrounding wires & grounds, compression Wet/Dry, valve set, valve seat seal-ability, timing, vacuum and centrifugal advance, dwell, fuel pressure, float height, accelerator pump, choke operation, exhaust diverter valve operation, spark plugs, clean carb and bowl...That should nail a few things down. Some key test results that you find along the way will determine your next course of action, or not. The list seems long, but not knowing any history of the car, that's what I'd tackle.

My roll of 620 film showed up. I ordered B&W ISO100 speed. I have the following f-stops on my Kodak Vigilant Jr Six-20: 12.5, 16, 22, 32 I could use a few reminders on when to use what. My limited understanding is 100 ISO needs a bright sunny day. The lower the f-stop the larger the lens opening. The larger the lens opening, the shorter the focal depth. The larger the lens opening the more light that enters. Am I on the right path? The shutter has 3 speed settings: 1:Instant. Push lever, shutter opens and closes quickly. 2: Push lever and hold open as long as you like, when lever released, shutter closes agin, 3. Push once to open shutter. Release lever, shutter stays open. Push lever again to close shutter So an example: Sunny day. A car maybe as my subject. Close up shot so shallow dept of focus. F12.5, quick snap of the auto shutter? Back up some. Medium range shot. F16-22 range? Same shutter speed? Distance shot. F32? Same shutter speed? Lower light, try a few with the timed shutter? Say evening light... F12.5 Shutter speed 1 second? F32 1.5 to 2 second shutter speed? Probably try and use a tri-pod for all shots. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks. Keith.

Thanks Carl. I don’t personally own any non-synchro tranny equipped cars. I have had a little time driving one. About 1-2 times a year I drive a 1928 Dodge. No synchros. I double clutch or speed match adjoining gears. It’s nothing like a 1910 era car though. Your idea to get out in country sounds great. The proposition to drive you around in a couple of 1920’s Cadillacs is one I could not refuse. Mid-Washington is indeed not far away. Please do look me up in the future once the border opens. Thank-you. Keith

A pretty neat, once in a lifetime opportunity was presented to me. I met a very nice fellow who owns a 1910 Russel CCM car. Made in Canada. The car has a Knight sleeve engine in it. He took my wife and I for a ride, and then offered me to drive his car. I was surprised and very quickly took him up on his offer. It was an experience I won't soon forget. The car ran great and did not smoke. Plenty of torque. I was quite impressed. The car performed much better than I expected. I don't know the size of this Knight engine, but it was a good match for this massive car. What a thrill! I like old cars but I must admit, cars this old have been off my radar. I was quickly enlightened and learned about all the the unique features found in a brass era car. A very fortunate day that was. Thank you Peter!

I took my '38 on its first major hi-way cruise yesterday. I traveled about 120 miles. Speeds at about 50 MPH the entire trip. It ran very well. I had zero issues. Just one point to note: I got on the road early, about 5:30AM. It was cool out, as I was traveling at about 4500 feet elevation. About 48F outside. At continuous 50 mph my temp gauge was reading about 115-120F. Climbing hills it warmed up more, on the flats, it cooled down again. I had my heat on, and at 115-120 on the gauge it was not making enough to heat cab much. I have an optional, vintage in cab heater that circulates coolant. Later in the day as ambient temps heated up, the temp gauge warmed up to the normal 160F range. I have a 160F thermostat in it. I was thinking maybe my gauge is not reading accurately? However, if that were the case, I'd have plenty of cab heat yet show a cool temp on the gauge. I suspect the cooling system was indeed almost working too well. The engine running too cool. Why would this be? If indeed the coolant was running tool cool, the thermostat should close and let the block run up to 160 again before opening. I made sure to install the thermostat with the correct opening toward the rad flow. I could install a 180F thermostat. Seems to me it won't matter. It's going to run any hotter when it's cold outside. Maybe my new thermostat is sticking open? Your comments are welcome. Here is a pic from yesterdays drive. The sun was coming up. Which is why you see the pink colors in the sky. Notice my speed and temp gauge readings on the dash.

Do you have a pic of the front grill. The car may be a '38. The '38 front window did not open. The grill is vertical on a '38. The '37 has a slight forward angle on it. Of what I can see of the grill in the photo, it looks more like a 38. A better pic will clarify. I seem to recall 2 window wipers was an option, so was 2 brake lights I believe. Vent windows, do you mean the pop open triangular windows in the door? These are normal for these cars. I have a 1938. 6V original system. I have no need to upgrade it to 12V. I ran it 120 miles today on the hiways. Great old cars...

@jukejunkie1015 A fellow AACA member here that owns a 1931 Chrysler confirmed with me today that yes, the axle and spindle nuts are ¾-16. My tool will fit your car. If you'd like one, I'd be happy to ship it to you. - Keith

Thanks Gun smoke. A fellow AACA member on another thread was hoping to use my concentric brake adjuster tool on his '31 Chrysler. It uses a ¾-16 nut. Folks have used my tool on many old Mopar cars. I was unsure if the thread was the same back in '31. It appears so. It would seem that the ¾-16 threads were used very early, as your 31 confirms up into at the 54 cars. Even later on the old trucks. Thank you.

Hi @Gunsmoke I am wondering if you happened to have a wheel off, are you able to verify if the axle or spindle retaining nut on your 31 Chrysler is ¾-16 size? Thanks, Keith

@jukejunkie1015Hi Kurt, I have not personally worked on a 31 Chyrsler brake system before. Do you know the size and thread pitch of the axle nut or front wheel spindle nut that hold the brake drums on? Usually they are the same on all 4 corners.¾-16 is the nut size on my tool. So far it has fit every old Mopar that I have sold a tool for. Up to about 20 sales so far and the same nut has fit every old Mopar. I suspect it will fit you car, however I'd like to be sure before I sell you a tool. Thanks, Keith

Same car as post #1. My old Plymouth looks huge beside these cars!

It should be noted that early hydraulic brakes were indeed that...Early. They required regular set up and adjustments with special tooling. Well, the Lockheed brakes anyway. When set up, these old single reservoir hydraulic brake systems work quite well. I can’t complain about the stock system in my ‘38 plymouth. It’s certainly adequate when all 4 corners are properly set up. In my experience the early type lockheed brake shoes are easier to replace than any later fandangled self adjusting shoes with integrated park brake. I quite like the Mopar driveline parkbrake with Lockheeds on each corner. Once you get some experience with dialing everything it, it all works very well. Its also simple too.

If you look on the body of the starter, there may be a red ID tag. Look for the number beginning with “MAW-xxxx”. Then that can be searched on ebay etc. I may have a starter for you also. But shipping costs would probably kill any deal.

Concentric shoe adjustments are pretty much mandatory to get good brake performance. If you are interested in a tool, I can offer you one. Or you could make your own. \ Ifg

The 37 Plymouth has the ultra-cool crank-opening front window. I own a ‘38. Parts are readily available. Engines are crazy reliable and put up with a ton of abuse. I’ve heard the 201 engine can be a little anemic. My ‘38 has a 228ci 25” long engine transplant in it. I plan to install a 251 25” long engine for some great hill climbing grunt. The coupe has a 3:43 or so rear end gears. 3 speed. Should perform half decent at 50 mph with the 201 stock engine.

I am happy to say that my cooling system maintenance work has the engine performing very well. 100F here again yesterday. I waited until the dog-day temperatures sunk in, in the later afternoon. I cruised all over town. I made sure to get into the slow downtown blocks of town. Where every short city block has another street light. The car gets little time at speeds of about 25 mph then it stops and idles for a while at a red light. Over and over, until you get through town. Then I turned around and did it again. The hottest I was reaching was the 180F mark on the temp gauge. Then when I got some good distance at a cruising speed of 30 mph, the gauge would drop to 160F again. Then I hit the long hill home. I hit 182 to 185-ish by the time I got to the top. When I pulled in the drive way I shut it off and let the heat sink in. No overheating. No expulsion from the overflow hose. This weather is about as hot as it gets in this part of the world. Any hotter, the car is not coming out anyway. I am happy with the results. Big improvement, as I was going over 200 mark climbing the hill home when in 100F ambient temps. Money well spent and much needed anyway. A leaky rad is not good. There is one more thing I need to address before I plan a longer road trip....Window wipers. I do not have a functioning set. I will get on this soon. Then, I am pretty darn confident I can venture far from home in this old jalopy. It's come so far from what it was when I purchased it.

If unknown, drain the tranny and re-fill it with the correct oil. Lower hole (Red arrow) is the drain port. Upper hole (Green arrow) the fill port. After draining, re install lower plug. Leave top plug out. Refill oil into top plug until oil comes out of upper plug. Then its full. Easy and cheap piece of mind.

One more part to confuse readers, is my M6 semi-auto tranny in my 53 6 cylinder Chrysler has its own tranny oil. Yet my torque converter and the engine oil are indeed shared. I thought about what you mentioned too. The up and the down shifting. I wonder if your troubles have to do with your idle speed? What is it set at? Have you by chance tweaked your carb A/F idle screw lately? Too high of idle and the tranny won't shift properly either. Don't ask me how I know this. LOL. When you push the clutch in the tranny input pinion (front input shaft) slows down. As the speed of the pinion slows down, adjacent gears may align, release any load, then shift properly. So if you engine idle is too high, the input pinion is spinning too fast to allow for a shift. Yet pushing in the clutch, the engine can still idle high, but the input pinion on the tranny slows down as the engine speed is disconnected.

Original part numbers added from my 1953 Parts book.

When the shoes are out of adjustment pretty bad the amount of travel from when you push the brake pedal at the master, its not enough to push the cylinder out far enough to make the shoes reach the drums. You need a way to set the shoes up concentric to the axle centre, and very close out to the drums. You may be interested in the tool I fabricate and sell. If you have an interest, let me know. You can see it in action here:

The engine oil thickness has nothing to do with the down shifting of the transmission. The tranny has its own oil. The oil pump for the tranny is driven by ground speed. As your tires rotate, the driveshaft turns too. It drives the tranny oil pump. It creates about 40 psi pressure at a certain speed. When the conditions are right, this pressurized oil forces a piston to move inside a cylinder bore. Creating a shift. When you slow down for to a stop, if your tranny is not downshifting, maybe the governor points are dirty and not making contact when they slow down? When the governor points close, the 6V solenoid on the drivers side of your tranny, becomes energized. The solenoid moves a rod, it seats a ball valve. That ball valve relieves oil pressure from the hydraulic shift cylinder. The drop in oil pressure as planned, then allows an internal spring to force the shift cylinder back. Then your tranny downshifts from 4th to 3rd. Another issue might be electrical wiring along the side of the tranny between the governor points and the solenoid. Could be crispy, insulation missing, self grounding? Or the actual 6V solenoid could be acting up. I'd be inclined to clean up the governor points first. Then see how the tranny acts.

Thanks for that explanation on the 3rd brush generator. It’s clearer to me now, the way you explained it. Quite an improvement when regulators were brought in to use. The manual adjustment process seems to be high maintenance depending on your driving habits. I can imagine a person might find themselves on an unplanned night time trip in cool weather with the heat on. Before you leave, you set the 3rd brush. Hopefully you get it right and can complete the trip! Some simple generator work I can recommend: polarize the field windings and try driving again. Maybe start and stop the engine a few times before you go for a drive. Get the battery voltage down. Then see what the ammeter shows when you go for a drive. A clamp style digital multimeter with DC amps setting is handy. You can clamp the wire off the generator and see what the actual amp output is. You can work the throttle by hand. Rev up the engine and see if the amp output ramps up. It should if the battery needs topping up. Another tip I have done is wire up a digital multimeter to the battery only. Measure voltage. If you run longer wire leads you can sit the multimeter on the seat beside you. Then voltage should rise as you drive, showing that the generator is charging. These are some basic things to do. However offer pretty good clues as to what is going on with your charging system.

No...Zero interest in owning my high school car. Nor the sweater and the jeans....The mop of hair though? I'd take that back today! This was about Sept 1987 I believe. I would have been 16. The Pinto was a 1973 if I recall. When I went for a hair cut, I got my money's worth! No so today.

I agree 100% with the above post about it not needing to be expensive. My ‘38 Plymouth is a labor of love for me. Tons of time invested, by comparison a little cash. Its a hoot and a half to drive around. The public appreciates it and lets me know it. They go out of their way to get my attention to show me their positive gestures. It may take me many years to get it painted up all pretty. Paint is not priority. Drive-ability, safety and reliability are my top priorities. My personal education and technical understanding also rank much further ahead of a paint job. What a great time its been nursing my sick old car back to health. Today it gallops and brings me great satisfaction. As I sit and type this very message...My view.