Rusty_OToole

Pledge washes off with soap and water. In fact it wears off in a few weeks, even indoors. I would wax my cars with car wax then go over them from time to time with Pledge to keep them clean. I used to do this on my motorcycle, learned it from the Vincent Owners Club when I owned a Vincent. Keep the bike clean and waxed, wipe it down after each ride, only takes a minute and keeps the bike sparkling clean. Do not let it get grimy or you have to start over and give it a thorough cleaning which takes hours.

It was like winning a gold ingot back then too. He sold the car for $3500 and gold was $35 an ounce. So he got the equivalent of a 100 oz bar of gold. Today gold at $1749.20 an ounce times 100 ounces = $174,920.

There was a Canadian Dodge that was basically a Plymouth with Dodge trim. In that case they would be very much alike. US Dodge differed more.

I have used the following method to wash cars indoors. Fill a spray bottle with warm water and a few drops of car wash soap. Spray the car until it is uniformly wet. Wipe off with a wet folded towel. Have a bucket of warm water handy to rinse the towel, turn it frequently to expose a fresh surface, do not rub the dirt in. You may need more than one towel. If not very dusty you can spray with Pledge furniture polish and wipe with a soft cloth. Today I believe you can buy spray wax special for cars. This method was recommended by an antique car owner who told me he has kept his cars clean this way for years, with no damage or scratching of the finish.

Have you considered putting an alternator under the car and driving it off the driveshaft? This has been done before, on cars with open driveshafts. It is possible to put a pulley on the back end of the shaft and mount a small alternator onto the rear axle or under the floor. Import cars these days have small, powerful alternators that are self contained and need no regulator.

You can do the test as hchris says above. Connect a test light from the points side of the coil to ground. When the points are open it should light up. When the points are closed it should go off. Easier to see if your eyesight is not too good. You can open the points with a popsicle stick or other non conductor, or a screwdriver if you are careful not to ground it. Every time you make and break the circuit the coil should fire. Connect a plug wire directly to the coil open and close the points and you should see it fire.

If the points need cleaning use a points file or 600 wet or dry paper. Or just spray with contact cleaner or brake cleaner and drag a piece of white paper through them. When the paper comes out clean the points are clean.

You may have to track it down step by step. First are you getting power to the coil, and from the coil to the points? When the points open and close does the power go on and off? You can check these things with a simple test light or mutli meter. If the above tests are OK connect a spark plug directly to the coil. Does the plug fire? Remember it has to be resting on the engine to ground. If the coil is firing you have narrowed it down to the cap, rotor and plug wires. I recently checked out a 49 Chrysler Windsor and found all that was the matter was a defective coil wire. It had a radio suppression resistor in it that would fire a few times then die. Wait a minute and it would fire a few times then die. Once I put on a new coil wire the motor ran like new. I'm not saying that is what is the matter with your car. In fact I never ran into that particular problem before. The point is, if you follow up and test each part one at a time you will soon narrow it down no matter what the problem is.

Seems to me you could take any distributor cap and matching rotor, measure the distance from the center of the rotor to the tip and the distance across the cap from one contact to the opposite one and have your answer. And, condensers still do not need to be grounded.

Epoxy is fuel proof and may be easier to get. The weight of the float is not critical as long as it floats in gas. If the original shellac coating is washed off by alcohol or gasohol, let the float sit in a warm place for a few days to dry out then recoat. Of course this is for cork floats. Brass floats do not need to be coated.

Condensers do not need to be grounded.

Isn't there a little vent in the cap? Put on the cap tight if you want, won't make any difference. I would at least put it on loose before bouncing the car or working the lever just to keep dirt from falling in. Do not fill the reservoir to the top. Half full is good. There should be an air space. If the fluid does not run in, working the shock will pump it in. If you disconnect the link and work it by hand do not go too fast or you might get bubbles in the fluid. Work it up and down all the way slowly. When you feel resistance it means it is filling up or full. Bubbles are not the end of the world, they will disperse over night.

A 6 volt car battery, fully charged, puts out 6.6V or a little more. With the engine running and the generator working, system voltage is at least 7.2. So 9 volts is not much above the working voltage of the clock. If the 9 volt battery is a little worn down it may only have 8 volts or less anyway. In other words, a 9 volt battery will not hurt the clock in the slightest if it is not shot to begin with.

Hi Albert, Chrysler used Yale locks, I have located a blank. Will try taking the lock apart and making a key. Have talked to 3 so called locksmiths, they act like I am asking them to defuse the atomic bomb lol. Have not done anything with the gas tank. I wanted to experiment with the old rusty one first, I cut it open and had a look inside. Will use the good tank on the car when the time comes. It may be easier to fix the floor with the tank out.

I used to know a guy who participated in the old car hobby on less money than anyone I ever saw. He was crippled by tuberculosis of the spine as a child and lived on a small disability pension. From time to time I would see him at old car events with his car, a late 40s Buick sedan. He bought it a long time ago when it was nothing but an aged used car. But it was always clean, polished and ran nice. It was his only car. In winter and bad weather he used his bus pass. He had a library of old car books and magazines, bought in second hand stores. He also read all the old car books in the public library. A very knowlegible guy on the history of any car you could name. Due to his health problems he could not work on his car, some of us would help him from time to time. I think of him when I hear someone say "the hobby is too expensive for the little guy". Well maybe it is but he wasn't a little guy. He was as big as you are, whoever you are.

She's probably thinking "lucky I didn't hit a new car, that would be expensive".

Right off the bat congratulations on your find! You should have lots of fun and nice drives with that car. Couple of tips, the wheel bolts on the left side of the car are left hand thread (turn backwards) and the electric system is 6 volt positive ground (opposite of today's cars). These 2 things have fouled up a lot of guys not familiar with the old cars! The brakes should be fine. Chrysler products had the best brakes in the industry. They may not look like much now but they were state of the art in 1954. Your car won't go that fast anyway. If the brakes are in good shape you will have no problem. Your car may have electric wipers, most Mopars had (they were the first cars to use them). If yours have vacuum wipers all is not lost. Lubricate the motor, it should be OK. If not, new or rebuilt motors are available. For rock steady performance up hills etc. you can add a vacuum tank (tin can with a one way valve) or even a special fuel pump with built in vacuum pump. Headlites should be OK, but 6 volt systems are more prone to corrosion and resistance than 12 volt. For the best headlites you will need to go over the wiring, clean connections, replace worn wires, and possibly add a relay. If you really want bright lights I believe they still make 6 volt quartz halogen lights which are very bright. But for the speeds you will be going, and the amount of night driving you will be doing the stock lights should be fine. Seat belts can be added. They were available as an accessory from the fifties until they became standard in the late sixties. If you can find an old set from the fifties they can be reused. Clean and polish the buckles and have new webbing straps sewn in. The strap material is available but it can be difficult to find an upholstery shop willing to sew them in solely because of the liability. If you go to add seat belts you will need to put reinforcing plates, about 6" across under the floor. This is to give the bolt a good place to hold on to. Also it is a good idea to reinforce the seat mountings in the same way because in a severe accident the seat can come loose. Look under your modern car when it is on a hoist and you will see how they reinforce the floor where the seat belts bolt on. On the glass question I can't help you. As you already know the side glass is flat glass and can be cut by any glass shop. This is not a problem. The windshield, well I have never had any luck with used windshields. Try the crack repair, what have you got to lose? It should be fine, but if the windshield breaks after you get it on the road you will have insurance to cover it.

Took another look at the car, and found it easy to remove the door lock. Door key and ignition key are the same, so if I key the door lock I have an ignition key. By going through some old keys I found one that fits the lock although it will not open it. Now I have to take the lock apart and get the depth of the cuts off the wafers (Thanks NTX5467!) So far have found out it is a Yale lock, key blank Y149. The local hardware store have them on the rack.

You could disconnect the link to the axle and pump the lever slowly up and down by hand. Or, jack the car up and down a few times. It might be easier to let them bleed themselves out. Check them after a few days of driving around, see if the fluid level has dropped.

Fluid Drive was one of the earliest attempts at making an automatic trans. It is a cross between an automatic and manual, in that it still has the clutch pedal. It is very simple and ruggedly built. They seldom give trouble. If they do it is usually the wiring and control system, or possibly the trans or Fluid Drive unit low on oil. In either case, very cheap and easy to repair if you know what you are doing. Shifter, as has been explained, works like this: Reverse, towards you and up Low Range, straight up High Range, straight down Low Range and High Range have 2 speeds each. Normal driving is done in High Range, Low Range is for starting on a hill, pulling a heavy load or trailer, or slow slogging in sand, mud or snow. Here is the technique I prefer. Start the engine and let it warm up. Have hand brake on. Step on clutch, shift into High Range, release clutch completely. Release hand brake and drive off like an automatic. When you get going at 14 MPH or more, lift off the gas and the trans should shift into High with a soft *click-clack* from the transmission. Now go someplace lol. If you slow down or stop, no need to use the clutch. The trans will shift down by itself. When you take off again, remember to lift off the gas when you want to shift up. On the highway if you floor the gas pedal the trans will kick down like an automatic, at any speed up to 50. You can also start off in Low Range for extra power, or slow speed running. Only in Low Range, you shift up at 6 MPH or higher. Same as High Range, just lift off the gas. To shift from Low Range to High Range or vice versa, step on the clutch and shift the gear lever in the usual way. To go in reverse, step on the clutch and shift into Reverse. You can also take off as if it was a manual trans, slipping the clutch, but this can be a little disconcerting because of the extra slippage of the Fluid Drive. Eventually you learn to just dump the clutch, it won't stall. But I find it easier to just shift into gear while stopped, then release the brake and take off for the smoothest takeoff. For a look at some original Chrysler service manual look in the technical section of the Imperial owners club. The subject of operating and maintaining the Fluid Drive and transmission have been covered in depth in the CHrysler and Dodge sections of this web site. There were some long threads in around 2008 that will tell you all you need to know.

The first commercially made motorhomes were built about 1958 on truck chassis bought from Ford or Dodge . If your bellhousing came from a motorhome it must have been some kind of home made or custom built job. It is possible Buick offered a manual trans in 1957, I believe they built some manual trans police cars about that time. It is also possible it is an aftermarket item made by one of the hot rod parts suppliers of the time. In that case it would most likely be made to take the Warner 3 speed out of a 1937-1950 Cadillac or LaSalle. If it was stock Buick it was most likely made to use the same transmission as they were used in the heavier GM cars like Olds and Buick as well.

Is it possible to get new keys by giving the dealer or lock smith the serial number of a car? I recently bought a 49 Chrysler with no keys and would like to avoid taking the lock out if possible. Car # 99700194 made in Windsor.

I've had diesel cars and pickup trucks off and on since 1972 and never had my fuel tested once or been stopped for fuel test.

I think I know what you are driving at. Years ago I saw a set of books in 7 volumes all about the design and construction of automobiles. It was from the early twenties and very complete and exhaustive of the various features of all cars on the market, and why they were designed the way they were. Don't remember the title or author. You might contact a rare book dealer. Or browse some online book dealers. I know Dykes Encyclopedias have the kind of info you want. Also, Victor W Page wrote several books on cars and motorcycles in the teens and twenties.

If the clips are stainless it is usually enough to bend them out so they fit tight. In some cases, I have heard of taking a new trim ring and brazing or spot welding onto the back of an old hubcap to make it fit.