My 1929 Plymouth Model U

Saturday February 3, 2007

Now that I have brakes I decided to take the 29 out for her first test drive since I purchased the car back in October of 2006.  Over the last couple of months I have installed a 6vdc positive ground alternator and fixed the bulk of the electrical problems with the car.  Basic things like lights, horn and newly installed flashers and turn signals are now functional.  The brakes have been repaired with a rebuilt master cylinder and new front wheel cylinders.  At this point only the front wheels are working but since I needed to turn the car around in my work space anyway, why not take her for a ride.  Yahoo....

• As usual things didn't go as well as planned.
• Going up the steep grade from my back yard to the front driveway kicked up a lot of sediment in the gas tank.  The fact that I was low on gas probably helped a bit also.
• The see through plastic gas filter clogged black with sediment which ultimately starved the engine for gas.
• I went to the auto parts store and purchased another but after installing the new filter the engine just would not run right.
• That's right took the carb apart and cleaned the needle valve and idle port which did the trick.
• Interesting this carburetor in that there is no acceleration pump.
• Well the motor was running again after I put 10 gallons of gas in her and fixed the clogs. 

• The wife joined in and we took off down the street. The motor pulls really strong.  Very pleased with that.
• First gear appears to be skipping a tooth. Second and Third work strong and with no problems.
• The car is geared very low.  Driving this car is comparable to driving my Jeep Cherokee in 4 wheel drive low. You have to be going a good clip otherwise you can't really use second gear.  It looks like all your low speed driving is done in first.  This would explained why first is skipping a tooth.
• Using second and third you can really get this car going at a fast rate of speed.   Since I only had front brakes I didn't top her out but needless to say I was impressed.
• Plymouth bragged that this car could do 65 MPH.  I believe them.  The good news is that I have another Transmission waiting in the wings.

All in all the wife had fun and so did I.  I now know what I need to attack and the transmission will come out at first opportunity.   I have new disk pads for the drive shaft and maybe I will do the clutch but it doesn't appear to need this so I will probably hold off.  Not a bad day with the old square box Plymouth.