So I pull the bearing from the cap to look for sizing and date codes.

You know I do have 13 letters in my last name.

What the heck is a brass shim doing under the insert?

Well, no info on the main bearing that I understand. I assume, for now, that is is standard size, but the shim??

That was a typical way of taking up the slack. Old FSM's as I recalled even told you how to do it.

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Thanks, my FSM is a consolidated reprint that doesn't really address that. I have been looking for a real 1951 Plymouth FSM to no avail. I do have a Motors Manual that covers that era though.

Gotta finish the tear down and start mic'ing things out. That will tell the tale.

You can just google shimming engine main bearings and see all kinds of articles. People were pretty frugal on repairs back then. Now days with the right machining and parts shims like that are a non issue.

Looks very clean in there. Except for the piston skirt pieces of course...

Yes sir, till I found the skirt pieces I was thinking I might be able to get away with a cleanup and not a rebuild. Still need to mic the bores and such to determine the future direction.

Awhile back there was a tear down video posted that showed someone using vice grips to remove stuck valves. I was unimpressed with that procedure as it pretty much requires new valves not to mention it makes a forensic analysis of the valves tough to do if they are all chingered up by vice grips.

So when I got my core 230 to build it I decided to find a good way to unstick the valves that would not render them useless in all but the most hack builds. I tried a few things like penetrating oil, heat on the valve guides, cycling the valve up and down with a plastic faced hammer (down) and the cam (up). It worked on three of the five stuck valves but the last two were recalcitrant.

So then I picked the brains of guys older than me and have BTDT. I was given a possible solution. This morning I implemented it. Success, the last two valves now function as they are supposed to.

Brake fluid was the solution. I used a precision oiler to put the fluid on the top of the guide and the valves stems. I put brake fluid on the top and the bottom of the stems and rolled the engine over with a socket and ratchet. When the tappet was fully seated I hit the open valve with a plastic faced hammer till it seated. Took maybe 10 minutes of rolling the engine over, tapping the valves and adding more brake fluid.

I no longer have any stuck valves and they go up and down as designed. So, next time you have a stuck valve to deal with maybe this will help.

Thanks for that reminder. I know that brake fluid 'creeps', but had forgotten. I have a carb with a stuck shaft. Gonna try the b fluid trick.

A bit of progress, sort of.

Last week I had a rear tire sidewall come apart. So I bought one new stock type tire. Decided to finally pull the trigger on new, fatter tires. maintained the same height as the newly purchased stock one so I can use it as a spare.

Went with P255/50R17's in the back on 08 Chrysler 300 steelies. Closest point of contact is the front of the tire to the fender, about an inch and and a half. I could go much wider, but wheel hop is now a big issue. So time for that to be addressed.

Clearances, I don't have a good pic of the top of the tire, sidewall to fender lip clearance, but it's and inch and a half.

Brake fluid for stuck valves. I've not heard that one before. Glad it worked.

Interesting that you bring this back up. I rolled the engine over to day for the first time since I did the brake fluid trick. 2 months of sitting and the valves still do not stick, I'm going to say this trick works.

Got some time in on the Cambridge today.

Putting disc brakes on the front. Well, some days you avoid the snowball, other days the snowball runs you over.

Going to have to take the uprights steering kniuckle to the machine shop to get new kingpins fitted up. Tie rod ends need replaced, steering box needs adjusting and if I am reading the date code correct I probably have the original hydraulic shocks.

Front shocks are damned expensive if you want stock hydraulic types. Pass. Did a bit of measuring adn found an alternate, 60-62 C10 front shocks will fit and work. Not to mention you can get good, gas charged ones for a reasonable rice.

All will be very nice upgrades.

Well, update time. Got the uprights and knuckles back from the machine shop. No slop in the king pins now. Dry fitted the disc brake swap on both sides. Had to do a bit of clearancing between the bracket and the caliper housing, was too tight. Not sure if it was a bracket issue or a caliper issue. Whatever the culprit was, it's fixed. Other than that everything went together as I expected. Maybe this week I can permanently install the swap. I have new tie rods to install and I may as well adjust the steering box while I am there.

I have the C10 shocks I mentioned. I physically verified that the new shocks have more extended and less collapsed lengths than stock so no bottoming the shock out. Boy those original shocks are weak. Dead spot in about 2 inches of the travel and even past that it is pretty light duty. New shocks are gas charged and a lot stiffer. Ought to work better with the Aerostar springs I put in.

Shot of the swap dry fitted up.

New shock next to the old one.

I had previously converted the old spindle nut to the newer style used on later Mopars in anticipation of this disc swap.

Comparison of the Aerostar spring vs the stockers. Even thought the Aerostar springs are shorter the front of the car rides higher. Need to cut a coil off before I put them back in.

progress!