The Sniper's Nest


Heater cable



heater temperature control cable



This is the cable that opens and closes the heater water valve. It quit working so I pulled it out to inspect it.



The issue



It appears that the cable got old and dirty and needed cleaned and lubed. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and the outer case pulled out of the metal end on the knob side of the cable.



The fix



The fix would be a new cable, alas I can't find one. Though it appears I might be able to get one custom made. I do have plans to put in an aftermarket HVAC in it so that's not critical. For now I have another cable I fabbed a mount for and am using it to work the valve. Whomever tried to crimp the end back on using an electrical crimped needs drop kicked.



Speedometer cable



For the want of a nail



The speedometer did not work in the Cambridge. This is what I found at the speedometer end of the cable.



Typical



This is the fitting at the transmission that the speedometer cable screws into. It was covered in some sort of gooey muck prevent the cable from being fully screwed in. Not sure it was even able to be half way screwed in. I cleaned all the gooey muck off and put in a new cable. What I figured happened was that not enough of the cable was seated in the speedometer and it started twisting the end off.



New cable



Rock Auto doesn't list a replacement speedometer cable for a 1951 Plymouth Cambridge. But I found an adequate substitute that is a bit long, ATP Y803. We now have a working speedometer. Of course had someone cleaned the fitting and fully seated the old cable none of this would have been necessary.


supplier

oil drain plug



Why am I not surprised?



It took everything I had and a cheater to get the plug off the pan. If you look at the copper sealing gasket it is paper thin. I think the hack that did the last oil change just dialed up the impact gun to overkill, zip tied the trigger down and went to lunch.



OFF TO THE PARTS STORE



So I hit up the local parts store, usually this is NAPA but they close early on Saturday. So off to the next closest one that isn't Autozone. Turns out they have a Dorman (part number 090010) plug on the shelf, at another store though. So off I go and as the guy is ringing it up I noticed the threads were different. You can see it in the picture. Unfortunately, they didn't have just the gasket so I ended up buying the plug for just the gasket, $13. Later one I bought a 25 pack of gaskets for less, online.


Gaskets

The wrench



The oil drain plug needs a 1 1/8" wrench. This wrench was over a foot long and I still didn't have enough leverage to loosen the plug. So I resorted to more leverage.


cheater trick

You've been sniped


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