New Member in Texas

[friscofury]

It is nice to join a Forum of people dedicated to the preservation of my Dream Car, the '59 Plymouth. I bought my car, a two door hardtop Sport Fury, in 2007. It was an easy sale after I discovered it was an original bronze car. It suffers from some of the usual East Coast rust issues, but it doesn't affect the pride in having such a special car. I have been scouring every resource possible looking for the rare parts that were missing. It was a VERY complete car to begin with and is much more complete now. My goal is to get it as original as possible without going too overboard. I always come up with questions and a "burning" question came up, causing me to seek the help of this forum.

I noticed some members have 318 Poly engines. My original was replaced at some point with a 318 Poly 2 barrel. The original intake, 4 barrel and, I think, air cleaner were tossed. I have since found a 4 barrel intake and carburetor. Based on what I've seen on the "Showcase" part of this site and the factory shop manual, my air cleaner looks correct for a four barrel, but I can't figure out how it should mount. It mounts onto my 2 barrel with a clamp, but I can't see any way it could possibly go on the AFB four barrel. Does anyone have any pictures of the underside and mounting, etc, of the four barrel air cleaner on a 318?

Any help would be very much appreciated. I will post this on the technical topic section as well. Thanks!

[Dick Koch]

Hi - Friscofury - Welcome to the Site. Let us know you name!! The correct air cleaner for the 318 four barrel has a hole in the center cap that a threaded rod fits through with a wing nut to secure it to the carb. The 4 bbl. carb. has a threaded hole in the center that the threaded rod screws into. I'm currently restoring a Sport Fury with the 318 and have had no trouble securing any part I need.
Dick.

[rogerh]

I PM'ed Eric on this, but I thought I should repeat the info here:

In 1959, there were 4 types of cleaners for 318's.
1) 318 w/ 2bbl
2) 318 w/ 4 bbl
3) 318 w/ 2 bbl and A/C
4) 318 w/ 4 bbl and A/C

1) and 3) clamped onto the throat of the carb.
These cleaners have small openings to fit the 2bbl.

2) and 4) had larger openings to fit the 4 bbl. and were attached to carb with wingnut and threaded rod.
The A/C cleaners were larger in overall size, but all four looked very similar from above.

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Great info Roger on the Air Cleaners. Did not know that having AC changed the Air Cleaner but that makes sense for clearance issues of the compressor.

Shoot! I was just got back to Denver yesterday after spending 4 days in Arlington,TX. Which is not far from Frisco. Nice area. I would have come by for a look-see on your 59. Maybe next time.

Roger and others on this forum are up to date on all things 59 Plymouth. So ask your questions as they come up. And you will get the right answer straight away.

Glad to have you on board!

John Q.

[rogerh]

Thanks for all that, John. That information comes from the Parts Book, and from memory.
Just one comment: I don't think there was a clearance issue with compressor, so I can only surmise it had something to do with some engineer thinking more airflow or filtration was needed with a/c cars...
Dick Koch recently told the Group his 318 SF has factory a/c. John in Mosinee also has a 318 factory a/c car. Maybe they have some input on this?
(how's the weather in Denver?)

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

Roger, Snowy today, 10 inch's of snow since yesterday. My wife Pam and I were in Dallas area for my one of my brother's elbow surgery. We drove down there 14 hours each way. Surgery went well.

Got back into Denver late yesterday around 4PM, just as it started to snow. Glad we were not stuck out in the Colo/Kansas Plains when this storm hit. They had closed I-70 at the border of KS and COLO last night.

On your 361 motor, B motor, where is the AC located? My 1960 year 413, RB (Chrysler NY model version) has the AC unit way off to the passenger side area , where the Generator usually goes.My 1960 dated exhaust manifold shows where the Generator mounting ear was cut off. The Generator brackets (mine had a Alternator installed on these brackets) is above the Power Steering pump on the Drivers side. Which is right? Or is both right depending on what model your engine was installed in? I am going to keep all in the same location but just wondered. I am not going for correctness since I am going with this motor anyhow fore future towing duties.

John Q.

[rogerh]

John,
For me, this is a complex question. You may know I am currently running a 1961 Chrysler Windsor-donated 361 in my car. It did not come with factory a/c. During a crazy time in my life, I decided my car should have factory a/c. I looked all over, I wrote letters, I begged for photos, I haunted eBay, finally I ended up locating a guy in Coeur D'Alene parting out a '59 Plymouth 318 w/ factory a/c. I sent him money, he sent me parts. They sat on my garage floor for quite a while until I got motivated to install it. That's when I realised a 1959 Plymouth 318 a/c uses entirely different brackets and pulleys, different radiator inlet and output, than would fit a 1961 361 block. So it was back to phonecalls, letters, and junkyards. Eventually I found pulleys, filler necks, changed my radiator, and got my system onto the engine, although it is still missing a few generic parts, such as long copper tube from drier to wherever....
On my car, the compressor sits just to the right (drivers side) of center, above the fan. The generator is in its original place, but probably on different brackets..honestly now, I forget.
I don't have any parts books or shop manuals past 1959. I did rob parts out of a ~'63? Chrysler w/ 383 and I still have pix of that engine compartment, which shows the compressor sitting to the right (drivers) side of center, with alternator to the left, and double-belted. This was a HiPo engine, said the owner.
I have a diagram sent to me by FLFrank which shows a/c on 318s located on the passenger side, re-locating the generator over to the drivers side.
The same diagram shows 361/383, with the compressor simply added high and to the drivers side, as I did with mine. I must have gone this route because of where the threaded holes are located on these blocks.
The fact that your manifold ears were cut off...your a/c must have been installed by a dealer, and who knows who changed it over from generator to alternator, I thought alternators were standard issue on Chryslers in 1960? Your block is a 413, so that's Chrysler or Imperial...did you say it was dated 1960?

[rogerh]

I also have a photo, taken from an eBay listing, showing a '59 Plymouth with 318, the generator is now located on the drivers side, and compressor is where the generator used to be..on the passenger side.

[Denver 59 Fin Convert]

I will dig up some pictures of the bracketry of what I have and move this over to the "Technical Part" of the Forum, so my AC location ramblings don't take away from this new member intro thread. The compressor was a Mopar part and the cutting off of the end of the manifold end generator piece was done during production changeovers, at least I believe it was. Maybe wishfull thinking.

Follow me there anyone, if you want to continue this open discussion.

John Q.

[rogerh]

very thoughtful of you, John! See you there...