Norm's Coupe

The service manual as mentioned is very good to have. It has some pictures in it. Also information as to torque values etc. But........in addition, you might want to pick up the parts manual. There are some real nice exploded views of the engine in the parts manual.

Reg, It's been so long since I've had anyone do this, I almost forgot. Years ago before we came out with epoxy flooring materials that would cure at 0 or below degrees, we use to use just regular flooring material in freezers and coolers. But.......In order to do that the customer would have to build a tent inside the freezer and put a heater in it, to warm it up. So.........If you can build a small tent over that connection, put some type of heater in it to keep it warm until the glue set up, your regular glue may work for you.

Based on BobT's and Greg's post, Lucky Devil's shades are probably off some pickup truck like I thought. That's probably why none of us have seen them on cars before.

Well.......I was going to suggest heat tape, but.......you already answered that. Here in Wisconsin the pipes are all buried at least 6 feet into the ground, until they come into the building. Most of those are also going into basements. For example my basement is 11 feet deep. The water pipe is coming up through the basement floor, so that pipe is at least 12 feet down in the ground. By the way, it was 0 degrees here this morning, with an expected high of only about 10 degrees for the day. Sorry, don't know of any glue that will set up in that temperature. There are epoxies used for inside freezers though. Maybe check around locally and see if you can find something like that.

Greg, I know what you are saying about selling high, then having to get rid of the capitol gains. But.......If you don't sell, you don't have to worry about getting rid of capitol gains. Plus, whatever your house is worth, it's like money in the bank, if you need it when you get even older. If you never have to use it, great. Then the kids will get it. Then, those people buying those big houses also have to pay higher property taxes. They seem to forget that part up front, then are surprised when they get the bill at the end of the year. That's another reason I stay put. Taxes and fees are cheaper here than they are in sticks. I hate to have to pay taxes of any kind. As it is now, if you divide my annual property tax bill into 12 months, it's higher than what my house payment, including insurance and property tax use to be each month when I first bought it in 1973. That's a sad state affairs if you ask me. And, lets not forget. Some who cashed out of their old house, then bought a new one during the peak years are losing money if they had to sell today. Me........I could almost give my house away and still not lose money, even in this market.

Not all people who retire want to live out in the sticks. Wife and I are those types. I'd rather stay put where I've lived since 73. It's not only cheaper because it's long paid for, but.....we have anything we want to do right here without driving more than 10 to 20 miles or less to get there. To begin with, it doesn't make since to me, or my wife to buy a bigger house with the kids gone. Why pay for the extra heat, upkeep and not to mention it's more to keep clean in a larger house. I think it's better to downsize when you retire than go bigger. Gives you more time and money to do other things by keeping or buying the smaller house.

Well.........we sort of lucked out here in Milwaukee.:D:cool: Good old Lake Michigan kept us warm enough where mostly rain came down last night. Only have a couple of inches on the ground here. Supposed to get another 3 to 6 inches by late this afternoon. Doubt that will happen though. What snow is falling seems to be melting as it hits the ground. But........just about 10 miles north or west of here and they had between 11 and 12 inches on the ground this morning. They are supposed to get another 4 to 8 inches by this afternoon.

Geez Bob, you're regular old "Night Owl" there. You posted that 49 Plymouth at 2:56 AM this morning.:D:D The side window shades on that 49 is the only kind I've ever seen on any old car.

Like the way they did the interior. But....they should have removed the padding from under the door handle. Notice how it makes the panel look dented. If they had removed the padding from under that, it would have seated into the panel without making that big indentation in the panel padding.

Bob, Don't know how to answer that one now. Ask again in about 24 hours. We're in the middle of a blizzard right now around here for the whole state. Supposed to get between 8 and 15 inches of heavy wet snow by noon tomorrow, depending on where you live in the state. Lights have been flickering all evening. Hopefully we won't lose power.

This thread reminds me of the Ever Ready battery. It keeps on going and going.

I use to subscribe to street rodder, custom rodder and the Goodguys. Even took the coupe to a couple of Goodguys shows in Waukesha, WI, two years in a roll. But.........got tired of reading the same articles and seeing the same cars pictured in the magazines over and over. After several years, I stopped getting them all. Only time I get a car magazine now is when my brother in law passes his along to me. Usually bring them home, do a quick flip through and throw them out. Maybe I'll spend about 20 minutes flipping through about 5 magazines before I toss all of them. Still the same old stuff over and over. Even in the Street Scene and Cars and Parts.

Some sport model and sub compact cars have bucket seats that sit very low. Might look at some of those seats, then just weld in a support and sit them on top of the existing seat frame shown. Or.........you could weld in an X support on the floor, then remove the original boxed frame. That would replace the support lost from removing the seat original seat riser.

Joel, I feel the same as you do about fixing up old cars. I do most of my own work on my coupe. Hopefully, I'll have it ready for a repaint next year sometime. Since I've done most of the work myself, I'm no where near what I could sell the car for if I wanted to. I will have the car painted at a shop, but even with that I'll still be well below what the car would be worth then. I just can't see dumping more money into a car than what you can get out of it, even if it is a hobby. In that last post, I was talking about my son and his car. He thinks more like Michael. Says it's only money.

As mentioned, the 50 Suburban wagon is a rare model to find in decent shape. But........you also see the prices posted for them. No way that car is worth anywhere near $65,000. It would have to be a Woody to bring that kind of money. That said, you also cannot take book value at face value either. Because that wagon does look to be in decent shape, and a little on the rare side, it's probably only worth around $10,000 or $12,000 tops, and that's only if you find the right buyer.

Who knows what he's going to do with that blower. He actually bought it back in the early 70's to put on the 36 coupe, but it never got further than the shelf in the basement. As mentioned, he had the 3 duces on the 36. But.....they never seemed to run right when they were on the car. That's why he switched over to the 4 barrel on it. As for those Ford flathead V8's, I don't think they're all that great either. Get those up to 40 MPH on the streets and they sound like the engine will blow any minute. My P15 six sounds much better at 55 or 60 MPH than his V8 at 40 MPH. But just as I'm first a Chevy person, then the old Mopar guy, he's a hard and fast Ford person. He loves the Ford flathead V8.

Actually, I think he missed the reality check.

Also, since the car has sat so long with that old gas, pick up a bottle of HEET and dump it into the gas tank. This will help get rid of any moisture in the gas and make it easier to ignite.

Now, lets see.. If I had put one dollar in the drawer back in the early 60's, it might be worth 10 cents compared to what it was worth back then. So........with that in mind. If I bought and restored a 48 Plymouth Coupe back then, it may have cost me two or three thousand to restore/rebuild it. Especially, since I could have bought the coupe for only $50 to $100 back then (maybe less). Some cars you could buy for only $25 back then. At any rate, that two or three thousand spent back then is just like spending about $20,000 to $30,000 today. So.........as mentioned. Your car may be worth more in the future, but due to inflation, you didn't make a dime and may even loose a dime on it. I've said it many times. If you're in this hobby for the money, you're in the wrong hobby. It's just the opposite, it's a money pit. For example my son's 80 Firebird is restored. All body work and paint was done by a professional shop. Plus, the new engine, new interior, etc., he has over $20,000 into that car. He'd be real lucky getting that if he tried to sell it though. Now, that $20,000 was spent about 8 or 9 years ago. Flash forward to last year. He found some rust coming back. So...........it spent the last year back in the shop stripped down, rust repaired and removed, then repainted again. He just got it back about a week ago. Was in the body shop this time since November 08. Don't know what that cost him, but add it to the $20,000 previously spent, and he's really deep into that car. He does have it insured for what he has into it though. But.......he had to supply the insurance company with detailed receipts for what he put into it, before they would insure it for that amount. Now, he only drives that car on nice sunny summer days. Any other time, it's locked in the garage. In fact, during the winter, it even sits on jack stands in the garage. But.......Michael, the point is. If you drive the car, you have to maintain it. Doing that is never ending, so........you'll never make any money on a car when you spend all that money to repair/restore/rebuild it.

Well........this time he's building an old time T-bucket or High Boy hot rod. So.......those dropped spindles are right in line with what he's building. Will save him some good money with those spindles already on the chassis. He already has a rebuilt Ford Flathead eight to go on it. Also has a 3 duce maniflod, with carbs already on it. Use to have that on his 36 until he switched over to a 4 barrel on the 36. He also has a complete blower setup in the basement that's been sitting there since the early 70's that fits the Ford flathead V8. He didn't say, but who knows, that may finally be used on this hot rod too. All he really needs is the body and interior for it now. Already has just about everything else stashed away. Think he's got 3 sets of wheels alone stored away. He's been planning this for years now. Finally moving forward a little now. This will give him something to do when he retires. That will be the end of next year.

Have you tried priming the carb to get the fuel flowing?

I agree.. May as well take care of manifold gaskets and motor mounts now. It's a lot easier to do with the front clip off the car.

Again, I haven't been to NYC since 1967. But.....even then I was smart enough not to drive my car into NYC. I parked it outside the city and took the bus. There is also that thing they call the subway to get around in NYC. So.....why pay all that money for tolls and parking. You also would not need to worry about getting a ticket. If you don't like the bus or subway, just take a cab. I've also heard they have those running around the city too. Or........if you really need to impress people, hire a limo. By the way, if it's only $20 for lunch, that's what my wife pays when she has lunch with her lady friends. So.........the NYC lunch prices aren't any higher than they are here. For what it's worth, they always eat lunch at a family type place, nothing fancy about them.

I have one of those under the hood of my coupe. Was on the car when I bought it. Never use the thing, it's about useless.

Well.........I think Michael is putting on his own dog and pony show here. Or, to impress a girl. Like I said before, there are places in NYC you can get a nice meal for $100 or less. There are at least 3 Applebee's located in NYC to start with. http://www.google.com/search?q=Applebee%27s%2C+nyc&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a. In addition to that the B.R. Guest Restaurant Group has several locations located in NYC. At least one on Park Avenue, and one in Times Square, plus others. Prices to fit all budgets. In checking their menu's I didn't see any where I would spend $250 for steak dinner for two, and that was at one of their upper priced places. I said, I haven't eaten in NYC since 1967, didn't say I didn't know of a few good places to eat at reasonable prices there.