rhelm1953

A little PDR and that fender will bump right out! That's the downside of driving our hobby cars as our everyday cars, some clown runs a stop sign and we have to put the pieces back together because we can't get good insurance coverage for the cars we drive, only those we don't. At least it looks like you can get some reproduction parts for the Ranchero, that looks like a new core support. Glad to see the Ranchero is not down for the count.

Back in the mid 70's my brother blew up the in-line 6 in my 55 chevy 2 door post. I was able to pick up a 318 and cast iron torqueflite for $50 so the chevy received a mopar transplant. To get a better final drive ratio I also replaced the differential with one from a 62 caddy. Today I have a 1970 Mercedes with a Ford 4.6 liter V8 and full drive line from a 2000 Crown Vic cop car. Some guys never learn...

No need to pull the axles to replace the wheel studs. Slide the stud into the hole, add a stack of greased flat washers, flip the lug nut upside down so the flat side is against the washers. As you tighten the bolt the washers will slip against each other and you will draw the stud into the hole. I learned this trick when I was 18 (many decades ago) and the tire shop over torqued the lug bolts on my old Chevy, The bolts started popping as I was driving down the road and I was down to one lug bolt when I pulled in the library parking lot. My Dad showed me how to fix the first one and left me to finish the rest.

Nice truck, the proportions look good and I like the curved bed rail, that's a nice touch. Out of curiosity what are you planning for the cut down corner windows, I can't imagine it will be possible to cut the curved glass.

Sweet! Nice looking car, very well done.

I'm with Bob, I also used the ECI kit and was impressed with the quality and very pleased with the results. The customer service was also excellent when I had a couple of questions.

Yep, what he said, I meant lash not preload...

I'm getting about 18 mpg with my 1950 Plymouth in mostly city driving. This is after a carb rebuild and tune up.

I think Cold Blue has the right idea with checking the pre load adjustment. The symptoms you describe, the free paly in the steering wheel and the speed wobble remind me of an old Datsun 510 I had. Same symptoms, a small adjustment on the preload screw and it all went away. Check the service manual for the correct procedure, follow it and it that does not correct the problem then you are looking at a steering box rebuild. When you check the preload also check the fluid level. My bet is on th preload being wrong, the steering boxes are pretty tough.

These old Mopars do not have a coupler in the steering shaft. It is a solid steel rod from the steering wheel into the steering box. If you have 6" of play at the steering wheel and the pitman arm is not moving then the slack is in the steering box.

I have been driving my 1950 Special Deluxe every day for the last week. I have more cars than drivers so I rotate through the fleet so they all get exercised every couple of weeks. Here it is sitting in the parking lot at work. One of these is not like the others, can you pick out the vintage Plymouth?

It jeep fits in there like it was made for it! I really like the tubular exhaust manifold, it would really look sweet powder coated, the problem is you can't see because of the ugly a$$ intake manifold...

I installed the eci disc brakes and dual master cylinder kit in my 1950 Plymouth. The kit is high quality and bolted in with a minimum of fiddling. I did not use a power booster and the brakes have a good feel and pedal effort.

What's your budget and what is your expectation? Are you looking for aftermarket covers to just slip over the upholstery or do you want to recover the seats? Before you go the seat cover route I would suggest talking to local upholstery shops, having the seats redone may be less expensive than you think.

On the 1950 Plymouth the wiper knob is a press fit on the shaft of the switch with a slot in the top of the shaft for a spring to slip into. The Newport switch had the correct diameter shaft but it was too long and not slotted. Supporting the shaft in a vise I cut it to length and then cut a slot in the shaft with a fine blade hacksaw. I then used a jewelers file to finish the slot to the same size as the original switch. It took maybe 10 minutes and the stock knob just pressed onto the shaft of the new switch.

I have the Newport electric wiper conversion on my 1950 Plymouth and I modified the shaft on the Newport switch to use the stock Plymouth knob. I even kept the switch location in the same awkward location in the center top of the dash! Rich H

I was kind of hoping you were going to go all the way and drop in an RB. I do love the sound of a big block mopar. I still miss the sound of my 70 Charger with a 440, and that was 40 years ago.

Am I to assume we are not talking a stock restoration here? No worries, just keep it all mopar and you will escape our wrath...

When I replaced the vacuum wipers on my 1950 Special Deluxe I purchased the 12V wiper conversion from Newport Engineering and their 6 to 12 volt convertor. The convertor isn't the least expensive but it works well and the instructions were clear. In addition to the wipers I am also using it to power some Bluetooth speakers so I have tunes.

Welcome to the forum! I also have a 1950 Special Deluxe, they are tough old girls and with a little tuning can be very reliable drives. Back in the day everyone's aunt and grandmother drove one, at least that must have been the case based on the comments I always hear when people talk to me about the car, so they must have been reliable... You should have a lot of fun with it, just try to drive it more than you work on it! Rich

Polsonator2, there is no need for a 12V battery, you can get a 6V USB and connect it to your existing electrical system. I purchased one off of ebay meant for aviation that works with 6V to 24V electrical systems. The case is plastic so no worries with positive ground, I just connected the + lead to ground and the - lead to switched power. I think the USB port was about $24.00. Then you can listen all day!

Nice job on the wagon, you didn't have a lot to start with, even to make patterns. Getting the cover is a nice plus!

If you want to save money and keep it simple then stick with the EFI. When I installed the 2000 Ford 4.6L V8 in my 70 Mercedes I kept the stock engine/transmission harness and bought the Ford wiring diagram for the 2000 Crown Vic donor car. At the end of the day once I traced all the wiring I had about a dozen wires that connected from the engine harness to the car. Essentially it was power, ground, fuel pump, and a few connections to the evaporative control system (that I also carried over from the Crown Vic to keep the computer happy). The engine started on the third revolution, ran smooth and has done so for the last eight years and 50,000 miles. EFI looks complicated but if you are doing a crossover, and have all the harnesses, it's really pretty simple.

I just installed the ECI kit on my 1950 Plymouth and converted to dual master with remote fill. The disc bake kit installed without a problem and the mounting adapter for the dual master is well made and bolted right in after I reamed out one hole slightly. I did weld a stop onto the adapter similar to the stock master rather than letting the floor be the pedal stop, it made adjusting the pedal height much easier. Also since the only remote fill master they have is for a power brakes Mark advised me I would have to fabricate something to retain the pedal rod in the shallow indentation in the master. After a little quality time in my "thinking chair" I was able to come up with a simple solution. Bottom line, good parts, good people, and very willing to answer questions. I highly recommend them.

FYI, when I converted my 1950 Plymouth with stock 15" rims to disc brake I had to replace the wheels. The stock wheels did not clear the calipers, if you want to keep the stock wheels you may need to give up on the disc brakes. I went with the ECI kit that uses GM calipers.