1939 Plymouth Business Coupe

[1952B3b23]

Thanks guys.

 

I'm not sure it'll be possible to tap that for a zerk fitting. A regular 1/4-28 zerk will stick out into the inside of the bushing and could interfere with the pin that the bushing is threading onto. I'm assuming that's why these bushings have the zerk pressed in. That way there's nothing protruding to the inside of the bushing.

 

-Chris

[RobertKB]

I think if you measure things you will find there is room. Worth a try before buying a new one.

[Dave72dt]

And they make shorty 1/4 -28 fittings.  you may have to ask for them specifically, have about two threads on them.

[1952B3b23]

I'll have to look into the bushings and see if they can be tapped. I didn't know they made short zerk fittings, that'd be handy.

 

 

I made a pretty good score today. Someone told me of a fellow who had an NOS Arrow headlight conversion for my car. The best part was that he was only 20 minutes from my house. This conversion kit allows you to switch over to round sealed beam headlights. I'm real happy i got to pick these up, i think they are pretty rare. The little bit of googling i did the other day didn't turn up much info. I've attached some pictures.

 

-Chris 

Edited April 26, 2016 by 1952B3b23

[fstfish66]

I'll have to look into the bushings and see if they can be tapped. I didn't know they made short zerk fittings, that'd be handy.

 

 

I made a pretty good score today. Someone told me of a fellow who had an NOS Arrow headlight conversion for my car. The best part was that he was only 20 minutes from my house. This conversion kit allows you to switch over to round sealed beam headlights. I'm real happy i got to pick these up, i think they are pretty rare. The little bit of googling i did the other day didn't turn up much info. I've attached some pictures.

 

-Chris 

when  i first got my 40 one  fitting was  gone,and the hole  was t o big to  screw in a new fitting looked kinda like yours,  i took a standard  fittign and  dont laugh,,,JB welded it in,,,worked fine till the  jb weld  and  thin  metal  broke loose,,  when i rebuilt the frotn end  i put in new bushings,,,

[1952B3b23]

when  i first got my 40 one  fitting was  gone,and the hole  was t o big to  screw in a new fitting looked kinda like yours,  i took a standard  fittign and  dont laugh,,,JB welded it in,,,worked fine till the  jb weld  and  thin  metal  broke loose,,  when i rebuilt the frotn end  i put in new bushings,,,

 

Sometimes you just have to do what works and it sounds like JB Weld did the trick!

[1952B3b23]

I had some time over the past couple days to start re-installing the passenger side front suspension. I was able to fix the grease zerk that broke off of the lower control arm bushing. I drilled it out and tapped it for 1/8 NPT, worked like a charm. Now i still need to finish installing the spindles, king pins, coil springs, and wheel assemblies on both sides. Im happy to say that the suspension feels really tight and smooth now.  It also really wasn't that hard to assemble it without the special tools that are in the service manual. It just takes some careful measuring and being sure to tighten things down evenly.

 

Does anyone know if there's a torque spec on the upper control arm bushings (pic 5 )?

 

Thanks,

 

Chris 

[1952B3b23]

I scored this Nicson dual carb intake on ebay last week. It looks to be in really good condition, doesn't look like it's ever been used. This will go on the '39 at some point and possibly a dual exhaust that i fabricate myself. 

 

-Chris 

[1952B3b23]

I made some decent progress this past weekend. I made a new set of battery cables, got my re-wire job 95% complete, finished putting together the entire front suspension, finished the brand new brake lines, and new fuel lines. Nothing is really to picture worthy but i'm really glad the lines are done with. That's by far the part i like the least. Soon i'll be able to run the engine.

 

-Chris

[fstfish66]

I scored this Nicson dual carb intake on ebay last week. It looks to be in really good condition, doesn't look like it's ever been used. This will go on the '39 at some point and possibly a dual exhaust that i fabricate myself. 

 

-Chris 

nice find

[1952B3b23]

So i made a little bit more progress over the past few weeks. Awhile back i had bought some 2" lowering blocks for my car from Butch's Cool Stuff. I decided i wanted to install these finally, so i undid the spring U-bolts and installed each block. Every thing went pretty smoothly until i was done and had the car back on the ground. I was crawling around underneath it and noticed that one of the lowering blocks cracked in half while i was tightening down the U-bolts! I wasn't too happy about this so i decided that i needed to pull the block out and make a new one. Well once i disassembled the rear again i then realized that both shackles where totally shot, and i had tons of excess play in the rear end. At this point i realized i opened up a can of worms, since it was already open there was no turning back, i had to fix it right. In the end it was worth it...

 

I spent the next couple days taking the leaf springs out. That turned out to be one hell of a fight. I ended up cutting the passenger side out so i could remove the bolt that attaches the front spring eye to the frame. The driver side shackle bushing that passes through the frame mount would not come out (FYI, this bushing is LEFT HAND THREAD). I needed to use the oxy-acetylene torches to heat up the mount to get the thing to budge. This led to having to drop the gas tank, i was scared i would blow myself up. Good thing i did cause the tank had a crack in it on the top. So after a lot of cussing, penetrating oil, and the torches, my leaf springs where out. This entire time i was crossing my fingers that i could get replacement spring packs made since i had to butcher the old ones to get them out.

 

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise cause i got to fix a bunch of problems that i now don't have to deal with for a long time. I called up St. Louis Spring and ordered two new leaf spring packs. I brought my gas tank over to a local guy who repairs radiators, he sealed up the crack and pressure checked it. I ordered some 2"x 2" aluminum stock from McMaster so that i could make new lowering blocks. I also converted the shackles that i am using from the "Silent U Type" to the kind in the attached picture. I really had no choice because the passenger side bushing frame mount was badly worn. Since the gas tank was out of the way i was able to tidy up some wiring going over to the fuel sender and tail lights.

 

Sorry for the long winded post. I haven't updated the thread cause i was busy working on the car.

 

-Chris 

[Young Ed]

Any more info on how you converted? My truck uses the silent U also but the threaded part is on the outside of the frame rather than the inside.

[1952B3b23]

It was really easy. The shackles I bought were an after market replacement made back in the day. They fit 35-49 dodge and Plymouth passenger cars.

If you look at the pic I posted there are two rubber bushings at the top of the shackle and two at the bottom. Theses just slide into the frame mount and leaf spring eye. Then a bolt passes through the center of the pair of rubber bushings to hold it together.

Hopefully that makes sense. If not I'll draw a sketch and post it.

[Young Ed]

It was really easy. The shackles I bought were an after market replacement made back in the day. They fit 35-49 dodge and Plymouth passenger cars.

If you look at the pic I posted there are two rubber bushings at the top of the shackle and two at the bottom. Theses just slide into the frame mount and leaf spring eye. Then a bolt passes through the center of the pair of rubber bushings to hold it together.

Hopefully that makes sense. If not I'll draw a sketch and post it.

Ya I think what dooms the idea for me is the threaded portion for the trucks sticks outside the frame. 

[Don Coatney]

If I were to install lowering blocks (of which I am not a fan of) aluminum would not be my choice of material. Aluminum is soft and prone to cracks when under stress. In my opinion steel would be a much better choice.

[1952B3b23]

Ya I think what dooms the idea for me is the threaded portion for the trucks sticks outside the frame. 

 

I believe the mounting on your truck would be the same as on my '52. I had to replace those rear leaf spring frame mounts and i got mine from this place,

 

http://www.srpmstreetrods.com/srpm/1939-47-dodge-truck-1939-41-plymouth-truck-rear-shackle-hanger-ea--ff8080813da289a3013ddae2fad529b6-p.html

 

Kind of pricey but i couldn't find any good used ones. Maybe if you have access to machining equipment you could make your own? Im not sure how difficult that would be.

 

-Chris

[1952B3b23]

If I were to install lowering blocks (of which I am not a fan of) aluminum would not be my choice of material. Aluminum is soft and prone to cracks when under stress. In my opinion steel would be a much better choice.

 

I think the new aluminum blocks i made will be fine. The ones that i purchased where cast units and had some design flaws that i think is what caused them to crack. The bottom clearance hole in the lowering block was far to oversized and deep. This caused a big stress concentration and when i tightened them down the block deforms to take the shape of the leaf spring pack it's being tightened against, which is a slightly curved surface. The news ones should be much stronger and less prone to cracking. If not, i'll make some out of steel.

 

-Chris

[1952B3b23]

I had some good luck last night. I fired up the engine for the first time in almost 2 years. I ran into a little trouble with the carb that i had on the engine. It was flooding the engine immediately without me ever touching the gas pedal. I took it off and looked in the intake and there was a 1/2" of gas pooled up in there. So i cleaned up the gas and swapped it to another Carter Ball and Ball i had laying around. It fired right up on the first go. I was pretty happy, it only ran for a very short time cause i dont have my radiator hooked up yet. I cant wait to drive again.

 

-Chris

[fstfish66]

friend  had same  issue with  lowering blocks on a 40  plymouth,they  cracked,,,  got a new set,,,here is what  we did to  advoid  cracking and  it worked,  put the block on the spring,floor jack  under the  spring,jacked the spring/block combo  up to the  axel  pad,instead of  pulling it together with the  U bolts,,  so far  so good,,

[1952B3b23]

friend  had same  issue with  lowering blocks on a 40  plymouth,they  cracked,,,  got a new set,,,here is what  we did to  advoid  cracking and  it worked,  put the block on the spring,floor jack  under the  spring,jacked the spring/block combo  up to the  axel  pad,instead of  pulling it together with the  U bolts,,  so far  so good,,

 

That's a good idea. I might end up making another set of blocks that are 3". The 2" didn't lower the rear as much as i wanted especially since i have brand new leaf spring packs now. I'm looking for the slight custom rake (lower in the rear than the front). Right now I've got the hot rod rake going on, higher in the rear. I'm going to drive it first though and see how it settles out.

 

-Chris

[1952B3b23]

Hey Guys,

I've been thrashing away on the car for the past two months and i got a ton of work done. What i didn't do was a good job of updating this thread and taking pictures of my progress. The last time i was updating this i rebuilt the rear suspension, new leaf springs and shackles, plus 2" lowering blocks. After doing that i moved onto patching up the lower rear quarters behind the passenger and drivers sides. At that point i had a car with no gaping holes in the sides, and it was looking much better. I then tackled re-assembling the front sheet metal. That was a bit of a PIA because i had to relocate the mounting holes for the front fenders on the cowl. All of that had rotted away over the years so i had to patch both sides. Once that was done i finished up connecting the last bits of wiring and making new battery cables. I also got my gas tank repaired as well as the original radiator. 

Then came the fun part, i got to fire up the engine for the first time with it sitting between the frame rails. At this point i had a car that could move under its own power. So i took it for a couple of spins around the block, boy was i happy. Until i realized both of the front brake wheel cylinders where leaking, i had just rebuilt them two years prior. So i sourced some new ones and re-bled/ adjusted them. I was back to cruising around the block. With all the mechanical stuff basically sorted out, I got this crazy idea that i was tired of looking at the previous owners ugly two tone black and battleship grey paint job.

So here i go walking next door to the neighbor who just so happens to own a body shop. I start talking with him about how i want to paint my car and it doesn't need to be fancy or pristine since the car at this point still needs lots of body work. He looks at me and says, "Why don't you try painting it?". Ughhhh, okay what the hell i'll give it a shot. I had never painted anything before other than small stuff with a rattle can. So he ordered me some hot rod satin black paint and told me what to do to prep the car. So i literally spent from 9 am Friday morning till 2 am Saturday morning preparing. I scuffed the old paint with 400 grit paper then back over it all with red scotch-brite pads. That was the easy part, the taping of everything took FOREVER! Once that was done i wiped the car down with paint prep and then a tack rag to pick up any little debris. The neighbor came over Saturday morning and showed me how to mix the paint and how to use my new harbor freight HVLP spray gun. After 5 mins of showing me how to use the gun i half ass got it and set off painting the car.The paint job is far from perfect and still has tons of imperfections simply because the car still needs lots of body work. For my first time it came out decent and it was overall an enjoyable experience. 

Before painting the car i put a set of lester whitewalls and got a front end alignment. During the alignment i learned i need to either adjust or rebuild my steering box. Thats something i'll have to tackle this winter. For now it drives pretty decent and ive done some cruising, even had her up to 55 mph which was a little sketchy with the loose steering box.

Sorry for the really long post but i've been busy these couple months. If theres any questions feel free to ask. 

-Chris 

[1952B3b23]

Here's a few pictures of the car broken down on the side of the road. The thermostat housing gasket sprung a leak! I was about 5 miles from home, not bad. Luckily my brother was able to come pick me up with a trailer, so the tow was free lol.

-Chris 

[fstfish66]

looks goood ,,,stinks  u broke  down

[1952B3b23]

4 hours ago, fstfish66 said:

looks goood ,,,stinks  u broke  down

That part was annoying. I should of replaced the thermostat at the same time cause just last night i made it half way down my street and the temp gauge was soaring. Luckily i noticed and turned around right away. I shutoff the car and let momentum carry me back into the driveway. So now i have something else to fix.

-Chris

[1952B3b23]

I've been having some weird problems with the car for about a week and a half now. Once the engine is up to temp (about 180) if i shut off the car it will not start again until its cooled off. It simply cranks and cranks and will not fire. When the engine is cold the car starts with ease. A couple revolutions and it's up and running. It idles fine and doesn't sound like its missing or anything. When driving the car it feels like it has real good power, it actually surprised me when i was cruising around at 50 comfortably. It accelerates well and the engine has no funny noises. Here's the stuff i've tried so far:

1. My first suspicion was vapor lock so i took the air cleaner off the carb, looked down the throat, and gave the throttle a few quick blips. The accelerator pump is working like it should and giving good squirts of fuel. The carb was also recently rebuilt.

2. Tried using starting fluid to get it going, again it just cranks, doesn't even make sounds like it wants to fire.

3. Removed each spark plug wire and held it about 1/4" from the cylinder head. Crank the engine over and see a good blue spark jump the air gap to the head.

4. Then check each spark plug gap and make sure each one is firing. All seems well there.

5. Removed the distributor cap and inspected for cracks. Cleaned the metal contacts on the inside of the cap and cleaned the contact points on the rotor.

6. Inspected the breaker points and they look to be a dull gray color, no pitting or burning. The rubbing block does look a little worn though. I also set the point gap to .020".

7. I've inspected the plug wires and they all still look decent. While the car was running i reached over to work the throttle linkage which passes under the plug wires and i got a little bit of a shock. I had some rubber work gloves on and im pretty certain i didn't touch any of the metal parts of the spark plug or plug wire. So maybe the insulation has degraded and im losing voltage to my plugs, especially as the resistance of the wire goes up with the added heat from the engine.

8. I replaced the distributor condenser. That didnt fix anything.

9. I tried a different ignition coil, no luck.

10. I reset the static ignition timing to 2 degrees before TDC. I thought maybe the timing was to advanced and causing it to not start when hot. I ordered a timing light so i should be able to double check the setting sometime this week. This didn't do anything to fix the issue.

11. Found out my vacuum advance isn't working. It's an issue but shouldn't prevent the car from starting when hot.

Since i just finished putting the car together i had replaced all the wiring and new battery cables (2 aught welding cable). I also have a 6 volt battery charger so i make sure to keep the battery up to snuff at all times when trying this. The starter seems to crank the engine fine when hot so i don't think its a slow crank issue. I have no idea how old the plug wires, cap, rotor, and points are. So i think my next job is going to be to replace those items and see what happens. At this point im stumped and since that stuff really isn't all that expensive it's worth a shot. I also ordered a 5/8" phenolic carb spacer from Tom Langdon. I still need to install that, but i really don't think fuel delivery is my issue. It can't hurt to insulate the carb from all that heat though. Whatever it is it affects all cylinders at the same time once the engine is up to operating temp. If i run the engine for two minutes, shut it off and try again it will fire right up with ease. I apologize for the really long post but i've tried to be as thorough as possible with this and give you guys as much background as i can.

Does any one have any other ideas?

Thanks in advance,

-Chris