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Hello All, This forum was recommended to me as being a great place to gain knowledge about pre 60's Mopars. Over the years I have owned many Mopars, but none older than 1965. I recently inherited a 1941 Plymouth Special Deluxe that has been in the family for a very long time. It originally belonged to my Grandfather, then my uncle, and now me. It has been stored in a barn in Ohio for the last 20+ years, but hasn't been driven in the last 10 years. My family and I picked it up and brought it back home [san Diego] last month and I have started working on it. My plans are to get it running, dependable and safe to drive for the time being and do a full restoration in the future. I am in the middle of two other restorations right now and would like to finish these before tearing down the '41. The car is mostly rust free, Although I have found that the trunk floor is pretty rusty. I spent yesterday cleaning and sealing the trunk floor, but know I will need a replacement floor and spare tire holder. I have had the carb rebuilt, the gas tank boiled, cleaned the fuel lines and have a new fuel pump coming in. I will reassemble the fuel system when the pump gets here. I plan to start working on the engine this afternoon. I will be removing the plugs and squiring some Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders. I will turn the crank by hand several revolutions before attempting to start it. I plan to do a full tune-up and oil change before attempting to start the engine. Once I have the engine running smoothly I will be rebuilding the brakes. When the brakes are done I will be taking the car to a local radiator shop [first test drive] to have the radiator pressure tested and the cooling system flushed. After that I hope to drive it a lot and have fun with it fixing small stuff here and there as needed. I should warn you guys I tend ask a lot of questions, tell a lot of stories, and share any info I find that may be helpful to others. I have found that these are good traits on some forums, and not so good on others. I hope I can fit in here. v/r, Matt

This morning I finally was able to clear a hole in the middle of my garage after my recent move. I had to build a couple of new benches and hang several cabinets. I still have work to do but it will happen with time.

there is not a need to change or mess with the regulator...or generator or battery...follow the simple steps in your book they will direct you to our no fire condition...look close at the wires inside the distributor for shorted to ground....remove the wire from the coil to the dist...if you now have voltage at the coil input...you are grounding in the distributor...best place to break the link and verify voltages and determine direction of ignition trouble shoot..

Joe; I think you may find that the 2# residual valves are causing the problem. Remove them and it should solve the problem. This sounds just like what I found when I put my brake system together......and the solution was to remove these valves. It is amazing how much force this 2#'s can exert. There is however one other thing you can check on. It is just possible that you don't have the brake pedal adjustment set correctly. If there is not enough free play at the pedal this can prevent the M/C from fully releasing pressure on the brakes. I don't know about the cars but on my truck with a different M/C mounted.......this adjustment is fairly fussy. Literally a 1/4 turn one direction or the other from the right spot and it either causes the brakes to drag or has too much free play. Hope this helps. Jeff

As part of my problem on the 1949 Desoto cutting out I ran across an interesting thing. Turns out the on the 1946 to 1954 Carter BB (1BBL) carbs that Carter used a few different arms on the Accelerator pump. I went through the listings, in my 4 inch think original carter catalog, for Desoto and Chrysler and came up with 2 part numbers for 90% of the carbs and then a couple more used on just one or two odd applications. The interesting thing is that I pulled all of them off my 9 carb cores, all versions from 1946 to 1954 and guess what? All most all of them were different. Some had obviously been bent by people thinking they were going to solve some problem. Some were in fact just different in either shape or length by a lot.. The link holes that the arm goes into are supposed to be the only way to adjust the pump stroke. I switched carbs on the '49 while dealing with the pump/filter/tank problem and this car was bogging at take off. When I had the top of the car off and pushed down on the pump I got a good squirt. When I put it all together and opened the throttle I did not. Drove me nuts until I realized that the arm was not the correct one. Now it work fine. My point of making this post is that some of you may have arms that are incorrect and/or have been played with. Be advised. The only way to really check it is to put it on the bench and make sure that when the arm is in the hole for the longest stroke that the flat arm that pulls up the plunger goes all the way up. The as you move the arm to the other two holes it should not go up as far. Learn something new every day. Best, James

Hi Doug; I was thinking that data like this from other Mopar 6 engines would be the most useful. I think trying to compare and make adjustments based on data from more modern designs isn't going to get you very far. Best scenario would be to know what sort of readings you should expect to see from the same engine in optimum tune. If there was enough of this type of data available on a sampling of our engines it could be very useful in determining how well we actually have our engine's running. I got these readouts for the cost of a lunch. Now at least I have some numbers to do comparisons against when I make changes. I will probably stop by again from time to time just to see how these numbers look as I rack up some mileage. Jeff

Continued.. Steering column laid open, loose wire: (Almost) Final view of new contact assembly: Since the photo, I had to cover the hole in the jacket that I extended to inspect the wire connection. So I sheathed the jacket with a thin metal sheet, sprayed the same hammertone finish as the column. I think I 'm done with this episode. Keep fingers crossed.

Thanks, all. Other than a few minor bugs to address, it's pretty much done. My wife and I gave it a bath today and took it out a little. It runs and drives really nice. Should be hitting the first show next weekend.

Oh we call the traps the finish line..... If thats the start that things leaves hard..................

After reading up on this subject a bit, I came across the advice to put a 12 volt battery in series between the charger and the tank. I did that, and I now have a very efficient electrolysis process going. As others said, the black practically comes off when sprayed with a hose. The pieces are coming out very clean.

I recently moved the cab forward and up in order to allow connection of the fender tabs to the cab. I really went well and without too much work; I used the winch attached to the yellow sling, which is visible in some of the earlier photos, to lift the cab a pre-determined height (1.5 inches) and forward a little over 3/4 of an inch; this proved insufficient an necessitated raising it another 1/4 inch. I then C-clamped pre-made "feet" to the vertical cab supports (front and rear)in order to lower the cab to the desired position; the "feet" are simply 6 inch pieces of sturdy angle iron; I did have to cut a 1 inch hole in the rear "feet" in order to allow a frame rivet to utilize the hole, allowing the rear "feet" to sit flat on the chassis. Attached are a couple of photos showing the process and one showing the engine clearance below the cab and cab supports. I was thank-full that the cab required raising and not lowering, the engine clearance would have been a problem, and raising the radiator core support would have made the clearance above a future bumper look very odd. Speaking of radiators, I'm happy (very happy) that there appears to be sufficient clearance to install the larger 440 radiator (which is slightly wider than the core support opening) behind the core support; it clears the cross-member but will require pusher electric fans for cooling. As a side note, the 440 radiator framework incorporate mounting plates which attach to the chassis; I will have to drill two holes but the weight will be borne there and not solely on the core support. Pictures of that at a later time. Essentially mock-up is done; my next move is to get the 77 chassis ready for the transfer of parts using the mock-up specifications. Before I do that there will be front suspension maintenance and cleanup and the same for the differential; of course, brakes on both ends. These components will be removed and the chassis sandblasted and painted.

Don the new garage looks great. I see you have the most important item in there. The beer cooler refrigerator. I don't have one of those the one I have in my garage is another freezer. LOL I like how you have set it up though. Have a great summer with your car. I have a 48 sedan about the same color as yours except I think mine is a little more of a green color that I think is turquoise. I have put new brake lines and new master cylinder with all new brake shoes and all new wheel cylinders can't wait to get it on the road with the 48 coupe.

I finally got a chance to dabble with my car. Pulled the distributor and replaced everything. Started the engine and set the timing. Went for a test drive around the short block and the engine was miss firing under acceleration. Returned home and did a compression check. All 6 between 115 and 120 pounds. Installed a new out of the box set of spark plugs (Autolite #295) first time in a long time. Just returned from a trip around the long (10 mile) block and the engine is running like it did when I first installed it. I think I am good to go for the summer.

falconvan; What day do you want me to come up so we can take a "cruise" in your new ride ???? PS. Casper was my nickname when I was a youngling !!! .. Cass, alias littlemo...

Lets see how I do this time.

Greg, it will be awhile until I get there, but I have some ideas, nothing original, but here is a nutshell. One of the reasons I bought the RV was for the 32 foot chassis' I'll post some pics once it's "cleaned" up; The wheelbase is 208 inches, it has quite a bit of frame work of a lighter gage extending rear of the differential. I'm thinking of cutting it off for a different use but similar to what you suggest. I have a hydraulic dump frame which is on a 51 Ford F-6 chassis that I'm going to put on the Dodge, the chassis are the same width. I'll put the dump trunions at the end of the Dodge cut-off framework and put a slant apron using the framework I cut off of the Dodge chassis mentioned above. I'm not looking for much lift or to much deck slant, just enough to get a car up and over. I really like this hydraulic dump hoist; I've never seen it work, it's pump is powered by a PTO off of the Ford tranny, I'll have to have a block made to adapt an electric pump to the system, for as you know the 727 tranny on the Dodge isn't going to work in that capacity. The reason I'm going to try to use this hoist is because it was manufactured by the "St Paul Dump Hoist Company" which was founded by a guy named Woods who held the first patent on a dump hoist; I'm just a nostalgic guy. As I'm sure you have ascertained, the money in this build is going to be in the bed (I know, easier to buy a trailer). I'll get some pic's up. Thanks for your interest, Jim. Greg, I'm editing this because I didn't address "The HAMB", great site; unfortunately there seems to be a tug-of-war going on regarding a COE thread. You're right, there are some great builds that have been done and great pictures, I was posting my build there and it was "pulled", as were some others, no explanation; so I started shopping for a site that had no problems with switching out components; I found this one, I have a 48 Dodge COE and a 77 Dodge chassis, here I am. My intent in joining any forum/organization is the sharing of ideas, learning about things I don't know (a lot), enjoying what others do, and sharing my efforts if anyone is interested. I still visit "The HAMB", but I'm not posting there; maybe sometime when I have a more "traditional" project. I will soon be working on putting an 88 Ford 5.0HO EFI and a front and rear JAG suspension in my 49 F-1, they don't like that either. Jim

Reason I did all that work this morning is so my car would fit. It is now home after a very bumpy trip on a flatbed. I will post the trip details a bit later after I find the answer to the trouble I had. This was the first time ever my car has been on the hook.