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Here is some back history I am gonna call him “Jim-bob” ?

Some of this stuff is in a factory shop manual and parts manual in detail, might not hurt to have one handy...for example, axle identification is outlined showing where ratios are stamped depending on what your axle looks like...for the 1-tons, the stamped number is in the vicinity of the carrier fill plug, could be 4.3 or 4.1 or higher... for them handles, there should be a spring-loaded escutcheon that can be pushed towards the door by prying a small screwdriver between the handle and where it meets the escutcheon...this should expose a pin that may fall out or need a good talkin'to for extraction, then the handle slips off of a square shaft... You might have pancaked motor and transmission mounts causing the interference problem on your accelerator, or an issue with the linkage at the carburetor... I don't think you'll find a kit for these Dodges, most of the time you'll need to buy each part individually, some parts are easier to find than others... additional information - helpful hints

14 minutes ago, NickPickToo said: I hope imagining is all you ever have to do. It's ugly,and that is the best thing I can say for it. I can remember stuff fine from years ago,but can't remember if I ate breakfast or took my meds. My plan now is to take my cars/trucks to local pro shops to have the work done to my specifications ,and my satisfaction. Sell one and use that money to finance the redo of others to make sure NOTHING gets scrapped. Have my 37 Dodge 1 ton 4x4 at a pro shop now for a total redo. Drove and enjoyed it for 3 or 4 years with the body on a 72 F-250 4X4 chassis with a modified 390 and 4 speed truck trans,and it was a real hoot to drive. Then somebody stole the windshield frame from it while it was parked in the yard,and it sat for a couple of years while I looked for a replacement. Had no idea the frame was almost rusted in half when I took it to the shop,so it is going back together with a 79 Dodge half-ton 4x4 chassis and Mopar crate 318 and auto overdive,power steering,and power brakes. Patch panels are being welded in this week. When it's done,it's going to get painted that bright lime green you see on new jeeps. Then I am going to drive it around with a for sale sign in the rear window while a friend does a complete redo on my P-15 coupe and the other guy repaints my dead stock 31 Plymouth coupe and puts brakes on it. Sell the 31 Plymouth coupe,and use that money to fix and sell something else,and repeat until either it or I am done. Going to keep my 42 Dodge business coupe as a project for ME,though. Doesn't matter if I get to finish and drive it or not,as long as I can go out to the shop occasionally and do something. I HAVE to have something to work on

though mine is a 54...it is a club coupe

I had one that was leaking bad and I could not swing a hammer to set the new one. I cleaned up the hole, and coated the sealing surfaces liberally with aircraft shellac gasket sealer. I rounded off the end of one of my old air chisel bits and used two quick blasts with the air chisel to set the plug. Worked like a charm.

Good looking truck Joe. Welcome You mentioned the rear brakes, does this mean you have inspected the fronts already? In my opinion it is worth going through the whole system. my parking brake cable was also stuck on a B4, I ended up pulling the cable out, cleaning it with a wire wheel and working it in a bench vice while lubricating it. Don’t loose those retainer clips ?

If there is enough room to get the electrode in, one can lay a weld bead with a stick welder onto the race. When it cools it will be loose and cam be removed. The weld shrinks the race a lot.

1953 DODGE Spring Special Lone Star Edition... Since hauling this Spring Special home, I've received congratulations from friends & co-workers for the find, as well as derision from neighbors & relatives for dragging more junk to the house. My plan is to restore this rarity to like new condition with a frame-off tear-down and rebuild+repaint. I've started by carting off three trash cans full of garbage out of the bed & cab, which revealed the original pine flooring and original maroon seat cover. A quick inspection has located a pin hole in the passenger hood between the handle and the emblem, as well as bondo on almost every fender. The only cancerous rust appears to be the rivet area on the front fenders. The drive shaft has a peculiar flat spot mid-section and is bent. This flat section corresponds to dents in both runningboards. The left front wheel cylinder, brake shoes & hardware were in the floorboard, as was the choke button. Missing is the throttle cable, ignition key and hubcaps. A little lubricant on the hinges & mechanisms, and the doors opened & closed almost effortlessly. The bed boards still had the original black paint underneath, with two boards split and no apparent rot. The original spare tire carrier is present, but it was bent when retrieving the truck from its hillside perch. Practically all of the wiring is present, though its insulation is broken in a few places, so the harness would only be good for a replacement pattern. From the gripe-fest I endured and the subsequent diplomatic tap-dance I performed a few days ago, I will be postponing the heavy work on this SpringSpecial until I have completed my great-grandfather's '48. It needs some frame work, a new wiring harness & tires, motor tweaking & detailing, and lots of sheet metal TLC + paint. Once we get the barn addition finished, it's next up on the queue for work. In the meantime, I reckon I can do the Spring Special little stuff quietly (refurbishing lights with shiny relfectors & bull's eye lenses, wiring harnesses, battery tray, etc.) while having the '48 in teardown. I have camera and notepad, so each will be getting fully documented...yeah, that's the ticket

Barn find finally on the road after 40 year storage.. Also has a few modifications...

Milo, sorry i hijacked your thread. Your coupe looks great, a job well done. An inspiration for me to finish my Suburban. How well does it ride and how does it drive? Is The V8 about the same weight as the flathead six? TKS for the update.

the move in 54 was to instill a bit longer looking car with the full headlight bezels...the bumper over riders to the rear. This mid line Savoy came from the factory with two of the three trim packages as standard...missing is the rocker trim...but I have a set of NOS trim not on it at this time and also on it but not pictured is the wire basket hubcaps by Cello....it is almost a full bling bling model...it is also a diamond code 230 with Powerflite automatic. NO PS or PB but the body is pressed for the booster to go in place, mid year model changes to keep abreast of the competition. The is also a slight change in the radio for 54 compared to the 53.

Left side goes in the same as the right side.

Do the simple things first.

I wouldn’t mind a ‘54 to sit beside my ‘53. Very similar cars body wise but very different trim.

I was just getting at if you possibly moved damaged or caused a wire to be chafed, shorted to ground etc. The transmission harness wiring usually is in bad shape on the old Chryslers. I've replaced many because it is such a important harness. I have had this same no upshift for no apparent reason on a couple of my cars. Both were caused by oil on the governor points. Another related one was low trans oil on a customers car. There is a oil pump in the trans that needs oil at all times to cause the upshifts. Even though it worked the day/week before flawlessly things change even when sitting. Seen that situation way too many times. Certainly frustrating.

Thanks for the concerns fellas. I don't think it's related to the pertronix as it ran good for the past four years. I believe I am running the correct spark plug wires. A friend of mine helped me with that when we put the engine back in. I always end up putting my foot in my mouth, but I'm certain my problems arise from my worn distributor. I'm going to eliminate that one way or another, let's put it that way. Right now I'm at a standstill with this other distributor that has a nicer shaft. The peened pin that goes through the shaft to hold it in place will not budge. I'm going to have to take it to work and drill it out. I'll likely end up with a larger pin in replacement. That's really the least of my worries. My bigger worry is getting this whole thing put back together and still having the same problems. Only one way to find out. Stay tuned....

Stay strong and God bless u if any of u are in California and need help let me know. Love to keep seeing ur knowledge passed on to me and other.

That's the end of my content for this thread other than responding to questions and tips we get from the pros on the forum . Welding, smoothing, and painting are topics each of their own. Don't forget to sweep up the floor around your panel when your through. I was told by my Dad, and then learned the hard way anyway, that its easier to keep the project moving along if you keep the worksite clean.

your supplied patch was fabricated to be inserted as an underlay and thus externally welded.....

I see only rust....and faded paint...there is no state of dress/oxidation on that metal that preserves the metal....actually there is so little rust overall...this is what my 54 was like when purchased...and though it was taken to bare metal all the way around...this is what 20 minutes on work will do to a surfaced rusted panel....this is actually less than 1 hour of work...

Mikorat, I’ve got two to finish now, my Suburban and my Sportster.both are nearly done. Bit I’m I’m too old and tired to start a third. Would love to turn it into this. I know this is a hardtop, but I love the colors.

dorman plug that loren mentioned is part number 568-010, 1 5/8 dia. I have them on my engine for about 5 years, no leaks. capt den

Thanks,had me a little worried once the doctors got hold of me. They eventually hit me up with enough chemo to fry my brain,so I don't worry about a whole lot anymore.

I put Pertronix ignition in a VW runabout that I built and run solid core plug wires. I keep waiting for it to fail. But, so far it fires right up. Have you checked your plug wires for resistance and are they carbon core or wire core? I think that early Pertronix could use solid core, but later required carbon core wires. Just a thought Worden, I’ve had carbon core fail in the past. That’s why I won’t use resistor anything in my older engines.

Oily points in the governor.. They are silver contacts...don't file them ..use electric contact cleaner on them. Too high idle speed...should be 450 to 500. Check the transmission10 weight fluid level. It's the middle filler plug on the pass side of transmission. Any wire that grounded that is in the governor circuit will cause no upshifts. Also a faulty carb kick down switch... Kickdown Plunger jammed in the depressed KD position...that would keep it in low range....never seen one do that though.

I bought a new tank from moparpro through Amazon for $250 and free shipping a couple months ago. It was black and looked original. I see one cheaper, that might be aluminized. I would contact the seller to be sure it is the original style and not a box style. When you disconnect your fuel line, fish out the brass ferrule from the old tank after you remove the line. Like JBNeal said, just peel your carpet forward to get to the bolts. Start soaking the nuts, so you don’t twist the hanger straps. Check how far the bolts go into the nuts and replace them the same. The new tank won’t seem to line up, till it is pulled into place. Take the left rear wheel off to get to the fill tube hose clamps. I did my replacement on a four post lift, so I wasn’t laying on the floor trying to wrangle it in and out. I hope that helps in any ways. After a year or so of driving my car, I determined my tank had pin holes in the pickup tube, I finally bit the bullet and replaced the tank.

Sorry for the long delay fellas. The new carb is fine. I'll have to read through Langdon's instruction sheet again to answer your question. I have other issues that are keeping the Meadowbrook in the garage. After taking a longer cruise with higher speeds and more acceleration, I realized I have timing/spark issues beyond a bad cap and rotor or plugs. All of those are brand new. It's the distributor itself. Someone mentioned worn bushings, etc. Not sure if that's part of the problem yet (I finally pulled the dizzy this morning... don't have it completely disassembled yet) as the shaft doesn't have any side play. It does have end to end play. Not sure if that is normal. What isn't normal is the wear I found on the end of the shaft (the tang); about .015 PER SIDE....that must be enough to give me erratic timing issues that are making the car run so poorly. lucky for me I have four extra distributors lying around that came with my truck. One of them has very little shaft wear and seems very solid. The distributor numbers themselves are slightly different, but the shafts are exactly the same length. I'm thinking I'm going to tear that one apart and completely clean it and put my pertronics back in it. I hope to make good progress on this tomorrow. I've never completely disassembled a distributor before, but I have a friend that is willing to help if needed. All I know is it makes me sick that I can't drive my car, so I need to get it fixed. This distributor problem is hopefully the last piece of this puzzle. There's nothing left to fix!

Either of the 2drs would be a rare and popular car here in Oz....we only ever got 4 dr Sedans and Utes.......even a set of 2 door doors would be a hot selling item..........lol.............andyd

Found out the metal shavings were from the oil slinger getting chewed up, it didn’t seem to have hurt anything so i just tossed it. Also there was a small dent in the timing cover so the chain was eating away at it some. So hopefully that’s the end of the worrisome shavings.

Thanks Tim. Learn something almost every day on this forum. Edit - I went looking to educate myself better as I had no idea there were both 1953 Plymouth sedans and club coupes, both 2-doors. I personally think the club coupe looks a little cleaner although I like both. Club coupe like original poster’s car. 2-door sedan with rear window division. Top car is a Cranbrook and second car is a Cambridge without stainless around windshield, no trim on hood, no little stainless fins, and no side trim either. To me, trim sure helps appearance although the Cambridge still looks nice.

All look like good things to have. I find the factory shop manual and the factory parts manual to be the two that I refer to most often. Regarding CD/PDF vs printed: The couple of manuals I got in electronic format I ended up printing and binding into books. Maybe I am old fashioned but it seems easier to me to use a printed item than look at one on a screen. Best of both would be to have a nice printed reference copy and then a PDF where you could print the pages needed for what ever operation you are doing for use in the garage or shop. The “shop copy” would be disposable so you wouldn’t fret too much about getting it grease stained, etc.

They are not the ones that came with the car but they are original '53 Plymouth wheel covers, just a better set. The car is Canadian and wheel covers up here were different than on US cars. Car is original including paint. Paint has lots of gravel rash and a few dings and scratches but I will never touch it. Being a Canadian car, it also has the 25" engine instead of the 23" engine US cars came with. This particular one is the 228 CID. Again original except for a set of rings and lapped valves about 30,000 miles ago. Presently has 102,000 miles. Your car is a 2-door sedan and there are not many of those around, really quite rare. Paint on it looks original or a repaint from some time ago. Very nice. I love the two tone on these cars as it really breaks up the single colour most of the 53's came with. I see you have the original door panels as well which are the same as mine except for the colour. Nice to see you also kept the original steering wheel and gauges!

Doug&Deb Here's a pic of the windsor. She is drivable but wanna get wiring and transmission done before driving her on road to much. As long as I don't need reverse she's good. Lol

Okay, I'm bragging a little. Nicholas ran a cross country race today and then came home and finished up the rockers. Down stairs Practicing trombone right now. Same drill last week too. He may have most of the heavy body work done this weekend. Only has the Quarter panels and some finder weld patching to go. Frank, I'm just about ready to give him his due now....

49 chrysler royal. Bought it at auction last October. It was painted in 1984 and put away for 35 years. Started but brake pedal went to floor. Replaced master cylinder, wheel cylinders, brakes lines etc. Also new champion radiator with new rubber everything. Plugs, spark plug wires, all new fluids etc. Finally got all my electrical issues figured out. Headlights, turn signals, brake lights now all work as they should. Got tags and insurance 4 weeks ago and have already put a few hundred miles on it. More this upcoming weekend. Only issues were running out of gas my first time out due to a gas guage showing full and shorting out the starter relay due to pressure washing it. Both my fault and this forum helped me out a lot. Interior is totally original and well worn. I plan on starting working on the interior this winter after putting a few hundred more miles on her. Gets lots of looks Jeff

Engine running or off? A thought. Email address would help if you want emails! ? DJ

The green14 ga. Cig lighter feed wire is hot full time. If it is green with white tracers....That most likely is the sparkling wire.

Can't wait to get her tuned up and get the wiring all good so I can enjoy some Fall cruising. Love seeing all the great lookers here.

Every Friday. It's the Veteran's T.G.I.F... I usualy go with the bike, a Harley Tri-Glide . Anyway this time I took The Plodge, so is my friend with his 41 International Hotrod.. Time fly , September only a few days away,, should be able to do a 1,000 miles (challenge) this year, so far I log 600 Miles with only minors adjustement.

I had to evacuate my vehicles down to a friend's house due to the fires near my house. Fortunately, after a week, the fire has been contained enough to where we and my junk can return home

Tonight was a fun evening worth sharing. We’re looking after our son’s pup for the weekend. We took him down to the river in the ‘38, for a swim. I bump into an acquaintance. We’re chatting while my wife is down at the water edge with doggie. He mentioned he was chatting with my wife recently. Somehow cars came up in their conversation. My wife had mentioned that “You’d laugh. My husband’s daily driver is a ‘38 Plymouth.” He replied, “Probably all hot-rodded up”. To which she replied, “No it looks like it came right off the farm. It's all stock. It's great!.... Lol. My wife has never told me that! She’s never said my ‘38 was great, to me. Neat to hear about it 3rd hand tho. ? We stop for some fuel. While I was checking the oil. a youngster approached to ask about my car. His family was a couple pumps over, gassing up. He looked To be about 14. Short hair, clean. Freckles. Sorta modern day Opie Griffith. “Excuse me sir, what kind of car is that?” We had a great conversation about all the old cool stuff he’d never heard of. I asked him if he knew much about cars. A bright grin full of braces stared back at me while he nodded and said “Yes!” I pointed out the oil bath filter. 6V, generator positive ground system. Manual steering and 4-drum manual breaks. He replied “my old ATV has drum brakes!” The aaoogah horn got a quick blast. The vacuum wiper motors blew his mind. He asked where the vacuum came from. I closed the LH hood half and we gathered over to the right side. We talked about intake vacuum and traced the hose thru the firewall and up to the wiper motors on the roof.....Beep! His family was honking at him to get back to their truck. They were leaving. Makes it all worth while. When the young kids are fascinated. Given a few more minutes, I’d likely have had him driving my ‘38. I said to my wife as they drove away, “he’s telling his dad about vacuum wipers right now”. Lol. A great night out and my wife loves my ‘38!

Most often I’m just a lurker but I do try to read some posts. I recently retired and one of the big perks is being able to drive my ‘50 almost every day this summer.

I had the old Dodge out for an enjoyable drive this morning. I enjoy living in an area where I don't have to deal with city traffic..?

Even though my car isn't drivable right now due to my trying to upgrade the ignition and instead needing to fix more broken parts, I still wanted to share a picture of her after seeing everyone else's beautiful cars. I've been taking the time instead to work on buffing out the old faded paint, and after spending a couple of days on just the front end I've got it to a pretty decent shine.

I used a 12" caliper to measure across the shaft to the opposite side shoe...top and bottom, to center it. Then across from shoe to shoe top and bottom .005 less than the ID of the drum. Worked well.

I have a original 1941 De Soto and a 1948 Dodge Leadsled,so I appreciate both styles.And I really like your Dodge.

I use a stick of wood against the brake shoe for the spring removal tool to dig into to prevent damage to the lining. It also works as an additional lever. That wheel hasn’t had a major brake adjustment, but the ridge on the drum will have to be removed for proper shoe adjustment. Considering your moves, it’s good you can find those boxes of stuff. I sure liked that barn.

Heat soak it the term used when the engine is shut off and left to sit. Quickly, everything bakes as there is no more circulating coolant moving heat away. Gas evaporating form the float bowl, and possible vapour lock in the fuel lines can be symptoms when heat soak takes it's toll. As @Worden18 mentions, you will see the temp gauge rise. This is prime time when you are most susceptible to problems as you attempt to restart the engine. That's been my experience.

I like the timing chain clock.

An interesting detail popped up while doing the initial inspection. Shown is the paint detail on the cab that denotes a SpringSpecial. But also shown is a plug in the bed fender for the hole that accesses a grease fitting for the rear leaf springs. It looks factory installed on both sides, but haven't ever seen these before, so I don't know if it was a SpringSpecial detail or a model year detail. I'm not sure why this truck has the center bumper guard in place of a license plate. The bumper guard is a B-1 / B-2 era detail, but this is on a B-4, complete with oval head bolt. From the stories I've been told and from what I've seen of the truck, this SpringSpecial was used for work.