fhubler

This is one of the coolest looking cats I've ever seen.

A fine bristle brass brush goes a long way as well, especially in areas you can't reach with 00 steel wool. Take the extra few minutes to run a width of good, quality masking tape any place the trim meets the paint to protect it. Make sure the car is completely dry before starting & blow the residue off of the paint as soon as you finish. You want to make sure all of the steel wool residue is off of the car before it gets wet again.

Greg, here's why I think a new water distribution tube may be in order... It's the original one in there, along with the original water pump. The engine warms up at a normal rate & runs steady at 195-200 deg. in operation at any ambient temperature. An IR temperature gun shows higher temperatures toward the rear of the water jacket (10-15 deg). The dash gauge & the IR gun show the same temperature at the sending unit (measuring the same temperature from the same location). The previous owner replaced all of the hoses, the belt & had the radiator professionally cleaned & pressure tested. The radiator is providing about 20 deg. cooling at idle (195 at the inlet, 175 at the outlet). I do not suspect any timing issues with the engine. The heat riser is missing the counter weight & is being held open with a hose clamp. That will also be rebuilt. The engine fires right up under all conditions (still 6V + ground), idles smooth & produces smooth, even power through the rpm range.

Everybody forgets something sometime. After I put my A back together, I drove over an hour before the front shocks fell off. Not bad for finger tight...

Thanks, Greg. I did not think of the mounts. They are original, like most other parts of the car, and have dry rot cracks. I do plan to replace them due to age. We'll see if that changes anything. I think checking the relationship between engine alignment & the vibration makes a lot of sense because the angle of the car when I come to a stop seems to make a difference. I will wade into the things that need attention on the car after Christmas and see what I get done over the winter. Motor mounts might make sense when I have everything apart to change the water distribution tube (if I have any sanity left after that job).

I'll tell ya, though - after driving a Model A for 3.5 yrs., the Dodge is like sitting in the library. When you start hearing a noise in the Dodge, you think, "something must be wrong...", when you stop hearing noises in the Ford, you think, "something must be wrong..."

It's not hitting anything - I jacked it up & crawled under there to have a look. It vibrates so much, you can see it - like when Bugs Bunny runs into a closed door...

Question for the group. Under certain circumstances while at a stop with the clutch out & the fluid drive engaged, we get a vibration toward the center of the exhaust system strait pipe about midway between the muffler & the kick up over the rear axle. It is like the kind of vibration you get in the middle of a recurve bow string after releasing an arrow. The previous owner had the exhaust recently replaced. If I put it up on jack stands, leave it idle with the parking brake on & the clutch engaged, it will stop if I put some pressure sideways on the strait part of the exhaust with my foot. Any ideas? Would a short flex pipe right after the down pipe like a modern car often has be a possible solution? Could it be the new style hanger they put on? It will do it maybe one time out of ten when coming to a stop on the road...

Beautiful car! Can't wait to see some pictures of the interior as well... There's nothing quite like the feeling of cleaning up an original old car - they're only original once! Very nice work!