55 Fargo

Hi all, been driving the 47 the past few days. The outside ambient temps are low 80s, high humidity. I find my engine runs around 175 f, on the highway at faster speeds, and while travelling with the wind, it will climb to 185 f, this usually comes down as I begin to drive slower in town, or if I drive against the wind. No big deal here, I am content with these temps, I do think however, my engine temps would hit 200 on super hot/humid days at higher highway speeds, where the engine needs to work harder. I am still running a 160 t/stat, this means nothing as it will be fully opened after about 170 degrees, then the engine will run her temp. I am using a 47 Dodge honeycomb rad, it's very clean, and flows well, but is old, so it's heat dissipation capabilities, may not be what thtey once were. So what about you guys, what engine temps are you running in summer?..........Fred

Thanx Tim, and Bill. What you describe Tim, sounds like the problem, I notice it more when it's hot outside or evry humid, it's humid and warm here these days, but not hot, around the 80 mark and humid, today it's 72 but very humid, looks like a T/storm is moving in.....Fred

Hi all, noticed this on my car, after a drive in warm humid weather, it seems the carb is a little flooded, or something, when I go to re-start the engine. I do notice the engine can be harder to start after a good run in hotter weather, is this typical, this happens even when my gauge is at 175f. I have new 2/0 cables, a new coil,plugs wores rotor and cap, the engine starts excellent when cold. Is the harder to start a warm engine and old 6 volt thing? I wonder if a little of the gas is heating up too much in the carb. Oh well, so far no real issues to complaint about the car this summer.......Fred

Thanx Norm and Dennis, not sure exactly how I am going to proceed at this point, at least I have seats in there at the moment.

Greg, thats looking real good, like the paint combo, that paint once fully cured will buff and plosih up a lot more too, at least you didn't get butt ugly runs like I got with my 1st paint job.........Fred

Allan, you could buy my truck with a valid safety certificate for the $2500 to $3000, maybe even $3500, but for an as is truck that needs a about $1000.00 worth of repairs, not likely. I think once you price a vehicle well over , I may not get any interest, but hey I could be wrong. BTW, good to see you posting again,welcome back...........Fred

Yes thats always a possibility, although the back seat from an Intrepid or Concorde, is wider, but hat can be shortened, lengthening is more of a problem............Fred

Hi all, pulled the back seat , and front bucket style seats from a late 90s Concorde, leather or man made leather interior, dark grey in color. I then skinnned off the covering off the back seat and did a preliminary fit on my back seat frames, will work good, need more foam and hog rings to fasten the covers down. I am considering pulling my OEM split bench, and using the buckets from this car temporarily, not sure if this is a good idea, as I will need to make a bit of a frame for the buckets to mount on, and to get them up higher. Or I pull off the covers on the buckets, and try and get them to fit on my split bench, will need to sew in a middle piece to join the bottoms, but it can be done. I bough the seats for $20.00, so even if I scrap the idea, I am not out any real money. Any thoughts, ideas, how many of you out there not using factory front seats?..........................Fred

Guess What Greg, there is no sway bar under this front end, looks like I will have to pull the sway bar from the parts car. I also have a front end from a 1951 Plymouth, complete with the 10 inch brakes up front, not sure why my Uncle did this many years ago. So not sure if the sway bar from the parts car will bolt up or not, will need to take a closer look. By having no sway bar, will this cause a rough ride? I plan to grease with new air grease gun this weekend, and change oil again. Some of my mechanical corrections include the front end, need to still drop oil pan, inspect clean and reinstall.The steering box from the parts car will eventuially get pulled,rebuilt and installed in my car.........Thanx Fred

Hi all, re-registered 47 today, went for a bout a 10 mile ride. The car ran very well, all is well except 1 thing, the gravel road was a litttle rougher than normal, because of the recent rains. The car is steering fine, but man, is she rough in the front end department. Now I know I have no interior except seats and carpet, no insulation or matting anywhere, so sounds like a drum in the car, having the back seat out for the moment makes it worse. But this is not just noisy rough, it is front end rough, must be time for king pins, I have all new shocks, springs seem fine, tie rod ends are good, and there did not seem to be too much sloppy paly in the king pins when last checked. How does your 40s Mopar ride say compared to a modern vehicle, how much should I expect form the car as far as ride comfort is concerned?.....Thanx Fred PS, good thing I have a cheap paint job, as on the way back down the gravel road, the County Graders were out, so my car is being driven on rough gravel roads, no way I would shell out for any expensive paint job, as long as I live out here

Found leather seats out of a Concorde locally, just down my road, price if Free, will see if I can make these leather covers go over my seat frames or not.....

Hi all, was pleasantly surprised went to NAPA for 6 volt bulbs, they had new Wagner bulbs 1153,1154,1158, bought 4 of each, brand new made in China, so I guess the bulb companies are still making the 6 volt bulbs. Price was decent $15.00 plus tax. I also bought an oil filter NAPA Gold 1071 for our partial flow filters......Fred PS gonna continue with Castrol GTX20 W 50 oil

Thanx James, my memory is good, sometimes short though. I will re-read your post from before. Very interesting they still use flat tappet engines for the testing of oils. I would also think Chryslers full pressure lubrication would help a lot, say compared to the Chevy Stovebolt 6 splash system oil lubrication.......

Thanx for the advice, but I have enough on my plate as far as manintenance of vehicle and equipment, right now. The spring shackles are not overly expensive, but it's best to have it done in a spring shop, probably about $500 to $600 for the job. I am trying to sell this vehicle as is, or as a complete parts truck, otherwise, I would be asking a lot more than $1200 for it..........

No I am not replacing it, we have 2 daily drivers right now, a 2005 Dodge Caravan, and 2007 Pontiac Torrent AWD.

Okay I as using Shell Rotella T 15 W 40, then started using Castrol GTX 20 W 50. Now do these particular Oils have zinc? There is also an oil you can buy in Canada Duron straight weights 30 or 40 , it has zinc in it, should I maybe try these oils?

Hi all, I have to sell a 1994 Ford Ranger Truck, 2WD, V6 4spd Auto,Air ,Cruise Tilt, regular cab, aluminum wheels. The reason I pulled her off the road is the rear leaf spring shackles have rusted, something I have never seen on a Manitoba Truck, yes we have snow and salt, but usually winter is so cold, it is not a real problem like it would be in say New York State, Michigan etc. It needs spring shackles, a new set of shocks, and could now sue ball joints, othere than that everything seems fine for a vehicle safety certificate. I would or could sell her for around $2500.00, but am now thinking of $1200.00 as is, the truck has 120000 miles on her. What would this vehicle be worth in your locale, is $1200 realistic to get for a truck as is..........Fred

Ed, if they aren't too bad they can be bead blasted or acid washed and used again. I know on mine they used 2 different clips, onthe body they used the heavier type, which you bend down the tab, and on the doors, they used the lighter clips, that just push into the hole. These little mounting clips are a PITA, but wonder if there is any other way to mount them?

Okay I tried something different tonight. I used the old clip, that were broken, meaning the part that bedns to lock the clip into the hole on car body. So I used 1/4 inch bolts, 3/4 of an inch long, placed it into the clip hole, inserted in to the car body, and fastend it down with a nut and washer from the inside. It was a bit of a beeyatch to toighten the nuts down, but not bad with a ratchet box wrench. The side trim went on just fine, so this is another option. Now all of you who have broken clips and don't want them can PM me and send them my way, as I could use a lot more, to fasten down the rest of my side trim...........LOL

Hi all, I know some of you have recovered your own seats, some did from scratch like Greg and his Wife,Normscoupe bought kits from JC Whitney , some have stripped covering off old cars at the Pick and Pay Yards. I am needing to do my interior, I will order and buy a headliner, and windlace etc. But I will make door panels, kick panels, package tray too. I am thinking of taking a stab at the seat recovering/rebuilding too. I as some you may remember burnt my back seat( No Don C, my Wife as not back there with me at the time), so the frame and spring are fine, and the front seat has it's OEM material, but it is very rough and rotten. But the good news is the seat frames and spring are in relatively good shape. So how about some discussion on seat covering, ideas and pics would be appreciated. I know my car is a Chrylser coupe, and probably should have nice high end seat upholstering, but money is very tight for me at the moment, and I do not want to wait 5 years to do my interior. Plus all thet I save I can get my bumpers re-chromed. I had an estimate of $625 to rechrome both bumpers, and $650 for the grille which is a lot of pot metal, so very good prices for chrome work in Winnipeg..........................Fred

Shel I have 1 of these universal seals, so just cut to size, and use the 3 m weatherstrip glue into place, does it need clamps. How did you intall yours beside what you wrote here? I was thinking of cutting to size, then run bead of adhesive, then close cowl evnt to hold the rubber in place, is this gonna work? Does the rounded edge go upwards?.............Fred ps find any temp gauges lately

Shel I have 1 of these universal seals, so just cut to size, and use the 3 m weatherstrip glue into place, does it need clamps. How did you intall yours beside what you wrote here? I was thinking of cutting to size, then run bead of adhesive, then close cowl evnt to hold the rubber in place, is this gonna work? Does the rounded edge go upwards?.............Fred ps find any temp gauges lately