55 Fargo

Hey Shel, "wadda ya mean slow down", ah what fun is that, right now the road is groomed fairly well, always cruise at 40 to 50 mph down it. Now wonder it feels ruff, but I love driving this car, gonna go into withdrawl once I seriously start the bodywork, cuz she won't be driven at that time, till the bodywork and paint gets completed...........Fred

I have no idea, being a litght truck or SUV tire, it just may have a stiffer side wall. When I can afford new tires, I am thinking of Wallyworld Radials........Fred

No Rodney, did not order any rubber yet, just not in the financial cards this summer, infact I have a moratorium on any purchases right now with regard to the 47...........Fred ps Man that car is sharp

Bob, your rad is a non-pressurized rad to begin with, isn't it? Or do you have another rad than OEM type? If you have an OEM type, you could have a 100 lb cap, it will not build pressure anyway. Intersting, is your rad tube and fin, or honeycomb type, up here they will not touch honeycomb rads for rodding, they say it can't be done...............Fred

Again, as long as you are running at 175 to 190 degrees, and no more than 200, going up hills in the Redlands area, in the San Bernadino County heat, over 100 degrees these days, you should be fine. If however you are having issues with overheating, you better deal with this before a trek In So Cal, this time of year.............Fred

This is an early pressurized rad, I think, see how the top tank is flat on the top. The non-pressurized rads are sloped on each side rising to the center for those rads, the top overflow tube is on the top, above the filler neck level. On yours the filler neck is the highest point, as it should be, it will overflow at the filler neck if it needs to. I would go with a 4 lb cap, or a 7lb cap max, that should take care of that matter. With 50/50 antifreeze and water, and a 4 lb cap you should be good up to about 230 degrees or so, before it would boil over, but I would not let it go over 200 on a hot day, before shutting this engine down to cool, if you are running 175 to 190, that should bef ine, any more is getting hot, any less is an invitation for sludge. Only my inexperienced opinion however......................Fred

Although my tires are modern radials Good Year Wrangler RT/S, P205 75 15s they have miles on tem, and are about 7 to 10 yo, bought them used from a friend, he laos had them on his 48 Chrysler for a few years, lots of tread, but could be hard tire, they are getting old.

Hi Daniel, thanks for the reply good to hear from you. I have had her up on the air, when the vehicle safety was done in March, the mechanic said all was tight, with the exception of the steering box, a bit of play there. The car steers and handles well on gravel, it's just dang noisy and lots of vibration, far more than my modern vehicles. I do have brand new shocks on her, the springs were installed as the old ones were gone when I first got the car, there was really no front end. The interior is out with the exception of the seats and carpet, so it does get noisy as well, my radial tires have about 32 lbs of air in them, so should I deflate them to 28 to soften the ride, so to speak. The car sits nice, no sagging, so not sure if the rear springs are any good or not, they are old and probably need to be replaced someday..............Fred

Rodney, what an awesomely beautiful car man, you must be a proud Papa...........Fred

True enough Kevin, cuz on Pavement and on the highway the car drives nice and straight down the road, corners and steers fairly well, I do have a little play in the steering box, and adjusting it anymore is not an option, it needs to be rebuilt.........Thanx Fred

Way to go Bob, looks like you Folks had a great time................Fred

I enjoyed that Normspeed, took a while for me to download it on dial-up. Looks like you are enjoying puttin the peddle to the metal every chance you get. You would like the wide open highways out here, sometimes with next to no-traffic, you could get her up to 100 mph, flying down a lonesome highway..............Fred

Randy, this is a good idea, as the last time I greased her up was early spring, the car was not jacked up, some of the zerks did not want to take any rease easily. I remember an old time mechanic telling me he would heat up the parts to be greased, especially if theyhad sat a long time, apparently this would allow the new grease to be injected into the part that wsn't greased for years and was now stiff with hardened old grease...............thanx Fred

No the shocks are fine, exact match for the OEM shock, it's just an old car ride on gravel, is a little rough, not really a big deal, just figure, maybe I need king pins or something, plan to rebuild the front end in the future............Fred

Hi Normspeed, tire pressure is 32 lbs, steering box is tight to the frame, on pavement she is tickety boo, on gravel a little rough, as I have mentioned the noise is from lack of insulation inside, and the interior is out, so once that is done, it will be a lot quieter, I am sure............Fred

Hi all, I am trying to figure out the source of my rough ride on gravel roads, going over railway tracks, potholes. My 47 Chrysler Coupe, has not had new parts installed into the front end, she has a decent set of used coils up front, new shocks front and back. The tie rod ends are in good shape, the king pins have a bit of play, but are fairly tight. The car sat for a long time, before it started geting driven on a regular basis, it sat for about 20 years or more. I do have interior noise, because my interior is out, no head liner,door panels, insulation, just carpet on the floor and OEM seats. I am more concerned of the rippling vibrations on gravel roads. Could this be, body mount rubbers, or king pins, or control arms, any ideas? I do not expect the Coupe to ride like my 2005 Dodge Caravan, but it definately needs something..............Thanx Fred

If the rad is also from the 50s engine ,it was a pressurized typee, if this be the case, a 4 lb cap or maybe a 7lb cap should be the correct application. The pre 1950 rad had an overflow tube on the top tank, so in the event the cpoolant pukes up, it will exit the top overflow tube. In the pressurized rads, the overflow tube is in the filler neck, when the cap seal rises up, under presure the coolant can then exit out the overflow tube. Not trying to be condesending to anyone, this is how these rads are designed to function. I would also advocate the "Lou Earle Electrosol Internal Scrub", this works great, and does no harm to the engine, it does a lot of good actually.....................Fred

if it is a converted non-pressure rad to a pressurized, where is the top overflow tube? I am not sure why this may haqve been done, please post a pic of the entire top of the rad, Mopar rads 1950 and later were pressurized, they still looked fairly similar to the non-pressure rad.

1951 and later rads, look just as this rad in the picture, a pressurized design, there first models of this kind. I had one on my 47, it was from a 1951 Dodge, I eventualy replaced it with the non pressurized rad from Tim Adams, the pressurized rad is in Norway, in Kingsway 52s car..............Fred

This my friend is the first of the pressurized rads that Mopar used, and should have a pressurized rad cap. Go to NAPA, and buy yourself a 4lb rad cap, that should take care of business just fine. This rad is not designed to run with a non-pressurized rad cap, this is a 50s engine and is designed to run with a 4 lb, and someitmes up to a 7 lb cap and system.....................Fred

Hi Joel, here is a pic after the car was brought home, and it was worse before this pic was taken. No glass, no brakes, no gas tank, no lighting, no seats, not interior, on exhaust, a real basket case with rusty rockers and floors. I have been real busy with her over the last couple of years, she would be finished, but it's about money, I have done 95% of the work so far myself, and lots to go, don't look forward to the price of having the bumpers rechromed, or some of the pot metal pieces. I will never take on a car project this rough again, it was really only in the parts car category. The car was fluid dirve originally, it has an engine and dry clutch 3spd trans from a 1951 Dodge, and a 3.73 diff, I kinda like this combo. I also own 2 other 251 engines, my engine is a Canadian 25 inch 218 longblock , included is the pic of my engine as it is now. ....................Fred

Joel, here is the car in question, it is a 47 Chrysler Coupe, in primer right now, and in need of a ton of body work, lots of highs/lows, small dimples and dents, some stretched metal. BTW, I am located 1200 miles or so north of you on I-29 to Manitoba, just over the Border in Canada...........Fred

Truck looks good, like the color, amy go for something like that on my 47 coupe. My ? is this, my car has been primered with Tremclad (Canadas Rustoleum) grey primer, it was reduced with medium enamel reducer, then sprayed on 3 coats wet on wet, this primer is great, and has very good sealing properites to it, I have washed my car several times, and no rust has developed. Should I do my bodywork next, ie filler, on highs/lows dents, etc, panel alignment, then prime over with the NAPA crossfire 2x, or should I do the bodywork, lay on 2k epoxy primer, then use high build primer/surfacer after this. Just looking for ideas....................Fred