NickPickToo

Cleaned up the ridges of the braces today. Leaving the rust in the center channel so that Por-15 will do it's work. We found an aftermarket universal brace on EMS that has the same width as ours so plan to splice it into attachment points 4&5. Attachment point 3 dips down to the brace so still looking for a solution for this. Attachment point 2 is in pretty good shape all said. Passed my first test, the doors fit and shut too.

PA, SB, thank you for this perspective. I'm learning so much more than how to restore a car.

Mr Andy, You need to talk your neighbor, "Dontknowitall" to stay connected.

I was that 15 year old just two years ago when my '47 Plymouth found me. I'd have been lost without the experience here. We need more "Don't-know-it-alls" on this forum.

Wow, I bet it was deceptively fast. I initially wanted to put in a V8, but dad played the older-wiser card, knowing that I'm still young and silly he didn't want me to have too much power. He mentioned I could put a bigger engine in when I'm older. After hearing the flathead, I don't think I could. Maybe someday a T-5 and re-gear the differential or a rear-end swap.

Please don't go. Someday, there's going to be a 15 year old who finds an old Fargo and will need your wisdom. Actually, the Fargo will find him/her.

I almost forgot how it looked as a full car until today.

Moving party today. A group of my dad's friends help us move the body back to the frame so we can make sure everything is lining up as we put the floor back together

Those were original to my '47, can't wait to get them back in

"I'm thankful for filler, sandpaper and paint. It makes me the welder I ain't"

Thank you! Does anyone have a view regarding the two approaches? My dad and I are leaning towards the first.

We can't put it off any longer. I Have to do the body work now. We've welded angle iron to hold the a and b pillars in place while we cut and weld in new metal, mostly related to the floor pans. Advice or comments about this placement of the angle iron? This is already covered in a prior post, but this thread is way too long...we plan to replace the sill plates, rockers under the sill plates and the extensions up to the cowell with new metal sourced for us by Mr. Brandon (the plymouth dr. he's conveniently just up the road a few counties). Most of the other work will be small patches here and there and then some "Mud" to smooth a few of the rough edges (got that term off watching youtube) We are thinking about two different approaches. First approach is to cut out the braces from under the floor pan and then reconstruct the braces as they would sit on the chassis. We would mark the alignment of braces to the floor pans so we could re-align the body with floor pans back into place. This has the benefit of more visibility and room to work on the attachment points on the end of the braces and then room to work on the other items without the floor braces in the way. The downside is that we will probably cause more damage to the mid-floor pan and potentially the tunnel as we remove the braces. We also run the risk of misalignment when we put it back together. I'm less worried about the mid floor as that can be replaced with simple sheet metal and the brace to floor attachment points are already tearing as you can see from the sewing machine like holes in the photo The second approach is to place the body back on the chassis and then rebuilt the brace attachments in place. Benefit of this is that the alignment is not disturbed. Downside is that I would be welding in tight spaces and we would have to work around the floor braces for the other work. Advice or comments on either of the two approaches?

Oh those are all private roads -- even the paved one in the sub near to us is considered a private road

Yes it was a fast pace. Dad was driving in this clip and he's more comfortable with a standard.

One more chassis only test drive video

"Mad Max, Furry Road" Yes, our dogs name is Max

We sealed all of them -- its really only a trickle, but enough to want to fix it

Fixed the carbs. It was the float. I'm able to get all gears now, and it rides great. Tracks straight and handles bumps well. A little oil coming from between the trans and the engine again. Going to have to figure that out. Little bit of fluid coming from two of the head bolts. Do I re-torque in sequence while its at operating temp or let it cool back down first?

Thank you all. Not overheating, but we didn't test it before putting it in and just thinking I'd like to be sure before we start putting body parts in the way.

Question. Is there an easy way to determine if the thermostat is properly working as the engine heats up. I'm certainly getting some flow because the radiator is heating up, but how you tell if that's just the flow from the bypass or from the thermostat opening up without having to take the Thermostat housing apart?

We found "Edmonds Custom's" on eBay. The filters are stacked, so I'm not sure it will fit under the hood yet. If they don't, it looks like a pretty simple modification to make them single.

The best part about the frame-off joy ride is that you can work on issues more easily with the body out of the way. This is what we noticed First, we know for sure the shifter linkage needs to be tightened up The second one is more difficult. After the engine heats up quite a bit it's stalling out. At first my dad suspected vapor lock, but there is another symptom we're not sure about. The carbs begin leaking at the seems and spitting out some of the crevasses. Perhaps its just poor gasket seals and loosening bolts? What is your experiences with these types of issues?

Here is a short video of my first drive https://youtu.be/nfRBovLJIWk

Okay what is Memorial Day without a parade, vintage car included.

This was helpful and funny. We got all four positions to work but now need to fine tune the linkage.