Logans51

Pretty sure thats what it was installed with looking how the "seam" is not even and you can kinda see it in the photo i included. Next time i am down there i will give the flat end and a bit more gusto a shot. Just didnt know how much i could get away with before doing more damage than good. and @Los_Control, its about a 4 and a half hour drive round trip. With my first child on the way and no room to do an engine swap up here, thats the main issue. Its no 1500 miles but its definitely far enough to make things not good. Toying with the idea of brining the good motor home with me and doing an out of car rebuild so when i can find a weekend a year or so from now, i can go back and do the swap. So far thats about as much of a "plan" as i got. haha

Nailed it @Los_Control. My happy place is in the garage working on something. Its a weird situation for me but its more about space and distance that is making my decision a hard one. It would be a lot more relaxing right now if i had more space to store it close to home but those are my issues to solve at the end of the day. haha. QUESTION: So when i checked the valve springs, i was able to get the head bolts out no problem but that head seems to be on there solid. Hence why i think if it was rebuilt or NOS, it has not been messed with in quite some time. I tried giving it a few wacks with a rubber mallet but no luck. I read on here a few different ways about making a "puller" jig and even black powder but before i go down those routes, any suggestions from easiest to last resort?

SMALL UPDATE Has it really been a month?! Ooof.... So not much progress with family life taking over most everything at the moment. Still up in the air as to keep or part ways with her because my son is due to arrive in a few short weeks and I am running out of time to make a final decision if i have the space/time for it. Sort of have a good news/bad news situation thus far.... Bad News I was able to get the carb off to start a rebuild (because that was frozen solid) and the radiator off to see about getting the engine in the car turning at all. No luck and pretty sure after looking at the plugs and in the plug holes and overall condition of the carb, its not going to move and will need to be taken out. Could possibly be why there was an extra engine to begin with. Good News So I decided to turn my attention to the extra 230 Power Wagon engine and started simple and took off the valve covers to see whats inside. From the markings, i believe it is out of a 49 but dont hold me to that. Now, i am no flathead or engine expert by any means but what i saw i could not believe. Not only after a few days of MMO down the shoots does she turn over fine, but it looks almost brand new in there (see photo). I tried looking at rebuild videos and pictures of the valves and normally see a lot of build up/gunk in this area but what you are seeing is with no clean up. Dumb question but is that normally what i should be seeing or is it a strong possibility this has been rebuilt at sometime or just very well taken care of/low mileage?

Thanks @knuckleharley! adding another item to the "destroyed by rust" list. haha. luckily the most she will be moving for a while will be off a trailer into a garage once i can get her home, so a full rebuild was on my list. was hoping for better news but was expecting that.

Thanks everyone and the plan for this weekend is to take out the old plugs, adding MMO until it cannot hold anymore, wait a day, add some more, repeat. Pretty much seems to be the consensus on that being the best idea for now. haha. Might give the fan a wiggle with the hand but i am not going to try and spin it this weekend just because i am sure it has not moved for quite some time and last thing i want to do is be dead in the water on both bodywork and engine. I will try and get around to removing a lot of other items like the tank and lines and check on the carb because i can only physically work on it on the weekends for now, so if i can bring some work home with me (like the carb), that will be best. After a good wash, the paint.....or should i say paints is rough. To our count, it has been redone at least 4 times with the original color being what we can tell Brunswick Blue. Pretty sure the same color as yours @SuperGas61. The top layer seriously came off in sheets because it looks like no prep was done before spraying. There is a lot of surface rust in some areas (which i honestly dont mind) and decent patina, so i think the wife and I decided best way forward for right now is the good ol 0000 SOS. I will make sure to take some pictures this weekend for everyone to follow along. NEWBIE QUESTION So the one area i will obviously be working on shortly will be the brakes and need some experts to chime in if possible. I searched until it hurt but i seem to be running into an opposite problem as everyone else. Car rolls fine, emergency brake works fine but the brake pedal is sized. Its like stepping on a rock with no movement at all. I have not dived into the system to see about sludge build up or possible blockages but i am just wondering if anyone has run across this issue and if you came across this, what would your order of operation be? I would rather not try and blow the system apart if i can first start eliminating small issues first.

Still out of likes for the day! Thank you again all for responding and please do not feel to sugar coat anything or say "sorry if im sounding mean". Not a fan of kid gloves and I value this places straight opinion greatly. Its why im posting. Sorry if i was miss leading for some but this is not my first project car "technically" speaking. My dad an I tackled a few when i was younger (69 mustang and a 55 falcon) along with a few newer cars over the years myself. I am not someone to back down from a challenge and the, "wash my hands of it" was mainly due to embarrassment on my end at the time i think and thinking bodywork can only be done not mere mortals such as myself. By no means is there really any investment on my end on this project and going back to what the misses said, why not use this as a chance to learn? Don't like the thought of failing but hate the thought of not at least giving it a fair shot. Lets take that tiny elephant bite first with seeing if i can get that old girl to wake up

Okay... so apparently i reached my limit of "likes" for the day because these responses and help is absolutely overwhelming and amazing. Thank you all. Special shout out to knuckleharley because holy hell man....that is above and beyond what i was expecting and for you to take the time to write that (all of you) is humbling. Thank you. UPDATE So yesterday the car was delivered to my families farm house and i got to look at it for the first time not covered in 30years of crap and up against a wall. Im pretty sure I get why they say dont buy a car in low light, in a barn where you cant see it all, and have no history on it; because it was defiantly a punch in the gut after drinking it all in. There is definitely rust and more than expected to say the least. I had a suspicion that the captains side may need a small patch but the drinkers side definitely has the flintstone modification for sure along with the rocker/sill are toasty. I got hit with the good ol licensee plates from the 70's under a lot of rubber mats but thats what i get for just jumping in. Plus side i suppose is a few neat old license plates? After seeing that and a few small areas in the trunk that will need some help, i wanted to just wash my hands of it. Just a blow like that after all the stress of "what the hell am i doing?" to only get hit with that definitely took a toll. I have never done massive body repair like that so seeing that is scary to say the least. So with my full day of moping yesterday in the 108 11 degree heat thinking "what the hell am i doing", it was my wife who kept saying "I dont understand why you are so upset. You wanted a project car right? Is this not what that means? Whats the rush? Why dont you teach yourself how do do that work? I would much rather see this in the garage with no floors for years vs some crap from the 1980s." I know...she is amazing. So after my wife put me in my place, i think it was decided to go at it one step at a time. Lets get that engine going and see where we stand. I will have weekends for the next few months to get this thing in "moving condition" so i can get it into my garage at home, so updates will be spread out and i will try and get some pictures soon! it was just too hot and i was mentally exhausted to do so.

Thanks Tom for the welcome and your 48 is beautiful. This is by no way a quick flip or cash grab and a plan out it being here for quite some time. Only thing i am looking to get out of it is learning as much as i can and hopefully pass something along to the next generation. There is no timeline and having dealt with classic cars before, i am aware any timeline i make, i might as well times it by 10. The only thing i would farm out would be the rust repair because i would want that done correctly by a professional. Rolling and properly patching is something i am not ashamed to say i know very little about. This will truly be a labor of love and hopefully a family project.

Hello Everyone! First before i get into the story, just want to say how amazing this community is for information and searching my endless amount of questions i have. You all are awesome for helping like you do and it is much different than most automotive forums i have been apart of. THE (LONG) STORY As all car men/women do, i was doing my daily car search hunting for something. My wife and I are expecting our first child come October and like my father did with me, i am on the hunt for something i can hopefully one day work on with the boy. Normally my searches skew a bit newer because most historic cars i can afford where i live are either out of my price range or made mostly of rust and speed holes to bring back around. I opened up my search and came across a 1951 Plymouth Concord business coupe that looked like it was dug out of the ground. The more i looked at pictures and read the description, the more i found myself saying "you know, there might be something here with this one." Luckily i was the first to see the listing and messaged immediately. The story is the gentlemen whom bought this car bought it from the original owner back in the 70's. He drove it around for a while but like most car guys of that day, he had a lot of other cars he had collected over the years and eventually parked it in an enclosed garage/barn. In the 90s, he brought it back out to make sure everything worked and to move it to a new garage/barn and there it would sit. Sadly, the gentlemen passed away in 2018 and the family decided to sell off a few cars as they had no real attachment to them. One was the 51 Plymouth. After talking with the family and seeing the few phots, i hopped into my car and drove out there the next day. From the photos, i was expecting this thing to be a flintstone model but after crawling all around and under it for a little over 2 hours, the only rust i found was a small 2"x4" hole right behind the door before the wheel well and the battery box/tray. The hole behind the door had not gone into the floor at all so it "seems" like an easy patch. All be it covered in a lot of surface rust and crud, there was not one trim or panel missing or out of place. Not one pinhole i could find in the trunk or wells. i was shocked. even the engine was all there along with a good amount of oil in it and what looked to be extremely cloth sparkplug wires. The family also told me at some point when he was still driving it around, someone saw the car and said they also had a Plymouth and had a complete flat 6 engine they were going to get rid of if he wanted to buy it. The daughter said it was just a stock engine but the mother thought she remembered the husband saying something about it having more power. Either or, he was not someone to pass up a deal and said if i wanted it, it was mine because it was just taking up space. At the moment, my plans are get it shipped to my garage and WASH/CLEAN IT! After those first 2 important steps, hopefully to get her up and running and slowly bring it back to life. With how original everything is I would love to keep it a survivor and hopefully one day teach my son about these cars and maybe pass it along. I plan on keeping everyone updated and will have tons of questions moving forward. To me, just being able to wash the 30+ years of crap off it might be worth it in my opinion. haha. THE NEW GUY QUESTION So my basic automotive history is my father and I worked on classic cars when i was growing up but nothing pre 65 and i have not touched one for 15 years i would say. I still keep up with learning as it is my passion. I know what i would consider the basics and enough to get me in trouble but would be considered a novice by probably most of you on the forum. Because this car has been sitting so long, my biggest fear is doing more damage when starting it. So my main question is....any advice on making sure its safe to try and start it? Im thinking first obviously throw some mystery oil down the plug holes and hand crank the engine to see if its even free. Next would be battery, oil change, check spark and wiring and the whole standard stuff. I will also check and clean the carb but have a rebuild kit on order and will obviously not be using fuel from the tank. I think my biggest concern is dry starting without priming the oil system. I have seen people prime the system by taking a spare oil pump and shaving the teeth off of it to prime the system but is that the only way? I do have a complete spare engine but would love not to do that if possible. I really look forward to being a member of this forum and hopefully one day i will get to end this thread with a video of it running and driving. -Logan