Norm's Coupe

We went from summer to fall in one day too. Thunderstorms last night, today a little rain and lots of 30 to 50 MPH winds to go with it. Still very windy out there and only about 43 degrees now. But.........have no fear. As we say around here. If you don't like the weather, stick around for 10 minutes and it'll more than likely change. Tomorrow and the rest of the week it's supposed to be sunny with temps in the mid to high 60's. Little rain in the picture for Thursday and Friday I think.

You are correct, the dual master cylinder alone will not give you power brakes. However, unless you have a hemi in there that you plan on driving at 100 MPH, you really don't need power disc brakes in our cars. Mine will put you through the windshield (so to speak) if you hit them really hard. I'm only running the 218, front disc from ECI, original master cylinder with residual valves added inline, and original drums in the rear.

I like the heavy duty vinyl too. Mine seat covers are very heavy vinyl with double pleats, made by AutoCraft and ordered through JC Whitney, made from original seat patterns for the cushions. You have to order flat stock to match for the seat frame and door panels. Or, you can go with different colors. You can also order custom two tone seat covers from them on special orders. The AutoCraft pleated covers are also padded and lined so nothing goes through the cover to the seat. The vinly has a leatherette pattern to it. For just the seat covers to do both back and front I think the price is around $300 today through JC Whitney. It's in their catalog. Of course, then you have to install them yourself, or pay someone else to do it. I did not do my seat frame. Believe I have enough flat material left to do it with, but I decided to leave it just like it is with the old patina on that part. Norm, this is actually maroon, but you can get red if you want. If you guys are interested you can order swatch samples from JC Whitney in the colors your interested in. They use to send those out at no charge.

You might check ECI's website too. http://www.ecihotrodbrakes.com/index.html . They make several different under floor dual master cylinders. They also have a good FAQ and instructional page.

Bob, You really don't need a buffer to get the paint off the stainless. I bought a set of 53 Plymouth full wheel hubcaps at a swap meet that are stainless. Two of them had a lot of over spray paint on them. The others were just covered in dirt. All I used to clean them all was an SOS pad. Came out real nice, and there are no scratches, and shine real nice. I also use SOS pads on the stainless on my coupe. Never scratches and always nice and bright. You just have to keep a fresh soapy pad and use lots of water with it. Works like a charm and a lot easier than buffing. Also use the SOS pads on my bumpers without a problem.

I don't buy off ebay. I can buy the Shield brand name cover to fit my coupe in the local auto parts store. Never priced them in the store, but online they run about $60. So.......I'm guessing it would be about $50 or less in the store. That was one of the cover companies that I mentioned I called. They are also the ones who warned me about the weight of it leaving the fabric pattern in the lacquer paint. Because of the type of paint, they recommended not to use a cover. When I talked to the factory that makes Cover Craft covers, they didn't seem to worry about that happening. But........their covers for my coupe would run around $350 to $375 with shipping, and that's through JC Whitney. So........for that price I can get the cheapie paint job from Maaco with modern paint. So.....makes no sense to me to cover a car with old paint that needs repainting for that kind of money. Especially since I was thinking about getting it painted next year. Don't know what kind of cover you bought. But........some covers that don't breathe will cause your paint to peel. I had that problem on a 70 Impala back in the early 90's. Had a cover on it all winter. Pulled it off in the spring and a lot of the paint was peeling off from the trapped moisture. Sometimes it's better to let the rain and snow hit the car. If you brush off the snow, it will dry off from the air hitting it, and do no damage to the paint. Things like tree sap does more damage to the paint than rain and snow will ever do. I do have the coupe parked in a spot where no trees are hanging over it, to prevent that from happening. You might want to call the telephone number on your box, paperwork, or on the tag to see if yours will trap moisture or not. If it does, I wouldn't use it. A lot of covers are only rated for inside use, or if you take the cover off several times a week. Those are always the cheaper ones that are only good for keeping the sap and dust off a car, and that are driven on a regular basis.

Whatever you guys do, don't buy a big brick of each of the compounds, unless you are going into the polishing business. I got carried away by the moment once at a swap meet and bought one each of the large bricks years ago. Even though I've polished a lot of items with them, the bricks are still almost full bricks. Buy the small little sticks, they'll last you a very long time. You can check with a buffing supply house to see which wheels to use for which. They should have a sheet listing the proper type of wheel for whatever you need.

If you want to handle all the work involved, go ahead and start a new thread. If you get enough interested I'll look up the guys name and phone number and give it to you. He does have a website too, but I used the phone to contact him. He also sells a lot of different toppers like Gilmore, etc. on ebay.

I'll second that.

I've seen a lot of cast iron car and truck parts used as a stand base too. Even old wheels used as a base with just a pipe welded or bolted to it.

Is this the topper you are talking about. If so, I may be able to have some more made up. I had them made up several years back. Back then I had to order at least 10 to get the guy to make them. They are cast aluminum. He gave me a price that worked out to about $30 each final cost for all of us after shipping. However, to get that cost for everyone I had to have them all shipped to me (one location), then reship them to those who ordered one. If he had shipped them to each individual the cost would have been about $40 each with shipping for each individual. That was back when there was only about 100 to 150 people on the forum. I think at least 75 to 100 people told me they wanted one. But.........when it came time to order the first batch, I only had actual orders for about 12. Would have kept doing that, but never had 10 people who wanted one after that. So.........no more was ever made. If someone wants to take over all the ordering and gets at least 10 orders, maybe the guy would make some more.

I doubt you can buy a new coil the same size as the old one. As for buying a new bracket, I guess that would be possible. But.......that would be easier if you took the new coil and the spark plug holder & old bracket into the store with you, then letting them try to match it up. That may turn out to be a wild goose chase though. Only other way to get a bracket to fit, without using spacers would be to make your own strap to go over the coil. Using the rubber as a spacer is much easier. I also suppose you could look for an old NOS coil with the ridges like original. But.........then even if it's claimed to be NOS, it could actually be used and no good. Many times people would replace a working "weak" coil with a new one, then put the old one in the box to use as a spare in an emergency. Then after that person died, the people selling his stuff just thinks it's new because it's in a box. So........I would not buy old NOS electrical parts like the coil for that reason. A "weak" coil may work great when it's cold, but when warm/hot, it won't work at all.

Shel, You must have missed that before. Those were started a few years ago (think the same year of the buried 57 Plymouth was being dug up). I think one of our forum member either runs that site, or he just got them to make them up. Don't remember which.

Unscrew the screw on top of the horn bell and remove the cap. Then blow out the sand with the air hose. Put the top back on and see if the horn still works. If not, they can be readjusted, but don't mess with adjusting them until you try just cleaning them first like I mentioned.

I'm assuming it did not fit because the new one is a little smaller in diameter than the old one was. So....the bracket would not tighten down around it. I had that problem too when I bought a new coil for my coupe. Easy fix. Just take a piece of old inner tube, cut a small piece and put it between the coil and the bracket to act as a spacer, then tighten the bracket down. Then the coil will not move, and if you do a neat job of it, you won't see the inner tube between them all that much. If you don't have an old inner tube, use some other piece of rubber about the same thickness.

Without actually going out to check, I believe the one I use as a buffer is only running about the same speed as Tim's (around 1750 RPM's). Like Tim said, even at that speed you'll sometimes burnish the polish, then have to rebuff to get it clean. This and the tipping comment brings up another point. Why do they make and call electric or air tools of any kind power tools? The answer is simple. Because the tool will do the job with all the power that is needed, with little effort from the worker. I've had people locally say their table saw is too light and it tips, their grinders/buffers tip, those cheap drill bits they bought burned up, and even the good ones burn up, their drill burns up when they use it, etc., etc. Then if you watch them use one of those power tools in question, they are usually trying to hurray the job by pushing the item through the saw with too much force, pushing on the item being buffed or ground too hard, or laying on the drill to force it through whatever they are drilling. If you let the "POWER" tool do the work, you'll have none of those problems, and save money on buying or sharpening drill bits, saw blades, etc. When using a power tool, one should just relax, hold it or the item firmly and let the tool do it's own work, in it's own time. Visit a machine shop sometime and watch a drill press, etc. in action. No one is sitting on top of the press or adding extra weight to push the drill through. The machinist is usually just sitting there watching the tool do the work.

I'll call that and raise you with this. This is hanging on my garage wall, complete restored steering wheel. Have another horn button in the cabinet, but........not selling the one on the wall or the one in the cabinet. I like the steering wheel on the garage wall. Makes nice garage wall art. Michael, Your car does look nice. Nice engine compartment too. But.........I'd pick up a new coil from the auto parts store for a spare. From the shape of that one, it looks like it's very old. Newer ones don't have those ridges in them, they are smooth on the sides. Looks like the previous owner just cleaned that one off and painted it.

Like the others said, you may have damaged the crank with a bad rod. But.......when I and my cousin were teenagers with no money, we'd just drop the pan and put in a new rod bearing and bushing, and drive it down the road. I never had that problem myself, but he did. He was always hot rodding and street racing his car. Once when we did that we got the bearings so tight, we couldn't start the car. Had to go back under and loosen them a little. (You guys are right, we did not torque them. Didn't have a torque wrench so was done by feel). That made him good for a couple more months or so of hot rodding and racing. So........maybe you can do the same, but leave out the hot rodding and it'll probably last longer that way. Might check that fuel pump as Merle pointed out too. I just had that problem with my rebuilt engine last year. The fuel pump started knocking real loud. Sounded like either a rod or valve problem. Replaced the pump and the noise disappeared.

Yep, he's an official member of the Old F..ts Club too.:D

Randy, Don't let old Don get to you about building models. Hey that's a hobby too. Personally, I don't like building them. I have several very old plastic models in a box that need building that were given to me. Came out of an old bicycle and hobby shop that my wife's father owned back in the late 50's/60's. But........just not my thing. I do like collecting them though. Just ran out of room on the shelf's and cabinets to put them on and in. So.....stopped collecting them for that reason only. As for making money off building them. Well........wife does her knitting and I do a little woodworking crafts during the winter. Of course, we can't use all we make, so........what we can't use, we just give it away to the church or some other charity and let them give it away, or sell the stuff to raise money they may need. We got our money's worth by just making the stuff.

Ralph, I'm with you on going to swap meets. I use to go to between 3 and 5 meets a year. Did that for about 17 years straight. As you said, you don't always find any parts for your car though. But........it was still a fun outing with the guys walking around looking at all those junk parts. Even if I didn't find any parts I needed for my coupe, I would always come home with something for some other car. Then I would clean it up and sell it on ebay or use it as a trade for something else. About the best outing was when I found a box full of parts taken off one car. All trim pieces, including a rare hood ornament in perfect condition, except for washing it off. Only paid $35 for the whole box of parts and sold them on ebay for about 800 to $900 total. That money eventually went back into my coupe. So.........even when you find no parts for your car, you can still buy other parts, make a profit, and then buy the parts you really need using the money from those profits. So.........you won't hear me saying it's a waste of time to go to a swap meet.

A private garage at someones house would solve the problem. But........I've had a post up on our neighborhood website since 9/3, had no replies as of yet. There are no houses for rent in our neighborhood. They don't rent houses in our neighborhood, you have to buy it. Do have a few that are for sale. However, if I rented one of those garages, I probably would have to get the car out if the house was sold in the middle of winter. I did think of that possibility before, but decided against it for that reason. That's what puzzles me about the insurance company's policy on they won't cover gang storage parking. They will cover me if I was to rent half of someone's two car garage, even though that person would be driving in and out of the garage daily. Now, does that make sense? The place I was going to store it in only allows you to put the car in the barn in fall, then leave it there until March or April. If you take it out of there in between you can't put it back. There is no daily in and out traffic.

Ralph, As he said in another post, he doesn't have time to waste reading, so how would we expect him to waste time walking around a swap meet. Ya know, looking back at his original post, it was dated 9/9/09. In that time he could have stripped his old plastic insert, painted it, and then buffed it out with some plastic polishing compound and it would look just like new again. And, that would have only wasted about 2 or 3 hours total labor, spread out over that same period of time. Not only that. But.........he could have taken his old horn ring, horn button bezel and other small chrome parts to a plating company and had them back looking like new again by now, for just a few hundred dollars. Now, who's wasting who's time?

I have two grinders/sanders, both on stands. One stand is a very old cast iron stand that weighs a ton. I made the second stand and it doesn't tip either. Stands are easy to make if you want a heavier one than the cast iron ones you buy today. I simply placed a 2 1/2" pipe in a plastic 5 gallon pail, braced it with pieces of wood 2x4's in the pail, then filled the pail a little over half full with cement. Welded a piece of flat steel to the top of the pipe and mounted the grinder on that. Now, that one did walk when in use. So.........just took an old rubber mat and place it under the base when using it. That stopped the walking problem. It doesn't tip either and is very easy to move around. Either one, I just tilt a little and roll or walk it to where I want it when I use it. Brand doesn't matter that much. One of mine is a home made job out of an old motor I had. Have 3 other motors laying around like it. All came from various things like old saws and appliances. The other grinder was made as a double shaft grinder. Don't know the brand off hand as it was used when I bought it from a place going out of business.

Guess I should have mentioned. There's a flower bed on each side that I'd have to ramp over. Would also have to be high ramps to get over the Rose of Sharon bush. Actually, if it wasn't for that Rose of Sharon bush I could get through there. But.........I'm not about to move that. I had to dig the hole for the wife and it took me about half a day to do that. Was a 5 or 6" Maple tree root right in that corner of the bed where we wanted it. There was also an old electrical line from the house to the garage in conduit right next to the tree root that had to be cut out. That's why it took so long to dig the hole. Had to cut those things out before we could finish digging the hole.