Dan Hiebert

I had seen that, but the model numbers listed still didn't match. I haven't gotten to the contacting vendors point just yet. Thanks for the heads up!

I have been looking for a carburetor kit for our '48 D24. It has been about thirty years since I rebuilt it, with an occasional thorough cleaning in the interim. Meaning not removed, but the exterior thoroughly cleaned with carb cleaner and lubricated where appropriate, and adjustments checked with so far never a need to tweak anything. Until two years ago I've had absolutely no problems with it (didn't run the car at all last year) when the car began to be difficult to get started after it had been driven. After the initial "normal" spring start up this year, it has been difficult to get started all the time, yet runs quite well once it gets running. It may be coincidence, but this all started after I put a new fuel filter in it, somewhat bigger than what I had been running. Reading the "hard start" threads, I want to rebuild the carb. I have not removed or disassembled it because I haven't found a matching kit. Here's the rub, the carb in our D24 is marked BXUV-3, rather than BXVD-3, and the carb number is 3-77. I have found kits for "BX series" carbs, but then the numbers don't get below 3-82. It is my understanding that "3" indicates the carb was built for Dodges, and "77" is the sequential application or model number, meaning it was the 77th version of that carb. Outwardly, it looks exactly like a BXVD carb, but I know the differences would be internal. Do any of you sage individuals know whether or not a BX compliant kit will work on this carb, even though the model number doesn't exactly match? I imagine the main things I will need will be the leather accelerator pump piston, the gaskets, and the float needle, so this may be like playing with hand grenades...close will be OK? I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to past discussions on the different carburetor topic, because I didn't need to at the time, and until today didn't know I had a different carburetor than normal. I haven't exhausted all sources, yet, but that difference in numbers is throwing my searching off, and I wanted to ping you'uns for advice before I get frustrated. The filter wasn't in a good place, so I removed it altogether. It was still hard to get started, but there was no fuel in the line from the carb to the pump.

So, to answer your question, 7.10x15s are OK for your car. I don't know off hand what the original tire size was on '51s, but there is a good chance that is the original size tire for your car anyway, or really close to it. 7.00x15 was the original size on our '48 D24. You will have different handling and ride than you do with the radials, but it's hard to beat the WWW bias look. I was awfully fond of the bias plies on our D24, but they were not a good match with the general condition of roads in this area.

Yes, look at how many PSI you have in the tires, that may be all you need to adjust to get a better ride. I have radials on our D24, there is a big difference between how 32, 30, and 28 PSI rides. I keep 28 in mine for the best ride. Depends on the weight of the car, and our cars are not as heavy as people think. Too much PSI and they ride like an ox cart.

Some call the panel(s) I'm talking about "gravel shields", but I've always called them valance panels, even though Dodge called them stone deflectors. I'll go with stone deflectors here. They're the panels that fill the gap between the bumper and body/grill. The panel that fills the space between the bottom of the radiator and grill is the "radiator front dust shield". There is a "lower radiator crossbar" that goes between the lower inner corners at the front of fenders. For reference, the front of the dust shield attaches to that crossbar. The lower rear of the grill is also attached to the front of that crossbar, you have to access the nuts from under the car, at the rear of the crossbar. They're kind of a PIA to get to because they're in the bottom of that u-channel that the crossbar is made from. The stone deflector is attached to the bottom of the grill from underneath as noted above. The brackets at the bottom of the grill accommodate the screw holes for the stone deflectors, as well as the studs that mount to the crossbar. So, to sum it up, there are two rows where the bottom of the grill attaches to the car, from underneath through the stone deflectors, and from the rear through that crossbar. It took me a bit to get my head around that when I took my grill off the first time, then a while to remember that when I did it the second time - both many years ago.

Yes, as Doug&Deb notes, the bottom of the grill is also attached to the valance panel. Access those bolts from under the car. I didn't break the bolts, I broke some of the brackets they screw into. The current grill in my car is a replacement that was pulled by someone else, they broke the brackets as well, so I only have two bolts holding the grill onto the valance panel.

I found a lot 6v bulbs, including for the dash, at YnZ Yesterday's Parts; ynzyesterdaysparts.com. They had some obscure ones I needed for our Terraplane, too.

The door latching mechanisms were not originally painted, they were installed at the factory after the body was painted. The color on your firewall and inside lip of the fender are your car's original color. Plymouth would have called it something else in 1940, Dodge called it Fortress Gray in 1948. MoPar kept the same basic color palette for several years in a row, but named the colors differently between the makes and years so the consumer would think they're getting something new or different. Supposedly we can thank Henry Ford for Phillips head screws being prevalent in auto manufacturing, reasons as Donaldsmith pointed out.

The bugbear of working on cars after a PO didn't have any attention to detail and/or took shortcuts. Those terminal blocks ahead of the radiator are essentially out in the weather, they are on my annual service checklist to look for corrosion.

The two knobs either side of the Dodge emblem below the speaker - the one on the left turns on the dash lights, off / low / high. The one on the right turns on the map light that is behind that emblem.

Your interim plan looks good to me. I prefer originality as much as possible myself, if it's in presentable condition. But originality that looks and smells bad (not that well-seasoned old car smell, that always reminds me of my Grandpas' cars) just doesn't blow my kilt up. For consideration, this is what I did with our D24; There were no kits available back then, either. I did not take the car to an upholstery shop, and like you, I didn't have the equipment, or see myself doing all that work to do the whole thing myself. This being 30 years ago there were options available for materials that closely matched the original, in theory there should be more now. But I had a reputable shop make a kit for me with non-original style materials, but original patterns. I don't know where they got the patterns, but it was an old well-established shop. If they had needed something from my car for a pattern they would have asked, but they didn't. So, a local shop made the kit, and I installed it. A little more expensive than if a kit had been available off the shelf, but significantly less expensive than taking the car to a shop. Original appearing materials are available that are more durable than the original, and that the vast majority can't tell the difference in appearance.

The scroll of credits at the end of the story... I ended up with three original radiators in hand. All of them leaked. I took each one to radiator shops and they all failed the pressure checks. None of the shops anywhere in Maine could even get to rebuilding one during 2022, a couple didn't even want to do the work at all. We ended up taking all three to American Honeycomb in Bowdoin, ME, a shop that specializes in antique and collector auto radiator restoration, for them to make one radiator out of. One upper tank had the original equipment Dodge part number on it, and happened to be in the best condition, the other two had Dodge replacement part numbers - one of which was the one in our car, even though I'm pretty sure it was the original radiator, but there's no way to be sure. Anyway, we opted to have a recored unit built with a close to original style core (the original Diamond pattern is no longer made, the closest pattern, only available from England is an Auburn pattern core). I took it to American Honeycomb in November and got it back in April - actually a month ahead of schedule. That was the same basic timeline I got from everywhere I checked in New England. I'll wager that it looks better than a new original, I was almost afraid to put it back in the car for fear of scratching it or getting it dirty. Big difference between a mass produced unit, and one that a craftsman paid singular attention to. I won't go into the cost, it was indeed expensive but cheaper than we had planned for, and I'll never have to worry about it again. Only downside is that now I'm compelled to clean up the engine bay to keep the radiator in good company. The proprietor of American Honeycomb is a really good dude but is semi-retired. You have to call him first, but it doesn't take a whole lot to talk him into doing some work for you. (The email address earlier in this thread is no longer in use, I did everything by phone.) He's keen on getting cars back on the road, I believe he was the Classic Car Club of America's New England VP for a while. I know the shop is a far piece from most of you, but I highly recommend it.

This past weekend was simply awesome up here, low 70's, clear skies, and just enough wind to keep this year's spring crop of bugs down. (Back in the 50's today.) Anyway, after not running for almost a full year due to that radiator issue, I got the ol' D24 fired up just as "quickly" as ever. Fuel bowl was, of course, dry. So, I primed the carb with gasoline with a bit of MMO, 3/4 choke (I installed a manual choke many years ago), full gas pedal, four or five times over with cranking and she started right up, stumbled until the fuel pump got the carb caught up, and settled right down into that nice flat-6 burble. Brought it up to operating temperature and let it idle for a while, since this was also the first start with the "new" radiator. Can't quite drive it yet, I have a "field expedient" paint booth set up between it and the garage door for another week or two. Only issue I had was that I did not tighten all the coolant hoses once it warmed up, and it leaked coolant once it started cooling down. I remain impressed by how she always happily cranks right up every spring, managing expectations I usually assume I'm going to have a struggle waking her up, but that has yet to be the case.

No reason to be a stranger! With all the work you did to that '52, I'm sure you successfully tackled something that someone else who visits this Forum could use some advice or help with. Granted, sounds like you've got a few projects going on there even without the Plymouth, but pop in and see what we're up to once in a while.

When we lived in Port Huron, all the Big Boy restaurants in southeast MI would have a cruise-in night. Not all on the same night, so you could do a cruise-in to Big Boy every night of the week except Monday. Of course, you could pop into the restaurant for refreshments, and they all had a DJ at least. One night a year each restaurant would have live music, the more popular ones would have live music more often. The one in Port Huron on M25 (24th St.) was always fun, the one in Marysville on Gratiot was "just OK", but it was only a few blocks from where we lived, so we hit it more often. 98% of the cars tended to be hot rods and muscle cars, but when we showed up with the D24, it'd get a lot of attention. No judging, no fees, but your car would probably get smudged and get little kid faceprints on the windows. We left Michigan in 2008, so I don't know if all the Big Boys still do that, but my son says the one in Port Huron does. When we lived in western NY, the big cruise-in destination for the entire Buffalo area was Pautler's Drive-In on Transit Rd. in East Amherst. No fee, but really good chow that you couldn't pass up. I think the cruise night was Thursdays, but there were always older cars there. Matter of fact, Google Earth shows their lot full of old cars.

Despite owning appropriate vehicles everywhere we've lived since I got out of the Army (7 places), we've only been in two car clubs, one in NM, and the one here in northern Maine. I don't know how the NM one operates nowadays, but when we were members, we did not charge entry or spectator fees for their annual show. The one here has one signature event every year, and that's our summer cruise-in weekend. It costs money to have a nice show, trophies (here, members' cars are prohibited from winning anything), fee for the space, up-front money for vittles for our food truck, and the kicker is insurance. We fund all that partly from membership dues, and mostly from sponsorships from businesses, individuals, and families. If we were to consider charging an admission, most of the club members would resign. While we do have t-shirts made for the event, we sell them vs. give them away, but that only pays for the t-shirts. Our goal is not to make money, we're a 501(c) non-profit (I don't remember which sub-paragraph), but to provide a welcoming environment for families and car owners to get together and enjoy similar interests for a weekend. What little money we make, we donate to a worthy charity. None of the other local car clubs I know of charge an admission for their own shows. While some clubs are ostensibly non-profit, their goal is still to make as much money as possible. What they use it for is their business, but if it's a 501 it has to go back into the club somehow, or a percentage be donated. If it's not a 501 non-profit, there are no restrictions other than their own by-laws on what they use it for, but I don't know of any clubs that don't try to help out their communities. They don't do the 501 thing mainly to avoid the hassles of being one, such as a mandatory audit every year, and other hoops that have to be jumped through to maintain that status. There are several shows in Maine that are done to support a specific organization. I.e., every year the Boy Scouts of America (sorry, just Scouts now) put on a nice show in Brewer that one of the local car clubs organizes for them. There are shows that support museums (such as the Owls Head Transportation Museum), hospitals, the Red Cross, etc. They have to cover the costs of putting on the show, as well as have a respectable amount for the organization being supported. Over the past few years, several shows in Maine have ceased because overhead costs were too much. If it's a worthy cause, we don't mind paying an entry or spectator fee.

Nice process. I usually end up repainting the rims on our D24 every five years or so. Red seems to go downhill faster than black. So far, I just use masking tape, think I'll try this method next time. Thanks for posting!

Ditto. Mine tries to come out with the breather cap more often than not, now.

Nice post, good info for those who may be looking for such a solution. Whether it was actually necessary or not, me and Dear ol' Dad would repack the wheel bearings on the family cars every year. He taught me to remove and reinstall the grease caps so they wouldn't get all beat up. I get annoyed when I work on old cars with beat up grease caps, especially if the prior "worker on-er" was supposed to be good at it. My brother-in-law's car ('57 Ford sedan) is a victim of such, grease caps beat to almost being unrecognizable, but I had a real problem finding replacements, so I had to fix them the best I could, mumbling expletives the whole time.

I was raised that "horse trading" doesn't mean a bad deal, just that each party has to be mindful of what they are getting out of the deal, not to blindly trade at face value, but I think OUTFXD was just being facetious. Anyway, if both of you are pleased with what you'uns got in the deal, then it was a good trade. Looks like you've got a really good foundation to start with (or continue) in that truck.

To bring this thread back to the top to ID an alternative. The short version - I can't get the Castrol GTX Classic up here from a brick-and-mortar store. Valvoline VR1 has the same properties, both are touted as racing oils, and I can get the Valvoline locally. (It doesn't hurt that I've always preferred Valvoline products.) I'd wager one doesn't work any better than the other, but the rub may be availability in some places. I'll order on-line if I have to, but I prefer buying locally.

I've used both the Westley's Bleche-Wite and Simple Green. The Westley's product works better for me by virtue of needing less elbow grease, but I have no complaints about how well Simple Green works, I just up the concentration a tad for the WWWs. If I use Simple Green for the tires, its usually because I ran out of Bleche-Wite and am too lazy to run into town for some more. I kept the first set of WWWs on the ol' Dodge looking spiffy for just shy of 30 years with Bleche-Wite. I had some scuffs on one of the tires the last few years that I could find no cleaner to overcome, pretty sure they were scored to the underlying rubber. I wasn't too concerned with their appearance by then, so I didn't try very hard to dress the scuff marks. Only did it once for a car show by using white shoe polish, but it didn't last much longer than the car show.

Roger that, I just didn't know Chryslers had that much Bakelite on the dash. Our D24 has absolutely none. Must have been "the thing" for high end trim during that time. I really like how you went about the restoration, I'm thinking that process could prove useful on future projects.

I'm certainly not a brand zealot, to me those cars in the OP's post just look like almost every other hot rod out there. We would never part with our D24, but the one vehicle I still kick myself in the heinie for getting rid of was an all original '52 Ford F3, and that was over 30 years ago. My wife called it our "Clampett-mobile".

'46-'48 Chryslers' glove box doors have a Bakelite coating or cover? I was completely unaware of that, learn something new about these old cars on a regular basis.