Dan Hiebert

Good stuff! Kinda like Michigan - only more Viking stock in Minnesota. I remember when I was in Jr. High in south Texas, some cousins from somewhere in Minnesota came to visit. It was a typical south Texas blizzard - all of 50 degrees out, and good heavens, we could see our breath Us locals were all bundled up, they were outside in their swimsuits washing their car!

It looks askew to me, too. Does it sit evenly when closed? I'd recommend pulling that valve before coaxing it any further. Won't hurt to be sure. Either the stem is bent, or the guide is not in square.

I just used that photo for my wallpaper - pretty cool.

That's one of my favorite angles of our favorite era of cars, that I rarely get to see (duh). I have to admit that I'll pause pretty often to ogle and study the ol' Dodge from similar angles when I'm working on the roof for whatever reason. Thanks for posting!

Although I was living in Dallas at the time, I was a mere 2-years old and can only remember scooting across the wooden floors of our house on my forehead. That may explain a lot, now that I think of it. My parents have told me we took a drive to the site a couple days afterwards, but I don't remember that, although I do recall many trips there in later years, with relatives to show them "where", and on school field trips.

Their site says they have over 1800 "parts packed" vehicles. The blanket price list is interesting, but doesn't shed much light on their inventory. Other than the obvious that they at least had one "old" car, do they have a lot of older vehicles? I go through Binghampton often enough to warrant a visit, even if only to wander through the yard.

All those vents are for is to - well - vent the bell housing, the fluid drive unit itself is sealed. The clutch would be my concern, but you don't describe it being exposed to the elements for very long at all. The clutch would merit inspection at least, but I wouldn't worry about the fluid drive unless you want to clean the exterior.

My '48 D24 did not have an oil filter when I bought it, either. Pretty sure the PO removed it, as opposed to the car not being made with one, because the oil lines were just re-routed. I was a tad surpised when I first found out the oil filter was an option. Got one of the canister types off a '50 B1B in a salvage yard, so I only had to ape how it was installed on the pick-up when I installed it on my D24 (this great forum wasn't around back then, heck, the internet was only a flash-in-the-pan at the time). There are many posts on this forum with photos of the drivers side of the engine with various types of oil filters, a browsing session will not only answer your question, but give you more ideas than you can shake a stick at - and you'll quickly discover you've come to the right place!

And now that its done, its "nice and peaceful", and looks GREAT....

Sage advice from the forum - valve guides. My car is just over 157,000, and you can always tell where I've been by the blue cloud I leave behind. (Comes in handy with these New York tailgaters ) Acceleration, deceleration, doesn't matter. It only doesn't smoke when I'm at a constant speed. I have no clue what the PO did with the engine, but I've done the bearings, rings, and cylinders. The smoking increased with the new rings and cylinder hone - meaning the compression improved in the cylinders so they are more efficient at sucking oil up past the worn valve guides on the intake downstroke. I'm pretty sure the valves and guides are original. I can only guess at what the acceleration vs. deceleration smoking difference is, perhaps a matter of just HOW worn the valve guides are. And yes, I am fixing that, it's my winter project this year.

Ditto. My first old car project was a 55 Ford F-100 that had been someone else's project, and was probably close to yours in condition. The guy sold it because he couldn't remember how he took it apart. Made for a good price, but I sure learned a lot the hard way. (Mainly never to do that again if I can help it!)

Like they say - anyone can restore an old car.....it takes a real man to cut one up. I can appreciate the before and after as much as the next guy, but the "during" makes me queesy. Like jumping out of an airplane, the only time its a problem is when your standing in that door, and the next move is to jump - my fellow Paratroopers out there know what I'm talkin about Getting to the door is a piece of cake, once your out its nice and peaceful (unless someone is not looking forward to your arrival, and is shooting at you on the way down).

My ancestors immigrated to the U.S. after the Civil War. They were Mennonites (uber pacifists) and did not serve in any military - but that didn't stop their decendants. My grandfather on my mom's side was a combat wounded vet of WWI. He met my grandmother while recouperating in Bellview Army Medical Center in Illinois, where she was an Army nurse. My dad (Vietnam era) and his dad (WW2 era) were 4F and couldn't join the military, but my grandfather helped build tank factories in Indiana, and my dad was a U.S. Border Patrolman. One uncle is a Navy vet of Vietnam - USS Bonne Homme Richard, one uncle was a Navy figher pilot during WW2 and retired as a RADML (he always hated Spam), another uncle was a Navy frogman during WW2 and told a few stories of planting mines on Japanese ships while in harbor, my twin brother was an Army MP, served in Berlin and deployed to Grenada after the festivities were over, and I was an Army Infantryman in the 3rd ID (same unit as my grandfather), and 82nd Airborne Division where I participated in the Grenada festivities, "earned" the Purple Heart and was able to have my grandfather's WW1 Purple Heart pinned on during the award ceremony. Sorry to ramble but I'm just very proud of all that. I work with, hire, and promote Veterans at every opportunity and am proud and feel privileged to do so. I've never taken advantage of gratuities for Vets, but encourage others to, and am always surprised, but appreciative, when I'm recognized as a Vet at public events, like my daughter's college graduation. This newfound appreciation of Veterans is a good thing, I just hope it doesn't go to our heads.

"Labor" will get you every time, there is a lot of work involved to do it right, and the end result depends almost entirely on the preparation, and a lot of shops are really proud of that labor. That price for the paint is ridiculous and to me an obvious chiseling job. A gallon of correct 1960 "meadowvale green" (for my Falcon) is $113.00 from PPG or Dupont. "Modern" colors/paints will run in the $200.00 per gallon range (I was pondering 2010 "kiwi green" until I saw that price). Primer should only run in the $30.00 per gallon range.

Well, that's ONE benefit of winter. You can leave the beer in the car trunk, or on the porch, and its nice and cold. And that snow bank by the garage door is closer than walking into the house for "a-nurn". (My garage is separate from the house.) Buffalo didn't get a speck of snow from that storm - we get a bad rap. My mom called from S. Texas to ask how we were weathering the storm - as I looked out upon a cloudless, snowfree sky. I rather enjoy calling my dad in New Mexio when its already snowed there, but has yet to here (he retired to the southwest to be out of the snow). Naturally he gives it back a month later when the dusting they got has long ago melted, and we're getting buried.

My D24 reaped the benefits of that from its life as a new car in New Mexico and west Texas. "Fun" to scrape off, but pristine underneath. (Still some spots I haven't gotten to, yet.)

"My" 63 has the two speed Fordomatic behind the 170cid 6-banger. That combo is good for an "every day" car, and perfect for a kid's first car. Not enough "oomph" to even think about racing, but it won't get run over, and it'll get off the railroad tracks before the train hits it. I like that green on the 60 - "meadowvale green"? I'm painting my daughter's car in the next couple of weeks, and that's gonna be its new color.

Phooey! Couldn't get it to run well enough to drive from the back garage to the front yard, I think my "whack-a-mole stuck valve fix" (A-la Greg G) 10 years ago is finally catching up with me . BUT, here's a photo from a few years ago, and one of the stand-in "haunted Falcon" (Daughter's 63 Futura hardtop - since you can't tell what the car is in the photo).

I'm partial to red rims, too.

I'll put the "haunted Terraplane" out in the front yard, again. Cobwebs everywhere, smoke machine underneath, black drapes behind the driver's seat, a skeleton "driving" it, creepy music playing from the back seat, and a strobelight under the dash. (The Terraplane is a dark color, so it's got better "eerieness" than the D24.) Due to my house being on a busy state road with no sidewalks, we haven't had trick-or-treaters since we moved here. At least I don't think its the spooky old car......

I have a 2001 Dodge Ram that I bought new (in 2000) in New Mexico. The heat down there must have "case hardened" everything, because I've had it in these northern road-salt winters beginning in 2003, and it doesn't have a lick of rust on it. People around here are amazed at its condition, although one fellow actually said..."nice old Dodge". Didn't know whether to be complimented or offended, never thought I'd see the day when something I bought new is considered old.....

I would recommend sticking with the gear oil. Grease will work well with the sector and worm gear, but it won't get down into the bushings the way oil will. That corn head grease is made to stay viscuous (sp?) so that it doesn't cake up away from the moving parts, but it won't flow into the bushings. The steering box bushings for our cars are not "oilite" (infused with lubricant) and are intended to be lubricated with oil, they're ever-so-slightly porous to hold oil. Of course, grease will work and work well, and it will solve leaking problems, but the bushings will wear out "quicker". If your going to rebuild the steering box, the kit will come with a new seal, and you'll probably make new gaskets, so you shouldn't have to worry about leaks anyway.

That worm gear actually looks pretty darn good. But that sector shaft is shot just from the grooves in the shaft. That's from worn bushings. A rebuild kit will have those bushings, and new bearings as well, so might as well replace the bearings, too. Personally, I think that scoring is due in part to using grease in the steering box over the years instead of gear oil. Grease just doesn't permeate the bushings the way oil will. Some folks would put grease in things instead of oil to keep worn seals from leaking, rather than replacing the seals. A cheap fix 50 years ago, but catches up when we get a hold of them. My D24 had the same issue, but not quite so bad as yours.

Phooey! The wooly bears and persimmons may be right - just checked the weather forecast for western NY - we're supposed to have snow Thursday and Friday. Kind of a running joke with my Dad that its snowed in NM (where he lives) before here the last few years. Just figures - another of those "bad winter" predictors - my snow blower doesn't work....