knuckleharley

I can tell you what is going on,the owners are "fishing". They don't really expect to sell their cars,but are looking to see what the market price is. BTW,I paid $850 for my 42 Dodge biz coupe,and $3500 for the 48 Ply coupe. The 48 has a Camaro clip up front with the 350/350 combo and camaro rear. Lots of the stuff what half-assed to be generous,but I WAS able to put license plates in it and start driving it righ away while I was redoing some of the mechanical work. Drove it for a couple of years before it backfired in the carb one day can caught fire under the hood. Luckily I carry a fire extinguisher,so the car was saved. Been parked ever since as I bought everything I would need to totally redo the car,right down to having all the chrome redone,new wiring harness,and good used 412 and turbo 350 I already had. The 412 was built for me by a friend that is a mechanic in a NASCAR speed shop and took it there to build and balance,so saying it is a little "sporting" is an understantement. It would scare me in the 1 ton van it was in,so it should have plenty of power for the little Plymouth. Yeah,I would have PREFERRED it had Mopar power,but it had what it had,and I have no problems living with it. I do follow the "if it ain't broke,don't fix it" philoposy,and since a SBC was what was in it before,this will be a bolt-in.

Yup,the tedious,unglamourous work that most people don't even relalize is essential,and even most of the people who do suspect all the work involved,just don't care about. Everybody wants to cut corners and get a bargain price. It just ain't possible.

You may have found your retirement occupation.

BTW,did you also paint your car? That is one slick paint job!

I bought a new 6 volt electric fuel pump for my flat 6 51 Ford biz coupe last summer for 36 bucks from Summit Racing. it is an option you might want to consider.

No surprise. They all seem to work until you are away from home and the old diaphram cracks from being stiff and hard,and then suddenly stressed. Do yourself a favor and NEVER leave home with a car that has been sitting for years if you haven't rebuilt or replaced the fuel pump and every single item related to brakes except for brake lever and pad. New copper/nickel hard lines,new rubber lines,new wheel cylinders,new master cylinder. If you look around,it is cheaper to buy new wheel cylinders than it is to buy kits to rebuild them. Seriously. When I was rebuilding the brakes on my 1939 IHC PU,the cheapest price I could find on new wheel cylinders for it was right at 90 bucks each,and who knows how long they had been sitting in a warehouse,or what the temps had been in there? So I pulled the hubs,got the parts numbers off of them,and did a web search. Come to find out they were the same wheel cylinders used in 53-54 Corvettes,and I could buy them brand new from amazon for $4.50 each,plus shipping. BTW,for anyone curious,pulling the rear drums from a late 30's IHC pu is the exact same fun process as it is for your old Mopars.

I suspect it is more of a matter of constant engine heat and hot oil freeing the rings and valves up.

I am to the point in life where I just automatically assume any old car that has been sitting has a gas tank covered with rust inside,and the first thing I do is order a brand new gas tank for it,replace all the fuel lines with copper/nickel lines or new unleaded gas rated rubber,and rebuild the stock fuel pump or replace it with an electric fuel pump. I do this even before I mess with the brakes. You don't need brakes if you can't drive it anywhere. BTW,the price of a new gas tank ain't that much when you subtract the price of a rollback ride home from the cost.

Couldn't agree more. Why tear down the engine when you don't have to? Drive and enjoy the damn thing for a few hundred miles. Put some heat and wear on the engine with new non-detergent oil,and you might be surprised at how well it starts running after a half-tank of gas or so. After all,you can always tear it down later IF it needs anthing. MY number 1 rule of mechanikin is "If'n it ain't broke,don't fix it!"

Yes,White Post Restorations in Virginia,for one,bores them out and installs stainless steel sleeves. What you get back is a much nicer wheel cylinder than came with the car new. Kinda pricy,but these ARE brakes we are talking about,not some stylish doo-dah.

Welcome to the "adventure"! Everytime you think you are starting to get ahead of the game,WHAM!

Sounds about right. It just makes you THINK you have a lot of money if you have 17 grand floating around in your wallet these days. The reality is it buys very little,and what it does buy is junk mostlhy made in China by slave labor.

Well,the consolation (?) is that $450 ain't what it used to be. I remember buying a new Ford Fairlane Cobra Jet with the 428 and 4 speed when I came back from VN in 1969. Paid $2450 for it new with a 3 year warranty. The damn insurance cost me more each month than the car payment did. It would probably cost you more than 2500 to buy a rebuildable Cobra Jet block now.

It's also used as brake lines in new cars because you can bend it without it kinking,and it doesn't get stress cracks from bending. I use it as brake lines as well as gas lines and oil lines in all my projects. I especially love it for brake lines because there is no worry about a brake line rusting out from outside OR inside with it.

Thanks! It was a real hoot to drive with the 390. People would freak out when I would pass them,cruising along at 70-75 mph. The 318 (stock engine) isn't going to have the torque or HP of the modified FE,but the truck will now have power steering AND power brakes,and they will more than make up for it. Look at the size of those tires and the length of that truck with the 9.5 foot long bed,and now imagine trying to park it in a parking lot space with manual steering. Then imagine having the bed loaded with plywood siding,and cruising along at 70 mph when some clueless fool pulls out right in front of you,and immediately speeds up to 45 MPH. I was inches away from his rear bumper before I got the speed down,and I still don't think he had a clue I was that close. A friend teased me by asking me if I was going to also put AC in it,and I told him "Don't need it. The windshield cranks out". BTW,I intended to rebuild this with the Ford running gear because I am going to sell it when it is done,but then I discovered the chassis was just about rusted in half behind the cab,so I found and bought this 78 Dodge chassis with the crate engine from a guy restoring a 78 Dodge truck who had lost his storage. Going along with the philoposy "If it ain't broke it don't need fixing",the drivetrain is staying in it.

Here are a couple of photos of the truck before it was torn down to rebuild.

Well,I was putting off the rebuild on my 37 Dodge 1.5 ton pu for as long as possible,and finally managed to put it off for so long I am now unable to do it myself,and had to hire a pro shop to do it for me. The first photo of the truck is what it looked like before it was torn down. It was originally sold new to the city of Newport News,Va as a fire truck. Had a pumper unit sitting in the bed. Still has the pumper tag riveted to the bed,but the pumper is long gone. It was pulled out of a junkyard and slopped together by the previous owner. The chassis was shot,so he put the body on a 72 F-250 4X4 chassis,complete with the 390 V-8,4 speed truck trans,and 4x4 running gear. It was a real hoot to drive,but only once it was moving because it did not have power steering. Didn't have power brakes either,which didn't make it a whole lot of fun to try to stop in a hurry if you were running at any speed. OOPS! Just discovered I don't have those old photos on this computer,so I will have to post them tomorrow. Below are 3 photos I took today. When we pulled the truck apart to redo it,we discovered the 72 F-250 chassis was shot. No real surprise given how the original 4x4 truck was probably ran on the beach for surf fishing. The chassis you see under it in these photos is the 78 Dodge 1/2 ton 4x4 chassis that is going under it now. The engine is a Mopar crate 318 that has never even been started. I am using the front and rear differentials from the F-250 because it is stouter,but using the disc brakes up front from the 78 Dodge. As you can see,the cab rear and floor had some rust issues once we blasted the plastic and paint away,so it was cut out and new panels made. Not finished yet,but on the way. As you can see,my attack cat Sylvia is on guard duty The stock bed is either 9 feet,or 9.5 feet long. I forgot which. Eventually,hopefully,the truck will end up painted the lime green you see on new Jeeps. It attracted a lot of attention while driving it around before we blew it apart,and with any luck at all it is going to look a lot nicer this time. I will try to copy and paste the photos of the truck before we took it apart from my shop computer to this page tomorrow sometime.

If the original cable you took off your car is 36 inches long,I STRONGLY recommend you replace it with one 36 inches long. These things are thick and stiff,and you don't want to be wrestling with one to bend it and make it work. Go to a farm equipment dealer or a big truck repair shop. Take your original cable with you,and tell them you want one just like it in 00 gauge. NOT a big deal for them,and you will end up with a well-made cable that will be trouble-free for years. Do yourself a favor and have a new negative cable made at the same time,and be done with battery cables.

Paul,Plymouthy Adams,I couldn't agree more. I would also add all the GREAT people you get to meet who are happy to share their knowledge,both on places like this board,and in "flesh life",too. This ain't just about cars,it's about people,memories,and history.

You expect us to believe there was such a thing as music in cars back then? I guess you will be telling us next there was electricity in houses,too. knuckle,running for cover..........

Go ahead and take the starter off and test it using your jumper cables. While you have it off,that is a good time to take it apart and maybe add new brushes,clean/polish the armature,and put new bushings in both ends. Do it now and be done with it. You will be glad you did because you will no longer have that potential break down hanging over your head. I learned the hard way a long time ago that when you are having trouble with a system to not stop after repairing or adjusting the one section you need to repair or adjust to get it working properly. All this stuff is old and age demands a price be paid. Test and service the whole damn system you are working on while you have it apart and be done with it.

Neither of those wires are hot until you press down on the starter pedal,and complete the ground No. Turning on the switch sends current to the ignition as well as the starter. Pushing down on the starter pedal grounds the current coming directly from the battery to the starter,forcing the starter to spin. When you take your foot off the starter pedal,there is no longer a complete electric circuit,so the starter stops spinning. Two separate circuits that need to work together for a (hopefully) brief moment in order to get the engine running. Once the engine is running,it gets electrical current to continue to run from the generator, If the generator is or becomes faulty,the engine will continue to run until the battery goes dead. On the other hand,once the engine is running you can take the battery out and the car will continue to run until you turn the ignition switch off,or run out of gas as long as you don't ground the battery cables. You can test the starter in your bench vise by hooking jumper cables to it from a battery. Hook the positive cable to the big post on the battery,and then "hit" the solenoid housing with the other cable to create a circuit. If the starter drive kicks in and spins the starter,you are in business. If not,you need to find out what is wrong with your starter.

You can,but it's best to use hydraulic hose. Hydraulic hoses flex,and they never crack. Most any big truck or tractor garage can make one up on the spot to fit your needs.

Buy it anyhow and leave it in the trunk. Better to have one in the trunk when you go off driving somewhere,than to need one and have to wait a week to have one shipped to you so you can drive back home.