knuckleharley

Hate to see you give up on the car after getting this far. Many of us are in the same position as you when it comes to working under a car,or even bending over to work on a car. I had to buy a lift several years ago because neither my knees nor my back wanted to bend,and If I didn't have something to hold on to the only way I could get on the floor was fall. Have COPD and got really fat after so many injuries and illnesses one right after the other. Just had a heart stent put in last week. Still,your car is almost done now,and you can surely get some fun out of driving it. You could have had it hauled to pretty much any general auto repair garage and had the shift linkage hooked back up a lot cheaper than what you paid to rent a trailer. A washer and a cotter key would have taken care of it. This is just the type of stuff that can happen to any car that is driven,and after a 400 mile drive with no other problems is very minor. Simple 15 minute fix. You have it home now,so call around the local garages and get some estimates. You need to do this anyhow before you can sell it,so it's not like it's costing you extra money. Why not give yourself the rest of the summer to drive your car before selling it,and then see if you still want it gone.

Did you somehow miss the word "might"?

I don't believe I have ever seen one painted a deep burgundy like that,and I like it a lot. Since I live up a dirt road,none of my stuff gets painted dark colors.

Thanks for the link! I now have it bookmarked.

Beats me. I figured it would be obvious to anyone reading what I wrote that it may have been powder coated over the galvanizing on the outside.

All I can suggest is maybe to try soaking it in your parts washer while it agitates,or maybe soak it in lacquer thinner.

It is fun when you have an experienced pro teaching you how to do it right. Learning to weld on your own is one of the most frustrating things to try to learn. LOTS of people are self-taught including me,but I sure wish I had taken classes instead of burning up enough steel to build a battleship first.

Is it powder coated on the inside,also? If not,was the inside coated with anything else,like galvanizing?

I have no idea. I bought it for the fenders and floors several years ago,and ended up not using them. It has no dash,no glasses,and no upholstery,engine,or transmission.

I have a 47 4 door body on a chassis that used to roll. I suspect the brakes are rusted up now. You can have it for 500 bucks,doors,fenders,and semi-rolling chassis. I live near Norfolk,Va.

If you upgrade the brakes and replace the lines and hoses,and then add radial tires,you might not need seat belts.

I don't know. Never thought about it,and I don't repair radiators. I am guessing the only solution with these things are to take them to a radiator shop and have the tanks attached to a modern core. IF you could find a new one it would probably be too expensive to justify use on a driver.

Make sure you replace ALL the brake lines,both rubber with new rubber lines and the old steel brake lines with the new nickel/copper brake lines. The copper/nickel lines will never rust inside or out. It is also a good idea to use a dual-outlet master cylinder. You can save money by not going with power brakes. With the right setup,you don't really need them. The dual outlet master cylinder is for safety purposes. Buy the bracket assembly and the master cylinder from the same supplier. Sometimes it can be a nightmare trying to get one company's custom setup to play well with parts from another company.

If it were me,I would take it to a local starter,alternator,and generator rebuild shop and let them do it. I had a flat 6 Ford starter rebuilt locally after the armature got so hot it shorted out thanks to the previous owner wire-wheeling all the varnish off the armature to "clean the starter". Cost me 96 bucks for a new armature,new brushes,new bushings,and taxes. Works like a charm and came with a local warranty. Plus you are spending your money locally to help keep independent repair shops open where you live,not in China.

IIRC,there was a nice 41 Dodge grille on ebay yesterday for 200 bucks.

You really made a score on that one. That car is in amazing condition for one that has sat outside in a junkyard.

Buy a professional puller kit with all the accessories because they are very handy for pulling dents out,as well. If it were me,I would buy any brand made in America. You can never go wrong buying stuff like this from your local NAPA store. The price is usually competitive,and nothing beats the convenience of dropping by a local store to have a broken part replaced for free,or to pick up a part you have lost.

Thanks! I bought some stuff from him a few years back and was happy with everything.

I can't find his web page or his ebay store. Could you post a link?

And that is the only thing that really matters.

Ok,so who is it? Don't keep this a secret.

Even $140 bucks per hour for labor is cheap if you are not a gear head that enjoys working on your car,and you have to buy the tools to do it yourself. Lots of people love owning and driving old cars,but have no interest in doing mechanical repairs.

This is so common these days that replacing the gas tanks is almost automatic. The last old car I bought was being started by using a can under the hood. I didn't even bother messing with the gas tank,and when I pulled it to replace it with the reproduction tank,the old tank had a rust hole in the stop I could stick my fist through. I just assume anymore that I am going to have to replace the gas tank,lines,filters,and fuel pump,and rebuild the carb before leaving the yard with any old car I buy that has been sitting. I use the new copper/nickel brake line as a gas line so I don't have to worry about rust inside the gas line. Same with the water pump in one that has been sitting for years. It might not leak now,but it IS going to start leaking in a hundred miles or so,and it's a LOT cheaper to replace it at home in your garage than it is to have it hauled home on a rollback and then fix it. Stuff like this is now in the category of operating expenses. If you want to drive the car,you are going to have to replace this stuff.

I am constantly amazed that solid and complete cars this old and nice are still being found. Could you tell us about the circumstances that led you to find and buy this car,and where it was found? It obviously hasn't been sitting outside all this time.

If you don't want to replace your radiator with an aluminum one,you should consider pulling your radiator and taking it to a radiator shop to have it rodded out. Or having a new core installed if you hate the look of an aluminum radiator. Or maybe just drive the car to a radiator shop and having them reverse flush the radiator,install a new water distribution tube, freeze plugs,thermostat,and new hoses. Yeah,this is going to cost some money,but on the other hand your frustration level will decrease,and so will the expense of having it towed if it runs hot away from home. Not to mention decrease in the possibility of it running hot and cracking the block and/or cracking/warping the head. Lots of old cars and trucks are loaded with rust inside because it seems a lot of 2nd or 3rd owners were cheap and didn't like buying anti-freeze for a "back up car" they rarely drove,so they would just drain the radiator and block after every use,and add fresh water when they needed to drive the car. A hot engine that is drained and opened to cold air equals rust. If you haven't had to replace the water pump yet,I have bad news for you. Sometimes there just ain't any shortcuts. You just have to spend the money and be done with it. BTW,really nice driver car. Are your plans to preserve it or restore it? If it were mine,I think I would go for cosmetic preservation and then just drive and enjoy it.