knuckleharley

That might work ok with riveted brake shoes,but wouldn't the degreasers dissolve the glue used to bond it together? Granted,that has to be some SERIOUS glue to be able to withstand the heat and pressures of braking.

Thanks,Don.

They don't ground to the dash?

I am fairly certain it fits a 1958 Whatchamacallit,but not sure what model.

Maybe bad news on those rims. I called Summit Racing to order 4 for my 51,and the guy I talked to seemed to think,but wasn't sure,that they were for front wheel drive cars,and the offset would be too much for a old car. You might want to call or email Dorman to see if they have any stock replacement wheels that will work. I did find Vintique wheels for prices ranging from 61 to 84 bucks that were direct factory repo's of the non-Mopar wheels I want. They 61 dollar ones are "Smoothies" that only accept full-wheel hubcaps or the hubcaps with a lip that fit inside the recess. The 84 buck wheels have the stock factory "bumps" on them so you can run poverty hubcaps or baby moons. The also sell repop Mopar wheels from the 60's to the 80's for both regular passenger cars as well as cop cars. They are powder coated a gloss black. Coker also sells repop steel wheel,but his are 105 bucks. His are powder coated with a gloss black. The cheaper wheels above are primed with epoxy paint in gray. Since I already bought the paint and the sand for my sandblaster to blast and paint the old wheels,I'm going to go that route. I'd definitely buy a set of 4 that are new and powder coated for 84 bucks each before I would spend all that money on epoxy paint,sand,and spend all the time necessary to blast and paint the old ones,though. Hoping to blast and prime them with epoxy primer tomorrow,and then topcoat them on Tuesday.

Wish I could help you on that one,but if there is a way to remove oil from a clutch disc,I have never heard of it.

Here is a tip to those of you looking for replacement steel wheels. Summit Racing sells brand new 15 inch 5 x 4.5 x 6 Dorman brand steel wheels painted gloss black and ready to go for $41 bucks each. They have holes maybe a inch in diameter all around the radius of the face and they don't have the "bumps" for the dog dish hubcaps,but you just can't beat that price. I am in the process of sandblasting and painting 4 original steel wheels for my 51,and it's going to cost me more than 41 bucks each to do them myself. I WAS going to paint them with Dupont Epoxy primer and paint in rattle cans until I found out they cost 31 bucks a can,before taxes. I bought 4 cans of off-grand mixed primer and finish in each can for $7.89 a can instead,and then bought another 3 cans of black gloss epoxy paint of the same brand for another $7.89 per can at Advance Auto instead. Then I had to drive to town to buy bags of sand for my pressure pot. Yeah,my wheels ARE going to be glossy black factory wheels,but I am not restoring this car for show points and for the saving in labor,time,and material,I would have damn sure had holes in the wheels on my 51 if I had know about these wheels before I bought all that stuff.

MUCH better to find that out now,than after you put the fenders and everything else back on it. This can be a lesson to us all. We should probably prime a rebuilt engine with oil while it is still on the engine stand.

You are getting conflicting information as to wheel widths because different wheel width wheels were used in different Mopar cars,and sometimes even on the same Mopar cars during different years. 5 inch wheels are ok for lighter cars with narrow tires like 5.60 or 6.70 x 15 ,but IMHO you are better off with 6 or 6.5 inch wheels to wear tires the size you mention. I just bought new narrow whitewall 215/75/15 inch radial tires ($61 ea w/free shipping on amazon) on 6 inch wheels on a "other brand" 1951 car,and while they are larger than the tires that originally came on the car,they aren't so wide that turning the steering wheel at stop will be that big a deal. IIRC,which might be the first time this year,215/75 are the equivalent of 7.75 or 8.00 using the original numbering method for tires. We used to run 9:15's x 15 on the rear of these old cars back when I was a kid,and they seemed to clear the rear fenders with no problems. I never knew anybody that put them on the front,so I can't speak for that. Basically,these are almost all cars we are talking about on this board are in the "3,000 lb bracket",so 205's or 215's are plenty wide for ride comfort and safety.

I'm not so sure that is true if you use wheels from a half-ton pu. Or at least not true with all Mopars and/or all year Ford wheels. When I went to pick up the 55 DeSoto I bought in Georgia,the damn thing was sitting flat on the ground. Somebody had stolen the wheels and tires. The guy that owned the car was in the NG and had been called up and was in the Muddle East somewhere. His house was vacant,and I had to call his mother and have her come over to pay for the car. I went to a junkyard and bought 4 wheels and tires already off the vehicle that I THINK were Ford PU wheels,and all I had to do to bolt them on the DeSoto was to drill a hole between the lug nut holes in each wheel. It would have been easier to just take a hammer and knock the pins off the hubs,but I didn't want to do that.

Look for wheels from a 50's or newer Ford,Jeep,or Dodge pu. Don't worry about not having holes for the locator pins. You can drill them.

I'm loving those cast iron dual exhaust manifolds!

Anything that has "WEIAND DRAG STAR" on it these days is so expensive I can't even afford to look at it. I see people on ebay wanting 600 bucks for a fuel log. I bought a 6x2 Eelco (most likely misspelled) for my DeSoto hemi for less than 300 bucks,and it was new in the box. Yeah,I know,but it sure does look cool!

That was my guess too,but I don't do this stuff for a living. Besides,who would even want brittle old brass/copper brass tanks if they can buy brand new aluminum ones cheaper? Other than a restorer,that is. I have no intention of restoring the D-2. My goal is to preserve and drive it.

"Soy plates" in ALASKA? I'm guessing that not many survived for very long.

Thanks! I have already sent Champion a email asking them if they make a radiator that fit my year and model truck,and expect to hear back from them some time today. Finding a 200 dollar radiator for it instead of having to pay 700+ would be a real Christmas present to me. I miss driving that old beater.

I'm having trouble uploading the image for some reason,and can't figure out how to delete my quote to you without including text. Sorry.

The center dash chrome insert is from a US P-15 (1946 to early 1949 Plymouth),and easy to find on US Ebay as well as other places. The steering column is no real problem. Replace it with pretty much anything you find at a local scrap yard where you live that has column shift with a cable. You should have no trouble selling yours to someone local who is building a hot rod. I have a P-15 rear seat I would give you,but given what it would cost to ship it to you,you would be better off finding a really nice one with upholstery you like and buying it. Given the welded on fenders,Chevrolet engine and trans,and the other custom body mods,Plymouthy Adams advise to you is the way to go. Sell the car to someone that wants a custom/hot rod,and then use that money to buy what you really want. It will be a lot quicker,make you a lot happier,and chances are it will also be cheaper. Check with the UK guys registered to this site for connections there,and tell them you want to sell your car and buy one more original. If there is one for sale in the UK,they WILL know about it. Chances are they may even know someone interested in buying your car. Life can be hard,so why not make it as easy as you can on yourself?

Thanks,but my truck is a D series,only made from 37-40 (or maybe 39),and has a radiator more like a 37 Ford than a traditional radiator. I just might call Champion and ask them how much they would charge me to make one,though. Anybody know how to securely mate an aluminum core to copper/brass tanks?

If you can find someone that knows the combustion chamber volume of the various Mopar 6's,you can pour ATF in them and measure the volume it takes to fill them. Other than that,I don't have a clue. There has been so much changed on pretty much all old cars since they were new that it's hard to even find one with the same engine it left the factory with. When they became 300 dollar clunkers on the back row of used car dealerships,all sorts of "creative" stuff had been done to them by previous owners to keep them on the road. I once saw a photo of a early 50's Plymouth in Cuba that had a tiny little 4 cylinder diesel in it from some tiny little eastern European car. Poor people did and do whatever they have to do to keep them running.

There may be a problem even finding a head that hasn't been milled these days. The last head I had milled was off of a 39 IHC 6 cylinder pu,and it was so warped that oil was leaking out from under the head and running down both sides of the block. Seriously. The damn thing still ran good,but would lose a quart of oil ever 30-40 miles. The machine shop had to remove .125 as the minimum amount to make it flat. The good news was it had an AMAZING amount of power once it was back together. I drove it almost a whole mile before the radiator blew out. Now I have to come up with 700-800 bucks for a new radiator core before I can drive it again,providing I can even find someone that has one. It sure was nice while it lasted,though. Had so much pickup it was like driving a late 60's OHV 6 cylinder pu. It always ran smooth at 55-60 mph before,but it took forever to get going that fast. I still have a hard time believing it wasn't missing with the head that warped. Bought it off a forklift dealer in ND that only used it to haul scrap steel from his dealership to the junkyard. He told he would just park it outside his building and keep thrown steel in the bed until it was full,and then drive off in it. It was and is painted baby blue with housepaint and a roller,and damned if it doesn't draw more attention when I park it someplace that anything else I've been driving lately. Every time I park it somewhere while I am in a store,there are people taking photos of it with their cell phones when I walk back outside the store. I think the swing out windshield is probably responsible for most of that. Most people today have never seen one. I can only imagine the looks my 31 Plymouth coupe is going to get when I put it back on the road this spring.

I was just curious. I managed to find and buy cheap a good running 251 from a DeSoto that I was going to put in my 42 coupe,but then ran across a 55 Plymouth parts car with a 230 and automatic trans. I might still use the 251,but not if the 230 doesn't need major rebuilding when I get that far into the build. I LOVE torque,but have no real interest in racing anybody but flathead V-8 Fords. (grin)

WOW! That had to have some effect on the cooling.