1952B3b23

Hello Everyone, I was wondering if anyone knew where i could find front brake wheel cylinders for a 1939 2-Ton Dodge truck? What i really need is basic measurements and photos, not the actual cylinder at this point. My reason for asking is a bit peculiar. I am currently working on restoring a non-mopar chassis, it's a 1936 Triumph Gloria saloon. The brakes on that car are Lockheed brand. Automotive Products (AP) purchased the rights to build USA Lockheed hydraulic brake parts in England around 1928. So my car would have British built Lockheed wheel cylinders and master cyl. According to the British Lockheed manual the same wheel cylinders where used on 1939 Dodge 2-Ton 124" W.B. trucks. I'm assuming the Dodge trucks they are referring to are ones built in the UK at that time. It may be a long shot but I'm hoping that the American trucks used that same front wheel cylinders. My cars wheel cylinders are missing so I'm hoping to be able to cross reference them to some American makes which would make them a fair bit easier and less expensive to get. I've tried googling this and can't seem to find photos of the wheel cylinders for the heavier trucks. Here are the measurements off of the wheel cylinders that should be on my car: Bore: 1-1/4" # Mounting Screws: 2 Center line distance between mounting screws: 2-1/8" Diameter of casting boss: 1-5/8" Side Note - The drum diameter is 12 inch. If someone has one of these cylinders and is willing to make the above measurements and take a few photos. I'd be very grateful. Thanks, Chris

Well I've been chipping away at the fender slowly. The top section of the fender is shaped and i am currently working on the front portion which has the reverse curve section. Once I'm finished with that panel it will be time to add the bead detail to each of the 3 sections and weld them together. I'll keep adding pictures as i make progress. Maybe this will inspire some other folks to take a whack (literally) at shaping metal! -Chris

Cool, thanks for sharing the pictures. In what town is this located? I live in western, MA and hadn't heard of this show till now. I usually go to the Ty-Rods fall swap meet at Stafford Motor Speedway. -Chris

Thanks. I'm actually glad I was working on a different project for all that time. I learned so much on the '39 and my skills have gotten better. So the work done on the truck will be much higher quality than what I was able to do back then. All I can do is get a bit done at a time and keep improving. -Chris

Well i'm finally back to working on this thing, boy it's been awhile! Since i last posted i got my '39 Plymouth coupe (see my avatar) back on the road after buying it in July of 2014. That turned into way more of a project than i expected. But i learned a ton in the process and the new skills will help me on the truck. The cab needs a lot of metal work so i decided i'd start with the drivers side door jamb. I had removed the rusted out section a few years ago so i copied the passenger side jamb using the flexible shape pattern method. This method is something that was created by my friend and top notch metal shaper/coachbuilder Wray Schelin (check him out at proshaper.com). Using this method i was able to take the passenger side pattern and turn it inside out and i instantly had the pattern for the drivers side. I then used a combination of bead roller, hammers, dollies, chisels, and sand bag to form the jamb section. It still needs to be gone over one last time to tune up the surface and also to do the final fitment. For now i just clamped it up so i could get an idea of how it was looking. Thanks for looking, -Chris

My technique is this: 1. Wire brush or scrape the lose rust off the panel. You can do this by hand or with a wire wheel in a drill. 2. Buy Naval Jelly, available online or Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Here's a link to the stuff i use: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-16-fl-oz-Naval-Jelly-Rust-Dissolver-Bottle-553472/203009241 3. Forget about the part in the directions that say the stuff will work well in about 20 minutes, it doesn't. Unless the part has very very light surface rust. Apply it to the area you would like to de-rust using a small paint brush. Apply liberally. 4. Get yourself some of the cling wrap stuff you use in the kitchen and cover up the naval jellied areas. Then let it sit for 24 hours. The cling wrap will keep the naval jelly from drying out as quickly and it will do its job much better. 5. The next day scrape and wire brush the rust and dried up jelly off. It may be necessary to repeat the process so that you can get it right down to bare metal. This works well but it requires patience and some elbow grease. I used this process on all the panels i needed to weld on my '39 Plymouth coupe. Good luck. -Chris

Thanks. I hear ya on the time issue. Thats why in the three years since taking the class i hadn't done much shaping, no time for it. I spent all my time trying to get the '39 Coupe back on the road. It involved making some small patch panels but that was it. I now told my self that i need to do more shaping and i really want to learn. So theres no other way but to get out there and do it. Did you take Wray's class? Yea he is a great guy. Im happy to call him a mentor and a friend. Thank you. It's funny that you bring that up. The two front fenders that i have now are fiberglass. I might end up recreating those in steel.

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Here is another picture that i forgot. The fender will be made in 3 pieces then welded together. The tools used so far are, stump, mallet, sandbag, and english wheel. -Chris

Hey Guys,I picked up this '54 Dodge fender off of Ebay awhile back to use on my project. It's in really sorry shape with lots of damage and paper thin metal. I figured i'd try my hand at recreating it. It'll be a great learning experience and lots of fun. I'm fairly new to metal shaping but i did take Wray Schelin's class back in June of 2014. It was a great investment, i learned a ton and would highly recommend his class to anyone wanting to learn. Wray is a master at the craft and an all around nice guy! Since then i've made several small patch panels but no large panel shaping like in this project. I've been doing the shaping at my house and going up to Wray's shop in Charlton, MA for help when im stuck. He's really been a huge help and i can't thank him enough for passing on his knowledge. Check out his website if you're interested, http://www.proshaper.com/ I'll update this thread with my progress as i go. It'll be slow going since im still learning and make lots of mistakes. The attached pics are of the first corner piece i'm making. Thanks for looking, -Chris

Here's a link to a site that list different stations in TX, as well as other states that sell ethanol free gas. http://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=TX I did some research on this in my area of MA and found one station closest to me wanted $75 for 5 gallons of "pure" gas. That's way more than i was willing to pay. So i've stuck with the regular ethanol blended fuel from the pump. -Chris

You can call Pertronix customer service and they will help you with finding the coil you need. I believe that depending on what the coil is filled with dictates if it's orientation sensitive. Meaning if it can be mounted horizontal,vertical, or maybe it doesn't matter. -Chris

Dont feel too bad. I've done this before as well. I had a friend pumping the brake pedal while i bled the front brakes (with the drums off). Next thing i know i hear a funny sound and see a ton of brake fluid pouring out of my drivers side front wheel cylinder. Duh, the wheel cylinder basically over extended because the shoe had no drum to contact. The fix was easy, put the drum back on and start the bleeding procedure over. I did feel like an idiot though lol. -Chris

I just replaced the plug wires on my '53 flathead and i used Taylor Street Thunder 8mm set from Summit racing (P/N: 50047). I'm happy with the quality and how they look, maybe those are an option for you as well. Do you think that miss under load could be caused by the fuel that you are using? I've heard that this ethanol blended fuel can cause some wacky stuff with our old engines. Ethanol free gas is hard to find around me and quite expensive. So i've actually switched to running the "Plus" grade of ethanol blended fuel that they sell at the pumps. I believe that the octane rating is 87, instead of the 83 i use to put it. I think this actually had a positive effect on my cars performance. It could all just be cause I've installed the dual carbs and dual exhaust, but i dont know it sure feels like its helped. I'm just throwing out ideas maybe something will spark an "ahhh-haaa" moment for you. Good luck. -Chris

Maybe Rich Hartung will chime in. He is a member on this forum and i believe he owns one of these tools and knows how to use it. The service manual for the car doesn't tell you how? I think my '39 Plymouth manual says what to adjust the brakes to using the Ammco tool. -Chris