busycoupe

It cost $3200 here in Massachusetts. The car has been a Massachusetts car since new, and 60 northern winters have created alot of body rot. The previous owner had the car patched with body filler and painted about 20 years ago. This time, I again had it patched and painted. To have the car stripped to metal and repair the damage by welding in metal would have simply cost more than the car is worth. Hopefully by keeping it garaged it will look OK for a few years to come.

I tried posting the pictures on the Kodak gallery. http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?UV=31275428590_524516069306&conn_speed=1&collid=35171209306.395787069306.1219690989268&mode=fromsite

I have several pictures and I do want to post them. However, I can't figure out how to do it and still keep the file size within the limit imposed by the forum attachment manager. - Any ideas?

I finally decided that body work and paint was something that I did not want to do. I took my 48 coupe to Maaco. They filled a lot of problems with bondo, sanded, primed, sanded again and applied color coat and top coat. The car looks great! I took it to a local cruise night on Saturday and it got a lot of attention. I know that it is the same old car, with the same old problems, underneath it all, but I feel like I'm driving a new car!

Rockwood, I put a Sony Radio CD deck in my D24 last summer. I used a power converter to change 6V pos. ground to 12V neg. ground. No need for a 12V batt. It works great, but doesn't have enough "oomph" to drive an optional amp or large speakers. I also use a powered antenna about 3 inches long that sticks to the windshield behind the mirror. Also got a dual cone speaker that mounts in the original dash opening. Converter, antenna and speaker came from this site: http://www.soundmove.com/accessories.htm I was very happy with the service. Power converter was only $69.95.

I used a Kanter headliner in my coupe. The material looks great and the pockets for the bows seemed to be right on the money, however, it was the first time I installed a headliner and I did not get all of the puckers out. ...My fault! It still looks better than the mouse stained original that came out. I recommend the Kanter product. They even sent me small swatches of a couple of colors so that I could pick the one that best matched my interior.

Thanks! I found the old thread, complete with a couple of pictures. I will head out to the hardware store tomorrow.

About a month ago I asked for info about taking out my fuel tank. Thanks to everyone, taking out the tank was one of the easiest jobs I have done on my coupe so far. I had a local radiator shop repair the tank. He did a good job, he also discovered that someone had previously patched the filler tube joint with bondo! I guess bondo is gas resistant. Anyway, he removed the bondo and re-soldered the neck. Today I put the tank back into the car. All was going well until I discovered that the fuel line didn't seat tightly into the fitting on the tank. It looks like something is missing. Is there supposed to be some kind of ferrule or thick washer in this fitting? I don't remember anything falling out, but it could have been lost anywhere between my garage, the radiator shop, and back. Help!

Thanks for all of your help! I will take a look under it tomorrow morning.

I can see the sending unit through the removable plate in the trunk. It appears dry in that area. I can't see where the filler tube attaches to the top of the tank. The rubber hose is a definite possibility. However, it seems likely that there are pinholes in the tank. - Now my second problem. My car is less than perfect, and a previous owner fixed the rotted rear quarters by molding over the fender welt seams. As a result, I can't remove the left rear fender without a huge amount of work. Can I take out the tank, and/or filler tube without removing the fender?

The "Naked City" starring Barry Fitzgerald was just on TCM. Filmed in New York City in 1948 it is chock full of all of the cars of the day. You could check the listings, it may be re-run sometime this month.

Last summer I filled the tank on my 48 Dodge coupe. (It looks like J.Edgar) When I put it back into the garage I noticed that it dripped a little gas onto the floor. There was a wet stripe from the top of the tank on the end near the filler tube. After I drove some, and the gas gauge went down towards 3/4 full the leak stopped. When I put the car away for the winter I thought that the first project this spring would be to take out the tank. - Now I'm wondering, is there some kind of vent or overflow that could cause this? The car now has half a tank of gas, doesn't drip, and even after a week in a closed garage there is no gas smell. Any ideas?

I was reading your post because I have an old fuel pump that I was thinking of rebuilding as a spare. I had not heard of Antique Auto Cellar before, and so I googled it to find out where it was. I was surprised to find that it is about 15 miles from my house in Massachusetts! Now I have a local source for parts and services! I learn something everytime I read this forum.

Thanks, Perhaps it is just the nature of the beast to loose the carb prime.

Last weekend I put the battery back into my 48 D24 business coupe to wake it from its winter slumber. A couple of shots of starting fluid down the throat of the carb and if fired up. I took it for ride long enough to get it up to temp. put some gas in it, then back home. I did not have time to take it out during the week, and when I tried to start it today it wouldn't fire until I shot some more starting fluid into the carb. Once started and warmed up I can shut it off and it fires right up again. Is this normal for these cars, or is there something wrong with the carb? The engine runs good, once started; and the accelerator pump seems to work OK. I replaced that accelerator pump, and the fuel pump, last summer. Any ideas?

Those pictures are feeding my cabin fever. Here in Massachusetts it was snowing last weekend. Right now it is 50 degrees and raining, but it is supposed to be in the 30's tomorrow with either rain and/or snow. I can't wait until the warm weather and the cruise nights start again. Usually in May around here.

Sorry, I did go back and vote. I was #1 for baby moons. Thanks for the info on the wheels.

I think that I would use hub caps, perhaps painted blue to match the car. However, considering the 2 choices offered, I would pick gold. By the way, what kind of wheels do you have? I will be looking for new tires (radials) this spring, and I am not sure whether I should try to clean up the original wheels and paint them, or to buy new replacements.

It looks like one I bought on EBay last summer for about $49. It worked great, but I had to clear plating and paint off of the threads before I could use it. Not having a tap and die that large, it took me over an hour with a wire brush on the post, then working it back and forth in the center piece to clear the threads. Once the threads were clear I popped the rear drums off in about a minute. I think a 1 1/4 inch socket fits the nut on the post. I used an air gun on it. Made short work of pulling the hubs.

I got a 94, which means I must have missed 3 questions, yet the quiz only told me I answered incorrectly once. What happened to the other 2 wrong answers? Also, there is an inaccuracy in the test. It repeatedly refers to weight in kilograms. This is wrong. Kilograms measure mass. In the metric system, the unit of weight is the Newton. - I know, you are going to say that your bathroom scales measure in kg, but technically this is incorrect.

One possibility is that as the starter gets hot as the engine warms up the resistance of the windings increases. If the starter condition is kind of marginal, this can cause it to crank slow when warm. If you have access to an induction ammeter you could check the draw on the battery when starting the car cold and starting it again when it is hot.

You have all got me thinking about getting a lift. When I had my garage built four years ago I had a cathedral roofline put on it with door tracks that follow up the roof expressly to give enough height for a lift. Somehow one thing led to another and I haven't put in the lift yet. I'm thinking that this may be the year. Thanks for the ideas.

Thanks Don, I'll go crawl under the dash with my 'Zoom' spout oil and put a few drops in it.

I saw the note in the service manual also, but I'm not sure where to oil. It says in the 'cup'. Should I unscrew the cable and put a couple of drops into the speedo head? or into the speedo cable? or both? My speedometer reads about 5 mph low at 40 mph, and does not seem to want to read above 50 mph. It also bounces a little.

Massachusetts, ten miles west of the home of the Red Sox.