Suess

Here ya go.

What size is the speaker that you got? Behind the grill in the center is four little holes. Give me a minute and I can dig out my old one and sendyou some pics and measurements.

The earliest I can remember this car it was sitting in a shed next to a chicken coop. It had no top or interior. I played in it a took numerous imaginary trips in it. Dad took it to a body shop and they installed a volare front clip. Then it came home and sat for a few more years. Then I remember it going to one of my dads friends and the put in a 360 with a automatic. After that it was pieced together. As I got older and got my license I was permitted to drive it home from a mechanics house. It was the dead of winter no top no heater and not a single pane of glass. I looked like the kid from the Christmas story.... Now as some may have noticed with my 47 build. When I see a little problem it begins to blow out of proportion such as the car needs a new carb.. My thought process evolves into well if it needs a carb I might as well pull the manifold and well since I am this far lets go ahead and rebuild the engine.. So on and so forth. I tell you this because five or so years ago as I was sitting at our old shop my father complained that his front brakes seemed to be a little sluggish. He asked if I would check them out.. He then left to go take a nap. Now what I say is gospel. No sooner did he exit the shop and I looked at the brakes I discovered that every thing had been installed in that car was from the junk yard and looked the part. I being a man of OCD decided to gut it! When dad came back into the shop I had the fron of the car stripped and scattered for one end to another. I then forced my father to purchase items that I felt would be sufficient. It was a blast and I wouldn't change any of these memories for any amount of money. Sorry if I rambled but this car also holds memories for me. Hell all of them do.

So today as I was digging for parts for the 47 I was climbing all over my dads 48 convertible. I have not given this car much thought because it had also been stored for a few years and the 47 is my favorite. Anyway I opened the trunk to see if he had stashed anything back there and I saw that the battery cables had been disconnected. Out of pure curiosity I hooked the cables up slid in through the passenger door ( because so much crap had been piled up around it) I put the key in the ignition and saw everything light up. I pump it a few times and hit the switch. The engine spun, pump it again and I couldn't believe it she started right up. Slowly backed it out of the shed checked the tires and tranny fluid wiped the dirt off the glass and drove it home. I made it about 15 miles pulled over and dropped the top. Drove the rest of the way with no issues. Got her home wife and I hosed it off wiped it all down and jumped I. And went to dinner with our kids in the back seat. I have been working every night on my 47 that I forgot how much fun it was to just drive. The green rims were my wife's idea years ago. I still think they look cool. On the way home. Notice my one clean spot in the rear plastic so I could see.

I talked to turnswitch today. Very helpful. With new glass and full rebuild will be around 525.00 and he is about nine weeks out. I will ship it to him first thing Monday. I will do before and after pic and give a full review. Again thanks for the help.

So antique radio does not do the conversions anymore. They will direct me to a authorized dealer. As for the price I was looking at around 500 for the hidden stereo, the reason why I want to stay away from that is I will still need to hide the controller somewhere. If I can have my original stereo do what I want it will be worth it to me. I know I can just put a deck under the seat and use the supplied wireless remote but I think it would be damn cool to use the old one.

That is perfect!! Thank you, they actually offer the mp3 connector I will call them tomarrow and post the results.

As I was scrolling through pictures of interiors of 40s plymouths I see that people put car stereos in glove boxes under the dash and one guy even cut a hole in the chrome grill and put the radio there. I have seen the website for sending in the original unit and having it converted to fm/am. But let's say I want to go further than that what about a original unit that does am/fm has amplifier pre outs and the ability to play mp3. Is this possible and if so has anyone here done it. How does it sound? Would you do it again? My goal with this car is to be when someone looks into the interior it looks like it rolled off the assembly line. Any ideas or hints would be much appreciated.

Here are some pics

Happy fathers day to everyone. This weekends update is the rack and pinion install. I purchased this kit from old daddy. I did look at fatmans kit and after seeing the $255 price tag I declined. First thing that needs attention is that you need to cut old daddy's brackets so that they fit your frame. This took maybe thirty minutes, that includes the time it took me to find my cutoff tool and a sharpy (i must have at least twenty sharpys in the shop but oddly enough they always seem to vanish). The rack came out of a 1996 chevy celebrity along with both of the inner tie rods. The tie rod ends are for a 1996 ford exploder. After bolting the rack up to the brackets I slid the unit in between the rails measured to make sure I had my center mark. To do this I placed a 1x6 board across the frame and tacked a string with a nut tied to it on the center. This made sure that the rack was centered. I then layed two torpedo levels from the inner lower a arm bolt to the inner tie rod bolt, this gave me both center lines. Once the unit had been centered I began checking my steering shaft lay out. I used mechanics wire and tape for this. I taped the mechanics wire to the borgesons joints and eyeballed the alignment. Sounds strange but it did work. So after making sure everything was lined up I tacked both sides to the frame. I had already removed the spring from the frame so I dropped her down to the ground and then all the way back up so that I had full extraction and compression of the frame. While I was dropping and lifting I kept moving the tires from lock to lock. After making sure everything was good I began welding everything up. So far it looks great and I can steer it when she gets pushed in and out of the garage. So onto what I learned: 1. Power steering fluid tastes horrible. 2. Do not wear shorts when welding. You will get a sunburn. And other horrible things happen. I have welding gear and know this, but whining about being to hot in the proper equipment or whine about burning the hell out of your legs. 3. If you continue to keep getting power steering fluid in your mouth you will aquire a taste for it (think of it like buttermilk it's horrible but tastes so good). I will try and get some pictures downloaded tomarrow.

Headers or cast manifold? And is it a center dump or rear dump? And are you inner fenders complete, meaning did you cut any of it out for spark plug access? To remedy my situation I plan on building a cold air system built into my inner fenders. This is the same idea that you will see on hopped up cars it is a tube or vent the brings cold air and blows it onto the brakes. This will ake sure that I am pushing cool air into the engine bay.

It sealed very well, I did run my scraper over all the loose junk the vacuumed everything out. I bought numerous items while the floor was still raw I revealed all the seams with 3m flexible body sealer caulking. Let that sit for 24 hours the painted everything with zero rust ( kind of like por 15 minus the price) in the quarter panels and the door I used eastwoods brushable seam sealer. The roof sealer comes in a 33" x 30' role. I tried doing a large peice that went from the passenger side all the way to the drivers. That was a horrible idea it rolled in on itself and stuck. So I layed down a sheat of plywood and cut them into managable pieces. Once it was layed down I used a 10" linoleum roller and pushed it down. And for the spots were the floor has its divits I used my heat gun and the handle of a screw driver to massage it into place. I have been tapping on all of the panels listening for that metal rattle. So far so good there is still a thump but it is a solid thump, if that makes sense. I will post a pick of the product when I get home tonight. Also it does have that smell of roofing tar. It has since gone away but you can defiantly smell it when you are laying the stuff down. God forbid the car catches on fire it will be like a tire thrown on a bonfire.

It is sealed. I am not sure how to make a (hatch). I need to be able to lube the window mechanism. I know I can leave the hole open and no one would know. But I would know and there inlays the problem.

I looked at dynamat but the price was way to much. So I went to my local roofing buisness and bought 120 square feet of roof sealer for $100. This allows me to seal everything inside of the doors outside of the doors all my quarter panels and all the way up the firewall. I also bought hot water heater insulation it is aluminum on both sides with the plasticky bubbles sandwiched between. I will also use that on the quarter panels. I know there is automotive stuff out there to do this but it also costs a small mint to do it. Oh and I also sealed all the seams with aluminum tape.

Figured it was time to do an update. Still waiting on the engine to be buttoned up at the machine shop. Finally found brake lines that are long enough. Got the lines bled and everything seems to be working on that end. Started vacuuming out the the floor pans and I discovered numerous rust spots and the center hump had been hacked at. So pulled the hump out and had it sandblasted beat it back into place and cut out all the rust and welded in new patch panels. Filled all the seems with 3m seam sealer. Painted the floor with zero rust then used brushable seam sealer over that. Finished up the day with laying rubber sound deadening material all over the place. So now for the "what I learned" 1. There is always rust 2. Flexible seam sealer is not that flexible. 3. Replace the cartridges on your respirator. ( seriously do this, they do go bad my left eye is still twitching from the fumes) 4. And Tape up your finger tips when laying down rubber insulation. I did not do this and there is no skin left. I can now commit the perfect crime.

Is it normal for one to be "bouncy" and the other not? Once the engine/trans and metal are in I know it will squish. But geeze this is stiff..

So I rebuilt the front end on the 47 coupe. Bought new springs from eaton (2 inch lowered) put the springs in set on the ground and noticed the passenger side is extremely stiff. Took the springs out made sure the a-arms move freely triple checked to make sure it wasn't hung up. Put the springs back in same problem. There is no metal on the front of the car. But I figured that I should have some give in it. Any ideas?

Ok. Got the caliper issue taken care of (thank you Charlie) new master cylinder is in all new brake lines run, metering block is installed. And got her back down on the tires. Started engine tear down last night and I found metal in the oil pan hoping it is just a cam bearing. Will find out more tonight.... Also the passenger side coil spring seems firmer than the drivers. Hoping when I drop the engine and trans in everything will smooth out. ( I know it is stiffer because of the old jump up and down on the frame maneuver.)

Wrong calipers indeed. Charlie emailed me back almost imediatly. Will hit the parts store in the morning.

Hello all was wondering if someone knows the answer for this. I installed the brackets for the disc brake conversion on my 47 ply buisness. When it came time to install the calipers it is a no go. The bracket holes from hole to hole is 5 1/2 the caliper is almost 7 inches. The brackets are for rusty hope. The calipers are from a 85 Buick lesabre... Was I supposed to get different calipers? Or is it possible the bracket is supposed to go to something else?

Well after a couple days of sanding and some more sanding and a little more sanding. I was able to shoot the primer. After wet sanding and the help of my wife taping the car off I was able to shoot the color last night. I found some imperfections but nothing some more sanding won't fix. So here she is.

This may sound odd, but I have done this on a steering gear box. Once you have the bracket lined up, drill the frame through both rails. Oversize the holes then get thick walled tubing cut the tubing to the correct width. Slide the tubes into the frame and weld them into place. Now you have a very solid mounting platform..... Or cut a square hole in the bottom of the frame ( big enough for a wrench) get the nut that you are using weld it to a smaller section of plate. Put the nut in the box end of the wrench slide it into the frame while you run the bolt in. Hope that helps

I did indeed get the aluminum radiator. Thank you for the heads up. I will make sure to also keep it up and out of the way.

Also got my eaton springs installed and the new front end rebuild kit from Andy B. A huge thank you to mrwrstory for helping me with the radiator questions. Hopefully that will show up this week. I know I can't install it yet but it will be nice to look at.

Well it's been awhile since I posted. I finally got all the speed holes welded up, discovered the reason why the steering was so tight, the drivers side kingpin had been beat to hell. So ordered new kit for that. Welded up all the little holes in the frame and started body work on the firewall. I have discovered that I am not a body man. Luckily I have a friend who is a painter (this is always a good thing to have, you must be good friends with at least a body guy, Transmision guy, and a carb guy) he showed me some pointers so my next coats of mud should sand a little smoother. Plan is to have the firewall painted by this weekend and get her back on the tires. Hopefully the kingpins go smooth.