Mikec4193

Welcome to the forum Beautiful looking truck right there... Thanks for sharing... MikeC

Ok kids....lots of sparks are flying again in the hodge podge garage...I think we had more fun than we should have... So thankful for more what I think is 3/8" brake line...there was a big hole in the trunk lid area...had to do something How does it all go on here again...tac tac tac....grind grind grind...cut cut cut...repeat... way too much fun for one day...still grinning about it tho... So I get both sides done and I grab ahold of it and it is still flopping around....more chin scratching...more 3/8" brake line and some scrape "U" channel too... A strip of 20 gauge sheetmetal...it still was flopping around...l was told years ago...triangles were a strong shape... Had to add more supports to the inner rockers that I had cobbled together too...more 3/8" brake line...grind grind grind....tac tac tac...repeat... I have a date with my mechanic friend he is going to go over all the wiring I did and make sure this old heap will fire up...once we get it to run...then I will be putting and exhaust system on it...then tow it to the garage to get it inspected...hopefully it should pass... I have spot on my lean too where I think I will store it... I have had way too much fun rebuilding this ole heap...looking for the next project as we speak...

I use to work at the local county in DPW department...we would have to go take pictures after any fatal accidents...90% of the traveling public have no idea how close they are to the edge...especially the faster that they travel....I raced locally and I can tell you running up some guys back end is a thrill but not on the street it is not... I have built and driven several older heaps...where I live you don't even want to drive them on the roadways anymore....so now I build them to a point and then I sell them...I have no desire where I currently live to drive anything old on the roads... I recently bought a house in rural Kansas I will try it out there and see if it is any better than upstate NY where I grew up... My 2 cents... MikeC

Hey Olddodge41 I have to say this has been the bucket list build since I went to my first race at the local oval track in 1965 with my dad...I was 4 years old...I have raced oval track stuff and I have really enjoyed it but then this project came on the market...I had to grab it... I still smile every time I go out to the garage and bang away on it... I am thinking about another Mopar project when I get this one up and running...My parents had a 1939 Plymouth 4 door back in the early 1960s and then my dad had Pilothouse for several years in the mid 1960s when he was building the house I grew up in... I am in my happy place when I am making sparks.... Thanks for the reply.

So the ole heap had very very humble rocker and quarter panels on both sides...I had mounted the body and built the floor so I thought I was good to go...then I got looking at it and there was a big hole under the floor when you opened the door... So I had some I think it was 3/8" brake line hanging on the wall...so here we go again... I also had bought some 1/4" square stock for something that I was working on...so why not...let get this thing going... lots of cutting and grinding and tacking again... Oh yeah...quarter panel patches are cobbled in place too... I love saving old rusty metal...makes me smile when I re-use stuff...the quarter on the drivers side is part of the old floor pan patch...the passenger side is 18 gauge sheet metal that I had sitting around... Cowl patches were also cobbled in place...grind grind grind...tac tac tac....grind grind grind...

Hey Hickory I left my full time govt job in January...still working my part time Home Depot job but I bought a place out in Wetmore Kansas...my nephew rents a room from me so I can pay the heat and lights and the taxes on it... I am just getting stuff moving here...I will snow bird here as my wife's family is all still in upstate NY... So far it appears to be working...my son and his family are 1 1/2 hours away...I am a lot closer than a days plane trip so I think it might work out for me...I bought in a really small town so it was affordable and if I don't like it I will sell....I am giving myself 2 years to figure it out... Good luck with your search. I am in Saratoga County...we are not that far apart... MikeC

Been picking away at it...almost every night except when I am in Kansas...then I work on my snow bird house... Not sure what this piece is called but it had terminal metal worm infestation...so I did my little dance and cut cut cut...tac tac tac...grind grind grind...repeat... This coupe is biggest mess I have had to deal with since my Willys Jeep days...nothing seemed to line up...so I got the tape measure and did some marking and come to find out the rear decklid was not the same length on each side... We are looking spiffy now... Once you try to get one in the right realm then something else wont line up...So I cobbled up some deck lid latches and called it good... Got the new old used racing seat mounted up...it took many many hours of cutting and chopping to get things to fit... We also got brakes that sorta work...I lost a can of brake fluid chasing leaks...every single fitting leaked and 3 of the 4 wheel cylinders leaked...I am so thankful I have all GM brakes on this ole heap... So this car as I have said many times...it is a freak show..I have 2 yellow doors...one side and the roof is brown and one side is black... I have never tried to rework a Mopar before...maybe this is normal Mopar stuff...

So I went away for a while...I was in the mid west for a month and then Erie PA for a couple of weeks...been slowly cobbing things back together... So we finally got wheels from the fine folks at Wheels Vintiques...the rear ones took over 6 months and the front ones were over 9 months.. Got everything mounted up nice nice too... So I had built this hood for this heap out of 18 gauge sheet metal that I had laying around and it just never looked right on it...so I cut it apart and made front fenders for the ole girl.. Old hood I cobbled up... New spiffy front fenders shown here...that was the hood.. I did a thing too with the whole rear end set up... Pulled all this nice shiny Chinese parts off the heap... This is how old stock cars should look like from this era... The fine folks at Posies hooked me up...I had talked to them a year back and the fellow I talked to on the phone said they were out of stock but he would touch base with me again when they came back into stock again...took I bet 9-10 months before they came in... Currently hanging a lot of wires and gauges...taking my time as I don't have a clue what I am doing... Once the ole heap is running and moving...then I need to drive it...not looking forward to driving at all... It has been a fun build so far...

Hey Los_Control... So I had a 1953 Chevy truck and it had stock springs in the front...and it rode like a tank...on the rear I put 1990s Chevy 1500 spring with hangers...all stuff I could brand new from STS Leaf Springs...just made sense I guess at the time... I try to get projects in and out of my garage as quickly as I can...If I work on something for more than 2 years I loose interest in them...that is why I try to keep my projects as put together as possible...taking a cab off is never a good thing for me... I thought of another piece of the puzzle I forgot...an aftermarket fuel tank from a place like this...https://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=226/category_id=68/mode=prod/prd226.htm Of course all new lights front and back too... We will see if I can find one worth trying to save that I afford to rebuild... Thanks for all the insight... MikeC

Hi Mopar Folks I am getting to the point with my 1939 Plymouth Coupe project that I will be needing another project...I have always loved the Pilothouse trucks since I was a little kid riding around in my dads 1950 truck... I don't enjoy doing restorations at all...life is too short for that stuff unless you have a crew...my last old truck was a 1953 Chevy and I rebuilt it...basically fixed worn out parts and drove it... Hypothetically if I was to find a complete truck that ran and rolled up onto a trailer....but was basically a stock truck and I would like to drive around town more than to shows or parades... This is a really basis basic checklist to make it a driver... 1) Swap out rear end for a Jeep Cherokee 2) Put newer leaf springs from a Dakota or 1990s GM truck 3) Get a Ram Man Disc brake kit 4) Go to Speedway and get a universal under floor master / clutch assembly 5) Rewire it and convert to 12 volt alternator 6) Newer bench seat or buckets 7) Mount retractable safety belts ? All new rubbers and glass too 9) Light truck radial tires Still not sure about the old school steering box and solid steering column yet.... My goal is something to take to get 2x4's and stuff like that...maybe even put a trailer hitch on it so I can tow stuff with it... Does this seem like the high points to get a running old truck more user friendly and still keep it an old truck?? Thanks for any insight MikeC

I forgot about this cobbled up thing I did... So I live on a State Road and we get almost 5000 cars a day racing by my door...so this happens a lot...I had two of these wrecked boxes...I wanted to find a place for them...well I did finally...I stripped them down to nothing and look what we did... We made us a firewall.... So what is an old stock car with out an old street sign...?? She is now an old stock car for sure... Here is another view of the second hood I cobbled together...

So the shop was getting kinda gritty so I pushed the ole heap to the edge of the shop doorway... Love the stance so far.... As I toil away on this old heap I get to know it better all the time and one day last summer I heard in a audible voice in the garage say..."Hi I am Judy"...so the old heap is named Judy from now on....

Been busy cuttin and grinding and welding all kinds of rusty metal to this heap...the Cob Job Garage is in full swing for sure... That first hood I built was a hideous mess...I had some round stock from an old fence and some really really thin sheetmetal... cut cut cut....tac tac tac....grind grind grind...the center piece came out of the old trunk floor from the coupe... Had to do brakes on the ole heap...so thankful for Rock Auto... So then we had to plumb some stuff to all those new Rock Auto parts... I have been thinking about the hodge podge deck lid...then I saw what it could do...I kinda like it now Then came something to put gasoline in...Google and Ebay to the rescue... I think shipped to my door for less than $200.00...it is too shiny but we are scuffing it up to make it like it was there all the time...all the mounting brackets I cobbled together from the metal pile in the yard...I think it is 10 gallons... Then came a battery holding device... Had the angle iron from a 1940 Ford stock car I saved a couple years back... Several days of cuttin and chopping and chin scratching and look mom...

Sometimes I wanna be this super fabricator and then I find something I could never make and the price is descent and it is made in the USA.... The former owner had put a nice flat firewall in it but it was rather thin in gauge...one look at these pedals and I was like...we gotta do it a little thicker.... Went to the pile of crusty steel and found some 16 gauge.... All set in place...hope it can stay in this spot... Did a little more hodge podge garage work on the radiator support... Look mom....we have pedals in the car...a steering wheel and column too.... In rust we trust right here.... Next on the docket is getting the brandy new gas pedal assembly and my foot to fit in in next to the transmission hump....I don't plan on driving it much but still would be nice to have to so it works correctly... MikeC

Still diggin on the ole pile of parts.... The low down in the dirt low ridder crew sometimes will post how low their rigs are...well this ole pile is more than a 1lb Maxwell House coffee can is... I want to be able to fit my floor jack under the frame and guess what...it fits... I I gave up on trying to fabricate motor mounts...I went the fine folks on Facebook and I got motor mounts from a fellow in Canada Horton is the shop name... The motor went farther back too...I am learning everytime you move one part it effects 6 more things...so now we gotta figure out all the logistics again...motor is set back about 12" from where it would have sat in the Camaro/Nova front clip... Now we gotta do a hydraulic clutch now too... Speedway to the rescue... More cobbing to get everything to fit... Then my 10-15 year old welder took a dump...never happens when it should but it served me well... Still tweaking on this new horse... I wanted to see how it looked as it sits right now.... The folks at Vintques Wheels are building some new wheels for me....cant wait for that... So now we are piecing the floor panels in place... One bite at a time...

Hey Leroy I totally agree...to the point where next year I am moving to rural Kansas so I can build old heaps and actually enjoy driving them...right now I am in the middle of a housing explosion...all the folks from NYC and Long Island and moving here...since 9/11 this area has changed so much...

It was so hot on Sunday,,,so what should I do on Sunday??... we grind and weld some rusty old metal... Rear quarter had some thin spots... I ground it down and filled it a couple time...still not sure why I didn't take a pic of it... So I dragged this poor excuse for a rear deck panel...they are made of un-obtainium so we will grind and weld on this one...in the past someone added some aluminum strips for a support...I thought should do it a little better... Bring on the 3/8" left over brake line... Grind grind tac tac tac...repeat... It came with these not so old but still cool hinges... Look Mom....the deck lid opens...and the old shop broom stick holds it up... It was a good Sunday... It is crude and rude but I smile when I see it... Grind on fellow rust loves...

I love to drive old vehicles but just not out where others tend to run as well...where I currently live back roads don't exist anymore unless you go out at 4am. My current plan is I am moving this January to a very rural part of NE Kansas and I hope to have a shop and a couple old clunkers to toddle around town...I love that smell of un burned gas and rattles and the bangs the smell of coolant as it runs out the overflow... It is just the newer point and shoot vehicles are so fast and so quiet it scares me where I live now to actually drive the old heaps...

Hi Mopar guys...as I toil away on another pile of rust...I recall how much I don't really enjoy driving these old vehicles...love love love to tinker on them...but the thing that hurts me the most is pulling out on the roadway where I live and actually taking it down the road....it is terrifying to say the least... My last old project car I drove on the roadways was a 1968 VW Bug...it would run down the road ok (once I got it wound up) but it was so slow getting it going...people right up my back side was a common occurrence...close calls every single time I took it out too... So I think some of us are drivers and some of us are builders...I am a cobber/builder...but I have saved several old heaps from getting thrown away and allowed others to take my projects and make them their own.... Thanks for listening... Happy grinding everyone...

Hey Dansk.... Summer of 1980...this is me at Malta...I was 19 years old...love racing more than life...hope to go back in the near future (4 cylinder class)...hot rods are fun in the winter months but racing is for summer time....I raced for 3 years in the 1980s and then went back in 2002 to 2012 (second picture)

Waiting on parts....so we look around at all the rust....last weekend was rear deck lid gutter rework time... out with the old stuff... before shot here... gotta love scrap pieces... A little cowl patching going on too... I have a trunk lid that someone made from GOD only knows what that I am going to be looking at in the very near future... As it looked 4 months ago... Keep writing checks...scratching my chin...tacking...grinding...and of course repeating... I have until Dec of 2022 to get this ole heap rolling again...we will see

I kept trying to figure this ole man out...he was giving my a little tussle for sure...I got brave and fabbed up a period correct hood for it... I had some 18 gauge kicking around...I thought hey what the heck...lets do it... It just didnt look right...I kept looking at it...tape measure in hand...nothing looked right...so... I yanked the motor out of it...cut all my cobbled up motor mounts too...found a professional shop in Canada that built engine mounts for this specific motor..so I order them up... Tape measure in hand...wish me luck...so thankful this was a mess when I got it...

Found some stress cracking going on the drivers side cowl... tac tac tac....grind grind grind...repeat... I had some steel from an "EZ-up canopy that took a dump in a summer storm a couple summers ago...I saved the square tube.. Now I can actually sit the new seat inside the cabin...gotta figure out pedals still... I work part-time at a local big box lumber place...they had a display they were throwing out...I snagged it and cut it apart today... More floor supports... tac tac tac....grind grind grind...repeat... Got the top of the cowl all buttoned up... waiting of wheels and wheel spacers... Need to get the floor tacked into place too... one bite at a time...

So I thought about ways to get the car to sit correctly...I went on line and found a company In Oregon selling 4 link kits...I was hoping their stuff was made in the USA... Well I tried... Had to do some cleaning and grinding to get stuff to fit... This was the second try and getting this stuff to sit in the right spot... the kit was a Generic kit for a 1928 to 1946 Mopar...so the cross member was too narrow...so what does one do?? You cut it in half...and you spend many many nights scratching your chin...clamps in hand...tape measure stuck in your hand... I learned a little bit about how to build a shock...I have never built a coil over shock before... Still not sure if any of this stuff will work... I don't think I will be driving it much (maybe once or twice tops) so as long as nothing falls off of it we should good to go.... Working on the floor pan supports too...pics to follow...

I have no idea what this rear end is...someone told me it looked like 55 Chevy...there were no guts in it...so I put it out to pasture...face down in the dirt... There were no gears in it... Something about a pre war coupe sitting up on jack stands that make smile...reminds me of the many Friday nights spent at the local oval track watching the cars get worked on... Took everything out and starting mocking stuff up... I love the way it looks in this view... I tried my hardest to get a Mopar rear end but ended up with this mid 1980's Monte Carlo...cost me $100.00 hope we make it work...at least I get brake parts for it from Rock Auto... This is how the brake drum came off...someone put new drums and shoes on it and then parked it out side.... Oh well...better days are coming... Tac Tac Tac.....grind grind grind....repeat