Andydodge

I've got 195/75x15 and 235/75x15 Coker Classic Radials on my 41 Plymouth coupe, rims are 15x6 & 15x7 Wheel Vintique Chrome Smoothies with the standard offset they come with bolted onto the stock 41 Plymouth brake drums. I looked into getting Diamondback tyres also but decided on the Cokers purely because the Diamond back dealer for Australia didn't have any 235's in stock and my money was burning a hole in my pocket. As far as handling etc the Cokers are a 1000% improvement over the 6.00x 16 Republic brand crossplies I had on the car when purchased, it now steers, drives almost like a normal car........and it looks good......Andy Douglas

W.F..........Welcome from sunny Sth Grafton, NSW Australia.....to the best forum on the net, these guys are a great bunch of people and are extremely knowledgeable & helpful.......and don't apologise for the family pics and stories, they are interesting & informative.........thats a real nice looking car you have............best wishes from downunder.......Andy Douglas

This is a REALLY useful thread......ALL of you guys, Fred in Germany....Jim, Neil, Don, Bill, Greg and others in the USA that I may have missed, all of you should be commended on how you've worked together, really!.......a job well done.......thanks, andyd

Whilst I don't doubt what others have said regarding Andy Bernbaums bedside manner, I have been dealing with him for at least 20 yrs, getting various parts including a complete cast iron torqueflite rebuild kit, 1/4 vent rubbers, suspension parts, pistons, window and body rubber parts, seals, gaskets sets and other bits that I can't remember. I have always found him to be straightforward when I ask a question about the suitability or not of a part, he's advised me when something has not been what I thought it was and generally has tried to help me when I call........from Australia.........parts have been sent promptly, packed well and charged correctly.......I have never met the man, hold no brief for him nor his business other than as a satisfied customer and as I said whilst I don't doubt what others have found in dealing from him I think that the flaming of him and his business in this forum has been a little unfair.........yep, its my 2 cents worth and after all I do share the same first name as Mr Bernbaum but anyway I have found him to be good to deal with and will continue to if I need parts......BTW I have also dealt with Roberts Motors Parts & Steele Rubber & found them both to be good to deal with as well..........Andy Douglas

Rock, the last issue of Kustoms Illustrated?......I have up to #24.........has # 25 come out?.......thanks andyd

Nah, if the levee wall broke I'd have a nice view of the flood from my house...........and no work.........lol.......

Beautiful day here in Sunny South Grafton today, mid 20's no clouds, no rain.......perfect day to take the plymouth to work and park out the front of the shop.......lol.............andyd

Rock, speaking as someone who has had a V8(318 poly & cast iron auto) powered 1940 Dodge Sedan since 1973 I'll add my 2cents worth.....If I were doing the job again and was young & silly & had the time & money to put into it I'd get either an LA 318 or 360, get it rebuilt including a good balance job, as for gearbox this comes to personal choice but a either a manual or auto so long as it has a good overdrive setup would work, as for steering & brakes, I'd upgrade to 4wheel discs on the original rebuilt front suspension with an upper shock mount relocation, heavy duty sway bar, either a rack & pinion or depending on clearances which with a small block based engine should be o/k, I'd look for a late model steering box that could fit and use the original tie rods etc, rear end would be a 9" Ford which while might go against the grain is cheap, reliable, easily rebuilt and can be geared to whatever ratio you want plus rear disc brakes are a no brainer, redo the rear shock setup by putting a crossmember in and mounting the shoucks angled in as per most cars...rear springs may bave to be changed if this shock relocation is planned or at the very least different spring hangers ........after all that then the rest is again your choice......lol......as mentioned.....my 2cents worth.......andyd

Pete, am pleased that this has happened as I understand the reason for it but as I've said before you and the work you did on the Plymouth have gone a long way to increasing the level of interest and understanding of our Mopars in the automotive community. While I have been playing with mopars for nearly 40 yrs it was your website and the information and more importantly the friendly way you gave that information that has helped not only me but I would think dozens if not hundreds of other mopar fans. Don't become a stranger on here.......I've never met you, have spoken to you once or twice a couple of years ago over the phone, but would be happy to call you a good friend..........it maybe someones elses Plymouth from now on but we'll still know it as "blueskies car"........best wishes and regards, Andy Douglas

When you clean the crud off the uprights & stub axles on BOTH sides you will see the locking pin, its usually 3/8th in size and if you look carefully you'll see that one side is usually protruding outside of the hole and is completely round whereas the other side of it may not be protuding out of the upright hole and you should be able to see that its got one side machined flat to allow it to "lock" the against the kingpin......to remove this locking pib get a brass drift/old 3/8th bolt or large steel punch and a big hammer and hit the pin from the side that has the machined flat.........once it has been removed the king pin can be removed by taking out the small welch plug that is sometimes still there at the top of the king pin, then using the large drift just tap the king pin out thru the bottom of the stub axle.........try and clean the stub axle spindle as best you can as it makes it much easier when you can see how it goes together........andyd

Waggotts in Lismore have my 23" cam at present and from memory he said he had a couple of 1/2 race 25" cams still, apart from the triple carbs and a split exhaust the best bang for the buck is getting an engine balanced......even if you then just run the stock head and have 50thou milled off it that will be a big help, also update the ignition, either the Langdon HEI or apparently the slant 6 dissy can be made to work..........whatever is done to these ol' boat anchors they are never gunna be top hp, but are different so that'll do me.........also check with Stewart Campbell in Maitland/Newcastle.......andyd

Kai, sorry, I haven't any pics handy, I'll get some and post but when I originally built the car with the 318 Poly I tried to run the original steering box , to the extent that I even cut one of the engine mount "ears" from the block(this was 1973, I WAS young AND stupid!!), still didnt give me enough clearance, so looked around for a rack & pinion, found one from a Morris Minor, mounted that complete with its column, lol......it worked but the turning circle was more than a Mack truck so after talking to a few people it was decided to shorten the steering arms........I didn't do it myself but got it touch with a guy here in Oz, in Sydney where I grew up who was an Automotive Blacksmith, at least thats what was on the sign at his shop, he specialised in doing truck steering and suspension modifications that were approved by the state registration dept, anyway after speaking to him and showing him the arms, he said that he could shorten and reforge the arms which he duly did...........and they have been on the car since, which was about 1974/75 without a problem.........I'll try & get some pics of what it looks like, I now have an Austin 1800 rack which was much stronger but still had to be narrowed 9" to get the pivot points in alignment with the lower inner suspension arm pivots...........andyd

Milt, actually I think that most uses of a rack & pinion are because of lack of space for an original steering box and the fact that most original ones have a straight column which also interferes with engine swaps etc........andyd

I don't have a Cavalier rack in my 40 Dodge but an Austin 1800 rack that I narrowed 9" to get the tie rod arm pivots close to the 40 Dodge lower inner pivot points, I ended up having to have the steering arms reforged and shortened by 1" to get a normal turning circle........this reduction in turning circle is a common problem when using a rack & pinion steering setup.........there isn't an easy solution as far as I know..........andyd

Fred, the Plymouth looks good in the pics amongst the local buildings, but that noise problem is probably due to the paint.........see, its like this, nice shiney smooth paint allows the car to slip thru the air quickly with minimal resistance.............lol.......paint jobs with, how shall I say it.......patina(?)........lol...........the unsmoothness(is that a word) of the paint creates wind resistance resulting in air shock waves resonating along the sides of the cars body resulting in the rumblings that you are hearing..........lol...........for my next sermon.......lol.......nah, only kidding...........lol.........but I think Tim's suggestion re the pinion angle might be wworth following up, btw I haven't noticed any unusual noises in my Plymouth since the lowering, but its only a 2" drop, I've also replaced the shackle bushes before lowering it also..........regards, andyd

Fred, mine has 2" blocks on the rear and 3/4 of one coil cut from the front and sits quite well, regarding your post about the spring shackles maybe your cars rear springs have sagged a little and the 3" drop might be accentuating the problem.......andyd

Rob, done good........andyd

Bob.............Libby, my better half reminded me that there is a "Coopers" beer here in Oz......did they get a licence approval?.......lol...........andyd

But Bob, you didn't indicate whether Cooper has kept you on as his manager, we know that your still employed as his driver and publicist, but I was wondering whether there might be an opening for his manager if I was to chase up my green card...........lol............I can see movies,board games, TV staring roles, licenced toys.........a whole range of "Cooper" product........lol......andyd

I have a 1940 Australian Dodge Sedan which is based on the 1940 Plymouth and a 1941 Plymouth Coupe........rear fenders will interchange between both cars BUT the 1941's have the three "speedlines" behind the wheelarch that the 40's don't have......so you CAN put 41 fenders on a 40 or vice versa........its just the rivet counters that will get upset.......lol.......andyd

Bob.........now that Cooper's a celebrity can I get a pawed photo?..........I suppose Cooper now has pawed & unpawed, framed & unframed copies available........has he decided to keep you as his manager?........lol...........truly great pic and story, made me smile...........many thanks & regards, andyd

Rob, if you decide to chase new bolts make sure that you get UNC, NOT shitworth, which will have the same thread size but have a mongrel pommy head size.......andyd

Rob, from memory I put a thin wipe of gasket goo on either side of the gasket and on the bolt threads, also check the bolts as they are specific lengths I think, also as they go into the water jacket make sure they don't have any rusted threads that may allow water to seep up the thread........also put a wipe of gasket goo on the thread of that plugto ensure a good seal..........andyd

The thing with shipping is that within the US they probably still use trucks for the standard rate or a box size rate but once you get international, specifically overseas then its by plane, apparently there is no sea mail for postal items any more, just airmail so it becomes a fairly expensive exercise as the weight is the main factor, then of course every business in the US wants to send us in the rest of the world the goods via UPS or Fed Ex rather than the US Post Office as UPS & Fed Ex will pick up the goods from the business whereas the US Post Office, like most Post Offices by the way doesn't pickup so its "easier" BUT much dearer to get the goods.......I've rung different speed shop companies over the years like Speedway Mtrs, Summit etc and after lodging orders have then been told that they only ship UPS or Fed Ex and being told that they offer such a wonderful "service"..........yeh at 3 times the Post Office price I'd expect so!!.......so I cancell the order and go somewhere else.......this type of thing is very common for us poor sods in the rest of the world.........lol..........anyway just thought I'd throw my 3 cents worth in.........maybe only 2 cents now as the Pacific Paeso, aka the Oz dollar has **** itself over the past week........anyone take an IOU?.........lol..........regards, andyd

Whilst this is slightly away from the Hemi in a Mopar question a mate of mine here in Oz has a 40 Ford Coupe with a late 90's Toyota Lexus quad cam V8 & auto........he only HAD to use 2 of the 3 computers, has a wiring harness as thick as a mans arm using VERY thin wire and after suppling an aftermarket US sourced wiring harness that cost about $4-500.00 Aust and various other wiring bits etc, the wiring bill from the professional sparkie that he took the car to came to over $5000.00 Aust, with the car in the sparkies workshop most of the time but with some sparkie house calls........I ain't NEVER gunna run a car with a computer......never......lol.......but the Lexus V8 fits well and goes like stink.......andyd