Andydodge

I have the Gordon White "Offenhauser" book........no pics that show the Novi, did a search thru google, the pics on the main Offy site aren't real clear but my money's on it being a Novi.......Offy's BIG brother.........FWD and trailing 1/4 eliptic springs........whatever it is, I'd happily donate my left gonad for it................yummy.......I LOVE alloy, DOHC's and centrifical blowers........imagine the gear sounds!!.......andyd

Thats not the start of an early front wheel drive Novi V8 indy Roadster?..........only a guess but I'll check my Offy history book tonite............whatever it is I like the centrificul blower mounted at the front........yum.....andydc

When I was playing with the 41 Plymouth speed last weekend I wasn't sure whether the new old speedo was any good, so I thru a goodly amount of air tool oil in & around its workings(it was out of the instrument cluster), and then connected a small drill that has a reverse on it to the speedo head where the cable attaches, I clamped the drill chuck onto the speedo head and with the drill in reverse was able to check that the needle did work and ensure that oil got spread around.....you have to be careful while the drill is chucked onto the speedo head by keeping both held onto the workbench but it seemed to have freed it and its certaining not bouncing like the speedo that came with the car........andyd

Before marking the pulley, I get a fine hacksaw blade and gently recut the marks a little deeper and then colour the pulley white, paint or even liquid paper correction fluid works and use a fine black marker pen to highlight the degree marks....andyd

Tim........is that whats called a dent in the States...........lol............eerr..........now I see what you mean.........oops.........better put my glasses back on.............been using the braille screen.......lol........andyd

Jack, don't worry, you're not the 1st person to express amazement about an "Electric Gas Cap".........when I first saw this option mentioned a few mths ago on this forum I thought it was something out of Mad magazine..........lol........but apparently, yep they were an option.......simply amazing the number and variety of options available even back in the 40's........this is a great place to learn........thanks, andyd

Well, undid the outer cable from the speedo and after pushing the whole cable assembly back thru the firewall into the engine bay was able to pull the inner cable or worm out of the outer cable.......seemed fine with even a light wipe of grease, cleaned all that off with mineral turpentine then wiped the whole inner cable with a light coating of moly grease, also squirted a light machinery oil into the outer cable & reinstalled the inner cable.....what a lovely messy job....took it for a drive......bounce, bounce, bounce.......lol.....buggar!!.....back to the bench.......pulled the spare instrument cluster I have down from the shelf, removed the speedo that hasn't seen a car for 25 yrs, cleaned and relubed the speedo drive, connected a low speed drill up to the speedo drive(after duly noting that its left hand driven).... and this speedo works well, trip meter doesn't move but I can live with that............so dive under the Plymouth dash again( jeese I'd forgotten that I'm 55, 56 next wednesday....lol)........remove the old speedo, compare it to the "new" one........the old one has a LOT more movement in the actual drive where the cable attaches at the back, and with the drill attached at a low speed just bangs itself against the 100mph mark........therefore it must be the speedo I say to myself...........O/k........with "new" speedo in hand its under the dash I go...........lol...........get the speedo mounted then have the joy of trying the get those 1/4" long screws back into the rear of the instrument cluster whilst upside down head wedged into the clutch pedal........what mopar designer decreed that these screws had to be this size!!!........even more fun as I wear glasses(have done so for 40yrs but now they are multifocal...lol)..............anyway I eventually get it all assembled and screwed down........take it for a drive round the block or so........within 100 yards I'm doing the happy, happy, joy, joy, dance..........NO BOUNCE........YES I AM GOD!!!..........lol.........well maybe not, but close.......lol...........anyway its fixed and I'd like to convey to ALL my friends on this forum my sincere thanks for putting up with my questions and passing on their knowledge & experience..........am a happy camper......Andy Douglas........btw its 5pm Sunday arvo here in Sunny Sth Grafton, East Coast of Oz......104F in our kitchen....stood outside in the sun for 5 minutes with the thermometer and it got to 116F.......lol....any spare snow?.....andyd

Ever since I have had the 41 Plymouth Coupe its suffered from bouncing speedo needle syndrome, have tightened then loosened the knurled nut thing at the dash end of the speedo cable, have shot some lubricant down the inner cable, have now disconnected the cable from the speedo, and with the clock plate removed I can see that the inner cable is spinning freely thru the clock plate hole........am gunna do battle with the dogs breakfast that passes for wiring tomorrow morning and remove the speedo caseing from the instrument shell. Whilst I realise that the 1941 speedo is different to the later ones has anybody got any tips, tricks, voodoo spells, curses, discussions of parentage or general info that may help in the diagnosis of Bouncing Speedo Needle Syndrome.......apart from the constant noise of the needle bashing itself stupid against the right hand 100mph side of the speedo its also getting to be a pain watching the needle waving back & forth........this happens from about 10mph onwards & at a constant 30-40mph it shows whatever speed it likes.........lol.......anyway, any help would be appreciated........btw I have tried to do a search thru the site for previous posts on this topic without success.........thanks, Andy douglas

Plymouth & Dodge meat wagons or hearses were fairly common in Oz in the 30s thru to 60's, some very odd coachwork was used, amongst the oddest i've seen were 2 different 1940 Dodge Hearses with the normal enclosed hearse style casket section but both had an open sedan de ville style drivers compartment.......never had a pic but these were very different.......andyd

The mirror on my Dodge is a home made concoction that uses a swivel & mirror from an old one I found yrs ago, I bent up a piece of 3/8 steel rod, welded some pieces onto it to go either side of the door pin, chromed it and voila!...... the 2 on the Plymouth are aftermarket ones, they used to be hanging from the top door edge when I got the car but were useless in that position, mounted on the door leading edge now they are quite o/k........andyd

Frankie, re the inspection thing, here in New South Wales the state I live in a new car does not need to be inspected for the 1st 3 yrs, after that it must be inspected yearly however in Queensland the state to my north there are no annual inspections.....they send the rego papers in the mail, you say its still a car, sign the paper, get the 1/3 Party Personal Insurance certificate and go pay the rego......Qld cars are easily detected by the amount of rust they exhibit apart from the Qld number plates.....both my Dodge & Plymouth are on normal, full rego but I could if wanted to get both on "Street Rod Rego" which is about 1/4 the cost but restricts their usage to only recognised Rod Runs.......its nice to be able to just get in them and drive when & where I want.......assuming of course they don't break down.....lol.......Andy Douglas

Greg, will explain about the insurance .........each year I have to get my 4 cars registered, the Dodge in Nov, the Plymouth in May, the 1998 Ford falcon Wagon my wife drives to work and my 1995 Toyota Hilux van for the shop........as the rego is due I get the new rego papers in the mail about 4 wks before the due date, I then have to have the car safety inspected by a licenced Mechanical Workshop, if o/k they issue a "pink" slip(I look better in a red or blue slip........but thats another story......eerr where was I?), if not I get the repairs done and take it back.......I then have to contact an insurance company to get a "green" slip or Third Party Personal Insurance Policy, this green slip is compulsory, no green slip, no rego, the green slip covers me against injury to any and all persons except for ME if I have an accident or hit a pedestrian.....they take into account the car, me, my location, etc, etc and issue a green slip, I take this & the Pink slip to the Govt Rego office, show both, they note the relevant numbers etc, I pay the rego fee and I have a licenced/registered car........I can also elect to take out extra Third Party General Insurance with a company that will cover me against any car I hit irrespective of fault, with this at least repairing the Ferrari I hit won't mean I am bankrupt....... now if I want to insure MY car for theft,accident.etc then I elect to take out a General Motor Vehicle Insurance Policy........all my cars are insured at this level, however the Dodge & Plymouth are with a specialist collector/hotrod car insurer.....both are insured for $30,000.00 which costs about $40.00 per month and gives me 100% cover & that if the car is classed as a write off I keep the wreck.......anyway I hope this explains the basic situation here in Oz.....we only have 6 States and 2 Territories to content with, each one have their own variation of the basic rules........regards, Andy Douglas

Is that the Ford pickup mating position?..........lol..........andyd

Frankie.......lol.........you ain't wrong, but seriously tho' it seems that the Title is basically the same as our registration .....the Rego Dept does a check to see if the car has been previously reg'd, stolen or noted as a written off wreck, and if everything is o/k then the ownership of the car is noted in my name, the rego papers, window sticker and whatever number plate that i want, whether just the standard issue plate or a custom ordred plate with my name etc is issued..........the car is legally in my name( the "Title" I suppose) and is noted by the govt, insurance industry if I get it insured, and for issue of parking fines, speeding tickets, etc...........I wondered last night how many responses i'd get.........lol........its all good........thanks, guys, all of you, makes me smile & I learn some more ...........anyway, off to work........hi ho,hi ho...........Andy Douglas

To give you an idea whether these Hemis are worth getting......there is a 57 392 here in Australia for $8000.00........yep.....running stock engine .......and it will sell, now in the States they still ain't that common now.........even if you don't use either get both cause you won't ever loose your money......especially for that industrial engine........andyd

O/k.......I'm in Australia and the system is this.......my 1940 Dodge Sedan was made in Australia, I bought it in 1971 and it was "registered" by the state government when I purchased it, which means it had a number plate front & rear with a specific number, it also had a waterslide decal on the windscreen that had the same number as the number plate plus it had the brand and type of car, eg, sedan,coupe,etc it also has on the decal a date of the month of the year that corresponds with the date and month of the year it was sold to its first owner who subsequently paid the state government a "registration" fee on the anniversary of this date that allows/certifies me to use the car on the road.........its classed as "registered".......when I bought it the last owner gave me its "registration"(rego) paper, a sheet of A5 size paper which had the engine/chassis numbers, number plate number and owners address....the previous owner filled in the reverse side of the rego paper that he had sold the car and the amount it was sold for, I completed the reverse side that I had bought this car and how much I'd paid and took this paper and a receipt for the money I'd paid to the State Govt Department that oversights this, paid a small "sales tax" on the purchase price, and a nominal "transfer" fee and had new rego papers issued to me in my name saying I own the registered car.......each year I get a "new" rego paper posted out with the uncertified decal on it and after having the car pass a saftey check by a licenced mechanic I take his o/k'd certificate plus my new rego paper to the State Govt dept and pay a rego fee & insurance fee and I get the new certified decal to replace the old one and new rego paper endorsed that the car can be legally driven on the road for another 12 mths.......how does this differ from the USA system where a "Title" is required or indeed if one doesn't exist can be bought?.........or in fact.......what is a title?.......thanks........I hope........lol...........Andy Douglas

Funny thing is regarding the Oz cars like the 39 3w coupes is that for yrs a lot of restorers/rodders here yearned for a "real" coupe, ie, a US version like what we'd see in the US magazines, see we never had 32 -36 Ford 3 window coupes, only 5 windows, as for mopar stuff, we never(well almost never as there are a couple of one offs) got any 37-38 Mopar Coupes....we got a 2 dr sedan called a Sloper.....much rarer than the US coupes........I had an Oz 1940 Coupe......rare as rocking horse poo, but always lusted after the US style 40/41 Coupe which I now have, but back when I got my coupe in 1970, it was all we had.....the attached pic is from an Oz magazine in 1972and is a pic of my car b4 i bought it, its hard to see but note the short roof and long back....made from a 4dr sedan by the TJ Richards factory........also a couple of other pics of it when I sold it........duh , I did some stupid things..........lol...............btw the pic of the blue car is 30yrs old, its now a torquoise blue and sporting a dickie seat, the rusty one is mine, that same car that was in the magazine article and the red/white car was in a wrecking yard, 40yrs ago, it was a unique version that had folding rear seats, tho' I can't remember whether they were the same as those used in the USA Auxillary Seat Option..........more usless info.......lol...... .andyd

Frankie.........hope you didn't leave it there........cats make great wheel chocks............hats, etc.....lol.........thanks for the post........I've just shown that pic to our stupid cat, he seemed to understand.............but great pic.andyd

Gidday from Oz........my understanding re a compression test is that you need the "wet" cylinder in order that the gap between the rings/piston/cylinder is "sealed", therefore giving you a proper compression figure without any blowby........ LuckyDevils info from the manual is correct, you WANT the oil to seal the piston/ring/wall gap, therefore use SAE30 oil.......a lightweight oil is useless in this application....andyd

Australian and I'd think English cars would be mph, but European would have been in kilometres....andyd

Fred,.......any spare white stuff?..........stick some in the box the whisker trim came in......its still summer down here........lol..........nice to see how the nthn half live............or freeeze..........regards, andyd

Rob.......no need to be bashful........thats your runabout beside the wharf isn't it.......and I thought you would have at least apologised for the clouds in the sky...........no need to make the yanks too envyous...............lol.........andyd

Joe........how long did it take to drop that much snow.........amazing.......andyd in Oz

Right side?.........lol.........which is right?........is the side on my right your right?.......or am I left with what was right but now wrong?.........so...........lol.................think I'll go have some more meds........lol...........andyd

Gee........Fred..........that looks familar........lol.........pleased it arrived safely........now look after it.........lol..........nah was good to see it go to a proper home, just hope it is o/k to use if need be..........btw what side does it fit?.........I've had it 30 odd yrs and have no way to see what side it was .......andyd