Andydodge

Interesting you mention bending the spindle uprights as I have found a couple over the years that were bent and always assumed that they were damaged but could never have imagined how they could have hit a pothole so hard to do the bending.......and as for welding etc holding up, the steering arms on the Dodge have been shortened 1" by an automotive blacksmith over 30 yrs ago, he cut and reforged them and are fine.......so if its done properly then its done........thanks, andyd.

So, the upper arm was shortened by how much and why, as I thought the camber adjustment was o/k......also I assume these were the pressed steel , original arms, not the cast steel aftermarket arms, I have the cast steel on the 40 Dodge Sedan, even tho they are for 42-54 they fit fit, the 41 Coupe has the original style pressed steel arms.......andyd

Marty........o/k...I'll bite........lol........how'd and where did you shorten the upper arm?????......pics????.........lol....andyd

I helped get the original club in Sydney started in the 1970's, and was a member till the early 80's........I was the Modified Car Section......membership of 1........lol.....so long as I didn't shove it in the wankers faces I was fine, however I had the gall to open the hood on my 1940 dodge and show the V8 at a Combined Club Annual show.......my balls were threatened with removal the next meeting as a please explain letter had been rec'd.........thankfully most of the wankers that got upset over my being in the club that I helped start have turned their toes up.........I rejoined the NSW Branch of the Chryslers Restorers Club about 2 yrs ago........its has a great magazine and listing of members who will assist........good luck with the "mexico" branch..........andyd

Marty, apart from the shock mount relocation, what else have you done to your cars front end?........the 41 Plymouth Coupe that it will probably be done on is basically stock tho' 3/4 of one coil has been cut to lower the front end, I'm running 15x6 chromies with 195/75x15 Coker radials on the front........any info would be appreciated, regards, andyd

Great, will look forward to seeing the mag sometime in the next 2mths here in Oz, Earl was very easy to deal with and accomodating of an Aussie when I bought my 23" head from him, just wish I can get the engine together asap.......thanks for the info........andyd

Bob, ask the mechanic to check whether the wire is just holding the rubber boot onto the tierod, the boots are available and are much cheaper if the actual tierod is still o/k.......andyd

Thanks for the replies, have been giving serious thought to doing the conversion, probably do the 41 Plymouth Coupe 1st.........thanks, andyd

Am considering doing the front shock upper mount relocation, can anyone give a comparision between the stock and chassis mounted shock mount setup, ie, how does it compare ride/handling wise?......btw I am not expecting Ferrari results here.......lol......thanks.....andyd

JJ, looks very impressive, great colour choice and overall finish, a real, credit to you, regards, andyd

Being a model car builder I have had to strip paint from them on occaisons and the best thing is spray oven cleaner, try some on a small area, with a model car body you spray it on, let it foam up and place in a plastic shopping bag for a few hrs, them use a stiff brush like a toothbrush under warm water and the paint comes straight off........hope this helps, andyd

Well theres a guy in Sydney, Australia I know that has a 48 Dodge 3W Coupe and he is building a new engine for it with an Edgy head, twin Carter/Webers & Fenton Headers and I have seen pics of the air conditioning and power steering setup he is including........using a serpentine belt system......with a good new style radiator, correct thermostat and aftermarket electric fans it should be fine......so I'd say that so long as your cooling system is up to spec power air or steer should be possible.......andyd

Rich, am pretty sure that the RHD exports to the UK were the only ones that would have had 12volt systems as we here in Australia had 6volt on yank cars up to the mid 50's, basically like you did, however English and I think European cars had 12 volts here in oz well before that........as an aside some of the differences I've noticed between US and Oz cars is we never had foot starters due to rhd, also mopars here had electric wipers, the obviously different body shells and use of grilles, etc to indicate the make, ie, a Dodge grille, name badges & dash trim but then using Plymouth trim,mouldings and bumpers, etc....we 50-70 yrs after the fact can make educated guesses as to why something was done , but it would be nice to have something from mother mopar spelling it all out........lol.......andyd

Rob, forget what I said about getting an Oz workshop manual, you'll be best to stick with that US export one, nice dash btw...........are those battery cables replaced yet?.......lol........btw your car would be quite rare here in Oz, you mention it coming from Malaya which would account for its being the real deal, nice car.......regards, andyd

Rob........not to be blunt but I'd throw those battery cables to the shithouse.......you are just asking for trouble keeping them on the car, or just invest in some BBQ forks and have them ready for when it goes..........wooosh....seriously tho, replace them asap, we'll all feel much better........lol.........also using brake lights for indicators here in Oz is just asking for some rear end action.......lol........orange motorbike blinkers might not be original but at least the moron behind me can see me.......and check the brake light reflectors for reflectiveness(is that a word?....lol)......pull the light sockets, clean them, spray white, then pull the lens etc out and clean it up.......and spray the body around where the reflector pushes thru white or silver.......that workshop manual should be o/k, for general work.......there is a 1946-1953 Australian factory Workshop manual but I doubt whether its any better than that US export copy........I have an Oz one if you want specific stuff copied ......andyd

Rob......have you had a good look at your headlight switch?..........reason I ask is that there maybe a power source and hence a wire from your headlight switch straight to the dash lights OR a switch that controls them.........my 1940 Dodge had a switch like that shown in Dons pic under the right hand side of the dash, near the handbrake or above it......anyway if you don't, have you checked that all the bulb sockets for the dash are present?.......there should be 3-4 which should include one for a bracket that goes onto the ignition switch to light it up and then 2-3 sockets that push into the instrument cluster.......if you have all the sockets, either run a wire direct from the headlight wire from the headlight switch to all these sockets.......then when the headlight switch is on so is the dash lights......also one thing you might want to keep in mind is that your car being RHD may have a slightly different dash switch layout to the yanks........ie, we have a key ignition and STARTER BUTTON on the dash........the yanks didn't have that.......they had a foot starter, also we have, or should have electric wipers.......have you a couple of pics of the dash layout you could post as that may help( I'm not 100% clued up on post war dashboards)......I have attached pics of the dashboards of my Dodge & Plymouth....how does your layout compare? ......btw as far as comapring 6 to 12 volts, if everything in your 6 volt system is 100% then 6volts are fine, but to be honest, 12 volts to me is a much easier setup.......but to each our own......andyd.

Paul, if you don't have either the top shock stud or the bottom stud then you could try to remove the rear upper shock stud as its very similar if not the same as the front shock mounts, except it goes thru the chassis.......all mopars from 41 thru to 56 use the same upper mount stud as it goes thru the upper A arm holding the upper rebound rubber on at the same time.........there are two types of lower stud depending on how the front sway bar end attaches to the suspension......early cars, 1940-46(maybe later) use a link at the end of the sway bar that bolts onto the front of the lower shock stud, later cars, 1946(maybe earlier) to 1956 have the ends of the sway bar located into the sides of the lower "A" or control arm in a rubber block and consequently the lower shock stud doesn't need to have anything bolted onto its front and these studs are welded on their front side into the suspension upright..........as far as I know the shock studs are just mild steel so any decent machine shop should be able to turn some up, but I'd also try Andy Bernbaum, Kanters, etc........regards, andyd

Oldaddy.......is that correct that the RV 727 Torquflites had a drum brake on them?.........any idea what yrs?......I've learnt something today......thanks, andyd

So, Tim........if Dezeldoc gets a steak for showing up from Ca...........do I get a side of beef, coming from Oz?..............lol.........andyd

Tim, yep I know the 40/41 stub axles are the same as each other with the 2 bolts above the kingpin that hold the backing plate on, but from 42 to 56 the stub axles all have the single large bolt boss above the kingpin.............all years from 40 thru to 56 have the same two lower holes for the steering arm/brake adjuster bolts......andyd

Young Ed........the only difference I can think of between the uprights would be the actual shock /sway bar mount as the actual upright will interchange between Plymouth from 1940 to 1956, but the shock absorber will dictate which you should use as they started using a different shock mount and sway bar location........but the uprights upper and lower bush is the same.......and the thing is the same length, width etc........andyd

As far as I know........and I've only been playing with mother mopar since 1970 is that all Plymouth stub axles are the same from 1942 to 1956 is the US, we here in Oz kept kingpin front ends up to 1962 on our bastardised 54 Plymouths that we renamed Chrysler Royals up to 1962.....and that the 1940/41 Plymouth front ends can have the later stub axles installed simply by knocking out the king pins, and swaping the 1942-56(62 if your an aussie) stubs over.......my 1940 40 Oz Dodge(which you yanks would call a bastardised Plymouth) has been running 1962(read 1956 US) Oz stub axles since 1975 and hasn't been smart enough to argue the point.........lol.........andyd......btw I trust you have been taking notes as there will be a written exam later.......lol..........andyd

Oldaddy's info sounds like the way to go but the side valve six did use the cast iron 3 speed Torqueflite at least here in Oz, tho' it was behind the 25" engine but as far as I know the 23 & 25 " engines used the same bellhousing and the last of the sidevalves in 1959 Plymouths would have also used the cast iron torqueflite.......but to be honest the later alloy ones are the way to go........and they have a "Park" built into the box......but if you use them then you'll have to change your rear end as the later alloy Torqueflites don't have the handbrake on the back of the gearbox so you'll have to rig up one on a rear end.......andyd.

Jim, I have had 4 wheel discs brakes on my 1940 Dodge sedan since 1976/7 thay are 4 wheel vented discs with a master cylinder from a disc/drum car, the same one that the front discs I use is from, its an Oz only car so theres not much point mentioning the make BUT the principles the same ......when I 1st setup the discs I had the mid 50's style Plymouth rear brakes and ran the proportiong valve on the rear lines, this is with the vented discs on the front and vented disc dual circuit master cylinder and booster......it stopped but not great .......so I ended up adapting vented discs to the Plymouth rear axle and then found I had to remove not only the proportioning valve from the rear brake line but the residual valve that was bolted into the master cylinder as an all disc setup didn't need it...........I have been running 4 wheel vented discs with an inline power booster connected to the rear of the dual circuit brake master cylinder( my car uses hanging pendant style pedals) and my car has stopped fine for the past 30 yrs..........andyd

Tim, mine has the Weiand 7503 single 4 intake & 600 Holley, Mallory twin point dissy, some minor head works, a very good balance job, twin exhaust system, remote oil filter and oil cooler.....originally ran a factory cast iron twin 4 intake with a pair of Offy cross ram adaptors and a pair of 600 Holleys, 35/75 cam and Hi Stall convertor in the cast iron auto.......lol.......it ran like a raped ape.......lol......no idle below 1500rpm and all hell broke loose once 2500 rpm came up......thats why I put the single 4 on it, got rid or the cam etc........but I have a twin 4 intake again.........lol........have been looking at running a pair of 500cfm Edelbrock carbies.........who says you can't be young & silly again..........lol............andyd