Andydodge

Those "clear" bubbles are an early form of reflector built into the glass lens, at least thats what I have always been led to believe from talking to people back when I bought my 40 Dodge in the early 70's...........I have had a pair of original Lynx Eye brand glass lens tailights with glass blue dots for about 30yrs........no reflectors lol.......andyd

Greg........lol.......to give you an idea what it costs here in Oz, the 4 chrome smoothie rims were $700.00 the set.......but the tyres were $395.00 each for the fronts and $420.00 each for the rears.....plus $20.00 each shipping the 1500kms up to me......then only $60.00 the lot for fitting & balancing...........$2470.00.......lol...why I even have change from $2500.00..........and believe me I DID shop around.........andyd

I have 15x6 and 15x 7 Wheel Vintique chrome smoothies with Coker 195/75x15 & 235/75x15 Classic radials on my P11 coupe, lowered with 2" blocks and 1 coil gone.........fits, looks & rides nice.......will try to work out pics........andyd

Also worth noting is that most trucks still use this type of emergency brake so check with a truck spare parts or repair place and they should be able to tell you where to get the brake relined...........andyd

Tod, I ain't a pommy but "Motor Trimming" is also used here in Oz to mean "Auto Upholstery"........which is also used here......manglish, as she is spoke..........lol............at least we here don't use "wings" for fenders, mudguards are more common........andyd

Earl Edgerton in California does finned heads to suit 23 & 25" mopar engines, he also grinds cams........I have one of his heads, am also going to run an Offy twin carb intake, a pair of Oz Stromberg single barrel carbies, have had the exhaust manifolds split---has to use a front and rear dump manifold and use the front and rear of each as I am in Oz and the RHD steering box upsets everything.........lol.....andyd

Pete, your good self and those guys are my heros...........lol......stickin' it up frods at any opportunity.........trust you had a good time, they look like they did.......lol........regards, andyd

Rob, o/k, couple of things, a couple of the plugs appear to have more of an indent into them rather than a more pronounced flatening.......if you know what I mean, the plugs that are leaking, try to use a wider drift on them, say instead of say a 1/2" drift, try a 3/4" wide drift with rounded edges rather than a sharp edge, you want to push the raised crown of the plug in which pushes the edges into the lip inside the hole, those plugs leaking may just need that little extra ooomph to get them to seat, if they just don't appear to seat at all and continue to weep, then you'll have to remove the offending one/s clean the lip & edge around the hole and start again, the 1&5/8" plugs should be a gentle tap into the hole, you shouldn't need to sand them to fit, the sharp 90 degree edge they have also helps to seal them in the hole........see, told you it was a fun job........and just look at all the "soup" you have collected from the block..........ya done good.......lol........and its even better having an apprentice helping........andyd

Richard, the easy thing for the high beam indicator is a piece of model car red tailight sprue but red toothbrush plastic carved works well also.........andyd

Richard, gidday from the colonies.......the inside window surround on "your" car has the demister vents, I would think that all cars would have come with these from the factory irrespective whether they had a heater /demister as it would have been easier that way, heaters generally were dealer installed and the heater option wouldn't have included a new windscreen surround........I have a 1941 Plymouth P11 Coupe, factory RHD Auxillary Seat Coupe build in Sth Africa......I have repainted my inside surround when I installed the sunvisor and it had the demister vents like yours but no demister......underneath the vents on the body there is holes to accomodate the factory demister tubes etc.........and I also have a 1940 Oz Dodge Sedan into which i have installed a Smiths brand heater, the 60's style "round" type with doors that open on the front and the demister tubes on the rear......demisters were NOT available on Oz Dodges in 1940 and I used vents from some jap buzz box mounted onto the front of the dash top with holes cut into the dash and tubs mounted underneath......my car is a hot rod so I didn't have a problem doing this.......theres pics on the About Us page at www.scaleautomobilia.com.au .........btw I won't mention the cricket.......lol....Andy Douglas

Rob, you've done well!!........ideally have someone else on the tap and you have the hose stuck inside the holes or at the very least ready to squirt into the holes when the taps turned on.......find a piece of stiff wire such as coat hanger or welding rod and poke around inside the lower holes, the uppers will be relatively clear, the lowers are where the slop is, you'll be amazed at what is in there, short bits of wire, bolts, all sorts of crap........once it seems to run nice and clean then dry around the holes, try and get the ledges that the plugs sit on clean......one of those cheap round wire brushes in a drill can clean the holes nicely, then brush some gasket goo or similar around the holes edge, place the plug in the hole, it should just sit there and firmly hit the centre of the plug with a steel drift/punch or even an old long bolt with sufficent force to "flatten" the centre of the plug and jam the edges into the "ledge" that the plug sits on.......the"shape" of the old plugs will give you an indication as to how hard/firm you should wack the new plugs and the gasket goo is to help fill any rough edge around the plug.........try to replace the upper plugs first as they will probably be easier to get to..........isn't this a fun job........just think of what you could be doing......elsewhere........lol..........still think postive........it could be the plug behind the flywheel thats leaking...........lol..........andyd

The accelerator pedal should be held onto the floor by 2 bolts that have round balls on the top that push into holes in the bottom of the pedal.......and the pedal just pulls off the round balls on the bottom.......btw have you got a service or workshop manual?.......if so it should have info/pics on trans/clutch repairs & removal........andyd

What with what Phil got outa his block and what Rob might find we could probably feed a family........yum.........sludge........yum.......lol........andyd

Don, forgot to mention that one, tho not a lot of mopars in Oz came with heaters but robs is an ex New Zealand car and they came straight from Canada so it may well have the heater......andyd

Yep, fibre block is a piece of wood........further adjustments may have been made with an engineers adjustment tool.......10lb hammer.........andyd

Rob........sounds like you done good.........btw did I tell you about the welsh/ch plugs that live in the steering?.........no?..........lol.........will save them for another day........lol.........nah, there are some used as grease/dirt sealing plugs at the top & bottom of the stub axle/king pin.........and no, don't worry they don't have water connections.....anyway was good to talk last night, have fun with the job and feel free to call if you have andy problems.....andyd

Geese you guys are clowns.............now I know why I feel at home.........spoke to Rob on the phone for a while late last night, he's gunna go get the right wels/ch/freeze(lol) plugs......andyd

Rob, the cup type WILL NOT FIT........waste of money.....they do not fit.........take em back and find the convex ones.......there are 5 welsh plugs on the dissy side of the block, also one at the rear of the block covered by the flywheel.....none on the Oz drivers side, all on the Oz passenger side apartfrom that rear one.........you hope to hell that it never needs doing because everything from the flywheel back has to come off to get at it.......have a good look at the others that aren't leaking, if they are the same colour, age etc as the one thats leaked then theres a good chance the others will follow suit sooner rather than later, use a very sharp centre punch to drive a hole then screw a screw into the hole, then use a claw hammer to lever the screw and plug out, or use a very sharp cold chissel and cut thru the rusty plug and jam a LARGE screwdriver into the cut and again lever out, stick a hose into the hole and try and get as much crap out........also that plug behind the oil filler, if you prise the oil filler out to get better acces to the leaking plug make sure to temporarily plug the oil filler hole as you DO NOT WANT WATER streaming into the engines sump via that hole.......biggest hassle with welsh plugs is gaining access to the buggars......then having three hands to hold the plug in the hole as you also hold the metal drift, 3/8th bolt or whatever to centre hit the plug to flatten and expand into the plug hole.......make sure to use some sort of gasket goo around the plug hole to help to seal it.....do not use silicon..........have fun......andyd

Rob, call me, 02 6642-5693 home or 02-6643-5260 at the shop, going to rod club meeting tonite till 10.30, will be up till 11.30 at least.......regards, Andy Douglas

Rob, gidday from sunny Sth Grafton, down the coast a few miles......lol........these are called welch/welsh plugs here in oz, they are 1& 5/8th diameter, usually only a couple of dollars each, try to get brass ones as they never rust out...........the shinney brass makes the car go faster also....lol.........make sure to get the convex ones like Don pictured, DO NOT get the modern "cup" type........if you can't find them, get back to me, and I'll post some up to you........Andy Douglas

Pete, aka Blueskies has studs on his 1950 plymouth, do a search and it'll come up, great looking engine........andyd

Don, whats the apology for?......its good to hear peoples stories and things, this is what makes this forum enjoyable, I've never met you and unfortunately probably never will but, and its a worthwhile but, I feel like I know a little bit about you, & thats a good thing............so.....did you end up getting that licence plate frame?........regards, Andy Douglas

If you want to use a T5 with a bench seat then you have to use a S10 T5 as AFAIK these are the only ones with a shifter mounted in the forward postion, all the other T5 are from cars that have bucket seats and therefore have the shifter on the rear of the gearbox extension housing, also I think a rough rule of thumb re the speedo drive is that Non-World Class T5 use a mechanical speedo drive, World Class T5's use an electronic speed drive......but don't quote me.....lol........also there some XLNT posts on the HAMB board regarding the various T5's, worth a look........andyd

Dezel & Pat, thanks for the replies, I will contact him again tomorrow(its thursday nite here at present) and mention the info, Pat its still LHD, as its over 30yrs old it can be registered without conversion now and as Brian, my mate is in a local car club in his area he can get"historic" rego enabling him to register it for a lot less......as an example both my 1940 Dodge Sedan & 1941 Plymouth Coupe both cost around $650.00 to register for road use, made up of $270.00 is government registration fees and $380.00 in compulsory third party personal liability insurance........this does not cover repairs to others or my vehicles.......this is more again......lol.....the problem with historic car rego is that technicaly the car can only be used on designated car runs, and "service" trips, not every day which is what I like to do with my cars, I regularly drive them to work and park them outside of the hobby shop I own, Scale Automobilia..........anyway I degress...........lol....will see if I can get some decent pics sent........andyd.

A mate of mine here in Australia has just bought a 1974 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham 2Dr hardtop, 440/Auto, its probably the only one here in Australia.........the question is........Where is the engine number located?.......I am 500 kms from him and he has looked everywhere but can't find it........I looked in my 1968 Dodge/Plymouth service Manual under the 383/440 section and there is a pad on the block, under the distributor that has various engine spec info stamped on it........I suggested that this might be the place but it appears that he hasn't had much success as whilst he has been able to get the car registered today using a number that may have been the firing order(!!!), he still wants to find the engine number........I also suggested to him that I had heard that US cars stopped having engine numbers sometime in the 70's or 80's........can anyone shed some light on exactly where on a 1974 440 engine its number may live.......thanks, andyd