falconvan

That's true, Cass. I really do like the suicide door sedans. I still need to sand my filler on the back side of the hood but it's back on the car and it's solid so that's good. Other than that I need to mount the bumpers, put the door panels back on, get my carb issue straights, put the heater box back in and I guess that's pretty much it. Maybe put in some tunes, too. Not bad for four months and about $1800 including the price of the car. I'm going to drive the wheels off this dog.

Thanks; it's been a fun car to put together and not a ton of money which is nice for a change. We took our first road trip; just down the street and back a few times. It runs good and drives solid, just need to bleed the brakes some more and I'm still having carb issues. I'm thinking of going to a Holley 350 or 500 two barrel. I started patching the hood; big rust holes on both sides by the hinges and in the front. I got all the patches welded in yesterday; should be able to finish it and put it on today.

Happy B-day, Tim!

I kicked some butt the past few days; all the wiring is done and everything works, e-brake back together, drive shaft in, and she's sitting on all four feet. I got the brakes all bled but I need to do some more adjusting on the front ones: one is dragging. I found a vintage carb parts supplier online and he seems to think my accelerator pump problems are in the NAPA kit I used to rebuild it. So I've got a kit that's more specific for this carb coming. Once I get the carb and the front brakes right, it's ready for a trip down the street. I also started looking at how to fix the hood; it's got some pretty bad rot damage where the hinges mount and in the front on the bottom edge. I'll start on this soon. I really like the simplicity of this build; just buy a cheap beater and make it roadworthy using whatever leftovers I had, some free stuff, and a few boneyard parts. I know it's ugly as hell and has too many doors but I think it'll be around for a good while.

Nice job! Not sure how I missed your thread before but I'm watching now.

Thanks! I just left the firewall body color since I'm not planning on painting the body anytime soon. I've got a 48 coupe I've been building the past few years that's really going to be nice when it's done. This one I just wanted as a beater to run around to the local shows with. The plan from the start was to just get it mechanically sound, driving well, and clean it up a bit. Maybe one of these days I'll go further with it.

I'm not sure, Cass. They're just standard 1949 Mopar 15" wheels if that helps. Got some rubber on it today and decided against the 59 Poncho taillights. Just way too big. I picked these up at O'Riely's in the trailer lighting section. $9.99; can't beat it.

Not a bad name since it's got a little bit of Plymouth, Dodge, GM, and Ford in it. Kinda like Johnny Cash's psychobilly Cadillac. I got a few days off for Thanksgiving so I put in about 12 hours in the garage today. I got the wheels cleaned up and painted and I'm taking them to get some rubber tomorrow. I'm just using a set of 235/75/15s I had for now. Most of the day i spent on the wiring. I got the ignition, starter, fuel gauge, and some of the lighting done and so far it's all working out good. Got a few other small things done but I was getting pretty tired and losing concentration so I called it a night.

Yeah, my check balls and linkage is right. I'll try and cross reference the model number on the carb and see if I can come up with something for the pump. Really frustrating; i'm so close. I might work on the wiring for a bit and do some research on this.

I spent the whole day rebuilding one of these yesterday; had it apart and back together a few times. I found the video on You Tube from Mike's Carburetors and brought the whole thing in the house and put it together step by step with the video. Here's the problem Im having, I cant get it to pump fuel. It seems like the accelerator pump is sticking in the bore but it's brand new and everything is clean. Ive actually tried two different pumps; the one that was in it looked to be in decent shape. If you pull the cap off the side and unscrew the main jet it will pump gas out the hole but not when you screw the jet in. So the jet is clogged, right? I can see light and blow right through it so it's good. So I think maybe the pump is wore enough that it wont pump through the jet. I put the new pump from the kit in and it just sticks in the bore and wont move. Everything else in the kit fits but could I have the wrong pump?? I'm stumped. :confused:

That fits pretty good, Cass. Have you sat in it and made vroom vroom noises yet?

Thanks, Greg; I'll try that. The guy before me used one of those liquid liner/rust inhibitor systems in the tank; I'm thinking it might have gotten over the hole for the fuel line and dried.

It's alive!! I finally got it started and it sounds really good. Distributor was 180 degrees out and I had to run it out of a gas can. Even with an electric pump it's not getting gas; I think the fitting coming off the tank is clogged. Now to get the fuel situation squared away and start on wiring the dash.

Yeah, those sterring boxes are definitely huge. You may have to look at going to one of the Cavalier rack-n-pinion conversions and a floor shifter.

I think it'll be fine, Cass. I'm not getting any fuel up through the filter so I know it's not pumping, plus the carb gaskets are really dried out. I found a Holley electric pump and regulator in my spare parts inventory plus I ordered a carb kit too so I'm hoping for ignition Saturday. I'm pretty happy with the way the exhaust came out; thanks, though. I'll let you know as soon as she comes to life!

Not a bad idea, Adam. I'll switch it before it hits the road. I had an idea of a cheap way to make the green paint a little more acceptable.

I put an exhaust together out of my leftover pile, installed the radiator, picked up a new battery and tried to start it. No fuel. I've got a Holley electric pump I'll try later this week.

Looking great, Cass! Thanks for the brake info, too.

It's definately not cheap. Eastwood and Summit racing both offer nice eurothane base/clear systems that are reasonably priced and proven to be quality paint. It's the bodywork and prep that costs you. I found a guy willing to work in my shop by the hour; rather than quote a fixed cost we just agreed on an hourly rate and I told him how many hours a week I can afford. I buy the supplies myself as he needs them. I let him use a corner of my shop to build an engine for his car so i got a little cut rate there, too. There's lots bodymen out there looking for side work who may not have their own setup and are willing to work with you. Just do the research and look at some of their previous work. I got the body work as far as I could myself and brought him in last February. With him working about 4 hours a week it should be finished early this spring. I havent kept a running total of what the whole job costs but with taking it little bits at a time and helping with whatever I can; it's made it easy to manage financially. Plus I can keep a close eye on the progress. You just have to be willing to have your car down for an extended period and be patient. But it sure beats racking up a huge credit card bill.

Nice swap; exact same thing I did in my 48 Plymouth except I've got a 5.3 Chevy and a 700R4 in front of it.

Nice, Ed! Quite a score with all the suspention work done. It looks really solid from what I can see.

Congrats, Tim! The first successful long cruise is always a great feeling.

Say the word and it's yours, Mo. Today i finished getting the fuel system lined out. A big plus was that the previous owners had the tank treated for rust and painted it so all I had to do was add a GM fuel sending unit and bolt it in. I ran a new aluminum fuel line as the original was in pretty bad shape. If everything goes as planned I should have a running engine by this time next week.

Yes I did; i sent you a PM reply. Didnt it come through?

Lots done yesterday; fuel pump back on, plug wires cut, many small fittings on the engine back in place. I started building an exhaust out of my stock of exhaust pipe leftovers from other projects. I found this Magnaflow so now I'll have one high performance part. The front clip is back on so it's starting to look like a car again!