falconvan

Great info, thanks! Can you send me a picture of yours? i'd like to see how it sits with those tire sizes.

We've got the trunk skin off the inner panel and are working on patching the rust at the bottom. My Wheel Vintique wheels came in today; 15x8 for the back and 15x7 for the front. Not sure on tire size yet. If thinking a 235/15 for the front and a 275/15 for the rear. Also I got the LS1 engine valley cover that eliminates the knock sensors.

Fine looking sedan; welcome to the forum!

Come on now, you cant post that your car is finally on the road without a picture of it. Dont be a tease.

That looks really good; i like your tail lights, too.

I'll have to do some measuring; I need to get the trunk handle in there, too. Just ordered wheels last night; a new set of steelies.

Ok, I'm sold. The light stays.

That's a great idea, Bob. I sure dont want the rear of this thing getting clobbered after all the work going into it.

The tough part about building a car you didn't take apart is figuring out how it all goes back together. I've got parts from several different cars so I've spent some time this week going through them to pick out what I want to use and doing some trial assembly. Here's the bumpers and fillers panels, and the dash. I also think I'm going to do a recessed license plate where the big third brake light used to be on the decklid.

Yes it is! Starting tonight on building a decklid from the two junk ones I have.

Very nice! LS1 for sure; I'm doing a carbureted 5.3 LS motor in my 48 Plymouth. Great engines.

Plumbing is done and I hung the fenders on it with a couple of bolts just to see what it looks like.

We set the body back on the frame and bolted 'er down over the weekend.

Howard, my wife is the same. She loves the look of the old cars but is spoiled on A/C and reliability. Just a thought; find a good running V6 or V8 powered Dodge Dakota pickup; late 80s or early 90s. The rearend is the right width and bolt pattern on the wheels is the same, you just have to cut off the spring perches and move them out a few inches. Swap in the entire drive train, wiring harness, and fuel tank. Minimal cash investment; almost everything you need to put the car together will come right off the truck, plus most anything you need in the future will come from Auto Zone or Advance.

That's weird; I just bought mine from Steele Rubber a few months ago. Here's a link to the page for the Mopar body mounts. https://secure.steelerubber.com/search_frameset.php But, I imagine everyone that has them are within a few $$ of each other so at least you got some coming. Sounds like your car is coming along!

I think the whole idea of car crafting, hot rodding; whatever you want to call it is to take the car you want to spend your time and $$ on and personalize it to the way you want it. I'm putting a 5.3 LS based Chevy in mine because Chevy built this motor with 290hp, great flowing aluminum heads, forged internals, and 6 bolt main bearings and slapped them in hundreds of thousands of trucks. I bought a 60,000 mile engine from a 2002 Suburban for $500, added a few speed parts, and ended up with almost 400hp for about $1500. It's a great design engine and the aftermarket has a lot of support for it. If Ford or Chrysler had something better for the same price range, I'd have done that. If you're restoring something to be original or you just have nostalgic sentiment for the old 40's drivetrains, leave the old flattie in it. I'd like to take some long trips in mine and be able to cruise at 80mph with the A/C on while im looking at that cool 1948 dash layout and look down that football field length hood. In my case, I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, which happens to be a Chevy. If Dodge, Ford, Toyota, or whoever has a better product in my price range for the car I want to build, lay it on me and i'll gladly drop it between the fenders.

Very clean looking ride! Welcome to Mopar-ville.

I used one of those to paint my frame, seemed to work fine. Not sure if I'd use it for a finish coat but probably fine for primers. Eastwood makes some good economy priced HLVP guns that work well. You use a lot less paint with one of those.

Great looking horse; looks like he's been eating his Wheaties!

I got mine from Steele Rubber Products. They are priced per mount so you just buy what you need, plus I had them in less than a week.

Time to clean up the floor, add some seam sealer and paint, and cut a hole for the shifter before it goes on the frame.

Firewall and wheelwells done; ready to go back on the chassis as soon as I finish plumbing the brake and fuel lines.

Yeah, it's coming along. Still a ways to go but it's starting to feel like there's more behind me than ahead of me. Today I made a bracket for the A/C/heater unit that will stay bolted in but allow me to slip the unit in and out with just removing a few screws. Here's where the A/C lines and heater hoses will exit the firewall.

Looks beautiful, Alan! Desoto sure knew how to make an impressive looking grille, didn't they?

Here's a welcome sight.