Normspeed

C'mon Bob, tell us what you REALLY think! For a really sharp 2 tone, check anthonyb's member profile.

You can tell the guy with the vert is a wild rebellious kind of Plymouth guy. He's blatantly parked in a no parking zone. Anarchy.

The right click thing is handy. Another way, there's a freeware or shareware program called PaintBuster. You can open the picture, then choose image, resize, and it will let you choose the new size in pixels while maintaining the same overall ratio of height to width (aspect ratio).

Thanks for all the info folks. Norm, if you find that can, I'd like to get the name.

Never did swap one but I do have a 54 Red Ram hemi in pieces that wants to end up in my 53 Plymouth some day. They are very heavy engines. Everything's iron. You'll need to work around the stock steering box. Some people just move the motor an inch or so to the right. I've also heard that on some early hemis if you're using the stock iron manifolds, you can use two right manifolds. That places the exhaust outlet in a better spot on the left side. You might take a look at the Hot Heads and Hemis website. They have a lot of rebuilding info and all the cool parts, like an adaptor to use a SBC water pump. Also near LA, there's a shop in Camarillo called MikeCo. Last year I met one of the guys, Tom, and he seems like an old hemi guru. You might call, email or stop by their shop.

I would imagine that line boring a block would cause oversized journals, and if they are stamped that way, I'd believe it! Try calling Vintage Power Wagons, They know Mopar flatheads. They'll know the cure. They're also on the web.

I stopped over at Mackster's place this afternoon. I knew I was getting close so I stopped and asked some folks if they knew this Garcia guy and they said, "the guy with the bomb?" I said yup, and they pointed out Mackster's lair. Cool guy. He has that crazy Mopar glint in his eye. Makes me wish I knew how to weld when I see what he's been up to with the master cylinder, pedals, and oh yeah, THE ROOF. :p The chop follows the fender lines really nice and the body is still pretty crisp after all these years. The grille wasn't yet been v'd to fit the hood leading edge. Car will have a floor shifter and will probly need a tilt column to make it driveable with the chopped roof. Mackster is a man on a mission. We will soon have the Soto's front end at maximum drop, ie, sparks on the pavement as needed. Nice to hook up with you Mackster. You're right around the corner from Robert Smith of the forum. I sent ya the rest of the pics.

Careful Tony, he did a hidden overdrive tranny for me and I still haven't found the derned thing. Just kidding.

I like it. My rear tag is a flip-up covering a receiver hitch. Something like that would be perfect on that setup.

Lemme have another sip o' wine and try that one more time.

My Suburban (plain trim wagon) has black plastic knobs. The Savoy Wagon (Belvedere trim) had the chromed metal knobs. I got this shift knob on the bay as a Christmas present for my Suburban.

Run whatcha brung Gumpa!

LOL Rodney. Classic stuff. C'mon out, hey that coupe will run for at least another 2 weeks right? That's a trip to CA and home again. Crash at Norm's Speed Shop.

If I won the lotto I'd buy it at that price in a heartbeat. Then I'd chop it. Just kidding. Beautiful car. One of my all-time top 5. We have some great ones right here on the forum too. Browsing the members list is a real car show.

Hmmm, must be a sign of the aging process where we are even slightly concerned with what's going on up on the screen. Another fun Drive In movie might be CARS.

No paint, they were just gel coated.

50's sci fi is always fun. I'm partial to "The Blob", where Steve McQueen drives a P24 vert. Another thought is, some of those 40-s 50-s B&W movies that are loaded with old tin. Or, maybe Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road....?

Great car Bob. It certainly has all the right stuff.

I'll do that Pat. Wish I had taken a few photos yesterday, but I didn't want to touch my camera with all that grease and road dirt on me. I'll check my manual so I name the parts correctly, and do a post later. All you need is 2 jackstands, a floor jack, and a coupla sizes of sockets.

I need to shoot some black paint on my teardrop fenders. They're fiberglass and came with a black semi-gloss finish and I used them just like that. After a few years, the semi-gloss is all weathered off and I'd like to pull the fenders and shoot some fresh stuff on there. This is not a show quality resto, just want to touch it up. Any ideas on what brands or types of primer and paint would stick well to fiberglass?

Sounds like a good approach. The idea of a waiver crossed my mind too. If I can make it in May, do you think there'll be room enough for me to park the trailer with my car?

I'd hate to miss Mooneyes like I did last year. I'm gonna do my best and now that the car is handling better I'm more likely to go. If I go you'll be able to recognize me...I'll be the older guy wearing jeans and an automotive-themed T-shirt. I'll have to look at the flyer again, I usually don't pay to display, but might just park out in the lot, walk in and and enjoy the show. After we practice on yours, I mean lower yours, I could write a pretty good tech article about R&R'ing coils on the early Mopars. It's pretty simple if you do things in the right order. No spring compresser needed, and you don't even need to mess with the shock absorbers. Dirty job though.

Before you crank it can you look down the carb and see a shot of gas from the accelerator pump when you move the carb linkage? Also you might recheck your point gap, they can get a little hard starting if that's off. Rodney, did you repaint your coupe?

I'm gettin' really good at coil spring swapping. Today I drove the P24 around, stopped and talked with the local alignment shop, got some good vibes there, but the one guy that really knows the older cars was really booked up today. It worked out well, I ended up looking closer underneath to find at 4" drop I was riding right on the snubbers. Too much. So I went home, bit the bullet and cut a conservative 1/2 coil from my original wagon springs and swapped 'em. Less than 2 hours for the swap this time, it's a lot simpler than it seems. No spring compresser needed. The change raised it back up a lot and it already handles better but still will want an alignment. So I ended up going from stock front height to 4" drop to 1 1/2" drop. I could still use another 1/2 to 1" lower, to get the moderately lowered but level all around look I want. It's getting so easy to swap them I mightpull them and cut another 1/4 coil off. Not the kind of job you want to do twice in one day though. Soon, we will attack Mackster's coupe.

I always thought ice fishing looked like fun.