ROB-PA

Jim, thanks for confirming that.

Thank you Robert. If I decide to stay stock I will definitely take you up on the offer.

Try 'The Plymouth Doctor.com' http://www.theplymouthdoctor.com/ . Search the catalog for your vehicle, they are usually at the end.

Thanks guys. I suspect that the ratios James listed are probably the ones for the 35 as well. 1935 seems to have been an oddball year all around. A lot of things changed for 1 year only but I don't think this was one of them. I just wanted something to compare to when I looked at the various S10 options. It's kind of limiting since they only had the mechanical speedometer output from 83 to 87. If anyone has some good sources for transmissions and parts I would appreciate the information. I found a couple of later T5s for reasonable prices but then could not find any place to get the tailstock and parts for the speedo output. I found the same chart (or similar) elsewhere. Around here, in the hills and snow country, finding old 2 wheel drive S10s is not so easy. If I can't find a reasonable T5 I may just stick with the 3 speed and put the 3.55 Explorer axle in. I found a good, reasonably priced 3.27 Explorer axle but I was a day late.

I'm trying to determine what I really need for gearing. Looking at the T5 conversion versus different differential ratios as compared to the stock 3 speed. I would like to know the ratios for 1st and second gear for the stock 3 speed. I assume that 3rd is 1:1. The 3 speed is the original from my 35 Plymouth if that make a difference. Does anyone have this information? I checked the manuals that I have and I don't see it. Don't really want to disassemble and count teeth right now.

For myself I was always partial of the description of Government fabrication: Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a piece of chalk, cut it with an axe!

Thanks for all the input everyone. Actually I was not thinking about a flat fender Powerwagon but maybe I should. Since the only part of the drive train that would be Mopar would be the flathead I was hoping to just use a standard front clip. Along with the truck chassis I inherited a 25 inch Chrysler engine that I would try to bring back to life. I was considering a 700R4/transfer case conversion with Jeep 4wd running gear. I haven't really looked into this too far yet; I was just speculating on what to do with left over parts.

I'll probably go to look at the cab this coming week. If I do get it there will be a lot of questions.

Thanks Ed. It would not be a restoration. I was actually thinking of doing a 4 wheel drive conversion so, while I am not really an advocate of fiberglass I wouldn't rule it out.

Oh well, that's too bad. That cab was more or less complete. He also has what he says is a 39 to 47 cab but it has no front clip and is missing a lot of the small pieces. How hard would it be to come by these parts?

When I acquired my 35 Plymouth sedan I needed an engine so I found a local guy that was removing the body from a 46 Dodge truck to put on a late model S10 frame and running gear (?!). I just needed the running engine but since the entire chassis and driveline was offered for the same price I took it. Now I have this chassis and drive line (tranny back) from a running driving vehicle that I can't bear to scrap. Recently another local guy put a couple of Dodge truck cabs up for sale. My question is - would it be difficult to mount the cab from a 1950 Dodge truck on a 1946 chassis? It's not like I need another project but I like the older Dodge trucks an I have some ideas on what I would like to do with it.

Yesterday we had some unseasonably mild weather here (50F +) so after the rain stopped I went out to see what I could do in the hour or so that I had. I decided to untarp the 46 truck chassis and running gear and check out the transmission. I removed the driveshaft and pulled the tranny. My first thought was 'Wow it has the same input shaft and spline as the 35!'. Second glance; the release bearing sleeve looks different and wait, I think that the input shaft is shorter. Bottom line, a truck transmission is a truck transmission and a car is a car. No easy swap. The truck tranny is about 1" longer, the input shaft is about 1 1/4" shorter than on the truck tranny and the sleeve is about 1/2" bigger in diameter (sleeve also mounts with 4 bolts vs 3). The good news is that the clutch on the truck appears to use the same spline so it should work with the 35 tranny. Now, at least, I have something to send off to Tenn. Clutch for rebuild. As soon as I get the 37 CBMW out of the other bay and into my basement I will pull the engine from the truck and get it in there on a stand. Hopefully the weather will cooperate again.

When you figure out how they come apart be sure to post it. They are probably the same as the ones on my 35 Plymouth. Mine arrived all disassembled. The outside handle has a shaft with a square end. This goes in and goes through two overlapping plates in the mechanism. The square holes in these plates do not quite line up. I tried briefly to install them an after trying many combinations of working the inside handle the outside handle and moving the latch I couldn't get the holes to line up. I decided I had enough frustrating things at the time and would figure it out when the time came. I suspect that it is the tension of these two square holes not lining up that keeps the handle in place. You may have to work some other part of the mechanism at the same time to get it free. Maybe try opening the door and locking it?

Thanks DJ, I guess I just got spoiled working mainly on race cars for 30 some years. Everything was pretty clean and was most likely put together relatively recently. I don't mind a few rusty or damaged bolts, this just seemed to be excessive. I've paged through some of the builds on here and the 35 is definitely ahead in its initial condition from some I have seen. I guess I shouldn't complain. I have been totally amazed at some of the fabricating skills displayed here. Robert, the brake set up looks pretty simple. I assume that you had to fab a mounting adapter and extended rod for the MC? Did you have to modify the brake pedal to clear the MC? Aside from prepping for body removal I have been cleaning sorting all of the miscellaneous parts to see what I need yet. As you can see from the attached picture below I have removed the fabric roof. I will remove the wooden stringers this week. Two a re broken so I will most likely buy a new kit to replace them. I would still rather replace it with steel but I have not found a suitable donor yet.

Well, I managed to get a couple of days to work on the 35 Plymouth the around Thanksgiving. The prep for body removal has been slow. All of the body bolts are now removed; only 4 were broken and will need to be drilled out. I can't believe the amount of fasteners in this car! Aside from the 46 body bolts there were 12 bolts in the X frame (I originally thought that these were part of the 46 count, but nooo!), 10 from each running board to the frame, 7 from each running board to the front and rear fenders, 4 for each front fender (some were out already) and 5 for each rear fender. Altogether it was something like 120to 130 rusty festered bolts, most with the heads rounded already from some previous attempt to disassemble. Next I need to remove the steering column and the dash. I would really appreciate some insight on how this is best accomplished. After that the body will go on the rotisserie; which I am still waiting for my friend to finish fabricating. The chassis will go into another bay as soon as I remove my other long term project (1937 Chinese BMW clone with sidecar) and the 12 kw back up generator that goes to my West Virginia house. A few pictures are attached below of the 'naked lady'.

Guys, The 35 does indeed have a fabric roof insert. The Plymouth Doctor offered a double crowned formed steel piece that could either be welded in to make a solid steel roof like the 36 had or be trimmed smaller to be welded inside so that it could be covered with fabric and have the rubber seal installed to look stock. That sounded like two really good options to me. I tried to open his catalog online just now and could not. Not sure if the problem is with his website or my computer as I have been having issues with the new and improved Windows that I have. I did download the catalog before so I'll try to attach it here. I believe that the insert was near the end (pg 19?). Ah *!, the pdf file is too big, but if you can open the catalog online you can see the insert piece.

I don't know if anyone here will know the answer to this as it involves late model minivans (?) but I thought that it would be worth a try. I have been chasing down sources for parts and trying to figure out how and when to spend the limited resources I have. I checked with Plymouth Doctor on the repair panels that I need (small floor patch and rear apron) and decided to get a quote on the metal roof insert that they advertise as well. I was informed that they no longer sell that and that I should try using a roof skin from a Chrysler minivan. Every one of those that I have checked so far has the stiffening ribs in the roof. I have tried searching the internet and found some references to using these but they all used the ones with the ribs (they were all for rat rods). Does anyone know if there is a particular year or model that has a smooth roof? I emailed back to ask Plymouth Doc but so far no response.

Somewhere in my wandering research for parts I came across someone that would rebuild the existing old Mopar driveshaft with modern U joints or make a custom length drive shaft. I believe the y were in West Virginia but I can't recall where I came across this. Is anyone familiar with these guys?

Thanks for the responses guys. Deathbound, I already read your post, very good. I have worked on a few cars with the slip on drums. If I recall correctly the drums located themselves on the studs fairly well and the center bore on a lip on the flange. If others are running this option successfully I'll most likely first try the stock axle first with the drums de-riveted. I am still planning on the disc brake conversion on the front. I have been researching the options. So far Rusty Hope looks best. I just found TSM Brake Conversions and they look interesting. I don't know yet whether they use a standard disc or if they make a custom one. If it is custom I would not use them as I would then be locked into something that may not be available in the future for repairs. I'll start researching dual chamber master cylinders to see if I can find an option that requires little or no modifications with the stock pedal arrangement.

Robert, I'm still debating about the swap. Aside from the ratio the one thing I don't like about the stock rear is the necessity of the special puller for the rear drums. I noted in some of the posts I reviewed that some of the guys on here removed the drum from the hub and left it that way. Will the drum center well enough the way it is made? If this works well I may just leave the stock axle in the car. otherwise I'm leaning toward the Dana 35 from the Jeep.

It doesn't look like my attachment worked. I'll try again. Okay, had to convert it to pdf. AxleChart-1.pdf

Well, today I finally got back to working on the Plymouth. I removed the remainder of the 'carriage bolt' type body bolts by welding pieces of 1/4" bar stock to the heads to prevent them from turning. This worked on 4 of the 6 remaining. The other 2 were tucked in a corner of the rear door hinge post that placed the nut right in the junction of the X frame and the main frame rail; no way to turn it. These 2 had to have nuts welded to the head so that a box end wrench could be wiggled on the nut and the head turned from the outside. The only 2 body/frame bolts left now are 1 each located in the rear fender well. These are just standard hex bolts and I will remove them after the fenders are removed. I started removing the passenger side running boards and fenders today as well. Did I mention this thing is built like a tank? There are 10 bolts securing the running boards to the frame and 3 on each fender. I'll need to buy stock in whoever owns PB Blaster. I also started looking at what will be needed to remove the dash. I found that there are 2 coils mounted to the firewall. The original that goes through the firewall and a newer, separate mounted to the firewall. I decided to pull the original and check it to see if it was bad. I was surprised to find an armored cable running to the ignition switch. I did some digging on the rear axle replacement and found the following chart which may be useful to others.

DJ, Thanks for checking with your friend, I appreciate all of the help here. I will call the Tennessee Clutch outfit to see what they have. I won't really know what I need until I get the engine out of the truck frame and I can't do that until I get the body off. I only have one bay to work in. I went out this afternoon and removed 6 more body bolts. I have 6 more left (I think) and these are the tough ones they will need to be either torched off or, as mentioned earlier, have something welded to the heads to keep them from turning. For some reason it is only the bolts that go through the side of the frame that are problematic. The ones through the top of the frame came on relatively easy; just some heat, liberal use of PB Blaster and elbow grease. Maybe it has to do with the way the frame flexes. Nobody chimed in on the disk brake conversions so I guess that doesn't get done a lot here. I was hoping to get some feedback on whether there were enough problems to avoid it and maybe which conversion kit was more user friendly. The question of the day is; what year did they start putting the 4 speeds in the trucks. I never checked the one that I got from the 46 truck and I just assumed it was a 3 speed but I did notice that it is physically longer than the one in the car. I'd check it but I have it is out behind my shop and tarped up; right now and it is pouring rain.

Well, back from working on the house today. I hope to get back to removing body bolts tomorrow. I went over this afternoon and removed the spring shackle from the 36 frame to replace the one that I found broken. It came off surprisingly easy; a little heat and a big breaker bar to get it started and then the sleeve nuts spun right out. That's not too bad considering this frame sat in the woods behind the POs shop for about 30 years half buried and with weeds growing up through it. The question of the day (don't worry BigDaddyO, you can be sure there will be a lot more than 35 before I'm done!) is on brakes. I've been debating with myself about keeping them stock or converting to front disk and something like a Ranger rear end with drums. So far I've found 2 sources for the front disk conversion; Rusty Hope and SRPM. Rusty Hope has a basic kit that requires some additional mods and purchasing all of the actual brake components. SRPM has the complete kit, not sure if any mods are required. As much as I'd like to keep the car original I can see some real benefits to having something modern that is relatively easy to work on or get someone else to work on. Also I plan on putting some miles on her taking trips with the wife. Does anyone on here have any experience with either of these kits for front disk brake conversion? I would appreciate any comments on your experience.

Thanks for the info guys. Don, does the place in Tennessee sell clutch assemblies or just rebuild them? The problem is that I don't think I have the right clutch to rebuild. I believe that the truck clutch may be completely different but I am still not sure. I won't really know what is in there until I get the chance to disassemble the truck drive train. While I have determined that the engine from the truck is actually from a 1954 Plymouth I would suspect that the transmission and clutch may be the from the truck. I believe that the splines on the disc are different and possibly the diameter of the clutch assembly. I know that the sleeve for the release bearing is different. If the flywheel from the truck will fit in the bell housing I may be able to run the truck clutch and transmission but I would then have to modify the drive shaft and the floor pan and maybe find some kind of hybrid sleeve for the release bearing. The ideal thing would be to locate a clutch disc, pressure plate and sleeve correct for the car; that is assuming that the flywheel is suitable. I'll be able to get back to this in a couple of days. Have to go work on the new house for a while.