Los_Control

I'm the same way, will try to save something and feel good about recycling. I did the same thing saving some bed rails to use on my truck bed. Turns out bed rails are hardened steel and very difficult to drill holes through ..... All I did is create a future headache for myself. I would play with a few patch pieces to see how the metal welds and if you can drill through it if needed. Seems like old washers had some sort of ceramic coating on them for paint .... I wonder what that does for welding? Cheap and free is not always best.

Just wondering if a strict ban is really the best solution? .... I agree with it and stick to it myself. ..... For this forum, I respect this forum and it's rules. Over in the Chevrolet Silverado forum we have a daily chat thread where we all check in and chat off and on all day long and often politics are discussed. There are people on both sides and we disagree often, but we are all adults and get along fine. No moderation is needed to referee. Last night there was a thread in off topic of people watching results as the night went on, still going on today .... I went to bed at my usual time and in the middle of the night I went to the bathroom and checked results. Over on the Dodge forum, there is also discussion there .... I've never seen any moderation needed there. Allpar is a funny place, I'm banned from there because of politics. A particular moderator could not control their feelings on politics .... in a thread about EV cars I made no political thoughts on it, just answered the question asked and gave my opinion on why EV cars were not ready .... The moderator who also was in Canada gave me his own political opinion on the subject. I gave my opinion and backed it up with facts and links to news reports backing them up ... He banned me because he could not dispute the facts. Today in the chebby forum on the political thread was a gentleman from the middle East in Qatar .... terrorist country .... He hates the 47 potus .... the conversation was totally fine .... All I'm saying, if people act as adults .... political conversation is fine and is informative as long as all have a open mind. Maybe @RobertKB would feel better today if he had somewhere he could go to discuss this subject ..... thats why we have a off topic channel for some to choose if they want to participate or not.

Sorry for your loss .... maybe it is a good day to shut off all digital devices and go get some fresh air, enjoy life and not get worked up about things you have no control over. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Seems like the spitfire has a 25" long block, your car probably came with a 23" engine. The 2" difference means moving the radiator forward. Same time, all Canadian cars came with 25" engines .... no idea why. In USA the larger trucks came with the 25" engine, still had the same engine space as a smaller 23" engine truck. So it was done from the factory ... if you look at your original radiator brackets and the radiator core support, it is somehow possible to just move the radiator to the front instead of mounting it in the rear near the engine. While I have never done it myself .... I have heard there is no real advantage in HP between the 23" - 25" engines, maybe more lower end torque .... just not enough improvement to make the swap worthwhile. If the price is right, it may be worth it. I see mounting the radiator differently, exhaust probably needs modified to match the manifold, probably gas pedal linkage is different. Motor mounts might be the same??? It will work, just lots of little things to work through.

I just wonder if it is feasible to just swap the shafts over?

Also while engines vary in size and shape ..... the stock flat 6 is not terribly smaller then the rest .... The oil pan sits a good 5" above the straight axle on a 1949. The oil pan really should not matter if it is front or rear sump .... really does not come into play if installed above like original is. What little research I have done about installing a 318, you want to offset it 1" to the passenger side just to get clearance from the steering box. Again a non issue. What bothers me on installing a newer 3.9 or even the jeep 4.0 is a great engine and plentiful in the bone yards is wiring them up. I'm clueless on wiring. A manual T-5 would be simple, a electronic controlled 4spd automatic is actually pretty simple if you have the components and the wiring harness .... but there are 2 or 3 small 22gage wires that go in the cab and have no idea what you do with those. Same with the pcm, use the factory engine harness and pcm dead simple .... those silly little stupid wires show up to pee in your cheerios.

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My thoughts on the /6 .... they are a great engine, they are getting harder to find today also. I originally thought about a /6 because I have had several 60's Dodge trucks with the /6 and love them .... I settled on it would be a poor choice. I think a 3.9 V6 from a Dakota would be a great swap. They have plenty of power and even a Magnum version that produces more HP. I have a older Caravan with the 3.3 FWD, newer came with a 3.8 which is a stroked 3.3. The Dakota RWD trucks have the 3.9 All these Dodge V6's are known to go 300K + miles with basic maintenance. Will require extra wiring with the computer .... should be pretty simple if you have the engine/trans wiring harness and computer from the donor vehicle. While my original 218 is in good condition, I did pickup a 1970 318 for future use. The 360 is basically the same block and the newer replacement for the 318, should be plenty of them around and make a good choice. 318/360 has been done thousands of times and work well .... just a better choice then a /6 IMHO All deals are off if you already have the motor/transmission then go ahead and use what you have.

Wanted to add that I do not plan to remove every little ding .... I'm getting the main stuff, fixing a bunch of the little stuff ... all the while looking at dings to save and call character .... it is a truck and I plan to daily drive it and use it like a truck. If you look back in this thread we can see I did some work on this cab corner and it has some putty in it. Yet I left 2 dings and call them character .... I could have and still can fix these .... I'm fine with them. If you look up at 2 O'clock there is another .... I took out 50 dings in the back of the cab, I left 10. Just looks natural on a old truck to me .... The bed rail needs replaced on the truck ..... whatever ripped this fender and smashed it flat, bent the rail also. I think this damage might have retired it from a company construction truck. Not worth fixing. From that point the truck belonged to a night watchman that sat in a guard shack at the entrance to the construction company. People remember seeing the truck parked there all the time. My only point is, If I make the fenders too nice and take every ding out of them, they will not look right for the truck. Work smart, not hard

Agreed, honestly I would be happy to learn just one way to work metal I'm just stumbling through the repairs on this truck, I have not done it many times in the past ... Now I can say I've done it once before. The first fender I did wrong by trying to work it out with one patch .... while just having simple hand tools. With the right tools it could be done. It really does not matter though, it still worked out in the end and the finished product will be fine ... it was just more difficult because I had to make pie cuts in the metal to get it to go the way I wanted it to ... it was stressful wondering if I was going to get it ..... just metal, in the end it worked out. The 2nd fender was no stress, I looked at it and knew what I needed to do and did it in 3 patches and it was just easier to get to the same place as the first fender. So anyone reading that is still learning, like myself ... just dive in and do it, you will learn from it and next time will be easier. If it turns out bad, just cut it out and try again .... just metal and time.

Making progress .... first I rebuilt the mounting flange. I specifically rebuilt the better fender first, so I could use it to make templates from. Then I rebuilt the mounting flange on the fender. It was pretty crazy at first, I could not believe the fender was that far off from the template .... I spent the rest of the day just getting the fender to match the new patch panel. I then spent a few hours the next day making a 1.5" flat strip to follow the fender and welded it in as a L shape patch. Then I made a longer piece shorter then the original and doubled up the mounting .... Way over kill but the bracket will not break off again. Today welding in a complicated patch went a lot easier, knowing today what I did not know before, I made the patch in 3 pieces. So it is going a lot smoother then the first fender patch. When I look at this photo .... I just wonder how many beers it will take to get this to paint. What was a solid mess and should be called scrap metal .... will be put back into service. For over 5 years I have been having nightmares about fixing these fenders. I find that once the rear mounting bracket of the fender is put back into shape, then the middle section repaired. The rear tail that was smashed flat wants to come back to original shape. So thats two fenders roughed in, they will never be perfect, but good enough.

My truck is really a 1949 that identifies as a 1950 .... In 1950 was the first year for the 3 on the tree shifting. So it is possible some changes has been made over the years. Your photo actually shows all the possible pivot points better. .... Every small amount of wear at each point, gets magnified by the time it reaches the actual gear shift lever. Just check all pivot points and see if any of them you can remove play from them. On my linkage, the two adjustment nuts, one was loose and backed off 1/2" So there was 1/2" play in the rod right there. Because the threads had been destroyed from the nuts being loose for years, I used a stack of washers to take out the play and then tighten the nuts down. There are better ways to fix that. If the brackets round hole is wobbled out, you might need to remove the bracket and weld the holes up ... then re-drill correct size. I have seen cases where the rod actually wore and the round hole was fine. Same time it is possible your linkage may be fine, just needs a adjustment and will work perfectly. Usually at this age there is some wear and it needs to be addressed.

I'm thinking you have too much play. You should inspect the linkage good and see where the play is coming from. With the 2 rods, the one on the left has 2 adjustment nuts on it .... one just locks in place and holds the other tight. If they are loose you will get play there. On the right it has a rubber bushing on it ... if that is worn out or missing, you will get play .... The other end of the rods I think are just held in place in a round hole ..... If the holes get oblonged out from wear .... that will cause play. What I would do before trying to adjust anything, I would look for where the play is coming from and eliminate it. That may be all you need to do. I think if you have a 1/2" of play at the end of one rod, will be 1" of play at the end of the shifter. Because of the distance. Since you keep ending up in 2nd gear, I would be looking at the rod that controls the up/down motions

Right now I'm ready to get started on this one and get it to the same level as the other one This fender was in worse shape then it is now, I spent a minute with it a few years ago just so I could move it around without folding in 1/2 ..... Trying to get that proper curve back in would take a real body man .... I'm a carpenter Lets see how this one goes .... I can be patient and go tap tap tap all day long, lets just get the major work done first so I have something to tap on.

Well, lets just say I'm diving in head first and hoping for the best. 🙄 First thing, I believe that since it was a construction truck .... the damage is from heavy equipment loading/unloading on the un-paved job site. Just too many damaged areas on the bed that was not caused by a normal fender bender on the road. So I would not use old construction equipment from the 40's to load the truck .... That would prevent the 3rd tear. I Had high hopes of welding the one crack up, then to cut the other repaired crack and grind to original metal and repair it properly .... I spent a 1/2 day on that and quickly switched to making a patch for it. That was getting me close but not very far ... I just could not get the right curve, even using different diameter of pipe. This is where I ended up with my home made patch. I was careful to repair the original edge so I did not have to recreate it, beyond my patience level. Then I used the patch I started to make, I had to cut it into 3 pieces and install them separately. Same time I had to put in 3 different pie cuts to get the metal to conform to all the different shapes going on here. There is no question I'm a self taught noob that only has welded in some simple patches in the past .... this is by far the hardest I have ever done. It is no way close to being finished, it is roughed in and now will take much patience with a hammer and dolly and tap tap tap .... weld weld weld grind grind grind ... I will get it close enough to match the existing bodywork on the truck.

Sounds awesome ..... Your car is proven Sometimes you have to worry about someone that starts a project and then never gets it finished and sells it. You just never know what you might run into.

Lets hope the previous owner that did the fabrication, does a better job then me Just a quick thought, you said it has a V8 and you just set the clip back on to make zoom zoom noises .... just curious if they did a good job? Does it have exhaust on it already? .... seems most need to offset the engine about 1" to the passenger side to get exhaust to work with the steering box. Just a idea for something to look at, seems now would be the time to fix it if not. Looks great, welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard, do you have any plans for it? .... The 2 door coupes are pretty cool Hot Rods stock or full race gasser You are pretty specific on a 1942, while the body style was the same for several years. A quick search on FB showed a 42 coupe for $4500, maybe too much. Is a Texas car and looks to be minimal if any rust .... No motor/trans All the trim, chrome bumpers, SS grill, tail lights etc look nice .... needs full upholstery .... would be a easy car to build. Also a 48 that looks decent but will be a complete project for $1500 .... Just depends on what you want. Looks like you are in WA, IMHO it would be worth searching Eastern WA for a clean less rust car .... too much rain in Western WA. They are out there, you just got to search for them.

Sounds like you are doing great, we all know how life gets in the way and requires us to be adults and spend our time where it is most important. If it means anything, being retired and no kids to deal with .... I probably have more free time then you. started my current project in 2018, and still not on the road yet. More important to spend your time with family and job, fun projects come later.

So have been patching up rips and tears, welding in holes that do not belong there. Close enough I can start hammer and dolly to bring back shape then finish welding it. Tomorrow want to start on this area. Sigh!!! There is more work on the front and in the corners where the metal has been ripped .... This is the good fender.

So no Children or small puppies were injured in the steering wheel episode ... It is fine in the end. So I still need to finish stripping the cab, door handles and wiper motor etc .... It wont take much to prep it for paint ... most has been prepped already and painted, just really dirty and needs cleaned. Still have some seam sealer to apply. So it is time to get working on the rear fenders .... If I want to paint them this year before the weather changes .... I probably should have started on them last year 🙄 This one is the better of the two .... I wanted to tack it back together just to make a template for a patch I need on the other side. Seems like I get it this close, I may as well finish it then not replace it, just template and match the other side to it.

Just for giggles, many here on the forum recommend Fitzee to learn to do repairs properly. I also like to watch Dan on DD speed shop ..... Self proclaimed "not a how to channel, A how to get it done channel" This car he is currently working on is total garbage and should be scrap metal .... It is fun to watch him suffer and work his way through all the obstacles that stand in front of him .... I learn a lot of good tricks from watching him work. I'm not suggesting he is the king of body work, more the opposite. But I have watched him from the beginning a few years ago (4-5) He has brought worse cars then this back to life and to be honest .... when he went to offer them up for sale, they all sold in hours not days. He has a unconventional way of getting there .... but he does it all from home with basic tools like the rest of us.

My honest opinion, since you are in this deep already .... I would just purchase the correct petronix parts and go that route for now ..... cheaper, easier, faster. Then I might collect parts to or a spare distributor to carry along in case I had future problems. While many people have been using the petronix after they sold out and started delivering a lesser quality product .... they had no issues with it .... while some people have. Ask @Sniper he will set you straight ..... we only hear from those that have a complaint .... we do not hear from the other 1/2 that has no complaints. Just for simplicity and cost, I would replace your unit with appropriate 12V unit and follow all instructions .....Then if I had a future issue, I would consider a replacement. For my own purpose, I'm going with the slant 6 distributor upgrade to get electronic ignition ....that is a different option you have ..... personally I would just replace what you already have to see if I'm one of the 50% of people that do not have a issue with petronix.

Sorry for your loss ..... I'm not sure I understand the leakage though ..... was the engine /transmission /rear end filled with water and it is all the extra draining out? I just do not picture in my mind, the flood damaging all the seals and making them leak. ..... Is all pointless to wonder anyways. Is this Hurricane damage and saltwater involved? Electrical connections will be bad and going with a new wire harness is a good step in the right direction .... What I worry about is the original switches and gauges. It sounds like to me, you want to send the work out to be done ... who knows how long it will take before it gets started on. I wonder how much work you are willing to do on it ..... Can you pull the headlight switch out and disassemble it and clean and protect it inside, along with the chrome on the knob? There is a few other switches and knobs along with the speedometer and gauges ..... These are things that could be hard to replace. I would want to try and save, protect them from corrosion. I wonder what would be good to clean out the rear end/transmission .... could it be filled with diesel fuel and rotated and flushed? I wonder if you drained the fluids out of the engine, then filled it with diesel fuel .... let it soak, would at least dilute the saltwater and help preserve the inside machined pieces until a shop could get to it. No idea on the steering box, will take some creativity. These are the things I would be thinking about, even if I'm personally will not be repairing it .... I would be trying to reverse the saltwater effects as soon as possible.

Looks like most of your repairs will be covered up and never seen .... you will be fine. Watch that confidence though, will get you in trouble every time Most of my welding was also covered, floor pan .... I had a patch on the back of the cab that is hidden with the bed installed .....I had several holes in the doors from different mirrors installed over the years ... I had 2 patches on the front fenders that are highly visible. I was worried about those. By the time I got through with everything else I felt really confident ... I jumped on those 2 highly visible patches and got them welded in place in a couple hours. I was just too confident and did the repairs too fast. My welding is fine, there is only a small amount of filler on the weld ... no filler covering the patch. My body skills suck though .... hard to tell in the photo, the patch needed a bigger roll to it, it has some but it looks flat when looking at it in person there is something going on there but hard to say what. Any pilothouse truck owner knows, they all need a patch there ... others will not know. I'm fine with it, it is a solid patch welded in properly .... just not the right shape .... That was over confidence .... I was too worried about welding, did not give enough concern on the panel shaping .... we all learn. You can learn a new job at 53, you can learn fabrication .... Seems I always learn most from past mistakes though.