Los_Control

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.

I think you are doing fine. My truck is my first project vehicle also. Like you I had to practice and learn to spray with a HPLV gun. And teach my self to weld on other projects, before I felt comfortable welding on the truck exterior panels. I have been working on my truck since 2018. there was a full year one time I never had a chance to work on it. Then this year life got in the way and it was 8 months I did not have time to work on it. I started to work on it a month ago .... then my wife car has been a pita and have to work on it again. .... Think I finally found the issue and fixed it yesterday .... nice Sunday drive today to see if it is fixed. Then can get back to work on the truck. At least I did get the interior stripped out and ready to prep for paint .... hoping to finish painting before the weather turns to cold for it. Maybe it will be ready to hit the road next spring ..... just keep giving it whatever time you can and eventually will get there.

I can only say I have heard of the different length pins, best is to just reuse your originals if you have them .... on the new wheel cylinders. Automotive brake shoes consist of a primary and secondary shoe. The primary brake shoe is the front shoe and normally has a slightly shorter lining than the secondary shoe. The secondary shoe is the rear shoe and has the largest lining surface area. Just from a quick google search .... I once put the long shoes on the front and got my butt chewed out for it .... they go on the rear. For the photo issue .... go into settings on your device, I use a android phone to take photos .... they are naturally set to the highest resolution for the best quality .... just turn down the resolution so the photos will fit on the forum ... or use a image program to resize them .... easier to just turn down the image resolution before taking the photo.

I say a good warm bottle of MD 20-20 will give you all the courage you need to dive in and get the job done .... never hurts to have a backup bottle just in case. You have previous experience doing this in the past, you simply had a safety net you could reach for if needed. Just do not get lost in the weeds during assembly, use common sense and same procedures as always .... you still have a safety net here on the forum .... I can always hand you a cold beer if you get stuck ... others might have advice.

Been a few years since I have done any reading on the subject. I had a 1949 truck with a 1938 engine and was interested. Seems I remember it was around 1935 that they changed the starter location moving it outward and also the flywheel making it larger in diameter. So it seems around 34-36 you had to make sure you had the right pieces to bolt the transmission, flywheel, starter .... 37 you should be fine. Who is to say that someone did not bolt a 1934 transmission into your 1937? .... IIRC, this is what you need to check to make things work. There may be some other differences but nothing major to keep it from working.

What many have done, I do not know anyone on this forum that has done it .... but out in the world many have, Add a return line to the fuel tank .... The idea is, when you are driving slow through town, or looking for a parking spot at the supermarket .... you are not using much fuel, and the float in the carb closes and all the fuel in the line between the fuel pump and carburetor is getting heated up. The heated fuel can turn to vapor and get vapor lock .... mechanical fuel pump can not pump vapors. .... When you shut the engine off you get heat soak as temps rise. This makes the already pre-heated fuel easier to turn to vapor as the engine gains 20 degrees with no cooling system working. A electric pump near the tank pushes fuel so it will push the vapors through. In my twisted little brain, this gets you past the problem .... It does not fix the real problem .... it is a pretty good "get ya by" With this style of filter many manufacturers .... some Jeeps used the filter to create the return line. 5/16" going through with smaller 1/4" on the side to go back to the tank. Now when you are not using much fuel, it is always recirculating through the system and staying cooler and not getting a chance to heat up. This style of filter does not work well for our engines, it needs to be past the fuel pump which puts it over the exhaust manifold and requires rubber lines to connect. You get the idea though. With a brass T and scrap lines for demonstration, you can add a T and then convert one side to 1/4" and run it back to the tank to duplicate what early car manufacturers did. The main idea is to keep the fuel cooler in the first place, now when you shut the engine off the extra degrees in temperature will not be enough to vaporize it. In my twisted little brain, this is a actual cure, because you prevent the fuel from becoming heated in the first place .... no electric pump to save you is needed. Remember though, a electric fuel pump is a desirable option to have and worth installing. For other reasons then just vapor lock. How you get back into the tank is up to you, some have used the filler neck to install a fitting. I have a aftermarket tank that accepts a universal in tank electric pump, I can remove the cover from it and install fittings and gaskets to get into the tank .... A old original tank may be difficult and need the filler tube option. So this is an alternative to the electric fuel pump .... I have all the various fittings and still need to get the 1/4" line when I'm ready. I have installed a extra filter near the tank, where I plan to install a future electric pump .... even though I will have a return line, it will be easier to start after it sits for weeks without driving it to fill the carb. Or if the mechanical pump goes out on a trip, can just switch over .... if I still encounter vapor lock .... I will be prepared for it.

The way I understand it, there was a recent update and the classified section caused some issues and the programming needed to be modified. They are working on updating the classified section to be compatible with the rest of the forum .... no classified section currently available until it is brought up to date. It is being worked on and will be back as soon as it is ready.

Just for testing purposes, if the headlights dim, then the starter is getting full juice from the battery .... and wire connections are good. Something else is wrong. If no effect on the lights .... then the lighting circuit seems fine, but there is a break down in the starting system somewhere. By no means this is accurate .... If you are at the supermarket and ready to start your car, this will give you a quick and dirty test to see if you have a bad connection or a low battery. Good advice has been given to check all connections including the ones they have not touched. Cable from solenoid to starter, both ends, same withe battery to solenoid. Possible it could be a bad connection from ignition switch to solenoid .... power wire to the ignition switch .... Anywhere in the starter circuit could be bad .... I doubt the ignition switch would be bad .... is possible to jump the solenoid bypassing the switch to check that .... it is possible. You take a perfectly good car and start it with the headlights on, the lights will dim momentarily while all the juice is directed to the starter .... perfectly normal and expected. If the lights do not dim when trying to start, this is not normal and not expected .... there is a connection issue. @sniper I'm not teaching you anything here 🤣 I tried the headlights says nothing .... what happened when you tried to crank engine with headlights on?

With headlights on and try to crank it over .... if they dime severely then you have good connections .... issue is possibly in the starter. If the headlights do not dim or only slightly, then you have bad connections somewhere and need to sort it out. I believe this is what @clarkede is suggesting.

Just saying, one reason to replace Dodge B1C wheels ..... sure there may be more.