My 46 Dodge project

[clubcoupe]

Well, I thought I'd do an intro and tell you all who I am. My name is Dave and I'm 22 from West Virginia. I just recently got this 1946 Dodge 4dr sedan project that I figure will take some time, but I do plan to have it ready to drive next summer although it may not be finished.

I think I got a pretty good deal on this car and it's mostly complete. Body isn't really too bad and the floors are solid.

This is my second Dodge car aside a 25 Dodge bros I had a few years ago also (almost forgot about that one) I did have a 1947 Dodge truck some years back also that I bought wrecked and repaired. It had a 350 in it though. This 46 car has a Flathead still.

I also have a 1952 Pontiac with a Flathead inline 8 that I've had for about 5 years now and I have a 1964 Pontiac Catalina that are my daily drivers now. I don't own anything newer.

Here's a few pictures of the Dodge project...

Dave

Edited September 5, 2009 by clubcoupe

[55 Fargo]

Welcome aboard Dave, yes the car looks like a good solid straight specimen. Hope all goes well with your resto, lots of good info, parts resource, and help on this forum.......Fred

[greg g]

The headlamp on the drivers side is a Bullseye lamp. These are hard to find and coveted by folks who own early 50's cars as they were standard equipment on MOPARS in 51/2

Eventhough it looks like the reflector is desilvered, Keep it safe. the lenses (the important part can be trasferred to later Eurostyle conversion lamps. Seen a good pair go on ebay for 400+ bucks. Fog lights are neat also make sure you save them to.

Welcome to the forum. Your car is likely equiped with a fluid drive unit, as such there is no mechanical connection from the engine to the drivetrain. So when you get it on tires and moved make sure you block the wheels or it may seek to liberate itself from you especially if parked on a slight incline. Or at least make sure your parking bake is functioning and will hld the car, well to be on the safe side block it any way.

other than the glass the car looks pretty solid.

Make sure you go to the home page of this site and read all the good stuff our webmaster has assembled there. Looks like you have the battery in so its positve ground that is correct.

[clubcoupe]

I've been working on this old Dodge off and on the past couple of weeks now.

I've got the car running pretty good now. It fires right up every time. I took the master cylinder off and rebuilt it. I'll probably go ahead and replace all brake lines next. I still have to have the shoes relined also. I found a place locally that does that kind of work, I just need to call them about doing the Dodge shoes.

Once I get the brakes fixed, I'll probably start doing some body and suspension work. I'm hoping I can have this car ready to drive next summer so I can take my 52 Pontiac off the road and redo it.

I'll post updates in this thread as I go along...

You all have been lots of help already .

Dave

[Don Coatney]

Dave;

Glad you got it running. I see a tad of green paint on your engine. This tells me that most likely your engine was once rebuilt by Jasper or another rebuilder. You may find a tag on the side of the engine indicating what was done. Look closley at the flat spot on the engine on the drivers side top front and you should find the engine serial number. Post that here and someone will be able to identify what engine you have.

[Joe Flanagan]

Looks really good to me. Everything is there, pretty much. Looks like the seats are good. Those can be hard to find. I would have taken it in a minute. I've always loved the Dodge hood ornament from that era.

[clubcoupe]

Don, it does appear to have been painted a green once upon a time. You can see a lot more green on the back half of the engine, but it was oily when I took that picture because I accidentally spilled the oil out of the oil bath air cleaner.

Here's the number off the engine - D42 - I22075 ... I've already been told it's a 51-52 Dodge engine.

I got front brakes on this car now. I took the drums off the front and everything looked new. The linings still had writing on them where someone had them re-lined once before.

I drove it to the post office and back today (about a mile round trip) and it never missed a beat. Run cool and held good oil pressure. I'm just having problems with the accelerator pump so I'll have to get me a kit and rebuild the stromberg carburetor.

Here's a couple of better pictures. I found a can of green paint I had laying around, so I painted the wheels green for now

This is probably one of the more solid cars I've ever had to start with.

Dave

Edited September 16, 2009 by clubcoupe

[greg g]

Nothing like a new pair of shoes to spiff up an old suit............... Take a close look at the freeze plug on the driver's side of the front of the engine. In your firs posts it seems to be seeping coolant. Clean it up and watch it for leakage. If it fails or blows out you will loose your coolant in about 10 seconds. Which isn't good.

Oh and give those fog lamps a bit of attention, the olt thing looks like it has blue eyes.

One blew this way and the other blew that way. Sounds like you're are having fun with it, thats the important part. How is that parking brake working????

[clubcoupe]

I have to do some work to the valance on the front before I can get those fog lights to sit right. I had them sitting up once, but they just slip back off to the side. I can't get them to tighten up right.

I have been watching that freeze plug, it doesn't appear that it has leaked in many years, just stained where it did leak once before.

The parking brake doesn't work yet. It needs some adjusting done to it, I haven't gotten to that yet. I just keep the wheels blocked.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the foglights should really have been mounted to the bumper braces on the lower side with just the hole for the lamp mount protruding through the splash guard..the thin sheetmetal really does not have the strength to support the weight of the lamps and maintain set position especially when driven over moderate road conditions. If possible investigate a method to attach a bracket for the lamp to the bumper support..this will firm them up and keep them in alignment.