well, I had a great day!

[40plyrod]

Today I came home from my morning farm duties to be greeted by my wifes "honey-do" list, which now that she has ruptured another disc in her back and is awaiting her second surgery, includes; vacuuming the house, washing the floors, laundry, dishes etc. as well as my regular lawn work. The day didn't look too promising. By just after lunch I had all the inside work done and was just about to start the lawn when my buddy showed up and started needling me to try and start the old plymouth (for the last couple of weeks I have taken a break from rust repair to rebuild the carb, install a 12 volt coil,new points, and plugs and change the oil in anticipation of maybe seeing if it would run). It didn't take too long for me to decide the dandylions could wait and since my wife was occupied by the hair dresser (they make house calls, who new?) we headed out to the shop. We hooked the battery up poured a little gas down the carb and hit the starter... Pop and then nothing. We cranked and cranked still nothing so we decided to do a compression check. 25, 25, 15, 10, 25, 15, not good. So I put a little wd 40 into each spark plug hole along with some oil and cranked it over some more. This time with some gas down the carb it started and ran but pretty rough and filled the shop completely with smoke. We let it air out for awhile and then took the front clip off to make it easier to get to the motor. We rechecked the compression 115 on all except the last two which we 100 and adjusted the carb hit the starter and it ran well. I video taped the whole thing even the part when we tried to start it after the last compression test with no plug wires attached:o (did I mention we were really excited) but I 'm not sure how to load a video. Finished the day off with a nice dinner with my wife and kids, my budddy and his family in my nice clean house and a big silly grin:D

[Jim Yergin]

That truly sounds like a great day. Congratulations.

Jim Yergin

[1940plymouth]

Isn't it a great feeling:)

[P-12 Tommy]

It's nice to hear the ole' girl run, huh?

Tom

[Robert Horne]

Back in the spring I started my little Plymouth after it's long winter nap.

I had put a little trans fluid in each cylinder, in the fall, so I run a hose from the tail pipe to the outside so as not to fill the shop with smoke. After a short time the smoke cleared and it has run good since then.

[Chester Brzostowski]

It’s always a great day when the engine starts. The body is looking good also. As you already know that exposed metal will rust real quick so I am sure you will be protecting it with something.

Congratulations, Chet…

[40plyrod]

Thanks for all the kind comments. It was really great to hear it run and run well. I bought it maybe 7 years ago and at that time calling it a parts car would have probably been kind. I knew that the motor wasn't stuck but didn't know if it would run. Hearing it run has got me even more jazzed to work on it. As for the body it's been in bare metal for over a year and hasn't shown much surface rust but my shop is dry and heated. I will however give everything a scuff before I start bodywork.

[Cpt.Fred]

cool, that's good news!

it will be a very nice car when you're done.

the color of the rims goes well with the bare metal look... hmm

edit: by the way, i noticed your a-arms aren't horizontal but negative. is that normal? did you cut the coils?

Edited August 16, 2011 by Cpt.Fred

[40plyrod]

I haven't cut the coils, I have moved the spring plate from the top side of the a-arm to the bottom, but there wasn't much suspension travel and with the plymouth coils it bottomed easily, so I swaped out the coils for 56 oldsmobile coils (borrowed from a friend) which are much stiffer and stopped the bottoming but I think it will ride terribly. I want it to ride decent so I'm thinking of abandoning this method in favor of dropped spindles. I picked up a set of home-built made in the 60's drop spindles at a swap meet last year to try out to see if they will work with my disc brake setup but I got distracted with sheetmetal work and haven't tried them yet. Even if they work I probably won't use them. I'll see if I can buy a properly made set, I was told fatman fabrications makes them.

[John Mulders]

Look good, great moment when you hear the engine working again !

Just a question, why doesn't the metal start to rust?

If I would leave the car here like that I can start over in a day or so?

Did you put anything on the metal?

John

[40plyrod]

Look good, great moment when you hear the engine working again !

Just a question, why doesn't the metal start to rust?

If I would leave the car here like that I can start over in a day or so?

Did you put anything on the metal?

John

There's nothing on the metal, it's just warm and dry in my shop and the area where I live doesn't get humid, however if I were to leave it outside in the weather it would rust pretty quickly.

[Robert Horne]

I spent several days on my wheels for my newer tires. After sanding and using a grinder/sander with the wire brush attachment, the wheels would form rust in a minute or so with the high humidity in July.

[Rodney Bullock]

40ply The plymouth looks nice and all however what is that vision of lovliness in the back ground. It looks like a Model A how about some pic's of that it look great. That car is a dream of mine:)

[40plyrod]

Thanks Rodney but it not a model A it's my dads first car a 1927 Chrysler he bought in 1955 when he was 15. I promised to restore it for him when I was 18 and just got it finished last year at age 36 (I work slow:o) There are more pictures of it in my album on my profile page. That's me and dad last august getting ready to head off to it's first show.

[Alshere59]

Thanks Rodney but it not a model A it's my dads first car a 1927 Chrysler he bought in 1955 when he was 15. I promised to restore it for him when I was 18 and just got it finished last year at age 36 (I work slow:o) There are more pictures of it in my album on my profile page. That's me and dad last august getting ready to head off to it's first show.

Nice 51 truck as well. Any other cars/trucks you have in the stable? Definitely a nice collection of vehicles in your family from what I have seen.

Edited August 18, 2011 by Alshere59

[40plyrod]

Nice 51 truck as well. Any other cars/trucks you have in the stable? Definitely a nice collection of vehicles in your family from what I have seen.

Thanks, I've had the truck since I was 16. This one was in my stable for the last year while we patched rust and repainted it but it belongs to my buddy Dale that helped me get the plymouth motor running.

[Rodney Bullock]

Your taste in cars and trucks is right up my alley. I have a truck like that as well. You did a great thing restoring your fathers car. The Chryslar is real nice. My son and daughter just put a wood bed in my truck. I had to direct them however they did a great job. When they were young they rode in the back. Kids...can't live with out them:o

[Cpt.Fred]

nice pics! the olds is really a cool car, too. what is it, 55?

sadly i don't know too much about them.

and i envy your father: to still own the car from when you were 15

and then get it restored by your own grown up son... great:cool:

[40plyrod]

Rodney, Your truck looks really great. My bedwood is getting tired but now I'm not so scared to haul something in it. Any more pics of your truck? Whats it got in it for drivetrain? Ed

[1940plymouth]

Didn't Burt Reynolds make a movie back in the 70's that had a '55 Olds in it?

[Niel Hoback]

WW and the Dixie Dance Kings? It was supposed to be a special anniversary Olds. In the end he set fire to it. Not 100% sure on that name.

[1940plymouth]

Thanks Niel

[Rodney Bullock]

Rodney, Your truck looks really great. My bedwood is getting tired but now I'm not so scared to haul something in it. Any more pics of your truck? Whats it got in it for drivetrain? Ed

ED, my truck has a 235 6cly in it. However it has split manifolds dual carbs with a 3/4 race cam. It's a 4 speed in the floor and a 355 rear gear. It passes these modern cars like there standing still.