46 business coupe build

[Daliant.]

Well it's time I start a thread for my project so here it is:

I bought the car in June 2011 from a guy who started to fix her up but I think he was in a little over his head. The car ran, moved under its own power and stopped (sort of) but it was far from being road worthy, the car was last registered in 1967 so sitting for 44 yrs took its toll.

Mice had eaten almost every wire under the dash, above the headliner and in the trunk so none of the lights worked. Almost every wheel cylinder leaked and the master cyl was plugged up with rust so a disk brake swap along with a dual circuit master cyl was the first order of business. After getting the brakes to work the next job was a total rewire from front to back. So now I have brakes, lights, charging, horn, turn signals, etc.. ready for the road! I go to the DMV expecting a major fiasco because the paper work for the car was almost a half century old faded piece of paper a little bigger than a business card with the info hand written insted of typed, the clerks at the DMV deal with newer car titles 99.9 percent of the time so I was expecting a problem. Much to my amazement I walked out of the DMV after about 15 minutes with a set of plates and a registation with my name on it:D. It felt good driving a 65 year old car that hadn't been on the road for past 44 yrs, it gave me a sence of accomplishment.

Enough chat here's some pics:

As purchased:

Ratty (and mouse eaten) custom interior:

Cool old decal from the 60's

At its first car show

[1948PLYP15]

I just got one that would be her sister!

[Daliant.]

So after the novelty of the first legal drive around the block wore off I quickly discovered that the warmer the engine got the lower the oil pressure got along with a faint rattle from deep within the block. I was hoping to keep the original engine for a little while but the more I drove it rattle got louder and louder. I dumped about 2 quarts of 90w gear oil in the engine to sneak a few more miles out of it, the oil pressure came up about 20 psi and it quieted the rattle but the old flatty was on borrowed time. After two weeks the temperary inspection expired so off the road it came and the tear down began. I really just wanted to get the paperwork in my name before investing a bunch of money and boat load of time into this car, the car wasn't really fit for the road but it stopped good and steered straight so I felt it was safe enough to drive.

Heres some more pics:

Floor was shot

Rockers were shot

Not much holding the fender on

Original flatty

[Daliant.]

More pics:

Well seasoned 318 slathered in some custom mixed rustoleum Chyrsler blue (just royal blue with a little white mixed in)

Steering box moved over 1 inch for more manifold clearance, can barely tell unless you know what your looking at. Yes it involves cutting and welding the frame, sorry didn't take any "work in progress" pictures

plenty of room under the manifold

Not so much room on the radiator support

Plenty of room on the passenger side

Those are 2000 Dodge Darango/Dakota ehxaust manifolds, relatively cheap (about 75 bucks each) and available at any major parts store.

[oldodge41]

Nice car. Keep us posted on your progress.

[littlemo]

Looking good Daliant ! I saw your post on my build thread. Looks like we both came up with similar solutions to the "motor-mount thing". Let me know how moving the steering sector an inch to the left works out for you ;re. any problems with your front end allignment?? Cass, alias littlemo...

[falconvan]

Nice looking coupe! You've got some sheet metal work for sure but it looks like it's manageable. How do those Dakota exhaust manifolds work on the steering box side? It looks like a pretty good fit.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I will admit that the P15 is one of the more challenging for building the inner fenders and such to fit about the engine and mount the accessories compared to the 49-up cars that I have done in the past with possible exception being the 41 Dodge and I allot that to the fact that car is just a bit bigger in all respect though still having a tapered nose.....I am mocking up the front grille metal now...

also a business coupe..also a modified..so relevant to some degree..do like the looks of the exhaust manifolds..big difference over the old styles for sure

Edited May 31, 2012 by Tim Adams

[Plymouthy Adams]

plenty of room under the manifold

[ATTACH]36257[/ATTACH]

Those are 2000 Dodge Darango/Dakota ehxaust manifolds, relatively cheap (about 75 bucks each) and available at any major parts store.

Daliant, in mocking up these newer manifolds, how do they fit in respect to the firewall and is the down angle enough to clear the firewall on the attachment of the exhaust and if not a downturn, will you have room to curve the pipe..do you intend to mount heat sheilds?

[Daliant.]

Daliant, in mocking up these newer manifolds, how do they fit in respect to the firewall and is the down angle enough to clear the firewall on the attachment of the exhaust and if not a downturn, will you have room to curve the pipe..do you intend to mount heat sheilds?

There's plenty of room between the manifold and the firewall on both sides, the driver side does however point directly at the clutch linkage but there is enough room to curve the pipe around it. Both manifolds have the exits pointing down and back at about a 45* angle which kinda follows the lower part of the firewall. There are no air injection ports on them like late 70s-late 80s manifolds so they will work on any LA or magnum V8. I dont think I'll need any heat shields.

[Daliant.]

Let me know how moving the steering sector an inch to the left works out for you ;re. any problems with your front end allignment?? Cass, alias littlemo...

I haven't alligned the front end yet, just a quicky eyeball job. One problem I did run into was that there wasn't enough adjustment on the driver side tie rod, I had to cut about a 1/2" of thread off each tie rod end to have enough adjustment. No problems on the passenger side.

[Daliant.]

Here's another shot of the driver side manifold:

[bearheart]

I'm close to you in Medina. Have a 49 Coronet Club Coupe. Are you goona go to the Monday Lockport or Sat Olcott cruise ins?

[scotty t]

I haven't alligned the front end yet, just a quicky eyeball job. One problem I did run into was that there wasn't enough adjustment on the driver side tie rod, I had to cut about a 1/2" of thread off each tie rod end to have enough adjustment. No problems on the passenger side.

i did the same modification to my 55 chevy, it worked out great.

[Daliant.]

I usually go to the Monday cruise in Lockport, rarely go to the one in olcott. I'll keep an eye out for ya.

[Daliant.]

A little bit of progress on the rocker area.

[Daliant.]

Some progress on the inner quarter panel

Some new floor bracing

[falconvan]

Nice job; looks like it coming along.

[plymouthtomas]

Great job on the 46 bus coupe, I also have a 46 bus coupe had to stop for a while money and helping boy on his 67 mustang project

I put a 440 eng in my 46 bus coupe also I change out the 46 plymouth taillights to 46 Chrysler tailights I like the change very well

Great job keep up the good work

[Daliant.]

Thanks guys. Hopefully I'll have this thing back on the road this summer.

Here's the pic of the rebuilt floor bracing, still have one more cross brace to go.

[dctodd1313]

looks good where did you find the floor bracing ,i've got a 48 club coupe and thats all thats holding me back from moving forward

[Daliant.]

I just used 2"x 1" 11ga rectangle tubing for most of it, the small hump in twards the rear I made out of some 11ga sheet metal and the hump over the back of the transmission is the original piece.

[Daliant.]

I may get to sit in this thing soon instead of standing on the garage floor through the middle of the car.

[MacGyver]

Any progress in the last month?

[Daliant.]

Been working a lot lately so not much progress on the 46. I did manage to get the radiator modified and mounted though.

The original lower radiator outlet had to go

"new" lower outlet, cut from an old scrap radiator I had laying around

Soldered everything in place, no special tools required just generic hardware store plumbing solder, flux, and a propane torch

Had to cut into the core support to clear the radiator outlet

The original radiator now sits about 2" lower and about 4" forward from the stock mounting location.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Daliant.