51 Moredoor

[ptwothree]

I pulled the old tank and got the fuel cell mounted. Looks like it was a good move; I looked in the old tank with a flashlight and it was rusted pretty bad all the way around. Now I just need to run the fuel lines and the vent and we'll be back on the road.

I may have to do this on mine.  Where did you get your tank and what's it's capacity??

[falconvan]

It's a 15 gallon cell. I got it on Ebay with the GM sending unit included. Lots of vendors selling fuel cells on there and they are all pretty reasonably priced. I got this one for $115.

[falconvan]

Well, after cruising the 51 around for the last few months I got a call from a HAMB member (dhcustoms) about wanting my car and working out a deal for a 49 Plymouth business coupe he had. After a few weeks of talking back and forth and exchanging pictures, I took the 51 to Cleveland and brought the 49 home yesterday. He wanted the bigger car to haul around more grandkids than the business coupe could hold. Dennis is a great guy to deal with, very honest, and he did an awesome job on this car. Im proud to be the new owner.

[JerseyHarold]

Enjoy the new ride!

[pflaming]

Please don't paint it. Put on some chrome lug nuts, some mudflaps with rifles on them, a pair of fuzzzy dice, in recognition of Don Coatney, and a short chrome chain from the rear bumper and enjoy! Whatever you do, a very nice car.

[Don Coatney]

Even a blind man can smell the fuzzies already hangin in that car

[falconvan]

Yeah, I always wanted a busy coupe; it's weird how this deal just fell in my hands. Sorry, Paul but it's got to have some shiny red paint to match that red and white interior! AND....maybe some fuzzies.

[Plymouthy Adams]

no paint....what are you....color blind...sorry I see more than a single shade of gray here..it is screaming for a topcoat of paint...if you keep the ho red wheels make sure it they are  body color..

[martybose]

Nah, the wheels on a Business Coupe should be Chrysler Hemi orange!

 

Marty

Edited June 6, 2013 by martybose

[falconvan]

They're powercoated so Im stuck with the color. I can always put some hubcaps over them. Your orange wheels look pretty slick, Marty. He also kept the Lakes pipes in the picture which is cool by me. Im not a big fan of non functional side pipes.

Edited June 6, 2013 by falconvan

[Plymouthy Adams]

lot of folks never realized the trouble it is to make side pipes functional along with a stock system for town driving...they do look good on a tricked car..

[falconvan]

I think it depends on the engine, too. I had an old 60's chevy van with functional lake style sidepipes as the only exhaust on a straight six. It sounded pretty good; not too loud to be annoying. This car has an interesting exhaust; he's got a split exhaust manifold that takes dual pipes back to a Camaro style muffler with two pipes in and one bigger one out, so it's only got one tailpipe. It sounds pretty good but I never saw one piped liked that. The dual carbs seem to run well after the engine is warm and he's got a Pertronix setup in the distributor. I can see a 360/5 speed in the long term future but for now I'll leave it as is.

[pflaming]

Lots of folk find a nice old vehicle, then spend thousands of dollars on powdering the frame, bing on engine, suppensions wheels, etc., then thousands more and when completed most lookers walk by and say "Nice paint job"

 

Some few find a nice old truck, clean up the undersides, overhaul the engine, fix the brakes and spend $20 on 800 grit wet/dry sand paper and bi-standers walk up and say "Nice TRUCK,!!"

 

So much for color!

Edited June 6, 2013 by pflaming

[Plymouthy Adams]

I know you like your truck in the look it has now Paul   but there is little protection to the body at this point....to me the patina look against body erosion is not worth the trade off..and would I go look at a truck on display in this condition..nah..but if it was parked in the gallery for project vehicles for sale..yeah then I would venture over..but hey this is just me and how I view an old vehicle..90% of the time at the swp meet where they have car show and sales corrals, I rarely will walk through the arena..am there for parts and mics material..not to view a car..rarely will go to a cruise also as there is not that much that interest me there..but as you can come and go easily and not blocked in by the staff rules..then I will sometimes attend..

[pflaming]

I like to joke abit with my patina finish and I do like it as do others. Tim is correct, if I were in another climate or didn't have a garage, then I would paint it. But I can annually wet sand rust areas that start for many years. In fact, it's been three years since I wet sanded the first time and still very, very little evidence of decay. But then this is a DRY climate. 

 

I do enjoy the color choices, some really surprise me on how great they look. Show me more! 

[fstfish66]

congrats on the 48,  i like that teal or dark green color,,,

[GlennCraven]

Well, after cruising the 51 around for the last few months I got a call from a HAMB member (dhcustoms) about wanting my car and working out a deal for a 49 Plymouth business coupe he had. After a few weeks of talking back and forth and exchanging pictures, I took the 51 to Cleveland and brought the 49 home yesterday. He wanted the bigger car to haul around more grandkids than the business coupe could hold. Dennis is a great guy to deal with, very honest, and he did an awesome job on this car. Im proud to be the new owner.

 

I just finished reading this whole thread for the first time -- educational and entertaining -- and then this plot twist! ... Just when I was really diggin' the four-door with all the orange!

 

Looks like a fun coupe, though. 

 

Your work on the '51 was tremendous.

Edited June 12, 2013 by GlennCraven

[falconvan]

Thanks, Glen; I appreciate that. I plan on eventually doing a similar drivetrain in this car except using a 360 instead of a 318. I really liked that 5 speed setup with the 8.8 rear. It had great highway manners.

[littlemo]

Well, there goes my ride in the 51 : I "snoozed & loosed" !!! lol... Cass, alias littlemo...

[falconvan]

I'll take you for a ride in this one, Cass. Come on by!

[falconvan]

_{Something weird on the key switch on this; you turn it to starter crank position and it will crank but not start until you let it go back to the ignition on position. It sounds like the ignition contacts are not lining up in the switch while the starter contacts are made. Dirty contacts, maybe??}

[Plymouthy Adams]

_{check your connection on the horn relay ign terminal as this is the common tie point to the system...the red wire is the wire from the switch in the start mode...it is a direct wire from sw. to relay...the accessory(run) circuit ties in at the same point but shares power with the flasher, brake light switch etc etc..look at the schematic in your service manual..DO clean and ensure a good connection for the read wire on the switch itself..also is your car using a shielded coil wire...as in running through the anti tamper metal housing ?}

Edited June 20, 2013 by Plymouthy Adams

[falconvan]

Thanks, Tim; I'll look at that. The darn thing has quit running altogether now so it should be easier to track the problem down.

[falconvan]

I got it going again but it's having a weird ignition issue. I'll sit there and idle great for about 10 minutes, then it starts stumbling, dies, and will not restart until it cools down a bit. I think I have it tracked down to an ignition issue; there is a Pertronix ignition in it. I talked to the Pertronix rep, he's coming to the same conclusion. I know a lot of guys swear by these but I had always steered away from them because when you have an issue, there's no local parts source. So I bought a rebuilt slant six distributor and ignition module from ORiely's and will give the retrofit a shot. I did Langdons HEI on the last flathead and it worked well but this is about half the cost and i can use the new plug wires that are on the car rather than buying an HEI set. We've got one of our bigger annual shows Saturday so im hoping to have it done by then.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I must ask as you did not state...but what dropping resistor value do you have on the primary side of the coil in run position?