Rust free 40 plymouth sedan

[40plyrod]

The plymouth came back from the glass shop a couple of weeks ago but due to our earlier than usual spring we've been so busy in 1st cut silage (even made some hay!) that I haven't had time to do anything else but farm. Today I finally found time on my lunch break to drive it out side and wash and take a few pictures. This afternoon I'm going to bale some more hay and if that goes well then tomorrow...TEST DRIVE!!! Hopefully I'll have pictures, maybe a video of a trouble free drive, otherwise depending on how big the part was that fell off you may or may not get to see.   

[Plymouthy Adams]

make hay while the sun shines...drive the car in the rain...

[mrwrstory]

Those white walls look pretty tasty too 

[40plyrod]

Thanks Bill. I've always wanted white walls on this car, although I wish these were a little taller with more a old school Bias ply white wall look but definitely better than the "good from far and far from good" painted tires I had on before during the envisioning process. The problem is with the hub caps I planned on using the eye sees the rear tires as way too small, it's not as noticeable with the caps off. Probably better anyways I was getting tired climbing down into ditches to retrieve the caps.

[40plyrod]

Managed to get out for a short shake-down run this weekend (30 Km). Overall car ran better than I expected although with very little upholstery is was loud and rattly inside. The T5 conversion shifts well managed 90+ Kph before we "chickened". The steering on this car is great, light but very positive, I don't see any point in messing with it although I'm comparing it with the steering in my 51 Chevy pickup. I even got the "missus" to drive it so I could shoot some  crappy cell phone video linked here:  

[deathbound]

Looks and sounds GREAT!!!

[mrwrstory]

whadda hoot!!!!!

[40plyrod]

Thanks, hoping for a longer run this weekend.

[40plyrod]

Got the 40 out for another run this weekend. Drove the 50 km to take the family to the annual Maple Bay wooden boat show (pics in the off topic section) and the car drove well. On our first road test last weekend the temperature gauge registered between high and middle high the whole time , but when I would stop to check everything over the engine, hoses etc. didn't seem hot. Whatever was the cause of that it seems to have corrected itself the car ran normal temp all day. Oil pressure was good too even at idle. The smoking that the engine did when I first started driving the 40 has now stopped. (I checked there's still oil in the pan  ) Overall I'm quite pleased with how the car runs and rides. I may have built a Bonneville salt flat special though! With the 308 rear gear ratio I don't have much use for the 5th gear I gained with the T5 swap. I'm not real good at math and have learnt never to do math in public but I think in 5th with a bit of a down hill run I could make 190 kmh if I wasn't afraid.   It's also definitely stiffer riding due to the lowering but not nearly as bad as I imagined it would be although I still have to watch for bad chuck holes. Here' a video of the last cruise. If you can hear the engine pinging don't worry I had lowered the jet size to cure what I thought was causing the extra smoke, I have since gone back up on the jets and the pinging is gone.

[DJ194950]

Sounded like you never went to 5th. gear?

 

With 3.08 and a t-5 do not think you would ever be able to use 5th. gear.

 

Lower rear gears to get some quicker pick-up?

 

Good video, 

 

DJ

[mrwrstory]

Looks great!  Sounds cool!  They're never perfect at first but if you're close, it's a success.    Friend of my characterizes modified cars as "prototypes", and that's about right.  Always takes some tinkering.  

Yeah 3.08 is a little tall but it was a "deal" right?, and you can always fuss with that later.  It's coming together.

Congratulations!

Edited May 23, 2016 by mrwrstory

[pflaming]

"Yeah 3.08 is a little tall but it was a "deal"". I am thinking 3.55 with an overdrive, but a little concerned about 3rd and over being something like 3.??. I think I will stay 3.75 and OD and find out how that runs before I swap a rear axle. 

 

I like that gear shift from the floor, looks like it's really handy.  Great video. 

[dpollo]

 Congratulations.   I see you still need a mirror.  I have something that may work well. Call me.

 A ratio of about 3.7 would work well especially if you build up a 251.

[fstfish66]

looks great sound kool,,,love the  color

[40plyrod]

Thanks guys for the kinds word and encouragement! Yup I never got into 5th, but I have on the highway and the slightest rise has you shifting down. For the most part the gears are good 1st is easy off the line and 4th is a nice cruiser but I'll keep my eyes out for either a better ratio crown and pinion or whole rear axle. The 40 is definitely a "prototype" but it's close and will get better. I think of it as we're in the getting to know each other phase. My kids laugh at me every time I get the door key mixed up with the ignition key. It's been 20 plus years since I put my 51 Chevy pickup on the road and although I can't remember I'm sure it was less then perfect back then. Either that or my 20 year old self was so excited about having the truck running that the idiosyncrasies of it didn't bother as much as they do my 40 year old self.

I'm super happy about the floor shift, it feels right and shifts easily.  Yes David I still need a mirror I'll be in touch, thanks. Ed   

Edited May 25, 2016 by 40plyrod

[Niel Hoback]

It's a beautiful car and you get to enjoy it. How happy you must be.

[40plyrod]

I'm calling this weekend a success! My efforts to get the 40 timed better using a timing light and vacuum gauge worked, thanks to everyone's helpful advice on my "crank pulley markings" thread. Took the 40 for another drive today and it was a totally different car. This video is taken on the highway and is a little longer because that's how long it takes to get into 5th!   It has better power to haul itself around in 5th now and I was doing 115 kmh/70 mph by the end of the video.

[mrwrstory]

At 70mph/115kmh what rpm is your engine turning?

[40plyrod]

At 70mph/115kmh what rpm is your engine turning?

 

It depends on whether I'm going uphill or down!  ...I couldn't resist. I have an old Dixco half sweep chrome tach that I may or may not put in (haven't decided if it suits the car) so I'm not really sure of the rpm but if I had to make a guess maybe somewhere between 1600-2000. Actually haven't done much driving in the last little while as I've been working on the upholstery. The last family outing in the car was on a very hot day and with only a steel floor and no insulation it was very uncomfortably hot and noisy, which I was reminded of by the passengers at every stoplight. I lucked out in that the seats I bought came from a restored car and the owner was replacing them with bucket seats. I had to modify them somewhat to fit the 40 (they came out of a 46 dodge) but that was pretty easy, remove the fabric, change the metal frame and hog ring the fabric back on and for $100 pretty cheap too. Total cost so far for the interior (seats, door panels, and carpet, still need headliner) has been under $500 Cdn, mind you it's a pretty simple interior. I'm going to show how I made the door panels in the off topics thread "DYI fabrications" so here I'll just show the end results.  

[fstfish66]

did u make the door panels ??  nice

[40plyrod]

I haven't updated in a while but I've have been poking around the forum just haven't posted much because most of what I've been working on doesn't fit the p15-d24 forum criteria (even posting to the OT section would probably be too much of a stretching of the boundaries). However most of those projects have been completed or shelved to a later date and I'm now back to "improving" the Plymouth. Last year was a huge success I managed to put 4000+ kilometers on the 40 in the 4 months it was insured. A lot of those were cruising though the interior of BC with mrwrstory and his friends when they came up here for the Deuce Days car show in Victoria this past July. The Plymouth ran great with the only problem being a blown front shock and less than I expected fuel economy. (best was 17 mpg worst was 13 mpg) So next steps for the Plymouth are to "finish" some of the niceties which will allow me to apply for my collector car status and thus cheaper and better insurance coverage. First on the list are the windshield wipers. I don't really need the wipers as it doesn't get driven much in the rain and the odd shower I do get caught in are easily remedied by rain-x or a coffee shop however It would be nice to not have to try and get tape to stick to and cover the holes in the cowl when I remember that they're open half way though washing the car. My Plymouth came to me with electric wipers.I'm not sure if they are factory or not but they fit properly and my Canadian shop manual only show electric wipers for the 40 Plymouth. I really didn't have to do much to the wiper unit, just mostly clean it and re lubricate it however one of the electrical terminal bolts were broken and required replacing and while it was apart I also cleaned up the armature. I do have a question about the reassembly, obviously there must be some sort of gasket where the wiper posts come though the cowl. It would make sense that this was on the outside of the cowl but is the also one between the wiper unit and the cowl on the underside? My book isn't detailed enough to show this.   

[Alexander]

Wow, that floor carpet looks outstanding!  Is that molded carpet?  I have never seen such a good contoured fit.  Who sells that?  Please tell us more.

Thanks!

[40plyrod]

I bought the material from my local upholsterer. I can't remember the name of it right now (sign of old age starting) but it's basically cut pile carpet without the plastic backing. It's specifically for areas where normal carpet would have trouble conforming. The only drawback so far is it's only available in black or grey. 

Edited May 12, 2017 by 40plyrod

[40plyguy]

Wow very impressed with your car. Gives me more inspiration to keep working on my '40. What's the gauge cluster out of as it looks different than mine?

[40plyrod]

Thank you. Its been customized, my 40 was a base model roadking and the gauges were shot so it. The gauge cluster is out of a 48 Ford pickup, the center grill is out of a 48 Plymouth and I made the glove box to mimic the gauge cluster shape.