Recent Purchase: 1947 Dodge Coupe

[JimH47Coupe]

I just recently purchased a 1947 Dodge Business Coupe. The vehicle was being stored in a warehouse for the better part of the last 40 years. Fortunately the condition was quite nice except for the worn interior.

Since purchasing the vehicle I have done the following:

Flushed the block

Replaced coolant lines, water pump, thermostat, welsh plugs

Changed the oil and filter

Checked fluid drive level and brake fluid level

Replaced headlights

Replaced all dash lights

New 6V battery

5 New 225/75/16 tires

Full exterior detail

There are still a few problems that I need help on and need to address... The oil pressure is showing very low after being completely warmed up. I am running straight 20 oil currently. There is a slight shutter in the trans when starting out initially from time to time. And finally, sometimes there is a slight hesitation when initially starting, feels like a fuel issue. Any suggestions on the following topics would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I have been reviewing the threads here for the passed 2 months and there is a great wealth of knowledge here. Thank you to all of you that have participated on the board and supplied all of this valuable info.

Onto the photos:

Edited October 12, 2012 by JimH47Coupe

[Mark D]

Welcome to the forum. You've got a real beauty to take to those Penn State games. Went to my first last year with some buddies, had a blast. I know there's another member in your area, you should meet. I'm sure he will reach out to you.

[Jerry Roberts]

"The oil pressure is showing very low after being completely warmed up. I am running straight 20 oil currently. " Very nice looking car . And stored about 40 years too ! You didn't mention if your very low oil pressure is only at warm idle ( which is probably OK ) or at speed . I would run heavier oil than 20W . If you put in heavier oil and the pressure is still too low at speed , your engine might be a little worn . But then again it has been in storage for a very long time and the pressure might come back up some . There are 3 different springs ( they are color coded ) that can be selected to go on your oil pressure relief valve , and a different spring might help a little bit . But the first thing to try would be heavier oil .

[JimH47Coupe]

"The oil pressure is showing very low after being completely warmed up. I am running straight 20 oil currently. " Very nice looking car . And stored about 40 years too ! You didn't mention if your very low oil pressure is only at warm idle ( which is probably OK ) or at speed . I would run heavier oil than 20W . If you put in heavier oil and the pressure is still too low at speed , your engine might be a little worn . But then again it has been in storage for a very long time and the pressure might come back up some . There are 3 different springs ( they are color coded ) that can be selected to go on your oil pressure relief valve , and a different spring might help a little bit . But the first thing to try would be heavier oil .

Thank you. The low oil pressure is ONLY at idle when completely warm. Idle when cold is indicating about 50-55.

Where would I be able to get replacement springs?

Thanks again!

Jim H.

[JimH47Coupe]

Welcome to the forum. You've got a real beauty to take to those Penn State games. Went to my first last year with some buddies, had a blast. I know there's another member in your area, you should meet. I'm sure he will reach out to you.

Thank you. I feel that it shows better in photos, but it is a terrific driver for now. We took it up to the PSU game this weekend on a whim. Worked out really well and everyone enjoyed it, plus we came home with a win!

More photos at http://jimherrold.com/1947-dodge-business-coupe/

Jim H.

[Jerry Roberts]

Thank you. The low oil pressure is ONLY at idle when completely warm. Idle when cold is indicating about 50-55.

Where would I be able to get replacement springs?

Thanks again!

Jim H.

Jim , I don't think that you are going to need a replacement spring as your oil pressure is all right at speed , but they do come up on ebay . See how the heavier oil works out . Others here have said that in their owners manual , it states that any oil pressure at all at warm idle is good . Myself , I like to see the 35 pounds at those conditions that my gauge shows . But my engine is still fairly fresh .

[BobT-47P15]

Hi Jim. Nice car. You were lucky to find one that was stored inside all

those years. Welcome aboard. Is there any interesting story about

why it was stored there, etc?

I would like to make two suggestions, if you don't mind. The first is to use

shorter lines of writing as a couple lines were so long they went into the

next county. Kind of hard to read and keep scrolling across.

And secondly, can you figure out a way to make your photos

smaller??

Bob

[55 Fargo]

Thank you. The low oil pressure is ONLY at idle when completely warm. Idle when cold is indicating about 50-55.

Where would I be able to get replacement springs?

Thanks again!

Jim H.

Hi Jim, you mention 50-55 idle when cold, how abut after the engine is good and warmed up, at speed and idle.

Give us the numbers. In reality you need 10 psi for every 1000 rpm, to be on the safe side.

These old girl generally drop oil pressure when they have some wear on em, especially with thinner viscosity oils.

[JIPJOBXX]

Here is a photo of a friend of mine 42 bussiness coup. Its about the most cheeriest Dodge I have ever seen but yours come close. He paid a good price for this car around 20,000 dollars but he got what he wanted. I really like to check out his car as its almost perfectly restored to what it looked like when it came out of the factory.

[JIPJOBXX]

Jim do you have any photo's of the insides? I would like to check that part out! Thanks Jon

[Plymouthy Adams]

a car that has been very well refinished and made solid though out, chrome work and such..20G is not even the price of the average econo-coupe available today..drawback..can you really make it a daily driver and justify the cost..that is the killer..most would not make this a daily driver..I would say without reservation that the guy who sold the green car did not break even all things considered..

[JIPJOBXX]

Oh that car is not his daily driver by far!! He has a 53 or 54 Dodge sedan for that plus a new car. He works for the ferryboat system up here in Washington as an engineer and is very matriculate about his toys. Also he is into antique sewing machines.

[T120]

I used to be matriculate..now,not so much

[Niel Hoback]

I used to ride a 26 inch matriculate to school as a kid.

[55 Fargo]

Oh that car is not his daily driver by far!! He has a 53 or 54 Dodge sedan for that plus a new car. He works for the ferryboat system up here in Washington as an engineer and is very matriculate about his toys. Also he is into antique sewing machines.

Good maybe he can give me advice on my 1910 Singer Treddle Machine...

[BobT-47P15]

I know that different folks use various methods to deal with their photos.

The best thing I've found is the online album PhotoBucket.

There's also Snapfish, Flicker and others.

Photobucket can be set to automatically re-size incoming pictures to a

size that makes them usable on most forums. Then just transfer desired

pix to include in a post.

As I recall -- Bucket will give a person a certain amount of bandwidth

free. If you continually delete and replace photos, you can probably

use the freebie for a long time. I have exceeded that limit and now pay

them about $75 a year for additional space and keep lots of pics there.

The possible downside is if they ever have a major problem or decide to

go out of business. You should really store valuable photos on your own

computer as well, and even better--on a flash or thumb drive that won't

be affected if your personal computer crashes.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I rarely will go to the bucket for posting...I would and do prefer just uploading them off my own computer..matter of fact, I deleted all the photo's in my bucket account..lots of the older link from years ago will now be broken but that is so far back..they were probably either a cave drawing or at minimum sepia...not sure they were doing true black and white then...

[old-idaho-iron]

I just noticed on that 42 3 window pic, it has a thinner bottom front fender trim then mine does?Wasn't able to find the correct piece? Or were the a couple of different options?? That's the only one I've seen like that with such a thin piece of trim.