1954 dodge royal 500 convertible Pacecar restoraton part 1

[dodge59]

thanks fstfish 

 

the gas fill is on the left side below trunk lid  and the reverse light  is on the right .

[dodge59]

update on the headlights 

 

did a test on the foot dimmer switch and all the terminal light  up  with the test light when the light switch is on in the on position.  with just the parks on .........the  foot dimmer  switch  terminals do not light up.

 

at the junction box by the radiator support .. with the light switch on  >>>>   the  harness main thick red wire  lights up showing power  where the headlight wires are attached  at the juction box   and the other wire from the headlights  lights up also   which seems a little strange .. I would think that wire should show as being hot also. would it? . not at the same time .  I there is something going on there. not sure .  I tested each bulb  and both do work   so it is not a ground issue .. but I did dry grounding again to another source. with results.

some of you guys said in a post  earlier  that  the postive red main lead from the headlight switch  should light up when testing the foot dimmer  .  but all of mine are lit up.  is that  correct or is that shorted out?

 

thanks guys 

john

Edited September 27, 2014 by dodge59

[Dave72dt]

With the switch on, there should be 2 terminals that are hot, your power feed and  either the high or low terminal. The third one should be dead until you stomp the switch.  It then becomes hot and one of the other ones  goes dead.

 

I've been past Rock Auto in  Madison, WI.  It's an office building as far as I can tell, not a parts warehouse.  My guess is they contract with suppliers to drop ship from their warehouses after tagging the packages in Rock Auto boxes and labels.   I've had one experience with them that made me far from pleased with the outcome and unwilling to try them again.

[dodge59]

thanks dave

 

well mine is not working anything like you say .

 it appears my foot dimmer switch is shorted out ..  all the wires  on  the foot dimmer switch should not be all  HOT at the same time . like  mine are..   it must be in that  switch then .

[Don Coatney]

Yesterday I bought a Gates 23828 defroster hose from Rock Auto. Total delivered cost was $8.32. Same part number at all other places I found it was around $28.00 delivered to my door.

[dodge59]

that must have been a big surprise.

[dodge59]

Surprise surprise ! !  ..... you won't believe  the headlight issue!

 

it turned out the be the female end  of the  headlight bulb sockets. both of them were loose enough to NOt make contact...

 

everything works fine now  even the high beams ............ So it wasn't the headlight dimmer switch after all.

 

That's  usually how it works  "Always something simple " even the green  dimmer light in the dash cluster works.

Thanks for your help on the issue Guys !

 

john.

Edited September 27, 2014 by dodge59

[fstfish66]

thats great, maybe  you nee to  go over all the  connectors with  crc electrical  spray and  a tooth  brush,and  see what else works,,,i suggest checking the  bulk  head if there is one  on the fire wall

[dodge59]

thats great, maybe  you nee to  go over all the  connectors with  crc electrical  spray and  a tooth  brush,and  see what else works,,,i suggest checking the  bulk  head if there is one  on the fire wall

fstfish

no bulk head on 54 dodge  models  ..  no one has even thought of doing a bulk head on 54 dodge back then I guesss. haha.

there is not even a fuse box. it still has a 6 volt system.

[dodge59]

got my new www  firestone bias 670x15 tires today. the other 235 75 x 15 would not fit up in the rear wheel wells on the convertible. so I went back to the original style bias tires. the  radials tires are just too fat  to get up in the wheel wells. They look awesome !

 

The 235 fit perfectly in the wheel wells of my 54 dodge royal  4 door.. again ..... like I said before   this convertible is all together different  in many many ways..  

 

[Mopar]

Glad you were able to get the headlights going. Most of the time it is something simple. It's just finding that one thing that is wrong out of many options. I just helped one of my sons friends last night with a starter problem. He and his dad replaced the engine in his Pontiac and the engine would not start once it warmed up. I told him a month ago to check his ground and positive battery cables. He told me he had and had even put a new positive cable from the battery to the starter. I crawled under the car and saw the ground cable from the battery hanging down. The only grounding  was the body ground. I had my son hook the ground cable to the engine block. That solved the problem. I found out after they got it fixed that he had even replaced the starter. An expensive lesson for only forgetting to hook up a ground wire.

[dodge59]

mopar 

that's a good one.. 

 

did you get the frame  blasted on the convertible?

 

 I bet your underside on the dodge must have been pretty greasy ,.  mopar did something really stupid  on the  54  redram hemi by installing  a vent tube on pass side  in the oil pan thru the block  to relieve internal pressure .. all the pressure, fumes, oil, moisture  and everything else got release thru that tube and guess where it  dumps ?? right in the bell housing where the torque converter takes it and flings all the junk out thru the vent holes  in the  bell housing and it ends  up all over the underside of the car. what a mess. go mopar .

[fstfish66]

well learn some thing every day,,,,i never knew  6 volt cars didnt have  fuses,,,,

 

you should find a radial tire that fits,,,,the ride is much better  just  my  opinion,,

[dodge59]

fstfish 

I agree about the way radial tires ride  but  going for the stock appearance look . but these bias tires  look sooooo right on the pacecar .

I had bias  on my 59 dodge cr  and it road and drove beautiful. never wandered at all.

I heard some bad reviews personally about the coker radial bias look tires.  

Edited September 30, 2014 by dodge59

[Mopar]

dodge59

Yes, I sandblasted the frame and then painted it with Por15 black paint. Not quite original, but I like Por15 paint as a primer and rust prevention.

A while back I saw a post from someone that said they had the paint code for the blue gray paint that Mopar used under the hood and in the trunk. Did you happen to get that paint code? I need to paint the inside and bottom of the trunk when I get the metal replaced.

[dodge59]

Well ,   I finally received the brake hoses and installed them .. that's the last time I buy anything from RockAuto.   a week and half to get two brakes hoses. come on ! .

 

Well  the hose issue cured  90% of the brakes dragging up front  but still had some issues with pulling  to one side ..

 

So off come the wheels and drums  again .. I  made a tool to check both shoe  heel and toe clearances...........  to make sure they were centered in the brake drum .. the tool worked great and the shoes are now centered in the drum.  this adjustment is made  at where the shoe pivots . there is a cam there .

 

 Oh yeah  , I mangaged to take the old girl  out on her first maden voyage around the block several times..  What a thrill..  transmission shifted great and rear  end had No  funny noises    ..  steering  is working great now ..  it was a little jumpy  and tight  at  first but is not loosening up some ..  40 years of sitting  can do that to anything I guess. stiff joints .

so thrill everything is coming together.

 

 

check this tool out I made from scrap wood and metal  and a straight edge and couple clamps  ..

[james curl]

I fail to see how you centered the shoes with the bar off set from the centerline of the axle.  I must be missing something here, if you had pins/bars in the wooden block that went through the axle centerline with adjustable arms that fastened to the pins you could adjust then I think I might be able to visualize it better.

[TodFitch]

Looks like it is a pretty easy and consistent jig to get the shoes centered. I'm not sure how you get the diameter set exactly, but I've never seen how any of the home made tools to that either.

[dodge59]

the pointer is the bar stock  that is clamped to the straight piece .. set it how ever close you want to the shoe  1/8"  swing it from top of shoe (toe)  and then to the bottom of shoe (heel.)  you want equal distances  top and bottom .. set your cam accordinally if need be  . then swing it to the other side and do the same thing.  shoe will be exactly in the center in the  drum then.  I just  made a  "poor mans" replica of this tool  that was described in the shop manual. 

[dodge59]

Looks like it is a pretty easy and consistent jig to get the shoes centered. I'm not sure how you get the diameter set exactly, but I've never seen how any of the home made tools to that either.

the  shoes only move  a little bit in and out up and down when you adjust the cam with the arrow on it . when you spin the gauge ... the same distance from the shoe is equal from top to bottom. then go to the other shoe . this is  not the adjustment  you make  when setting the brakes up.  this  is another cam  for centering the shoes in the drum. it's hard to describe but it's all in the shop manual.

[TodFitch]

the  shoes only move  a little bit in and out up and down when you adjust the cam with the arrow on it . when you spin the gauge ... the same distance from the shoe is equal from top to bottom. then go to the other shoe . this is  not the adjustment  you make  when setting the brakes up.  this  is another cam  for centering the shoes in the drum. it's hard to describe but it's all in the shop manual.

Been there and done that with my Ammco 1750, but I set the Ammco to the correct radius based on the drum measurement. My difficulty is with seeing how to set the radius/diameter within a 0.001" or so on the home made jigs/tools other than by trial and error.

[dodge59]

Been there and done that with my Ammco 1750, but I set the Ammco to the correct radius based on the drum measurement. My difficulty is with seeing how to set the radius/diameter within a 0.001" or so on the home made jigs/tools other than by trial and error.

 

 

I just used a visual .. I could have used a feeler gauge  to be a little more accurate. don't think it's that cruial. give  or take a little.

[dodge59]

say all you convertible guys  question for you .. where is the seal for the front header ? is it on the  top window frame or on the bottom side of header  frame ?    I can't remember where I peeled it off of . My pics are not clear enough.

I know where the inner rubber seal is behind the chrome posts .  

[dodge59]

working on the  door panel backer boards today  .. got  them cut to size .    what fastener would you guys go with before I drill the holes  ?

 

stock was a spring clip .....  trim shop says they use a plastic clip like gm uses.  some say velcro .

Edited October 8, 2014 by dodge59

[Mopar]

If you are trying to keep, things original go with the metal fasteners, if not I like the idea of Velcro. I picked up my engine from Archer Racing today and John Archer told me about a company in Canada that can make windshields for the convertible. I will give them a call tomorrow.