1953 Dodge 'coupe' truck project

[Desotodav]

Things have been moving a little slow on the 'Pop' truck project as I am still chasing the Sandblaster to have him complete his part of the work. I have also been chasing up components to change the truck back to a column shift as the PO had converted it to a floor (stick?) shift at some stage. I obtained another truck for the numerous parts and dragged it home yesterday. It turned out that the truck was actually a 53 Desoto coupe truck. It is in poor condition but may yield quite a few good parts for my current (and future) projects.

[48Dodger]

Gotta be a few good bits on there somewhere Dav.....might even be able to beat those fender panels into shape for your buddy state side. lol

 

I swear sometimes draggin stuff home is more fun than actually working on it...lol...its my version of a blank canvas. 

 

48D

[Desotodav]

I've been trying to get things moving along on the 'Pop' truck project, and it actually looks like things are starting to happen!

I picked up the leaf springs today (see photo). I decided to go back to the lighter style rear springs (like the original ones on my 52 truck) as I doubt that I will be hauling much in this truck either. It appears that we had heavier springs as standard on some of our smaller trucks here in Oz - to cope with load?... or to cope with our rough terrain? I am yet to chase up shackles from the supply that I have in my shed.

I have the steering box out for rebuilding at present and expect that back within a week or two. It is quite a long steering box in this truck as it mounts towards the front of the chassis. I'll have some better photos of it soon.

I have delivered numerous parts to my brake man including: kingpins, wheel bearings, seals, 2 sets of front brake drums (will use the better set of them), drag link/s, brake master cylinder, and complete brake lines. He is away for a couple of weeks now so I don't expect any of the brake gear back for about a month.

I dug out a set of stainless steel grille bars from the shed and they will go off for repair and polish this week. I'm also having a set of running boards de-chromed (don't remember how I ended up with a chromed set), and some hood badges chromed.

I spent this morning looking at the 9 spare diffs that I have in the shed and have come to the conclusion that they all appear to be 4.1 ratio. I'll post photos on another thread relevant to the topic for feedback. I'm almost sure that I am running a 4.1 in the blue 52 truck and seem to have no issues getting it up to speed on the highway.

I also have now: new shock absorbers from USA, new tailgate skin, new bed cross members.

The chassis is still at the sandblaster's, but I sort of expected the delay there!

My other goals for this week are to try and locate 5 good rims from my shed, and to start prepping running motor (sitting for almost 1 year) ready for silver paint.

I'd almost forgotten how much fun this all was!

 

Edited September 2, 2014 by Desotodav

[Merle Coggins]

You're moving along nicely Davin. I know it's a lot of work to restore a truck, but sometimes I miss that work. I enjoyed it all as I was doing it. If I had the space and finances to support it, I'd probably be doing another one just for the joy of the work.

 

Merle

[Jeff Balazs]

Davin;

Glad to see you are having some fun with the "Pop" project. I am sure it will be extra special when it is complete. I reckon all your UTE's are.....but this one in particular.

 

We went to see the King of the Blues.....BB King .....the other night. Still recovering..... I wanted to have him autograph my passenger side visor but they wouldn't let me take it in.  It wasn't him.....but the bouncers at the HOB. Would have made a nice addition to truck.

 

Jeff

[Desotodav]

I can see how one of those sun visors might have been considered a weapon Jeff - NOT!!! Pity as a BB King signature on your truck would have been great.

 

I set out today thinking that I would sort out the spring shackles for the Pop truck. I started (as usual) by doing my homework right here studying old forum threads to learn as much as possible. I came across a very interesting old thread where Hank (and others) outlined details with regard to left v's right hand threads at different shackle locations on the truck... http://p15-d24.com/topic/11061-spring-shackle-revisited/page-2?hl=+spring%20+shackles . I paid particular interest to how Hank set out the differing threads at their locations (post #33 - photo attached here for those not wanting to use link). The most interesting thing that I learnt is that our spring shackle setup for Australian trucks appears a left to right mirror image of how the USA trucks were/are setup. I wonder if the MOPAR Engineers back in the day were catering for the fact that we drive on the right side of the vehicle to the left side of the road? In any case, I would consider it a most productive day today as I was able to select all of the best parts required from my parts stash and make up the complete spring shackle package. We live and learn hey!

[Jeff Balazs]

Davin;

Oh that is interesting. Maybe they should have made the engine spin in the other direction to fully compliment this regional change?

 

Before you laugh too hard....did you know that several vintage motorcycles were designed and built with the engine running backwards in the frame? In other words the flywheel spun the opposite direction from the wheels when moving forward. It's true. In fact I have a AJS Stormer ported 2 stroke that is timed at TDC....and it will sometimes fire and run fairly well in reverse. The first time it did this was on a very steep game trail and I thought it sounded a bit funny. Imagine my surprise when I slipped it into gear only to find I suddenly had reverse. My riding buddy....who was behind me on this trail was not as amused as I was.

 

Jeff

[Don Coatney]

I once owned a Messerschmitt 3 wheel scooter car powered by a 2 cycle engine. This car has a switch to power up a second set of ignition points and reverse power to the starter motor allowing the engine to run in the opposite direction for a reverse gear.

 

[Jeff Balazs]

Davin;

You know you got me wondering now. Are the wheel studs opposite of our configuration too?

 

I can just about picture Don in his little car with goggles and a flying scarf. Some of the "work around" engineering that the designers came up with back in the day just cracks me up. Very quirky stuff really. Got to love the imagination that was employed in some of these designs. Some of this was pretty darn cool though. One of my all time favorites was the Gradua motorcycle that had a variable sheeve pulley in its belt drive......and an adjusting crank the rider could operate while riding down the road.

 

Jeff

[TrampSteer]

... decided to name this truck 'Pop' after my dear old Dad ...

 Exactly how my truck got started. Best decision I've made in a long time. You won't regret it.

[Desotodav]

It's been a busy week on the Pop truck project, but more on that later. This week was mostly about selecting wheels, diff, and suspension parts.

 

I thought that I had enough rims in my shed to put together another set of original wheels for the Pop truck, and I was successful in getting a set of 5 rims together but it took a bit of work and I learnt something new in the process. The first attached photo is of the 5 rims which I will use - one of them (bottom right) will need some patch work around where the valve hole is due to excessive rust, and we will re-drill/relocate the valve hole 180 degrees from where it was originally (this rim will be used as a spare wheel only). I still have a few spare hubcap clips which I will use to replace those that are missing/damaged.

 

I found that I had a number of other rims in my shed with different sized holes where the inner rim meets the outer rim section (red circle on top left rim of second photo might explain better). It appears that we had different rim designs on our trucks here in Oz. The earlier model trucks had the smaller hole and the holes got bigger as the model of trucks progressed. The hubcap clips were done away with on our trucks from about 1954 where the rim design included built-in 'nibs' where the hubcap would push on rather than clip on.

 

I'm still hoping to have the chassis back all sandblasted, repaired and painted soon. I'll send the rims off for balancing and have them sandblasted and painted. I reckon that they should look good fitted with the old set of whitewalls that I have in the shed!

 

Edited September 12, 2014 by Desotodav

[Young Ed]

We had that same thing. Not sure on the timing but rims with small holes and large holes.

[Geekay]

Hi Davin.Sounds like you are moving ahead well with the body.

To what extent do you have to recon the motor. I think I read it was going but been sitting for a year.

Will get my Fargo home in the next couple of weeks and start work....just spent 2 weeks in Broome WA.

[nowhereman]

cool...

[Desotodav]

It's been a while since any progress has been made on my 53 coupe truck project, but we seem to have things moving again now after a recent chat with the Sand Blaster. The chassis returned home today looking somewhat better than it did when it left the shed months ago (see photo) - freshly painted in 2-pak semi-gloss black.

I still have the front axle, brakes, diff (3.54 now) and steering box out being worked on. I suppose that the next move for me will be to check the running motor (and gearbox) over and prepare them for silver paint. The wheels will go off tomorrow to be tested (and straightened?), and they will then return to the Painter for a fresh coat of red paint. I have many truck parts which will be sand blasted tomorrow morning and delivered to the Painter.

It is proving to be a slow but most enjoyable process so far. If only those whom I have involved in the work process were as motivated as I am with this project!

[BigDaddyO]

I cannot believe it's been 6 months already,

and your shop is still so clean and empty!

[Jeff Balazs]

It is proving to be a slow but most enjoyable process so far. If only those whom I have involved in the work process were as motivated as I am with this project!

Davin;

We could start a collective chant if that will help......GET TO WORK!......GET TO WORK!......GET TO WORK!

Or perhaps you just tell them that a bunch of angry and obnoxious Yanks are talking about invading.

Whatever works......right?

 

Jeff

[Dave72dt]

I take it the blaster needed some "encouragement" to get the work done.  Frame looks good.  Interesting to see the frame differences between a coupe and our pickup frames.

[ggdad1951]

offer him some shrimp from the barbie as a bribe!  

[Desotodav]

Things seem to be moving ahead on the 'Pop' truck project again after words of encouragement to my Sandblaster. I managed to get all of my parts back out of his booth, and have since had everything painted in 2-pak primmer ready for panel beating. Judging by my last bill from the Sandblaster though, it appears that I may have offended him?... I guess that I'll now have to look for another Sandblaster who wants my money and is willing to charge realistic prices! (no worries there though as I already have someone in mind).

I still have many parts out being 'refurbished' (brakes, axles, diff, steering box, grille bars etc.), but much seems to be coming together of late.

The rims which I had selected appeared alright prior to sandblasting, but they will not be used now after closer inspection. I will chase up some more rims on my next days off work. I'm working on the nosecone now readying it for blasting and panel-beating. Next will be doors, tailgate, truck body, and then an engine/gearbox cleanup.

My spare parts pile is getting smaller now (see photo). The running boards in photo will not be used as I have better ones almost prepared for use. I thought that it would be fun to lay all of the parts out beside the chassis (see photos). There is still much more to be done.

Now, if only I can remember how all of this goes together!!!

[Don Coatney]

How do you keep your shop so clean?

[ggdad1951]

How do you keep your shop so clean?

 

he has a bunch a wallabies with dusters on their feet!

[Don Coatney]

I thought perhaps he had a roo-m broom

[ggdad1951]

everything in Oz is backwards so maybe the dirt is on the ceiling?  

[Desotodav]

There has been plenty of work happening behind the scenes with my 'Pop' coupe truck project, but i haven't had much to show until recent times.

I had to sacrifice one of my stainless steel top grille bars as I needed the mounting brackets for the one that I had which was in better condition (see photo).

I keep adding sandblasted and primer-painted parts to the pile (see photos). The doors will both end up with new partial-skins, so I am not too concerned about their outer appearance at present (they are rust free otherwise). The body will go off for sand blasting soon and then the fun will begin!

The rebuilt steering box is back and all painted a nice shade of satin black. I actually had 2 of them rebuilt as the second one that I supplied was in better condition than the first - maybe I will use the first one in the 54 truck down the track? 

I expect to see the 3.54 diff back soon (possibly tomorrow). It has been a difficult rebuild, but I feel that it will be well worth it in the end!

I now have the complete new brake lines, and I expect the brake master cylinder and complete (refurbished) front axle back next week.

I do spend a bit of time keeping the shed clean, but no 'business' (apart from my Pop truck project) happens in there at present.

More to follow soon....