My First Car -- P15 1947 Plymouth Deluxe

[Frank Elder]

The car can wait......these are formative years for him and will help decide who and what he is in the long run.

[Andydodge]

Sounds like Nick is just a normal young guy, trying to fit everything in that he's experiencing.......and good for him..............his posts and the general info & details he keeps us up to date with always bring a smile to my face as I think it would to most of us here...........my best wishes regarding his cross country efforts..........and the car .........andyd  

[NickPickToo]

Front brakes! We'll put back linkage and wheels and have a rolling chassis again.  We used ECI because the support team actually returned our calls and because we could get the conversion kit, duel master cylinder and related ?equalizing? valves all from a single sources.  That means were going to have to get different wheels though.  

[NickPickToo]

Dual Master Cylinder Modification.  We're going to have to mess with it a little more because only two of the three mounting holes were aligned.  The top mounting hole is off just enough to keep the bolt from threading.  Dad believes sending it back to ECI would be hit or miss as its just as likely that the mounting plate on the frame is tweaked as the hole on the bracket is off.  It seems easier to just drill into the frame and add a washer and lock nut behind the mount than to bore out the new bracket a little.  Advice?

Edited September 11, 2019 by NickPickToo

[DJ194950]

Rather than messing with the original mount, why not just take a rat tale file and open the hole on the new part in the direction the hole needs it?

 

DJ

[NickPickToo]

11 minutes ago, DJ194950 said:

Rather than messing with the original mount, why not just take a rat tale file and open the hole on the new part in the direction the hole needs it?

 

DJ

Thank you.  we were overthinking it.  It's literally just a fraction

[NickPickToo]

Used mom's rotozip to enlarge the third mounting hole.  All set

[Vin's 49 Plymouth]

Great work Nick,

Looks like your making good decisions.

Brakes look great.

[NickPickToo]

It's a 16x6 5x4.5/475 Smoothy with a shiny new valve stem mounted with a Coker American Classic 215/70R/16, 2" WW.  I want to add a two inch "Vanity" ring when we are much further along?.  The four original wheels would not clear the new front disk break set up but they were also 16 inch wheels mounted with 16x6 Bias Ply tires.  This new combination is a wider wheel but the whole set up is only marginally wider than the original and has the same total diameter as the old so we don't think there will be any clearance issues in the end.  Not gonna lie, I like that primer grey on the wheels.  Need to find an adapter to accept the original hub caps.

 

I do need some advice.  The disk break conversion set the whole wheel assembly out 1/2 inch.  We plan to put the same wheel set up on the back which will stay with the old drum brakes.  Should we add a small spacer in the back to compensate for 1/2 inch that the front wheels have been pushed out?  If so, how stable would that be and how can I firm it up?

 

[Bbdakota]

Nobody would ever know about that 1/2" if you didn't tell them. Should not cause any issues. I don't like the idea of running wheel spacers myself but there's many out there. Btw, I really like what you're doing here! Hope to keep following your build until it's done. 

[Merle Coggins]

I agree. Don’t bother spacing out the rears. It won’t be noticeable. 

[NickPick'sCrew]

Today was not his best race, but considering he lost a tire (look at left foot) about 800 meters into the 5K, 18:20 will have to do this week.  This has me thinking that I need to go recheck his suspension work on the '47  

Edited September 15, 2019 by NickPick'sCrew

[NickPickToo]

Seriously can the forum police kick my dad off this site.   

 

We opened the steering box this afternoon because it froze after we sandblasted the chassis with the box still on. lesson learnt.  Good news is that the worm gear, cross shaft, bushings and other parts look pretty good for the age.  Box was filled with oil and not grease.  Just need to clean out some sludge and sand and take the opportunity to change out the seals and gasket.  Dad still wants to think a lot about changing that solid shaft to something that would collapse in an accident, so not sure we will be done with this one anytime soon.  Additional advice welcome.

 

 

[Eneto-55]

Should refill with SAE 90 weight lube oil (not grease).

[NickPickToo]

Is there a special trick to getting the worm assembly out of the box?  I have the cross shaft out and the back plate, spring and washer off.  Service manual reads as if I should be able to pull it right out now?

 

[Sam Buchanan]

1 hour ago, NickPickToo said:

Seriously can the forum police kick my dad off this site.   

 

 

So you are saying the moderators need to activate the Dad Filter??   ? ?

 

Man...I can't imagine how cool it would be to be able to share my shop with my dad......

Edited September 16, 2019 by Sam Buchanan

[NickPick'sCrew]

Question:  We only purchased one of the rim / tire combinations above (215/70R16 2"WW) to test fit before unloading a lot on all four.  Nicholas asked me about a big / small combination last night.  He's looking at 205/55R16 1.5"WW as the small in this combination.  What's the opinion of experience on big small in general and this combination specifically?   I see limited ability to rotate tires so higher maintenance cost but told him we could put the question to the forum

 

Thanks 

[casper50]

JMO but big small while looking good on hot rods and customs will look out of place on a stocker.

[Silverdome]

Are you changing the ride height? If so, how much front and rear? The rear fender will cover most of tire but the front fender opening is much larger so it can look awkward if your tire is too small on the front. If you or one of your friends is familiar with photo shop you can modify the looks of the picture without the expense of the tires.

[NickPickToo]

11 hours ago, casper50 said:

JMO but big small while looking good on hot rods and customs will look out of place on a stocker.

BTW when a ZM say's JMO, OMG YBL  

 

 

[9 foot box]

   Reply deleted.

Edited September 18, 2019 by 9 foot box
deleted

[Andydodge]

Nick......on my 41 Plymouth I ran 15/6 and 15/7 Wheel Vintiques Chrome Smoothies and 195/235/65 x15 front & back Coker Classic radials and had no clearance issues inner or outer edges.......this car was also lowered 2" all round as well........as for rotation of the tyres I suppose if you end up using the car sufficently to worry about tyre rotation then big/small is a problem but to be honest its the least of the issues in my experience.......as for the steering box these use OIL........do not put grease in them as its viscosity is too thick and will hasten buggering the bearings tho it doesn't leak........lol.........install a new neoprene pitman shaft seal, the leather seals whilst original aren't worth **** in my opinion....as for removal of the worm.....its attached to the long steering shaft and once the lower metal plate is removed.....take note of any shims etc .....the shaft with worm pushes out the bottom................I have seen collapsable columns adapted to this type of steering box but its a job that requires some work and you need to find, firstly a bearing/seal etc that will work with a cut/shortened steering shaft then work out some way of making up a way to attach the shortened shaft to the new column usually with various uni joints and shafts.............not difficult but it IS a job that requires some knowledge of engineering or "hot rodding".........lol...........unless its an absolute necessity I'd run the original steering box, rebuilt with the proper oil.......I have swapped late model steering boxes into a few early cars but it does require a bit of fiddling.............lol............andyd  

[Plymouthy Adams]

staggered wheels do fill the bill a lot better on a custom than on a stocker....cost is usually a bit greater going stagger.  Larger meatier tires also come in with trade off on ride and handling above and beyond just the look you will get when mounted.   Beside looks you have the issue of not being able to properly rotate the tires and the spare tire issue comes into play also.....for proper handling, added caster for radials, you adding a lot of drag to the handling/steering at lower speeds...if you want to build biceps...then forget all the aforementioned...

[Andydodge]

I've found that radials improve the steering/handling.........but maybe its because we are upside down to you guys.....lol.............andyd 

[Plymouthy Adams]

2 hours ago, Andydodge said:

I've found that radials improve the steering/handling.........but maybe its because we are upside down to you guys.....lol.............andyd 

 

I believe that was also what I said....