westaus29 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Report Posted March 27, 2020 Hi keithb7, yes it has the same 201 engine and 3 speed but the diff is originally 4.3 compared to standard 4.1. I changed the diff to 4.1 as we travel typically long distances here, and it fixed the speedo reading so I suspect the gearbox had been replaced at some stage. They were used as taxis and funeral cars here and are pretty rare, but I do know of three in Aus, one other here in WA and one in SA. The chassis were imported RHD and the bodies built in SA at T J Richards factory which later became Chrysler Australia. There is lots of good info about that on the web. Quote
westaus29 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Report Posted March 31, 2020 After reconditioning the fuel tank, decided to check the fuel gauge sender rather than try and get a new one from the U S of A. It is held together by three rivets .. drilled those out to inspect the innards .. not too bad. The cork float has been coated in the POR tank sealant. So cleaned it up, gently polished the contact surfaces Then riveted it back together and checked operation .. resistance varied smoothly from about 5 to 110 ohms. Used brass brake shoe rivets, cut to length for neat result. Removed one of two cork floats as had been damaged by POR and my spare has only one cork. Quote
westaus29 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Report Posted March 31, 2020 (edited) Before starting to remove the engine I took photos to record the setup. Much of the wiring is the original loom (not the coil!). I am planning to have a new loom made by Vintage Wiring Harness in Melbourne. They did my 29 loom and it was very professional. Some more photos showing the brake and fuel line installation, which I will sure need when I get to putting it back together. This forum is a pain when it comes to photos, wouldnt initially let me load any in this post as says I have exceeded 3 MB. This is due to my previous post. I have found I have to close the Chrome session and reopen to get around it. Edited March 31, 2020 by westaus29 Quote
westaus29 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Report Posted March 31, 2020 A few more photos around the pedals and gearbox then we'll get stuck into stripping it Quote
westaus29 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Report Posted March 31, 2020 Took photos under dash then removed it, wont bore you with photos as much of wiring was a mess. Used a patented puller to remove the steering wheel. Floor is in pretty good shape Quote
westaus29 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Report Posted March 31, 2020 (edited) Time to lift the body off the chassis. Used and engine crane and leveller at front, borrowed "A" frame at rear, two helpers Rolled chassis out from under and lowered body onto temporary supports. A big beast! Took multiple photos of body mounts for later Edited March 31, 2020 by westaus29 Quote
Andydodge Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 Those 3 old b.......s almost look like they know what they are doing!!............lol............hang on...theres 3 of them........oops..its o/k they are 1.5metres apart............lol........just don't drink any Corona beers...............nice to see some disassembly pics......it reminds me of Les Sonters 38 Imperial when Russell Cope started pulling it apart.....theres a LOT of car there.......lol......andyd, . Quote
Sniper Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 Now we begin to understand why some retro fit universal electric window mechanisms into our older stuff. Quote
falconvan Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 Very cool that you kept it all these years. Looks like your doing some great work! Quote
RobertKB Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 (edited) Glad to see you have taken lots of pictures. I recommend taking way more than you think you will need and also writing yourself notes to help remind you. When I restored my '51 Dodge D39 Business Coupe I took hundreds of pictures and wrote dozens of notes. There were still times, upon reassembly, I was not sure what to do and just had to figure it out. Take LOTS AND LOTS of pictures! They are like tools.................you can never have too many!! The end result is worth it! Edited March 31, 2020 by RobertKB 3 Quote
Los_Control Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 1 hour ago, RobertKB said: Glad to see you have taken lots of pictures. I recommend taking way more than you think you will need and also writing yourself notes to help remind you. Let me add to this ....This advice is 100% correct, do not forget to backup your photos. I had a old beater computer in the shop, something did not really care about, hard drive died and I lost all of the photos I have been taking along the way. Now I am struggling because I lost the photos I had taken to help me. In the computer world, geeks say, "there are two types of computer users ... those with backups and those who wished they had backups" 1 Quote
RobertKB Posted March 31, 2020 Report Posted March 31, 2020 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Los_Control said: Let me add to this ....This advice is 100% correct, do not forget to backup your photos. I had a old beater computer in the shop, something did not really care about, hard drive died and I lost all of the photos I have been taking along the way. Now I am struggling because I lost the photos I had taken to help me. In the computer world, geeks say, "there are two types of computer users ... those with backups and those who wished they had backups" This is great advice! I did back my pictures up on a memory stick as well as having them on my computer. Never did need to go to the backups but they would have been there if needed. Sorry to hear that you lost your pictures as it sure does make it harder to reassemble things. I take pictures of any project I am doing whether it is car related or not. Edited March 31, 2020 by RobertKB Quote
westaus29 Posted April 1, 2020 Author Report Posted April 1, 2020 I have stacks of photos on pc and phone, backed up on external hard drive, google photos and Microsoft Onedrive, all free. Probably overkill but my wife takes way more photos than me and we have been trying to get them "all in one place" and in a usable format. I have settled on Google Photos as it is super easy to organise into albums and view from pc or phone. However it is a pain when it comes to pasting in an email or on this site. Have decided to live with that. Microsoft photos was too hard to organise. I am sure there are other opinions and ways but I am a bit of a cheapskate and choose the free option. One problem I have when I go to put photos online is that I always seem to miss taking a photo of an important stage, like I'll have one of the restored article but not one of what I started with, or how it should go together again. I really admire posts where there is a good sequence of photos, because it shows you have to keep checking and taking photos, when all you want is to get the job done. I sometimes have to go back and take a couple more photos, and with google photos you can easily change date stamping to keep the story in the right order. Quote
keithb7 Posted April 1, 2020 Report Posted April 1, 2020 (edited) @westaus29 I use google images as well. I agree, super easy. I do upload several photos to this forum. I use a computer often, and download the image from google images, then upload the photo here. I also use my iphone. The latest operating system allows me to choose the photo size to upload directly to this forum. Large or medium is works well and keeps me under the size limit here. I am finding your 1938 Ply photos interesting. As I too am currently going through my '38 P6. I see many similarities but also some interesting differences. The RH drive offers a different spin on what I have been looking, at and working with in my garage recently. Of particular interest, I notice that the master cylinder is of course on the RH side of the car. However the distribution block which houses the brake light switch is still over on the LH side of the frame. I see the brake line from the MC go back to the rear engine mount cross member, and cross over to the LH frame. Then forward to the distribution block. Your shocks appear a lot more modern than mine. Do you know what they were designed for use on by chance? Possibly built for a newer car than the '38, yet they fit the '38? I am interested in buying new shocks for mine. Any info you can share is appreciated. Keith PS if you get stuck, and are missing a photo, perhaps someone here may have their pre-disassembly pics to share. ? Edited April 1, 2020 by keithb7 Quote
westaus29 Posted April 1, 2020 Author Report Posted April 1, 2020 Body and chassis off to sand blaster. One of my mates found this guy less than a km (half a mile) from here who is passionate about old cars, and one of his workers knows how to treat panel work gently. My only other alternative would be to take it to Perth on the back roads, a good 90 min trip. The chassis came back in a week, looking great in epoxy primer But the body got recycled back to me ... too much underbody coating, cant sandblast it they said. My mate supplied a rotisserie he had built when restoring his 55 Buick coupe, and we set it up and I started scraping. Rapidly realised my wrists wouldnt last the distance. Another friend suggested try an electric paint scraper, they're cheap at Bunnings (where all my presents come from). So for $A35 (about $US20) I got a Chinese one with 12 month warrantee and started again. Turned out it was the bees knees for removing underbody, as long as it hadnt been anywhere heat (like previous weld repairs). Two days later it was done and back for sandblasting, but I had missed the window and had to wait another month. That paint scraper is still going strong! Finally back home. I didnt get the whole body done, only where there was rust or bad paint, as I had a good idea what was under the blue paint, as did it myself back in the 80's. Next time I wouldnt get it primed, as due to the delays another guy did the job and I much later discovered he had put primer over rust on most of the roof and firewall. But for now I was happy. Quote
westaus29 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Report Posted May 15, 2020 (edited) Time to move on to rust repairs. As I mentioned at the start of this post, the Aussie 7 passenger roof is constructed by cutting the sedan in half and inserting 20 inches in the middle. The profiles didn’t match so they filled the whole area with up to ½ inch of lead, bog 1930’s style. Over the years the lead cracked, moisture got in and the edges of the roof rusted away. Water and dirt also found its way into the lower parts of the body, in particular the centre pillars which had no drain holes. I completed those repairs but when I stripped the hood lining to get ready for the upholsterer in the 1980’s I discovered severe rust under the lead over front and back doors which had to be cut out and replaced. That killed my date with the upholsterer. The car was used for a while but eventually died and my interest switched to my 29 Tourer. In the intervening years, rust took hold again in the lower body as we then lived only 2 streets from the Indian Ocean and its southwesterly winter gales. So starting in 2012 I resolved to restore the old lady before my joints seized up. Things like house reno, garden and purchase of a 55 Plymouth wagon have diverted us some, but we are plugging on. Rust repairs on the 29 were done using old school oxy acetylene welding. The body was a simple metal skin over a wooden frame. I started out on the 38 using the same, but the 38 body has layer upon layer of metal which is way more complex and very hard to manage heat distortion due to lack of access to hammer things back straight. First to tackle was left front lower cowl, only a small amount of rust but three layers of metal to remove and replace, ie rocker, cowl inner and cowl outer, and lots of lead filler on the rocker that had to be removed first. All went ok until I replaced the outer skin, as old metal was a bit thin and no access to hammer straight. Should have cut higher. But I coated all visible rusty surfaces with Fertan, injected fish oil into the rocker, and put a drain hole in the inner skin so next time it wont rust! It will need a bit of bog (no worse than the original lead) but have sealed it for now with undercoat and scrap top coat to prevent rust. Edited May 15, 2020 by westaus29 Quote
Ulu Posted May 15, 2020 Report Posted May 15, 2020 WOW! I have just started reading this and it is amazing, because I've never seen a RHD MoPar teardown before. I drove one of these (US version) with jump seats but it was a '47. I was surprised at how well it moved out with the 230 engine. Must have had 4:10 gears. I didn't buy it, because I had spotted the '47 coupe, which I did buy. That was 1985. I should have bought both and put the big one in storage. I had no idea... ? Quote
westaus29 Posted May 21, 2020 Author Report Posted May 21, 2020 I tackled the drivers side lower cowl (right side) next, again oxy welding. I had seen an article on how a NZ restorer did it so followed his example, cut the outer skin up high where I could control the weld better, drilled out the spot welds around edges, and pulled it off to expose the rusty inner layer and sill end. Again there were three layers to remake patches for. Fixed the sill and inner layer (without the ribs as they are hidden), patched the outer skin and welded it back on, using brazing around the edges and to hold the inner and outer skins together at the bottom. Reasonable happy with the result. Quote
westaus29 Posted July 25, 2020 Author Report Posted July 25, 2020 (edited) In March I posted brief details on fixing the window and door handle mechanisms. I am rewinding a bit here to add some detail about how to fix an Aussie rear window winder, which is quite different from the US ones, tho much of the process is the same. The Aussie window handles have a brake mechanism with a pot metal boss that expands with age and seizes up. To remove the door panel, first remove the handles. With the Aussie splined handle you insert a thin blade screwdriver under the handle and push the clip in, then wiggle the handle off the spline. Next remove the window trim then prise the panel off the door frame using a flat scraper or even better the proper tool which is readily available, see pic1 for detail. The panel is held on by clips pressed into holes in the frame. The design of clip will depend on who did the retrim. Undo the 4 window winder bolts and slide the mechanism down and out, much easier than later models, and disengage from the glass channel. To disassemble winder, hold flat in vice, use vice-grips to take tension off spring, and prise end of spring off post with heavy screwdriver, see pic2. Note adjustment bolt position then remove bolts to clean and lubricate the gears To fix seized boss, turn over mechanism and grind three lugs off boss, see pic 3. If you have a friend with a lathe, you can mount the boss assembly and take a thin skim off the pot metal boss, which then enables you to get it all apart. I didn't at the time so put it in the drill and used a file to skim it, see pic 4. Take a picture of the helical spring position from the back before you pull it apart as otherwise you will have difficulty putting it back together and it won't function properly, see pic 5, 6 and 7 for details. I can guarantee you will still have fun getting it together right! Lubricate sparingly with grease then reassemble and tack weld the boss back into the mechanism. The final pic is of the 7 passenger rear winder mechanism, quite different to the 4 door sedan. Edited July 25, 2020 by westaus29 add detail Quote
Andydodge Posted July 26, 2020 Report Posted July 26, 2020 Your window mechanisms are the same as those used on my 1940 Dodge and I agree with your statements re the rebuilding of them and the fiddly nature.........until a few years ago I had not thought about checking the FX/FJ Holden mechanisms to use a spares but recently had a chance to get some cheaply and they do offer a chance to use their bits with some work in our Oz mopars...........but what I ended up doing was to take to winder mechanism apart and file/refit the handle boss to suit the stamped metal holder........like you did.............a tip tho' regarding removing the handles...............I use a piece of 1/8th welding or brazing rod about 8-10" long to push the spring button in to remove the handle, also there are proper tools like your blue one in the latest 1st pic that have a small "pin" in the centre of the tool opening that also does this job of pressing the spring "button" on the handle.............anyway good to see something that I can relate to after years of seeing articles, info, etc about Frods & Chivs............regards, andyd Quote
westaus29 Posted September 13, 2020 Author Report Posted September 13, 2020 Continuing on with the 1938 rust repairs, the rear door dog legs appeared to have minor surface panel rust but when I cut into them I found that the rust extended into three layers and was much more than I thought. I bent up repair panels and oxy welded them in, layer by layer. The pics show RHS only, LHS was similar. The sill area had been heavily filled with lead presumably at the factory - the 30's equivalent of bog - this had to be completely removed from the repair area before welding Quote
westaus29 Posted October 12, 2020 Author Report Posted October 12, 2020 (edited) Sand blasting exposed holes in the rear window sills. I drilled out the spot welds and removed the damaged sections. I first made a couple of test sections using 0.6mm sheet which is easier to work with than the 1mm I usually use. That helped sort out the steps I needed to take. I cut two blanks from 1mm sheet and made initial folds using vice and wooden mallet, as I don't have a panbrake (have since found a local trailer repair business that is very helpful). Next passed them thru my bead roller to sharpen up the bends. From there to the shrinker - stretcher to match the window sill shape, then twice more thru the bead roller to create the proper profile. Finally mig welded in place, added gussets to support rear of parcel shelf, etch primed, and a sealer coat to prevent rust. Edited October 12, 2020 by westaus29 1 1 Quote
RobertKB Posted October 12, 2020 Report Posted October 12, 2020 11 minutes ago, Sniper said: Awesome work Ditto Quote
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