sidevalvepete Posted March 2, 2021 Author Report Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, Marcel Backs said: I had my running boards shipped to Kris Arneson in BC and he turns out very high end work on these old mopar bonded type steps. Marcel, Kris Arneson was the person that I sourced mine from. I would recommend him to anyone. Yours look outstanding. Kris likes to have the whole runningboard to work with so he can fit the rubbers completely. He was good enough to send me some rubbers all the way down here which saved me the expense of shipping my steel running boards to BC and back. They have been glued on now. My progress has been a bit slow of late but some bits have been completed. Got some decals on and the original body serial number tag reattached. Centre grille chrome finishes off the complete grille. Is my original grille in it's entirety. The 83 year old pot metal has oxidized and it shows in a few places but the electroplater did a bit of filing and filling on the worst places. Am still working on the side curtain louvre pieces. On the interior have got all radio knobs fitted and working. They are not original but sort of suit. Had to turn down the middle one in the lathe to make it fit the hole. The cable from this one is too short to reach fitment in side of radio box. Need to extend it. I think it wasn't really for the right hand drive vehicle but am sure it can be adapted to fit. Heater all plumbed in and fan connected to switch. Still to be wired to a fabricated accessory board that will allow fuses for heater, period valve radio and aftermarket FM radio/bluetooth. Still haven't quite sorted the clock. Want it to keep time even if car parked up. Not just when key on. Have set up battery to have a trickle charge input connection from power source in my garage. Got a screen for the cowl vent. Largely that is where it is at currently. Nearly there...... Edited March 2, 2021 by sidevalvepete 3 1 Quote
Marcel Backs Posted March 2, 2021 Report Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) Your great work is inspirational! It has put me in gear to get more done. You are right about shipping running boards in a crate, since I think I had about 500 bucks in UPS costs for the trip to BC and back. I could imagine the cost from NZ would be gigantic! The restoration on my boards is proof positive of the excellent work Kris does. Cheers from the cold part of the commonwealth! M PS The boards that you built are beauties and illustrate the farmer's spirit of building it if you don't have one. I grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario and that way of thinking got me wrenching at an early age, thus my penchant for old iron in my latter years. Edited March 2, 2021 by Marcel Backs added a PS Quote
sidevalvepete Posted April 6, 2022 Author Report Posted April 6, 2022 (edited) A bit more progress. Still been slow going but feel like am on the home stretch now. Seatbelts added. Am limited with room so no option with retractables. In NZ to be legal we have to pass compliance certification for modified vehicles. Adding seatbelts is one of these modifications. So it can't be a simple addition of old belts from the scrapyard. Therefore what you see is new belts and approved mountings that meet the cert requirements. Bracing plates in the B pillar, the same added strengthening for the rear mounting points above the rear quarter windows, altering the seat base to allow the front seat clasps to fit in the optimum position to the floor and lastly adding fixing plates for the four floor mounts. A relatively simple safety measure being a bit of an engineering project to get a pass mark... Hood side panel louvres finished and installed. Panels ready for fitting after a few tune ups in engine bay. Battery box cover painted and installed...battery getting a trickle charge in pic. Have wired in this facility to happen when parked up for a while in my garage. Waiting on a grille guard to come back from plater which should be this week. Fit that, then wire up some front indicators which I have chosen to fit in some fog lights. Then back to upholsterer to refit the headliner that was detached to rebuild the dodgey vacuum wipers and seatbelts, fit carpet and trunk lining etc. Then I will be able to take up Keith on his invitation to join his Great 38 Thread of 2022......looking forward to that!!! Edited April 6, 2022 by sidevalvepete 4 Quote
JonathanC Posted April 6, 2022 Report Posted April 6, 2022 On 5/12/2020 at 2:47 PM, Merle Coggins said: So, apparently this is another case of a re-branded Plymouth for the export market? Like the D25's (a.k.a re-branded P15's) It would be...Plymouths got branded with every other Chrysler name in export markets. This one may have been built in Canada (maybe exported as a knock-down for local assembly and trimming in NZ). As an Empire country Canada would have had preferential trade terms with New Zealand in those days. Quote
sidevalvepete Posted April 6, 2022 Author Report Posted April 6, 2022 2 hours ago, JonathanC said: It would be...Plymouths got branded with every other Chrysler name in export markets. This one may have been built in Canada (maybe exported as a knock-down for local assembly and trimming in NZ). As an Empire country Canada would have had preferential trade terms with New Zealand in those days. No, Detroit built for the NZ market. Yes to the D9 being based on the smaller Plymouth wheelbase and body size. Chrysler Corp did lots of things like this to be a global supplier that enabled them to do business into overseas markets and meet the different conditions in those countries. The design of the whole range of WCP vehicles from an early stage allowed this export business to service all the peculiarities of different markets. Some were government tariffs around size of vehicles, encouragement of local assembly industries or bodybuilding, righthand drive traffic systems etc. You will all see some of this engineering in your rides from the sharing of body, engine and chassis parts; symmetrical stamping of the cowl panel and dash design that can accommodate adaptation to right hand drive. They had smart people that quickly turned Chrysler Corp into a giant global player. A great US success story really.......now the world needs this type of creativity and scale to fix what we have inadvertently brought upon ourselves....very quick solutions to our human induced climate problems.....here's hoping..... 1 Quote
sidevalvepete Posted November 11, 2022 Author Report Posted November 11, 2022 A bit more progress. And a hiccup or two...grille guard installed, not specific to Chrysler Corp but period correct. Shortened it by about two inches to allow placement of foglamp/front indicators. Also detailed my original front bumper medallion in red. Saw a nos one on epay in the original red and was impressed. Only ever knew mine as a flaky chrome but looks quite nice in the red I think. As shown before, seatbelts installed. Had a ram etched on the lift plates to try to make them a little less out of character Rear hand straps/coat hooks and re-secured headliner... Front carpet. Was originally a rubber mat floor in the car and I did manage to get a pretty nice reproduction from the Plymouth doctor years ago but have gone with a carpet finish for now...also note the fuel gauge out. Wasn't reading down past a quarter tank so took it out and had it recalibrated with the sender unit. Not quite perfect but is pretty good all the way down now. Sort of tested it in quarter tank increments and am happy with how it goes for the 84 year old technology... Rear carpet which is as close as I could match the style and color to the original in the car... Added front armrests to the front doors so I wouldn't put strain on the interior door handles when closing the doors. My car never had these but they are an accessory in the parts book for the model so I found some old ones and had them recovered in leather left over from the seats... The other hiccup I have had has been a bit more troublesome. After about 300 miles of test driving a crack developed in the head from under the thermostat housing. Had it repaired but it has failed again so am trying another head to get me going. A bit disappointing as the head that has cracked is original to the car. Haven't given up completely on getting it fixed yet but am looking for another machine shop who can do a better job. So this, and the door sill plates are the last things to resolve before the serious driving can begin. Have had lots of wins and setbacks over this project but am keen to see it out. Want to drive around to numerous cousins near and afar who would remember our shared grandfather and his car. We are all in our 50s, 60s and 70s now ourselves. Some of them know that the car is still around and being brought back to life, others will get a real surprise. Also I would like to show it to a bunch of folks that have done work on various things - chrome, badges, tires, upholstery, parts, advice etc. They all will get a kick out of seeing the finished product. Not long now I hope... 5 Quote
andyd Posted November 13, 2022 Report Posted November 13, 2022 Re the head crack.........is it coming from the threaded housing bolt holes in the head?.........is there any possibility that the housing is "moving" or levering against the head..ie, the engine itself is moving forward/backwards and the upper hose is acting like a lever.........or maybe when the housing bolts are tightened they are making the crack appear?...........is intriguing to say the least........did you run a thread tap in the holes all the way though?...........andyd Quote
sidevalvepete Posted November 13, 2022 Author Report Posted November 13, 2022 After the engine was rebuilt, it came back block and head fully assembled. Sometime during the rebuild process I located a TriAirstream heater matching what was available in the 38 Accessory Catalogue. To fit it, I needed to get a thermostat housing that had the appropriate bypass for the heater - my original was a very basic non bypass version. When I took it off I felt the corrosion around the head flange where the housing bolts to would do better if it got built up a bit for a safer and more enduring gasket seal. I sent it back to my rebuilder to address. Got it back, assembled new housing, installed heater, finished complete assembly of engine etc. Then after the 300 odd miles the failure happened. Removed and inspected and probable reason for cracking is the use of braze to build up the corroded head, not like metal. Am guessing that the brass braze, with different heat/expansion properties to th cast has ended up seeing a crack develope. In the couple of years from the braze repair until I finally got running and did 300 miles, the machine shop had closed down after 55 odd years of business. In fact the retired owner did have the grace to apologize and even admitted that he had outsourced this little job out to a nearby radiator shop who did the braze. I'm not too mad here, a mistake was made and passed time and circumstance doesn't give me much recourse. Next, to find someone to fix it. Another machine shop, another town 40 miles away ( not that many machine shops around here now ). They assured me they would fix it. They did a stitch weld job on it. It has failed within the first 25 mile road test. Totally unsatisfactory. They left the braze there, and their choice of method or workmanship or a combination of all the above sees me back with a crack - now worse than the original failure. So, hence the second head. Have found another machine shop about 200 miles away that do a lot of old cast repairs for the vintage auto community. Going to take my original head to them to discuss. Bit wary of throwing more money at it but it is original to the car and I didn't think it would be a complete right off. They are no pressure water systems. The crack isn't on the block side of the head. Maybe with the right technique, getting rid of the braze material etc. an enduring repair can be done. I have certainly seen other cracks in blocks and heads way worse than this fixed before. Below is a pic of how it looks after the last failure. Quote
sidevalvepete Posted March 17, 2023 Author Report Posted March 17, 2023 An update and probably the time to wind up this thread. Have largely finished this long project except locating or making some door sill plates and getting a bit of crackle out of the valve radio. Have put another cylinder head on the car, from a '36 truck 201 engine. Seems all good at the moment. Have done some 400 miles since then over mostly flat terrain with distance covered being between 20 to 40 miles each time. The car starts from cold with a few turns of the starter motor before coming to life and quickly settling at it's idle. Purrs really, if you could say a mopar sidevalve purrs...perhaps not...but it does have a very satisfying, mopar distinctive rumble. A couple of hundred more miles and then a recheck of all the nuts and bolts, tappets, seals etc and oil change. Some more pics... On the back lawn... Export version of the cloisonne badge...with the USA detail With the replacement head... Front end details... Local paper, 1981... Still have Alick's '70s travel rug... Hope to have a few travel adventures now. Maybe call on a few of the folks that have contributed to this project to show the end result. Maybe that could be a good topic for another thread... 2 Quote
keithb7 Posted March 17, 2023 Report Posted March 17, 2023 Excellent work and thread. Congratulations. Thank you for sharing. Quote
61spit Posted March 17, 2023 Report Posted March 17, 2023 Looks beautiful. I'm sure Alick would be pleased with your results. Quote
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