Restoration of a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe

[MarkDHaag]

My father was the victim of a shoddy restoration team that left him with his car dismantled and distributed throughout the country.  We have been able to gather up all the parts and found a real reputable shop.  They have been great preparing the parts that they can for assembly, but they don't have an assembly manual for a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe.  I'm reaching out to ask the group, is there such thing as an assembly manual and if so, how and where could I get one?  

 

As per the thought that this shop should be able to find one or get one easy, I've made the agreement with them that if they would take this on, I would help them with some of the tedious things these shops have to do that take up a lot of time.  This is one of them.  Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated.

[Ivan_B]

Welcome.

Sorry to hear about your experience, many people been there. Hopefully, you did not waste a lot of money for nothing as well.

You are looking for a service manual, right? That one does not seem to be readily available online. How about you just get a paper copy on eBay?

If they need an actual assembly manual - i.e. the instructions that the factory would use in the plant - you'll probably never find that. And the shop probably should not be looking for it.

[Eneto-55]

This one in the downloads section might be of some help, if it is sheet metal related.

MoPar Body and Sheet Metal

 

Otherwise, as already mentioned above, a service manual is the only thing I know of.  

 

For sorting out the bolts and other fasteners, a parts list catalog would be handy.  (I don't have one myself, but I think it would have valuable information.  Saw one on Ebay last year, and didn't jump on it, then it was gone....)

[MarkDHaag]

Guys, thanks for the comments. I am wondering if there’s enough information on the service manual for them to help put the car back together. They indicated that if they would’ve taken it apart, they would know how it goes back together, but because it was done by others, it’s a struggle. I was hoping there might be an assembly manual out there, I understand how ignorant that sounds. But just searching for a way for them to identify which bolts go where. I will look into and purchase a service manual and I will look at the link you sent me. I appreciate that a lot guys . 

[Ivan_B]

Well, I understand their point, kind of, but it sounds like they are simply might be trying to lower your expectations and avoid some responsibility. Maybe

In my opinion, an average shop should be able to, more or less, figure out hot to put a car together. I doubt it is disassembled like a blow-out diagram and all mixed together, is it? Also, it is not an airplane, or anything like that, which they've never seen before...

I would expect that a lay person would need detailed instructions of how to put a car together, but definitely not an auto shop. Have they already done much work for you? Are you sure that this is a good idea to push them into this, if they are not interested? Last time I was pushing a shop to work on my stuff, it did not work-out well. Not at all. They were dragging their work as much as possible, did some questionable repairs, and, worst of all, I had to finish it myself, and redo some things anyway because, for instance, they did not know how to install a custom EFI onto a previously carbureted engine and broke the hall sensor ?

 

Do you have pictures of the car/parts?

Edited October 13, 2023 by Ivan_B

[Los_Control]

The only thing I can offer.

First I'm going to assume they have assembled other cars in the past .... they know or can figure out most things on their own.

 

There will be some things specific to these cars and help may be required.

 

If you have questions about specific parts, what they are where they go and how .... take good photos of them and share the photos and questions here.

Very good chance someone knows by looking at it and can quickly answer your questions.

 

As far as specific bolts ..... I can only hope they were bagged and tagged in some fashion when disassembled.

No idea how specific you want the restoration to be. Many will probably need to be replaced. 99% will be a standard SAE thread that you can easily get.

I'm buying mine by the pound from Tractor supply.

 

If you want to enter 100 point car shows, most likely would get dinged on points for using modern bolts .... What level of restoration are you going for?

If you do want a 100 point restoration, then there are some suppliers that offer the correct bolts for many items, not sure about all though.

Again post photos and questions about a specific item and you can get help.

 

Today I have been going through bolts for my 1949 truck running taps & dies fixing threads or replacing bolts as needed preparing for assembly.

I use ziplock sandwich bags labeled with drivers fender ... drivers inner fender, front grill shell, headlight buckets, floor.

I created the labeled bags when I dissembled the truck. Many of the bolts were broken or bad and needed replaced .... So before assembly, I'm going through each fender and bag of bolts and it will be a smooth assembly .... you need some sort of plan & organization when you take a car apart.

[Dave72dt]

I'm sure they can put it together in time but it's going to get really expensive. Missing parts, parts installed only to be removed because some other part needed to go on first, wrong parts, etc and by the hour labor, often repeating the same work several times. Most body shops charge by flat rate x their per hour and good body shops can generally beat flat rate. so you're never going to be priority work. 

 

A parts manual with illustrations will help the most and you can try to find another car the same as yours, even if in a scrap yard and take pictures of everything.

 

You could also farm out just the drivetrain if you don't have the skills, have them set the body on the frame if it's off and finish the assembly yourself.

[Doug&Deb]

A parts manual would be helpful. They have good exploded illustrations of the various sub assemblies and often the fastener sizes. Try a Google search and see what you can find.

[Sam Buchanan]

Here is a parts manual for the drivetrain:

 

http://www.amsnos.com/Help/MMPCPRE54.pdf

[Eneto-55]

Is this the correct book for bolt specifications (size, thread, length)? 

(I need to get one that has that info., because my car was already disassembled when I bought it in 1980, and then I threw all of the bolts together for cleaning and re-plating anyway.)

Edited October 14, 2023 by Eneto-55
additional comment

[Sniper]

I think we need to define what the OP means by restoration.  Typically, that means as it left the factory.  All the factory bolts in the factory locations, wires run like the factory did it with the proper color codes and sizing, the correct markings on the parts, proper hoses, belts, etc.  If that is what the OP is asking for, then no there is no assembly manual for that.  You will have to do that yourself, take pics, ask for pics, hit up the car shows and ask questions, take a ton of notes, use the parts and service manual to elaborate where they can.  Join the Plymouth Owner' Club.

 

It will not be quick, or cheap.

 

Now if you are just asking for a car that looks good, drives, stops and steers good, then the price drops, a lot.  A good shop should be able to do that without too much fuss.  There is a thread here where a HS kid went through a 47 Plymouth, lots of pictures, advice and such.  Not sure how much it will help with a 48 but here it is.

 

 

[Ivan_B]

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

You will have to do that yourself, take pics, ask for pics, hit up the car shows and ask questions, take a ton of notes, use the parts and service manual to elaborate where they can.

That's right. Only, I'd mostly try to concentrate on vintage pictures (including the ones in the manual). Otherwise, you are risking copying someone else's inaccuracies. I've seen some bad things at the local car museum... Not even talking about the average car gatherings

[Sniper]

Might hit the judged car shows and use those as a reference?

[Bob Ritter]

Coming from a Body Shop background, most body shop people can put it together it's what's  missing and where does it go that causes the problems. As one of our Mopat brothers stated pictures would be a big help in helping you. Most of our Mopar brothers are very knowledgeable, but you have to give them something to work with. I have a 1948 Plymouth convertible completely apart with the body sitting on a cart, so I can most likely help. I think the Service manual could be of great help to the shop.

 

 

[Stargrinder]

On 10/14/2023 at 9:01 AM, Sam Buchanan said:

Here is a parts manual for the drivetrain:

 

http://www.amsnos.com/Help/MMPCPRE54.pdf

 

Great resource.  I was looking for this.  I ended up buying one a year or so go but good to have it digital.

[MarkDHaag]

All the parts were bagged and tagged.  I think they were trying to find out all they can before they started to sort out the parts and start assembly.  I was about to post this on another of the answers, but lost it.  We found a better solution.  We found running 47 that we are brining in for them to use as a template.  I really appreciate all the comments on here.  You all are professionals and have an incredible patience to your passion.  I wish I had that stamina to go through a project with that kind of detail.  Appreciate you all Thanks Again.