Projects Idahorocks 34 Plymouth build

Just wanted to consolidate some links to previous threads and keep track of future work on my project as I move along.

Introduction:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=308997

Stock ignition:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353997

Cooling a 354 Truck Hemi questions:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=422258

Learning about flex plates and torque converters for tranny adapter:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=509616

Starting to wire it up:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=483512

Planning the brakes and lines:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528574

Initial start up education:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544727

Just wanted to say thanks to all the people on the HAMB that have helped me along the way so far.

My pace has been pretty slow but things are getting done. Here is list of things to get done:

Get the motor running.
1. Electrical. Wire the motor. Find new route for existing electrical lines.
2. Fuel system. Clean and mount gas tank. Set up fuel filler neck. Plumb fuel lines into gas tank. Wire fuel pump. Make new throttle linkage assembly.
3. Cooling. Get Green stripe flex hose to go from radiator to thermostat. Replace belt.

Brakes.
1. Rear must have parking brake set up to operate properly. Take calipers off to check operations and how to set properly. Make sure they are operational.
2. Remove front disc calipers and check to make sure that they are operational. Check how to set properly.
3. Check all brake line fittings and ensure that they are tight. Add brake light switch and wire.
4. Fill master cylinder with brake fluid. Bleed brakes.
5. It brakes are operational secure brake lines to frame with clips.

Transmission.
1. Hook up shift linkage.
2. Hook up kickdown linkage assembly. Find throttle valve lever for transmission.
3. Get measurements for new driveline and order.

Exhaust.
1. Determine the exhaust sound that you want.
2. Send to shop to have dual exhaust installed.

Electrical.
1. Complete wiring of car.
2. Drill centers out of bolts for headlight stands.
3. Find location and wire horn.
4. Get old fashion turn signal lever for column. Wire LED Gear indicators. Plan interior light locations.

Interior.
1. Seat position, seatbelt locations.
2. Match seating material and order for rest of interior work.
3. Door solenoids and trunk solenoids need to be planned and installed.
4. Vintage air system needs to be planned and install.
5. Find solution for tip out windshield.
6. Replace rear glass.

Other stuff.
1. Front and rear license plate mounting hardware.
2. Insurance.
3. Safety check of entire car when street ready.

 

The first task on the list is now complete. I had to spend a little time troubleshooting a stuck float on the front carb and learning about how my coil and electric ignition controller needs to play together.

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Slow pace or not, it's an awesome car. The Hemi looks and sounds great. Congrats on the build so far. Looking forward to the progress to come!

 

Few cars are as nice loking as a 33-34 MoPar coupe. The hemi makes it that much cooler..love it.

 

Thanks for the kind words and support.

Now that I've had it running I'm thinking about how the crankcase breathes, or in this case, doesn't. When I was cranking it I could hear air coming out of the seal between the spark plug tubes and valve cover. There is no vent in the HHH oil filler and no PCV set-up. I've read up on Hemi tech and it sounds like I need to set up something on the valve covers where air can come in through one valve cover and exit through the other into the carb.

I'm spending some time on the rear brakes this weekend. I have the notorious 9 inch Ford Lincoln Versailles. Luckily all the brake components are there. The calipers are nice and clean on the outside but I'm not sure how fresh the insides are. Remanufactured calipers are $60 bucks a pop so I think I'm just going to get a fresh set that I will be confident in rather that mess with rebuilding these.

 

Awesome.....Thought being in Hawaii on vacation this week is great,but seeing this video-wow......love your coupe.

 

Thanks exterminator. I had been waiting for 4 years for that moment to start that motor. I have to admit I was shaking when I fired it up.

 

Nice!! I can't wait until I get my own 33-34 someday. I love early hemis in them.

 

Took the day off to get some garage time. Need to get on the brakes. Since I'm running the notorious 9 inch Versailles rear I apparently need to have the parking brake linkage attached before I can properly adjust the brakes. So today I located the Lokar handle on the floor next to my shifter.

I also wanted to see what the hood would look like if I wanted to mount it. The PE have a long nose and having the hood on makes it look even longer. Need to chew on this a bit but I think I like it on.

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Imq8nHEcgXa4muzhoUIzxdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-nmP1uQNYahw/UIsxkCmAttI/AAAAAAAB_mI/0wme7zsiLXE/s288/image.jpg" height="215" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106280383155972981457/34Plymouth?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">34 plymouth</a></td></tr></table>

Got some help from my pit crew too.

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iKzzQmYZGEAEB16sD2BJ1dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mZ9Ks5jVj10/UIsxgLSm3OI/AAAAAAAB_lw/6YX2KpJX9mI/s288/image.jpg" height="215" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106280383155972981457/34Plymouth?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">34 plymouth</a></td></tr></table>

 

the 34 plymouth is a beautiful car I like the rear window and i like the hood on...awesome!

 

I took some time to tackle brakes this weekend. Took a little trial and error but I think I got fluid in all the lines and what few leaks I found are fixed. I am really pleased that all of my flared fittings work great. The Eastwood flaring tool was well worth the investment!

The biggest challenge was the Versailles rear disc brakes. As I did my homework I began to fear setting up the parking brake since I think I was missing some hardware.

I'm using a Lokar parking brake handle on the floor board.



I've read that the parking brake needs to have a force multiplier to be effective. I used a 6" length of flat stock with a pivot on one end and connection to the rear brakes in the middle. I still need to finish the linkage back to the brake lever.



I was fortunate to have the parking brake levers on my calipers but I seem to be missing is some kind of parking brake cable holder. I made these out of the same flat stock that I made the force multiplier with.





The cable is also from Lokar. The bracket mounts to the lower bolt hole for the dust shield. After I mocked it all up I pulled on the free end of the parking brake cable and the brake seemed to work fine.





Should be able to finish the linkage next weekend and bleed the brakes one more time. Once that is done I will measure the new drive line and order it then get to work on the shift, throttle, and kick down linkage.

 

Nice work on the parking brake! That reminds me, I still need to order one.....are you happy with the Lokar setup?

 

I see you went with the stock frame, so did I when I built my 34 Plymouth in 2004. I rides great with the stock IFS. Cool car!
Here´s a pic of mine

 

Plymouth's are so cool. Your's is looking great!

 

great car

 

Mopar in a Mopar! The only way to travel...Very nice piece!

 

Oh my heavens. That is perfect. Well, except for the Chevy mill!

 

Farmer - The Lokar parking brake seems like it is built well but it seems a little pricey for what you get. At the purchase price I was a little disappointed it didn't have hardware to mount it to the floor board. The parking brake cable was a bit pricey too for what you get. I've heard of people just getting OEM cables for much cheaper and being pretty with them. I'm still happy with what I got. I've been burnt a few times thinking the cheap route was going to work.

Baumi - Nice ride! Really like the tires and wheels. I knew from start that I wanted to keep the original IFS and I heard that it rides well when properly maintained. I used lowered spindles from Butch's and a disc brake conversion. Bruce's Rod Shop here is Spring, Texas did a real nice job setting up the front and rear suspension. I love the stance.

 

Thank you for the info. Usually the good parts tend to be a little pricey, but I don't feel like having to replace it after a while because I took the "cheap" route. Thanks again.

 

Been a few weeks since I've got garage time but I made some good progress today with the help of my dad and brother. Got the parking brake linkage finished, installed, and adjusted. Shift linkage done. Gas tank installed and fuel line hooked up. Fuel pump wired. Almost finished the throttle linkage, just need to fab an extension of the gas pedal arm to eliminate a kink in the cable. Got the drive line in from Denny's and installed. So, I'm just about ready for a first test drive. The big wild card is the condition of the transmission, should be able to check that in the next couple of days. I have a bet with my wife that it will drive before the end of the month.

 

It's been 5 years since the '34 has moved on it own. Last time was with the original flathead 6. Today I was able to drive it out of the garage!

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Still more work to do. The 727 transmission is slipping, the brakes are still spongy and the parking brake isn't holding the car. Need to get some breathers for the valve covers too. Finish wiring. Interior. Door poppers. Front fenders and hood. Still, feeling pretty good because today was a big milestone!

 

I think I solved the slipping 727 problem. I dropped the pan and pulled the valve body out. I tried moving some of the pistons and one seemed stuck but moved with a little effort. The bands seemed real loose too. I've read a dozen different ways to adjust but one method has you tighten the bands until you can't move the driveline by hand then back off the adjuster until you can just barely turn it. Then loosen another 1/2 turn and done. So I tried that, fired the motor up and it seemed to go into reverse better than before. But the linkage and the Lokar shifter gets in the way of everything and I couldn't get into drive. So I stripped off the Lokar linkage and replaced it with a bent aluminum rod that goes right to the shift lever. Seems to work great, but now I can't get the car started because my dang fuel pump is out since I designed a stupid setup where the electric fuel pump is higher than the tank. Think I burned it up.

 

Finally got some garage time after nearly two months but got some good work in today. I replaced the fuel pump with electric rotary vane style pump placed lower in the frame rails. Plumbed an wired it up. I'm a huge fan of delphi terminal kits now when it comes to wiring tasks. After the pump was primed the hemi started right up. With the car on jack stands still I went through the gears and the was able to get the wheels turning. Put the car on the ground and after a few adjustments decided it was time to drive around the block.

It was a bitter sweet drive. The 727 is still slipping. It got progressively worse as I went around the block. The rear end was pretty noisy especially around corners. I was told it is a locker and it will make noise but it was like click click CLICK CLICK POP! POP! CLICK CLICK click click. Then last hundred yard I was thinking the transmission was almost gone. BTW, I checked fluid levels before I started and it was full in neutral after it warmed up. The car stalled at the bottom of the driveway so we ended up pushing the car up the driveway into the garage. I didn't want to strain the tranny any further.

So I'm happy that I could get the car around the block, that was a big milestone. I'm disappointed in some of the ignorant decisions I've made along the way. I'm wishing I didn't get that locker rear end if that's the way it going to be. I want a driver, not a 1/4 miler. Given my skills I'm wondering if I should have just stuck with the original drive train with some hopped up speed equipment rather that get into the black hole of a custom drive train. But I'm well down the road in what the car will be so I need to just buck up and get it done. Done right.

The next steps by me will be things I'm comfortable doing. Wiring, interior, getting the fenders back on.

I'm going to send the car out to get the drive train sorted out. I'll need to have someone look at the tranny an see if it worth fixing. Maybe it's just the band adjustment. I'll get the differential replaced with something a bit more driver friendly. In the end I want to find someone to get the mechanics sorted out that are beyond my skills and ability to devote time.

One step at a time. Right?

 

Got the Plymouth back from the mechanic. Great news was the transmission and rear end are fine. Both needed more fluid. The rear end also needed a limited slip additive to help it out. Had a cooling fan and exhaust installed while it was out.

I got to drive the car around the block last weekend on my 40th birthday with the wife riding shotgun. Tranny shifted fine and no rear end noise this time. The wife even said she had fun!

Now that the car is home and the Texas fall means great garage weather I'm planning a bunch of work to get it safe for the road. There is still a lot to do but for the first time ever there is light at the end of the tunnel and I think I can manage the rest of the chores. Feels good!



Today's garage time included hanging the front fenders. Needed to enlist my minions to help. I've been looking at this picture a lot today because I think it sums up why I'm doing this:




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very nice.

 

Thanks, racer-x!


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Working on wiring the headlights. I've been trying to figure out how to neatly run the wires out of the buckets. I was hoping to run them down through the headlight stands but I would have needed to drill out the centers of the mounting bolts. So instead I'm running them through some homemade conduits to the grill shell. The conduit is made of zinc plated spring, drilled out rubber stoppers, and threaded tubing from lighting fixtures.





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I like the way the conduits look. Great fix!

 

Very nice combination hemi/coupe. and the wife is happy too? Well done.

 

Looking good and sounds like you are doing good job working out the solution of each problem. I have the Versailles rear in my 38 Chevy and it works good once you have it set up right. Just a bit of hassle to get the parking brake hooked up. I did not use any multiplier, I just pull hard on the lever, hahaha.