A short explanation: I bought a '53 dodge 4 door early this summer(2008). my first project car. it ran and drove and the body's pretty decent (except there's 2 extra doors). Anyway, NONE of the electrical worked besides the engine electrical and the horn. No brake lights, head, tail, turn signals, nothing. It also pissed antifreeze like crazy and overheated bad. well i tackled the cooling system first and had that straigtened out in short order. new water pump, t'stat, water distribution tube, flushed everything and it went back together great. After a couple months now, i have reached a milestone. tonight i drove the car with a complete and working charging system, replaced battery, and cables. new voltage regulator and wiring. all new wiring to headlights, running lights, turn signals, tail lights and brake lights. AMAZINGLY, everthing works!!! I was so geeked. couldn't believe that I had accomplished this much. it feels great. just wanted to share and see if anyone else has had similar experiences. (the smiley is by request of my daughter) Thanks, Scott
Hell yea! I got a couple of those. Its pretty cool when you accomplish something. The two door needs a lot of those "moments" lol.
WOW the 53 four door gives me a little hope/inspiration. It's probably small potatoes to most guys on here to get done what i've accomplished but I'm damn happy and proud. got the scars on my hands and everything. I love this stuff.
Ha, I think the first thing I did to it was replace the water pump, hell yea I was proud I did it! Just one step at a time dude.
Yea that's my dad's old ride. It's defiantly not HAMB material though. This is all I have on the computer, I might pm you some more later but I got to scan them. 360 with a lot of home made billet.
Damn that is nice. I'd sure like to see some if you get the chance. I'm working on a 40 tudor sedan myself. Thanks, later shawn
WHAT you did the wiring yourself?!?!! You did not buy a wazooie bobs wire by number kit or pay Horrible Harolds Hotrod shop 3 thou to do it.What a novel idea, great job!
HA! I don't think that even the vaunted Wazooie Bobs Wiring has a harness for a 53 Dodge Coronet 4 door. If they do it's pretty steep. As for Horrible Harolds Hotrod shop, there were times that I just wanted to abandon the car at their door step, knowing well that I couldn't afford it, but that it would be well cared for. Already scheming on getting all the panel lights burning and then testing out the aftermarket heater. Cool. Scott
Nothing feels better than driving a car out of the garage after pushing it in there. This was one of the first cars that I got that feeling from.
I don't want to hijack this person's thread, I will start a thread to explain the car. It is a pretty long story.
There's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment. Keep up the good work and there's nothing wrong with 4 drs. They need love too.
Funny to see this thread pop back up! As for driving it as one guy said, well, it's like 20 degrees here with a pretty fair amount of snow on the ground. I don't have the heat working yet so it's stored away til spring. Trying to find a cheap 110v mig this winter so in the spring and summer i can do some custom mods. Simple stuff like shaving and filling holes and stuff. Never welded before so I should be having another of these 'moments' this coming summer!! Can't wait.
One step at a time, that's what I say, and if it's a Mopar, you have a lot more hurdles to get over than the ford guys.
it does feel good. i just stripped a 50 5 window chevy trucks brakes down to just the spindles. i hope i get that feeling when it stops again. felt good tearing it apart,.... good luck and keep turning wrenches.
Those old Mopars are so cool. The electrics are simple enough that if you put them back together right they should work. Bob
I had a similar experience. I had the flat-six in my little shoebox, and when that blew up, my cousin scored me a free '52 Flatty. I swung it in, and that first day right after I wired up the brake lights, my cousin and I took a little cruise around town. It was by far the biggest sense of accomplishment that I have in my life to date, I'm only 20 years old, so there isn't much in the history books about me yet, but it was awesome.
Here's my "Jewel". Although I was able to drive it home, the brakes were completely gone. I replaced all of the wheel cylinders and shoes. I still need to replace the front brake lines but I plugged them off to take it for a run down the road. I drove it a few miles to put gas in it and it started overheating. When I got it back home I found it now had a leaking water pump. It also has a leak in the gas tank. I too have some electrical problems. The front lights all work fine but I have no brake or tail lights, although they light up (but don't blink) when I turn the blinkers on. Since I've gotten it I've added the chrome wheels and ww tires. No definite plans yet, would just like to build a mild custom.
New Shoes. Painted the wheels black. Had to talk my 6 y.o. son out of red wheels. He wanted the car to be like Doc Hudson in his glory days. Haven't been able to work on the car all winter so now I'm excited, just have to find time, which is often a challenge.
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