Don't ask me why but I just cant say no to a cheap old Mopar with a solid body and a bunch of extra parts, even if it is a more-door. Same old story, some guy was going to restore it and got as far as taking a few things apart and buying a bunch of stuff like brake rebuild kits, extra gauges, etc. After it sat in his parents driveway for a while untouched, they said get rid of it. $400 bux for all of it just to haul it off. Trunk and interior are full of boxes of parts, i don't even know what's all there. I have no idea what Im going to do with it but I'll figure out something. I'm eyeballing the Ford 2.3 turbo with the 5 speed in my shop I pulled from an 88 T-bird. Wont be fast but surely have more beans that the old flathead.
I'd keep the flathead and search out some 2 door sedan doors. Great score, I would have bought that too.
Great find. In this day and age, not an abundance of nice old iron left, 2 or 4 door. That is cool! Good luck, Cheers......
I think you guys are right. I'm just going to scrub it, get it mechanically sound, and drive it like it is providing the motors good. I'll have to rewire it; mice and amateur electricians have had their way with it. Good time to change it to 12 volt. The carpet's rotten but the floors are good and the seats are good; maybe just use a rubber mat. That color is so damn ugly it gives it class.
I figured this was the easiest way to get at everything. You can pull the whole front clip by removing 8 bolts so it was a no brainer. Lots of cleanup needed but the good news is I put a wrench on the balancer and the motor turns freely.
After a thorough soaking with engine degreaser and some serious power washing things are looking pretty good. The suspension and steering are all solid with several newer looking parts, and all the grease fittings were in good shape and took grease. The frame is all solid except for the front cross member which had a ton of mud packed in it. The bottom and back of it are gone and will need some serious rebuilding. I've got some steel plate that I think will work good, the only downer is that the motor will have to come out and the suspension will have to come off to get at all the bad spots. Also ran a quick compression check and have 120-140psi across the board so that's a plus.
I have to give a guy named Little Mo the big thumbs up for being a great guy. I met him on the P15D25 Mopar website. After I found out the motor in this was junk he stepped up and gave me and engine and trans. I went and picked it up today; one heck of a nice guy and I'm glad we met. OK, drive train is out and suspension is off so now I'm at a good starting point. First I have to do some serious rust repair on the crossmember; then I can start cleaning things up and reassembling.
I dug into my scrap steel pile and found some 3/16" plate that's pretty stout. I think that will work well to patch the crossmember. I got most of one side done tonight.
I've got six days off; three I get to spend in the garage, the other three mama has me doing chores but that's OK. I got out there early this morning and finished repairing the crossover, building some shock relocation mounts, wire brushing off the front of the frame, and hitting it with a coat of paint. I've got both side of the suspension tore apart for cleanup and reassembly, and I pulled the dashboard out to sort through the mess of chopped wiring. Taking a road trip tonight to pick up a better steering box and back on it early tomorrow!
Got all the suspension and steering back together today and got it back on it's feet. After looking at the mess of 60 year old wiring I grabbed my side cutters and chopped it all out. The insulation was crumbling off when you touched it so I figured I better just start over rather than burning the thing to the ground. I also glued the headliner back up. That crap brown dash had to go; the puke green is bad enough. I like this color better.
kewl.. a turbo ford is acceptable.. a turbo 2.2 chrysler mated to a dakota trans would be better... just a thought..
Decided to just keep the old flathead for now. Im sticking with the cheap cruiser theme for now; might do more with it down the road.
I pulled out the seats to see what I have to deal with for a floor. It's pretty rough with some really bad repairs. Some previous owner laid sheet metal right over the rusted out metal and fiberglassed it in with fiberglass cloth and resin. Plus they put on new outer rockers but left the rusted out inner rockers in place. But in keeping with the cheap driver theme, I'm not tackling all that at this point. For now I'm just going to cut away whats completely gone,put some patches in, and hit the rest with rust inhibitor to stop the progression. I just need a solid place to put my feet and something solid to hold the seat in. Also painted up some of the trim and power washed the engine. I was just going to put in in as is but I think I'll set it on a stand, pull the pan, and make sure the bottom end looks OK. I probably need to see what the clutch looks like before I bolt it in, too.
Well, what do you do when you keep cutting and there's nothing solid to weld onto? I went to the steel supply and got a 4 x 10 sheet of 16 gauge and an extra spool of MIG wire. Looks like it's getting more floor repairs than I thought. Also I never did trust those old single reservoir master cylinders. This one is for a 67 Fairlane; I've got a plan for a bracket to make it work. ORielys still carried the factory wheel cylinders; only $21 a piece.
Go for broke! I love those old Plyms. Once you get tired of the old flat-6, go for a classic MOPAR small block and a 5 speed Dakota trans... be awesome on the highway and good on fuel to boot!
I would keep the Flat six, I have a 48 dodge business coupe and I told myself that I would leave the six in it til it shelled out....that was three years ago and we are still driving the wheels off of it. Besides that, there are a few fellas on here that can point you in the right direction for some awesome performance parts for them as well. The flat six also gives you hella WOW factor at shows.
Did some custom car guy get the 49-only 4 rib bumpers from that car? Looks like a great project and you're getting some serious work done quickly.
Thanks, guys. I'm keeping the flat six for as long as it lasts but I heard that someone does make a trans adapter to put a 5 speed behind it. I still haven't heard it run; I think I'll pull the pan and look inside as long as it's out of the car. This is actually a different motor; the one that was in it had problems so a fellow hot rod brother gave me his old flat six from a small block conversion. It's coming along quick; I hope to have it on the road in a few months. I did not get the bumpers with it so I've got some old 48 bumpers I'll use for now.
Check out Wilcap, I think they have several options for trannies. I've been mulling over going the T-5 route for my '39 Ply (has a hopped up '55 Dodge flat six with stock clutch/trans/rear).
Your car looks really cool! I'm sticking with the old three on the tree for now; I've got two good trannys sitting here. I've got a 48 coupe I've been building into a street rod for the past few years. It's probably still a couple of years and several thousand dollars from being finished so this car is just going to be my cheap car show transportation and beater cruiser. Driving the minivan to the shows really sucks.
looks like its coming a long nicely. you'll love the flathead six, even if you keep it 3 on the tree and stock. we have a need for speed but we kept our '50 entirely stock. its really SO MUCH FUN to drive around!! It does 55-60 no problem and loves 50-55mph. We hardly ever take it on the highway so we dont have a need to be going crazy. Just realize that they really can't drive over 60mph for extended periods of time. you'll figure that out once you start driving it; it really isn't comfortable over 60 and we've heard horror stories of people frying them by trying to drive too fast constantly. One thing i gaurantee is that you'll have a car at the shows that attacts a lot of attention. Why? because they are not around anymore but yet everyone has memories of them. enjoy it and drive the heck out of it!
Yeah, i remember my old 52 Chevy sedan was like that. 60MPH was it. But back then all they had were two lane highways and you didnt need to go any faster. But you're right; it's a whole different driving experience sitting behind that 18"wheel with an unsychronized manual trans. I'm looking forward to putting lots of miles on her.
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