I originally had a positive ground system. All I had to do was reroute the wire the opposite direction for my voltage gauge. I don't understand the science behind it but it doesn't seem to matter that it's 6v or 12v. It simply shows if it's charging or not. I read all of this out of an old magazine from back in the 90s. Don't recall if it was Street Rodder or what. I just know idI been frustrated up to that point to find a viable alternative as I'd bought an aftermarket voltage reducer and it was big and bully and I couldn't cram it in to my already tight space behind the gauges. That particular one said to locate them as close to the gauges as possible. Hence my desire for something better.
Interesting, I think i'll do some research and see what I can come up with. I do have 2 gauge clusters for this 36 Plymouth one that came in the car and one I picked up for spare parts. And like you I really don't have a lot of room to work with under the dash panel. Thanks again Scott for giving me a direction.
New update today. Have got the exhaust system built to the mufflers. The hugger manifolds have an offset on the collector side but the angle just wasn't sharp enough so the down pipe would totally clear the side of the block. So I modified then so they would. The down pipes from the headers 90 a few inches from the top of the straight axle, so clearance isn't an issue. Just to add here, when I mounted the engine and transmission on the frame the ride height only dropped 5/8 of an inch. I was surprised at that measurement, was fully expecting a bigger drop. Anyway I had to modify the splash shields (the left and front shields are the originals while I had to fab the right side, the factory right hand shield was just to far gone with rust to make work) by cutting the shields in half, cutting out the diameter of the exhaust tubes, then fabbing them back together. By fabbing I mean that they are now a two piece bolt together rather than one piece. Turned out just fine. I did put in an H pipe, I believe it will help with the tone of the sound and equalize the back pressure on the exhaust. The end result will clear most everything that has to do with wiring and mounting up the engine as well as the driveshaft. The mufflers were a different story, needed to angle the pipes to the mufflers along the inside of the X frame so the mufflers will clear the driveshaft, having a center inlet and an offset outlet worked rather well. I also fabbed exhaust mounts and muffler mounts and straps. The drivers side muffler looks to be a bit close to the brake hose going to the axle brake block but the rear axle isn't all mounted up yet. There are push rods that attach to the bottom spring mounts and to the stock knee shocks that I haven't mounted yet. So the axle is actually setting lower than it will be once the rods are attached. Also the body needs to be mounted back on the frame. I will probably shield the hose anyway because I imagine that the exhaust tube from the muffler will be close too the hose also. Finishing the exhaust will have to wait until I get the body mounted. Doing that will also show me the actual drop on the ride height I'm not a big believer in using exhaust clamps so most of the exhaust build is being welded up. As you can see some of the welded, if the welds weren't clean enough, I did grind them down. Welding up the exhaust was good practice. As I'm getting closer to remounting the body I've started to get a to do list started. I'd like to get as much as the detail done before that happens. It was surprising how long it got just from the first few minutes I started looking around the frame.
ITW,You seem to moving along !! I need to post some updates on my build hopefully I can get that going by November. Also Note to board beware of Plymouth Doctor he seems to going thru a bad business phase of some sort -I finally had to do a charge back to get my money refunded after waiting 6 months for panels and he stopped answering my calls and emails !!!!
Thanks guys, it's a shame about the Plymouth doctor, I had a good experience with him in the beginning but haven't had the need to buy anything from him lately. Sorry to hear that.
Thanks Farmer, checked out your build, I didn't check it all out, will save it for this evening. That is a serious build. Very clean with what I saw. Would liked to have done some custom work but my expertise isn't quite there yet. The idea is just to update the important things and keep the appearance as close to original as can be done. Still it is a restomod, mildly in comparison to what I've seen on this site. With that said I've got my fuel system installed all be it, it looks like I might need to turn the pump the opposite way that I've got it mounted. The way it's mounted now, it will clear the axle, barely, but I still need to get the body back on the frame. All the knee shocks are mounted with only one still leaking slightly, will address that later. I've got most of the mounting pads glued on. When I was taking this car apart I did find this style of pad layed on the frame so all I'm doing is replacing what I found. Believe it or not there are roughly 32 body to frame mounts on this car. The material is just some farming implement belting, 4" wide and roughly 3/16" thick, very close to what I pulled off the car. Got to finish por15 undercoating while I still have the body in the air, under the dash area and the kick panel mounting area. Back to work.
Looking Good now is the time to make sure everything is coated before you put the body back on. I always think I’m done then I crawl under again and it’s like how can I miss so many spots!
yep HoBo that's what I'm getting ready to do. I under coated the back half at the beginning of spring after I first put it up in the air. Will be POR15 'ing the rockers, under the dash and in the kick panel areas. I'll have pictures of the before and after when I'm finish next week. Did some body work on the front parts of the body, easier while it's up in the air. Still trying to find some rims that will go with this build. Not really too kine on running want to be cragar mags. Pictures at the end of the week next week.
I would love to have a set of these on my 37 painted to match the body someday when the budget allows.
I would like to put those on my ride but like you it's just too spendy. The Vintiques line is sold through both Jegs and Summit and I've been looking those over. Vintiques sells the artillery rims too and I'm almost to the point of pulling the trigger on a set of those. I have a friend with a barn find 37 Plymouth that has put those wires on his ride and I'm trying to get his take offs. Although the stock rims while being 16's are only 5 inches wide. I'd like to go at least 7 or maybe 7 1/2 inch wide rims. Don't think I can get away with any wider rims, I think the tires would rub on the body at the rear. I really don't want to use spacer back there. Just have to see what I end up with and go from there. So I got things under coated with POR15 today. I also rattle canned the outside of the firewall with some black gloss so I can see what I'll have to body work after I get the body back on the frame and the flooring reinstalled so I'll have a solid work area. Most of the paint will come off while I body work the firewall. The firewall will be the same color as the bottom of the body. There are some areas that I'll need to work but all in all it isn't that bad. So now I'll take a good look at everything to make sure things that are easier to install or work on with the body off get done. Will also check over the to do list a couple of times and make sure it's all done, then drop the body back on. By the way there are 34 body mounting connection areas on this frame, getting set back down in the correct way will be tedious to say the least. It was very easy to pull it off. The next set of pictures will be with the body back on.
Huston the eagle has landed. LOL The body is back on the frame. It went much better than I had thought it would. I picked up some all thread and made some posts, then threaded into the back of the frame(has caged nuts in the inside of the frame at the body mount) on either side of the trunk area of the body. They pretty much guided the body right down into position on the frame. I did leave the bottom bracing attached to the body and they acted like a track sliding down the up-right posts on the wood frame. Frankly it took longer to touch up the patches left by the bottom bracing than it did to set the body back on the frame. Very happy that is done. Will let it settle for a couple of days. Looking at the side view on the passenger side seems to be a little bit of a bend. I imagine the driver side has the same tweak. Can't help but to expect that as long as it sat in the air. Probably should have welded in some bracing but didn't think it would do that. Will fix it none the least. Another part of the learning curve I guess. Down hill from here.
Finished up the rough in body work for the rear trunk area. Will finish it for paint when I get to that point. Worked the rear fender wells, is the last area on the car that hadn't been stripped and cleaned up. Took them done to bear metal and POR15'd them. Scuffed up the paint and them body work them. Most of the 15 went away in the process though. Went back over them as well as the trunk deck with some epoxy primer. Body is all bolted down, thought there might be some issues with the mounts at the firewall because when I started working on it they were so far away from their perches. Once I started to bolt it down the came in just like the were suppose to. I guess with the way the car was setting, where I found it, for so long and all the rust , it just wasn't setting on the frame right. I included some pictures of what the rear trunk deck looked like after the sand blast just to see how much better it is now. As well as the before and after on the rear fender wells. I will be mocking up the car and start working on the fit of everything now that the body has been mounted. Like to see what problems I'll have to work out for the final fit and paint.
Thanks Hobo, it is a relief to get that body out of the air. Thought I had an issue with it in the air so long that the front might have drooped a bit but after getting the body bolted down on the frame it proved to be square up. Before I took it off the frame the front was standing 2 to 2 and a 1/2 inches above the mount bracket. Once it was bolted down I had to pry the body up a fraction to get the rubber mount pad between the body and frame mount. I guess the appearance of a bend in the pictures was just a camera placement or just an optical illusion. At any rate the body is just fine. I spent the past couple of weeks mounting the fenders and such back on the body. Thought maybe I should check fitment, gaps and bolt to body matches. It went pretty well, there is some fine tuning I need to do but not as much as I thought there might be. So now it's time to blow it apart again, as that happens it will be fitment as I go. Still have some minor welding to do, have a gap or two to address, not sure what to do with the truck lid. Don't think the lid is off a Plymouth, close but maybe a year earlier or later and maybe off a dodge. Might just take the original lid and section the bottom portion and add the bottom of the off brand lid. Basically the same configuration but different. We'll see how that works out. Lots of pictures of the mock up assembly I did these last two weeks. Won't be working much if at all during this month. Have family coming in for Christmas and I've realized that my shop is cleaner than my house, again. Last year it took me a mouth to get my house squared away for their visit. Enjoy the pictures.
Those gaps look killer nice work as strange as this sounds I miss those days on my build! I am jealous of the bowl vent mine was welded shut and a week after I painted it I found a complete cowl vent go figure. Keep up the Great Work and Merry Christmas! Hobo Jim
Surprise Surprise My parts unexpectedly showed up the day before Thanksgiving WOW -well we had made arrangements to do some panels elsewhere but I am just glad this had a happy ending for the most part- And yes I reversed the charge back !!! I suppose on future orders just check turn around time he really does seem like a great guy. Hope he can continue to make these hard to find parts !!!!
Thanks Hobo, the camera makes them look good but they are a smidgen out, so I've been working to get them tightened up. Right now I have an issue with the headers and the fender inside splash pan. Had to cut a slot in the splash shield for clearance and am now trying to figure out the best way to cover the slot to protect the inside of the engine bay from debris coming in from the front wheels. The area I slotted are louvered for air circulation in the bay. It's been slow going with the holidays and all. But am picking up on the time I'm in my shop. 37plymouthcoupe: I've been using SRPM, they are exclusively 30's and 40's Mopar cars and trucks, also good people and do take the time to work with you. Just do a search for SRPM, comes right up. I'll do pictures once I've got things figured out.
And the work continues. Thought I would add these pictures I took the early part of last December. Should have been included with my last pictorial entry.
This is an account of what has been done since December. I wanted to use the original engine bay splash shields that fit up on the inside fender and protect the engine bay from the tire splash as well as move the hot air out of the bay. The problem is, that the headers stick out a little bit past where the shields bolt to the inside of the fenders. So a modification had to be done. I tried a number of configurations with several different metals, it took some time in R&D mode but I settled on the modification in the pictures. I did the left side first, from cutting out the space to clear the headers, to fabing pieces to fit and getting the clearance I needed. The left side ended up with 22 pieces of metal plus the pieces I cut from the shield. More grinding than I wanted to do because of all the welding that was done. A little hint here, don't throw away your small 4 and a 1/2 inch grinding wheels, eventually you'll need them. The first picture shows the finished left side and the soon to be modded right side. I did kind of a step by step log of what I did. The finished left side provided patterns to complete the right side. Using those templates, I only had to weld up 9 pieces of metal to complete the mod to the right side. One thing to remember was that the right side and left side of the engine heads are offset by around an inch so the placement of the cut out is set back an inch or so on the right side. Noting that (this being unrelated to the current entry) I'll have to modify the right side firewall to give the right head more clearance. As it stands now it will be difficult to remove the rocker cover but that's another entry down the road.
Nice looking modifications I like the raised relief section. Great to see you are still making progress! Hobo Jim
The stuff I've been working on lately. Finished up the mods for the headers and the splash shields, picture of the right side shield, ground down the floor board welds and made an access panel for the brake master. Then I moved back to the trunk lid. The one I have isn't off the Plymouth, think it's a dodge lid, with the age and all the traveling on a bus it had to do to get here, it seemed that it was a bit sprung. One side was high and the opposite side was low. The original lid from the car was totally trashed at its bottom. Not repairable, the frame was just to far gone to even see how it was configured for the opening but fit the opening nicely. First thought was to section the lids, cut the trash off the original and cut the bottom of the other one to fit. Instead I started to mess with the good one and tweaked it some so it fit well, good gaps all around. The pictures are the cleanup of the trunk frame, as you can see the clean up shows a bit of swiss cheese, spent this morning welding it up. Will be finishing it up next week. Ordered and received the radiator so I'll be doing that this next week also.
Ah, love the smell of Por-15 first thing in the morning. Finished up the the swiss cheese in the deck lid and gave it a coat of Por -15. Now on to the radiator fab-up and install.
Radiator has been mounted. Was a fun fabrication. I configured the mounting system as close to the original system as possible. Included a picture of the original radiator, this one is original to the year but not my car. The new radiator has side channels 5/8 inch deep on either side so I built brackets that would fit inside that channel. Then fabbed up brackets that fit to the original radiator mounts to the radiator cowl. The two brackets overlap each other and are bolted together. I copied the mounts for the top of the radiator from the original radiator, fabbed them up and the radiator is mounted. Will need to line the mounting surfaces with some rubber(old bicycle tire) and I think we'll be good to go. The radiator more or less floats in the system but is pretty solid. I used the same belting material I used for the body mounts on the car at the bottom of the cowl support so there should be minimal movement or sliding or wear on the radiator bottom surface. All in all the fab work went smoother than I had anticipated and it turned out clean and functional. Now I get to start taking apart the donor car tomorrow. By the way, the original radiator is now for sale if anyone is interested.
And so it begins. Mockup of the seats from the donor car has gone well. These are leather and suede. Drivers front seat has electric height adjustment and both front seats are heated. The back seats, while designed to fold down and are removeable, can't be installed as they were in the donor. May be able to set them up to fold forward for the extra storage space as they were designed to do. Not sure, will have to give it some thought. The rear of the front seats mount on a cross bar, so that has to be removed from the donor or will have to fab up something similar for the 36. Unfortunately the console will not fit in the 36, it is too wide to fit as it was in the donor. Didn't really like how low it set in the donor and had anticipated building a consoled anyway. Have a look at the mockup, the seats do fit quite nicely.
Looking good seats look comfortable. Just waiting to go cruising! Oh yeah dont forget the most important part of the mock up. The elbow to steering wheel comfort on the window sill geometry. And they said we would never use geometry ha ha! Hobo Jim
Yeppers on the geometry, will be pulling the steer column out today and figure out the mounting brackets to mount in the 36.
The Jalopy Journal
