So I just purchased my first, rod or soon to be, a 1952 dodge wayfarer, drove it home 25 miles on the highway nice car, any ways tires are severally dry rotted, I picked up some used white wall radials 205 75 15,I have my own tire machine and was going to put some new shoes on when I noticed it appears as thought the fronts have tubes and the rears do not, SHOULD I JUST PUT THE TUBES INSIDE THE NEW RADIALS???? short term plans are to mud/ glass it up the best i can paint it satin black. just a low buck driver. alot more to say but that alot for a newbie
Nice, ride John, I have a 1951 Dodge and it's all around pretty easy to work on etc...the difficult is finding parts. A lot of the parts stores dont carry wires, points, brake shoes for the early 50's Dodges.
I always like the way this 50 turned out, check it out. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469194&highlight=dodge+wayfarer
I'd first try with out the tubes, but if the wheels leak you could run em'. I'd go get 4 new ones though. I do like the color, is the body rough?
You should be fine going tubeless if the front rims are the same type as the rears. Just make sure the mounting surface is rust free and smooth without any serious pitting.
yeh its got that fluid drive I just drove it like regular manual tarns . something seems wrong with stopping in a standard and not hitting, the clutch. Afraid I might do that In tow truck and break an axle from learned behavoir lol.
Basically first find out if your front and back wheels are the same. An easy way to tell if your wheels are older, tube type just see how the hubcaps mount. If the wheel is smooth with no molded in clips, just riveted in clips, use tubes. I run the original wheels to my '53 with radials and tubes.
yeh the tops of the rear fenders front of fenders under headlight near grill all bondo up but rest of car is mostly solid(quarters got rust and mud around.) thinking of tacking them to the car and fiberglassing them to the car unless I could find some good used ones not may prts for these around I have been looking. never going to be ashow car anyways lol.
New radial tubes there is a difference. A radial tire will wad a tube intended for bias plys right up. Before I wasted any time working the body to paint it flat black I would drive it as is. It may tell you within a few miles that there are things that it would prefer to flat paint. Just my thoughts on it.
good advice, but first gotta get some safe rubber on it then drive it for few to see what she really needs ...
There ya go. Good rubber will take it a little farther away from that R thing and closer to one of those cruiser things. I like the current color also. Kind of a Hawaiian Bronze.
Tubeless tires were invented in the late 40's and were standard on most cars by the early 50's. I had tubeless tires with the original center clip wheels on my '51 Cadillac. Maybe Dodge wheels are different?
Yeah, not sure. Dodge definately ran tubes in '53. I didn't know there was a difference in tubes for bias plys and radials. Guess I got lucky when I bought mine.
I like the color! If you don't like shine, you can sand it down, very very lightly, spray it with flat clear coat and you have a nice almost flat color. Mine turned out a satin more than flat and I get alot of compliments and I like it since the body work was not perfect it does not show the waves and small imperfections. Plus the cost was way low! Please pay attention to the color here and try not to notice anything else
Nice find,rethink the satin or black deal. Do something different with yours.The flat black and red wheel deal has been overdone. The paint on it now accents the body lines and flat black or satin will take that away. Your car your decision. Get somebody to Photo chop it for you,might get some good ideas.You should be able to clean up the rims and use the tubeless radials. Newer radials and tubes don"t go together.
Have Goodyear tubeless radials (P215x75R15's) with radial tubes, as recommended by the tire distributor, mounted on the original wheels for my 53 Coronet convertible. As I recall, the flanges on older wheels that were originally designed for tube-type bias tires are a little shallower than wheels made for radials, and don't seat the tire quite as well. Be sure you use the radial tubes and not the bias ones. It provides an extra margin of safety.
I have a '53 DeSoto and am running tubeless Coker Classics. You may find that your valve stem holes are not perfectly round, but more of an oval shape. They make two piece valve stems for these rims, but I just went down to the local Advance Auto Parts store and picked up some "oversize' valve stems. They work just fine. Also, when I had my tires mounted I had them glue everything.....heavily. The tires still hold air, and the car rides like a dream. Absolutly no reason to go radials on this car, accept maybe for the tires screaming while cornering.
Oh yeah, about that flat black thing. Thats getting pretty boring IMHO. Leave the body as is, and just worry about the mechanics. You'll get more looks with your current paint than you ever will with the black primer. I had a flat black rod with red wheels, and I noticed that mine could've easily got lost in a sea of other flat black cars at the show. My current project has white primer in the areas that I am working on.
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