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Hot Rods Introducing "Lefty Lucy" the 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook (Build Thread)

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by NickH07, Sep 25, 2012.

  1. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Hey guys just thought I'd share my new project (she's also my daily)...

    It sat in a barn for 2 1/2 years, after 24 hours of some marvel mystery oil she fired on the second try. 3 on the tree non overdrive, all original flathead six and a 6v system, no radio... Then shortly after I traded my camaro for her plus $200 and have since done the following...

    Rebuilt both passenger front wheel cylinders (hopefully going to do the left today)

    Two used tires on the front, those oval valve stem holes are PAIN!!!

    Repaired parking brake lever that sheared a pin, operational now...

    Trashed the gas tank which had rusted paper thin... So it currently runs from a atv tank that holds four gallons...

    Vacuumed about 10 pounds of insulation, rust, can tabs, and cigarettes...

    Greased the clutch bearing and adjusted the linkage... And added a manual choke Among a few small other things...

    New cap, rotor button, and condenser... P/o replaced points

    Today I ordered the rebuild kit for the driver wheel cylinders, wiper blades, and a radiator cap, going to pick up a cool chrome air cleaner from advance to replace that horrid oil bath... Hopefully going to get plugs today... Amazingly enough the number two cylinder had THREE spark plug heads put together to mount the plug!!!! I was scared to death the bottom was frozen and I was going to have to fork out $80 for an insert job... But an hour of pb blaster and she came out smooth as butter.

    When they backed her off the trailer the shoddy muffler job got hung on the trailer and ripped the muffler off and the muffler back over the axle part off as well. That bent and crimped the down pipe which a week later broke off ok the flange while I was driving!!! So now it's open header... Tacky loud... Plans are a flow master 40

    Floor pans are near shot, I don't trust the rears with my weight and the driver front is caked with bondo and aluminum roof flashing... My 2 4x8 sheets of stainless plus some bed liner should fix all that...

    Plans are all Viper running gear waaaaay down the road. Hopefully on air bags next year... Pics in next post I hope...

    Enjoy and God bless
    Nick
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
  2. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Forgot to mention p/o removed on leaf from the rear and may have cut some off front coils... It will be lower soon... Thinking of yellow wheels for now??? Enjoy more pics to come... You can follow also on Instagram @hawksnick89...
     

    Attached Files:

  3. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Another pic
     

    Attached Files:

  4. pasadenahotrod
    Joined: Feb 13, 2007
    Posts: 11,775

    pasadenahotrod
    Member
    from Texas


  5. falconvan
    Joined: Apr 2, 2008
    Posts: 1,128

    falconvan
    Member
    from festus, Mo

    Looks good, Nick! Another old Mopar saved from the grave.
     
  6. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Thanks guys it's fun and I will have lots of updates..
     
  7. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    So guys,
    Basically I haven't been able to do much since I COMPLETELY LOST MY KEYS!!! So I ripped out the ignition switch, which was a pain. (That was after the neighbor and I broke into the smokers window and now it is started with a screwdriver.) So I have the rebuild kit for the left front brakes, I haven't had a chance to put them in yet, but hopefully that's this week. You can expect a full tech write up on that with lots of pictures by the end of the week. So far Lucy is a blast to drive even with the open exhaust. I'm still getting used to the three on the tree but it's coming pretty naturally, though I will say the leaky carburetor does need some adjusting and it makes her a little temperamental to drive. The linkage has a lot of slop in it and the lower butterfly seems to be fairly worn out, are there any tricks or advice that any you can give? On a note about the linkage, if I tighten the linkage up and remove the slack it will not run, it idles too low and ends up stalling out and the idle adjustment screw seems to be messed up, if I try to adjust while running, any movement of the shaft seems to kill it. Also if anyone knows where I can get some linkage clips it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors I am testing the iPad 2 Siri dictation.
    God bless, Nick
     
  8. falconvan
    Joined: Apr 2, 2008
    Posts: 1,128

    falconvan
    Member
    from festus, Mo

    Nick, look up a website called P14 D24. It's an all vintage Mopar site and some of those old timers really know these old flatheads and how to make them run right.
     
  9. Lpdesignz
    Joined: Oct 2, 2012
    Posts: 54

    Lpdesignz
    Member
    from Sin city

    Nice car.. I bought a rebuild kit out
    Of Canada can't recall the name of the company and a cheap carb off fleabay.. I was having the same problem with my 51 Plymouth the shaft gets worn and creates a vacuum leak.. I was lucky the $20 carb I got off fleabay was still tight.. If you can find a shop that puts bushings in that will solve the problem also.. There
    Isn't much internally that can go bad besides the accelerator pump.. Really easy to rebuild..
     
  10. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Falconvan- I have perused that site often but no account yet... Lpdesignz I'll take a look on eBay, I also lost the clip that holds the accelerator rod to the pivot so it comes off often... I'll have to look into the rebuild and bushings, thanks guys
     
  11. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Sooooo.... I've never had a car give me so much crap! :mad: The gas station wouldn't cash my check (I didn't make it to the bank) and so the fuel tank fell over so it stalled out of gas. After that the throttle linkage came apart... Again... And dumped massive fuel... In the midst of tracking that down in the middle of the road the ignition switch fell down behind the dash and grounded itself to the ashtray, it nearly welded itself, and that caught the cloth wiring on fire :eek: that I did get put out quickly. So that burnt up another condenser. So we towed it home with the wife's Kia and I just got the condenser today. Also I'm having trouble finding a seal for the distributor as the original one crumbled. Also what make/ model is the carb on this engine? If anyone knows please hit me up... I may convert to a webber... Other than the problems I haven't done anything this week, going to get those brakes done soon. Speaking of... I have a serious catch or click or something coming from the rear drums... AND THEY ARE FROZEN ON! The tool won't pull them off...:confused: HELP!!!!
     
  12. 53Cranbrook
    Joined: Jul 12, 2012
    Posts: 20

    53Cranbrook
    Member

    My carb is a Carter D6P2 but it is for the HyDrive transmission
     
  13. NickH07
    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 15

    NickH07
    Member

    Thanks man, I'll be able to research from there...
     
  14. 53Cranbrook
    Joined: Jul 12, 2012
    Posts: 20

    53Cranbrook
    Member

    No problem. Do you have the hydrive transmission ?
     
  15. sololobo
    Joined: Aug 23, 2006
    Posts: 8,378

    sololobo
    Member

    Love the 54's, super cool lines. Should have some fun with that cool ride. Congrat's ~sololobo~
     

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