Projects 49 Plymouth Business Coupe update

Great progress.

 

Now that the weather is warming up I'll try and bear down and finish it. Trunk is done.

 

Pat good luck on the 9 This Bert righting this for him

 

Looking good, should be a real nice driver when you are done.

 

Trunk looks great!

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Thanks! Not a lot done this past week; a couple of trips to the boneyard for parts and I'm working on figuring out how I'm going to do the clutch line. The Ranger throwout bearing uses a weird quick disconnect for the hydraulic line; got to go from that to the Wilwood clutch MC.

 

I haven't posted for a bit but I've been on it. I had a couple wiring issues I had to work out that ended up involving taking off the intake and fuel rails and untaping the harness I spent so many hours putting together. :CRY: But now it's done and I've got power to the O2 sensors and the injectors and it's all back together. Just missed two wires when I was putting the harness together. I also needed some kind of heater and I found this in a Rambler at the boneyard. Bad motor but the core is good and this is about as compact as they come. I was able to make the Taurus blower motor fit with some fabb'd brackets and the shaft just happen to be the right size. Im going to start figuring out how the radiator hoses and clutch line will run tomorrow.

 

I had the day off and really knocked out a lot of stuff. Got the radiator hoses made, clutch hose figured out and some parts ordered, and a good portion of the front clip back together. Seeing it with fenders on it feels great; can't wait to cruise it around the block! But I still need a driveshaft, exhaust, put the interior back together, finalize wiring and progam, etc, etc, etc, $$$, $$$, $$$, ..........

 

And this was supposed to be a beater for you to drive while the P-15 was being finished.............lol.

 

Yeah, that plan didnt last too long!

 

Hot Rodding at it's best using what you have! My hat off to you sir!

 

When I started reading this, I thought to myself...NO Way will this work...Im extremely humbled and impressed. You have to post a video of it running when your done.

Great work..Awesome Car!

 

Did you use the factory EEC or did you go with the Megasquirt?

My son designed a Megasquirt (Microsquirt actually) based comupter in a Ford EEC case that is plug and play for the Ford Wiring harness. I have one in my OT daily and it works well. I think they have sold over 300 of them.

Anyway, I like what you have & look forward to seeing your first drive.

 

Thanks, much appreciated! I will get a video up once it's roadworthy. I ended up using the Ford EEC but still have lots of fine tuning to do and bugs to work out. Right now it'll run but not idle, not sure if that's just programming the EEC or other issues. As soon as I get a driveshaft in and exhaust on it, I'll start working on getting it running right.

 

Again, my hat is off to you, very nice build, something I'd like a ride in, turning an ugly duckling into something spectacular. Makes one wonder why, when I ask in a post about converting my solid axle to disc brakes, my post is immediately deleted by the admin for not being "traditional"?

 

Hmmm, yeah that seems a little unfair. A few years back I built a low rider 54 GMC truck on a 48 Dodge chassis with a flathead and a tractor grille and the moderators gave me the boot for saying r-t r-d. I thought it was kind of cool and actually made some pretty good $$$ when I sold it. But it's their forum, they do all the work to keep it running, so I guess it makes sense that they call the shots.

 

Here a short video of it running; sounds pretty good through open headers for a little 3.2.
http://youtu.be/Q5AYJOrwKVM

 

Got a few things done over the last few days; got my column and wheel painted and back on and started fitting the inner fenderwells. Both needed a notch to clear the engine; hopefully I'll have them finished, painted and mounted for good by the weekend. Then I can start getting the rest of the front clip back together.

 

I'm dying to hear how this thing performs. When you get it buttoned up I hope you'll post 0-60 and fuel usage numbers. Great job.

 

Will do, Im anxious to see what she's got, too. It's rated at 235 hp and I can probably squeeze another 20 or so with a good tune so Im not setting my hopes too high. But believe it or not, the 49 with the stock flathead shows that its 500lb lighter than the Taurus SHO, according to the listed curb weights. Deduct anther 100lb or so for a lighter drivetrain and it might be surprising.

 

I got my fenderwells finished and installed, lots and lots of 1/4 x 20 bolts in the front clip, and the forward wiring harness put back together. I used one of those GM weatherproof 6 pin molex plugs to connect it to the firewall harness; pretty cool stuff. I should have been using those a long time ago. I hope to knock out a big list of little stuff the coming week and then concentrate on driveshaft/exhaust after payday.

 

Looks Great!!!

 

Lots more done this week; exhaust is on except for the tailpipes, clutch is hooked up and working, front bumper is on, hood hinges are on, pulled the MAF apart and cleaned it, figured out the tach wiring and got it working, plus several other small jobs. The front is sitting about 1 1/2" lower; the front shocks were too long and bottomed all the way out so I pulled them off and will get new ones. I started it this afternoon and let it run about 30 minutes. After stumbling for a few minutes it settled down; idles really nice and throttle reponse seems good. Vital signs all look good. Still need to get a programmer but this is pretty promising. For exhaust I just went with a couple of Summit's house brand of glass packs and 2 1/4" pipe. It has a really interesting tone especially when you rev it.

 

Why are you wanting to reprogram it? If weight etc are close to the donor, might the existing programming be good? Or do you need to remove some functions?

 

I saw the 48 second video on YouTube and this thing is sounding F-ing awesome.This is the future for the rodders who need some new motors.Efficient and powerful.What other sideways sixes are there to re-purpose?

 

Yeah, I have to remove some emission functions that were eliminated and the automatic trans parameters. If I don't it will be locked into a "limp home" mode plus have a bunch of trouble codes.

 

Thanks! The supercharged 3800 v6 in the Pontiac Bonneville SSEI comes to mind. The 3800 Camaro trans should bolt right up to it.

 

Well, good news, bad news. The good news is I got the chip in, chased down a bad TPS and the car started right up and ran beautifully......for about 20 minutes. All of a sudden it started smoking like a dog and blowing raw oil out the passenger side exhaust.:CRY::CRY: Its not missing so Im guessing a broken ring?? Whatever it was, it's got to come back out this weekend. And I was so close.......
At least all the fab work is done so it should just be pulling the motor, fixing it, and dropping it back in. Or getting another SHO motor if something is really broke bad. Ive got too much time invested in the setup and dont want to back up and do something else now.

 

Wonder if a valve seal fell apart, or maybe rings not broken in yet.

 

We're pullin' for ya'!