bigorangetruck: Great on your Firedome. Post some pictures of it. Hope you are enjoying the project as I have been. It has been 50 years since I last had a Firesweep and am having a great time getting it road-worthy once again.
Hey,Bill glad to hear you got her up and running ! you going to drive it to the lonestar roundup Got quite a bit done on the roadster if your out driving the Desoto stop by
Hi Wayne and Kyle, Glad to hear progress is going well on Satan's Chariot. I am not going to the Roundup, but plan to be there next year along with Satan's Chariot. I'll stop by soon and check out the roadster. I think I found the issue with the brakes on the Desoto. The alignment holes on the drums were distorted. The run-out on the right rear was .070" and the left rear was .150". I setup the right rear drum on the mill and indexed the five holes and re-bore them and the run-out on the right rear is now .007" I'll do the left rear drum in the morning and then try things out again. I could see chattering marks on the rear shoes and that is what I think I was feeling. BTW, the run-out on the front drums was around .007"
Started pulling out the old exhaust system. The cross-over pipe and the intermediate pipe going to the muffler looked to be in great condition. I have a NOS cross-over pipe, but I may not put it in due to the great condition of the one already on the car. The muffler and tailpipe are another story. Really rusted up. I have a NOS muffler that will go on the car and I think the old tail pipe will be useable as a model for the tubing bender at the muffler shop.
My fuel gauge was not working and I determined it was the sending unit in the fuel tank. I ordered a sender off ebay, but found it was not the right ohms range and also has a broker wire. The supplier sent a replacement which I received today and like the first one it has an incorrect range. It should be 10-200 ohms and is 10-124 ohms. I am going to send both of them back and hopefully, get a refund. I did pull the original sender from the tank and was able to clean it up and re-install it. It works and I now can see how much gas is in the tank.
I am switching to a Mustang tank due to the air ride set up and I want to shave my gas door but I'm hoping to get it hooked up to my gage I got the stock sender for the Mustang tank and it's a 65 I believe any suggestions on what I should do or look for ? Also I'll be having a lot of my stock parts to give away or sale so if there is anything u need I have a 59 Chrysler new yorker Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Sounds great on the mods you are making to the New Yorker. I am not sure of the ohms range of the Mustang sending unit, but a Google search should give you that info. The gauge in the New Yorker probably has the same ohms range as my '57 Desoto which is: Empty = 200 ohms, Full = 10 ohms. If you come up with a listing of parts that will be available, please post it and I'll steer folks to it.
Time to tackle the floors on the Firesweep. For the most part, floors are not too bad, but still lots of patching to be done. I have after-market floor panels for the front and will cut portions of them to be be welded in.
I've been working on the floors for the past week or so. All the interior is stripped to bare metal. I still have to strip the trunk and then get busy on the patch panels. I plan to seal the patch panels with poly-urethane sealer and follow that with black Rustoleum paint. I'm not sure if I will do anything more to the floors and just let the upholstery shop apply the stuff that they normally use below the carpet. The heat gun and the scraper has been getting a workout removing all the coating material the factory sprayed on the floors. Fortunately, I won't have to fabricate many patch panels. The biggest problem was on the removable panel that allows access to the steering column for removal. I will be able to use the old panel as a model to fabricate the new one. I had purchased left and right front patch panels before I received the car and will not be using them. If anyone has a need for them, please let me know.
You have a great looking ride there. I know this is a hot rod site but I would have a hard time cutting up a rare car as nice as that.
aerorocket & student of steel: Thanks for the comments. There will be custom mods, but they will be like what I did to the Firesweep I had back in the early 60's.
Gave the metal shear and the box brake a workout today. Finished cutting the various pieces for the interior floor. Hopefully, I will get the trunk done in the morning and put Rustoleum on the underside of the panels as well as the metal that is part of the original floor. If that dries by Saturday, I'll start welding the various parts of the jigsaw puzzle together.
Just found this thread - GREAT CAR and really nice work Only ever owned one Mopar, '63 Sport Fury convertible w/318, got rid of it at 90,000 miles due to wheel well rust. Of all the cars I used to have, I think that's the one I'd most like to have back. Oh - one more thing - Nice looking Super M in the background!!!
Hi Dave, Thanks for the comment on the car. I sure missed the Desoto I had in '62. I've been enjoying working on this one. Hope you can find a '63 Sport Fury convertible; that sure would be a great car to own.
The interior floors are just about completed except for final paint which I will do tomorrow. I ended up cutting and fitting about 23 pieces for the floors. The shear, brake, MIG, and me got a workout over the past week or so. I applied seam sealer this evening and that should be cured by tomorrow and I'll hit the floors with gray Rustoleum paint. BTW, I installed "V" brackets on the back side of the larger panels to prevent "tin-canning".
Awesome project. Looks like a solid starting place. Im currently working on a 52 sportsman Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
gatz: Thanks for the comment on the project. BRAINS!: OK on your 52 Sportsman. I used the grill pieces from one when I did a 53 Ford Victoria. There is a link to some pictures of that car below my signature block. Have a great time working on your car.
Finally, the floor repairs and re-paint are done. After I put the front & rear seats back in, I'll take the car to the muffler shop and get the exhaust done. Then I guess I'll have to start thinking about body work...
Took the Firesweep to the muffler shop and now it is fitted with dual exhaust and glass-packs. On the way to and from the muffler shop, I was hearing a clunking sound whenever I pressed on the brake pedal. I thought perhaps there was a problem with a spring or a shoe, but after pulling the front drums all looked good there. I then checked the various suspension parts and all were good except for the rubber bushings at the front of the strut rods. Found a new pair at the parts store and now all is well. Took the car for a test drive and it received its first rain bath. Glad to have working wipers. I attached a few pictures of the old and new rubber bushings.
Wow, serious wear on those bushings. BTW, how do you like the Craftsman 1/4" impact ? I saw them some time ago and couldn't come up with enough excuses to buy one. Sears had them on sale once, and I already had a "NexTec" drill, so bought one. That's gotta be the handiest tool. Works great for all the screws on interior trim pieces. Although it doesn't have a whole lot of torque, it works good on dis-assembly or assembly of a many other parts. Only negative thing about it; the FWD/REV switch doesn't have a very good detent, makes it too easy to get bumped out of position.
gatz: Yes, those rubber bushings were shot. Sure made a difference with new ones installed. The Craftsman impact sure works great in tight spaces. I agree about the FWD/REV issue; could be better in that respect.
The Jalopy Journal
