41 Plymouth Coupe/ Dodge Power Giant 354 Hemi build

I've thought about putting this build on here for a month or two. When an absolutely fantastic build like Farmer12/ Eric is running it's course I thought "Why Bother". Now that Eric is taking a vacation I thought I would sneek this on here. I planned to stay rather conservative with this build and keep the stock suspension, install a Magnum 318 so I wouldn't have to dimple the firewall, overdrive A500 Mopar trany, no chop etc. My 318 was a less than 20,000 mile engine and it found a new home in my son's Dodge Ram. Funny how priorities change when it comes to one's kids. I was going to have to do a full rebuild on my son's 318 and this
'59 354 Dodge Power Giant was on the engine stand with a fresh build but had never been covered up after the build. New 20 over pistons, new cam,timing chain all open to dust and dirt. I got the short block and Trip 5 heads for a reasonable price. I amazes me how people put this kind of money into a build and not protect it. It is getting treated like a new build. All the cleaning, bolt hole taping(dirt dobers) and block painting will happen. A 518/46rh transmission will go behind it.
I priced a front end rebuild kit to the tune of $500. I thought what the hell, I have a set of polished stainless tubular arms and crossmember on the shelf. The build is starting to take some turns. Posies 3" drop rear leafs, rack and pinion, firewall recessed for the hemi etc. It's becoming fun now. Still no chop. I will keep the vent wings, split wind shield and cowl vent. It will get a set of artillery wheels as of now.
Now that things are starting i'm waiting for parts. Plymouth Doctor is supplying my rocker panels and trunk latch panel. Lots of goodies just came in from Hot Heads. I'm still waiting for my spindle parts to come in.

I bought this car in West Florida about 2 weeks before Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola. I didn't get the car until couple of weeks after Ivan. It was ok. I found a 28 Dodge coupe a couple of years later and sold this car to a man in Dothan Al. I bought my home in Fort Worth in 2009 and patched things up with my son. I had 3 grandkids I had never met. Now I needed a car with a back seat. I was able to buy this car back for $1000 less than he paid for it. I had it media blasted and primed in Milton Fl at a friends shop before I moved to Ft Worth.
While waiting for parts I'm doing metal work with patches that I can make. A good break and shrinker stretcher helps.

 

Looks like a solid foundation to build on. I like your choice of engines too.

 

I finally located a set of scriptless valve covers for a Power Giant 354. I also found a picture of an original Power Giant. I want the Power Giant logo on the covers like they were from Dodge. If only decals were available.

 

There a lot of sign businesses with the ability to scan and reproduce your decals. You just need to find one in your area.

 

What an awesome project. Farmer12 has shown us all what you can do with a car like this, his thread should give you all the info you need. Looking forward to the progress.

 

Great to hear you're starting a build thread Jim! But there's no need to sneak it in while I'm on vacation.....but I do have a laptop and wifi. Good luck with the build and I'm looking forward to meeting you in March.

 

Thanks if only I could get past "waiting for parts".

 

Somewhere, maybe in the Hemi Tech Index, someone was mentioned as having repro stickers. Seem to remember that purple truck in P'cola.

 

Got some parts today. Looks like my work is cut out for me. I may however delay the installation. I know this is going to sound
crazy,stupid, nuts..any more discriptive terms may also apply.
I drove the 39 Plymouth truck pictured in my avatar to a show last weekend. When we left to come home it was almost dark. Along the way I could barely see. I thought ..I'm going to have to quit driving at nite until I glanced at the voltage...11 volts with headlights on. I was about 20 minutes from home and I wasn't sure I would make it. It turned out to be a Mopar voltage regulator. I also think the expansion valve in the A/C is bad. I thought now is the time to change the 360 3 speed torqueflight gas hog out for a 318 with a fresh A500 od torqueflight. Reasonable right? The 31 Ford with the hemi in my avatar has a 518 mopar overdrive torqueflight. It is going to get the 3 speed TF since it has a vibration I think is caused by the trany. I need the 518 to go behind the 354 in the 41 build. The A 500 will bolt up to the hemi but the starter will not bolt on. Ok here is the senario. 360 and 3spd TF out. 318 A500 in the 39. 518 Tf out of the 31, 3spd Tf in. Oh yeah a gear change. Rebuild the 518 using a different case for the 41 coupe. Does all that make sence...Who's on first?
Anyway I'm painting the 318 getting ready for the first swap. Gotta turn and burn. All this with a pinched nerve in my neck causing numbness in my left arm and hand. Hard to work that way. It ain't going to whup me.

 

Is that tail panel aftermarket? If so, where did you get it?

 

Yeah it's a new panel from plymouthdoctor who is a member on here.

 

Thanks, I'll have to give him a call.

 

I'm still waiting for my rockers to come in so I decide to do the swap that I posted earlier. I pulled to 360 gas hog and installed my roller cam 318 with a small overdrive torqueflite. I'm well on the way to get it running again. The darker color I painted it looks a bunch better than the light color on the 360.

Things have take an unexpected turn and I'm glad I jumped on this when I did. I've had Perpherial Neuropathy for about 10 years and I have learned to live with it. I've had balance problems at nite but I could always function ok in good light. Lately I have been like a stumbling drunk. I basically have no balance or at least very little. I have been having trouble with neck pain so I saw a neurogolost. I found out the canal my spinal nerve column runs in is about 1/2 the size it should be. I ask if it could be causing my balance problem and got a yes. I guess its like sleeping on your arm and waking up and not feeling your hand. The neurosurgon wants to go in and fix it and that requires fusing 2 vertibrae in my neck. Recovery? 4 to six weeks. DAMMIT There goes Cruisin the Coast. I'm trying to get the truck back on the road before I have that surgery. I know I need to do something to improve my balance. I can't carry a heavy load without nearly falling. Hell it's not if I fall but rather when I fall. Even just walking. My wife has to hold on to me like a puppy dog...that sucks.

Here are a few pictures of the 39 and hopefully I'll be able to jump back on the 41 after surgery and recovery.

 

How are you doing, jbtine. the reason for this massege is cause im building a 1946 plymouth and i wanted to know where you bought that back section for your 41. Any infornation would be of a lot of help.. Thank you.

 

Do an Intro b 4 the forum police get ya!

 

See post #11 on this thread. I just got my rocker panels in from Plymouth Doctor. I'm posting a picture of them. Too bad I won't be able do anything with them for a while. I'll be in surgery Monday morning for 2 joints fused in my neck. 4 to 6 week recovery, ie neck brace. Count on it being the low end . At least I got the 39 Plymouth pickup running again. The 41 is now calling my name. Winter is comming on fast so I want to get over this surgery.

 

Hope you have a quick and safe recovery! I'll be subscribed for future updates. Oh and I dig the truck too!

 

Oh the good old days.

In 1955, as a 18 year old, I installed a 54 Dodge red ram, and powerflite in a 41 P12 plymouth coupe. Within days, I changed the auto to standard which was a mistake.

Still miss the old car, wish I could find it in Oklahoma.
Jack

 

While I'm on my downtime since my neck surgery wearing a horse collar until Nov 30 I sent my hemi rockers to Hemi Haines. I got them back yesterday. Ready to bolt on. The cups for the pushrods have high pressure lube in them and all I have to do when assembling the engine is some high pressure on the valve stems. Damn nice looking work.
$250 well spent.

 

Eddie "Hemi Haines" does some great work, glad to hear you're satisfied as well. Can't wait to see some pics of the engine assembly. Hope your recovery is going good Jim!

 

That's just plain Kool!

 

You have 'Winter' in DFW ??

.

 

After 30 years living in west Florida DFW has winters. Let's see...2010 after my shop was built I was still in Pensacola but my son said 15" of snow. During a trip from Pensacola to DFW in 2011 towing a 24' trailer as I was moving along I 20 south of Dallas Very slowly the trailer started to jack knife during an ice storm. No time to panic...just one thought... It's going to hurt. I must have done everything right.....got it straightened out and made it home. The next day it snowed 6" on top of the ice. Thats all the winter want.

 

Get better jbtine - glad to see more 41 Plymouth guys out there!

I am gathering parts for suspension / brake work for winter projects - plan on posies dropped springs in back, fatman drop in front; trying to decide on brake components and whether to do power steering now/later/ever....

Subscribed!

 

Interesting build. I wasn't aware that early Hemi's were used after '58, were these
leftover 354 Chrysler engines?

 

354 truck hemis were used in '59 in big trucks, with a few being found in 1960 model trucks.

 

Zkilla396 I bought a set of Posies for my 41. Makes a big difference. Spring for the power rack unles myou really want a no frills ride. A back to the basics hotrod is great but to me it would have to have a 4 speed..no automatic. The drawback to all this...the wife...If she likes it then life is good.
FOG 354s were definitely in trucks in 59. My block is actually a poly block. Were all 59 354s poly blocks???? I sure don't know and I don't have any idea if the poly block meant it had poly heads. I do know you can put hemi heads on a poly block but you can NOT put poly heads on a true hemi block because of the push rod reliefs not in a hemi block. I have a fresh set of trip 5 heads for my engine.

I already have a lot of work done on the front suspension so I guess during my down time I ought to post the progress already done. My crossmember is not a Fatman but is very close to it. As I said in the first post the choice to go with an aftermarket front suspension was an economical choice. The chassis is now a roller on 4 wheels.

 

What is FOG? Poly blocks had poly heads vs hemi heads. 354 car Polys were used in cars through '58. There are differences between Poly & truck hemis, check the Hemi Tech Index. All the big trucks should have truck hemis, smaller trucks could have the 354 poly in them. A couple of years earlier you'd find a mix of Dodge hemi & polys & Chr truck hemis depending on size of the truck.

 

Hey George look at post #25 just prior to your #26 post. OK so I left the periods out. His handle should have been F.O.G. Wack my pee pee

 

Here is a link to a place that has an under floor brake booster and master cylinder for Dodges and Plymouths. I don't want to ugly up the firwall with a booster so this definitely interests me.

http://www.butchscoolstuff.com/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=28