Got all the small holes in the firewall filled last night (thanks to my brother who can apparently weld anthing with anything) with some help from a couple friends! Also managed to get the shift kit installed...well kinda! After about an hour freak out looking for the missing 3 check balls! Then I figured out that the transmission already had a shift kit in it! I'm glad I took it appart though because I discovered the filter was hanging in by 1 thread and the pan was dented bad enough that it was hitting the filter and valve body! But it all looks good now! I knew that I was missing my detent (kick down cable) since I bought the car, so I have to decide if I'm going to put a new one on it before I put the pan back on...my question is if I have a shift kit, do I need a kick down? Can't I just down shift? I know some shift kits will still not allow the trans to down shift at certain speeds... Got the small holes filled in the fire wall...the flux core welds look ugly but nothing a little grinding can't fix! I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do about the steering column this winter if anything!
No, you don't need the kickdown cable if you're okay with manually downshifting. The kickdown was just for ease of downshifting an automatic. I remember my Dad and uncles referring to "kicking in the Passing Gear" and for the longest time thinking it was some special gear in the transmission. lol
Thanks OahuEli! I found this info after i played with the search engine for a little while! I'm not going to mess with it this time around, however I am going to get a new deep trans pan!
I've been having some issues with the OT daily so I haven't been able to get back on the Plymouth this week, but I did manage to make a check list of what I need to get/do to get it back on the road the way I wanted to before this spring, and I realized I may have more items, then days left till driving season! The scramble is on!
I'm also in need of some advise on a good quality/inexpensive transmission cooler. I've been looking in Jegs, Speedway, and Flea-Bay. I've seen the newer in-line tube style, the flat style, etc. and they range in price from $20 to $200. I'm running a 350 turbo w/ a B&M street/strip shift kit and a TCI street fighter torque converter. I'd like to mount it out of view, but I want to make sure it gets plenty of air, and is protected. I was thinking of maybe on the inside or outside of the frame rail on the passenger side? Will that get it enough air flow or should I just make new brackets to mount it somwhere infront of the radiator again?
I like the style that fits right in front of the radiator- but that is just my opinion. They all probably work pretty well.
I think that may be the route I have to take... I just like the idea of keeping it close to the trans, and I'm thinking about adding a trans temp gage just for the hell of it, then removing it after the summer if it isn't needed!
I'm liking your project. I've been thinking that I might like to have another old Plymouth some day. Back in the 80's I had a '46 and a '48. Those wire nuts are scary. The previous owner of my current project loved wire nuts too. He used them for everything!! Yeah, wire nuts and lag bolts. He must have got a good deal on a bunch of them. After driving my truck for a couple of years I stripped out the carpet and interior, only to find that the previous owner had lag bolted the bucket seats to a wooden frame made from 2x4s. That was in turn, lag bolted to the floor. It's okay though, he at least had seat belts in it...they were bolted to the wooden frame too!! I don't know if some folks just don't know any better or they just don't care. Anyway, looking good man!
Thanks Saxman...My uncle was probably using what he had available, and he has done alot of electrical work so he probably had a bund of wire nuts laying around...Or he may not have intended on leaving them in there, it was still a work in progress after all! But yes you never understimate the power of redneck engineering, I've seen somepretty amazing stuff over my few years of hotrodding and old cars! Oh and yeah once I'm on the road I'm gonna need one of those bad ass shift knobs!
I am a lineman- I work on power lines. You should see some of the sh#t in the air with 34,000 volts going through it. As one of the old bucks who trained me said, " it is a small miracle that the lights go on when you hit the switch at home at night." It does not suprise me what I see in cars, houses and everywhere else any more.
Oh, geez man! I'm sorry, I forgot it was your uncle. No offense intended. Whenever you're ready drop me a line about the shift knob and I'll fix you up.
LOL...No offense taken...I'm sure he's the first to admit it wasn't done the way he wanted it! In fact when I talked to him last week he told me that he was going to do what my Grandpa did to him...He gave him an MG, my uncle started the resoration on it and a month or 2 later my Grandpa called him and told him someone was on their way to pick up the car! I hesitated to laugh, the he started laughing! Yes I was sweating there for a second!
Ok this is the day some of you were dreading...I have come to the realization that I don't have the money to get the 283 back together the way I want it and get the car back on the road by spring...so...I will be resorting to the 350 on the engine stand. I drug out from under the shelf and blew the dust off of it. Cracked open the oil pan and pulled the intake off. This engine was built for my 66 Impala that was sold 3 years ago. It was purchased from Auto Value as a crate engine about 11 or 12 years ago. The heads (just some plane ole 194 valve) were gone through and "cleaned up" about 4 or 5 years ago and installed on the engine that same year...Its been on the stand ever since! I pulled out some old reciepts and the tag that came on the motor said the bore was ".060" I didn't know that was possible in a small block cheby? What size does this make the motor in cubic inches (just incase I run into an improptu weiner measuring contest this summer!) cause I think its over 355 with stock crank, pistons, rods, etc. Shield your eyes but when I built this engine I thought it was gonna be the best thing since sliced bread..I was probably also drinking beer that I stole from my dads fridge at the same time! Heres the engine tag! So how many cubic inches is it? And heres my helper for the tear down! Hopefully next time you see her it will be a lil more HAMB friendly appearing!
started cleaning the block with a wire wheel today...The paint job was nice and clean but I didn't think the Bengals paint scheme was gonna fit the Plymouth! I just knocked down any thing I thought would be loose and maybe not promote good adhesion. I have also read a couple times that engine paint sticks better, holds up longer, and won't chip off if you can put it on as thin as possible, so I want as much as possible off the block. I'm not sure what color I'm going to use but I'm sure it will be a shade of black! I wanted to use a crazy metal flake color but at this point in time its just not right for the build, maybe after the body gets done I'll go with a crazy color (hopefully on a Nailhead or Hemi). Before... After... Looks kinda backwards huh? The Edelbrock Performer RPM intake I was running on the motor was stained when I built the motor the first time and I didn't have access to a sand blaster, so I fogged it with a cast coat grey. I'm going to glass bead the intake back to its original color this time, but I will be tempted to fog the intake again, because it had a really cool look to it! You can almost see it in this picture...please forgive the poor lighting, and flash! I know I really need a new camera huh! Opinions? Does anyone know if the paint will hold up on the intake as long as its barely fogged on there?
Been doing lots of little stuff, not much to show but I thought I would show you my removeable inner fender panel cover plate that I've been working on today... Its not the progress thats so impressive... But the method! Thats my hillbilly brake, or ghetto brake (depending on where you live)! Actualy came out ok, I learned a few things and the drivers side will be better!
Thanks for the compliment and feel free to use and share in my hillbilly brake ideas...I have seen many other home made brakes but I really needed a gradual ben to match the contour of the old panel, I want these to be removeable not replacements, I think it will make more sense to you when you see it all together! I have a few ideas to make the bends better on the other side...one of them being having a helping hand because it was a little difficult to get that bad boy lined up!
My brother brought a TIG welding rig home from work to knock out some work on the floor pans. As usual we didn't get a ton accomplished...but did learn alot! Neither one of us has welded patch pannels in before, although he can weld just about anything. One of the big things I learned is before I have him come back I'll be preping the areas much more. The TIG doesn't like my dirty floor pans, and I need to cut tighter patch pannels because we had to break out the flux core MIG to fill some holes! We do now have a plan of attack for the rest of the patches! My brother is itching for me to find something for him to burn some exposed tig welds so he can do a little showing off...I told him it'll probably be a little while! This is where the trans tunnel was cut to add clearance for the 350TH and these are the 60+ self tappers I have removed from the 2 strips on either side of the tunnel! What was hidding under the self tappers? Finally Burning Metal! I can live with this! Oh and I got a late birthday package in the mail today! I had to have a flexible dipstick for the TH350!
Thanks Hawk...I've been following your Panel build close, I'd like to find and old truck at some point soon to set it up as a tow rig, I like whats goin on with your truck!
Another thing you'll probably need to do is space the bracket out a bit. I had an identical one on the '51 F1 I recently sold and hit my knuckles every time I pulled it out until I spaced it out. Kind of a PITA, but necessary. Also, the o-ring will make it difficult to pull out.