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11/3/08
I'm
looking for a
1936, 1937 or 1938 Plymouth, Dodge or Fargo pickup,
like this one...
to restore.
anyone
out there have a lead?
Email
me pedalit@insightbb.com
Finally the hood is painted, the Budnik wheels (17's
and 20's) are on. I bought another set of running boards stripped the rubber
off and painted them.
The next few
shots are from last Thanksgiving day 2006.
Don't even try
to tell me the chop didn't give this car a little attitude!
There are some
fine lines in those 36's!
 
 
Budnik Ice 17's and 20's
   
 
The following pictures
are from months ago as work was progressing.
My car is still under
construction but it's coming along. Here's pictures from the
2006 Frog Follies. I was there--Primered hood and all.
I also have another set of original running boards I've stripped the old mat
off of and in the process of readying them for paint. While at the
Street Rod Nationals last month in Louisville, I ordered Budnik wheels (20's
and 17's). They should be here soon.
Don't even try
to tell me the chop didn't give this car some attitude!
Notice the hide
away plate & those bad flush mount led's, the third brake light barely shows!
Email
me pedalit@insightbb.com
The poll is over. Thanks
to the 161 people who voted. The original choices follow:
1) Leave it alone.
2) Chop it 2 1/2 inches.
3) Chop 2 3/4 inches.
4) Chop 3 inches.
5) Chop 3
1/2 inches.
6) Who needs a top anyway.
So the
winner is Chop it 2
3/4 inches!
Keep scrolling
down to see my progress!!!
email
pedalit@insightbb.com
Please check back often to see my
progress!
| First of all let me say,
Overall I've always liked the body lines of the 36 Plymouths, but they
do appear to be somewhat top heavy. I think people
realized it back then too. Look at the sales literature from
1936, the cars in the colored, hand drawn, dealer handouts always
appeared to be slightly chopped (see
sample here). They knew they could make the
car look better in pictures, by shaving a little off the top. |
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This is what I started with.
Now
a 2 1/2 - 2 3/4" chop seems like it should give the car a little more
attitude.
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I'm
not a metal fabricator and I wouldn't let just anyone start cutting on
the 36 my family has owned since the early 1970's So
I had been talking to Craig, owner of Hershy's Hot Rod Shop in
Boonville, In for over a year about getting my car scheduled in for
the work. We finally got together, so here we go.
I will keep posting a few
of my latest chop progress pictures here.
To see all of my chop pictures start to
present 09/06/05
click here!
The body is painted now
Flush mount LED brake and
tail light
And... the third brake
light
Another view of my new
chop, 2 3/4" out of the window area and a little off the top!
Another angle
One more!
Color sanding the deck lid
Getting ready to color sand the passenger
door
To see all the pictures of
my chop project
Click here!
Stay tuned! More coming. |
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Pictures of my 36, a long
time work in progress start below.
But if you want to
see pictures of other 36 Plymouths I've collected
over the years,
(coupes, sedans, convertibles, sedan deliveries,
trucks,
originals, hot
rods, mild to
extreme in various
stages of the restoration,
preservation,
modification process)
pick one of the five
slide shows below:
1) To see a short
slide show of some
cool 36's, go
Here.
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In 25 years I've driven less than 2,000 mile in this car as an
original,
so now I've decided it's time to Street Rod my
1936 Plymouth Coupe
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Click on
thumbnails to enlarge |
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As
purchased in 1976, 42,000 mile |
After
restoration in 1976-77 |
A better
color in 1978 and we finally found hubcaps! |
For
pictures of my work in progress keep scrolling down.
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Click on the pictures below for larger views and click
here for more info on the 1936 Plymouth! |
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a
To see more old ads like above and learn about 36 Plymouth history
click here!
Please check back often to see my
progress!
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Click on the little picture to supersize! |
Here's a picture
with the front bumper on
and sporting the new stainless King Bees with chopped stands and Hagan
Diamond Cut Prismatic headlamps
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Just a slightly
different angle |
Another shot of
the King Bee's |
I also installed
the Hagan reflectors with turn signals |
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Ready to Rumble!
I did make it to
the Frog Follies
August 24-26 2001 with out being stranded--although, I
was beginning to wonder.
The 350 seems to have developed a miss, that I'm guessing is injector
related.
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In it's original
state with the original 20" rims, tires, flat head six, 3 speed tranny
and that heavy straight axle, I ran the car across the scales at
the local Co-op. It weighed in at 2,840 lbs. As soon
as I got it running I went back to the same scale to weigh again with
the Fatman front,
Ford rear end, V8, 700R4, power brakes, steering, and air unit it had
only gained 40 lbs for a total of 2,880 lbs. |
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Click on thumbnails to enlarge. |
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I can
polish your plenum and runners! Please
email for details! |
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It runs! The initial fire up happened July 6, 2001. I
haven't figured all the sensors and computer stuff out yet. But
I had to crank it once just to keep motivated. The
Ron Francis TPI harness took a little time, but I liked the idea
of having the TPI Telorvek panel and computer out of the way in the
trunk. |
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There is all kinds of room in the trunk, that is normally wasted
space. We had upholstered the trunk area years ago and it left
plenty of room between the passenger compartment, fender wells and the
upholstery. So this made an excellent location for the
battery, TPI panel and the ECM. |
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With the TPI harness
installed it's time to start wiring the chassis. I opted
for the Haywire
14 circuit kit. About all I've done so far is open the
box--and I have read the instructions a couple of times. |
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| I have a few
bugs to work out yet before I get into the body wiring:
1) positioning of the steering
column
(done)
2) a leaky brake caliper (fixed)
3) making sure I've cured a
transmission line leak (cured)
4) getting residual valves to cut
down brake pedal travel
and... (now
this makes a world of difference--I
went from about 4 inches of travel down to 1 inch)
5) Though I've started the motor I
had to do it by running a gas line from the frame mounted pump to a
five gallon gas can. I haven't figured out yet why it won't pull
gas from my new "Tanks" fuel cell. Hmmm... maybe I was
suppose to use those other pieces! Oh well nothing minor.
I'll be on the road in no time.
(This one is almost embarrassing... after tracing back from the fuel
pump to the tank, I found an obstruction in the last piece of
braided fuel line we had to check. I didn't get to see what it
was-- just glad we advised my buddy Jim who was looking into the end
of the hose, as I was getting ready to shoot 120lbs of air through it,
to point the end out the door. When it came out the end it
sounded like a 22 went off! )
6) After fixing all the above problems I
discovered I had a bad transmission. The motor and transmission
came from a salvaged 1991 Corvette and were guaranteed to be good. The
tranny was actually fried and had internal damage. I swapped
with the dealer for another core and took it straight to the
transmission shop for a rebuild prior to reassembly.
7) Now that I can actually shift gears
and drive the car I've discovered another problem. We
should've routed the return fuel line all the way to the tank.
(I thought it would save material, drilling another hole in my new
tank and time by running the return from the injectors right into a
"T" I placed between the frame mounted fuel pump and the gas tank...Don't
make that mistake.
I should've known if you could've saved time and a few bucks the GM
wizards would've discovered that cost saving step years ago. It
appears the hot fuel I was dumping right back into my supply line was
causing cavitation and starving the TPI when I pushed it.
Now (08/20/01) I've discovered a miss, that probably is from a dirty
injector. Number six and eight (at 190 degrees) seem to be
running much cooler than all the other cylinders (around 260 degrees)
It looks like now I need to run a compression check if all is well
there I guess I will be removing the plenum, runners and rail to get
the injectors tested and possibly cleaned again.
(Now I know what embarrassing is--who would've thought a 350 with TPI
could run that good with the # 6 and 8 plug wires backwards???
Every thing I've done so far seems to be
working really well--I've just been driving the car a little. I
bought one of the Vintage Air air/heat/defrost units, but I haven't
tackled mounting it yet. Mainly because I can't decide what kind
of gauges I want to use and I need to lay all the dash out at the same
time. Errr...that and the fact, I've gotten a little tired
of spending $500 bucks every time I turn around on this car.
So for now I just want to drive it a
little.
I made another purchase the Ford 8"
seems to be fine but the 2.77 gears have got to go. Since the
rear end is an open unit (not posi) I can do a heck of a smoke
show with one wheel but at 55 I'm only turning about 1200 rpms.
According to GM the most efficient operating range for the 350 is 1800
- 2800 rpm at 60 mph. So I found another rear end with a posi
unit and have bought a new set of Richmond 4.11's. That
may be a little steep if I decide to go cross country but, for while
I'm getting the car the way I want it, it's going to be a HOT ROD!
For a cool
calculator to figure out tire size, gear ratio and rpm check out this
link to Randy's Rear Ends
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