Hi,
Glad I found this Forum, So much information to digest. If I Had found this forum years ago it would have saved me from myself and my dumb teenage mistakes.
I digress. My name is Jeff and live in Lakewood, Ohio. My mechanical love is a 1959 Plymouth Savoy. I bought her in 1991 for $100. Total Basket Case. She had 157,355 miles on her 230 flat-head 6. Interior was gutted, paint past shot, Ohio rust (rockers, floor pan, trunk floor, top of fenders, roof, etc, etc.) power flight leaked bad, and didn't run. The previous owner was selling it for his son who was away at collage. His loss my gain. He was generous enough to let me get it running in the drive instead of towing it. 6 hours, plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter and some fluids later I drove her home. She made it! All mine!
Just wish my dumb teenage self had been smart enough to take pictures in its original shape.
Then the first sacrifice for my car happened, I had to make a choice. Still living at my parents, I wasn't allowed to have 2 cars. Well one had to go. I still miss that 69 Mach One, but I had a new love. I cleaned her up, din some light body work, and painted her on a teenage budget (i.e. spray paint) and reattaching the trim that was in the trunk, a bit was still missing.
She was my daily driver (cringe), She had to be reliable, and she was for another 3 years and 100,000 miles, @ 259,997 miles catastrophic engine failure. Head gasket I think, oil full of coolant, 5 cylinders with broken rings and badly scored cylinder walls. I thought she was done, I didn't know much about engines, I parked her and there she sat for a few years.
I joined the Marine Reserves where I trained as a diesel mechanic, by the time I got home I felt comfortable enough to be a bit more ambitious. I wanted more power, but I wanted to keep the push button transmission, thus the search began for an 8 cylinder that would bolt up began. I know, I still cringe that I would get rid of the original 230 but i figured she is a base model, thus not as collectible, and well she's mine and that's what I wanted at the time.
I found a 4 door Belvedere that someone had done an engine and trans swap on, but still had a 318 that he had pulled, I bought it all, the body on the 4 door was beautiful, but the frame was really rusting out. Figured I'd strip it for backup parts. I really should have. This is where I made a major mistake, a good friend of mine had gone with me to pick up the car and engine said he fell in love with it. Convinced me it was stupid to strip such a beautiful car, and wouldn't it be great to go to car shows with a 2 door and a 4 door. I caved and gave him the car, he promised to restore it. 2 weeks later, without contacting me he junked it for $75 bucks, the crushed it for scrap. I'll never forgive him.
Then to make matters worse the 318 was rusted solid. I dissembled it the best I could, and brought the block, heads and crank to a local shop that basically told me I had a bunch of scrap, block was cracked. Bad day, good day? Either way it Was the birth of my Frankenstein Motor. I salvaged my crankshaft, had it turned, and to not drag this on too much longer ended up with mid 70's 318, .30 over, heads off a 340 with the larger intake and exhaust valves, a high performance cam, and a 1959 318 crankshaft was a perfect fit. Now mt torque converter and trans could be used on a more modern power plant. There were a few other obstacles, new motor mounts welded in, and had to remove the alignment pins on the bell housing, but the bolt holes all lined up. I don't remember all the details, its been awhile.
Since then I've added an Edelbrok intake manifold, and carb, and a Mallory Unilite Ignition. The only major modification was a posi rear axle swap from a 1969 Raodrunner, I don't remember the gear ratio, but the brakes were way cheaper and bigger, and the axle was a bit shorter so I could fit bigger tires and rims.
I've redone a lot of my old bodywork, re-re-painted, and paid to have all of my chrome re plated. Major disaster number two. When I got my chrome back some still looked pitted, I brought it back to the shop, the agreed and offered to repair those parts. Unfortunately the shop got shut down for environmental reasons with my parts. I never got them back. I lost 1 savoy emblem, both Plymouth scripts, 1 interior door handle, and both windshield wiper arms they were supposed to polish.
Well this post has grown out of hand, so I'll wrap this up. She hasn't been driven much lately, I want her done before driving her too much, the I bought a house which always needs something done, so work on her has been slow. Thankfully I am getting married in August and my fiance wants to use it for the getaway car, just the motivation I need to finish her. I'm so glad my fiance is so supportive.
I'll post to the parts wanted section for what I still need.
Exciting day, made some wind lace, and some eBay parts arrived. The windshield wipers are in great shape, minor rust on the springs, not perfect, but very usable. Just need to find a source for replacement wiper inserts, the rubber is shot. The headlight trim rings needed a light sanding and a lot of buffing, but the bronze color is coming out of them and they are straight. I love stainless trim. These cars were built to last.
You are on a tear! Keep pushing to get that car up and back on the road!
The headlight trim rings (they hold the bulb to the housing) are stainless steel.
The headlight surrounds (the Figure 8 parts in your photos) are of anodized aluminum. You can buff off the anodizing, exposing the bright aluminum, which you will then need to seal with ? polyurethane spray? wax? or something, or it will oxidize again in time.
For wiper blades, check with Napa. I haven't needed any for a while so I don't know who carries them these days.
I do need to find a good way to seal the aluminum. I have a 1975 Harley XLCH that requires a few days of polishing each year for the same reason. The forks, valve covers and engine side cases are all polished, unfinished aluminum. Sealing all my aluminum could save me a lot of elbow work every year.
mfpsky1 wrote:I do need to find a good way to seal the aluminum. I have a 1975 Harley XLCH that requires a few days of polishing each year for the same reason. The forks, valve covers and engine side cases are all polished, unfinished aluminum. Sealing all my aluminum could save me a lot of elbow work every year.
I had the aluminium re-anodized last year and it was a lot cheaper than expected. They did the toilet seat, door sills, grille, headlight rings and some small trim items for 200 Euro (about $ 220 with the current euro rate). Your aluminium needs to be clean, if it is badly oxidized and pitted you won't get a very good result. If the parts are OK they will look new when you get them back.
I can sympathize about loosing chrome at a rechromer. Several years ago I lost much of the smaller pieces to a car. Very important to take pictures of each piece and have someone sign off on it. Of course I had neglected to do this. Great car story and good work.
Hi,
It's been hard to find time to be online and post with the preperations for the wedding. I've mostly been doing work at my parents house where the wedding is being held. We dug a 75 long french drain where the yard had been flooding, built a platform that will later be part of their deck, remodeled their kitchen (removed wallpaper, repaired the walls, painted, new counter tops, new cabinet doors, vinyl flooring, new trin, ect.) Phew!
On my Plymouth I finished installing the headliner, and made new visors. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, but basicaly all I reused was the metal hindge. I cut new backers from hardboard, riveted them to the hindge, cut cardboard to wrap them, spray tacked 1/2" carpet pad and leftover headliner to the cardboard. I hand sewed them up with a leather awl, along with a binding from a scrap of white vinyl. That all came out better than expected other than a wrinkle over the drivers seat. I know how to fix it, but it will have to wait till after the wedding.
The other one was even worse!
I also removed the grill, repainted the black stripes on the grill wings, and painted the radiator support black. It looked so good on your cars at Carlisle, I had to do it. Really makes the grill pop. I'll paint the whole engine after the wedding.
I've started making the door cards. I cut them out of hardboard, spray tacked foam from laminate floors, and grey vinyl to them. I kept them super simple for now, I'll probrably remake them later. 1 is done, the other 3 are cut out, and ready to assemble. I sure wish SMS was cheaper.
I still have a bunch to do. I have to rub out the paint, install the emblems and trim from Ron, Mathew, Dan and John, install and adjust the kickdown linkage, make kick panels, and hook up the heater hoses. Wish i had the money for the window channel to avoid back stepping after the wedding, sure hope it doesn't rain. I'm down to the wire, but I'll make it.
Thanks again for all your help, I couldn't have done this without you guys!
Jeff
