52Chrodge49

Thanks guys for the replies Matt I'll get some pictures up in this thread when I can. It IS a pretty neat car, just banged up. As for changing to 12V, I think I might tackle that. Could you go further into what would need to be replaced? The fuel pump sounds like a great idea as well.. currently I'm having to dump gas into the carb just to try and get it fired up and even then I'm having issues now keeping it running. David thanks for the change on the interior bits. I haven't sewn anything in years but I can do some practicing and see where it takes me. Just won't spend any real dough until I feel I'm ready! Although for something this big I'll probably have it done professionally. Door cards I could probably do, but I've never done anything this large before. Everything is "there" but torn up and chewed. It'll be hard to guess the original color although it almost looks like a cream or something like that. Does anyone recommend changing over to disk breaks or keeping them drums? They need a complete overhaul anyway (they don't work at all except for the ebrake), so I feel like changing them completely wouldn't be an issue. Would love to hear some pros and cons. This could potentially become a build thread, although it'll be spaced pretty far out with updates as I have to use a storage garage since I don't have one of my own. Working on changing that in the near future!

Howdy! New to the car game and new to anything pre-80's. Recently purchased a 1949 Dodge Wayfarer as the title suggests. There are a few dents, minimal rust (mainly along the bottoms of the doors), no windshield, one broken side window, and the interior is a mess. Headliner is ripped to shreds, seats have been eaten up a bit but are surprisingly there for the most part. This is going to be a heck of a ride but I'm looking forward to diving in. Questions for you all: 1. Currently, it's a posi ground 6V system. Do you recommend I change to neg ground and 12V or keep it original? Personally I don't mind it as I wasn't planning on putting a new deck or anything in there. I think keeping it mostly original would be neat. There's currently a dead 12V battery in there and I can jump it to start it up. Puts just enough power (being garbage and all) to keep it running but not to damage the systems from what I know. It putts pretty poorly so I'm assuming bad spark plugs or wires. 2. To add on to the final thought in my first question, I need to either poor gasoline or starter fluid into the carb in order to get it to fire. Any thoughts there? Maybe the fuel just isn't getting there? I'm not sure how the manual fuel pumps work.. 3. It's got the manual "3 on the tree" transmission. Only issue is that it won't go into reverse. I don't know much about cars let alone the transmission so some help here would be great. I noticed I don't actually have to put the clutch in to shift into 1, 2, or 3. Not sure if it's actually engaging or not as I've only driven it in the parking lot in 1st. 4. How on earth does one go about refinishing the interior of a vehicle? Especially the headliner.. I don't even know where to start with it so some advice there would be great as well! I'm not sure if I should be making separate threads for these but any help here would be great. I really appreciate any assistance anyone can give me. From what I've seen so far you guys are all really friendly and knowledgeable!