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1937 Dodge D5 questions (with some '41 questions also)


Guest Kelsey

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Kelsey,

This is what I've come up with. The Dodge Brothers oval ID plate looks nice ! The body number plate I am getting made in an oval shape like your original and these are a lot thicker so you can stamp them. The Budd body plate was on the same sheet so I'm not sure if they ever came out in the red but at least they all match :)

I took 3 photos of the first one to try and get a good shot of the colour. Sorry, its really hard to get one that looks right. I think the colour is called Fire Engine Red.

Cheers

Ian

They look great, IAN

I fyou end up doing the round version like my car, and they are thicker, I will definitely take one from ya.. nice work...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Today was a good day.. well part of it..

Got the rest of my body parts back from the body shop// all done .. Also got the invoice that was about 40% higher than the bid 1.5 years ago.. NOT happy about that..

So, I have all I need but my son (my right hand man) broke his right arm in a motorcycle accident 2 weeks ago,... so I am at a standstill for a while..

Anyway.. happy to have the rest of the body parts finished.. look like Spring it will be done... Can't wait

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  • 5 months later...
Guest Kelsey

Thanks for all the kind words..

Got everything done except the fender undercoating (still deciding on what to do there)

Ordered up some waterless wash from amazon.com , that should be here this week so I can shine 'er up.. Than the paint shop has a few touch up spots they need to address..

FYI.. was looking for a car cover (fleeced lined) to keep the dust off (I live on a dirt road= not good for anything)

I could not find one for the 37 Dodge ANYWHERE! then I kept looking and found one for the 37 Plymouth P4 Coupe.. Got it yesterday and it fits fine and is very SOFT!!

So, there does exist a nice car cover for this era of Dodges..

More pics to come after I get her shiny..

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Just found the thread this mornign. Nice car and nice job!

Just a note about the cowl vent drain. I wonder if 1/8" tube is too small. Water has strong surface tension and will bridge it and not run out. My Peugeot 504 had drains that size for the front and rear screen openings. They blocked early, water sat there and eventually the areas rusted through. Perhaps check it gently sometime with the garden hose?

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Guest Kelsey
Just found the thread this mornign. Nice car and nice job!

Just a note about the cowl vent drain. I wonder if 1/8" tube is too small. Water has strong surface tension and will bridge it and not run out. My Peugeot 504 had drains that size for the front and rear screen openings. They blocked early, water sat there and eventually the areas rusted through. Perhaps check it gently sometime with the garden hose?

My thoughts were that some drain is better than no drain at all (stock) and HOPEFULLY, this car will never see the rain

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My thoughts were that some drain is better than no drain at all (stock) and HOPEFULLY, this car will never see the rain

There is no factory drain provision on your '37?

Odd. My '33 has two hose connections. If I recall correctly they have about 1/4" or so I.D. Might be as large as 5/16" or 3/8" but I don't feel like crawling under the dash to look. Seems like if they knew it rained in '33 they should still have known that in '37.

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Guest Kelsey

Ok, just thought I would throw on my wipers and found that they are broken ???

So, what have you guys found to be the best place to get new wiper arms??

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Guest Kelsey
There is no factory drain provision on your '37?

Odd. My '33 has two hose connections. If I recall correctly they have about 1/4" or so I.D. Might be as large as 5/16" or 3/8" but I don't feel like crawling under the dash to look. Seems like if they knew it rained in '33 they should still have known that in '37.

Yes the hoses are there but they drain into the car body.. NOT outside the car. so the water will pool up in the body and never make it to the outside.. So I modified mine to drain to the outside..

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Just for info... The '36 has a single vent drain that is about 3/8" as I recall and drains just through the firewall via one of the rubber grommet sets. The hose goes through the grommet about 3/4" and ends in a sharp cut off. Water from the cowl vent then just drops to the ground in the engine compartment. (Thought this was the way they all worked!) This only uses about a foot or so of tubing. The cheapest route.

BTW: I think the 1/8" tubing would be too small because of the water tension idea and also any trash or dirt that may make its way into the cowl drain system.

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Guest Kelsey

Yes, that vent drain is the same of the 37 ..it is not the one(s) I am talking about.

There are 2 drains in the lower windshield channel that are very small and just drain into the panel area in front of the doors. This panel area has no connection to the outside so any water would just be drained into the this panel area. These are the 2 drains that I connected to the outside so any water would not remain inside.. Trust me, I scratched my head as to why they did this.... but both pass and drivers sides were the same..

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Oops. Ok. Now I know what you are talking about. (Sometimes I am a bit slow!)

Yes, there are two windshield channel drains, one in each lower corner. And yes, they do not go anywhere in particular. They are just a hole and open behind the dash. (Head scratch!)

I guess the theory is that if both windshield gasket layers are working correctly then these holes are sealed and should not leak. Again, I still think that the '37 has the double gasket setup on the windshield just like my '36. I don't think this system changed until they stopped using the crank out windshield. This should be able to be confirmed by checking the Parts Manual for the '37 and seeing what gaskets are used.

Hope this helps somewhat.

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Guest Kelsey

Ya, I agree with you.. But I just made this little mod to assure that any water would at least have an outlet to the outside vs. inside the car..

I am waiting for some waterless wash materials from Amazon.com so I can get a good clean on this girl (I am going to try not to use water.. ever) then I need to get the fenders undercoated in HOPES that rock chips will not dimple the paint... not sure what I am using there yet..

then back to the paint shop to have them touch up a few missed areas and I will be finished with the restoration.. WHEW! I am not going to know what do do with myself without ALWAYS having something to do to the 37.....I take that back I have a few other "projects" but I think I will just take a Summer off and PLAY vs start up another... I just enjoy working on these cars so much. I just do not enjoy the "$$$" that this joy costs me LOL!

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Guest Kelsey
Kelsey, could you bend in a pretzel and get a couple close-up shots of how you did the mod on those drain holes for us? That would be cool!

Bend a pretzel..LOL... Never heard that one before..

ALL the connections are tucked in behind the upholstery... But it was real simple.. I got a straight brass coupler then drilled a small hole (hence the small tubing to make the hole as small as possible) in the underside then fed the hole thru the hole and tied it to the frame.. So the water will pass thru the coupler into the hole and out the bottom of the car..

drilling the holes was a bit tricky but nothing crazy hard just always tricky and apprehensive when drilling holes in the car.. I made the hole very small so the hole did not need a grommet and the hose itself would fill up any voids.. I think it will work fine.. hopefully, I never have to find out if it works... but ya never know...

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So did you braze or solder the coupler to the hole in the bottom of the window opening? How did you get that connection point smooth enough to allow water to easily flow into the small diameter tubing?

I guess those were my main questions.

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Guest Kelsey
So did you braze or solder the coupler to the hole in the bottom of the window opening? How did you get that connection point smooth enough to allow water to easily flow into the small diameter tubing?

I guess those were my main questions.

I did not attach the coupler to the hole .. I left it in stock form with the hose hanging int he side of the body. I connected to that with a brass barbed coupler then ran that hose thru the body to the underside of the car.. So, allI did was extend it but at a smaller diameter so only a very small hole was needed to be drilled...

Initially I was just going to drill a hole so any water would have a place to drain but the LOW spot was impossible to reach with a drill so that is why I came up with this other solution

Edited by Kelsey (see edit history)
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Guest Kelsey
All I can say is AWESOME It is just stunning You must be a very proud man

Thanks Ron..

Yes, pretty happy with it especially since myself and my, then 16 year old, son, did the entire car (minus paint and interior.. for good reasons LOL) ourselves in 2 Summers time..Almost the ENTIRE car was restored.. not just "fixed" but replaced...

We did put our own "spin" on the paint and interior but overall, very happy with it..

It was my Grandmother's ONLY car that she ever owned (bought new in 37).. so there is a lot of history with this car and my family..

Edited by Kelsey (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Kelsey

Well.. FINALLY, got the car back to the body-shop to have the fender and running board undercoating applied.. Man that stuff smells!! but it turned out great!

So, with that added rock fling protection, I , FINALLY, got to take it out and drive it (vs just up and down the driveway a few times).. Within minutes I had a couple flag me down and ask about the car (they did not know what it was) and then offer to buy it from me.. So, that was pretty kool...

The car ran fine... It does seem to have a miss that you can not feel but hear.. So not sure what is going on there, this is a new miss that was not there before... I did play with the points a bit and managed to rid the coil of all spark at one point.. so, I got that back and then ordered and new tune up kit since this one is apparently a bit sensitive... I replaced this 20 years ago and had not driven the car 50 miles since.. But, I think a replacement is in order.

With that said, BOTH my manuals show to time this car with a dial indicator on #6 cyl and static time it.. It mentions using a timing light but never tells me what the timing should be set to.. What do you guys think the timing should be set at using the timing light traditional method?

Once concern I do have is that my oil pressure is pegging the gauge and seems to never settle down.. Anybody have any ideas why the pressure is so high? Is this normal since the engine is all new? Any ideas??

Also, found the radiator cap to leak so, I ordered a new cap.

What are your thoughts on the crankcase breather cap.. Mine is stuffed with what looks like steel wool and I tried to flow air thru it with no luck.. Would this being restrictive cause higher oil pressure? I think I will put a K&N open breather on there for driving and put the original back on for the shows.

Let me know what you all think on the high oil pressure, timing setting and breather...

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. . .

Let me know what you all think on the high oil pressure, timing setting and breather...

Oil filler cap is also the air inlet to the crankcase for the ventilation system. Maintenance is to wash it with gasoline and the re-oil it with heavy weight oil. Outlet of the crankcase ventilation is a draft tube on the back passenger side of the engine. Some models had a wire mesh screen there too, not sure if yours does or not. In any case the oil filler cap should have no effect on oil pressure.

Oil pressure is controlled by a oil pressure relief valve on the bottom of the driver side of the block. Could well be stuck after all these years and thus not properly relieving pressure. You should not be pegging the oil pressure gauge, so check out the relief valve.

Timing. Seems like prior to the era of your car they just had static timing specified. And later they used a timing light. I think in your era it was considered a new and expensive tool that not all garages might have. You service manual should have specifications for the maximum advance for both the mechanical and vacuum systems in the distributor. On my older Chrysler built car I static timed it per my manual and then used a variable advance timing light to verify the advance mechanism was working properly. For what it is worth, for 1937 the Plymouth factory manual calls out:

Mechanical Advance:

0° at 350 RPM

3° at 400 RPM

6° at 950 RPM

9° at 1500 RPM

11° at 1850 RPM

Vacuum advance:

2° with 6 3/4 in. of vacuum

11° with 14 in. of vaccum

Your Dodge may well have been fitted with a different distributor with different specifications, so check your service manual.

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Guest Kelsey

Thanks for the info... I had the relief valve out when I rebuilt the engine.. So, it should be fine...I remember the whole relief area being pretty simple..

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you use the relief, bypass, then the oil will not pass thru the filter, correct? So, would oil pressure rise if it was being bypassed?

Here is a question... Can I pull the pressure relief spring without draining the oil. meaning.. when I the spring, will there be minor or major oil amounts that want to come out? If I need a lighter spring, ,where can I get one?

Also, if this matters, I am using a Joe Gibbs Break In Oil in the engine right now.. could this oil weight/viscosity be causing the higher oil pressure.

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You'll probably get a little drizzle of oil out of the pressure relief from the oil that is in the main gallery.

The relief valve is setup to have two functions: The primary one is to dump oil from the main gallery back to the pan if the pressure is too high. The other function is to shut off flow through the bypass oil filter if the pressure is too low. The service manual has some information on that and I think there is a training video put out by Chrysler in the 40s or 50s that is available on the Imperial web site.

If I needed a spring with different K value for a different pressure, I'd contact the usual suspects for old Mopar parts. Places like Bernbaum or Roberts, etc.

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Guest Kelsey
You'll probably get a little drizzle of oil out of the pressure relief from the oil that is in the main gallery.

The relief valve is setup to have two functions: The primary one is to dump oil from the main gallery back to the pan if the pressure is too high. The other function is to shut off flow through the bypass oil filter if the pressure is too low. The service manual has some information on that and I think there is a training video put out by Chrysler in the 40s or 50s that is available on the Imperial web site.

If I needed a spring with different K value for a different pressure, I'd contact the usual suspects for old Mopar parts. Places like Bernbaum or Roberts, etc.

OK, that is good info.. Where is this Imperial Website?

Thanks

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Guest Kelsey

Thanks guys... Cool old videos!! and VERY imformative

I pulled out my pressure relief system and checked it all out.. the plunger was in there pretty tight so I cleaned it up and reinstalled and know now that it is moving.. Car still has high oil pressure at idle.. Maybe it is just the gauge.. but I seem to remember the gauge reading lower with the old car..

Also, I want to ask you guys if this is normal..

The car after it runs for a while and sits.. it will drop out the rear crankcase tube .. It is not dripping while running just after it has sat for a while after a run...

Any thoughts on that??

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Re oil pressure. At least on my car the manual calls for a specified pressure at 30 MPH. Assuming your Dodge 230 engine has the same specifications for that as a Plymouth 201, the book calls for between 30 and 45 psi at 30 MPH. What is your pressure at those speeds? If the pressure does not drop when you go to idle but is okay at speed then there is nothing to worry about. Dropping at idle, depending on how much, might be an issue but the filmstrip covered that and your pressure can be quite low at idle and still be good.

re dripping from the road draft tube. That is the exit for the crankcase ventilation system. As you drive air flowing under the car causes a slight vacuum at that tube (Venturi effect). That causes air to be drawn in through the oil filler cap. An oiled mesh in the filler cap filters out dirt from the air going into the engine. Combustion byproducts (blow by) and the air drawn into the engine exit through the road draft tube. If you have excessive blow by some could be condensing on the tube and dripping later. But that tube connects at the back of the valve tappet gallery and if the drain holes from that gallery back to the pan are clogged oil could also spill into the draft tube. If that is happening, then I'd expect it to be more than a few drops.

Edited by ply33 (see edit history)
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