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My new 27 DB Coupe!


moose50

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About a year ago, a friend of mine told me he knew somebody that had a 26 Plymouth (I know, no Plymouth yet that year) I got ahold of the guy last spring, saw that it was Dodge, and made the deal.  I went to pick it up finally yesterday. It is rough, but I'm happy.

 

This guy had it for over 20 years in his driveway under a heavy tarp.  We put tires on it from my speedster project, got the rear wheels to turn(brakes were tight) and pulled it on to the trailer.

 

The numbers say this car was built late in the 27 model year.  Late March.  It has a "D" engine?  Separate starter and generator kinda like my Fast Four, but the water pump is between the distributer and generator.

 

20 years it sat, and after I got it home, I put a hand crank to it and it's not locked up!  Turning it slowly, I could even feel some compression!

 

 

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Based on the location of the carburetor, if it is a 1927, it is very early. I have a 1927 produced in May 1927 and the carburetor is on the passenger side of the engine and attached to the manifold. See attached chart and compare with your serial number.

Dodge numbers.pdf

Edited by hwellens (see edit history)
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Guest DodgeKCL

What amazes me is they're still out there. Around me all that stuff has pretty well been pulled out in the sunlight and hot rodded.

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Based on the location of the carburetor, if it is a 1927, it is very early. I have a 1927 produced in May 1927 and the carburetor is on the passenger side of the engine and attached to the manifold. See attached chart and compare with your serial number.

Yeah, that chart puts it made in late March '27 also.  It's A-874xxx.  I guess their were a lot of changes in a short period of time right about then.

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It looks like it has the cast iron rear engine mount. If indeed it does, it is a 1927 126 Model. (the second of 3 series in 1927) These have the tranny moved back 1 1/2" which makes the driveshaft and torque tube an 1 1/2" shorter too. The front of the driveshaft and u-joint are splined instead of square like earlier models. The next series, 124 (fast four), moved the tranny back forward again so the driveshaft  is back to the 1 1/2" longer but still splined. Don't get the 2 mixed up. Ask me how I know!

 

Dave

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It looks like you were near the engine change. See attached.

Harry

Thanks for posting that. My 2 are 765,956 and 709,768 and I finally why they have different engines....based on serial numbers they should both be type C engines. This is the first time I have seen the caveat that they overlapped the B and C engines.

Having spent 29 in aerospace I am appalled at the lack of configuration management. :-). As a vintage car fan I feel like an archeologist searching for historical truth and I just found a gem!

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It looks like you were near the engine change. See attached.

Harry

Very near the change, I guess.  The engine has the number "D 910xxx"(I think I remember that right)  Is this a 5 main bearing block?  

 

First series D block in the second series 126 model 1927 car.  Confusing.  Well, not too bad...

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It actually made spark yesterday!  New later coil, powered by a 6v charger, positive ground, turning with the hand crank.  Someone had tried, long ago to get it going, apparently.  They had it hooked up 6v negative ground with some jumper wires to the coil.  Even the jumper wires were cloth covered and very old.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Slowly, but surely, I am doing things to this car.  Now I am trying to remove the oil pan, so that all the sludge can be cleaned out.  Oil lines carefully removed, all bolts removed, oil pump shaft is loose, but it won't come down at the rear.  It appears as though there are tabs that are holding it up, and it needs to be slid forward to drop the rear of the pan.  But, there is a pin on the passenger side between the last two bolt holes.  Any good ideas, or what am I doing wrong?  I really don't want to force it...

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  • 3 weeks later...

It runs! The body is off so that I can repair the floor rails.  I rebuilt the oil pump and plumbed a filter in on the pressure side of the pump and it still has 4psi!  Now I need to repair the radiator so that I can run it for more than just a few minutes at a time.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now it runs, drives, stops, and leaks water!  It is basically pouring water out of the back of the water pump at the shaft.  I wasn't able to turn the nut around the shaft either way.  The nut on the front had a slow drip, and was able to be tightened carefully, so it's better now.  

 

Still it ran for more than half an hour.  No other leaks.  I'm pretty happy!

 

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Nice!  Is the radiator deflecting back as much as it seems when you rev it?  Are you planning to add some brackets?

No, there is no deflection at all.  Solid mounted to the frame.  YouTube has this stabilization thing they can do to your video.  This was the first time I used it, not going to use it again.  

 

Is there a way to redo the packing on the rear seal without removing the pump?  If I get that nut to move?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just remember, all the packing nuts turn the same direction in relation to the shaft. So, some are left hand thread, some are right. They loosen in the opposite direction the shaft turns. Once loose, slide the nut back away, then slide the gland out, clean out with a small wire, etc. Then put a round or 2 of water pump packing around the shaft, push the gland in, start the nut but don't over tighten. If the shafts are grooved from years of wear the will not seal well and eat up the packing pretty quickly.

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I have a 26 and am looking for new wood for the whole top including the rim.  Any idea where you are going to look for that.

Hi, I don't know anywhere to buy the wood, but it had enough still there that I am going to be able to rebuild it from those pieces as a pattern.  I've got a wood working shop in the top floor of my barn.

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Here are the pictures of the filter and adapter.  I made a bracket that bolted on with two of the pan bolts on the passenger side.  I cut into the oil supply line that goes from the pump to the check valve, and used 3/8" rubber fuel/oil line clamped onto the copper.  The adapter came with the wrong size connectors (way too big- 1/2") but the hardware store has the 3/8" connectors.  

 

Then I went to the parts store and found the biggest filter that fit onto the adapter.  The one that's on there is a Motorcraft FL1A.  I figured that at such a low pressure, it would need as much area as possible to keep the flow high.  Seems like it is working.

 

For my pickup, since I'm going to put the engine dust pans back in, I'll have to make the bracket lower.  Hopefully it won't lower the filter below the oil pan bottom.  If it does I may need to find a shorter filter, and change it more often.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I made another bracket to add a filter to my pickup.  27 C engine.  This one will have the splash  pans going back in, so the bracket lowers  the adapter underneath it.  I'll have to wait to find out if the filter comes down below the pan as it is off right now.  I'm still working on the oil pump, needs to be re-bushed in the housing.  Lots of play in the shaft, and wear in the steel cover.

 

The bracket is made from 20 gauge steel.  The holes at the top, in the last picture, are the mounting holes to be held with oil pan bolts.

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Edited by moose50 (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been making progress on my coupe in the last couple of weeks.  Mostly body/floor support since it was in pretty bad shape when I got it.  I made new floor rails out of 1-1/4" square tube after bracing the body with temporary smaller square tube.  Soon I'll make the body mounts by attaching 16 gage sheet steel to the bottoms of the new rails on each side.  Then re-attach the seat frame and strengthen it.  Right now the doors close nicely, and line up fairly well.  I'm happy with how it is coming together.

 

The first picture shows how the rail is attached at the front to the cowl.  It's bolted now, in case adjustments were needed, but will be welded soon.  Second picture shows the new rails on the drivers side, and some temporary bracing.  Third is more bracing.

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  • 1 year later...

This is what I've done this past month.  Finished the trunk floor, made patch panels(cowl bottoms, and in front of the rear fenders) floorboards and seat frame.  The top was almost completely rotted away, so I made a mostly flat insert out of plywood, then added four bows made of quarter inch thick poplar and blocks in the middle.  That gave it a slight dome, then stretched chicken wire, padding and covered it with cobra long grain black vinyl.  Also in the past year I had a windshield made and put into the better of the two frames I had.

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Edited by moose50 (see edit history)
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