1949 Dodge Wayfarer questions

[52Chrodge49]

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! 

Edited September 18, 2018 by 52Chrodge49 (see edit history)

[Mattml430]

They are a great looking car, post some photos for us, would love to see it. 

A lot of stuff you do will be your personal choice at the end of the day and depending on how far you decide to take things.  I’ve changed both my dodge’s to 12v purely for the ease of replacing things and I’ve fitted electronic ignition instead of the points  and a 12v fuel pump. The way it runs is so much smoother than before. 

Check all your gear linkages for play in them that could be a bit of an issue. I do remember one of my old column shifts I had to give it a little extra push to select reverse. 

Take lots of photos before an while your pulling things apart it will help with how to do things and replacement of parts. If your going to get someone to do all the trimming it would be best to let them see it before you pull it out so they understand how it all goes. 

Goodluck with it all I’m sure you’ll love doing it all. 

[David_Leech]

#3 - save what samples you have. It makes it alot easier to make replacements when you have a template. Depending what you are looking to spend, the interior... Well, it's going to be expensive. You can watch some videos on making your own door cards and whatnot on YouTube. How's your sewing ability? For a professional job, you will need to hire a professional (I bet that's why they call it that). Yellow pages under upholstery. Google auto interior. Go to a high volume used car lot and ask who they use to repair their car interiors. With any luck, you can pretend you work at the car lot and score a discount. You will want to find the oldest person you can that is willing to build a car interior. They will be the best at it. The seats are the same as reupholstering a couch. They should be able to tackle most of the interior bits. If you try to save a few bucks, leave out only the details that could be added again later. If you go with square foam seats you will have wasted your money if you want to go fancier in the future. You can leave out items like door pockets and add them later. If you do it a little bit at a time, have all of one type of item completed at the same time. All seat cushions, all door cards, etc. Don't do the front seat now and the rear ten years from now. They will not match. 

 

My .02 and I'm rambling

[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!