Taylormade

I also ordered part number MP 642-A for the door handle pads. Looks like they will work with no problem. They stretch just a bit during installation which gives a nice tight fit. Installing everything tomorrow after I get the metal inserts and screws on the door bumpers cleaned of rust and grime.

Got my parts shipment from Metro Molded Rubber. Checking the catalog I discovered that DB-36 was the recommended part for the door bumpers rather than DB-37. They were correct and the bumpers are an exact match for my originals. The metal insert fit perfectly.

Not that big a problem as I have a seal setting tool. I replaced the bearings (two on each axle with a ridge between them). You have the inner seal, spacers, the inner bearing race, the bearings, the outer bearing race and the outer seal.

Picking up all my new side window glass tomorrow. Hopefully, the installation won’t be too much of a hassle. I also got the exterior door handles assembled using Tom’s e-clip idea. It worked great, but I could only get one clip on. Two was a no go.

Then and Now is where I got mine.

It’s not going to run long with no radiator, even if it runs at all. A fantastic looking car, but too much to do for that price.

Thanks guys! Looks like the Metro moldings will work and the e-clip idea is brilliant.

Do you have a picture of one of those collars?

Tom you mean one of these? Bullfrog - could you measure the steel insert? Mine is 3/4" top and 1/2" bottom. it's 5/8" wide. Yours looks slightly different and the bolt seems larger.

The Steele bumpers are the exact size but I can’t tell if they take the tapered metal piece. They are also quite a bit more expensive. The Metro moldings take the metal, but are about a 1/4 inch off in height. Could you take a shot of one of your moldings in place on the door jam?

I need some advice from the experts. I'm getting ready to put the door handles back together and install them. Like an idiot, I forgot to take pictures before they went to Paul's Chrome. I'm pretty sure I have the correct order of parts, but I need some help. Here is a shot of the handle parts. From left to right you see the handle with the integral shaft, the tube that covers the shaft, the escutcheon with the two screw holes (the holes accept screws that attach the assembly to the door), a large washer, a spring cup, the spring, and the other spring cup. As far as I can see, they assemble in the order shown. Originally everything was held on the shaft by what appears to be a factory applied swage. You can see the swaged area on the shaft in this shot. It has obviously been ground down to get the assembly apart. I can't see how I can reproduce the swagging process myself. Has anyone figured out how to do this while you're trying to hold everything together? I think I remember someone suggesting drilling a small hole in the shaft and using a metal rod to hold things in place. This is actually done on the door handle that locks. Any suggestions and any photos of the assembled shaft showing this area would be appreciated - especially an original.

Got the final door mechanism and window crank mechanism on the car. Here they are just before installation. Now it's time to address the door bumper issue. Mine are hard as a rock, the rubber has no elasticity whatsoever. There are two for each door, all identical, so I'm obviously going to need eight. They are rubber with a metal base that appears was molded in when the part was originally cast. Here you can see the top of the part with the hole for the screw visible, and the small lip at the top. It's easy to see the rubber is in rough shape. Here is the bottom of the same part. Notice the threaded metal insert. I'm not sure if this is bonded to the rubber or can slide out. It appears to be held in by angled lips in the rubber and has the same angles on the edges of the metal. So, I don't know if I can get the metal piece out and reuse it or not. The rubber is so hard it may just be locked in place by the stiffness. The solution to replacing these parts comes with a built in problem. Steele has a replacement that has exactly the same dimensions as my originals. The problem lies in the metal insert. I called Steele today and their salesperson says their part is all rubber and has no metal insert - they think. It happens they are working from home and have no access to the actual part to see if it's all rubber or has the insert. They said I could return the parts if they didn't work and were as helpful as they could be under the circumstances. The schematic drawing shows the recess in the back for the metal, but I can't tell from the drawing if the rubber has the angled sides on the recess to grab the metal insert. I'm sure I can modify the part if necessary to get things to work. I have heard of people softening rubber by soaking it in lacquer thinner, but these door bumpers take a beating and I think new live rubber is a better way to go. Any suggestions? If someone has purchased these bumpers from Steele let me know how they are constructed. It's part number 40-0010-70. Thanks!

I would think that without the body and interior sitting on the frame that the frame would ride too high to attach the shock arms.

I think it's an Oldsmobile woody in "out Of The Past."

If you've followed this thread, I have provided an endless stream of mistakes and not to do moments for my reading public. I'm certain there will be many more before I'm done. I have discovered that, despite the car appearing to be in decent shape, I have had to repair or restore virtually every part on the vehicle. Today I spent the morning making a pattern for the rear exhaust pipe - muffler to rear of the car. When Phil and I started the car in Connecticut. the exhaust was full of mouse nests and it blew off the tailpipe. I kept the pieces and and managed to make a pattern. It's 95 degrees today and crawling around under the car was not fun, but I got a decent pattern made and once it's fabricated and on the car I can run it with asphyxiating myself. Not exactly a thing of beauty, but my exhaust guy is pretty patient and I think this will allow him to get the job done.

Boy, was this another classic screw-up on my part. I went to install my newly rebuilt rear door latch mechanism this morning and for some reason it didn’t seem to fit. I tried everything but it was a no go. I took it back out of the door and examined it and realized I had put things together backwards! These things are right and left handed and I had put together the right latch as a left latch. So, I took everything apart and put it together the correct way. I’m glad I bought two spring covers from knobless, although I probably could have salvaged the one I removed. The mechanism is back in the door and works perfectly. On to the next disaster.

They are excellent reproductions that fit perfectly and are very reasonably priced. They made replacing my missing spring very easy. I highly recommend buying a set if you are working on your door latch mechanisms.

Another frustrating day. I was installing the windows and giving the glass a thorough cleaning before they went in. As I tried to clean what I thought was overspray on both rear door windows, I realized the whitish "fog" I had always assumed was some stray primer that had gotten on the surface of the glass was actually etched into the glass. This has completely mystified me as I removed the glass before any work was done on the body. I wrapped the glass in old towels and it has been stored in my garage since then. How this got on the surface is beyond me. The car was very dirty when I disassembled it and it may have been on the glass all along, but whatever caused it, I'm now going to have to replace both back door windows. So, a trip to the glass shop tomorrow. They were already replacing the drivers front door glass, so more business for them and more money out of my pocket. I can't seem to catch a break lately and I'm so close to finishing the car. As usual, not as close as I thought.

Next came the more complicated exterior door latch assembly. Two of mine had cracks and were bent out of shape. This is a weak point on this car. When ply33 sent me some replacements from his stash I was worried as they were slightly different - mainly the steel was thicker, making for a more sturdy unit. I had to disassemble them to switch over some parts, so I was starting with just the basic main section. The biggest problem was the fact I'd had to grind off some rivets to get things apart. They were stepped rivets and I was afraid I might have to turn then on a lathe. Luckily I found replacements from Hanson Rivets and ordered them. They are exactly the right size and depth except of the bottom part of the shaft, which was slightly too large for the existing hole. Here is the main piece and the new rivet. The rivets are nicely made and just the right size. They have many sizes and depths available. I had to drill out the hole in the plate to accept the slightly larger rivet shaft. It needed a 1/4 inch hole. The rivet fit perfectly. The rivet holds the latch slider. It has to be properly stepped to allow the piece to slide back and forth. The pieces assembled. Everything assembled and the spring in place. That's another stepped rivet holding the extension arm. Getting that spring in is no easy task! Three done and the fourth is already in the door.

I've finally finished the restoration of my door latch mechanisms. Many thanks to ply33 for supplying needed parts from his stash (his 33 door mechanisms were made from thicker steel than mine, but they still fit), and to Knobless for his repo parts which also fit perfectly. I discovered that the spring was missing on the interior mechanism on the passenger side rear door. I found some new springs on Ebay, expensive at twenty bucks for two, but they fit. To replace the spring I needed to remove the cover plate held on to the main plate by four tabs. I was lucky to get this part from Knobless as the tabs broke off the old one when I bent them back. With everything disassembled I was ready to clean everything up. You can see the repo cover and the new spring at the bottom. It was a bit fiddly trying to get the spring in place. I eventually just laid it in place and slide the cover over it. I bent the tabs down and gave everything a shot of white lithium grease. Job done.

Another senior moment today. I'm reassembling the door latch mechanisms and have everything laid out to put them together. Then I realize I'm missing a part from the rear passenger side. A while ago ply33 sent me some of his spare parts and I was sure I had this and it should have been in the marked box with everything else. Nowhere to be found. The usual search came up empty, but I was positive I had that part in the box and had cleaned it up. I checked my old one, but it was too bent and damaged to use or straighten. With a heavy heart I come inside and begin a post begging anyone who has this part to contact me. I figured I'd better take a photo since the part is left and right handed, so I grab the old one and just check it against the door to make sure I have the right one. That's when I noticed the two screws by the latch opening. With a head slap I realized I had bolted the good part in the door to make sure it would fit. I did it since ply33's parts were almost identical, but the metal was just a bit thicker. Anyway, I will put the mechanism together tomorrow and take some pix in case anyone needs to go through the process. If I can remember to do it.

As a Dodge Brothers Club member I can tell you just from the club roster that there are many left, especially the ubiquitous four door sedan model. The car may run well, but how old are those tires? Has it been sitting under that blue tarp (a perfect moisture trap) since November with the front window open and the driver’s window down? A nice one of these cars (and I love them, having a 32 sedan that I am restoring) brings between nine and fifteen thousand on a really good day. I bought mine eight years ago (in about the same shape as yours) when the market was much stronger for four thousand. A 31 sedan here in town with side mounts in a bit better shape than yours just went for four thousand five hundred and it took almost a year to sell. You can ask what you want, but the folks here know the market and are merely trying to point out that your asking price is wildly optimistic. No one is disparaging your car, just trying to bring you back to reality.

It's very tight to the metal. The padding compressed to just about nothing when she stretched the material over, there is no give on the edges. The old top actually had rather thick tape all around the metal edges - I have no reason why, but it was replaced some time before I bought the car in 1965. I don't think it will be a problem. I got the material from Restoration Specialties. They list it as Sedan Decking, and I got the Smooth Grain Black. I agree, it looks very similar to the original material I have seen.

Angie, my upholstery lady came over and put the fabric on my top insert. I live in a very small town, but her shop is right down the street. We had more room in my garage, so she decided to do the job here. One of the benefits of a small town, friendly folks and good service. I had kept the old material in case she needed a pattern, but it wasn't necessary - she went right to work. We put the new stuff out in the sun. It's over 90 today so it really softened up. She had the cotton padding on in no time. Then the fabric. It looks great! I forgot to take a shot of the finished job, we were practically fainting from the heat, but you get the idea. Then I went inside to cool off and ending up watching some of the HenRefurb YouTube videos on the restoration of a 31 Dodge Brothers truck. As he was explaining his problems removing the steering box (I had exactly the same problem) he mentioned he would have to remove the engine before he could get the steering box out of the frame. My blood ran cold. My freshly painted, ready to go steering box was sitting out in the garage ready to be installed. Was there enough room between the engine and the frame on my 32 to allow the steering box to fit? The thought of having to take the engine back out at this stage was heart-stopping. I rushed to the garage and steadied my nerves. I measured the distance between the engine and the frame - 9 inches. Then I measured the width of the steering box - eleven inches. Oh, no! So I grabbed the assembly and carried it over to the car. To my relief, I could angle in into the generously large hole in the frame (which is boxed up front from the factory) and slide it into place. Catastrophe avoided! I'm getting too old for stuff like that.

Thanks everyone- that’s what I was looking for.