Taylormade

I thought the “hood” looked finished in the photos - until I realized you were referring to the convertible top. A really nice job that definitely looks period correct.

Thanks, I needed that. I don’t drink coffee, but the rest is great advice. And you’ll be pleased to know the front bumper and one of the hubcaps you sold me are on the car.

I live near St. Louis. Send me a PM.

Well, in a moment of sheer desperation (for me at least) and amazing fortitude, I managed to completely disassemble the entire rear end of Daphne. I disconnected the rear from the springs and then took the springs off the frame - all to install two rubber crush washers. I made the washers from a sheet of 3/16th inch rubber sheet which I bought off EBay for five bucks. Steele has these for 7 bucks and change apiece, and I'm not sure they are the right size for my car, so making them was the next best thing. I used a hole cutter to cut out the washers. Then I made up a simple jig to hold the washer in place so I could place the center hole. The jig was clamped together with screws to hold the washer flat and prevent it from distorting during the drilling process. Then I used a Forstner bit to drill the hole. The final result was probably not up to Steele standards, but it will do the job. I placed the thrust washers on each side of the spring eye and bolted the springs back on with the eye bolt. It was a real job to keep everything lined up as I guided the eye of the spring into the frame bracket and lined up the bolt holes.. My lovely wife Kathy held the other end of the spring to help me out. Here is the final result. You can just see the washers on each side of the spring eye. The center hole grips the bushing extensions on the spring. The hole is larger than the bolt, but centers on the bushing extensions. Then I actually bolted the entire rear end back together and finished the job. I'm currently feeling every one of my 74 years, but I'm glad I got it done. It was the one last nagging job I needed to do before tackling the interior. You can see the rear window channel going in. I need to get all the glass in place and install the door handle mechanisms. And the car needs a good dusting. The fun continues.

That simple task I talked about in the last post - just turned into a major project. After I assembled the rear end several years ago, I discovered there were supposed to be rubber thrust washers between the front of the rear spring eye and the hanger bracket. I made the washers from a sheet of 3/16th inch rubber and figured I could just pull the hanger bolt and slip in a washer on each side and replace the bolt. Wrong! The washers don’t slip in, they have to be placed on each side of the spring eye and then slid into place. Long story short, I had to remove the springs from the axle and remove the shackles to accomplish this “simple” task. Pieces are all over the garage at the moment and I’m too tired (and a bit discouraged) to work anymore this evening. I’ll post some pictures of how I made the thrust washers and the reassembly tomorrow. This all dependent on me actually getting everything back together in one day. At least the temperatures have dropped to reasonable levels for working in the garage. I remember my comprehensive plan to have this restoration done in a year. That was back in 2013 if I remember correctly.

Back off the brake drums. Make sure you have the axle nut screwed on loosely. Tighten the puller by banging on the ends of the rotating ends with a sledge hammer. Let it sit for an hour or two, then bang on the ends again. Keep at it. Go to bed. Wake up in the middle of the night to a loud bang as the drum lets loose. Go out to the garage and thank your lucky stars that the axle nut prevented the drum from flying off and punching a hole in the garage wall. Move to opposite drum and repeat procedure. They will come off eventually - unless you have a Chinese made puller. Then it will probably break before the drum lets loose.

Finally finished the floors. I had to order the correct slotted mounting screws - everything has gone Phillips lately at the local hardware store. Same for the wood screws. Thank god for the Bolt Depot. Even they didn't have the larger slotted head screws that hold down the floor section with the battery cutout. They are 3/8 - 24. Luckily, I had all four so it wasn't an issue. I'm still puzzled why Dodge Brothers went with wood floors in 1932. The body is all steel. There is no wood in the doors - even for attaching points - yet the entire stretch of the floor is made up of four wood panels. In the body, there are wooden pieces above the doors that are not structural, but just serve as attachment points for the interior upholstery. And there is a wooden section around the back window that curves around the back of the car, again not structural, but for attaching interior trim. Pretty standard stuff for cars of this era, but considering all the steel stampings inside the body, it seems it would have been just as easy to make the floors out of steel and avoid all the fiddly handwork involved in making the wood pieces. The two toeboards are steel, making things even more puzzling. Oh, well, a coat of paint and I'm done. Now on to the next simple task that will undoubtedly turn into another major problem.

My brain.

Sorry they don’t match. And thanks for the compliment - those pictures are several years old. She’s a lot farther along these days.

A few more...

I'm not sure how much these will help, but these are photos from the restoration of my clutch linkage. I know some Dodge Brothers had the vacuum clutch, but mine is long gone if it was ever originally installed.

Not sure if my 32 Dodge Brothers has the same or a similar setup. Two adjustable rods on pivots? I can post some pictures tomorrow if you think it might help.

The floorboards on Daphne have turned out to be a much larger project than I originally expected. I'm finally up to the last board - the one that but up against the lower toeboard and covers the area in front of the front seat. The original was in the poorest shape of all the wood boards. years of water leaking in through the two cowl vents and lots of wet and snow covered feet have caused warping and delamination. This made it impossible get get accurate dimensions. On top of that, this area has been worked on in the past and many of the original bolt holes are elongated or just plain missing. It took several tries to get everything right, but I finally managed to get everything to fit. As you can see. the original floorboard was a mess. The front edge on the right is cut at an angle to match the angle of the toeboards. Since this area had disintegrated, I initially had no way to determine the correct angle to cut, but I managed to figure it out by making cardboard patterns. You can still see remnants of the white asbestos sheeting that was nailed on to protect the wood from scorching from the exhaust and muffler heat. I'm still trying to source something to replace it and keep the original look. This crazy piece has different angles on either side, a cutout for the gearshift, and a rounded recess to clear the emergency brake drum. It was a lot of work to get thinks right. Finally! The triangular shape to the left of the floorboard is the tool box. It's covered by another piece of plywood and held in place by a metal clip. At this point I still need to drill the mounting holes and get it painted. I want to see if I can get Daphne on the road and around the block before the end of October. My to-do list for the month - Finish the floors. Install rubber spacer washers on the rear spring hangers. Steele didn't have any the correct size, so I bought a sheet of 3/16th rubber sheet and plan to make my own. Adjust the clutch - as soon as the pedal gets back from the machine shop with a new bushing. Bleed the brakes - installing some new aluminum/rubber crush washers on the fittings got some air into the system. Polish the dashboard - some overspray got on it during the painting, but the one area I did looks great after a 2000 grit sand and polish. Install the instrument cluster. It's totally restored and back together. Hook up the dash wiring. Install the coil under the dash with the new mount I made. Install the gearshift. Install the steering column - all restored. Install the drag link. Install the steering wheel. At that point I should be able to drive the car (sitting on a box) and see how things are working mechanically. That will give me until Spring to get all the problems worked out - if I'm lucky..

At least they seem to work, which is not always the case.

It’s on page 41 of this thread. November 9th, 2018.

Envious beyond belief. Way to go!

They work great, don’t they. I think over tightening is the reason so many of the brass brake fittings end up cracked. With these washers there is no need to go gorilla on the bolts.

For a Mid-priced car, I think Dodge Brothers hit it out of the park in 1932. of course, I own the car so I'm a bit prejudiced.

Unless this is a non US body, your 24 should have an all steel body. Only the top framework and top bows were wood. Is there enough of the original wood left for patterns? I know of no kit, but the top should be fairly simple to make.

Oh the humanity! It was a nice cool day today, so I decided to tackle a job I had been dreading for some time - a bolt frozen in a captive nut. I carefully drilled through the bolt - actually a threaded screw, so chewed up there was nothing to get a screwdriver on. Things were going alright until the captive nut began spinning inside its captivity. At that point I was doomed. No amount of grinding, drilling or explosive devices could persuade what was left of the nut to come out of it’s little metal box. This is one of the attachment points for the lower front floorboard. I am resigned to using a nut on a threaded screw to hold it on. It’s buried up under the firewall and will be virtually invisible - except for the first guy who gives the car the once over on the day I finish the restoration who will undoubtedly pipe up with, “Messed up that captive nut on the floorboard, did’ya?’ Since the body is on, I can’t cut the box off and reweld - not enough room and fresh paint, so l’ll have to live with it. The damn nut is still in there, but I can push it to the side enough to get a bolt through. I figured I’d totally finish the floorboards today and start installing the window glass. Ha!

‘I know the manifold I bought from them fit my 48 Plymouth perfectly. It was identical to the one I took off. I would call them, they were very helpful and answered all my concerns. But, as I said, not cheap.

I bought a reconditioned manifold from Vintage Power Wagons about eight years ago. It looked brand new when it arrived. They specialize in military parts, but back then they had manifolds that fit my 48 Plymouth perfectly. I just checked their catalog and they still have them under the motor parts section. They have both intake and exhaust manifolds. Might be worth taking a look, although the aren’t cheap.

If you go to my thread The Resurrection Of Daphne - A 1932 DL in the Dodge and Dodge Brothers section... Near the end of page 19 I detail the rebuilding of my transmission and freewheeling unit. It's covered over several pages. It should tell you everything you need to know about the process. Let me know if you need anything else.

In your PM you mentioned that you were having trouble getting the freewheeling unit off. I have a 1932 Dodge Brothers DL, so there may be differences in our transmissions, but maybe this will help. My car was one of the first DLs built in December 1931 and has the first style of freewheeling clutch used, so it may be the same as yours. Here is my transmission and freewheeling unit out of the car and with the top of the tranny removed. The top comes off by removing the six bolts and lifting the part straight up. The gearshift and the emergency brake parts have obviously been removed. along with the driveshaft yoke that must be removed with a puller. I took off the the piece that holds the rear seal in the freewheeling unit, but it may not be necessary to remove the unit, it just gave me a chance to see what was under there. it's held on by three bolts, one of which has already been removed in this shot. You can also see two of the five studs that hold the freewheeling unit to the transmission. The nuts have already been taken off. As I said above, the freewheeling unit on the back of the transmission is removed by taking the nuts off the five studs. Some of my studs came out with the nuts attached, but it doesn't make any difference. Now the freewheeling unit is ready to be removed. HOWEVER, DO NOT TRY TO PULL THE UNIT OUT UNTIL YOU REMOVE THE SPEEDOMETER GEAR! This is very important, as pulling the freewheeling unit out with the gear in place will destroy the gear and jam the unit in place. You can see the gear housing in the upper right of the picture above - the threaded cylinder. The gear just pulls straight out. Now you can slide the freewheeling unit off the back of the transmission. It may take a few taps and a bit of wiggling, but it will come off - as long as you removed the speedo gear. Notice the spring in this shot. Watch out, it can go flying as you pull the unit off. This is what it looks like after the freewheeling unit is off. The gear visible on the shaft simply slides off. Make a note of it's orientation as you don't want to put it on backwards during reassembly. The round casting with the arm behind the gear is attached to a shaft that is moved by a lever on the transmission itself. The round opening is where the spring I mentioned above fits in. The lever moves the gear forward and back to engage and disengage the freewheeling. The spring holds it in tension, always pushing it toward the transmission until the lever overrides it and pushes it away (if that makes any sense). It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure the casting just pulls off the shaft, but there my be a lock nut holding it on. With the gear and the casting off, you can remove the round plate on the back of the transmission and access the bearing, I hope this gets you started. Let me know what else you need to see and I'll be glad to post it. I took my transmission completely apart and have pictures of everything.

Sent you a PM.