Brooklyn Beer

I can't believe someone let a collapsed garage roof sit on what was a restored car for so long to do this amount of damage...

When I finally was able to find the series Franklin that best suited my wants with the help of more then a few Franklin Club members I took some very important advice. "There is not an infinite supply of them and they sure aren't making them anymore !" They were right. It is not like buying a Model A or even a Packard. So attempts to save even one seems like a noble task. Within the club every new project found and taken on is greeted like a new baby coming home from the hospital ! Maybe just maybe the roof will come off on this and we will find out all the water damage was only a 2 day event when the tarp blew off during a hurricane.

At least it is being given a fighting chance.

You can trust Jim. 100% stand up guy. Looking at your trans from the perspective of the old days of running hot rod Mopars and street racing I can honestly say yours has shit the bed. May I ask if this just let go under normal driving ?

Man I wish we had some of that cool ! HEAT ??? Won't be needing any of that till end of October !

Whomever designed the one thermostat housing bolt that is under the neck should have their toenails yanked out with pliers dipped in salt... But I got it and glad I did. They had a 195 thermo in there which for TX is not a good idea. In my under dash crawling getting the temp gauge probe through the firewall I found out someone had bypassed the blower motor switch partially. It still works for fan speeds but there is a toggle switch to turn it on. Heater/cooler control still works. OK, can live with that for a time. Just need to research how to get it on defroster. The AC I am going to leave alone for a little while but the entire system is still intact and wired. Just that none of the buttons work. They don't push in and the one that did fell out ! I was happy to see not much gunk in the cooling system. No scale in the radiator or on the temp sender. Nothing in the thermostat housing either. Just a little sludge on the thermostat itself that I wiped off with one finger. Going to pull water pump here in a little bit. Beer break. I found some weird OLD under dash lights that came on with the headlights but just shined on the floor. Two bulbs each mounted to a metal holder. A pair of these that look connected to a factory clip. They were screwed in on either side of the steering column to light your feet (?) I wonder if these are the dash lights someone pulled out and never put back in.

I am following the advice. Battery had full charge this morning and before starting I just turned on the head lights. It slide over to C so whomever had this has something going on in the back of the dash cluster. When starting it still moves over to the D side. My manual is supposed to show up today so I can get a better idea of what I am looking at. The dash cluster is on the list to get pulled so i can check the voltage limiter back there and also the dash lights. I am thinking the limiter might just be OK because fuel gauge works but not the temp gauge. Since I am installing a mechanical temp gauge not worried about the bad sender. I will pull the bulkhead fitting and inspect. Does it melt on both sides? Car might just be off the road for a couple days as I swap out the thermostat, install the new temp sender, replace the water pump (a little chatter) and get a new radiator in. The stupid AC compressor really is in the way of about every thing !

Like young guys and skilled trades, it is getting harder to find people 25 and under getting into Traditional hot rodding or mechanical work. Those little rice burners they love so much are just "plug n play" upgrades. So with any skilled work like a restoration it is becoming less and less a hobby or even a job unless it is a father to son tradition.

Driving the Roadmaster to get parts for the newly acquired dirt cheap Dodge. Early morning drives are the norm for a little while longer. Have to "Texas" the Dodge to make into my drive to work car with a bigger radiator, 170 thermostat, new water pump. Still in the mid to upper 90's here the rest of the week. grrr

NO. It is not on the backs of my buddies, my uncles, and cousins, but through their sacrifices you enjoy your hobby. I am sure he meant zero disrespect (through ignorance) but using the graves of America's finest as a photo op in a sales pitch is wrong. It just isn't done. You do not honor dead hero's in an add selling used cars. "Hey! all these guys just died so you can enjoy a buick !" Really? Any military cemetery is solemn ground. Everything outside those gates is left behind as you listen to those graves speak to you. If anyone has never walked Arlington on Memorial Day you should and stop and visit with the families who are there to see sons, fathers, friends, ect.. Maybe bring a car to sell and ask the family if they would like to pose with it because nothing says honoring their sons memory and sacrifices like a great deal on a 55 Studebaker. Yes, I used to be that guy who did funeral detail while in the military so please don't lecture me on what is right and wrong here.

Tossed the old girls battery on the charger after driving around the block and sure enough, it was showing 9.2 volts. So have it on a slow trickle charge over night and we will see if it takes 12 or if a new battery is in order. Tomorrow the pertronix and timing.

Will charge the battery tonight as the more I test drive it after each upgrade (Plugs and wires today and some carb fiddling) The less it wants to go over to discharge. I have a good digital charger in the shop that will tell me starting volts when i turn it on. The person I bought this from did not drive it much because "The brake lights stayed on do to a short and kept draining the battery". I bet the battery never got a full charge before it got here. I just changed the brake light switch and fixed that but still need to track down why I have turn signal and tail light on passenger side but no brake light. Drivers side is good. waiting on manual to trace the correct wires. No mice damage on any wiring in the car I can find and the trunk is very clean.. I have changed out the voltage regulator for an electronic one as I will be going to pertronix. Have it in my 65 fury and 49 buick and not a problem one from either of them. This is the alternator I installed. The field connection on the old one was about to break off. I have kept the old one but doubt it is the one that came on the car when new. BBB Industries Alternator Click to Enlarge (Read reviews) Part Number: 14504-09193526 Notes: Remanufactured ALTERNATOR -- 2-Groove Pulley; 55 Amps Condition: Remanufactured Shipping Options:Ground This Part Fits: Catalog: H Vehicle Engine 1963 Dodge 880 5.9L V8 1963 Dodge 880 5.9L V8 1963 Dodge 880 6.3L V8 1963 Dodge 880 6.7L V8 1963 Dodge 880 6.8L V8

The model is a 63 Dodge 880 custom BUT the filter it states as needed doesn't fit the air cleaner that came with the added at the dealership AC. This air cleaner assembly I guess is off a chrysler but it has indents for the power brake booster and the AC compressor. 361 motor.

Once again I am having issues finding what should be a simple part. Paper element air filter. 12 and 3/4 outside and 3 and 1/2 inches tall.

New 55 amp alternator in and voltage regulator. Now it only tac's to dead D on initial start up and then slides back some close to 1/4 charging the rest of the time. The battery is dated 2 /18. I will get the multimeter out and check out the voltage at the battery and the alternator. The field terminal clip was extremely loose. Put in new plugs and adjusted the idle up a hair and it has really smoothed out. Will check the timing after I install the pertronix. I know it screwed with the timing on my 49 Buick when I installed it. But the amp gauge is still tac'ing some.

This was a very nice car not that many years ago. I hope we get to find out who bought it so we can follow along on the progress of seeing it run and drive.

Strange is a nice way to put it. There is a big difference between paying homage to fallen soldiers and using them as a backdrop in a sales pitch. Disrespectful

Just got this car and working the bugs out one piece at a time. It is an alternator car. When I mean tac'ing I mean it instantly pins it as acting as a tac and will stay that way when driving until you come to a stop. The gauge is acting exactly as a tac. I have a re-manufactured 55 amp going on this weekend. Still waiting on the repair manual so nothing to go off for wiring to see if reversed at the alternator. If anyone could lend a hand there it would be appreciated.

What would cause a factory gauge to tac up and down with engine RPM? My 63 dodge when at idle will show dead even center at idle but any RPM increase will tac it in the D direction. Let off gas goes back to N.

How did the front doors rot out like that equally on both sides?

Well here is my problem. My extra crap is either building materials and lumber or antique brewery and beer crap. Both of which I have accumulated well over a metric shit ton of. So much crap I had to build a full size bar off the house to house all the crap. Never really accumulated old car crap and what I had "vanished" at one of Dads fire sales when I was deployed oversea's and he needed more room for his crap. I don't think life is really lived till someone comes over and says "Man you really have quite a pile of crap there, what do you plan to do with all that crap?" Of course they then offer you some of their crap to add to your pile of crap because the crap is just to good to throw away like their wife wants them too and if you tossed it, the next week you really find out you needed that one crappy item that was in the middle of that shit ton of crap. Or is it in the other pile of crap ?

Not a big fan of my dead buddy's used as a back drop I just have to say.

I owe ya.