fred

Hi, Don Coatneys is a nice mod. I know Don personally, we both belong to P15 D24. There is some work involved to make this work out, some welding onto the bell housing, a different driveshaft, Don used a 3.55 diff from a later model vehicle. This will probably be trouble free for a long time for Don. If you go with the 3 spd OD trans, you use the same driveshaft, no mods to the clutch housing, direct bolt in. If you ever have to pull the OD trans, a regualr 3 spd can bolt right in as a temporary replacement. No cutting the floor panel for a stick, and very cool reliable OD trans. I still like the T5 idea too, will see when the time comes.....Fred

Hi, the RPMs @ 60 mph, with a P205 75 15 tire for the 3.54, 3.73, 3.90 are as follows. 3.54 diff @ 60 mph = 2623 rpm 3.73 diff @ 60 mph = 2764 rpm 3.90 dif @ 60 mph = 2890 rpm Not a whole lot more rpm, but makes a difference at higher speeds than 60 mph thats for sure. I do know a number of guys who own P15s or D24s, that run them with either 3.90 or even 4.11 diffs and drive them at 60 mph or more on the highway/freeway, without problems. Some of these guys have larger rear tires to help reduce higher rpm. Having an R10 early 50s Mopar 3 spd OD trans is reall the way to go, if your not concerned with being OEM, these OD trans will allow you to cruise comfortably at 65 to 70 mph, and your fuel economy will be greater with the lower rpm too. My engine is running well, but she has miles on her, I keep it at 55 mph, because of that reason, if the engine and diff were rebuilt, it would be 60 to 65 mph on the highway for me......

Hi Bob, yes I was in the belief they were M5s till 48, and the Simplimatic was Desoto's handle, and Klunkomatic was for Chrysler ( only Joking). I also thought the lower Chrsyler lines,such as Royal, had a fluid drive and 3 spd trans, with a 3.90 diff, and the 4 spd hydraulic trans would be optional with a 3.54 diff. Now Canadian made Mopars, may have been slightly different, not sure though. I currently have a 3spd trnas and regular clutch, and a 3.73 rear end in my 47 Chrysler Royal CC, I like it like this, but can see the value of fluid drive in atop and go city driving.....Fred

Hi, does anyone happen to know a part number or availability for U- Joints for my 47 Chrsler C38, they are the cross and yolk type. I have searched on Rock Auto and few others to no avail, I know Kanters and Roberts has them, but am looking for a chain store or manufactruer part # and availability.........Thanx Fred

Hi Rusty, I thought that the 46 to 48 Royals came with a 3spd and fluid drive, and all other models came with the M5 or M6 semi-auto and fluid drive, but I was only speculating. I have a 3spd and dry clutch in my 47 Chrysler Royal, but this was done in 1988. I don't think I will return it to a fluid drive, even though I have a fluid drive and m6 trans in a parts car. The regular 3 spd and regular clutch are simpler, and have more off the line boost. I would however would like to get an early 50s 3 spd OD trans, but have never found one in my part of Canada. I do have a 3.73 diff, not the factory either, and before I swapped this in, someone had put in a 4.30 diff, that had to go, for obvious reasons. Were the 3pd OD trans available in Canada in the early 50s for Plym or Dodge?

Thanx Guys, it is far from a perfect paint job, but still gets a lot of admiring looks from people. Spent Canada day afternoon cruisng, the car needs more things done for completetion, but I enjoy driving her so much, it's just what I will do..........

Hi all, got my body prep dopne by May, then painted my 47 Chrysler Royal Club Coupe, did this at home, the color is Dove Grey. The paint job came off not bad, got a few bad runs,will correct this in the fall, some dust too. This was my first paint job ever, so not too bad. I have sprayed lot of primer, parts, other things but not a whole car, so it is a first. The paint is super shiny, smooth, and looks decent , but is far forrom a pro job, but good enough for a driver, this car was a real basket case, that was 1 trip away from the scrap yard, so it's a 1000 % improvement. Here are some pics of the engine compartment, which is painted in Black, then the car after paint, I will update with another pic, the car is all back together now, but the bumpers need re-chroming, and the stainless needs polishing too, all in time, this was a real low budget do-it-yourself, first time project. Also include the before pic taken July 2005, when car came homw, I bought it in 1988, it stayed at Grandmothers homestead till 2005....Fred

Thanx Rusty, I still have some tweaking to do, I know I should be fussier, but I am not.........

Pat, I have read all info on panel alignemanet, it's pretty good at this stage, will do a little more tweaking, but can live with what I have now. I am not sure what the 49 is like compared to my 47, not sure if you have your front clip back on, they can be a real bugger to line up again. The trouble with my car, is it may have been a few minore fender benders, I replace the rockers, there may have been some body sagging, etc. I know you have seen pics of my car Pat, it's not too bad, just, not quite as good as maybe it was when new, or what a better specimen might look like. See you back on the other forum.......Fred

Hi Bob, I am with you on a happy medium, and where I cannot create perfection, I can enjoy nostalgia. This does not mean I am not going to line up panels and do a job less than what I am capable, I will do the body prep to the best of my ability, then paint her and enjoy her. This car was a real basketcase, when I got her........Thanx Fred

Tried several times to post a few pics of my car using Photbucket, all attempts were not successful

I don't know Rusty, my door are lined quite well, but I have seen more than 1, 46 to 48 Chrsyler where the hood to fender at the cowl was less than perfect. In my case, as you have stated, the body could be sagged a bit, or whatever, I did the rockers on both sides, but paid close attention to measure and clearances. My car does not have great panel alignment on the front clip, period, I and another experienced body man spent a lot of time on it last fall, it is a lot better, but far from fitting like a modern cars. But heck it's got character.............Fred ps another not so quality alignemant on these cars is along the fornt door edge to the rear edge, of the front fender, mine are not bad, I have seen a few on these cars that were a lot worse..........

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bhigdog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">From what I can tell the fit on post war anything was pretty much an iffy affair. If you want all the margins to be perfect than be prepared to start cutting/grinding/bending/welding etc. I just spent 2 days grinding/rewelding the trunk lid corners on my Chrysler to improve an otherwise crappy fit. The 55 Buick shop manual admits this and says the front end sheet metal will most likely not be perfect and to just adjust the margins to the best average fit. And they wonder why the Japs creamed them...........Bob </div></div> Thanx for the fast reply Bhigdog, I kinda figured the poat war fit was lot to be desired, I can live with about 95 % of what I have now. The rest I will tweak. This body was very rough, I lot of filler, hammer/dolly to correct, the filler is not deep, but is skimmed over a lot of places to smooth and level things out. I am painting her something like Dove Grey, just a bit lighter, in Acrylic Enamel with hardener. The whole car is in primer grey, so with dark blue interior metal, grey seats and upholstery, she will look kinda snazzy. Like I said, this car is driver material, but I want to make her as nice as I possibly can........Thanx Fred

Hi all, I amcurrently do all bosy prep work on my 47 Chrysler club coupe. Mine was beat when I got her, she was more of a parts car, than a project now looking back in hindsight. I am finding I did all I could with my skill level, and eqipement to line up the fornt fenders to hood, front fenders to the front edge of the doors, but I am still lacking in a quality fit. I am not fixing up a show car, but a driver, this is not a body-off resto, just a fix up, paint new interior, etc. I hope to finished all my body rpep by May, then will shoot a new coat of paint on her. My question is this, do these old 40s Chrysler have less than stellar panel fits, or was my specimen just so rough to begin with. I am not going to send her out to a body shop, or have any other high dollar fixes right now. I am on shoe string budget, and want to have this car with a nice coat of paint, but she doesn't have to be show quality of course.........

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bhigdog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Any feed back on the quality/fit of Bernbaum's weather strips and windshield gaskets?...........Bob </div></div> There okay, the cowl vent rubber can be challenging to install. Burnbombs and Roberts,rubber products are not as good a quality as Steele rubber products, I have used all 3 and although Steeles is more expensive, you are also getting a higher quality product. I do not pay inflated rates for items as shocks, wheel cyls, etc from these vendors when NAPA, and Rock auto has them for less money. A friend on another forum was looking at a supplier of OLd Mopar parts from India, apparently the item in question looked just like the same item sold at Roberts, no doubt they have suppliers all over the world. Steele rubber is made in America, with quality.........

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 40packard</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Fred, It looks like a lot has been covered here. I've had two 39 and a 40 Chrysler over the last 35 years and I will say that I've never had any love for the electric chokes. I put hand chokes on all my cars. The '39 I had in Alaska would start when nothing else on the place would @ 40 below zero. That would be my addition. The electric chokes just don't close up tight enough...... </div></div> I have often wondered if these chokes close tioght enough or not, it looks like mine is completely closed when cranking the engine, but maybe not tight enough. Alaska, well this is Manitoba Canada region here,it was down to -26 here last night, with a windchill of -45

Installed a custom made set of 2/0 battery cables today, makes a big difference, engine turns over much quicker, and fired up easier. Will still need to run some tests, and make sure all is well. I did however discover my igniton coil is leaking oil where the high tension wire plugs in, so the coil will need replacing too. This coil was an NOS I had got a couple of years ago...........Fred

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 365</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Looks like you have most everything covered. Just a couple of suggestions. I see you have new points but make sure that small wire going from the out side of the distributer to the points is in excellent shape and super clean. I tend to get a bunch of disagreement on this one but if you rebuilt your carb I would consider getting it professionally rebuilt. These carbs need to be cleaned rebuilt by some one who can set this thing up to very close tolerances in order to give top performance. Just putting some new parts in the carb very seldom works. Again this is just me but you may try advancing or retarding your distributor, because old engines can have lots of wear on things like timing gears and chains even though you may be right on according to spec. The engine itself may be asking for a plus or minus reading... This procedure can take a bit of trial and error with engine hot and cold. Finally if you even think you gas may be three months or older consider dumping it. Always use sta-bil if you don't use that gas up on a regular basis. Sounds like you may have made your own battery cables you need to make sure the connections are soldered very good you should be able to pull on them with pliers. Use only the best connectors, no screw assemblies on these 6 volt systems. good luck!!! </div></div> Hi and thanx for the reply, the battery cables are factory made, but are only 1 gauge, which should be plenty, but 2/0 would be optimal. The carb was rebuilt in a shop, not just taken apart and kit thrown into it, but who knows, it's 60 YO carb, maybe there is still a problem with it. I always seem to have lots of gas in the carb, unless it's been a couple of weeks without starting. My problem is possibly spark, timing, points are pretty new and gapped again at .020, the little wire in the distributor is clean and in nice shape, the dizzy was cleaned, tested, and all new parts installed 2 years ago, the vacuum advance was tested and was deemed okay. Tonight a friend is coming over with test equipment, this guy has woked on a lot of farm equipment with 6 volt systems and also knows the Mopar Flathead engine somewhat..........Fred

Hi all, just wondering if any of you experience hard cold starts with your flathead 6 engines. I have a 47 Chrysler, L head 6, all ignition is newer, ie points, rotor cap wires, coil, battery cables are new, but are only 1 gauge not 00. Fuel system, rebuilt carb, reliable fuel pump, new lines new gas tank. After a day or more, my engine takes a lot to get her fired up, the electric shoke is working as it should,once the engine fires up, it needs to clear itself like it is slightly flooded. Once the engine has been run for a short time, it starts first touch of the starter button 90 % of the time. Soemtimes in hot weather, and afetr a good run, the engine will crank over slowly, and sometime I have to floor the gas pedal to clear the carb. Now I have been trying to correct all of this, so far I have failed, as it almost always takes a number cranks and tries to get here to fire up after a day or more of not being run. I tried the priming the carb method, gas just poured out the carb body, so it has gas, not sure what else to do. The coil was new but had sat on the parts shelf for many years before I got it. My engine is not rebuilt but runs very smooth, and once running runs great, good oil pressure decent consistent compression average of 105. So any of you guys have any ideas/suggestions on this one..............Thanx Fred

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KenHupp20</div><div class="ubbcode-body">can be used for spraying or brushing ,sorry Ken </div></div> Rustoleum or any hardware store enamel equivalent can be souped up , by adding the Automotive enamel reducers, hardener/gloss agents. The to top that off color sanding, and polishing with Meguires. I have to date been successful in doctoring Rustoleum paints, with no ill effects. While it is not a BC/CC, Urethane, or Auto Acrylic enamel, it is a tough paint, and can be very durable. It may not be as tough in salt/moisture environments, like POR 15, Rust Bullit,Zero Rust, but for our purposes they won't be sitting in moisture and salt. I do find Rustoleum very chemical resistant, a super corrosion resistant product to boot...........Fred

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KenHupp20</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You might want to check out using Penetrol paint conditioner. http://www.flood.com/Flood/CustomerSupport/FAQ/DIY/Penetrol+FAQ.htm The last time I used Rust-O-leum for a brushing project, I put it away and got some Benj. Moore, job came out great! Ken </div></div> I thought this thread was about spraying with an HVLP, not brushing???

Of course, it hasn't been exposed to the road yet, so maybe it'll peel off in sheets. Not likely, this stuff sticks like SSSSSS to a blanket, unless the surface was very contaminated.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Paul Dobbin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here's a question that requires the do-it-your-self experience. With Rust-o-leum paint in a spray gun, what's needed to get it to flow out like automotive paint? It's time to redo my 3 gas pumps in the yard and I thought I'd change brands to GULF and paint them with orange Rust-o-leum in my HVLP gun. Anybody had any experience with this? I painted the bottom of one of my trailers and it worked fine on the steel framing, but will it work on flat smooth body panels? </div></div> This paint when mixed correctly as I have prescribed on my other post not only sprays well with a gravity feed hvlp gun 1.3, 1.4 ,1.5 tips, will be very glossy on a smooth well prepped surface, should come out looking awesome. If you are hesitant, you could alway buy, an automotive acyrlic enamel such as Dupont, PPG, or even a Urethane based topcoat. I think you will be surprised how nice, the Rusto paint can look, if sprayed with the right ingredients mixed in.........Fred

Rustoleum, or any other enamel type paint, using this ratio for mixing 8-4-1, thats 8 parts paint, 4 parts slow, medium or fast automotive enamel redcuer, and 1 part generic acrylic enamel hardener (Evercoats DOI wetlook). 1 tack coat, wait for paint to flash, depending on temp, humidity, then followed by 2 medium coats of paint. If you are paing a vehicle, you can let this paint cure about a month, then color sand, and buff polish to a brilliant shine. This mix sprays out real nice, lays down well. I have shot this paint with regular mineral spirits too, but expect a slow dry/flash, this paint really does a lot better with a hardener added to the mix. I have also used the rusty metal priemr cut with enamel reducer as a substrate base pirmer, once cured about a week, I have used body fillers, fibreglass, 2 k urethane primer/surfacers all with no issue, this rusty metal primer, has great adhesion, corrosion reistance, filling qualites, sands nice when fully cured too...........Fred

Hi Rusty, thanx for the reply, I do not have hinges on this car that allow the door to slide forward for adjustment, the hinge portion that attaches to the door, is on the front outer edge of the door, it is exposed, you do not need to remove the door panel to see it. Somehow, I think these hinges need to be adjusted by bending them, not the greatest design. Thanx for the advice on getting the hinge screws loosened up on the A pillar side, will try this out...........Thanx Fred<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rusty_OToole</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The hinges are held to the door with cap screws. You need to loosen these screws to make the adjustment you require. To get access to the cap screws you first have to remove the door panel. It helps to loosen the screws, move the door around until it moves freely, then snug up the screws so the door will just move. For loosening frozen door hinge screws (the ones that hold the hinge to the body) you can buy a big Philips bit that goes on a 3/8 drive socket wrench extension. Heat the screw with a torch. Set the screwdriver in the screw. Tap it with a hammer. Put on the ratchet handle, and it will unscrew. Push the screwdriver in hard so it can't slip while you do this. It helps to remove or disable the latch when doing a door adjustment. You want to be able to close the door completely without the latch, so you can check your adjustment. Adjust the door until it is centered in the hole first. Then adjust in or out so the door is flush with the body at the back. Finally you may have to adjust the fender to the door. In most cases of a car this old, the rubber mounts under the rad support have squashed away to nothing, resulting in a front end sag. This makes the door gap too narrow at the bottom. You have to replace the rubbers to get the fender to fit properly, or at least shim up the mounts with washers. </div></div>