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1934 Dodge Full Body Off Restoration


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Okay, so I heated up the accelerator pedal with a hair dryer and yep, it softened it enough it fitted into the holes.

Where the linkage is protruding through the carpet, the upholsterer must have just hacked it so I neatened up the hole and found a rubber grommet I inserted into the carpet. Looks a lot better than it was previously.

Went to refit the rear 1/4 upholstery panel that was remade and it kept buckling. They didn't fit the material when it was curved rather they did it when it was straight.

Tried steam but it is buckling too much.

I'll remake the panel myself and make sure it is curved before I put the fabric on.

 

Saw the tyre people on the way home on Friday and saw the tyres that just came in. I'm going to have to go with these as there is basically no other option due to lack of stock and minimal production where they are made.

Just wanted to make sure that they will fit in the spare tyre well on the front guards so I took the front wheel off and sat it in the front guard. There's a bit of room at the front and back which would have allowed for the spare tyre covers if I choose to use them. Also the tyres are slightly fatter and being new have more tread than the temporary ones on the car.

Got two rims and dropped to the tyre people as I asked them to do one a day to give me time to get home and put on the car. Grabbed a hubcap and sat it on the rim to see what it looked like.

 

Cleaning up the garage and I found a brake spring tool that I've had for 15 years.......I struggled all this time until I bought one 6 months ago. Should have cleaned up the garage earlier !!!!

 

Cheers

Ian

 

 

 

 

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Got the first complete wheel back. First time the ole girl has had new shoes in over 40 years.

The blue around the whitewall is just for protection. Sat in my chair in the garage and just looked at it glad this day has come ( sometimes I never thought it would ).

I'll pickup the rest of the wheels over the next few days.

I did test it in the spare wheel well and it seemed to fit quite well.....especially being a new tyre.

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It is nice to just sit and look at what you’ve done. The white walls change the whole look of the car. 
I have to spray a bit of tyre shine on my tyres to get them into the wheel wells. 
otherwise it’s to hard to make the DB logo straight. 👌

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5 hours ago, Ian_Greenlaw said:

I wasn't sure if it was they way to go but everyone said Whitewalls....glad I did go that way.

Picked up another today, and another tomorrow......best part its an instant look !

How did you go about alignment Matt ?

I just used a stick across the width of the car and used some masking tape on it and the tyres. Rolled it back and forth 180 degrees and gave it about a 1/4” toe in. 
Basically measured it from the front of the tyre to the back. I’ve done about 1500 miles on them and they are wearing perfectly. 
so each tyre is only pointing in about 1/8”

3mm. Not a lot. It seems to be working nicely for the roadster. 

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The easiest way to get an accurate measurement is to use a set of trammels fixed to a length of one inch square box tubing.

 

Available from Bunnings.

 

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You can spin the pointers in any direction.

Adjust to fit inside the front edge of the tyres then transfer to the back, a cheap and accurate way to measure.

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I was umming  and aaaring over the whitewalls. I got my daughter to do a mockup photoshop of the car, rims and tyres overlayed while the car was on its way to the upholsterer.

Family unamiously ( however its spelt ) decided on the whitewalls.

 

Look at the picture......see it looks red again !!!!...depends on the light I guess.

 

Got one of my friends coming over tomorrow ( who also has a 34 ) to have a look and see what he thinks. I'll try and get the interior rear panel I've ( and my wife ) been working on....hoping it will fit so I can completely finish the rear of the car. Then its onto the front doors....I have to bend the interior of the door in a bit as its binding on the side window frame when I lower the window. The door ( on the other side ) has a slight bow inwards and the drivers door ( right side ) has a slight bow outwards so I have to fix that. Then its on to modifying the trim and installing the handles and garnish moulds.

 

Cheers

Ian

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Another bit of progress.

Finally got the right hand rear panel remade which we did ourselves. Once this was installed I was able to get the rear garnish mould and the right hand side garnish mold finished and in place.

Also cleaned out everything from the rear of the car and installed the two back sill covers. I had to widen the hole every so carefully with a step drill so the screws could fit. One of the holes is too large so I'll need to pack this out a bit later and I'll refit them a bit later and straighten the carpet out.

 

Cheers

Ian

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, had a bit of good news the other day.

I enetered my car in the Motorclassica ( which is in the first week of October ) and it got accepted.

Now its panic stations as there is so much to do between now and then to get the car finished.

I'll post pictures of the progress but bear with me as I'll be jumping from bit to bit as I get things done to get this over the line.

I'm already having issues with the front door cards as the upholsterer didnt fit them properly and they are bulging.

As soon as I get this sorted I'll post some pics

 

Cheers

Ian

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Seems that the Service Manual call for SAE160 OIl for the gearbox. My guess is that when the gear box was rebuilt they put a thinner oil in the box which is maybe why it is leaking around the layshaft.

Does anyone know where I can get SAE160 oil in Australia ? Penrite have 140 but want to sell me a carton of 6 but I only really need 2 ( 1 Litre Bottles and the gearbox takes 1.2lt )

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Ian

My Local AutoPro shop at Hahndorf SA got me in 2 x 1 litres of gearbox oil Mild EP G/box oil for my 1930 DC gearbox.

Auto pro actually rang the Penrite Engineers , and thats what they recommended for my car

Oil at this Shop must be one of their main sellers ,as they carry shelves and shelves of Penrite oil, but had to get mine in, only took a few days

 

regards

Kevin BC

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The inner door skin of the car has a slight bow inwards ( into the car ) and mine is bow outwards which is causing the window frame to rub on the door skin. I made up a support using hardwood and padded the ends. To clamp the window fram I used some old TV brackets and bent the ends like hooks. Bolting the to the wooden frame gave me an even amount of holding power to pull the inner skin. I can't pull it too much for fear of damaging something or even worse cracking the welds so I'm hoping this has pulled it enough to give me that slight bulge inwards. First try and it sprung back to the original position so I'm doing it again an leraving it overnight. On the other door I've found that the upholstered door card is not flexable enough and when the garnish mould is attached its bulging. I'll have to work out how to take the bulge out again without damaging anything. I went and saw a different upholsterer and he said that they should have used a thinner and more flexable door card which would have given it a bit of flexability.........damn. He gave me some more durable clips which I'll try over the next day or so.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

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3 hours ago, Ian_Greenlaw said:

Does anyone know how the spare wheel support bar sits. Either bends upwards or inwards ???

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I believe the bend goes toward the body/cowl to clear the tire.

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Cleaned up the glass rear tail light lenses and got my wife ( she has a stedier hand than me ! ) to paint the dodge wording.

You'll notice a slight style in the words which is interesting. Any how had a go at a trial fit and can't get them in.

I tried inserting the top first against the spring retainer and the bottom just wouldn't go in. Tried the bottom first and again, the top wouldn't go it.

Is there a trick to it as I worried I might break one ?

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Welcome to the land of 34 Mopar tail light lenses.  I still, after many years, cringe when I am putting them in.  Put the top in first, pushing the springs in as far as they will go and then (and I think this is the real trick) try to some extent slide them up a little bit.  You should then be able to work down the side of the lens, getting it past the lip of the shell, and then gently push the bottom of the lens into the body.  Typically, this leaves the lens inside of the shell but a little high.  You then have to gently work it down so it snuggles into the edge of the shell, with the small nub at the center bottom of the lens fitting into the small notch in the shell.  This nutty way to install the lenses is probably why so many lenses are found with the edges chipped.  Good luck!

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1 hour ago, Ian_Greenlaw said:

Thanks SCott,

Your explanation is excellent. I'll have a crack ( I hope they don't ) today !!!

 

Cheers

Ian

Always lay a towel down in case you lose grip of the lens. I learned that with my 1936 DB taillight lens.

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Well I took a deep breath and had a crack at the rear tail light lenses. To my surprise the left side went in using Scott's method ( I'll straighten it up a bit later ).

The right side was another story. Tried using the same method and no go. Almost though. Used some lubrication and still nope. Got my dremel out and VERY gently ground down each side.....still nothing. Used the dremel on the inside of the housing and it finally slipped into place. I think I'm screwed if I ever blow a globe !!!!....another job off the list. My friend is coming over to help with the spare wheel carrier hardware. At the top of one of the tubes where a bolt goes in, many years ago, has been snapped of inside the shaft so we are going to work on that.

Keiser....you'll notice the padding under the tail light as recommended in case I dropped the lens !

 

Cheers

Ian

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Today we got stuck into the spare wheels mounting and associated hardware. Before I bought the car the previous owner must have snapped a bolt off in the top of the mounting road as when we tried to test run the bolts it just fell in. We got the rod and drilled and tapped a new thread with what was left inside and it tightened up nicely. End result is that both spares and hardware all all installed. We did have to make up a new tension spring that sits inside the rod that passes through the spare wheel. Strange thing is when I was looking at this I remembered that our light fitting use a similar size piece of metal. A few bends here and there and we had the perfect spring.

Another job off the list.

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Towards the cowl otherwise the wheel wouldn't have fitted as you suggested. We tried that first and fitted perfectly.

Rock solid now. Its actually surprising how sturdy they are once all tightened up.

Next moving onto the horns. I have an original pair of restored New York 1934 Number Plates I'll pop on the car.

I designed a bracket to hold the number plates so hopefully these should all go together.

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