The Ressurection of Daphne - a 1932 DL

[Taylormade]

I had my crusty wire wheels sandblasted Wednesday and today I drove two hours up to Quincy, Illinois, where Cork Adams of Precision Wire Wheels looked them over. I was quite frankly expecting the worse, as I had several bent rims and a few bent spokes. You can see the original yellow paint peeking through where the old tube straps covered them. Even the sandblaster couldn't get the old rubber off and I had to scrape it clean.



By the way, those are Ferrari Borrani wire wheels in the background. Working on high dollar sports cars is Precision's main business, but they gladly took my poverty row Dodge wires in for reconditioning.

Cork - really nice guy who knows his business - checked them out for trueness.





I was relieved to hear that Cork considered them one of the best sets of antique wheels he's ever gotten in. It turns out that the rim dents will be easy to repair and the almost all of the spokes were tight and true. The bent spokes were straightened on the spot with no problem. Four of the wheels were "almost ready to go" with little or no work and the other two I'll use for the sidemounts.



They should be ready next Saturday and then it's off to the powdercoater.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Ian_Greenlaw]

You've probably thought of this but I stamped "S" on the two rims that were the worst of the 6 I had so once painted I could tell which were the Spares.

Cheers

Ian

[ply33]

You've probably thought of this but I stamped "S" on the two rims that were the worst of the 6 I had so once painted I could tell which were the Spares.

Cheers

Ian

Not sure I like the idea of having wheels that I only trust for spare tire use. I have gotten a couple of flats over the decades and it is nice to think that the spare is as safe to drive on as the other tires and wheels.

Along that line, I've taken to using all my wheels in the tire rotation. That means my spare wears out at the same time as the rest so I don't end up with a spare with lots of tread that doesn't match the tread on the ground and whose internal aging may be suspect.

On the other hand, my car is not a show car. I use it for touring and I don't have a trailer to get it to the starts of tours. Your use may be different.

[Taylormade]

Ian, Cork is going to stamp the wheels 1 through 6 for future reference.

ply33, He's going to repair and true all six wheels. I agree that rotating them for wear is a good idea. Daphne will definitely not be a trailer queen. I plan on driving and enjoying her as much as possible.

[Taylormade]

Work on the body continues. It's been a slow and sometimes painful process. As I mentioned before, we have decided to go with single stage black for the final finish. Some experimenting with the hood sides yielded very good results.

We have what I hope is the last application of primer. One corner of the lower body needs a little work, then everything will be guide-coated and sanded in prep for the color coat.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

After a personal property auction where we unloaded about half of our possessions and a rough bout with an inflamed rotator cuff, I'm finally back at work on Daphne. I must say it's a lot more fun putting cleaned and painted parts back together than taking them apart, cleaning and painting them!

With the bare frame back from the powdercoater, I began assembly. I previously painted the springs and installed new bushings. The first job was to install the freshly restored spring damper that fits on the front of the driver's side front spring. An unusual feature of the DL is the two front springs are different in both length and the position of the rolled area that holds the bushing. This is so the damper can fit on just one spring.

The damper is in two parts that are bolted together around the end of the spring. Inside each part is a coil spring.





Here are the springs inside each half.



The two halves bolted around the end of the spring.



Here is the spring bolted into place. Two bolts, one in the traditional position and one to hold the spring to the damper. Note the original copper plated bolts which I discovered when I cleaned them off.









Dodge used the notorious (as in hard to find) Tryon spring shackles in the late twenties/early thirties. I found some at Hershey this year, not the correct number, but good for some of the parts. Luckily, the shackles on the car were in good shape and only needed cleaning and painting. I'm not sure if they are original, but they were on the car when I bought it in 1965.



A NOS shackle fresh out of the box.






I wondered if they were installed as bare metal as all the NOS Tryons I've ever seen were not painted, but I found traces of black paint on mine when I cleaned them, so I decided to paint them.

Here they are cleaned and ready to go.




Here are the frame mounts cleaned up. The springs have the same type of mount. The red is a reflection from the jack stand, not a crummy paint job!



Here's the shackle installed. I haven't adjusted the spring tension yet. Once I do, the tabs on the "washer" will be bent around the nut to keep it from turning.



Both front springs on.



With my shoulder still killing me, I resorted to a jack to lift the restored front axle into place. I know, I'm a wuss, but what can I say?



The restored spring bumpers from Now and Then Parts, along with the spring hangers. Notice the two different lengths. The longer ones go to the front to hold on the shock mount plates also seen in the photo.



Everything bolted up and ready to go!

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[keiser31]

That is some really beautiful and inspiring work!!

[Taylormade]

That is some really beautiful and inspiring work!!

Thank you. It's really enjoyable to see it all coming together after 47 years. My only disappointment is that I will not finish in time to bring her to the 100 year celebration in Detroit where she was born.

[keiser31]

I know that feeling. I will not be able to bring my car to the meet, either, but it still should be a LOT of fun.

[Taylormade]

Work continues, but nothing very exciting. I got the rear springs mounted and put the rear axle housing in place.




I was unable to find original pattern U-bolts for the rear axle. The originals (several of which broke during disassembly) have a flat top...



...while my new ones are round all the way around. Daphne will be a driver, so no big deal, but I'm trying to keep her as original as possible.



Speaking of original, almost all of the bolts on the car have DB stamped on top of the bolt head. It's a very boring and tedious job cleaning them all off, but they are visible on the frame and I like the original look.

Primed and ready for a coat of black. They'll get nicked during assembly and I'll just touch them up.



I got the steering arms and tie rod on, but it's just temporary as I discovered one of the slotted nuts that holds on the steering arm was split. They are shallow nuts and rather hard to find, but Grainger has them.





I plan to get the differential carrier cleaned up and back in the axle housing this weekend.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Guest Kelsey]

Very nice work!!

It is amazing to see the difference between the 32 and the 37 in terms of design... Very different

I had a question for you.. you mentioned this 100 year meet for Dodge in Detroit? Can you direct me to some details on this? I may be interested in attending.

Thanks

[keiser31]

Very nice work!!

It is amazing to see the difference between the 32 and the 37 in terms of design... Very different

I had a question for you.. you mentioned this 100 year meet for Dodge in Detroit? Can you direct me to some details on this? I may be interested in attending.

Thanks

Go here....http://www.dodgebrothersclub.org/centennial_meet

[Taylormade]

For me, one of the most entertaining things about working on old cars is the problem solving and detective work necessary during a restoration. Today's foray into uncharted waters was a perfect example.

Now that I had the springs and axles on the frame, it was time to start putting all the other various bits and pieces on. The 32 Dodge seems to have more than its share. The only other car I've taken completely down to the frame was a 1929 Plymouth Model U. It had a simple frame with everything riveted together. My DL has more removable items than any car frame I've ever seen. Case in point was today's project - installing the rear motor mount. The transverse cross member has a rubber pad mounted on it as part of the "Floating Power" system. It's removable so you can get to and remove the oil pan. It looked like a simple project - the cross member and two brackets to hold it on. I'd already had the three parts blasted and powder coated and I'd cleaned and painted all the mounting bolts, so I was ready to go.

Here you can see the area we're going to address, with a convenient red arrow pointing to the offending part. This was taken during disassembly of the frame several months ago. You can see what was left of the rubber mount on top of the cross member.




I try and take as many pictures as I can during disassembly and assembly. Despite having over 1200 photos, I still discover areas that I missed or that don't show up well enough to use. I take detailed notes and draw diagrams of parts as I remove them. I also try to bag and label all parts, but I have been guilty of missing a few - "Heck, I'll remember that!" - much to my later dismay.

In the case of the motor mount cross member, things went quickly - maybe a little too quickly. First, I had to determine which direction the flange on the cross member faced. It has a flange on one side and is flat on the other. My photos clearly showed the flange facing toward the front. Problem solved.

Then came the two brackets that bolted to the side of the frame and held the cross member on. They were not symmetrical. One went on the the driver's side and one on the passenger's. The question which was which? The powder coating folks had removed my labels and I had no way to tell. I checked my notebook and "Eureka!" - I had cut several marks on the back of the driver's side mount. Second problem solved!




I loosely bolted the two brackets in place, slid the cross member into position, and after fumbling with the nuts and bolts, managed to get everything into place and bolted up. Look at that nice new rubber mount on top of the cross member!





Job done. Take a quick shower and relax. Then I go back to the computer to add the photos I took during reassembly. But wait. I'm looking at my "before" photo and comparing it with my "after." Something is not right. I dive into Photoshop mode and blow up my "before" photo in the area where the cross member meets the inner frame. What do my doubting eyes perceive? Something - a bracket...a plate...a mount? - sticking out on top of the cross member. This blow-up, with another convenient arrow, shows what I'm taking about.



Hmmmmm. I don't remember putting anything like that in place during the reassembly. Of course, I don't remember taking anything off during disassembly either, but that was five month ago. I check my "after" photo. Nothing peeking out in that area, but a nice big mounting hole clearly visible.



I rush to the garage to make sure. Nothing there. I check several other old photos. It's hard to tell, but there seems to be something there.



Back into Photoshop. Blow up that area. Sure enough, a plate sticking out, big as day.



Back to the garage. I had thought I'd laid out all the frame parts long ago. I sort through bags of parts, and there, right at the bottom of the pile, I find them - clearly labeled. how the heck had I missed them?



Tomorrow, I'll clean them off and paint them. Then it's just a matter of loosening a few bolts, sliding them into place, and bolting everything down. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't discovered the problem until I after had the engine mounted in the frame. I can just imagine finding that bag right after I had cinched down the last bolt. It would have meant disassembling everything back down to this point. Not a happy prospect.

When you take a car down to the frame - and in this case, beyond - make sure you're getting everything back into the right place and in the correct order. I was lucky in this instance and plan to be a bit more diligent in the future when putting Daphne together.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Phil 32DL6]

As you know I was fooling around in that area of my DL a month ago. I never removed those small brackets on both sides because I didn't have the need to, but in looking at the detail shots I took, it looks like those brackets are attached to the frame with large rivets on mine. Yours appear to be bolted on. Are they? We know your car is an earlier '32 than mine so maybe they switched attachment methods in between?

[Taylormade]

Phil,
That is really interesting. More detective work - those are obviously factory rivets and your car is a very original specimen. I was really taken aback when I saw my mounts were bolted on. The rivets make more sense - it is really a pain to reach inside the frame through the access holes and tighten the bolts.. Under normal circumstances, I would figure that someone drilled out the rivets on my frame for some reason and then replaced them with bolts. However, the bolts holding on the brackets were all original Dodge Brothers bolts with the logo clearly stamped on the bolt head. Also, if the brackets were ever off the frame, it was a very long time ago based on the dirt and grime that was consistent in this area of the frame. Nothing had been touched or messed with for a period long before we owned the car. There was a slight impression of the bolt heads worn into the surface of the bracket - another indication they had been there a long time.



I would have to say that I believe your guess is probably correct - that the early frames may have had the brackets bolted on and then the factory changed the method sometime during the production of the DL. I would love to hear from other DL owners as to how their brackets are mounted.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

more progress on my DL.

Got the wheels back from the powdercoater.



I'm happy with the color match. It's very close to what I found inside the wheels once the tires were off. They appear slightly more yellow in real life.





I took the differential carrier off the rear axle a while ago and cleaned and painted the axle separately. Probably a mistake as I now had to figure out how to clean the unit without messing up the gears - which were now exposed. The unit was very greasy and had a thick buildup of road grime. I got the bright idea to cut a hole in my temporary work table and drop the carrier in. It worked great. A shot after I painted it.



The differential is one heavy piece of iron. Since I'm a one man shop I had to figure out how to get it in place on the axle housing and then get a some bolts in to hold it on.



I cut the heads off a few bolts and used them a guide pins.



Then I cut a fresh gasket.



I coated it with sealer and put it in place. The guide pins really helped position the gasket correctly.



The differential slid right on with no problems and stayed in place while I bolted everything up tight with those DB bolts. My NOS axles arrived today, so the next step is getting the new bearings on the axle and the races driven into the housing.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[countrytravler]

Make sure that you didn't put the 3rd member in 180 (upside down) Sold a chassis done 33 dodge DP to a customer. He assembled the rest of the car and went to drive it. He had 3 reverse gears and 1 forward. FUNNY! Thank goodness that he wasn't close to anything. Don't know about the 32 but the 33 rear end went in backwards without a problem. This was done by the customer that we bought the car from. This is what the new customer that bought the car told me that has about 20 Mopars and Fords in the 30s. No reason to doubt him.

[Taylormade]

Thanks for the heads up. I took plenty of photos, plus you'd have to put the axles on wrong (one is shorter than the other) and I had them well labeled. There is also a notch in the housing for the ring gear that would be in the wrong position if you tried it backwards. And finally, if you did get it on 180 degrees off the back cover would have to be upside down and have the filler pointing up. The 32 must be different than the 33.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Ian_Greenlaw]

Don't laugh but I did the same thing with my 34. And that was going on pictures from an Aussie car so I thought I had mine around the right way. Lucky I realised it before the body etc went on.

[keiser31]

Make sure that you didn't put the 3rd member in 180 (upside down) Sold a chassis done 33 dodge DP to a customer. He assembled the rest of the car and went to drive it. He had 3 reverse gears and 1 forward. FUNNY! Thank goodness that he wasn't close to anything. Don't know about the 32 but the 33 rear end went in backwards without a problem. This was done by the customer that we bought the car from. This is what the new customer that bought the car told me that has about 20 Mopars and Fords in the 30s. No reason to doubt him.

I did the very same thing in my 1936 Dodge Brothers touring sedan when I was 17.

[Guest 1935du]

Those rims look great

[countrytravler]

That is funny. Wonder how the mileage would be?

[Bleach]

I did the very same thing in my 1936 Dodge Brothers touring sedan when I was 17.

Yeah but you just turned 21.

[keiser31]

Yeah but you just turned 21.

I feel like I did.

[JACK M]

50-50 chance.

[Taylormade]

If I had to give one bit of advice to anyone restoring a car - don't move in the middle of the restoration! My wife is retiring this month and we are moving to a smaller home a block away from our daughter, her husband and our three granddaughters. The good news is that we are close to the kids and my wife will finally get a rest after working all these years. I'm already semi-retired and will have more time to work on the car. The bad news is I've had to carefully pack up all the hundreds of parts and will transport the car - the parts I've put together - tomorrow. I've lost my 48X24 shed and am moving the works into a 24X15 garage. OUCH! We are adding another 24 feet to the existing garage, so not all is lost, but I will miss all the wonderful space.

I finally have the body back on Daphne after almost a year. The frame is done with all new bearings, new axles, fresh paint and powdercoat, powdercoated wheels and new Firestone tires. it's really exciting to see her looking a bit like a car for a change.











Things will be on hold until I get everything unpacked and I shoot the video for the Doge Brothers Centennial Meet. I hope to see lots of you there!

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Excellent progress for a beautiful car!

[ply33]

Moving to a smaller space with the cars in pieces? Ouch. Been there, done that.

Car is looking great!

What size are those Firestone tires? Look about the same size as I'd need on my car and I like the tread pattern. . .

[countrytravler]

Bring the car to Detroit, it would go over big!!!

[frank29u]

Tough to move during resto, but Daphne is growing up to be one gorgeous gal!

[Buicknutty]

Looking good! I did a complete restoration on my '41 Buick in a garage not much bigger than that, though I had a storage area for all the pieces as well. Challenging at times, but possible.

On a more personal note, I'm semi-retired, but my wife has a few more years to work, and we hope to move from the city house to a place in the country where I can build a large garage and shop.

Keith

Edited June 11, 2014 by Buicknutty
punctuation (see edit history)

[HotWheels]

Daphne is looking fabulous... I know its still a little bit into the future, but she is sure going to have one beautiful coming out party!

[32bizcoupe]

I got my first chance to look at your thread on a full size computer today and the pictures look great. Did you ever take the transmission apart? Did you ever find an original temp gauge?

[Taylormade]

Ply33 - Those are stock 5:50X18 from Coker. I bought them at Hershey last fall.

32bizcoupe. The transmission is still waiting. I did find a temp guage.

[Taylormade]

I see it's been a long time since I last posted. A move, construction of a garage, a death in the family and the trip to Detroit to shoot the official Dodge Brothers Club video has made it impossible to work on Daphne. As soon as the garage is finished I should be able to get back on the restoration. Seeing all those running, driving cars at the Centennial Meet was certainly motivating!

Work on the garage is going quickly and the job should be finished by the end of the week. Since my wife is now officially retired and I do most of my video work out of the home office, we decided to downsize and move to a smaller house just a block away from my daughter's family. Our three granddaughters can hardly wait for the first ride in Grandpa's "old car."

I'll miss my 48 by 24 workshop, but the extension on the garage will give me two 24 by 15 spaces to work in - end to end rather than side by side, but the car is far enough along that I really don't need as much space as before. Here are some shots of the progress on the garage.

The foundation poured and ready for construction.






The walls going up.








Sheeted and ready for shingles and siding.








Everything is supposed to be finished this Friday. Then I can put in 30 amp circuits and a 220 line for my compressor. I kept the large 80 gallon compressor and copper lines from the last shop and they will also be going in. At the moment Daphne is jammed into the rear garage with all of her boxes of parts and assorted pieces.









I can't wait to set her free.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[countrytravler]

Looking good and thanks for the update. Really enjoyed having to meet you and having the conversations with you

[zeke01]

My garage orientation is end to end also. The arrangement works ok until you want to get the back car out. I refer to the process as the "shuffle".

[Taylormade]

I've been away from the car editing the Dodge Brothers Centennial video. Now that it's finally done, I can get back to Daphne. With the garage finished, I now have a place to put things.





I've spent the last few days unpacking things and trying to get them organized. The 100 plus temperatures are not helping! At the old house everything was laid out and at my fingertips. Now I'm prowling through boxes trying to find my tools, parts and sanity. I found a good upholstery shop nearby and the seats should be ready in November. The two major tasks remaining are the brakes and getting the motor painted and installed. Hopefully I'll have those completed before the cold weather arrives.

The garage is a mess as I try to lay everything out and then get it organized on shelves. This is going to take a good week or more.







When I have something that is actually interesting to report, I'll post again.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Haa....THAT'S not a mess. I can still see portions of the concrete floor.....my shop, however....

[Taylormade]

I was out in Montana last week and found some interesting items on my travels. They don't call it Big Sky Country for nothing.



There are still old cars sitting out all over the roads I traveled. This was shot in Virginia City.



Not a Dodge, but still interesting.





An Imperial convertible - not Dodge, but Mopar at any rate.



I had a chance to see the collection of Tom Gerrard while I was out there. Some nice Mopar iron.









Unfortunately, all this traveling has had a negative effect on Daphne's restoration. My new 200 Amp service should be in and ready to go by Thursday, so I'll have lights and a compressor in the garage extension. Then I'll have no excuses and I'll have to get back to work on her.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)