Projects Plymouth Business Coupe '47 Build

Bako48,
The chop in your album looks great. Started modifying my grill and lights. Moved the headlights outboard and using '52 merc rings for a French look.

Sent you a pm, would like mor details on your chop and front end treatment.

 

Thanks I plan to modify my grill ends by welding on the spear pieces from the center grill and gonna french my headlights with the kit from butches.

 

Awesome! This project is moving right along! Great job!

 

Got to work and have fixed all the rust in the floor plans. Rockers replaced, floorboards, and the transmission tunnel. The rotator really makes it easy to fix the floor supports and seal up the bottom of the body

 

Trying to get the body done and back on the chassis. All the panels welded in. Used 3 tubes of eastwood seam seal on all the joints. Painted with por15 and then sprayed raptor bed liner. Should be pretty durable and water tight.

 

Coming along great!

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It is getting cold here so things have been slow on the Plymouth. I got the body back down on the frame. With stock body and frame it took quite a while to get it straight on the frame. They did not build them to tight tolerances in the 40's.
Here are a few pictures with it all bolted together. I bought the car in parts to this is the first time it was assembled. A lot of work to do to get it lined up.
NOTHING lines up!

 

Take a look at the hood on the drivers side. Car must have drove into a wall. Pulled the hood off and it is pushed in 1-2". Had a spare hood but had the hinge mounts rusted out. Got out the cut off wheel and welder to do a little cut and paste. End up with one good hood. Put it back on the car and lined it up at the cowl. The nose stuck out 1-1/2" past the grill. Looks like the grill was pushed in and the fenders bent down.

I broke down and bought a 10 ton porta power. Sure beats a bottle jack and a bunch of 2x4's. Got it pretty close. Not sure how it is supposed to line up. If one of the Plymouth guys have a picture please post in a reply.

 

Having a good time with the porta power, need to be careful for it is pretty easy to over bend the body. A few pumps and you can move a quarter panel 1/8" to get good gaps. Got both doors and the trunk lined up really close. The wife liked locking me in the trunk to line up and tighten the hinges.
Going to work on the hood & front grill a bit more.

Once i get everything lined up and gap's set going to go for a top chop.

 

Great work..Love the 4 link setup..Lookin good

 

Got back in the shop today and started on the brakes. Could not fit a cylinder under the floor so had to go with a swinging pedal. Bought the speedway brackets and pedal. Like everything on a build it did not fit without modification. The new firewall is on a 15 degree angle.

First step was to drill out the firewall, then cut off the pedal bracket and re-weld it on a 15 degree angle.

The booster was on two much of an angle so need to fab up some brackets to level it out.

Last photo are all the parts laid out on the floor before assembly.

 

Went together pretty easy with no major issues. The under hood brackets moved the cylinder forward a few inches, close to the hood but it clears OK.

Pedal fit perfect in the car. Need to put the seat back in and fit the pedal and steering column.

 

Looks like you got the grill shell lined up pretty good, once you put the stainless back on it will look right.

The brake pedal seems like its way over to the side though, it might look weird once it's all put together, is the steering column going to be moved over as well?
I like the progress.

 

I have the steering column in its original position on the dash. With a lot of manipulation I was able to get the u-joints around the engine. Master Cylinder is just to the left of the column, lines up correctly in the car. Withe the booster and angle brackets the master cylinder moved forward quite a bit. Going to see if I can make a new bracket to move it back closer to the firewall.

 

looking great. you consider moving the rear axle back about an inch tho. my 48 has the axle moved and looks more centered that way.

 

MC set up looks great! I'll need to be redoing mine some day. Hope it turns out that good!

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WIPERS:

I needed a break from body work so started working inside the car, specifically the dash. I had bought a Newport Wiper motor a while back. If was pretty easy, fit right in place. It is a well-constructed product with all the proper mounting hardware. When I bought this car it was a basket case, completely disassembled. It took me 3 tries to get the wiper arms on the proper side and right direction. Put the battery to the switch and they worked fine.

 

A/C System:

Next up was installed the heater/evaporator from Vintage Air. Had to notch the cowl on the passenger side to get the unit far enough to clear the wiper motor and cowl vent. Tight fit, but with a lot of jiggling you can clear the wiper motor, wiper linkage, and cowl vent. I cut off the cowl vent lever, tucked it in closer, and re-welded it to clear the evaporator.
Looks pretty good with the dash on, everything seems to fit and clear OK. There is a small corner of the evaporator case visible under the far right of the passenger side. I might need to extend the dash down a bit to hide it.

 

A/C Continued:

I thought there was a lot of room but tried to get the 2 defroster hoses and 3 A/C hoses attached. Had to take everything apart and put the hoses on, then squeeze it back in. I cut vents in the dash outside corners, using the 40 Ford Ash Tray Vents. There won't be a speaker in the dash so built a hidden vent behind the speaker grill.

Heater, A/C, Cowl Vent, lots of hoses and it all fit.

 

GLOVE BOX

Since I had the dash in thought I would take a few minutes and make a new glove box. Mine is like most older cars, waterlogged and held together with duct tape.

1. First Step make a cardboard and masking tape pattern.
2. Next cut it open and traced the pattern on automotive water-board. This is normal material used for door panels.
3. I scored the lines and formed it into a box.
4. Some weatherstrip adhesive and stapled it together.
5. I had some black speaker box covering material, feels like felt. Cut it to fit, sprayed some adhesive and your done.

I intent to put the controller and gauges for the air suspension in the glove box.

 

I put the Rocky Hinge electric operator on my cowl vent and it cleared out a lot of room for the AC

 

Nice job on the glove box.

 

What He Said. Are you going to fiberglass or otherwise seal the new box?

 

That ac install looks real clean and glove box to.

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I have made quite a few glove boxes out of the black water board. Seem to hold up pretty well without coating them.

 

Well it has been pretty cold here in Wisconsin so hard to work outside. Propane prices have over doubled and can't even get it to heat the garage.

Decided to start sewing he seats. Seems that they picked up a few travelers, the mice made nests in the seat bottom spring pockets. Had quite a bit of target practice until I got them all.

Normal horse hair and burlap construction over springs. Took it all apart, cleaned the rust off the springs and them painted them to keep rust from creeping through the fabric. Started off with dense 40# foam, them cotton





batting to give it some of the old car "couch" feel.

 

Spray glue and a bunch of hog rings get it all attached.

 

I had some out vinyl so made sample patterns. The old fabric was so far gone could not use it for much.
I found the original gray flannel pin strip fabric. Pricey @ $90/yard but think it looks pretty cool. trying to stay with the original art deco look and feel.

Cut out and fitted the patterns, then copied them on to the fabric.
On all my cars I glue 1/2" 'sew-foam' to the fabric. It gives some body and a better feel when sitting on it. A bit more of a challenge to sew it all together.

 

Got carried away with sewing and fitting the parts on so forgot to take photos. Here it is setting in the car completed. Looks pretty good, happy with how it turned out.

Next step the door panels!!!!

 

Looking good! Great job on the interior.