1949 Dodge PilotHouse Ute from Australia.

hey

i guess moving the wheel arch can be done, whats it like to cut and swap left to right? are they uniform sort of, probably not but its a thought, i guess your not gonna keep that old paint on it if you chop the guards.
does the rad fit with the cab back that far or you got plenty of room?
im in the middle of doin my fiddly stuff on the ranchwagon, exhausts, p/s lines, auto lines, rad etc. all takes time, cant wait to fire it up one day!.

wendle said:

Hey Mick, how are ya??

I have pulled the body further forward for a look (firewall is already clearanced), it looks a little goofy with the bigger front overhang in my opinion.
I'm going to get my doors back on and stand back and have a look, but I am thinking I am going to move the wheel arch to keep the overall profile of the car low and back.

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wheel arch

can that be done if you can see what i mean, youll have to cut the arch the same both sides with a template, might work on the dodge as the arch is sort of uniform looking from the side.

mqhoon said:

i guess moving the wheel arch can be done, whats it like to cut and swap left to right? are they uniform sort of, probably not but its a thought, i guess your not gonna keep that old paint on it if you chop the guards.
does the rad fit with the cab back that far or you got plenty of room?
im in the middle of doin my fiddly stuff on the ranchwagon, exhausts, p/s lines, auto lines, rad etc. all takes time, cant wait to fire it up one day!.

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I can swap them left to right, I just looked at that today. If I do that one side will be perfect, but one side will still need a small patch to get rid of that busted up bit in the front (soon to be rear) corner.

Definitely keeping the old paint even if I modify the guards. All the other repair work I have done is raw and fits in well. And nothing really ever rusts in Canberra Just have to do a reasonably neat job sanding the welding back flush.

Holden rad fits easy, I'm planning on getting the fittings shifted on the old Dodge rad and using that, it fits at the moment, but is probably a bit tight. I can easily machine up to about 60mm off the length of the fan hub though, so no probs there.

Got any recent pics of the Ranchwagon?

pretty cool looking project ya got there.....[cl[cl

now hurry up and fix those fender issues[

hotrod preacher said:

pretty cool looking project ya got there.....[cl[cl

now hurry up and fix those fender issues[

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Thanks...
I am going to get the doors back on and make all the cab/front end mounts and get it all bolted down first. It's a bit too flimsy to be slicing up as it sits now.

hey

Just scored a 1937 chev 4 door tourer in ratty condition, next project!!
keep your eyes out down there for any chev sedans we can use for parts in the mid to late 1930s era, it will be done up original style in a ratty body (dads project)

Wendle,

Your a heck of a bloke, mate!

Thanks for the goodies.

Now what should I send back....hmmmm

You will just have to wait and see!

goose-em said:

Wendle,

Your a heck of a bloke, mate!

Thanks for the goodies.

Now what should I send back....hmmmm

You will just have to wait and see!

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haha. cool, good to see the cans made it. I was worried they might get punctured, hence the double insulation

mqhoon said:

Just scored a 1937 chev 4 door tourer in ratty condition, next project!!
keep your eyes out down there for any chev sedans we can use for parts in the mid to late 1930s era, it will be done up original style in a ratty body (dads project)

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okey dokey.

I need some wipers with a simple linkage system and a 12V motor if you see something.

Where did you buy your gauges that you have in your Ford from?

wipers

wendle said:

okey dokey.

I need some wipers with a simple linkage system and a 12V motor if you see something.

Where did you buy your gauges that you have in your Ford from?

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Hey,
i used a mixture of jaguar and landrover wiper system,
they are a push pull type cable system that you can chop or lengthen it to put the wipers where you want and the motor can be tucked under the dash out of the way.

otherwise fj40 cruisers have a good system, ive got one on the shelf that uses a cable between the 2 pivots, it can be mounted up top like original or under the dash.

the guages i got from rocket, it seemed easiest, mount them in and wire them up, they come with all the sensors but they cost about $600
http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugeop.aspx?sid=16
but they look good too.

what you doin about a windscreen demister? i used an old 1 litre sierra one that was made out of tin, works good and looks old. old scat looks good too or something similur unless you go an old smiths.

I think I can get my hands on an old Smith's Cyclone one, but I'll check out the sierra heater, that's a good tip. I got a mate to pull a heater out of a Suzuki Mighty Boy for me, thinking it would be small, but it is gigantic for some reason.

FJ40 wipers may be the go. I have a set of Dodge arms I got off ebay, but I don't have any of the mechanism to go behind them.

Not much time to work on this now I am back at work, but I am still getting a little bit done.
I got all the body mounts built and the body bolted down. The body will come back off down the track so I can paint the chassis and engine bay etc.

For the front mounts I built these bracket/gusset type things to tie the original body mount into my rust repair as well as bolting through to the old rust repair inside the footwell that was done back in the '60's or thereabouts. It then bolts down to the original mount through the chassis rail.





The rear ones are pretty standard fare, just a new mount on the chassis to pick up the original mount on the body.



For the front end mounts I just tied the radiator support into the front brace and ran a hole into the chassis to accept the crush tube that runs through the bushing. The will get another gusset underneath when it is back in pieces, it's too hard to get into a good position to weld them in now.



Started closing back in the floor and firewall. Fiddly, time consuming job, but I've quite enjoyed it do far.

dodge253 said:

wendle,heres a few pics from my collection to give you an idea of what i mean.

the maroon one was local to me. bee -ute-tiful.

the red dogde pic is taken from ozrodders events page and parked next to one off the best looking hot rods in australia.

mick jubbers.33.he is a member there he might know the owner of the red dodge .pretty sure its on a tonner chassis, its the only pic i have of it.

if you wanted to pick the brains of somebody that has already did the swap ,that is,with a cab the same as yours .

my 70 model dodge is a different kettle of fish,but i did have too lift the cab and gaurds up from where i wanted ,to where they needed to be ,to centre the wheels,and to get it all forward enough i had to recess the firewall also .

unlike yours going full steam ahead ,mine came to a grinding halt ,couldnt get motavated on it any more ,thats why your build is a breath of fresh air.keep up the great work .[cl

cheers Brett.

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really nice rides

Love the build keep up the great work cant wait to see it done. Wish I could see it in person I mean right hand drive Dodge Sweet.

wendle said:

I don't think there were a huge amount brought in, but we have never had the big scrap prices that you guys seem to get in waves, so most of what was brought in is still around.
With most of the cities being along the coast there is a lot of stuff rusted beyond use though

A mate of mine recently found these two solid cars near his property up in the mountains.

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would love to have the Dodge in the lower pic.

wendle said:

Starting to look a bit more like a complete car. I ended up moving the cab forward about 45mm, I htink it's pretty close to where it should be.
I need to make a decision about what wheels/tyres I am going to run and make the call on what to do with the front wheel arch to allow the tyres to clear.

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looking good!![cl [cl[dr

moparcowboy said:

looking good!![cl [cl[dr

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What are you going to use for a box? or you building a flatbed?

moparcowboy said:

What are you going to use for a box? or you building a flatbed?

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Yep, it will have a flat tray on it. I plan on attaching motorcycle style fenders straight to the axle housing so they can hug the tyres nice and tight.

Had a day off work today and got a bit done. Got all the floor/fireall cut and tacked in. I'll finish welding it all when the body is back off the chassis as the sound deadener underneath keeps catching on fire





I also bit the bullet and tried what we were talking about earlier, sectioned each fender off-centre and swapped them left to right. I got the opening dead centre of the wheel and lifted it as much as I could - about 40mm.
I now have full steering lock, but I'll still radius the opening a bit to give it a bit more breathing room.

I like it!

I like it fender work looks great deffinetly lines up on center better now.[