1948 plymouth

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

long story short, dad and I got this from a lady's collection, It was the first car her and her husband bought and the last to leave the collection. Her husband died in 74 i believe and this car has sat sense then. It had dot5 brake fluid put in the brakes and the gas drained out and the coolant drained out. oil was still in the car and looked clean for its age. we tore into the motor to find massive amount of crap left from the coolant and lots of oil leaks. at that point it was rebuild the old motor or find a new power plant, fast forward to this last weekend, we have a .030 over motor that was bought used and many hours went into cleaning the motor and replacing stuff, (head gasket, all freeze plugs, and so on) now for some photos.
will fill in as we get close to firing the motor

 

[rex1927]

Neat

Nice find[cl

 

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

more photos

 

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

Sorry, but the photos are a little burly.
more photos, as of this last sunday, motor is bolted in. and starts the process of putting it back together.

 

[Tim...Ok]

cool old Plymouth..Needs a hemi

 

[42chevy]

Very cool car!

 

[BruceR&C]

Nice, clean P15. Keep the pic coming. [P[P[P

 

[hkestes]

Great start.

If you are not already signed up over at the P15-D24 site http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/index.php?referrerid=1152 I would suggest you do. There is a ton of info over there on these old Mopars.

One other suggestion is to look for an R10 Overdrive from a mid to late 50's Plymouth or Dodge. It is a direct bolt in as long as you do not get one from a fluid drive model and you retain your column shift. Once in just add a few wires for the solenoid/govenor and you are ready to go. The OD will let you comfortable cruise at 65-70. Another option to get an OD is to go with a T5 from an S10. Paul Curtis https://home.comcast.net/~pjplymouth/t5.html sells an adaptor for the T5 to Mopar flathead. Lastly is to go with a 90 or so Dakota or early 70's B-Body 8 3/4 rear. They are basically a bolt in with relocation of the spring perches. Your stock rear will be a 3.90:1 or 4.10:1 gear which will limit your ability to cruise on the highway, the OD or rear swap will help greatly.

I went with the R10 and it is probably the single best mod I have made with the possible exception of the front disc brakes.

A stock rebuild of the front suspension with a couple of mods will be more than adequate. Olddaddy http://rustyhope.com/ sells what is basically a bolt on disc brake kit. It requires you to drill/tap the three spindle mounting holes to a larger size then just bolt everything on. Lastly is a relocation of the top shock mounts to the frame rather than the upper control arm which greatly improves the ride.

Here are a few photos of my 48 coupe.

Here is a video of my old 218 running prior to the swap to my new 230 with the aluminum head. Rest of the goodies were swapped over to the 230. These things sound great with split exhaust. Mine is running through dual 2 1/4 inch pipes with short 14 inch no name turbo style mufflers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxfKQ4KMM9s

There are starting to be a few suppliers with parts for the flathead Mopars.

Edgy Speed Shop - http://edgyspeedshop.com/ - Finned aluminum heads, dual intake, reground cams

Langdon's Stovebolts - http://stoveboltengineco.com/ - Dual intake, Cast Iron Fenton repop headers, Mini HEI distributors

You can also find some vintage speed parts on Ebay from time to time but they tend to be a little spendy.

Good luck with your build and I am glad to see you stick with the flathead. If I can help any way let me know.

 

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

Edgy (earl) is a good friend of ours, done lots of work with him, I do have a 230 that was built by him all all the best parts. decieded not to use that motor.

before we had this car, we had 4 over drive trans that would have worked, but sold them up in portland swapmeet, would love to have just one of them now!

thanks for all the other info, it will come in handy.

 

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

it lives! primed the fuel system and had a new battery! fires right up and runs smooth! well sort of! major oil leak at the oil filter (oil every where,dam it) and carb needs to be resealed, we have a new one on the way. i will put the new one on and rebuild the one on the car. after we button up the leaks we will run it for a wile and then onto the brakes! getting closer. will have photos soon!

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

I like it, A LOT! Any reason the motor is grey?

 

[Rat_Rods_Forever]

Just different. black on the block would have been too much.