49 Dodge well darn, here we go again!

[Gene]

I don't know why the pictures didn't show up in the last post.
Pics 1-4 are the front of the hood closed, and and the hood open to show where the original radiator was so close to the hood.
Pics 5 & 6 show the radiator from under the hood, on both sides. In these tow pictures you can also see how the radiator fill was under the center part of the hood that doesn't open.
Pic 7 show how high above the radiator the upper hose is, this picture, the camera is level with the top of the radiator, and the hose ID diameter is 1.5".

Yesterday I spent the day with my son, he bought a new to him project, a 68 Dodge Coronet. I didn't take any pictures of it, but it is a fairly solid car that he will install a modern Hemi into. It won't likely be a rat rod though.

I spent today making the modifications to the trans cooler lines, and the radiator mounting brackets. Hopefully tomorrow it will be together and running again, and I'll post another update. At this point, I'm 3 full days and counting. I knew it was going to be a project, but it turned into a slightly bigger project then I was expecting. I was expecting I would be done with it by mid day today, it appears tomorrow may also be a long day. Gene

[Gene]

Just a couple of pics to show the difference between the two radiators. The old radiator is the black one on the bottom. it is laying out flat on a pair of saw horses, then a piece of 3" foam was laid on top of the old radiator and the new aluminum radiator is laying on the foam. The new rad is only 1/4" wider then the original rad.
Pic1 shows the difference between the bottom of the original compared to the bottom of the new rad.
Pic 2 this picture shows the difference between the top of the new radiator and the top of the old radiator.
Pic 3 shows the original plan for the trans cooler lines, and the position of the new electric fan. Notice in the pic, the new rad is turned 180 degrees, the top of the new rad is sitting on the foam above the bottom of the old rad.
Pic 4 shows where the lower rad hose had to be cut, 2" removed, and the angles shifter slightly.
Pic 5 shows where the upper hose has the new in hose filler added in the top hose, and another long piece had to be added because the top hose was originally more towards the center on the 4" taller original rad.
This was the point I had stopped Tuesday evening. Gene

[Gene]

I got the truck back together Friday afternoon, about 3:30. When I installed the electric fan, I did not buy temperature control set up, because I wasn't sure what I really was going to need. I also thought maybe, since it was cold out, I could get by without the fan for a couple months.

That was working out well until I got caught at a traffic light after the motor got warmed up, and before the light turned green, the temp was starting to creep up a little. I have a 195 thermostat in the truck, and you can get a turn on temp setting of 185 or 195, neither of which would work out well. I ended up buying an adjustable temp switch, that the turn on temp can be anywhere from 130 to 240. With those, the fan turn off is 20 degrees colder then the turn on temp. I guess that means I'm going for the turn on at 220 so it shuts off before the thermostat closes. it sounds like I need to wait until it warms up outside before I can dial my temps in, but at least it should function until then.

I just got the adjustable temp switch installed this afternoon. I took a few pictures of the finished install, but the light shining in the shop windows was too bright, do the flash didn't work, and the pictures turned out too dark. Maybe I'll try the pictures again tomorrow, maybe not. Gene

[Old Stuff]

You youngsters and your fancy hoods............... LMAO!

[Gene]

So, lets do a little update.
After the new radiator install, and I got the cooling fan operational, things were going pretty smoothly. This winter was on the mild side, but it just is not giving up. We are still hanging in the upper 40s temp wise when we should be in the low to mid 60s by now. Its hard to get motivated at these temps, and I sure can't do body work outside like I would like.

About a month after the new radiator install, I backed out of my driveway one evening and started driving across town (about 3 miles, pretty small town). What I didn't realize until the truck stopped moving was tat I blew a trans cooler line off as I backed out of my driveway. I was fortunate enough to roll into a parking lot that was across the street from an auto parts store. I really had no idea why the transmission quite working until I opened my door and saw the trail of ATF that followed me into the parking lot! As soon as I opened the hood I saw the cooler line disconnected. Of course, I had no tools with me. I borrowed a screwdriver, a funnel, and bought 4 quarts of AFT +4 ($9.00 a quart) from the parts store and went back to the parking lot and reinstalled the cooler line (I don't believe I had the hose clamp tight enough and it took a month of driving to wiggle its way off.) I was able to reconnect the cooler line (not very fun in a parking lot reaching over the fender because I don't fit under the front end of the truck. I added the 4 quarts of ATF +4 but it still wasn't touching the dipstick. Back across the street, I returned everything except the funnel, and bought 4 more quarts of ATF +4 (all the money I had on me!) Fortunately that was enough to get me back home. There I added another quart to bring the level back up full. The entire transmission only holds 9 quarts! I litterly ran it dry. As expected, I checked the tightness of all the hose clamps. I must have missed that one clamp on my final check before I started driving the truck after the radiator swap.

Since the cooler line mishap, the transmission does not have OD, but everything else still works. I'm fortunate that at least all the forward gear and reverse still functions. The OD switch is in the pan, I suspect it got damaged when I ran the trans out of fluid. I was able to use the truck (without OD) until I was able to drive the coupe. As long as I'm just using the truck locally its working OK. I'm getting started on body work right now.

I intend to make a bed cover for this truck. When I first built it, I put the gas filler inside of the bed. I want to move that to the outside before the body and paint get done, in preparation for the bed cover. Then I want to raise up the front bumper. I like the way it looks, but as far as being a bumper, its 4" too low to be effective. That is going to require bumper bracket modification and possible front nose panel modification, and I wan that done before the body and paint work as well. Gene

[Old Stuff]

Hi ha Gene!
Man the fun never ends does it? Glad things are still rolling. Temps down here got up in the mid 90's yesterday. Not bragging- summer ain't even got here yet...... Hang tough bud.

[Gene]

Its been a pretty rough early spring! Nothing serious, just crappy weather and uncooperative car & truck stuff.

We tend to drive the coupe a lot. In my old age, I find myself either driving too slow, or way too fast on long trips. One of the goals for the coupe was to get an aftermarket cruise control and get it installed. I o0rdered one online, and the box came in, but they don't include an off / on / set, or resume with the "complete kit". I knew that going in, so I bought the "kit" then ordered the switch. Everything arrived and I installed the kit, but it didn't work! According to the trouble shooting part of the installation kit, the new switch was bad. I had to send it back, and wait for a new switch.

Along the way, we decided to make a 4 day run to OK (around 800 miles away, one way). The new switch came in the day before we left! I quickly installed it, but the cruise still didn't work. I didn't have time to mess with it. After the 1600 mile trip (the cruise sure would have been nice) I checked it over again, made a few changes, and it still doesn't work! At this point, it looks like the unit itself may be bad!

One other thing I wanted to do to the coupe was replace the rear oil seal on the crank. Its been leaking a spot about the size of a quarter every day, but I was concerned it might get a lot worse a few hundred miles from home. This motor is suppose to have a rear lip seal, but once I got it apart, there was a rope seal there, and it was as hard as a rock. I couldn't get the top out, and you can't but rope seals for this motor. I ended up pulling everything off the front of the motor and removing the timing chain so I could drop the crank far enough down I could get the upper rope seal out. What was suppose to be a one day job ended up being three very long days on my buddies hoist. I got it together and the oil seal worked great. But now the valve cover gaskets were leaking, so I replace them. There is still an oil leak, I used a quart on our trip to OK. It wasn't using that much before I started! My buddy's hoist is tied up right now, so all I can do is keep adding oil. I'm having fun now!
On a positive note, I did get the gas door moved from inside of the box to the outside of the box. I have a pic of the finished job but nothing covering the process.

[Gene]

Lets try pictures again.

I had to pull the rear fender off, pull the box side off, modify the fill tube, modify the gas door, weld the gas door into the box side, and modify the box around the fill tube. Then I had to make a new lid for where the gas door used to sit, on top of the fill tube protector. Then I could put the box side back on, and reinstall the rear fender. About a week all together. Gene

[Old Stuff]

It's cool that you got the gas door out of the way and oil seal done. Gonna be interesting if the the cruise control motor ended up being bad. Was the one you ordered a universal or did it fit the donor truck you used everything for?

[Gene]

The cruise control was a brand new in the sealed box, well known aftermarket system with very good reviews. The biggest problem is I bought it about 6 months ago and wasn't able to install it until mid April. They have a tech line that I can call, but I have to have time to follow through the trouble shooting process with the tech guy, I probably have a switch in the control box in the wrong position (there are 12 switches inside of that control box). I may also need to but a clutch switch because the car has a manual trans, but the instructions say it isn't needed, it was only an engine rpm safety (only another $80). If the unit is bad, it needs to be warranted through the selling dealer, and I would have to figure out who I bought it from online. The fun just never ends! LOL!
At least I can drive the car! Gene

[Gene]

Well, since this was the 1st time I've been able to get on this site for a while, I thought an update would be good.
First, the coupe cruise control, There have been a whole slug of issues, many because of the messed up installation instructions. The instruction sheet stares out with: this is how its suppose to be set up. Then if you use this part, you change this setting, but if you use that part, you use that setting, but if you use the 3rd part, you use a combination of settings.
Then you move to the next section, and face the same issue. 3 or 4 optional parts, each with different settings.
then you have to buy a switch, and each switch has its own settings, and the wiring connectors are almost the same as the instructions for the switch show, you get to guess which wires actually go where.
There is a trouble shooting process. You check each section based on the function of the test led inside of the control box, which is mounted on the inner fender that you can't see from inside of the car. Then they tell you that if you have LED brake lights, you need a relay (not included) and there are no instructions on where the 4 wires are suppose to be connected, (the coupe has LED brake lights).

There is a magnet that is attached to the driveshaft. back in the old days, that magnet was bonded to the driveshaft, but these days its held in place with a special zip tie. The zip tie didn't hold the magnet in place very well. I ended up bonding it to the driveshaft. With the magnet secured, I've been able to have a functioning cruise control for about 60 miles before it quit again.
Going through the trouble shooting process I've discovered a wire connection that wasn't staying secure, fixing that got me another 30 miles of cruise control before it quit again. Its still an ongoing battle. I still suspect the cruise is loosing power to the switch, but it takes time to chase it down, try something, then test it again. The car is my summer transportation.

My rear oil seal is leaking again. Sigh... At least I can still drive the car,

On to other news concerning the 49 truck. I just started doing body work on it last week, about the time the temps got into the upper 90s. That slowed the process a bit, I'm still at it, but the work days are pretty short.

Pics are of the gas door move, The white cover on Pic 2 was to replace the gas door that got moved and welded to the outside of the box. I don't think I've posted them. I had to pull the entire side off the truck box to move the fill cap from inside of the box to the outside of the box.

I'm not seeing the pics, are they showing up? Gene

[JWD]

I can see the pics Gene. Gas door matches the body lines of the box real good.