41 Plymouth gasser

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

I've owned this 41 Plymouth for probably 5 years now. The photo in the little box to the left here is the car. It was a trade deal for a 74 Roadrunner I had started re-doing. I'd never been that crazy about the 74 and had seen this 41 advertised for some time, cool, but over priced. The owner was younger than me and I figured he might be more interested in the 74, so made a proposal. He was enthused about trading.

We were, I believe, both happy with the deal. In fact he has since finished the 74 and sold it again. I've not seen the car since.

I knew going into it that the 41 needed a lot of sorting out. The basic work done to the car was sound and I sure liked the way it looked. It had initially taken some time to get the car to start and run well enough to try and drive down the road but I was happy with it anyway.

I'd set the car aside for a couple years for reasons I'll explain later, with intentions of getting it up on the hoist this winter and getting serious about things. I got it up in the air last evening and am still laughing about things I found.

Photos to follow.

Darter6 · Dec 15, 2021

Gassers, Love 'um !

Longknife · Dec 15, 2021

I love old 40's and 50's gassers. I passed one up a year or so ago. It was a '46 Ply with a 440 made to look like a 413 with dual carbs and a four speed. Wish I would have got it!!,,,PLEASE post some pics!!!!

440Coronet500 · Dec 15, 2021

I really like the Plymouth Coupes. Mine is a 1940 Business Coupe, been working on it on and off for a couple years now. I've got a fresh built 340 to drop in it. Lots of fabrication work to complete, firewall comes to mind! 440'

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

Here it is. Someone did a pretty decent job blending in the fenders and streamlining the back of the car. I love the LED tail lights (if they only worked). The dash is setup pretty well and someone before me put the aluminum insulating material in the car. It's got seats out of a Stratus. Drivers is power (but it doesn't work unless I jump power to the wires) and the back seat fits quite well. Vent windows have been eliminated and full sheets of plexiglass comprise the door glass. All the gauges but fuel gauge work. Speedo is not hooked up.

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

It has an 8 3/4 in it. Was a 3:91 sure grip when I got the car. After a couple trial runs on the road in front of my house the rear end locked up. No rear end grease had been put in it. It literally locked up in front of my house. I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to get it moved and the first car to come down the road is..... the sheriff. He was cool about things. Was in a rush to get somewhere so just told me to get it moved as soon as I could and was on his way. Whew!

The drive shaft is a bit shorter than I'd like. It has a nice looking fuel cell and rear mount for battery. There is a fuel level sender wired in but of course it doesn't work. When I got under the car I had to look for a while before I realized the fuel cell is in backward. I particularly liked the pinion snubber to no where. By the time that thing contacted anything the car would be broken in half. I guess it just looks cool.

The air shocks (why I've no idea) were apparently too short so they'd added some extra brackets to make them fit the body. They're going to go.

I've purchased the green bearings to convert the axles. I have an open 3:23 in the car now, and I did put grease in.

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

When I first got the car driving I could never figure out what gear it was in once it got out of 1st gear. I was stumped for a while but then discovered they'd hooked up the cable shifter to the OEM shift lever, which is not the right length for the travel of the aftermarket shifter. Now that the valve body is properly positioned the 727 shifts very well. I hate the cable operated kick down setup. It was of course hooked up wrong when I 1st looked at it.

Front shocks are in line for installation, although the car doesn't really bounce without them.

I had to look at the brake calipers for a while before I realized why they looked strange. I can just see the guy saying "On no, the brake hoses aren't long enough with the straight axle. I know, I'll just flip the calipers over and problem solved."

The power brake setup was nicely done. Seller did tell me he had to buy a second master cylinder because he couldn't get the brakes to bleed. I've not idea how he accomplished it, but the brakes worked fine. It's the standard Speedway Motors straight axle kit with GM metric brakes. Simple and inexpensive parts.

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

One creative thing that had been done was use a set of SBC fenderwell headers and convert them to fit the 383. Pretty well done overall. The side pipes sound nasty!

I've had a lot of Eddy carburetors apart over the years. This one had to be the most screwed up I've every seen. One float was way too low, the other way too high. Wrong accelerator pump seal, crap in the bottom of the fuel wells, etc. Works good now. The stock style alternator wouldn't charge. I gave up trying to de-bug the wiring and just put a one wire on it.

Probably the very first thing I'll do is remove and pitch that damn flexible transmission fill tube and stick. Of course it leaks. What a piece of crap. Plus the hole is so small you might as well be adding fluid with an eye dropper.

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

The tilt front end is pretty well done. Gas cylinders hold it up and it lines up with the cowl reasonably well. I liked where some of the relays/modules had been installed as they're east to get at. Not sure if exhaust heat is a concern or not.

The wiring on the car is just nuts. None of the lights work. Nothing seems to make sense. Looking at all the tape, cut wires, connectors, etc I'm pretty well convinced I'll start over. There's not that much to wire on these darn things. The electric radiator fan was wired to run all the time. That didn't help with starting. I installed a temp controlled relay and that did the trick.

The steering could use some work. In all my years with street rods, common opinion was a straight steer like this is prone to bump steer. The car does not exhibit that at all, but the geometry from the steering arm to the pitman arm is wrong. I plan to re-form the steering arm to better line up with the pitman arm. I have a new Vega steering box and mount that I can use if needed, although cross steering will be a bit difficult with the deep oil pan location. We'll see.

For now, I just want to say I take no delight in running down what work has been done by others on this car. I have done plenty of bone head, cobbled up messes myself over the years. I just get a kick out of some of these mistakes.

peabodyracin · Dec 15, 2021

Final picture for now. Why that many wires have to run to the headlights is not known at this time. Anyway, I'm having fun. Lay awake at night thinking and debating.

View attachment 1208300

peabodyracin · Dec 24, 2021

Well, spent a good part of the day yesterday redoing the rear shocks. Fitted some of the right length to replace the goofy upper air shock set up, all of which had been done with undersized bolts.

I moved the upper mounting point out a little on both sides. I prefer the shocks sitting like shown in the right photo.

peabodyracin · Dec 24, 2021

Pulled the axles, cut off the old bearings and pressed on a new green bearing set.

While doing this, my O'Reilly auto parts order arrived. New calipers and pads, shipped overnight from Missouri with free shipping. I don't know how they do that, especially this time of year.

peabodyracin · Dec 24, 2021

Sizing the front brakes up I discovered a fit problem with the caliper mounts. Had me stumped for a while, but finally discovered the mounts were installed upside down. Looking at the mount I can see how someone would overlook this one. This in part at least explained why the calipers had been installed upside down. I checked the Speedway Motors web site and they did have installation instructions for this kit. The instructions did call out proper orientation for the mounts.

peabodyracin · Dec 24, 2021

Looking closer I realized the caliper mount was scrapping on the king pin tube. The instructions do mention checking for this when assembling the front axle stuff. A bit of grinding solved this one.

While standing there looking at this, I suddenly realized the king pin bearing is on top of the spindle. It's supposed to be below the spindle. I'm starting to think the previous owner had assembled the front axle "upside down" and then flipped it over for final installation. Fortunately the king pin tube is oriented properly as installed.

The mail man came too, dropping off some brake lines and fittings. Nice looking stuff. I gave him a $20.00 bill for Christmas and thanked him for always making sure my stuff is placed somewhere out of the weather and safe.

Cut up the steering arm and started modifying it to improve the angle to the steering box. Tacked it up but concluded my trusty 110V Miller won't put out enough heat to weld 3/8" metal. I'll take it into work next week and weld it up there.

All for now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!

ckessel · Dec 24, 2021

You have quite a project there with stuff that needs to be dealt with. Glad you are gettin it done. On the wiring, you would be best to boot what's there and start over. Better way to spend your time to make it right. On the fuel tank, if you are going to run any fuel with alcohol in it, alcohol and aluminum don't get along. There are some additives you can put in to combat the corrosion that will come or go plastic/stainless on the tank.

barbee6043 · Dec 24, 2021

I always loved coming behind the PO to find he replaced the water pump, etc etc etc with grade 3 China hardware bolts!
And I always thought I was the biggest bonehead!!

peabodyracin · Dec 28, 2021

Some progress at least. King pin setup changed around to how it was supposed to be, new calipers and mounting brackets properly oriented plus ground for king pin clearance.

I'm waiting to final position the -3AN brake lines until I install the front shocks.

ckessel thank you for the tip regarding alcohol and aluminum. I'd not thought of that. Much appreciated.

peabodyracin · Dec 28, 2021

While I'm draining the fuel cell back at the fuel line connection point I start following the fuel line along the passenger side of the car. This kink was one of 6 I found. In one spot a hole had been drilled to slip the fuel line through, but no grommet to protect it. That was enough for me: I started cutting up the line and removing it in sections.

Last winter I'd replumbed the fuel system in my gasser drag car and remembered I had some steel braided line and AN fittings left over. I managed to find it all in my world class filing system and discovered I've just enough -8 line and fittings to use in place of the crap I removed. That got me thinking about installing an electric fuel pump. Gotta stew on that for a bit.

peabodyracin · Dec 28, 2021

While working around the rear leaf spring, I notice the bolt head running through the front spring eyelet looks a bit small. Pulled it out and yet another surprise. The photo shows the correct bolt diameter vs the one I pulled out of the eyelet. I then went to remove the other side and that bolt was a metric one.

I'm starting to get upset! The spring mount had been drilled for the correct bolt size. I can only assume this master builder didn't have long enough bolts so used what he could find.

Put the axles back in the rear end housing. I'm pleased with the green bearing setup so far. Went together very nicely.

ckessel · Dec 28, 2021

Those are some interesting discoveries. I would imagine you'll start at one end and work to the other to de-hack it. Also since you mentioned the braided line, if its older stuff the liner may not be suitable for current fuels. If its the old black liner, the fuel can get to it giving you a big soaker hose. Bad news for gas leaks.

41 Plymouth gasser

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