I decided to work on the door glass rather than crawl under the truck to run brake and fuel lines (just can't seem to get excited about that job).
When I bought the 37 it was missing the driver’s door window, regulator and track. I’ve been keeping my eye out for a replacement regulator since I got the truck (and got serious about finding one over the last 6 months or so). I've had no luck finding a 36-38 regulator but several years ago I did find a pair out of a 1940 Dodge truck that I bought “just in case” (and if I remember correctly I only paid $25 for the pair).
I already had enough window channel felt and cat whisker left over from other projects to do the doors, so I sent the one side window out to the glass shop to have another window cut and decided to see if I could make the later regulators work.
The 39-47 window regulators (top) are a completely different style than the 35-37 regulators. It would have been nice to find the correct regulator but in reality the 39-47 are probably a better unit (and I can find a bunch of them to include NOS if I ever need another one).
While the doors won’t interchange the dimensions and inner panels between the 2 doors are reasonably similar. After a lot of measuring and a bit of tweaking I drilled the four 1/4" and one 2" hole and got the first one mounted in the drivers' door.
The window crank is moved down a little bit and I had to extend the window crank shaft a bit to prevent the crank from rubbing on the door panel but that's all minor.
I suppose someone makes an extension, but I couldn't find any when I did a quick search. As the window crank and door handle shafts are 3/8" square, I just bought a couple of cheap 3/8" socket extensions. I heated the extension red hot and let it cool to take the temper out of (makes it a lot easier to drill the roll pin holes). Then it was just grind the shaft down to a 3/8" square.
This was before I drilled the holes for the roll pins (which went pretty easily after the heat treatment). If I do decide to upholster the door panels at some point I'll have to make up a set of 4 for the door handles and window cranks to clear the upholstery but like I said that's pretty simple to do.
I still have to do the passenger door but after figuring out the drivers' door that should go pretty quickly.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2296247 04/29/1709:58 PM04/29/1709:58 PM
I've been making a bit of progress on the 37. I was to the point where I needed to get a floor in it before I could do much else. The 37 originally had a metal floor in the bed (big selling point for some back in the day). Somewhere along the way the floor was cut out and by the time I bought it there was only a badly rotted piece of plywood kind of covering the bed. Fortunately when they cut the bed out they did weld in bracing to support a new floor.
It's still up in the air about what it will end up with when the truck is painted and pretty. I've kicked around putting a steel floor back in it, using aluminum diamond plate or doing a wood floor. For now I just decided to go with wood and ordered a set of bed strips.
I didn't want the floor to look too good at this point so it just got a light stain and some Thompson's water seal.
With the floor in I got the gas tank mounted and fuel lines run and pumps and filter installed.
That left putting the battery somewhere. It was originally located under the passenger side floor in the cab. I figured that I would either keep it there or maybe move it under the floor of the bed. The dual exhaust pretty much eliminated both of those areas. That just left mounting the battery in the bed of the truck. Until I get the paint and body work done I kind of figured a shiny new aluminum or stainless battery box would look out of place .......and I knew I'd hate the look of a plastic one. I was going to fabricate a battery box out of some old painted metal I had to make it look a bit aged. But came up with this idea of using an old tool box if I could find one big enough. I found a decent one on E Bay they didn't want an arm and leg for that I figured would go well with the rest of the truck.
It's even big enough that I can throw a hand full of tools.
With the tank and battery done, the truck was finally able to move under its own power for the first time. I was just going to back it out of the shop so I could clean the bay out (really ).
Of course that turned into taking a couple of laps around the arena :LOL::LOL . I still have a ton of stuff to do but at least it moves under its own power.
Last edited by Mike P; 04/30/1711:46 AM.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2296528 04/30/1702:24 PM04/30/1702:24 PM
The wood looks good, personally I don't like the looks of diamond plate except on a piece of excavating equipment. Good Idea on the battery/tool box , fits right in and looks good.
it's ok to butt heads, just don't do it with a butthead
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2299420 05/05/1711:00 AM05/05/1711:00 AM
I temporarily set the front fenders back on the truck so I could check how I liked the current tire sizes one more time before I buy new ones and start getting the alignment dialed in. I ended up deciding to step the rear tires down one size to get a little more clearance on the fenders and take a bit of rake out of it.
I also put together a downsized front bumper to see if I liked the looks of the truck that way.
Next week will probably be getting the pipes for the exhaust cutouts tack welded in before I pull the fenders back off.
.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2299432 05/05/1711:15 AM05/05/1711:15 AM
".......... i like the look of the front bumper !........."
"......... Sorry, .....I don't....."
Yeah, me too.
If Arizona was a state that required a front bumper, or a front license plate (which would mean needing a place to hang it) I would be absolutely sold on it. As neither applies here I'm still kind of up in the air as to whether it stays or not. Sometimes when I walk out and look at it I really like it, other times I think it would look better without it. At least the whole thing can be removed in about 30 seconds.
With the current state of the paint/patina on the rest of the truck anything freshly painted or chromed stands out way too much. Fortunately silver paint (especially spray can stuff ) seems to age fairly rapidly. The current plan is to pull the bumper and bracket off and set it out in the Arizona sun and rain for a while to take a bit of the shine off of it.
.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2302594 05/10/1710:15 PM05/10/1710:15 PM
I was figuring out my new video editing program today and did a short video on the 37......it's not very polished but I thought some here might get a kick out of hearing the truck run.
Still have to get tires and alignment but it's getting closer.
.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2302617 05/10/1711:15 PM05/10/1711:15 PM
69.5 A12 Bee, first purchased in 1976, car 169 on registry
69 Coronet R/T 440/4 spd
69 Coronet 500 Conv H code 383 4bbl/auto
37 Plymouth PU
Find your spot on earth and ride it.
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2302683 05/11/1712:40 AM05/11/1712:40 AM
That's neat. I love the wrecker winch in the back.....I played with a similar idea for a while. Is it driving or are you still building?
Mines getting closer to being on the road. It got it registered and tagged yesterday and I have an appointment at the alignment shop a week from today.
Last edited by Mike P; 05/24/1710:26 AM.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2310475 05/24/1705:48 PM05/24/1705:48 PM
I cruise around it it, it always draws tons of attention its over cammed so it really thumps through the open exhaust. The rat rods are tons of fun... I've never washed it yet.... lol
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2312641 05/28/1710:55 PM05/28/1710:55 PM
I've got the front fenders back off so we can do the alignment on Wednesday. While I've got a bit more working room I decided to get the radiator overflow tank built and installed. With the old Hemi in there there's not a whole lot of room to mount a tank in any of the more conventional places. There is however a pretty good space above the radiator.
While trying to come up with a tank that would fit I came across this 1/2 gallon go cart gas tank. I figured the curve in the front would match up pretty well with the curve of the grill (which it did).
I made a couple of modifications to the tank (sealing the fill hole and adding a 90 degree barb fitting to act as a vent/overflow) and got it mounted this afternoon.
Basically it should work fine by just filling the radiator to the top and letting the tank hold the expansion (and suck it back in when the truck cools). If it turns out that I want/need to add a fill port to the tank I'll probably pick up a flush mount motorcycle gas tank bung and cap.
..
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2312990 05/29/1702:23 PM05/29/1702:23 PM
As has become the norm for this project it got back burnered for a while. I got it in to the alignment shop abnd the alignment came in there I wanted it. That left getting the exhaust cut out cables in, reinstalling the front fenders and getting a few miles on it.
It's a long story but after 3 months I'm finally able to get back to work on the Dodge. When we took it in to the alignment shop the starter started acting up so that was the first thing I needed to do today.
Nothing screams MOPAR like the sound of the old gear reducted starters Chrysler used in the 60-70s. I didn't have one of those on the shelf but I did have one of the newer "mini" starters MOPAR started using in the 80s. I had bought it to use when I built the clutch linkage on the 57 Plymouth and ended up actually having enough room to use the old style instead so I was only on the 57 for a month or so.
After sitting on the shelf for 10 years I decided that what the heck and put it on.
I miss the sound of the old starter, but don't mind the smaller size, lighter weight and the way it turns the engine over.I may to a postmortem on the starter I took off and if it's repairable reinstall it, but for now I'm calling it good.
Last edited by Mike P; 08/28/1708:24 PM.
1957 Plymouth (Hemi, Dual Quads, A833 4 Speed 9 1/4 w 4.10) Sold 1937 Dodge Pickup (Hemi, 6X2 intake, 46RH, Dana 60 w 4.56) Sold 1968 Plymouth Valiant 2dr sedan (354 HEMI, 46RH w/4.30 gears)
Re: 37 Dodge PU - Change in Direction
[Re: Mike P]
#2378070 09/28/1712:57 AM09/28/1712:57 AM
With the starter changed I was able to take the truck around the block a couple of times and got the kickdown cable adjusted. In between other things I got the cables run to open and close the exhaust cut outs and finally got the front fenders and hood back on it.
With luck tomorrow I'll be able to get the speedometer calibrated and the transmission controller dialed in.
After 15 years it will be good to finally put some miles on it.