1937 Dodge D-5 4 Door Touring Sedan

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Dodge interior panels are coming along. Replaced the tarred hardboard with abs, leather seals with EDPM and added vapor barrier. Power washed, no leaks in the cab.

Pulled about 1000 steel penetrating panel nails and started replacing them with rivit nuts and GM plastic door card studs.

Could be ready for foam and cloth in a month or so. Vapor barrier is nearly done. (All 4 doors, B pillers, trunk/rear quarters.

I've finished the rear door cards and cards for the b pillars. I'll finish up front door cards in March and rear quarter cards and rear arm rests too.

After that will be the first cloth, probably headliner first.

Only thing il planning to farm out is the seats. There are last as I have many springs to replace first.

Planning to go grey with navy or royal blue accents and napped cotton and duck canvas.

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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Arm rests will be the big job. But I have 2 sets of rotted cardboard and bracketry to recreate in abs plastic.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Finished putting in all the hardware for the headliner install and finished up the front door cards today. {Including remounting my holster on the driver's door.}. Rear seat arm rests are next.

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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
what are those white dots for,,,, covering your screws or decorative trim?

GM door panel rivets. They get covered by the upholstery. The black and plastic is the paneling. Right now the rivets are shoved through the holes for ease of removal when it's time to put on foam and cloth. Once that's done the rivets pop into the paneling from the backside and can be replaced if damaged. If I covered them this way there'd be no way to replace them later without removing the upholstery.

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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Steering column to firewall sealed with Hyundai cv joint boot.

Trans shifter to floor board sealed with Kenworth shifter boot.

Both a perfect fit in an 86 year old Dodge.


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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Front windows leaked and I thought the new seals were too small.

Turns out the upper inner braces had failed and the shop did not fix. I did have to straighten out bent inner panels , heaven knows how the shop sprung them. Sucks making these repairs on a painted car.

(Prolly need to do same on rear quarter vent windows) So.....done now, adjustable and the seals no longer fall down in the doors.

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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Ummm, running a bit rough, naturally, checked for vacuum leaks. None noted. Evidentially I have a spark leak, cause POW!!!!....sprayed the back of the carb near dizzy wires and she fluffed up in my face.

Had a fire bottle in the car, so no damage. Gotta get an air cleaner and perhaps new plug wires.

Always have a fire bottle. Half second squirt and the fire was our. Oh but what a mess. Engine needs a bath now.

Good news is the test ride for suspension upgrade (82-02 Camaro rear sway bar) IMG_20230323_173822683.jpgIMG_20230323_125652323.jpgwent well. Rides like it's on rails now. No more bouncing around in the car like a turd in the wash machine!
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Got her cleaned up. While wet I fired the motor and with wet hands held each spark plug wire. No shock on 1-3-5-7-4-6. Did get tingly holding on to 2 and 8. I'll try a new cap and rotor first. The wires are only 1 year, 4 k miles.

Timing checks at 12 initial, 34 off vacuum at 3000 ish rpm and 48
On vacuum, same rpm.

Idle vacuum is 19.5-20 inches-- steady--840 rpm in park. Screws are 1.5 rich. Leaner doesn't change vacuum, half turn richer drops vacuum 1 inch.

Pretty sure from the loud pop that started the fire and the tingle, it's an ignition fault.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
Ps....love the sway bar. Changed from a wallowing buggy to predictable. Lots less steering input needed and it's very confident in turns without the feeling I might soon drag a footpeg.
 

Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
In 1937, Dodge commenced marketing Safety. Hydraulic brakes, tip toe clutch for the ladies, solid steel "Safety Dash" with fully recessed controls (to minimize depressed skull fracture).....and out back?

Within the cavernous rear occupant compartment are these, now rebuilt in Chrome, leather and beautiful royal blue marine vinyl.

What are they, You may ask?

Hand holds, for whenever the ride gets "Jiggy". So thoughtful, the Dodge engineers even included a hook to hang your pants!!!



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Sharps40

Old Mossy Horns
One Heck of a pile of waste car upholstery, some of it 86 year old burlap and horse hair stuffing. But, worth the effort.

To the right are Ol Bessie's rear seat base and back. Springs retied, all form, support and listing wires as close as I can get them back to original shape. All the myrad springs now working as one 50 in wide spring.

Should be able to start covering, foam and upholstery in the next several days. With luck, in a week the entire back half of the car will be completed.

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