Hi Fellow Plymouth Friends,
I'm currently bidding on a nice 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook, and wanted to know what to "worry" about if should be lucky enough to win. I currently own a couple of old, aircooled VWs and find them pretty easy to deal with. I bought them so I could work on them myself, and I would like to be able to do the same on my Plymouth. As such, I was hoping you could tell me what special tools I'll need, and what parts to worry about. From what the current owner says, neither the Gas Gauge or the Radio work, but everything else does! I hope!
Where do you guys get your parts? How about interiors? The current owner says he redid the seats and carpets, but the door panels need to be redone. Does anyone make door panel replacements?
I have tried several web searches, and I've found a couple of leads, but sometimes finding the "correct" part, or rebuilder, is hard unless you "know". Thanks for reading this, and any help will be most appreciated.
George :)
The only special tools you might need is a heavy duty hub puller should the rear dreums need to come off. And a brake gauge for centering and adjusting the brakes. these are Lockeed style and need to be dealt with as closly as possible to the factory method.
Otherwise they are a simple and reliable car. Keep in mind that they are long stroke engines and like to keep their rpms down and are set up to produce torque not HP.
I would suggest you visit the P15 D25 website and read all the information there. This site is aimed at 46-early 49 Plymouths and Dodges but mechaically the 53 is nearly identical. Attached to that site is a lively forum that welcomes and supports virtually all
flathead 6 powered Chrysler Corp vehicles.
Lotsa stuff to help you here, If you chose to register for the forum (which you can access without registering but can not post) it might take a day or to as there is only the webmaster so you may not recieve your confirming email for a couple of days or so.
http://www40.addr.com/~merc583/mopar/framesets/welcomeframeset.html
I might add to plym_46's post that your basic engine had about a 40 year production run (1933 to 72) if you count the various incarnations and the industrial applications after they stopped putting them in cars in 1959. So many parts are available at your local better auto supply. The trick is that they won't have your car in their books to look things up. So getting a factory shop manual and parts book will be invaluable. For instance, I can often find the modern cross reference for a part for my 1933 by keying in the original Chrysler part number into the NAPA Online web site with the "interchange" option checked. Once I have the NAPA number I can go to my local CarQuest and get the part. Often on the shelf but if not it can be in the store in the afternoon if I call in the request in the morning.