1957-58 Plymouth build

[John Hatchard]

The early 383's were painted turquoise for the Mopars.

But Jensen painted them black with silver covers, for some strange reason?
Not my favourite colour but its original for Jensen CV8, Interceptor etc...

This is another 1964 Cv8 engine I did a few years back.

 

[John Hatchard]

As you probably know the 350ci was a 4 1/8 bore bigblock.
Which grew to 361 the following year and then in 62 up to 383ci.
That was the same block just bored out!

I have one of these early 361 into 383 blocks with the correct heads which are 4 bolt covers.
These are different to the 64 on head castings which are 6 bolt covers.

Not sure how original you want to be?

Unfortunately I did have the 8 barrel manifold which was fitted to Facel Vega engine, but I sold it...

 

[TerryM]

Anyways what I would like to offer you is 'a BIG BLOCK' engine from England.

I have a garage full of engines from Mild to Wild lol...
As a lifelong collector and builder of Mopar engines I have some spare!

Just finished a first year 383ci engine 62/63 for a Jensen Cv8 but the owner has fallen on hard times!
If you are interested I can send it to you for a nominal fee...

Don't forget to ask the DOG first lol...

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Hi Mate, thanks for the kind offer I really appreciate it. . I have a big block put away for this project but I am thinking i will just run with the small block for the time being with the fuel being crazy at present. I am averaging about a dollar a mile here from my pace car which is taking some of the fun out of driving it. I am big on road trips in my old cars but at present that is too costly. The Jensen interceptors out here ran the 440 in them which my uncle stuffed into an old dodge pickup when i was a kid with a 6 pac on it. He used to drive me to work each day, it only had one bucket seat and a milk crate for me to sit on haha. It was a wild piece of machinery, fuel guage didnt work but we used to have a broom handle we would dunk down the filler tube. I think he went though a set of tyres every month the way he drove it lol.

 

[John Hatchard]

My pleasure Terry.

Always happy to help a fellow Moparman.
Sixpack 440ci Jensens are very rare indeed!
Love the story of the Dodge pick-up, those days are long gone sadly...

Some cars drink fuel and that's without a lead-foot driver!
My mate runs a 318ci injected Ram most days in LA and he says its still ok.
But he used to run around in a 360 'Little Red' truck and it was horrendous!

Its all about the fuel management systems...

We can get better miles out of a trick 512ci than a two barrel 383ci, go figure???

Best wishes from the OLD country.

John

 

[TerryM]

A little more progress on the Plymouth this month. I have been setting up some front disc brakes on it. I am using a local ford set up which only required a little modification. I also changed out the upper control arms for 1960 Dodge phoenix ones, again just with a little modification but gives me better upper control arm bushes. I am using a 65 fury rear end with standard 2 inch drums and a modern booster set up. All seems too work pretty nice so far. Also fitted a new set of tyres. I am running 15s on it with 70-71 fury caps. I have a set of 14's i am sorting and will eventually go with them and original caps when i can afford it. Large 3 inch white walls here run at around $700 a pop so i am content for now with the ones I have on it as I would like to get it going and enjoy it and change things as I go.

 

[CBODY67]

Thanks for the updates! Are the Ford Girlock brake items unique to Oz or are they also in other areas, too? Perhaps a more in-depth thread on that aspect of things and what you did to make them work? The whitewalls and wheel covers look neat, too!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Matilda P. Fury]

Amazing job. I wish I had a 1/10 of your energy.

 

[TerryM]

Thanks for the updates! Are the Ford Girlock brake items unique to Oz or are they also in other areas, too? Perhaps a more in-depth thread on that aspect of things and what you did to make them work? The whitewalls and wheel covers look neat, too!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

I think these ones are a local set up from around 1972. I know they are an easy bolt on upgrade for a mustang so maybe a US early 70's unit would be close too?

 

[TerryM]

Just about finished the interior over the last couple of months. Just waiting on some chrome trims and some window seals before I get it registered.

 

[TerryM]

first bath

 

[3175375]

first bath

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Beautiful!

 

[TerryM]

Turns out the ball and trunion had heaps of play so I had a local drive shaft shop do away with it for a slip joint set up. Works very well. Car is registered now but still have a bit to iron out. Fuel tank o-ring is leaking so waiting for a new one to arrive. Also some other teething issues. Need to find a set of the large ribbed gutter stainless for the roof yet and some 58 dog leg molds.

 

[BAD69FURY]

Turns out the ball and trunion had heaps of play so I had a local drive shaft shop do away with it for a slip joint set up. Works very well. Car is registered now but still have a bit to iron out. Fuel tank o-ring is leaking so waiting for a new one to arrive. Also some other teething issues. Need to find a set of the large ribbed gutter stainless for the roof yet and some 58 dog leg molds.

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Hi Terry, your 58 is looking great! I have the same car too, had it for nearly 17 years now.

I had a small inventory of VITON gaskets made for the 58 Plymouth fuel tank. VITON is highly resistant to modern fuel blends and will last much longer than cheap o rubber gaskets that disenagrate once gas comes into contact. If you need anything I have the gas tank sending unit gasket and gas tank drain plug gaskets, all VITON.

 

[BAD69FURY]

Also keep your original gas tank lock ring they are slightly thicker than the thin ones that come new with your tank.

 

[TerryM]

Also keep your original gas tank lock ring they are slightly thicker than the thin ones that come new with your tank.

Thanks mate. I have a few original lock rings and agree, the new ones are not as good. I do have some good quality sender unit gaskets I had made quite a few years ago which work really well. Just trying to sort the filler neck tube seal at present. I just need to spend some time and drop it back out. I have ordered a new one from Vans but still about 4 weeks away.

 

[Unix]

Wow, what a beast! Aweome work

 

[BAD69FURY]

Thanks mate. I have a few original lock rings and agree, the new ones are not as good. I do have some good quality sender unit gaskets I had made quite a few years ago which work really well. Just trying to sort the filler neck tube seal at present. I just need to spend some time and drop it back out. I have ordered a new one from Vans but still about 4 weeks away.

Ok great, and good news the vans auto fuel tank filler neck seal is made of VITON I asked him what the material was when ordered.

 

[OKDart]

Turns out the ball and trunion had heaps of play so I had a local drive shaft shop do away with it for a slip joint set up. Works very well. Car is registered now but still have a bit to iron out. Fuel tank o-ring is leaking so waiting for a new one to arrive. Also some other teething issues. Need to find a set of the large ribbed gutter stainless for the roof yet and some 58 dog leg molds.

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I have 2 pairs of the ribbed roof trim and I'll only need one. One pair is still on the parts car (pictured) and has years of filth on them, the other I bought years ago and stashed away, I think the only issue on those were rusted mount studs. Let me know if your interested and I'll take a better look at them.

Also, did you straighten the '57 lower quarter panel sportone trim ends, or did you replace it with '58 trim?

 

[TerryM]

I have 2 pairs of the ribbed roof trim and I'll only need one. One pair is still on the parts car (pictured) and has years of filth on them, the other I bought years ago and stashed away, I think the only issue on those were rusted mount studs. Let me know if your interested and I'll take a better look at them.

Also, did you straighten the '57 lower quarter panel sportone trim ends, or did you replace it with '58 trim?

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Hi mate, I would deffinelty be interested in them. The bottom ones I cut the last foot and a half of each trim and tig welded on some sedan strips. The tops were just cut to size. Kind Regards Terry

 

[OKDart]

Hi mate, I would deffinelty be interested in them. The bottom ones I cut the last foot and a half of each trim and tig welded on some sedan strips. The tops were just cut to size. Kind Regards Terry

It doesn't look like I can send pics in a private message, so I'll post them here if that's alright. I got to looking at my parts car, and besides the ribbed trim and drip rail trim, it looks like there's some more stainless on the outside of the rubber window channel (see 1st pic).

Pic #1: Parts car showing 3 pieces of stainless
Pic #2: Nick on ribbed trim
Pic #3: Drip rail/rain gutter trim
Pic #4: Bend on drip rail trim
Pic #5: Ribbed trim