Thread: 57 Plymouth

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The white park light triangles between the headlights were changed too. I recognize the green van, white 65 Dart, and house in the first pic with the first pic...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Remanufactu...FZf6TD&vxp=mtr

".......The white park light triangles between the headlights were changed too........"

You're right Dave, I didn't remember I'd done that and didn't catch it when I looked at it.

"....... I recognize the green van, white 65 Dart, and house......"

Yeah the only really decent pictures of the 57 Dodge I have were taken in front of your old place.


Speaking of things I forgot I did, some of you might remember the build video I did on the 57 several years ago if not here it is.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVwm8FDXitA&t=19s



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Mike, that is very nice you have figured out a way to make it nicer to drive for you. i had almost forgotten about that Tulsa car until looking at your thread on it. It's nice to see the car will be in a museum for people to enjoy for years to come. I figured they would have pulled out much worse. We dug up a model a coupe that a friend's crazy great uncle buried in the 60s and there wasn't much left of it.

Great video including the 37 Dodge truck that came next!

Once I got the 57 drivable back in 06 the drivers’ side rear spring started to sag a bit. I took the easy/quick way out at the time and threw a set of air shocks on the back. I finally got tired of adding air to them every 3 days so figured I go ahead and fix it right.

My experience with re-ached springs is that they tend to be over arched and when they are first put on the car sits like a stink bug and it take up to a couple years for the rear to settle to the final ride height. The only new off the shelf springs that will bolt on to the 57 are Mopar Performance C body Super Stock springs and those are a bit on the stiff side for my taste (I used them on the 57 Dodge I built several years ago.

That pretty much left adding some leafs to the spring packs. I had a spring pack out in the shed that has the right width leafs so I ended up adding 2 to the drivers’ side and one to the passengers’ side. That and a new pair of shocks and one more thing is checked off the list.


I also started collecting the bits and pieces for the dual quads. Dave (69Bee) has decided to go with an aluminum dual quad intake for his hemi. So I picked up the original 57 dual quad manifold from him. I set a pair of parts carbs on to check the height of the spacers I want to run under them (they have too many internal issues to make them viable as builders). I’ll be running spacers for 2 reasons; insulating the carbs from the intake to help prevent heat soak on hot days , getting the air cleaner up into the scoop area……even with 1 ½” of spacers the aircleaner is still sits lower than the tri-power.

354 DQ by M Patterson, on Flickr

I like the big oval air cleaner on this car, but when I built it the only thing I could find were the chrome steel ones. To me the chrome steel never looked quite right with the aluminum valve covers. I finally bit the bullet an picked up an aluminum air cleaner assembly which was black powder coated. I got the powder coating stripped (acetone and steel wool). Right now I’m debating whether to polish the lid out or send it and the valve covers out to be powder coated. I’m kind of leaning towards the powder coating. The “near chrome” powder coating does not look anything like chrome but does look like polished aluminum but it doesn’t oxidize like the polished aluminum does. It’s also a lot easier than polishing the lid and those big valve covers …..but like I said, I’m still deciding.



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You going with eddy's or holleys?

I’m not a big fan of Holleys Ken so they are pretty much out.

I’m actually hoping to find a couple of early Carter AFBs. If I can find 2 with the right butterfly size and linkage arms I have enough venturies, jets and step rods to build them into a pair.

I could make either 500 or 600 CFM Edelbrocks work and they would probably be easier to come up with. New they are good bit more than I really want to pay for them and used most sellers think they are worth more than I do.

If push come to shove, I do have 2 Carters I could use. One I picked up at a swap meet last year. The other is currently sitting on the 283 in the 87 Ram 50. So I guess realistically if I had to all I really need to come up with is one to replace the one on the Dodge with.

Weather permitting Cade and I will be going to the Swap meet in Tucson next Saturday, who knows maybe I can find something there.


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Thanks Denny, I've been keeping an eye on the Bay just in case a great deal comes along.....seem like just before X Mas some good deals can be had.....I'm kind of holding out on the swap meet next Sat before I pull the trigger on anything though.


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I started out on WCFB's and AFB's aren't much better as far as small parts and the complications of the adjustments. IMHO with a an assortment of jets, power valves and pump cams and you should be able to get a Holley pretty well tuned in. Makes no difference 2-4's are cool no matter what carbs are used.

problem with dual quads using Holleys is how long they are and spacing necessary---------the older more square carbs work better on most dual quad manifolds except for the Ford FE
---and they are mounted backwards on them

I can’t argue about the availability of parts and tuneability of the Holleys.

With the exception of secondary air valve opening which is pretty much fixed (but can be adjusted by adding or removing weight) with a selection of step rods, power valve springs and jets the Carters are just as tuneable as the Holleys. For me the big plus on the Carter/Edelbrock carbs is the simplicity and ease of making the changes on car.

Minor jetting changes can be done by removing 2 small screws and changing out step rods. Rather than having to pull a fuel bowl and metering block to change the power valve the function can be changed by changing out the springs under the piston s connected to the step rods. ….and they don’t blow out or have a diaphragm that rots. With a one piece main body if jet changes are required the lid comes off with 10 screws and all the fuel stay in the fuel bowls (and you don’t have the gaskets that seem to tear in half sticking to the body and metering block). Accelerator pump shot and timing can be changed with the external linkage and the bigger accelerator pump nozzles can be exchanged to the bigger AVS nozzles.

You are right about availability of parts Ken. The old Carter Strip Kits (Rod, Springs, jets etc) were great while the new Edelbrock kits are overpriced and limited in their selection of parts. Fortunately for me I have 2 of the 60s kits plus one of the newer ones. A friend mine bought out the inventory of an old Chrysler dealership many years ago and was kind enough to give me all the Carter parts they had on hand (and there was a bunch LOL. Between that and the parts I’ve stripped of parts carbs over the years I’m pretty well set for working on them. It’s a good thing too. I just looked up the strip kits on E Bay and was that ever a sticker shock!!!!

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...+kits&_sacat=0

With what they get for parts now I guess I need to charge more when I re-jet/fine tune customer carbs


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I didn't need dist offset for mine--------is that a Ford manifold or an aftermarket?? Don't see the Ford number??

Mike, I searched for AFB's, Edelbrocks, and holleys when piecing my dual quads together. I finally made my mind up and decided to go with 390cfm holleys. They were hard to find, but I did get 3 off ebay. My only concern with them is like you said. They will be a little harder to tune or work on. The center float bowels dang near touch. If some people actually finish paying their truck build bills, I'm hoping to get Fitech dual quad this winter. We'll see about that though.

I just looked at the Fitech dual quad set up, it looks like it would be fun to play with.



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