Thread: Headlight Options for 34 Plymouth

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A couple of points: the car could be a neat street car that would be a royal pain to drive....if you're into pain, it would fill the bill nicely and look cool. ADVISE: go to your state's rules on a car driven on the street. IGNORE all the advice about "my state" and only look at the official ALA rules. Some states may require a safety glass windshield for instance....mine may but yours may not. Zoomies may be OK and your state may have a noise law so, if you comply, your zoomies stay. Some states may have an emergency brake law....yours may not and mine may so IGNORE my state examples. ALABAMA is the rule you need to follow. Period.

For the headlights, they should not be mounted to the grille shell....they will shake like a pregnant nun if you do. A solution is to weld a vertical post to the frame on each side of the radiator inside the grille shell and mount the headlights THRU a hole in the grille shell. These posts can be sized to fit the available space and should be rigid enough to support the light in a stabile manner.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by robot

For the headlights, weld a vertical post to the frame on each side of the radiator inside the grille shell and mount the headlights THRU a hole in the grille shell. These posts can be sized to fit the available space and should be rigid enough to support the light in a stabile manner.

Good luck.

You're right. I was wanting to stay away from having to weld. I think this will be the proper method. The weld spot will be hid from view (I'm sure the paint won't match perfectly).

Sorry, mis-understood the last post and asked a dumb question. Best of luck in your quest.

Looking at the side view pic, the four link is pointing down.....doesnt this mean when you hit a bump the axle has to move forward because of the arc the rods have to make? Might be OK on a smooth strip but someone might comment regarding how that setup would work on the street.....

Hard to tell in the pictures how it's adjusted now.

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This is the kind of info I can use!

Robot's talking about the front suspension parallel bars. They are generally mounted level at the static condition so that the front axle describes a small arc up and down as the suspension works, with caster being constant due to the parallel bars. On this car the axle is going to tend to move on a diagonal with constant caster. Might tend to bind that front spring??

The front end is from Speedway. I was concerned of why just one leaf in the spring. How common is that (could be a track compromise to save weigt?).

I'l bring up the un-level 4 bar when I view this car in about 2.5 hours.

Good observation. I have no experice in street rods. I know the rear suspension. I've just never been around these types of cars. The front looks T-bucket type.

Compare the bars in your photo on post #4 with the ones on the Model A in #8 which are more correct. It's totally your business, but I still believe you'd be much better off buying a car that's built for the street and paying to have the rear tubbed, if that's what you really want, than you would buying this Plymouth built more for the strip. Travel safe!

I would suggest going to HotRodHotline - Roddings Largest Online Magazine | Hotrod Hotline and viewing a number of street rods that are for sale on that site. Not only will it give you some examples to view, but also give you some ideas as to what prices are. Some are quite frankly overpriced, but others are quite reasonable. I agree with numerous posters that you would be better off with a car that is built for the street.

My new avatar should tell you the story.

My fantasy of running zommies is over. Way too loud.

Anyone know a good vendor / fabricator for some side pipes similar to the brown '31 on the first page of this thread? (Maybe not as long down the side? not sure)

Some baffles in the zoomies might work.

Just curious, have you taken it for a test drive on the street yet?

Mike

About a mile. Hard to do in a residential area with open exhaust. Even a small block Ford sounds vicious with open headers.

It didn't get hot. Not even close just sitting at idle. Fan wasn't on most of the time. I figured it would run super-hot. Hoping baffles doesn’t change that.

Originally Posted by All American 6

My new avatar should tell you the story.

My fantasy of running zommies is over. Way too loud.

Anyone know a good vendor / fabricator for some side pipes similar to the brown '31 on the first page of this thread? (Maybe not as long down the side? not sure)

Some baffles in the zoomies might work.

Baffles in the zoomies will still be veeeery loud. Just not enough room there to work with. The headers George used are a standard aftermarket header, but I'm not sure who makes/sells them - have seen them on several cars, so if they're custom people are doing a really good copy job. Maybe you can PM 1bad32 and see where he got them, and if they are available for your engine.

Originally Posted by All American 6

About a mile. Hard to do in a residential area with open exhaust. Even a small block Ford sounds vicious with open headers.
It didn't get hot. Not even close just sitting at idle. Fan wasn't on most of the time. I figured it would run super-hot. Hoping baffles doesn’t change that.

So you bought the car, knowing it is a purpose built racer that you intend to convert for street use with only a mile test drive? Wow!!!

I like it!!! Who says toys have to be practical or well mannered? All depends on what the intended use is.

Check around with some of the racers and builders in your area for the exhaust. It will more then likely all have to be fabricated then if you wish sent off for coating, chroming, or whatever. I use a place down in Iowa that does a black coating (along with other choices) on headers and exhaust. It seems to hold up very well and sure does help with temps and the looks. Roger had his headers redone by ????? and they came out excellent, too!!!!

Originally Posted by rspears

So you bought the car, knowing it is a purpose built racer that you intend to convert for street use with only a mile test drive? Wow!!!

Don't take it wrong, I think the coupe is a great little car, but I also believe that it's going to take some work to make it into a safe, predictable street/highway driver, and for me I would have wanted to at least get it up to speed on a back road to understand what I was getting into before plunking down cash, but that's just me. It all depends on how you plan to use it, and with a good chassis guy gettin' after it I'm sure it will be fine.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

.....Roger had his headers redone by ????? and they came out excellent, too!!!!

Mine were done by Jet Hot, and I highly recommend them for their outstanding customer service. Packing to get them there undamaged is a hassle, and the bigger/bulkier they are the bigger the hassle and higher the cost. Hand carrying them is an excellent approach if the logistics work.