# 1947 Dodge Cornet Rust-Tow-Mod



## eugene13 (Mar 9, 2021)

This showed up by trailer, It's really straight, has all the glass and a useable interior.  We're hoping we can get the grey primer off with damaging the patina.  Our plan is to install a Mustang II front suspension, a 350 Chevy engine and automatic overdrive transmission, and a Ford 8 inch rear with a triangulated 4link suspension, all with Coil over shocks.  This is our "Client", who  wishes to remain anonymous.  It's amazing how the "Unabomber" chic looks normal these days.   My job for the day is to unpack everything and check the invoices.  To remain loyal to the brand it would have been nice to install a hemi with a push button Torqueflite, or a 440 wedge, but Small Block Chevy's are cheap and abundant and the Chrysler stuff isn't.  Pretty neat working on a car that's a year younger than me.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Mar 9, 2021)

very cool. I've helped a friend with a couple of restomods and the Mustang II/ Ford Explorer+4 link rear end is a popular combo. Looking forward to the updates!


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## alloy (Mar 9, 2021)

Nice,  I'll be watching this thread.


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## T Bredehoft (Mar 9, 2021)

That body shape suggests 1949/50 to me.


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## eugene13 (Mar 10, 2021)

T Bredehoft said:


> That body shape suggests 1949/50 to me.


You are correct, it's a '49.


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## eugene13 (Mar 13, 2021)

Made a lot of progress today, removed the front sheet metal and the engine and transmission, anyone need a 230 cubic inch 6 cylinder flathead with a Gryomatic transmission?  Interesting combination, it has a torque converter that shares the engine oil first off the crank, then a clutch, and then a 3 speed transmission.  Here's our first step, we have to cut off the front suspension and install a Mustang II cross member from Heidt's Hot Rod Shop, I guess you can call  this the "before" picture.  You find a lot of interesting things in old cars, money, steak knives, jewelry, make-up, and once a baggie with with some white powder that turned out to be laundry detergent, this is the first time for a piston, I'm assuming it's from this engine, our client wants me to make it into a gearshift knob.


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## eugene13 (Mar 15, 2021)

Here are some more artifacts we found after we washed everything down, I think these are inspectors marks from 73 years ago, these cars were built by human beings.  My grandson was trying to read the tag and managed to polish off all the paint.   One of my high school friends' mom had a Plymouth of this vintage, he had to cut these braces out so we could sneak into the drive-in.


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## eugene13 (Mar 21, 2021)

Another busy weekend, since we will have to remove the body to complete all of the four bar welds we decided now was a good time to put the chassis on our jig, my son also decided that he didn't like the first iteration  of the front end connection, so he cut it off and started over, what he ended up with is what I suggested in the first place, aah, a teachable moment.  I like this a lot better, it's cleaner, stronger, with more longitudinal weld and we wont have to build a separate structure for the bumper mounts and radiator support..  When we opened up the frame we found about a hundred pounds of dirt inside each rail, I think this old girl put down a lot of miles on dirt roads.  Here's the final result all tacked up, it'll get welded up next weekend.


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## eugene13 (Apr 6, 2021)

Here we are, all welded up, my son gets to do all the welding and fitting and I get to install all the new parts, this is the first time we've used the Heidt's cut and fit kit, I give it five stars, the parts are well made and the instructions are clear and concise.  We're using the lower "A" arms that don't require strut rods, they simply make the lower pivot longer and back it up with a triangular gusset welded to the back of the crossmember. Yes, that's a bottle of anti-seize you see sitting on the crossmember, we use it on every metal to metal fit, My rule, "If you're not wearing it you'
re not using enough".  I love these GM style brakes, so simple and easy to mount, the pin does it all, holds everything together, retains the inside puck, and guides the caliper.  I had a problem getting the caliper to fit on the right side, the millwright in me said grab the die grinder and the machinist in me said grab a file, the machinist won, simply knocking off the paint was enough.  Last is the coil-over shocks, I can't believe that tiny little spring is going to be enough to hold up the front end, but we shall see.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Apr 6, 2021)

those are some beautiful welds right there. Shame all that lovely work is going to get hidden once the project is complete.


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## FOMOGO (Apr 6, 2021)

Really nice work, and a good solid connection on the sub-frame. Any decision on driveline yet? A stroked 340 small block would be kind of cool and keep it Chrysler. Mike


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## eugene13 (Apr 8, 2021)

It's going to get a 350 Chevy with an automatic trans with overdrive, my son is a Golden Arm, he's a certified welder at his job.  I like to think that welding skills are hereditary but others (non welders) think it's a birth defect.  We wanted to install a Chrysler Hemi or a wedge but the SBC was what our client had.  I finally got to use my new self centering round stock vice.  Some time ago I built a fixture for holding the front suspension at ride hight, now that it's all assembled I had reason to make the tubes, and the vice works perfectly.


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## eugene13 (Apr 8, 2021)

I've heard that the Small Block Chevy is the most abundant engine on the planet, there's five of them in our shop now, the one on the left is for a demolition derby client, we built it out of a used 604 crate motor, it was taken out of service because it had picked up a miss.  We found a broken lifter and replaced them all with a new set, the one on the right is going into our current project, there's a 'B' mod motor setting in it's rack, a torn down 'A' mod motor on the engine stand and workbench, and an un-assembled 'A' mod motor in the storage room.  I race Chevy's but I drive Fords, go figure.  We got the rear end in place, the ride height holders were too short so we had to use another rear end holder. It works for racecars but not for low riders, I see some modifications in the near future.


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## eugene13 (Apr 19, 2021)

Have you ever saw a cleaner looking motor mount, I wish I could say we built it but it came in a box, we also got the rear end instillation finished. 
We were able to utilize the stock leaf spring mounts for the lower rods, I was wrong about the coil over shocks, they were for the rear end. Sorry about the long time between updates, our shop dog, Kuma, had to be euthanized, it's been real stressful around here for the last while.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Apr 19, 2021)

real sorry to hear about your dog Kuma, that's very sad. Plenty of dogs around in rescue houses that need loving owners though.

My friend had those shocks on his '57 F100 restomod. Was never really happy with them, but he ended up selling the project before he finished it to pay off his truck. They just felt underdamped and undersprung.


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## DavidR8 (Apr 20, 2021)

Aw man I'm sorry about Kuma. I feel your pain.
Loving the build!


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## eugene13 (Apr 20, 2021)

Thanks guys, and thanks for the heads up on the shocks.


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## 71-bigblock (Apr 21, 2021)

Push button Torque-Flite with a 440 wedge would have been a sweet combo.  Looks like a great project.


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## eugene13 (Nov 20, 2021)

Hi everybody, I'm back.  Even though I disappear in the spring the shop keeps going, we got the engine in and the body on and will have to do some sheet metal work.  I finally got to build something for the project, the alternator mount.  We figured if we tripled the horsepower maybe we needed to add a cross member, it also doubles as a transmission mount.  We tried to fire it up but discovered the pickup tube in the gas tank is plugged. Last picture is a detail of the transmission mount, good example of the KISS dictum.
	

		
			
		

		
	



View attachment 386082


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## brino (Nov 22, 2021)

@eugene13,

I just discovered this thread....... finally! 
Watching.

What a great build, Thanks for sharing this!

-brino


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## eugene13 (Dec 1, 2021)

Good news and bad news.  Once we got the fuel issue behind us It fired right up, the cam instructions said to run it at 2000 RPM for 20 minutes, about 10 minutes into the run we lost oil pressure and shut it down.  We had a bad oil leak from the pan gasket (we didn't build this one) but fired it up again and experienced the same problem, pulling the pan we discovered the builder hadn't pinned or tack welded the pick-up to the pump, it had rotated and was sucking down to the bottom of the pan  and shutting off the flow.  We've never experienced this before, we looked at the bearings and everything seem ok, get the pan back on and try again next week.


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## eugene13 (Dec 17, 2021)

Once we got a new oil pick-up and a one piece pan gasket on things got a lot better, no leaks, steady oil pressure, and the cam broken in, now we can concentrate on getting the steering put together, our client wanted to lower the wheel to accomidate the lower seats which are from a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, My son's idea, support the new steering with the old collum.  I got to make another part, a plastic bushing so the 1.75 od tubing would fit snugly in the dash steering mount.  It took three U-joints and one bearing to make the connection but it's tight with no binds and no slop.  The front end fit on almost pefrectly, notice wher the radiator is in relation to the original core support, on a project like this you can't take enough measurements.


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## eugene13 (Dec 21, 2021)

Made a simple bracket, the entire front end is held on with four bolts, I wanted to build a hinge so you could tilt the whole thing forwards, but was over ruled by our client.  All we need to do is adjust the hood fitting and we're done.


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## eugene13 (Dec 27, 2021)

Offically on the floor, here's the view, our client wanted a Lo-rider, we built him one.


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