Fellow 59er’s,
I’m cleaning up under the hood of my 318 Sport Fury and trying to find the correct factory colors. Can anyone tell me what color the valve covers, power steering pump, block, intake etc. are suppossed to be?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also,
Where are you buying your brake shoes from? I see them for sale on Ebay but there seems to be a couple different sizes.
What exactly am I measuring to determine what size brake shoes I need, and is there an aftermarket source or os Ebay the way to go?
Ernie,
My car had the correct color engine when I sold it. The 318 block and intake should be silver, precisely what paint code I don’t know. The aircleaner and valve covers should be red. The p/s pump has no color. Generator is black.
As for brakes, most came with 11" x 2" shoes, but I recently learned that 12" x 2 1/2" were also available.
Within these choices, there are two types..according to the Mopar parts Book, which were called BRAKE and THREE-PLATFORM-TYPE.
Studying the diagrams in the Book, the way to tell them apart is the latter shoes are retained by coilsprings set in cup washers. The former type are held in place by a single flatter piece of spring metal and a small wire retainer.
Yes, I know that pictures are worth a thousand words, but I hesitate to cut apart my Parts Book in order to scan it for you.
I’ve purchased brake parts from Napa Autp Parts, also Andy Bernbaum (www.oldmoparts.com).
The brakes in '59 can be problematic. New shoes need to “wear in” to fit well to well-used drums. Oftentimes, the shoes grab and pull. This problem can be minimized by having the new shoes fitted to the specific drum. Costs more, and it can be a royal pain to pull the rear drums off (rent a good hub puller), but the result is worth the effort. Try the new shoes first, and if you get the grab and pull, you know what you have to do.
Thanks Roger,
By the way, The 59 Belvedere found a new owner at the Turkey Run at Daytona Speedway this year. The guy is from the Ft. Lauderdale Fl area. He said he plans to keep her as-is. I put over 5 thousand miles on that car the year I owned her and she ran like a top. Tune up and new battery only!
I appreciate the feedback on the brakes too - but let me ask this specificaly: Is there a source for buying brake shoes or do I need to shop Ebay for them?
Thanks again.
OH! - ALSO - How do i download photos of my ride for the Showcase on this site?
hi Ernie,
so the ol’ gal is off to a new owner. Glad she served you well while you had her.
You may have missed it in my prior email, but walk into Napa Auto Parts and tell them your car needs shoes. I believe they want your old ones in on trade.
To get pix onto Showcase, you gotta go thru Dan Morton, webmaster. Do you have his address?
Thanks again Roger, and thanks Dan.
The plan is to keep the Sport Fury for a few decades so I will wait patiently for you to build a site for her. Meanwhile, I will attach a couple of photos of “the girls” here.
I hereby resign from attempting to advise on 318’s. I don’t have a 318-powered car, and thus i have forgotten the details of such! I apologise if I’ve recently misled anyone, with bad advice.
Thank you for standing guard, John.
To make sure you have the three platform brakes shoes they have 3 flat V shaped metal thingies along the edge that ride on 3 raised areas on the backing plate (dust shield). The areas take a small amout of white grease for smooth operation. I found out he hard way on my Desoto, half the shoes were different from the the three platform type and resulted in pulling and strange noises.
Dick.
Hood springs should also be red. I always thought that was a nice touch. Kind of balances out with the air cleaner. Anybody ever try and paint these. I did one time. I stretched them apart in a vise somehow. I heard somewhere of guys using an engine hoist to stretch them. I think that would be easier and safer. Didn’t have one at the time but do now so next time will do it that way.
I recently bought an install tool for some hood springs and the instructions suggested I stretch them using a floor jack. I tried it and it worked great. I think I hooked one end in the axel and one on the lift plate.
I have just painted my hood springs and I used the engine lift method also, If you have a “come-a-along” ratchet device and two places to anchor it, that would work too to stretch the spring.
Installation of the springs back on the hinge assembly is a trick. To do this without prying or scratching the paint. After the paint dries and still under tension by your stretching device, put 6 or more thick wedges in between springs leaves and then release the stretching of the springs. This will allow the spprings to be in a slightly stretched position that you can then place the springs back on its hood hinges that is mounted on the car with the hood on. Wedges can be floor tile or anything with a 1/8 thicknes or so that won’t mar the paint on the springs when it is allowed to compress.
The the hood must be at a opening angle of approx. 100 degrees or more. After placing the springs in its position at both points on the hood hinges, open the hood more, which stretches the spring more and that will allow you to take the wedges out. I read about this trick at the Forward Look Forum.
John did you really mean 100 degrees - that would put the hood back almost on top of the windshield?
Did the red springs only come on V8 equipped cars? I am sure my springs are original on my 6 cylinder Savoy and quite sure they were never painted red.
opps… it is cold out here…brrrr. I was standing on my head with my protractor and I… No excuses! It would be approx 45 degrees there about from its closed position to a full open position.
The actual angle won’t be known till you attempt to put the spring on (with the wedges in) to the two ends of the hinge assembly, Open it enough to get both ends of the spring on and then open it some more to put tension on it to stretch it further and the wedges will fall or can be take out manually. I did try this on my 69 Charger and it worked.
The Percocets I am taking for my shoulder is taking it’s toll on me. My apoligies for not paying attention in Geometry in HS. And I guess in Physics too for vector analysis.
Are there tricks for re-installing the trunk spring bar?
I imagine Savoys had non-red…are yours black springs? Primer-colored springs?
I can’t verify the base models went this route, but I would not be at all surprised.
The base models had rubber floor mats, one, or NO sunvisors, other Economy measures.
Thanks for the feedback.
I was going to ask about hood springs next! Thanks for that too.
I had painted the valve covers red prior to the rest of this thread posting and I really like the overall look. So even though I was bent on this car being absolutely the way the good folks in Detroit meant it to be, I’m sticking with the red.
