True to his word that it would be two weeks, my transmission builder called me to pick it up yesterday. To my pleasant surprise, the bill was $200 less than the estimate, and that included having to send the converter to TN to have it rebuilt as there were no rebuilt parts stocked in the DFW area. He said that mechanically the internals were in excellent condition and only the clutches were toast.
The shift detent spring was replaced and now you only have to gently nudge it with one finger to make it shift. I hope the pushbutton detent will be enough to hold it in gear! Maybe I'll still have to go with a floor shifter and change the detent spring back, but it's fun to experiment with a way to use the original PowerFlite pod with five TorqueFlite buttons and a park lever.
There is some progress in other areas as I started replacing rusted sheet metal on the fenders while waiting for parts to arrive. The old NOS patch panels fit perfectly.
I've also been working with the engineer at New Vintage USA, the gauge manufacturer I've used in the past. The only serious problem is the speedometer. The '56 speedometer is larger than anyone in the aftermarket offers, so what I want would have to be custom made, which means paying for CAD time and tooling. Not sure which way I want to go yet. Once they develop the tooling, other '55-'56 Mopar owners would have a source for a modern big gauge for their modified cars. My bet is that Dodge and Desoto speedometers are the same size as the Plymouth version, and would only need a face with different artwork to make them look OEM.
I'll also have to modify the dash to fit the new gauges, but nothing too radical. The difficult part will be making everything appear factory designed and built.
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