My plans are to keep this car as close to original as possible. I know, they make great hot rods, and I have seen a few very cool custom ones. But I also know that my Gramps, and Uncle Tom for that matter, would not appreciate me doing that to this car. Out of respect to them I have decided to keep, and one day restore it as close to original as possible. And truthfully, I like how she looks from the factory.
I will admit that there will be a few non-original modifications done. They will be done judiciously with safety, reliability, or ease of use the main reasons for these changes.
The first modification, falling under the “ease of use” category, is the air cleaner.
The original one was an oil bath air cleaner. For those who do not know, or have never seen one, oil bath air cleaners use a combination of motor oil and matting to capture dirt particles before they are sucked into the carburetor. And while they work very well, they are very messy.
I have decided to convert this air cleaner from oil bath to paper filter. I am not the first to do this. I found some limited info online about another ’41 Plymouth owner who had done this modification. I am showing you how I did it with some clearer instructions.
I thought a lot about this and easily convinced myself that this modification made total sense and was a no brainer. But I have to tell you as I stood there with a very hard to find original air cleaner in one hand and a die grinder in the other, I had a serious moment of apprehension before letting the sparks fly!
However, I took a deep breath and started cutting…