You could put a switch on the fuel pump and shut it off a few minutes before you stop the car.

A 53 Cavalier is a great car. The Cavalier and Patrician are the senior cars, with quite a few differences from the smaller Clippers.

Look at the rear window area and you will see where the body is longer. They have a longer wheelbase frame and the wheel well cutout in the rear door is different. The senior cars have more interior room.

The chassis also are different. Brakes, rear axle, even the wheels are different - Clipper and Cavalier wheels will not interchange.

Worth keeping in mind if you need parts etc.

Any place you don't want the fibreglass to stick you can back it up with a plastic bag before stuffing in the newspapers. The plastic bag will peel away after the fibreglass dries leaving a smooth surface.

You can use it on the outside too, smooth the fibreglass by smoothing down the plastic.

You can even put the fibreglass on the plastic then smooth it in place.

Plastic grocery bags or garbage bags work well for this.

One more thing. When you first use the heater the air will smell of fibreglass but the smell will disappear after a few days. If you want to avoid this smell it helps to line the duct with aluminum foil.

Otherwise it sounds like you have a good plan.

If it was made from folded cardboard then it's a cinch.

Upholstery supply places sell big sheets of thick black cardboard for making door panels.

They also have a thinner grade for the bottoms of chairs.

Make your pattern score the folds on the inside with a dull knife or pizza cutter. Then Origami your way to fame and stardom LOL.

I made a heater duct for a 1952 Chrysler New Yorker this way and it worked great. Even though the original was a molded papier mache composition.

If you really want to be a "hero" you could make a mold off your cardboard plenum and make new fibreglass replicas.

It's not that hard. You would have to take the plenum out, "restore" it to like new shape even using tape, plaster, plasticene or whatever so long as it has the right shape and appearance. Then, cover it with hydrocal plaster reinforced with burlap bags - this is about the cheapest way to make a mold.

Carefully take out the old plenum, now you have a mold that can be used to make all the plenums you want. Use mold release agent (kitchen pan spray will do) and don't knock it about, and you should be able to make dozens of plenums before it wears out.

Here in Ontario Canada it is illegal to repaint license plates.

I believe this dates back to when plates were changed every year and each year was a different color.

It might be interesting to know what other jurisdictions have this rule. However I doubt it is enforced on antique plates.

The plates I have seen, appear to have been painted the background color then the lettering painted with a hard rubber roller.

To do the most perfect show quality job, paint the lettering color first then paint the background color, finally polish the top layer of paint off the letters using rubbing compound.

Call it musical mythical or mystical but don't call it a mistake LOL.

If you have the time it can't hurt to soak it in varsol or kerosene overnight or even longer. Then swish it around a little, take it out and let it drip dry over a drip pan. Finally pour a little oil in to dampen the fibres.

Not sure about Packard but Chrysler used to recommend 50 wt oil. If this is not available Walmart sells straight 30 4 stroke lawn mower oil.

You don't need to clean out the bottom pan until it is half full of dirt. Just top it up to the level line.

If it has too much dirt, you take it off and pour out the oil, and wipe out the sludge with rags or cotton waste. Give it a final wipe with a rag dampened in varsol.

In today's driving conditions it should stay good for years. In the old days of dirt roads they had to service the filters more often, in real dirty conditions they recommended daily servicing.

I use a cheap electric pressure washer (under $200 bucks). The secret is to hook it up to the hot water. I had to add a bibb valve in my basement to do this. Use a real good quality garden hose, you don't want to take a chance on it bursting under the stress.

This works as well as a steam cleaner.

Of course a real good gas powered washer works better but you would be surprised what a job the little guy can do when you add hot water.

Scrape off as much as you can get with a putty knife and screwdriver then blast away. The scraping saves an awful lot of washing.

When you get done you may have to dig out a few more gobs of grease then wash the bad spots again.

You want to dry it off and paint it as soon as possible or the metal will rust up overnight. If you can't paint right away spray it with oil or WD40.

Now I am talking about old grease and oil here. If there is factory undercoating, or even aftermarket undercoating, LEAVE IT provided it is not peeling or rusting underneath.

When I worked in a body shop years ago there was a simple way to handle this problem.

Make your own wheel arches using a wooden pattern.

You need 2 pieces of MDF or plywood. Trace the shape you need and cut the shape in the plywood.

Now make your patch panel by cutting it from sheet metal. Leave a 1/2" extra where your wheel well lip goes.

Clamp the metal between 2 pieces of plywood with the 1/2" sticking out.

Now take a ball peen hammer and slowly and carefully tap around the edge. Bend the metal over about 15 degrees all the way around. Now go around and bend a little more. It should take 3 passes to bend the metal all the way down 90 degrees.

Once the metal is bent down it sometimes helps to work it over again with a round brass bar or steel pipe.

If you know how to work metal it is possible to make a wheel well as good as you can buy. The secret is to work little by little and not distort the metal. For sharp corners it helps to heat the metal with a torch, this allows it to stretch better.

Once you are done you can flip your formers over to make a mirror image piece for the other side.