I'm from Coventry RI

" Phil Swift here" Spray on Flex Seal

Two questions
Is the car equipped with overdrive?
Does the horn work?
Many times I've seen a situation where a push button near the steering wheel ran to a relay to the horn Just a guess.

My 38 has a decal on the firewall with the VIN but "magically" the number became stamped on the frame rail near the steering box

I've had great success with a product from Casterol called Super Clean -- spray it on a wipe with a brush and hose it off. Great for brake dust on wheels also.

I don't know if this will be any help- but when I installed an R 11 in my 38 coupe I didn't use a kickdown switch. I just broke the connection from the governor to the relay with a toggle on my dash. I usually run with the OD energized all the time but when I want to go into "regular" drive I just flip the toggle and give the clutch a touch and bingo "regular" drive

I would suggest just wiring in an aftermarket power socket and set it up for 12V neg ground

Not sure if I asked before but I could use a 1938 120 right front fender

I have used these gizmos in my 38 to power a radio and a backup camera (just to make sure I used a separate unit for each.) You can ground your radio,camera etc directly to your chassis ground. simple 3 wire hookup.https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6-8-12-Volt-Positive-to-Negative-Ground-Radio-Booster-Converter-to-Earth/363025943406?hash=item5486084b6e:g:6QUAAOSwl9BWKXZF

I took the fronts off of my 38 without removing the springs