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Who says a flathead 6 can't beat a hellcat. Did it today

Our local volunteer fire department has an annual car show. I missed it last year, but I was able to take my B-4-B to it this year (won Best Original Truck class). I am not into the trophies, but I was on Cloud 9 when the man I bought the truck from 42 years ago stopped by the truck to visit for a couple of hours. I had tried to buy the truck (parked, bed off, not running for at least 5 years) from his father - the original owner (Gilbert Toepfer - pronounced "Teffer"), but he would not sell. When Mr. Toepfer passed away, his son Marvin called my folks and asked if I wanted to buy the truck from his dad's estate - $100 back in 1975. Marvin is on the right, I am the one in need of a wide-angle lens on the left. He is now 81 yrs young and still quite sharp. We talked all things "old Dodge truck" and our hometown. It made his day as much as it did my son's and mine. Marvin told me that he never remembered the truck looking this nice since it was always a work truck. Because of its work status, he's pretty sure that no "back in the day" photos exist of it (but he will look). BTW, the man in the lawn chair on the left was showing his 1971 Barracuda (not a 'Cuda) convertible. He is the original owner. He joked that my truck was bringing the folks in, then they would look at his Barracuda to be polite. His car actually took top place at the show.

Took the suburban down to Sarasota Florida for the gran prix of off shore boat race and they also have a custom car show raising money for children's charities in Sarasota county. Well attended show and nice cars. Lots of high horsepower vehicles- super birds/vipers/vettes/boss 429/etc. low and behold my little flat head six won best engine

I fabricated this myself. I couldn't find one I liked so. . . I haven't road tested it yet, but will try to get the engine and transmission installed by weeks end and then do a short, short test, two blocks to edge of town, then country road. I copied a picture so not my design.

Oh yes way deep. And I think most of the guys get manicures...... But I have got lots of thumbs up too. (I think) Just not from the Audi/Tesla and Maserati folks. Imagine that. I told my daughter that I was thinking of joining the polo club and getting an old burro. I would love to do it just to see the reaction it would get. There is also a pretty large water feature in our yard that would be great to raise crawfish in. Maybe going door to door in a burro cart with a big simmering pot of crawfish gumbo would be a good way to break the ice with the neighbors?

I've been wanting to build a B-series for a daily driver for quite some time - long enough that I have been collecting parts that I thought I would need for the project even though I didn't have my "perfect" truck to start the build. That has now changed.... Yesterday I went and picked up the first load of truck and parts of what I am going to use: That is a 1950 B-2-C with a completely restored chassis, rebuilt engine, 3 speed fluid drive, finished but unassembled bed and rear fenders. Not pictured is the first truck bed full of parts, and two other parts trucks that I get along with this deal. My plan: Install a Chrysler 265 with dual carbs and dual exhaust, Spitfire head (mostly for looks), a decent camshaft, put a T5 transmission behind it and feed the power to a Ford 8.8 rear axle with 3.73 gears, locking diff, and disc brakes. Disc brakes up front as well. Since I intend on it being a daily driver that gets a LOT of miles put on her - I will add A/C, a modern radio, 12V negative ground system, LED lights, etc... for convenience and safety. Overall - I want it to look and feel like something that someone could have put together in the 50s, even though some of it is newer technology. So, I'm starting this thread to document the journey with all its trials and tribulations, to look for advice and opinions (and I know I'll get some of both that I won't listen to! LOL). Hopefully this might inspire others in the quest to reach their goals with these awesome pieces of old iron.

just drop a 2 ton in the front yard and start into the project...

This will be my first purchase when I win the lottery. Jim M

Yes you were right. I've never had to do one like that before. Thank you finished product

Sadly I could not attend Friday Back to the 50's, but spent a good deal of time there yesterday. My knee is having issues so not much walking around, but I ran into lots of friends and met a few casual posters here. I saw Mike's truck with his dually conversion and it looks sweet! Met a casual poster that has a nice old B1 or B2 with some interesting mods. In order the pics are of waiting in line, at the show, a humpy!, a panel, a B4 on a frame swap and FEF's first real rain shower (No leaks!).

Glad you are back Jeff. You gave me great full belly laugh that hurts.

The head is marked HEATER at this spot .

I always thought they took 6 quarts total (with a filter). 5 quarts for the engine plus 1 additional quart if you change the filter and drain the filter housing completely. I always use a 1 quart bottle pump to pump the oil out of the filter housing. Then I put the new element in and fill the housing with 1 quart of new oil before putting the top back on. This is from a B3B Drivers Manual:

It is for this reason I try to do absolutely everything I can myself. I enjoy it, so it's not a big deal. I'll be needing new tires soon. I'm scared to death some kid with an impact gun is going to strip out or break my lug bolts on the driver side despite my many warnings that they are left hand thread. I will probably just pull the wheels and take them to the tire shop without the car attached.

Hi Capt Den. One evening the summer of '80, my '57 New Yorker convert was at Belmont Getty for service, on the apron with Andy's Town and Country and his (now your) yellow '54. Would have been a great photo - a scene from an earlier time! Small world.

http://owatrol.com/en/

And one more of the truck. Driving home after our visit to Iowa was awesome. There wasn't much traffic and it was nice and cool. The car ran perfect. Sometimes I drove 55, sometimes I drove 40. But at any speed I was happy it was the Meadowbrook I was driving

51 or 52 Buick

Greg: Yes. It is spring loaded so that 2 & 3 are positive. R and 1 are spring reached via spring over ride. At the neutral position, it automatically returns to 2 & 3. The back and forth action distance depends on the length of the shifter handle. Will know more when installed. Edit: That it works is not in question because I can easily and quickly go through the gears. The question is the positioning of the shifter handle in relation to the seat, driver's reach, console placement or ?????. I will design this handle for a console placement on my suburban which has bucket seats but not on my B3B which has a bench seat.

Well, judging by my journal measurements compared to published specs for what we think might be the same as my 201 I'd still say nothing has been done to the bottom end on this one. Right now I'd be confident ordering +0.010" bearings for both the mains and rods and, once line hone is done, assemble to determine where I want the relief to land. We usually shoot for 0.0020-0.0025" for racers running a 20w50 VR1 oil which works out nice. Great oil pressure bearing life at that spec. On this motor I'm leaning toward the factory spec of 0.0015-0.0020" and will likely run a thin synthetic. I like having cases of just one weight of oil at the house for all the cars and might go with the Amsoil Signature 0w30 I run in all our modern stuff. The only deviation would be the hot 390 I built for my 67f250 where I run the Amzoil ZRod oil for the zinc content. That truck has a high lift cam with some reasonably high spring pressures for a non-roller sold lifter motor. Likely a non-issue with thr Plymouth's well worn in cam at pressures between 45 closed and 100 open psi. Heck, I can almost squeeze that much in my hand. Nothing compared to the high lift cams and high spring pressures for something more modern. The numbers you folks have provided have been a big help

I'd still say a freshly painted rolling chassis is worth more than a complete project truck

A few years ago I bought a set of four brake shoes from Andy but didn't mount them for at least two years. There was a pretty hefty core charge at the time, but Andy took my old shoes back after the install and credited my credit card the full core charge. Being local, I got to know Andy over 30 plus years and I had nothing but good dealings with him. That said, Chris and his crew doesn't know me from Adam, but I've had first class service from them, too. If something's not right, they'll take care of it. I'd rather pay a couple bucks more to Bernbaum's for hard parts and know I have some recourse than go to the cheapest vendor on ebay and take my chances.

You are going to be screwed,like the rest of us. I just bought an "Auto-Twirler" http://autotwirler.com/ because neither my knees nor my back bend worth a damn,and I have a hard time getting down on the floor without falling down. If I am going to fix the rust out in my 51,42,and 33 cars,I am going to have to arrange to do it while sitting or standing. Tried going to a few local body shops that have good reputations,but I used to do body and fender work myself at independent body shops and at one dealership,so I know what I am seeing,and that is shoddy work. Even a couple of shops the "rod run/parking lot show" people like to go to in order to socialize. What I see is cars with full coats of body plastic because they either don't know how to remove the dents,or just don't want to spend the time to do it right. I saw one shop that actually had rolled up newspaper in the well of a trunk so the body plastic wouldn't fall through the holes in the quarter panel before it hardened. Keep in mind that I was NOT trying to bargain anyone down on price. I may not be happy about it,but I would be willing to pay a good price for good work,but it just doesn't work that way. I actually had one shop foreman brag to me that they agreed to use lead filler in welds and small dings on a car,and then just used plastic after promising the owner they would use lead,and giving him a labor estimate based on using lead. He said "The guy will never know the difference." He was probably right about that,but that is not the point. The point is he had promised to use lead and the owner was paying for that labor and skill set. I took my 39 Ford to two different body shops to have it painted before giving up. Both times it just sat that for months with no work being done,and it seemed like every time I went there to check on it there were people screwing with it. One time one guy even had the trunk lid opened and was looking inside it,while his idiot child was standing on the seat and twisting the steering wheel while hopping up and down and making motor noises. Neither the father nor the child was ready to hear what I had to say to them,but they heard it none the less. I know of one man that took the 56 Buick his father bought new to the highest rated body shop in this area to have it restored,and this guy is a millionaire that has the bucks to spent. It sat outside for 2 years out back with the grass growing up around it,so he just gave up and towed it back home without it even being touched. As for the construction trades people,it's a damn good thing for most of them that a license isn't required to buy a hammer.

That's a beautiful automobile!! I'm sure you'll really enjoy it..

That Plymouth camper, ('59), is done the same way I put a Tour-a-Home slide-in camper in the back of a '58 Cadillac coup deville. It was real hack job. As bad as you can imagine and worse. Fortunately, a cracked block took it off the road before I killed somebody with it.

I ordered several items for my '39 D11 a couple of years ago. Only recently tried to put the new excelerator pedal on, wrong one. Called Bernbaum today, afraid I was out of luck because of a 2 year old order. No problem they said, send it back with a picture of your old one, if possible. We will make it right. I like dealing with people like that. Thanks AB.

Kingpin diameter from Bernbaum is .800, should be .795. Called Bernbaum today and without hesitation they said they will send another set of kingpins. I assume they mean the whole set. I made the call from a casino while waiting for my wife to spend my 401k. Maybe she got lucky? (I mean financially)

Where jilted men in WI, MN, and Mi go.

Let's add transmission swaps to this topic and see where it goes ... ! I have a daily driver that has a "fair" paint job that is over 30 years old. You could interpret it as a light form of patina, I guess. There's small rust spots here and there, and I've painted panels with rattle cans and had other panels painted in a shop when it was necessary. The truck was completely oxidized when i got it. I use just Meguire's cleaner wax about once a year and that's it. It removes oxidation and waxes at the same time. Perfect for a driver. It makes the truck look a lot better than when it's oxidized, that's for sure. I had primer spots for a while to cover some of the rust on the hood but couldn't stand it, so had the hood painted. The truck looks ok from 50 feet, there is no primer, and no huge rust spots. All just two colors of its two-tone paint job. one day this truck will be painted, to make it right, and preserve it properly, so it can start the clock on another 50 years of weathering.

This is really strange.......the kingpins don't fit thru the spindle?..............50Coupe had a similar problem recently........I'd be contacting Bernbaums straight away........doesn't seem possible that whoever made these could make them a few thou oversize, just doesn't make sense...........very disconcerting...........andyd

I haven't posted a whole lot lately probably because I'm out enjoying the truck! Here's a couple videos from driving back from a cruise night (about 1.25 hours away from my house). When I left the house the weather was perfect. I got to the show and it started raining, and it rained the entire drive home. My windshield leaks pretty bad, so Saturday it has an appointment with a local shop to seal it better. I've also been playing with the speedometer. It seems to catch around 40 mph until around 50. It also bounces a lot. Last night I changed the cable and it acted different all together (not in a good way). I sent it out to have the mechanical parts checked out when I restored the truck, but it still isn't right so it will be heading back to them. Kevin did the gauge faces and the speedometer face. It still looks great and is holding up perfect! Its been few years since he did it now I think. I couldn't be happier with how they look! Out of curiosity last night, I swapped in a very nice original speedometer that I bought for $15 at a swap meet. The swap meet speedometer works perfect. Its smooth, doesn't bounce, and is accurate (minus the rear end ratio difference). Maybe I can make one good out of the both? Anyway, here are somewhat boring videos. P.S. - I'm really happy with the radio setup in the truck, it sounds great and works perfect!

Ya that's a taste thing...there is a 46 panel truck locally that just got built, it's a lot of surface rust and patina and he clear coated it...I just can't understand shiny rust or shiny patina....seems like a contradiction too me. At the end of the day tho, it's your truck, so it your decision...same reason I have an orange truck...some like it, some don't...but I didn't build it for anyone but me. I think 320 is pretty harsh for a clean up...I would say 600 then 1000 grit maybe....I stil see the scratches from the 400 I started with on my hood, and went 600 and 2000 after that

Yup, breaking the guides in half is the way to get 'em out. You can just hit 'em with a cold chisel and a hammer and they'll snap. But - I like your surgical method with the cutting tool!

The tappet assemblies the book is referring to are only on the H-Duty 30" long truck engines and are removable as an assembly holding six lifters each.. The 23" and 25" engines do not have removable lifter assemblies as you know.

I've had longer days, only to find a fix that was simple...but with age and experience, those days get fewer and farther between.

I just received my 25 1/2in triple intake and split exhaust this week. Great work on the intake and especially the linkage. Thank you for posting pictures of George at it. Makes it special knowing that a legend in the craft personally created. Keeping George in our thoughts. Tim, thanks for the update and the help you've provided me. Now what to do with my cracked and warped Edmunds aluminum head?? Not ready for wall art yet.

additional information - Horn Repair Information more additional information - Horn Tone Baseline

You can pull the horn apart and nothing will fly out. There is a metal vibrating plate mounted between the electrics/magnet backing plate and the horn 'trumpet'. You will be able to powder coat the 'trumpet', but I would be reluctant to heat up the rear backing plate which houses the coiled wire, electrical points, and magnet. You should find that you will need to make up new round paper gaskets which fit on either side of the vibrating plate as the old paper ones become brittle over the years - they are required in order for the horn to work. I am working on restoring another set of dual horns for my 53 truck at present, but they will be painted in 2-pak gloss black like the ones which are fitted to my 52 truck. I have attached photos of horn insides and outs for you...

Why would anyone need two bicycles? You can only ride one at a time.

I have personally celebrated this day..............however, I think he needed to write instruction to the women a lot better...we use it up they use it down...get over it and open your eyes before you sit...I guarantee your eyes pop open if you misjudge..