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Make sure to use Dino oil for break-in... never synthetic.

Whenever the towing issue pops up on a vintage machine, I notice ppl overlook one thing: speed...these trucks were designed before the advent of the interstate highway system, and from what I've seen and heard, speed limits back then, in many locations, were much lower than today, somewhere in the 40mph range. This was done for safety reasons as bias ply tires and unboosted drum brakes were prominent. So the vintage machines could do the work, but not in any hurry...modern powertrains have more power (to go and to whoa), and are more stable with radial tires and robust suspensions. So whenever somebody wants modern performance with the retro look, then I recommend going with the body swap on the modern powertrain...the framework is proven, so grafting the body onto it is the real challenge, not engineering a powertrain into an antiquated framework

Took a drive over to Scottsdale for the afternoon. Car is running fine... Needing shocks though...

I'd be interested if you do have one made.... then I could put hay back in my barn and get a couple more cows. LOL The black plastic sitting on the paint, traps the moisture and peals the 67 year old paint. ?

Amusing to see this thread come back to life 12 years after I started it. I'm not going to try to justify it, but I eventually backed the initial timing down to about 4 degrees with the vacuum connection to manifold vacuum. It was that way for several years with no issues. Marty

Here's my testimony. Driving alone along the coastal route "the Seven Bridges Road" from my home town Kokkola towards Jakobstad. August 2018.

Can you?

Yup I’m in the salt belt but I only drive the 4wd ramcharger until we get some good rains after a salt-down. I am not scared of rain but this is a fair weather driver. It’ll probably drive like crap on a wet day. A rubber skirt that flaps over the control arm relief area is a good idea. I also could use the real estate to neatly bolt up some items- ignition, regulator, fan relay, insulated remote battery +12 terminal. I shouldn’t be scared of these little filler panels after doing that geometry puzzle firewall.

Use some fairly thin rubber sheet material bolted on?? May need some rubber parts that bolt together to make it match the area. Where you live do they use salt on the roads? Even where almost dry out there, it almost always seems some moisture to drive through. Do you plan to wait till mid summers to drive this?? Didn't think so. After all this work most of us here will have to try driving as soon as possible! ? DJ

Brake linings require special brake lining Rivets to do it right..... They have a special shaped countersunk rivet head... a # 4-4.5 would probably be the one you need...but you need to figure it out if you rivet. Hansen Rivet & Supply has millions of rivets including brake and star burst clutch rivets.

Glue them instead with Pliobond High Temerature. It is sold by McMaster-Carr. This is how modern brake shoes are assembled.

LOL, No no, just a hobby. We get a couple dairy bull caves for about 18 -24 months every couple years.... Two years ago Julie told me Trucks OR cows... but I think I can do both. (The trucks will always out number the cows)

Hello, When I rebuilt my 48 Plymouth steering box a number of years ago, I discovered the worm gear on the steering gear was the same as 49 Ford 1/2 ton truck steering box, I bought a new gear and shaft from Ford(it was still available at that time). I then had the old gear pressed off the shaft of my Plymouth steering shaft and had the new worm gear from the new Ford shaft pressed on my Plymouth steering shaft, and all worked great! A little tid bit of info, hope it helps! Good Luck, Ernie Baily

slope of hood in not correct to intermingle without some modifications.....the 54 hood ornament is very common to find and actually they seem to hold up a bit better than others...

as of this morning I am rained out.....but so far have gone from a stump in the ground to this......fire pit, edgers, landscape and clean up landscape left to do..in time there will be a matching walk way to the other set of steps to the right and a small pad at the water fountain.

Ran mine around the back. I guess whatever suits you.... edit: And I did use the NiCop line for ease of installation.

Royal Purple break in oil: Highly refined Mineral Oil with Zinc , Phosphorous, other additives. Sound like Dino on steroids !

Somebody in Chicago is using this '50 year-round. My daughter took this picture last night!!

Don Coatney comes through again! Oreilly auto parts has the same motor as p/n PM354 Murray climate control blower motor. Thanks Don

I couldn’t resist throwing the wheels on. The Dana 60 is a little wider than I wanted - it would be nice to take 2” out of each side but not worth the extra work and cost. Overall, I am pretty happy with the look.

We got a break from the rain today. I was able to get the rear end under the frame and lifted into place. The new spring perches arrived earlier in the week - just sitting on the axel tubes until I can figure out the proper angle. Put the drums on and slid the axels in.

Final follow up, the radio got all new caps and tubes. Resistors checked out in spec. I reassembled it and installed it back in my car. It works again. Yay! Unsure if it was a bad tube or capacitor. Either way, all were old and due for replacement. The radio audio now sounds fuller to me and maybe a little louder too. Tone control has a nice effect. I look forward to summer cruising again with the radio on. I did have an iphone Bluetoothed to a speaker for a while, when the AM radio was dead. Iistening to modern set lists via my iphone just wasn't right. The AM radio adds to the 50's car cruise experience. Evening cruise with the ball game on? Or Sunday evening oldies? Now were talking. Where's the nearest ice creme stand?

My clock does not work. I had not gotten around to it yet. I surely will now. I can quickly see that there is no power going to it. I assume previous owner did not want it draining the battery? We shall see. Here are my test results on the water valve. A short video. https://youtu.be/mK7Dd-Dj3q4

Scuba divers used spit to clear their masks in the old days when the cold water fogged the mask.....eeewww gross....I think I would try some of this first...lol.

DrDoctor. All is well. The shop working over dads 37 has it in hand. My guess is we'll use a header and they will wind up a good shot down to the rack with no worries. If not, one of the boxes will help. I'll let them handle dads 37. I'm retiring in a few months and I'll probably scrounge up another old 37 Dodge 4 door or truck for my retirement ride and set it up with a 292 with 3 weber 34mm single barrels, also looking over a slant 6 in a mopar too but mayby go v8 with a 283 with 2 weber 38/38s on a tri carb manifold (since there really are no 2x2 manifolds laying around for a small block). decisions....decisions.....But, won't be able to talk about it on HAMB cause weber ict's and 38/38s might be too new and make em all nervous and twitchy! All in good fun though. HAMB is a good place to find and sell parts and look at pics for ideas, I just have to blot out any parts of my dads build photos that show the evil LS motor or the very scary Mustang II front suspension! I saw a 37 dodge with an early 426 hemi in it. Fit was tight. Sure sounded good and got down the road nice too!

Follow up on this post: Today I got to turn this modified oil pump with a drill and cut off screwdriver. First I connected the orginal oil pressure gauge . Its been in a box for over 30 years. Slowly built up to a steady but not too fast speed. The gauge went right up to 45 lbs . Success! No leaks found. Will run it again before setting dizzy.

On my dual carburetor setup I inly used 1.

Rank and file doesn't concern me. I just appreciate the help I've received.

Some of you are not old enough to recall the Mobilgas economy run.

This might or might not help.

I opened this thread, went to "last page", and wondered why GG40Desoto would resent an e-mail. A look to the previous page showed the context. He re-sent the e-mail. Whew. I thought we had another fight going.

Drove my 49 for a month while my kid was home from college. rain, shine, hail and a leaky windshield, added another 1000 miles to the clock... Need to revisit the vacuum wipers

"DD," my 1942 DeSoto, gets driven at least three times a week for local errands. She is completely stock--including the semi-automatic fluid drive--and runs like a dream. I am working now on DD2--another 1942 DeSoto. This one has some engine modifications, including three carburetors and slightly higher compression. Also a 200R4 transmission. Otherwise, stock....

Had my 37 out yesterday to visit a local guy who has a black 35 Dodge coupe in the background. The 35 is a nice driver/survivor hot rod that is for sale. I have posted it in the Ebay, Craigslist and External Site Referrals section.

I wanted to have full adjustment of the distributor without bending the metal line so here's what I came up with... The silicone hose has a 5/32 inside diameter so it fits snuggly on the 3/16 CuNi line. I got the hose from Napa (part # H467). It's made by Gates and is rated at 400 deg F. I might end up shortening the hose after I get the engine running.

Gets parked most of the winter. But drive it as much as I can manage the rest of the year. Hits 75 mph almost every drive.

Or a filtered one of those^^^^

or one of these

I did the same thing and used a drill and the remains of a long screwdriver to spin it up to pressure

Hello,I had occasion to install a set of these sealed power guides last July. I drove the original to the block out with a bit in the air chisel, cleaned the bores out with a wire brush and let the block warm up in the 100 degree temperature in front of the shop. I chilled the new guides in the freezer for about 10 minutes,then gave the bores a shot of WD40 and drove them in with a two pound hammer and a piloted driver. My machinist friend loaned me two hand reamers and the handle to turn them with,only a very light cut was required. I would buy these guides again,the fit was good and easy to finish ream. James

I drive mine every 2 or 3 days,..car shows and to the local hardware store. Always fun to get the thumps up and comments like. "we had one of those when I was a kid." About 35K miles since frame off and V8 engine install. Second pic shows Granddaughters first drive in an old car.

Thanks, forgot to check Rock auto out today .. $34.99 ($41.89 with shipping) is much better than $72.99 plus shipping. Rock Auto has / is selling the exact same GATES model 42554 that NAPA is selling. Will actually order it is a few minutes ... thanks again UPDATE: 19 Feb 2016. I ordered the new water pump from Rock Auto (late Dec) and am very happy with the product. It can be used either with an internal or external water bypass system. Included was the required gaskets and a new "longer" bolt to replace the shorter bolt found on the older water pumps. The bolt is needed due to the thickness of the attachment point of the new water pump. Added two photos to show some new angles in addition to the ones that Merle posted earlier. I really like the fact that the new water pump has a sealed bearing inside and does not need to be greased from time to time.

Just to add my 2¢...I've had a few folks ask me about the differences between the internal & external bypass blocks/heads and water pump applications, specifically when installing the newer NAPA water pump which can work with either setup. While going through some boxes of parts I've acquired recently, I found an external bypass water pump with an internal bypass backing plate, as well as a newer NAPA water pump (pictured on the right). The external bypass pump casting does not allow coolant flow through the internal bypass backing plate, and drilling through this area of the casting can be difficult without cracking the rest of the casting. Also shown in this pic is a '50 218 without internal bypass; the location of the internal bypass port would be in the area pointed to in this pic, and a sharp eye may notice that an internal bypass water pump & head gasket have been mounted to this external bypass block. The red block pictured is a '54 230 with the internal bypass. The bypass passage is pointed out in the block & the head; the 'hump' in the head can be seen as well. The assembled engine is a '52 218 with the internal bypass head and thermostat housing (water neck). The fewer parts required made for a more economical assembly; with one less hose to leak, it also is a more reliable assembly.