Leaderboard

Just came in this afternoon. Serial number 003. If I can get past the cancer,I hope to put it in the dead stock 33 Dodge shown in the photos,and drive it around and enjoy the HELL out of it just like you see it in the photos. This was the type of car I used to see running around when I was a kid that you could buy and enjoy for 50 bucks because I had some hope of one day having 50 bucks. Had and still have practically zero interest in new cars,but I LOVED the hell out of stuff from the 30's and 40's. I will never win any prizes at car shows or runs with it,but you can bet there will be nobody there having more fun than me. Had a local guy ask me last year if I knew anybody interested in buying the good running 251 6 out of his 51 DeSoto for 250 bucks,so I snapped it up and it is now sitting on my garage floor next to the 33 Dodge. I also have dual carb aluminum intake and carbs for it. About the only piece I am missing that I can think of is a set of cast iron headers. so I can run duals. I prefer the sound of the cast iron over the tubular headers. Every time I think about this I want to stop what I am doing and do a little happy dance.

There is a very funny story about that... So, when I was 10 about six months before my father died in 1970 dad told my mother that the "worm" gear in her beloved 1949 Desoto was bad and parts were no longer available. So they sold the car to a collector who put it in a closed dry shop with 20 other cars for decades... When I was 15 I had a Ford Model "A" coupe. It was a hot rod project that I had purchased. It had a Ford Gemmer Steering box in from a late '40 ford truck. I took that box apart and the worm gear was worn. I looked at a neighbors Hollander Interchange book and saw that a bunch of different years Ford used the gear. So, this is about 1975 and I head down into the little farming town I grew up in and go to the Ford Dealers Parts Desk. I ask the kid at the counter if he has a worm gear for a 1948 Ford truck. He immediately says we don't have parts for that far back. I hear a grunt from a older man at the rear of the parts counter room who stands up and says, "wait a minute". I hear him go up into the loft above the parts counter. About 10 minutes later he walks up to the counter with an arm full of worm gears with the shafts. He looked over mine and sorts through them and says, "here you go this is the one". Turns out that the apple farmers tended to wipe out there steering boxes in the soft soil of the orchards and they used to always carry a number of spare parts for them. The kid says what do I charge him as it is not in the system. He tell the kid, "what does the tag say". It was $5 or something like that. So that is what I paid. I went home and told mom how I had gotten a new steering gear for $5. I then told her is was the exact same gear that was needed for her beloved Desoto. She got so mad and said if that God Dammed Greek Sea Captain father of yours was still alive, I would kill him! She really loved that car. Of course the story does not end there. In 2010 I managed to get the car back. It had been sitting since the day that they sold it in the back of that shop. The irony in the story. When I took it apart the steering gears looked fine. The front right king pin was worn a lot and that is what the steering problem was. Any shop could have fixed it in no time. Mom died in 1985. She would never would know that dad just wanted "the old car" gone. I smiled when I managed to get second in my class at Hillsborough a couple of years back. She would have loved that.

I checked the brakes and steering and went down to the corner and back. It is not always easy to start so I didn’t want to walk home and my kid is in the house watching cartoons after dinner. I was more than a little nervous but the rusty rotors worked ok and the steering was pretty good too- a little more effort than the over-assisted 70s muscle cars I’m used to but nice. I live on top of a small hill in the middle of my block and it’s a 2 lane street that narrows when people park on the sides so I was just concentrating on making it home without killing the motor or finding a terrible problem the hard way. It’s got a loud thrum at idle that will take some dynamat to cure but it never threatened to die. The turning radius was decent (should be for a shortened dakota) and the power brakes seem to be working ok? Not amazing. Breaking them in from their slumber will help but the actual braking happens after a good bit of free travel and requires some force on the pedal. Maybe I will eventually go to a smaller bore master but time will tell. I’m super glad I extended the floor forward under the pedal so it could have more travel without a higher starting point. I hardly looked at the gauges but on the way back up the hill I gave it half throttle and good lord she’s got some stink! BIG milestone today.

Redoing someone else's work is more expensive than starting from "scratch" yourself...... If its not running, looks cobbled together and has (what I call ) untested upgrades.... Look into starting from scratch yourself and see where the cost falls. Dakota frame engine A non running 51-53 truck with 90% of parts The ability to bring it together ( tools, funds or both) It'll be a matter of which truck wins....a truck with a multitude of problems and unknowns... Or carefully bringing together a proven design that you would happy to drive your family around in. A truck like this one might require a multiple of shake downs, tear downs and....(hoping against) breakdowns. This truck (based on parts alone) might be worth 4500, if you can put it through the paces and prove its safe for family. Otherwise.....its an expensive parts truck. 48D

Eight hole crankshaft and 4 bolt flywheel for sure. I did it.

Yeah I was pretty worried about the pump converter, & seals. I felt much better when I dropped the valve body and the trans above it drained a couple pints of fresh fluid. It did pull some up but it didn’t have enough to make pressure. I also always use plenty of grease when I rebuild rotor pumps both for lube and so it will have good suction. Honestly I had no idea what I could have smoked in there when it didn’t work! My first freak out was when I read that the pump doesn’t flow in Park which is how I did the whole break in. Then I felt a little better when I went back and re read my tf2 shift kit instructions- with the kit it fills the converter etc in park not just Neutral. The rear main seal definitely leaks and I need to put a new gasket between the head and passenger header but I’ll probably romp around the neighborhood soon to seat the rings and get an idea of the baseline tune. Then a post preak in oil change and back to sheetmetal work.

Now, hopefully you didn't smoke the pump running it through the cam break-in period without any oil going through it.?

Stupid would be not trouble shooting it.....you did fine and learned a lesson, now you will be able to pass your knowledge on to the next guy or gal that has this type problem.

This is a typical picture of a machine shop hot tank cleaning of a Mopar oil pick up...they dont remove the tin cover to fully clean it...I always do... This one I had to R&R the screen ....re-crimp it... a hard thing to do right. Definitely check all machine shop cleaning of all oil passages! Leave No debris anywhere...

Mike....let someone else buy that mess, don't wear these..... You'll find a better truck if you are patient.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

well, look close at the picture........? yes.. but that is not an issue when you flip polarity by polarizing the system. by appearance you are using a Lucas RB 106 regulator....the internet should have a ton of diagrams and support for troublehooting this particular regulator. Most of my Lucas is the RB 340 model... below is just one site reference that may be of help to you.... https://www.mgexp.com/phile/3/191288/REPAIRING_THE_STANDARD_RB106.pdf

Wow...you guys are awesome...I think I need to maybe just take my time and see what pops up this spring...this old truck may need a little TLC and that's it or it may end up being pull everything out and start over... With a set of Mopar eys on it to point things out...that would be definitely beneficial to my wallet for sure... Only time will tell... MikeC

7.2-7.4V is normal charging voltage at 1,200 rpm and above. If it gets considerably above that, battery may be overcharging, so voltage regulator will need servicing and adjusting. 6.4V is normal battery voltage with no load and engine not running. However, this voltage is not an indicator of battery's state of charge: fully charged and almost completely discharged battery have almost same open voltage. Whenever you suspect that the battery is not fully charged (for example after a trip with headlights, heater fan, and radio on, or if car was not used for a couple of weeks), hook up an automatic charger and keep it on until "fully charged" indicator lights up. Automatic charger may be hooked up permanently to maintain the battery in fully charged state.

Thinking my 86 ford van with the C-6 trans took 12 quarts to fill it .... when I swapped the trans and installed dry torque converter. But I looked that up on line somewhere .... you sure you have enough ATF? Maybe I am wrong and was not that much, but it was a stupid amount needed to fill it. I hate checking trans fluid, when you add a little bit, you have to let it sit overnight to drain down the tube and check it again in the morning. I would think that you would get some flow through the lines with 9 quarts though. But if you are 2 quarts low, I know my ford would not move without adding to it. Should be some site online that would tell you exactly how much your trans holds.

I get a little anal about the fry pans. I have 2 Empire steel from the 1800's. I cook on them daily and have for years. Only fry pan I own. I would not put them through the dishwasher. And same time, I am the dishwasher. But if I had a dishwasher, everything else could go in it .... not my fry pans ?

Don't want to hijack this thread … A couple of points that may be worth mentioning . Should you decide to buy this truck and require a trailer... With the experience I had in the past renting poorly serviced U Haul trailers, I wouldn't recommend them. I have my own trailer that I have confidence in, it is fully serviced and ready to go. Also as an aside, suggest you pick your travel route in advance.... Probably 12 years has passed since I drove through Salt Lake City, Utah pulling my car hauler on my way down to California to pick up a vehicle. The multiple lane traffic headed south on I15 through SLC was heavy and while I was travelling the posted speed, vehicles started passing me … not being one to hold up traffic I sped up reducing the normal comfortable buffer zone between me and the brake lights of the vehicle ahead . On the return trip with the loaded trailer, I chose a route with lighter traffic around Salt Lake City and headed north on I215...My thoughts?

Almost done breaking in the cam/lifters but my lower rad hose sprung a leak so I idled it down so it wouldn’t diesel on shutdown. It only idled for less than 10 secs but I recorded it! I can see the conversation now- “what’s that got in it?!” “It’s a (cough cough) stock flathead motor with exhaust and a cold air intake” hahah It sounds a little nastier than I expected!

the guides need to be free of debris /corrosion before inserting the valve guide pilots using a valve guide brush. On a relatively new guide a .342" pilot should fit snug fully pushed down.... with corrosion in the guide I doubt that pilot would barely go down into the guide... a sign of dirt etc. .002" to .004" Exh. guide clearance.

Here's mine. It's a Canadian dodge