Leaderboard

My Great Grandfather, and guessing my Great Grandmother with the '55 Dodge (I'll be inheriting this summer) and what I believe is a '55 DeSoto. The truck was my Great Grandfather's then my Uncle's, and then my Parent's, and soon to be mine. My Dad just told me that he is getting too old to work on too many toys, and he is giving it to me. It is in a little worse shape than here, but pretty much original. I'll post pictures of it's current state, in the correct area, when I get it out of the barn, but from what I recall it definitely will need a gas tank and fuel pump, amongst other things.

Just installed a Red Crown Gasoline light in our carport to go with the truck. I am pretty happy with the results.

Also had them flip the flywheel starter ring.

I have an admittedly tight focus on the KT Keller cars, so that's what I research and play with. It's all about having fun after all and those are the ones I like. I am a huge fan of Overdrive transmissions because they don't really change the charm of the cars and actually add to it. When you put one in your car your speedo will be off at all speeds because the speedometer pinion gear was selected for a 4.1 ring and pinion. The good news is you can swap out the pinion from your old three speed to the O.D. and all will be back to normal ( assuming your speedometer doesn't need service ). But what if you changed the rear end ratio or the tire size? I don't advocate changing rear axles because I don't see much to be gained there. You can easily change the differential carrier ( aka 3rd member ) in a Plymouth if you want another ratio. Where I live there's lots of open road with highway speeds of 55 to 70 so optional ratios, tires and O.D. go well with my Plymouth. My P17 Coupe came with 6.40-15 tires ( modern equivalent 195/75/15 ) and a 3.73 final drive ratio so the speedometer pinion would be a 17 tooth gear ( p/n 652-848 ) for an example. Chrysler designed the pinions to use the same 6 tooth gear on the output shaft so you only need to change one gear to correct the speedometer. One thing you find out right away is selecting speedo gears is not an exact science. You can get close and you might hit it right on the button but you more likely will be over or under by 2 or 3 mph. That's why the Highway Patrol has an enforcement tolerance. So let's look at tires first 6.40 15 = 195/75/15 standard tire for a P17 6.70 15 = 205/75/15 standard tire for a P18 7.60 15 = 225/75/15 an optional size tire Final drive ratios 3.90 very common on long wheelbase cars 3.73 standard ratio on many optional on all 3.54 optional Chart of ratios & tires vs speedometer pinions 3.90 6.70 15 17 tooth pinion 3.73 6.40 15 17 tooth pinion 3.73 6.70 15 16 tooth pinion 3.54 6.70 15 16 tooth pinion All 7.60 15 16 tooth pinion So you can see you're not going to get an exact reading but you can get close enough to avoid a ticket. The part number for the 16 tooth pinion is 652-846. I have found that if you have the number for an obscure part the parts house will look to find it in their inventory but they are likely to blow you off if you just say "I need a 16 tooth speedometer gear." Happy hunting!

Yup, between 65 and 70. When I had earplugs in, I tended to go faster, haha....

Thanks sniper and DJK for digging up info. And here's my two cents about electric pumps. First off, I love 'em! And here's why: When one of my vehicles has been sitting for a long time, I don't have to waste precious battery capacity cranking the motor to get fuel up to and in the carb. I also put a electric switch in the supply line to the pump so that, in Autumn when I'm putting cars to sleep, I can turn off the switch and keep running the motor until it dies. This does a good job of draining the carb, reducing varnish build-up. Yes, I could use a gas additive (and I often do), but with lots of cars and equipment, and full gas tanks in each, that's lots of Stabil! And, in regards to leaving the mechanical pump in the line, I've done that numerous times, but one thing to consider is this: if you do that and the rubber diaphram of the mechanical pump fails, you'll get raw gas going into your crankcase and diluting your oil... and not know it!

with all due respect, items needed to exact this repair is common at any hardware store or big box building supply, TSC etc that one can walk in, get the item, pay and immediately got to work repairing. While mail order from many companies and sites are MOST BENEFICAL when you dealing/needing bulk quantity, I have to state IN MY OPINION this is not the best option for this particular thread. Heck if it boils right down to it, one can find where a person may park a chevy/gm product and find where these have fallen off and free for picking up. Ok so the last part is a joke...maybe real at times, but still intended as a jab/joke.

SURVIVOR: saw this Dodge between Lake Graham and Newcastle

Likely not a "factory" accesory, more likely a mass produced catalog or dealer option, these aren't listed in the Accesories section of the manuals.

Just use a torch to get the plug red hot....that oughta bust the rust loose................. 😲 🤣

John-T-53, thanks for all the pictures. I’m sure a lot of us would like to make the tailgate and BBQ. Just not practical for most. However, your pictures really let those of us who can’t make it live vicariously through your pictures. The most and best of the bunch! I would love to bring this old girl to the BBQ but it involves border crossing (not a problem with a passport) and a three, four, or possibly five day drive depending on weather and lack of problems. It doesn’t have a tailgate but does have the next best thing…..a big butt trunk.

you may be onto something Sniper, I am going to say a rolling wheel gathers no red paint.....

See now a song comes to mind I see a black wheel and I want to paint it red Apologies to The Rolling Stones

I use the in my opinion a lot because most of my unsolicited comments are just that, an opinion and in no manner saying good bad or indifferent....but just as I see it. The fact I will then state the whys and wherefores of my opinion is to say that it is not just a whim or silly notion and give some background, color and size ratio etc...technically I could care less one way or the other what anyone chooses to do as it is not my car no more than if a person likes or dislikes what I do with mine. Big hobby folks, I will admit at one time it would rankle me see what some folks may do...but hard lesson to learn is JUST NOT MY BUSINESS....the red wheels, there is NO WAIVER here......lol

•pinched tube on intake manifold appears to be the vacuum source for the vacuum windshield wiper motor •intake manifold appears to have a partial PCV setup •spark plug wires appear a little on the long side...universal sets with 90° boots can be sourced

I dunno, call me a snob but I's rather spend my tool money on real quality tools. Like Starret or Mitutoyo. Yeah, they cost a bit more but are definitely quality tools.

Rmon...........Can I throw a curved ball into the ring...........lol............in 1973 I installed a 318 Poly V8 in my 1940 Oz Dodge.............at the time there were no instructions available nor did I have much in the way of outside help but I could weld and use a tape measure so I had a go.........I was 19 and basically did a few things more than once but I still have the car & its Poly V8.........now you have a 1954 Plymouth.......did you know that in 1957 Chrysler here in Australia introduced what they called a Chrysler Royal..........it was based on the 1953/54 Plymouth body and chassis with 1955/56 front & rear fenders attached.............the interesting thing that you need to be aware of is that the Chrysler Royal for the 6 yrs of its use in Australia from 1957 to 1962 had a 313( essentially the same as the 318) Poly V8 which is basically the same block as the 1966 onwards 318/340 & 360 V8's that mopar used and in fact these later engines are in fact not as wide nor as heavy as the earlier 313/318 poly and also use a much lighter transmission............your best bet would be to get as late an LA series Mopar V8 & trans that you can, also a later rear axle from either a mopar or something else that fits & a disc brake conversion for the front and have at it ..........I've attached 3 pics of the Oz Chrysler Royals showing that 1953/54 Body shell....each in these cars was available with a 313(318) Poly V8 and cast Iron Torqueflite push button trans.......also a couple of pics of my 1940 Dodge 4dr Sedan & the 313/318 Poly V8 thats lived there for 51yrs now........regards from Australia.......Andy Douglas

Second that thought. Never saw a plug blow apart on a flathead till I had three Champion plugs do it over two days. Switched to AC and never had another issue, same with the NGK which I also use in all my small engines, ATVs and motorcycle.

Champion spark plugs...ran them for years in everything from V8s to single cylinder lawn and garden equipment...then in the late 90s, they needed to be replaced more often from electrode wear, and by the mid aughts they were blowing apart in the small engines, larger engines were fouling and hard to start in cold weather. Switched to AC Delco on big engines and NGK in small and haven't had a lick of trouble since.

I looked at the license plate mount this afternoon, and tried to get the old plate off to be able to get a decent picture. It isn't quite as I remembered. The center (vertical) bracket hooks under the bumper, and the center bumper bolt passes through it, securing it to the bumper. Then there is a horizontal c channel bracket fixed to it (welded?), with long slots, to accommodate various mounting points for the different shapes of license tags used during that era. This is the best I could do, as the tag mounting bolts are rusted fast, and just turn on the back side. (I could have broken the tag off, but didn't want to ruin such a perfect license plate.... )

My 93 F250 rear shock upper mounts sit about 2 " inboard and below the frame rail. To install these on my truck would require mounting them on the inside of the C shaped frame, open side of the frame is on the inside so I would guess the standout to the shock stud to be about 4 inches. you'll have to wait till it stops raining and dries up a bit if you need more accurate measurements.

The drag links I'm familiar with had one end with cotter pin and slot cut into the end that a wide screwdriver blade or drag link socket fit into for adjusting and the other end would be a tie rod style. If the end that has play is similar to the tie rod style Sniper put up, replacement is your needed. If the other style, I believe some replacement sockets and cup, spring may be available. Post a pic of the bad end if you can.

I think I’m a year with the electric 6V boost pump in Chrysler. No complaints. It will push through vapor lock. I have done so with it. I do like it spliced into ignition switch (wire to fuel gage). Then I cannot leave it on when I park the car. I have left the heater blower and AM radio on by accident. They were wired to direct non-switched power sourced. Dead battery the next morning. A sure way to ensure premature death of an otherwise good 6V battery.

Never saw the points firing a plug when turning the key 🙄 Is this a stock setup, besides the ignition? Are you running an electric fuel pump or any other things connected to the ignition switch?

well, .008 is within factory specs..just at the upper end..you can ride as is..and monitor this and address should it change...or go the added step to reduce this now while you are working this issue. The problem with many values and ideas expressed here is they do not reflect the values and standards of the engineers and it was well known, Chrysler aligned the company with the best engineers out there. Some folks just like to yell out, close enough and throw in the towel as it may be labor intensive.

For the speedo pinion seal, I found a Honda #91204-HB3-004, is a perfect fit.

SURVIVOR: saw this Dodge between Lake Graham and Newcastle

Pro tip. If you have a bunch of transmissions and go hunting through them for the proper gear to match the 3.73 you swapped into your coupe make sure you reinstall all the wrong ones correctly. Otherwise later on when Dad goes to install one of those in place of the OD he's not selling with the 50 Plymouth bad things will happen to the new owner. Like the tail housing exploding....

HEET is 99% iso-propyl alcohol and would most likely be useful only if using non-ethanol gasoline. If the tank has ethanol-laced gasoline in it, the ethanol is already absorbing moisture that is in the gas (that is why ethanol-contaminated gasoline is nasty stuff....corrosion city). The amount of ethanol in a few gallons of E10 is far more per volume than what is in the red plastic bottle. It does work well with gas-fired camp stoves, however. Update: Since last fall my TR6 has been stored in a temporary enclosed garage (Harbor Fright) and this spring it has presented a couple of yips which I have wondered might be due to water condensing in the tank because of the outdoor storage. Los Control got me thinking about this, so why not. I added the appropriate ratio of HEET to the tank just in case there was still some moisture in the tank. Yep, a sniff test confirmed HEET is good ol' alcohol (no taste test...). I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to add it since the tank already has E10 in it.

I like the mounting on the rear of the bumper. It looks slicker than the factory mount on our car.

we made the license plate holder. thank you for your help.

The pilot bushing is an oilite bushing DO NOT USE SANDPAPER on oilite bushings DO NOT REAM an oilite bushing READ https://oilite.com/best-machining-practices

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER Thanks for tip Los. I pulled the sender and measured the gas level, it was at 2 1/2" in an 8" deep tank, which matches the fuel gage reading of about 1/4 tank of gas. Looking in the tank from the sender hole I couldn't see any water, but it was probably back by the tank drain, and the drain plug is stuck and I can't remove it. The one thing I didn't do last fill up was to put Stabil in the tank. It keeps the gas good and also helps with condensate. When I measured the gas level, I stirred the gas in the tank then I smelled the gas. It didn't smell bad, but it smelled weak. The strong smell wasn't there. It smelled lite, like half of the normal gas smell. I have new fuel filters on the way to replace the one before the prime pump at the tank and the one before the carb and when I change them, I'll take another crack at removing the drain plug and hopefully know for sure about the water in the tank. So tune in next week for another exciting episode of "As the Wheel Turns". Joe Lee

We always get at least one or two orphan makes at this event each year. Jim's brother's silver Kaiser showed up again, and below is Charlie's '55 Nash, with body design by Pininfarina of Torino. I really enjoyed this car. AMC's thrifty 195-6. Note: no intake manifold. The exhaust "manifold" is just a steel pipe with cutouts bolted to the block. "Brendt" strikes a pose. Best of show award Really hope to see this COE on the road next year! The aftermath of Joe's Motorhome debacle on Sunday.... photo credit: @48Dodger

Here's my pics.... Heading out of SLO county on the 41.... "El Puto Cinco" Joe's Truck awaiting its dismount Bud's Truck just having rolled out of the trailer

There is a youtube channel I watch sometimes ..... guy is a pretty fair mechanic and has interesting content. What he uses is bar oil for chainsaws. He thins it down with paint thinner then uses a pump up garden sprayer to apply it. The paint thinner evaporates leaving the sticky oil. Then he drives the vehicle down a dirt or gravel road and coats the fresh oil with a layer of dust ..... just helps give the oil a protective layer to keep it in place. This is what he does to his daily drivers, not sure he would do it to a classic car ... that he would not drive in the winter. I like the idea because it is cheap, easy to do, and it is not permanent. He says he needs to repeat the process after about 3 years .... If he needs to work on it he has a lift and can just raise it up, pressure wash it to clean it and when finished just apply more. Compared to spraying undercoating on that is permanent and a pita to get rid of .... I would choose this method if I needed it .... Texas I do not need it.

Dan: Sealed beam headlights were first introduced in 1940 and mandated by the Govt. There were a few exception that still used bulbs. For MoPar from 1940-48 the cars and truck all used the 4030 Sealed beam bulb that did not have the aiming tips. From 1949-56 still 6 volt they used the Autolite Bullseye bulb and still no aiming tip. In 1956 the 6v 6006 sealed beam was first produced and these had the aiming tips so that the BEAR headlight machine could be used to adjust the light instead of aiming the lights against a wall and manually adjusting the light. More of a true system to get everyone's lights in sync. The 6006 6v bulb is now used as the primary headlight bulb for cars and truck from 1940 to around 1956 for cars that had 6volt system.s Rich Hartung

Oh sure, just as he finally got it properly broken in you went and got a new one. Gonna take lots of work to break in the new one, lol.

That pipe could be for wipers or other vacuum operated equipment? To determine what is and what's not original, it is best to find some vintage illustrations, such as from the owners' or repair manuals. Here are some of the things I see on the pictures: bed is likely not original or modified, rear view mirrors do not look period correct. Obvious - turn signals, side markers, etc. Interior appears to have been redone. Under the hood: is that a DIY PCV setup? You might want to check the original fuel bowl next to the pump, it needs to be cleaner. The heater outlet has been welded shut I see the vacuum advance next to the ignition distributor but do not see a vacuum line going to it, is it still there? Also, is this engine original to the truck (does the number match the frame)? The red color seems a bit unusual. Also, either your brake or clutch pedal is out of alignment, they should be the same height.

Ray, where is your original post? This one? Just reply to it with all your updates.

Andy's brackets look like the ones on my car as well (and similar to what's available on eBay for $20).

Hmm, looking at Andy's post I see something that might work Yeah, it's listed as a fog light bracket, but it looks like it would clamp to those bumper brackets and a piece of angle iron bolted to the top would let you mount a plate? No, I wasn't looking for anything like this, I was looking for add on fog lights, lol.

@keithb7 has a great YouTube video on this. His electric pump is on a hidden switch. Faster starts, a backup if mechanical pump dies, and I think solves any vapor lock issues...it's on my list as well.

The Champion story is very sad. My other parts bane were GM hvac blower motors. The ground wire is riveted thru the steel case, but they also put it through this cardboard insulator board. Totally unnecessary, and eventually the cardboard wears and shrinks, resulting in a loose ground wire. I have fixed three of these and they always failed the same way. If you split the motor you can drill the rivet, remove the offending cardboard, and repair it with a screw and nut, staked tight.

My 40 Dodge as does all Oz cars has to use both front & rear licence or what we call number plates.....my car uses the original 1940 brackets that fit on both sides of the bumper dumb irons and are clamped with the dumb iron between them and fixed with a bolt on top of & at the bottom of where the dumb iron is.............then a stamped steel cross bracket is factory welded onto the dumb iron clamp and the number plate bolted onto this cross bracket........you can just see this clamp underneath the lower edge of the number plate. The rear plate attaches to the factory cross bracket which bolts onto the factory triangular mount on the trunk lid...........andyd

https://www.amazon.com/Anytime-Tools-Micrometer-Precision-Machinist/dp/B0045UZGSC/ref=sr_1_4? You want a set like this.

In the downloads section there is an article about swapping a 318 into a 51 Plymouth. Might give you an idea though most, if not all, of the suppliers mentioned are out of business.

That is a great calf hauler! love the scenery…… cool find

SURVIVOR: spotted this '52 in Jacksboro...it's had some work done but this was the only time I saw it at the old fillin station that I've motored past several times in the last 6 months

Well, same here, the pup eventually become family and usually cause less trouble or heartaches. My little dog asks for nothing, gives all. I have had a number of dogs over the years and yes, they all been good animals. But this little guy, he is very special. He was 14 last Christmas...I have had pugs since early 80's....they my favorite breed. Here he is doing his Don King impression.