55 Fargo

Hows this for rudeness.Was heading out of Winnipeg City, travelling north on Provincial Hwy 59, where I was driving it was 3 lanes and a paved shoulder in each direction, this highway is one step down from an Interstate, as it has road access onto it, and some traffic lights,speed limit at this part of it was 55 mph. Well I am driving out of the city, when all of a sudden I see traffic backing up in front of me on all 3 lanes, then I saw it, a farmer with his tractor, pulling a very large discer, driving down the highway blocking all the lanes, not sure where he came from, or where he was going, now thats stupidity in it's finest, but heck they probably allow it here on our backward highways. Our road system in this province is about 25 years behind the times..Fred

send me your phone number I will call you

Kevin, try this, go out start the car, push in clutch, is it a 3spd and fluid drive or a semi-auto 4 spd trans. Either way, put the car in either high range or 3 rd gear. With your foot on the brake let the clutch out slowly, keep foot on the brake, the engine should not stall, take foot off the brake and press on gas pedal, you should start moving, the fluid drive is not like a dry clutch. If it si slipping, it could be the clutch disc, or the fluid drive unit itself. If you need to talk with someone about this, send me a PM,will try and help you, or get someone who can............Fred

Hey Dude, is that your engine in your 41, wow if it is that is some wicked lookin flathead, watch out Don C. and Pete, you got some competition. The 218 Canadian is a 25 inch engine, the 218 American is a 23.5 inch block, the 218 and 230 USA were both the shorter blocks, made only inthe USA. Canada had only one size block for all engine displacements, ie 218, 230, 251, 265. Hope that clears that up, if in doubt mneasure the topf your engine front to back, to verify...........Fred

Decided to take the plunge and change the hoghead in my 4.30 diff, with a 3.54 hoghead from my partscar. Today I tried to pull away from a dead stop in 2nd gear, with my 4.30 rearend, it pulls way no problem. With the taller 3.54 gears, it should have no problem taking off in 1st gear, the drive ratio in 1st gear is something like 9.15 to 1, with a 3.90 diff it is 10.05 to 1, so there is not that much difference. I will pull the pumpkin out of my parts car this week, I will then have it inspected, after that I will pull the axles out of the recipeint, pull its hoghead, and hopefully everything will match up. If they are different, not sure what I will do at that point, but hopefully they match up. This should drop my highway rpms a great deal, looking forward to this.....................Fred

Yes a amtter of this does help, been trying to figure out how much the speedo was out with a 4.30 diff, when the drivetrain previously had a 3.73, so the figures now work out. I am going to take the plunge and install the 3.54 diff, I have. Sure hope it works, with the weight of the Chrysler 3500 lb range, the weight of a 1951 Dodge 2900 lbs. The smaller engine I have is only 98 hp, as compared to the 114 of the 251 Chrysler engine, it should work okay here in flatland, and as long as I take it easy........Fred

Hi, the engine is a D43, which is a 1952 or 1953 engine, it will ether be a 218 or a 230, but all the Canadian blocks are the same, whether the engine was a 218,230,251 or a 265. The bore and stroke is what sets them all apart. You can make your engine into a 251 or a 265, you will need to get the right crank, connecting rods and pisotns, to make this happen, or you could rebuild it as a 218 or 230, do some mods, add dual carbs/exhaust and have a nice flattie powered resto-rod. How are the brakes, is it running, would you be able to run this drivetrain. Looks like a really nice little project................Fred

Charlie, all the best in a speedy recovery, and yes I can relate to taking the car home first, would have done the same thing............Fred

One question, some of the guys have the 4.10 diff in there P15s, with a 3 spd trans, and maybe 28 inch tires. How come they can cruise at 55 to 60, but the trucks with taller tires, usually stick to 50 mph, is it the weight of the truck, or the trans gearing. Just something I was wondering about. My Chrysler having a 4.30 diff is absolutely ridiculous, some wiseman installed this at one time, but I am not sure why. My engine and trans is from a 1951 Canadian Dodge, its 218 long block, dry clutch, 3spd trans. Does anyone know what the gearing should have been with this set-up, in a 51 Dodge. I was guessing it would have been a 3.90, but not a 4.30 or even a 4.10.................Fred

I tend to agree with this, a slow vehicle on a busy highway, that travels at speeds 20 mph under what other vehicles are doing is in fact a hazard. Where I live, this is a small rural highway, speed limit 100 kmh (62mph), but traffic flows around 110 kmh (68 mph). But as I have said this highway is generally not very busy, and the shoulder is gravel, other wise I could have pulled on the shoulder a bit to let someone pass. All the more reason for me to get taller gears in the back, so I can at least cruise at 60 mph safely, when necessary, and also not blow up my engine, with 4.30 gears doing 60 or 65 mph. I now it would probably go this fast, as there is lots of gas pedal left at 50 mph, but the engine is old, and I don't want to chance it............Fred

35 mph in a Model T, must feel like your flying.

Hi all, this morning I went for a highway ride in my 47 Chrashler, first highay ride since installing the P 215 75 15 tires the other day, the taller tire, and the fact they are tubeless and balanced make a real difference, the car steersand handles quite well. As I still have a 4.30 diff, I am keeping my speed to 50 to 55 mph. Traffic was light on this small highway, until a guy in a newer Ford 4X4 came zooming up behind me, he was probably doing in the 75 mph range on a 60 mph highway, 2 other trucks were close behind him. I sped up to about 55 mph, as there was a car coming in the opposite direction, the truck behind me had to wait moment.Well 2 of the trucks raged by:eek: , looking at me in disgust, the 3rd truck followed behind a bit then slowly passed. Looks like even on our small highways, I will need to be able to speed up my car to 60 mph. It was a beautiful ride, it's sunny, but cool this morning 38 degrees, but the heater in the car is working good, it is always a thrill to go for a ride in this car:) .............Fred

Norm, it is cranking slowly, then sometimes it will pick up speed when you next hit the button........Fred

Just tested battery with a new hdryometer, after it sat in garage for 24 hours, it was reading as a good battery. The engine started, it seemd to need a lot of cranking, but once started was fine, shut it off and restarted twice, it would start first crack on the 2 subsequent tries. So either it's another problem, ie coil, or bad starter bushings, spoke with the starter place, that just repaired the starter, he assured me the bushing,brushes and armature were in very good shape. So any other ideas. I know once I go for a cruise, the engine warms up, then it starts to crank slow................Fred

The 6.70 15 Bias ply tire is 27.4 inches in diameter, the P 205 75 15 Radial tire is 27.2 inches in diameter, only .20 of an inch difference in size...........Fred

That is true Norm, the only other thing is the diff gearing, it is still throwing out the speedo accuracy, it is either a 4.3 or a 4.1, the factory correct diff for the trans I have or more correclty the trans speedo gear is 3.9. Going to a 4.3 diff, with a 3.9 speedo gear, will throw out the speedo by 8 to 10 mph. The correct tire size for 6.70 15 is P205 75 15, for 7.10 15 its P215 75 15, according a chart i have on my desktop..........Fred

What size of drums, are they 11 inch, might be able to get you 1 maybe 2, ship to you from Canada if necessary, let me know via PM

Hi all, got 4 tires from a someone I know, they are P215 75 15, not quite what I was looking for, but for $40 I had to buy them, there still in decent shape. They were mounted on my rims using the 2 piece brass valve stems. Even on of the powder coted rims, that I thought was iffy, because of pitting, will keep my fingers crossed on this one. The young guy that did them, said they were fine and did not leak after testing, we will see, still have some newer tubes, just in case. These tires have relaxed my engine a bit, not howling as much at 50 to 55, the speedo is closer to the correct speed also. They are quite a bit taller than the P205 70 15 tires taht were on before, but they are also slightly narrower. Normally I would not buy used tires, but he had them on his 48 Chrashler, next set will be cokers for sure;)

Sounds like that could be it, this battery is on it's last 6 months of a 30 month warranty, not sure what they will give me for it on a pro-rated basis...............Fred

After charging the battery, the engine starts great, but when I go fro a ride for a few miles and the engine warms up, it starts to crank very slow again, whats up with this. Is it beacuse the engine is warm, and the compression causes the slower cranking, is it because of what?????. I don't think the battery would wear down on a 10 minute ride would it.

This is exactly what I used, works great, has a plastic coating on 1 side and adhesive on the other, goes around bends very easily too..........Fred

Enjoy your trip, pour a few down for me.....Fred

Thanx Norm and Norm, the battery is on warranty, so I probably could get another, as you both have mentioned, not enough continuos sue would help mitigate this condition. When I did charge the battery, it started right up very easily, so I most likely will charge it up as needed. I still can't get over how easy the engine started with a charged battery............Thanx Fred

Hi all, after going for a long ride yesterday, went again today, but on my return the battery seemed very weak and rundown. I did notice it was slow starting today, and very slow after my 30 to 40 minute drive. Put the battery on my 6 volt 6 amp charger for an hour or so, went out to start the car, it fired right up, turned it off, it again fired right up, first crack. Now I have been noticing my engine has been a little hard starting lately. What might be causing this, I do show the genny is charging on my ammeter, but I suppose that doesn't tell all. If the genny is no good, or the reg is not working right, I will go with a custom made 6 volt + grnd GM single wire alt for a $110.00. Any ideas guys, this is not real critical to get done quik, as I am at the end of season here and it will be winter up here by mid November..............Fred

This is why I lurk here, instead of a Website that is exclusive for my car. I have a 47 Chrysler Club Coupe, it has a flathead from a Canadian Dodge,a dry clutch and 3 spd trans. At some point I want to convert it to a dual carb, dual exhaust, electronic igntion, pcv system, front disc brakes, however I want to leave the body and interior looking stock. Now some purist might cringe on this car, but I don't really giving a flying rip, if you know what I mean, I gotta live with it and drive her. Just my thoughts.......Fred