Dozerman51

Wonder how much cutting and welding he had to do to install the 4BT in the truck. I would guess that the weight of the 4BT exceeds any 23”or 25” flathead, so he must have had to beef up the frame no doubt.

Vintage Power Wagons sells a 4 groove pulley for the M-37 Military 4x4 which was epuipped with a 230 motor from the factory. Perhaps you can make it work for your application. Ph# is (641)472-4665.

The motor looks real nice. Is it a 23” motor or a 25” motor?

One quick way to tell a spur geared NS tranny from helical cut geared S tranny is to look at the location of the drain plug. A spur gear tranny will have the drain plug facing downward at an angle. The helical cut S tranny will have the drain plug parallel to the bottom of the case.

If your looking for a 3.73 or better ratio the ‘48 Desoto is not what you are looking for. The ratio of the third member should be 3.9. If he has the original engine it should be a a 236.6(237). Desoto did not install the 250.6(251) in their cars until 1951. Yes most post-war and some pre -war Desoto and Chrysler car third members will fit in the 1/2 and 3/4 ton truck third member housings. Some time in the early 1950’s though, the spline count changed in the pinion gears of the third members, so if you swap out a third member from those years, you need to also use the axle shafts from those third members in the swap or change the pinion gears from your third member into the later third members. If I am mistaken in what I’m saying, someone will be along to correct my Info.

Congratultions. NIce Find. The wing vent door widows were an option on these model trucks. The truck will have either 4.89, 4.30 or the very rare 3.91 third member ratio. The ratio is stamped on a flat rectangular pad below the fill plug and reinforcement rib of the the third member - right side(passengers side). You will probably have to wire brush or sand the pad to see the stamped number. I would guess that you have the 4.30 ratio as that was the standard ratio with the other two being an option. Let us know what the ratio is when you get a chance to look at the third member. " Mopar Or Nocar" is what I always say. LOL?

If your going to buy any 23" head for either the US 218 or 230 motor , I would look for a 57-59 Plymouth or Dodge Head. This head has an 8:1 compression ratio as stock. The casting number( and most likely the part number) is 1676337. You will have to have the temp sender hole drilled out and re-tapped for the earlier temp gauges. Also, if using an earlier block without the extra by-pass the later head gasket needs to be used. I felt the extra "Pop" in the motor immediately after installing the head on the 230 I had up till recently in my WC-12. Here is a photo of the head

Can you post anymore photos of the car? Interior shots, motor compartment shots, side and back shots?

How about shipping down one of your 265’s so I can Install it in my WC-12. LOL.

Now that is a great looking motor vehicle. So I gather it is a Canadian produced Dodge. What size 25” motor does it have? If I had the room to garage it, I might even come up and purchase it.

Greg g, LOL. I do take it to our California Dodge Power Wagon Rally in Hollister Ca. every summer. We have a the Rally at the State off road park there. We go on trial rides and I do take it on some of the roads at the park. The way I look at it is this. These military surplus trucks were basically beat to hell by the civilian owners who bought them. Truth is, they probably worked much harder in the civilian world than they every did in their military life. So to me, it is now time to give them their well earned “Retirement” with an occasional off road run here and there. A lot of the people that restore these vehicles paint them with the olive drab “Stars and bars” look. To each his own and I have nothing against those that do. I just think that it is nice to paint them in civilian colors just to be different.

Thanks all for the compliments. It is what some call a salad. The frame is from an open cab military WC truck although both open cab and closed cab non-winch frames are Identical. The pick-up box is a short side box from a 1954 Funtional Design 1/2 ton truck. I had it modified it to look like a military box and added a pair of original WC 1/2 to military fenders. The tailgate is a 39-47 Dodge Civilian one that is a repro from Mac products which I bought over 25 years ago. The military tailgate had no lettering. It is a quality build repro which weights within ounces of the original that came with the 54 box. The Dodge lettering was more massive on the 54 box so thus I went with the 39-47 lettering which matches the 2 Dodge name plates on each side of the hood. The cab is a true Military cab and not a civilian cab. Replaced the 23” 230 with a 25” 237. Original type repro. wiring harness original 6V Gen and VRY regulator that came with the truck. The Starter is a newer 6V MAW-4030 in place of the MZ-4115. Changed out the third members to postwar units which are a tad stronger than prewar ones. Brakes are all stock and work well. The wheels and tires are 900-16 vs the original 750-16 wheels and tires. As I have said in other posts on the forum, this spring I plan on swapping out the 4.30 ratio third members for a set of 4.10’s. I then will go back to the 750-16 wheels and tires. Will only increase my RPM’s about 103 to 2545 from 2442 at 55-60 MPH’s. Again it’s a “Salad” but hey it’s “My Salad”. LOL.

Yes I do. This is the second pair I have bought. The 1st pair last darn near 30 years. LOL.

The 1676337 head produced an 8:1 Compression ratio according to Mopar. I installed this head on my 230 and I could immediately see the difference in torque over an earlier 230 head I had on it.

Here are some photo comparisons of a 1957 Plymouth 230 head as compared to a 1940’s Plymouth 218 head. Hope you enjoy them.

Oops, forgot the interior shots.

Thanks all for your kind commments.

It has an IND-7(237) with a 1941 Spitfire Head.

Sorry for the food pic. Here are some more.

Ok, here is another one or two or three if I can load more than one at a time.

Here is my first try at posting pic’s. Hope this works.

I guess that is what I should have done to begin with. I just don’t want too hot a cam where the motor is really chugging at idle. I should have done more research on cam profiles. Oh well. I do plan on returning to the 750-16 tires and wheels from the 900-16’s I have on the truck now. This should lighten up the load some for the 237. Along with the wheel change, I will be switching out the 4.30 ratio third members to 4.10 ratio third members.

The lift is .376 and the duration is 238 degrees.

I had a nice conversation with Tim Kingsbury recently about my IND-7(237). I gave him the specs to the cam I have in it. He stated that the profile is basically one for a 1952 Chrysler with a bit more duration but not much more. Looks like I will have to change the cam if I want to increase the horsepower or more importantly the torque.

I have heard that the Desoto 236.6(237) with it’s 3&7/16” bore x 3&1/4” stroke is also a good rever. But like they say, “there is no replacement for displacement”.