Rusty O'Toole

You might be able to stick a long bolt thru and put a nut on the end without taking it off the car.

I used to have a 1970 Fargo half ton, same as a Dodge, it had the same front axle as your truck with 12" drum brakes. Never had a problem stopping it. The big drums should work for you although I wouldn't blame you for putting discs on if it is possible. The stock front suspension on mine worked fine, it was not hard to steer and it rode decent on smooth roads. On rough roads you had to go slower than in an IFS truck. Recondition the springs, replace worn parts in the steering and king pins, install new shocks, and get an alignment.For easier more responsive steering have the caster cut down and install a steering damper to control shimmy. But that is icing on the cake. Steering on mine was not hard except when completely stopped. I had 7" wide wheels and 235 70 15 radials, pumped up to 32 PSI. If you went for a narrower more stock sized tire it would be better for steering. To rebuild the stock suspension is easier and cheaper than installing IFS and it will work just as well up to a point ( no power steering and rougher ride on bad roads). To this day lots of heavy trucks use leaf springs and beam axle.

If you mean what I think you mean, he will probably have to mount the doors on the cowl then line up the back of the body so the doors fit accurately. I don't think measurements taken off another body would be accurate enough. The bodies did vary and 2 bodies made in different plants could be different. They made the doors and fenders adjustable because the bodies were never perfect.

As for rarity... I have seen quite a few Pilot House pickups over the years but only 2 or 3 panel trucks. My guess is that there were at least ten pickups made for each panel truck.

Looks like a late model Packard getting the full treatment from Eddie Edmunds in the early fifties. His motto was "Modernize Your Motor". He specialized in hopping up cars for ordinary motorists to use as regular transportation, as opposed to racing which was the focus of most other speed parts manufacturers back then. You could bring your car into his shop and have his mechanics install the parts, anything from a tuneup to a full hop up job. This one looks like the full treatment, twin carb intake, Edmunds air filters, pressure regulators, fined aluminum head, chrome accessories and probably a reground camshaft and recurved ignition. This appears to be a posed picture, however the mechanic might have used the air wrench, set to low, to spin the nuts down then torqued them with a torque wrench. There are a lot of nuts holding that head down. The straight eight Packard was a fast car at the time although not quite as fast as a V8 Cadillac or Chrysler. But with the Edmunds treatment it would fly, top speed well over 100 MPH.

Pretty sure they all had forged crankshafts. I would worry about the pistons, they seem to be a weak point even in stock engines. A more modern piston from Ross would be a better bet than stock ones. The McCulloch VS57 was said by the manufacturer to be good for a 40% increase in rear wheel HP with 5 pounds boost. If you keep the boost down to 5 pounds or 7 at the most, and do not over rev the engine, no mods should be necessary. Other than the pistons.

You must line the door with plastic behind the interior panel. All cars come this way from the factory. Rain water always runs down the window, into the door, and out the bottom (if the drains are not clogged). The dampness will warp ANY door panel made of hardboard, pressed board, Masonite or wood panelling which is practically all of them. Take the door panel off any car, you will find a plastic sheet sealed to the door with mastic or calking. You must do the same if you want your upholstery job to last.

If I wanted to put in a newer 6 I would use the 3.9 V6 out of a pickup. Much easier, and an excellent engine, like a 318 with 2 less cylinders.

Have you measured the length of the engine vs engine compartment? The original engine is very short for its size, even shorter than a slant 6 which is not a long engine for a six. I suspect the Jeep engine is substantially longer, it probably will not fit without shoving it back into the firewall quite a piece.

DeSoto used the 237 cu in engine 1942 - 1950, possibly 1951 in Canada. If you asked for 1950 DeSoto parts, they might still be baffled but at least you would have an answer.

Do you distinguish a limousine with divider window from a 7 or 8 pass sedan without? I worked on one of the other ones. This was in Port Hope Ontario in 1987 or 88. A 1947 Dodge with jump seats but no divider window.

Broken pistons and rings seem to be a common failure point on Chrysler flathead engines. Does anyone know why? Is there a way to prevent this happening?

DeSoto and Chrysler limousines are well known, but they also made a Dodge limousine or 7 passenger sedan that used the same body with a Dodge engine and Dodge front sheet metal. I wouldn't believe it either but I saw one and worked on it in the late 80s. It was a local car that was used as a limousine for hire for 10 years then stored away for 30 years. There is no telling why they chose the Dodge (in Ireland) except that it would have been a few pounds cheaper, and the smaller engine would have meant less road tax. I don't believe they ever made a Plymouth limousine.

How is the oil pressure? How many miles on the engine? If the oil pressure is good chances are the crankshaft and bearings are good. In that case you can do a ring and valve job as Robertkb described. This used to be a standard overhaul procedure up to the mid fifties. Better oil, better filters and chrome rings made it obsolete. Take the head off, if the cylinders are not scored, nor worn over .007 at the top, and the rings and pistons are not broken then a ring and valve job is all you need.

This used to be a fairly common thing in drag racing and at Bonneville. It is not too hard to do at home if you have some mechanical savvy. You couple the engines together with a sprocket on each crankshaft then wrap a piece of double row chain around them. This makes a coupling with a slight degree of flex but very strong. To build the connecting bellhousing turn 2 bare blocks upside down and connect them by clamping a long pipe or bar in the main bearing saddles. Make 2 steel plates, one on the bellhousing side of the front engine, the other to the front of the rear engine. Weld them together, with plates in between, don't forget you will need a fan belt to drive the rear water pump, unless you can rig up an electric pump, or some other arrangement. When you put the whole thing together it is wise to put a spare fan belt around the crank, wrap it well and leave it sitting there in case the first fan belt breaks. Otherwise you have to split the engines to put a new one in.

Measure the length of the cylinder head. 23" = Plymouth/ Dodge 25" = DeSoto/Chrysler (also Canadian Plymouth/ Dodge and some Dodge trucks) There is a pipe plug over the #6 piston. If you take out the plug you can measure the stroke of the engine by putting a wire or screwdriver down the hole and slowly turning the engine over. The block length will tell you the bore, the stroke is the stroke. This will tell you what model of engine you have. The distributor has an ID plate that will tell you what model it is, which tells you what points, condenser and distributor cap you need. It will also tell you the approximate year of the engine, if it is the original one that came with the engine. The engines were pretty standardized over a long period of time. You should be able to work out what parts you need, even if you do not have an engine number.

Hold a piece of stiff paper against the tail pipe with the motor running. Paper should blow away from pipe. If it sucks against pipe you have a bad exhaust valve.

You can do a compression test. This will tell you if you have low compression. If you have low compression on one cylinder squirt some oil in there and retest. If compression comes up the rings are bad. If it doesn't the valve is bad, most likely the exhaust valve. Or, long shot, hole in piston or broken piston. You can buy or make a device to screw in the spark plug hole, connect to air hose, listen at intake, exhaust, and oil fill pipe to find source of leakage. Intake (carburetor) hiss = bad intake valve Exhaust (Tail pipe) hiss = exhaust valve Oil filler hiss = bad rings or broken piston Bad valve stem seals = smokes when you lift off the gas. Bad rings = smokes when you tramp the gas.

If you mean what I think you mean your clutch is jammed up. Before it was jammed shut, now it is jammed open. If it is going in gear the car should at least move.

Savoy, Belvedere, Mayfair, they seemed to be naming their cars after hotels in those days. Yet they never made a Motel 6.

Most of the time it is possible to take the vibrator apart, clean the points and get it working again. Or, there are NOS units available. Or, you can make a solid state replacement with a few transistors. Plans are on the net if you look around.

A lot of uninformed people think all old cars need straight non detergent oil. Not true. Detergent oil has been on the market since the 40s and multigrade since 1951. If your car was made after 1950, or even before, chances are it always had detergent 10W30 oil. Under "Engine Oil Recommendations" the 1951 owner's manual says "Custom in the past was to use heavier oil than at present. The use of light oil is an aid to cold weather starting, fuel economy and the proper lubrication of parts. The selection of the proper brand of oil should be based on the reputation of the refiner or marketer." They go on to say that you should change your oil every 1000 miles in winter, 2000 miles in summer unless you have a Chrysler with the full flow filter. In that case, change your oil every 5000 miles. Change filter every 8000 miles, every 5000 on Chryslers. When driving in dusty conditions cold weather or short trips change oil more frequently.

From my 1953 Canadian Service Data Book 1951 and 1952 Plymouth model P22 and P23 rear axle, semi floating type, hypoid gears, ring gear 41 teeth, pinion gear 11 teeth, pinion adjustment - shims for axial position, spacer for preloading, pinion bearing adjustment by shims, no pinion bearing sleeve.

Most likely a bad vibrator. Yours is a typical tube radio. Parts are available. Any old time radio repair man can fix it. There are specialists on the net. Sometimes you can find an old timer locally, or a hobbyist who works on the old sets.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your car. Speedo bouncing around, has nothing to do with the electrics. Your speedo cable needs greasing. Go under the car, take the cable off the trans, pull out inner cable. Inspect for rust or kinks. Wipe off old grease. Coat with new grease, do not grease the top 6" or 1 foot. You don't want the grease to work into the speedo. Put the cable back in, and connect back onto trans. Gas gauge bouncing around, most likely a bad wire to the tank. Either shorting out or losing contact intermittently. Ammeter will go neg when you turn the key and start, pos when the engine starts. It will go up and down when you rev the engine, turn on something electric. If the batt is down it will go high then slowly come down. Once you are driving along at a steady speed it should stabilize. When my batt was low I have seen take a high charge for half an hour before it started to come down.