jboymechanic

It has been a LONG time yet again, but this engine has now been running on a test stand to break the rings in (or back in). The more it runs, the less it smokes now. Oil pressure is low, but that is with the old oil after warm up. Hoping an oil change and some additive will help with that. Dodge 241 Hemi - Running to reseat the piston rings. - YouTube

In the first linked video, the little hemi was only running on 4 cylinders. It idled smooth since every other cylinder in the firing order was firing. The two barrel carb was only feeding fuel in one barrel, so one intake manifold plane was fueling. We swapped carburetors and were running on all 8 cylinders. Finally made good vacuum at idle and had good throttle response. Not sure why the exhaust is so smokey, but appears to be oil. Cylinder inspection on this engine looked good, so hoping its valve seals. The transmission now has working home-made shift linkage. I did the same thing for my 1960 Plymouth; just used straight hollow tubing and tapped the ends to fit heim joints. Shifter still needs a rebuild. We have also picked up a mopar E body 8 3/4 rear axle assembly to swap into the truck. Came with the ever common 2.76 gears, looking for 3.73 ratio.

Time for a long overdue update. My truck has been sold to another friend, he dropped it onto an early 1990s Dodge Dakota chassis so it is 360 Magnum powered with automatic with overdrive. It has a very cool rat rod look to it. My friend and I finally test ran his 241 Hemi, a link to the youtube video is below.

Does any one make new, replacement gas tanks for 1954 Dodge trucks? The truck I have is missing the gas tank and I can't seem to find one. Any one else having the same issue?

I just missed out on a 1955 Dodge truck with a 259 Poly and 3 speed on ebay, I set my max bid at $350 but it went for $450. Needed total restoration, but everything was there including the V8 that would turn over. Normally these trucks don't get that much respect, glad to see one did.

*1982 Chrysler Cordoba (first car in 1998) *1956 Imperial coupe 1977 Ford F250 Camper Special 1978 Chrysler Cordoba 1985 Buick Electra Estate Wagon 1986 Dodge Power Ram 4x4 1984 Dodge Ram 1995 Chrysler Cirrus 1999 Pontiac Bonneville 1984 Chevy Impala 1984 Pontiac Parisienne 1996 Chrysler Sebring Convertible 1994 Dodge Intrepid 1997 Dodge Intrepid 1956 Imperial sedan 1995 Chevy Silverado 2500 *1998 Dodge Ram quad cab 4x4 2001 Honda Civic 1995 Honda Civic 1992 Subaru Loyale 1987 Subaru GL-10 Turbo 1993 Subaru Legacy sedan 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon 1996 Subaru Legacy Brighton wagon 1996 Subaru Legacy with 2.5/2.2 frankenmotor wagon 1958 Plymouth Belvedere sedan 1963 Chevy Corvair Convertible *2003 Subaru Outback *2013 Subaru Impreza *1954 Dodge Job Rated pickup * indicates what I still have. Wish I could have that 58 Belvedere back, nice survivor with great body lines. Currently only have Subarus and Mopars, kind of an odd mix.

4mula-dlx, Do you have the part numbers for the master cylinder and valve you used in your conversion?

Looks like it might be a track for a window regulator end, see if the mounting points match up to any two holes on any of your doors or inner rear quarter (depending if you have a coupe or sedan).

Thanks for the info PA. I have no spark and the coil appears to be original or at least very old and the hold down clamp is actually spot welded to the coil. Any way, I measured 1.4 ohm primary and 6,400 ohm secondary and I thought that the secondary seemed pretty low. I have a new coil and it measures 1.4 ohm primary and 9,800 secondary, but I thought I'd be sure that the old one was shot before I destroy it to harvest its hold down clamp.

What is the target secondary winding resistance for a stock coil on vehicle mentioned in the title? The service manual does not list this specification.

Also, I did find some pictures I had taken of my 1954 Truck. It was picked up in Missouri about 7 or 8 years ago and has sat inside since. The cab is solid, the only rust is on the removable center floor section. The doors do have one small hole end along the bottoms. The bed is missing, but I do have the sides and fenders (so I need the front of the box, the tailgate, and the cross braces). As she currently sits in a barn. Plenty dirty, lots of surface rust, but very solid. Hood is removed for easy access to the flatty. Three speed on the column behind a fluid drive. I was originally thinking a 5 speed out of a Ranger, but I think I'll stick with the factory setup.

Found some pictures of the clutch disc to trans input shaft spline engagement. I don't have 100%, but I do have about 87%. Since a 241 Hemi is only rated at 135 HP and 225 ft-lbs so I'm not worried.

Time for a long over due update. The Hemi turned out to be a 241, but when we removed the heads we saw .030 stamped in the top of all the pistons. A quick measurement of the cylinder bores confirmed that the engine had been rebuilt at some point. Everything looked good so we just cleaned it and sealed it back up with all new gaskets every where. The timing chain was shot so I replaced that and the bolt that holds on the crank pulley and dampener hub was partially stripped, so I adapted a grade 8 bolt (3/4"-16) with a custom made spacer/bushing. The A-833 overdrive trans has also been mated to the engine successfully. I pressed a new pilot bushing into the end of the crank as the transmission input shaft was plenty long to reach it. I found a factory release bearing sleeve from the original 4 speed speed and found an off the shelf bushing that was a perfect fit to press into the release bearing sleeve and still slide smoothly over the trans input shaft. A stock 1954 release bearing was used. I ended up having the original pressure plate assembly rebuilt as it better fit the original release bearing. So the only parts that weren't stock 1954 parts were the clutch disc (as it had to match the spline of the new trans), my custom adapter plate that I laser cut out of 1/4" plate and the bushing I pressed into the release bearing sleeve. The only other hurdle was having the bell housing machined to accept the trans and adapter. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures. I have a two month old daughter, so time is scarce, so I tend to use it for doing the work and don't slow down to take pictures. Also, my 1954 is finally coming out of the barn and to my home this Sunday. I have a Pertronix electronic ignition kit ready to go for it and an AAJ front disc brake conversion as well.

I hope to do this swap in the distant future. Have a 1954 or 1955 truck with a 3 speed fluid drive that I replace with one of these trans eventually. I have the truck running, but it needs A LOT of work before she'll ever hit the road. Any way, great thread and nice project.

Ah, I hadn't realized that the pilot bushing might have been pressed into the end of the crack, I'll have to check into that. I was able to finish up the bell housing today and it looks like everything is going to come together nicely. I still need to work on the release bearing return springs, but that should be manageable.

More progress, my bell housing to trans adapter has been cut, but I will still need to make a few adjustments to the bell housing. I have had the flywheel resurfaced, and had it re-drilled to the six on 12 & 5/8 inch bolt circle for the pressure plate assembly of a mid 1980s Dodge Ram clutch. The original clutch was 11 inches, but had a 8 on 12 & 5/8 and they are hard to come by. The mid 1980s clutch, pressure plate, and throughout bearing work with the A-833 trans, my only question now is what to do about the pilot bushing. In the pictures below you can see the opening in the center of the flywheel is pretty large. I can't get the jaws of my calipers in the ID of the flywheel, but it's close to 2.800 inches. The ID of the flywheel is also tapered, so I'm not sure how the pilot bushing would press into a tapered opening. Any one have any advice or know what the original 1954 Dodge 270 Hemi flywheel pilot bushing looked like or where I can get one?

Merle is spot on. If she can handle shifting the old trans I would say just a more highway friendly gear ratio will do the trick. I'd look for a 2.90 to 3.30 or so ratio axle. Disc brakes and belts are a must, I would recommend the 12 volt alternator upgrade and ignition upgrade to the original flat six. The wiring of a car that old should be replaced any way, you don't want the thing to burn down due to poor wire condition.

Tonight I was able to confirm that I have accurately taken the dimensions off the 270 Hemi bell housing by making paper template to scale and cutting out all the bolt holes. Now I have to take dimensions off the A-833 trans and add them to the 270 Hemi bell housing template and I'll have my adapter. I have access to a laser cutting table at work, I will be using 1/4 inch steel when I'm ready.

The Ranger rear end is an R6 code, confirming that it is a 8.8 differential with 3.73 limited slip. Length from WMC (wheel mount surface) to WMC is within half an inch.

So my friend has given me his "spare" '54 Dodge truck in exchange for some help with his '54 Dodge truck. Both are 3/4 ton trucks with 4.78 gears in the rear and 230 flatties. My friend has a '54 270 truck Hemi for a swap that I'll be helping him with, and I've found him a 3.73 limited slip rear end from a '94 Ford Ranger. I'll be mating a late 1970s or early 1980s A-833 4 speed with over drive behind the Hemi. This combo with give him final drive ratios of 11.53, 6.23, 3.73 and 2.72 so the Hemi won't be over revved at highway speeds. For mine, I plan on going the rat rod route as, well, it's a total rat already and I don't want to spend anything on it. The flatty will stay but the rear end will be a 2.94 sure grip from a late 1980s Dodge Diplomat squad car. I was inspired by Robert Horne and will also swap in a mid 1980s Ranger 5 speed. That will give me final drive ratios of 11.64, 6.09, 4.09, 2.94 and 2.47, pretty darn similar to my buddies truck other than a super low highway gear, but I do plan on using smaller diameter tires than he is. I hope to take pictures as we go at it, I'm working on designing my own A-833 to Dodge 270 Hemi bell housing which I will share a drawing for when it's done.

The mechanism may just need a good cleaning.

I too have an A833 overdrive transmission sitting around and my friend has a bell housing for a 270 cubic Dodge truck hemi. Will this bell housing have work for both the truck hemi and the 230 flatty? I'll have to dig out the trans and the bell housing and check them out. I'll also have to follow this thread. Wayfarer, I didn't know you were on this forum, I recently sent you a message about this very subject on your website.

Either way, I'd love to own it and would be happy to drive the piss out of it.

Well I was by the truck tonight and took some pics. Although the truck and Imperial diffs are the same size, they have different bolt patterns to hold them into the axle housings. Oh well. The truck does share the same 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern of the Imperial (I thought it was 5 on 4.5") so maybe I'll just swap the whole assembly. Also, I think I discovered that the truck has fluid drive (if that is the correct term for a clutch and torque converter mounted in tandem). Couldn't really tell, but the bell housing is really long, longer than any that I've ever seen. Might be hard to tell by the picture. Any way, seems to me that fluid drive would be an odd choice for a truck. Could this be factory?

I'm in southeastern WI, or "WS" as the poll had it listed with the other midwestern states.