Geekay

My brother-in-law Pete was visited by a friend at his work shop in the Fargo. Is it about a 1948?

Hi Michael. The 1953 108 Fargo I acquired was similar in condition to yours (mine 34 years sitting outside next to farm shed). I would start with the Earth as Plymouthy suggests. All the symptoms you describe are what I have experienced too. And I recommend a brand new battery otherwise these old girls can make life difficult. PM is you like. Whereabouts in Oz are you? I am in Albury/Wodonga on the Murray river.

Success via Old Auto Rubber Australia

Thanks Hugh..will check it out.

Can anyone tell me the profile for the windscreen rubber seal. I have the one piece curved glass but it was already removed from the suburban van when I bought it, so do not know what the seal looks like. The glass is 5mm narrower all round than the "hole" it goes in. The glass is 1/4 inch thick. I checked archives and could only fid a reference to steel's rubber but could not find it there. I am in Australia and have previously posted photos of the van, it is an Army Ambulance.

Yep, that's it. This forum is amazing. They seem to be quite durable looking at the one on the truck in photo. Now, what do I do with it??? knuckleharley and T120..shout yourselves a beer........as I am in down under Oz....see if you can find an Aussie beer. Where I live in Wodonga Victoria it is forecast to be 41 degrees celsius..that's 106 F. I think I may be having more than one beer...probably a VB.

Bought this at a swap meet among other car junk, just do not know what model it is off and where it was fitted. Looks like it may have had a light in the middle, so I am thinking a rear light on the middle rear of a vehicle. Or maybe over the radiator filler at front? I am guessing 1930/40's.

Thanks Plymouthy. I tested the resistance in the circuit of the MM..= 0.5, so deducted that already i.e. reading was 4.8 less 0.5 = 4.3. I thought the readings were high so that is why I am asking. Perhaps I should take it to an auto electrician with better equipment. I will take the coil off and see if I can find a number.

Can anyone tell me the specs for 12v ignition coil on my Dodge 251 1953 6 cyl. B108. Testing has given me the following from my Mulit Meter: Primary coil (MM set at 200 ohm) 4.3 Seconday coil (MM set at 20K ohm) 7.5 My workshop manual does not say. Current one is a Bosch.

I have decided to buy new coil, points and condensor. Dissy (Lucas) number is DM6A 40388D I have searched on line however unable to find where to buy these. Anyone help.

Thanks everyone. Jan, I will check the breaker again, and see if I can get a nice blue spark at the plug as per 55 Fargo.

I have had the 1954 Dodge Suburban ambulance for a short while, 251 motor that had done little work. When it arrived after a 6 hour trip on a car transporter it would not start (cranking but not firing). We eventually found that the clamp on the distributor had warped and was enabling the distributor to twist when we cranked it, thus mucking up the timing. With that sorted, it started eventually. We did have a massive backfire which blew apart the muffler, caused mainly because of the fuel build when we kept cranking it. An electric fuel is fitted without a separate switch, so when ignition was on, and we were cranking it, it keeps fuel pressure up. I have since fitted a separate switch so I can turn the fuel pump off in need. With a timing light I set number one at TDC and it idled and ran quite well (stationary) for a few weeks. Great. Next job was to install new brake master cylinder, fluid, bleed these. Now I have brakes. Even better, I can drive the Dodge around the yard a bit. Our block slopes a bit so I was reluctant to drive it just relying on emergency brake to stop. So, give it a small drive, engine goes okay, but lacks a bit or power. Probably just need to revisit timing with vacuum disconnected and do the timing properly. Easy. Starts easily a few times that week. The next week I went to start it again this and engine is just barely running, small coughs and little backfires. Damn..looks like timing is out again. After hours of trying to "fix" this, it is back to cranking, not firing. No matter what I do I cannot get any firing at any cylinder and I have exhausted my knowldege/ability, so next step is to get it to a mechanic and pay them, unless someone here can help. Here is a potted history of events: At one point the carby (Stromberg) float ceased working and fuel poured out of it everywhere. Took it apart and the clip on the float had dislodged and float was not working. Took the opportunity to clean the carby again, replaced pin on float, re assembled carby and installed it. Have not connected the Choke cable. Checked fule flow from electric pump at the carby and it is good. Fuel is fresh and has half a tank. Carby appears to be functioning. When I press the throttle linkage there is a good spray of fuel evident. Trying to eliminate fuel as the issue I have even poured a small amount of fuel down the carby and also tried Aerostart, but neither will get a piston firing. So, must be a spark issue, surely????? I have taken the distributor out, checked all wirings and they are sound. Points set with dissy on the bench, gap 15 thou. With crank handle turned motor to get number 1 at TDC, and rotor cap is at 7.00 o'clock book. I bought a plug test light that goes between the plug and the ingition lead to see if there is power to the plug. Yes, number 1 has voltage at TDC, and dissy rotor at 7.00 oclock. All other leads have voltage too. Cleaned and reset plugs. Took the coil to auto electrician and he said it is good and strong. Changed condensor at one stage too but no difference. Brand new big battery so plenty of power available for strong spark. One weird thing is that even though my lead test light will flash to show voltage to the plugs I now cannot get the timing light to "flash". Even bought another one and same..no strobing". Tried using a battery back up pack to power the timing lights rather than the Dodge battery, but still neither light will strobe on any plug lead. Made sure the plug lead was not tangled with another lead in case that upset the signal. Both timing lights have these new clips that go over the plug leads, with an arrow that needs to pint towards the plug. Maybe I need to get a steel spring attachment that goes between the dissy number 1 outlet and the start of plug lead and put the clip over that? The plugs leads are nearly new. Dissy cap seems to be in good order. HELP!!!!

Thanks ggdad.

Well done Spitfire. I used to love being able to bring "valuable" stuff back from the dump, but here even in country oz (my town population about 40,000) , we are all about serious recycling so we do not have "dumps" we have "Recycle Centres". We have to sort the junk and not allowed to bring anything home. If I hook up the trailer I have to divide the "rubbish" up between metals, wood, green waste, glass, paper/cardboard, old electrical things (TVs computers), engine oils, batteries, etc etc. Most recyclable items are free but if I take a car tyre it is AUD $25 (US $20). Every type has its own bin and when it is full, the bin is taken away to the specific recycler. Sounds complex but after a while it is easy and saves us just filling holes in the ground with any old crap and probably adding to the methane gases and polluting ground water.

Ha, I bet you had that special ID Badge (Freddy) with you just in case....

No it is 12V however using another power source is a good idea.

Bought a new ToolPro timing light (see image) and it worked well the first two times (about 2 weeks ago). 251 6 cylinder motor on my 1954 Dodge. Just wanting to check timing again and now the strobe light only flashes occasionaly for a few seconds, then nothing. The digital read out is working so not a power problem. I took the light back to Super Cheap Autos and they gave me a new one. Same situation. I notice the pamphlet say it is recommended "for most negative earthed vehicles..". My Suburban is Positively earthed. Will that make a difference? Or, could there be another issue? e.g. coil? condensor? The engine was running okay but now has a intermittent small backfire through exhaust. I am thinking timing but perhaps something else. It is set at about 1 degree After TDC. Is a few degrees Before TDC better for these engines?

Keep your eye on this guy, he could be trouble. We aussies can get a bit excited when we go o/s and begin sampling the local "cuisine".

This is an excellent video in New Zealand of a modern day off road trek in various 1930's vehicles, including some repairs along the way. Worth watching just for the beautiful Kiwi scenery. And some bagpipe playing at the end! As a bonus about 3 minutes in is a short 1930's Dodge promotional video of a Dodge showing off its capabilities on rugged rocky off road "track".

Following my other thread about whether or not I should just hook up the Dodge brake lines after 5 years of being disconnected and see how they go, this morning I more closely compared the two "systems". The Fargo 1953 brakes I had rebuilt last year are quite different to the brakes on the recently acquired Dodge 56 Suburban (army ambulance). Both 11 inches. On the front though, the Fargo the inside drum is smaller. I think 10 inches, and the Dodge has the two pistons. Maybe they realised front brakes are more important than rear brakes The Fargo has two pistons on the rear brakes, however the Dodge hasone. Q: Why does the hub stay on with the Dodge, and come off with the Fargo? Was it to do with the annoying habit the Fargo style have with being VERY difficult to remove the drums? Q: Is "swapping" the Fargo brakes onto the dodge an option? Asking this because right now I do not have the cash to pay for another complete rebuild of brakes for the Dodge.

I was quite surprised at how different they are. Even the way the wheel hub stays on with the Dodge axle. I was tapping away at the dodge brake drum for a while before I realised it has a counter sunk screw that holds it in place. With two pistons, the Fargo looks a better brake system - have started a new post about this.

The Dodge brake set is different to the Fargo, so swapping is not a practical option.

Thanks...message received. Fortunately I have a similar 53 Fargo that I had the complete brake system reconditioned last year. As it needs a lot of work done on the body before it is ready for registration I will check out the compatibility for a swap over. The wheels/brakes/drums should be very similar (famous last words?.) Although I already know the master cylinder is different.The Dodge ambo has a seperate fluid reservoir in the engine bay.

The previous owner (PO) of the 55 Dodge suburban ambulance had disconected the brake lines from the backing plates, front and rear. He did this whilst replacing the rubber lines to the front wheels. I now have to decide what i will do. Will I just hook up the lines, add fluid, bleed them and see what happens? Have taken off the drums and externally all looks okay, but? The car spent 20 years in an army museum as a static display (but where they restored the body, painted it etc). The PO owner had it in his garage for the next 10 years, just doing small bits to it. So it has not been out in the weather. What are the chances the master cylinder and the individual wheel brake pistons will work?

I had the same issue, and it was the timing. Even when we set it to TDC on No.1 cylinder it would not start and we kept on flooding it, which just made it impossible. The problem we found was the clamp that holds the dissy in place, was bent, and was not clamping the dissy sufficiently. Resulting in the dissy twisting and changing the timing when we cranked motor. Might be worth checking. An easy way to do a basic check on the timing without the motor going and without a timing light is to buy a ToolPRO Spark Plug in-line lead checker. Mine cost me $10. Just install it between the plug lead for no. 1 cylinder and the spark plug in no. 1. Then turn on ignition, rotate the motor by hand. I have a crank handle, or just turn the fan keeping the tension on the V belt. It is easier if you take out the other spark plugs. When the tester light glows, the no. 1 is firing. Check where the timing marks on the pulley are and adjust dissy until the pulley marks are at TDC when no. 1 fires. This should get motor started (if timing is the problem).