New Member to Forum with a 55

[ehadams]

 

Hi everyone, 
I want to introduce myself, my name is Eric I live in Vermont and just recently picked up a 1955 Dodge C3-B6-108. 

I have been looking at classic trucks for many years. My wife happened to drive by this one on the one day is parked down by the road. We looked at it the next day and made an offer on the spot. It took the owner about 10 days to finally decide she wanted to sell it. 

When I went to register it at the State DMV they told me the low book value was 14k. I paid 6k for it. I had no idea of the book value when I made the offer. 

We found a running truck that is in pretty good shape as far as the body goes. Only one minor rusty area that needs to be fixed. 
We were told that it is over heating and couldn’t go over 45mph. 
Brakes had been done recently(?)

It does not have the original engine. It has what I think is a 1968-74 225 slant six with a four speed transmission. 

 

So far I have driven it around the yard a little and up and down road some.

Work done so far:
replaced the water pump as it was seeping.
replaced the radiator with a new aluminum one. 
Replaced all hoses in the engine compartment. 
Replaced one brake line in the rear drum. 

I have some questions about identifying the engine further and what type of transmission. I can tell by the casting that the engine is a 68-74. 



How can I pinpoint the year the engine is?
Does it matter?
Where would I look for what type of transmission I have?

It is a 4 speed and I can't get out of my driveway in 1st gear.  I have to shift up to second as I only get about 6 mph in 1st.

 

After some driving and attempting to get it inspected.  A fairly long list of stuff to fix.  Mostly minor.

We have the opportunity to put what looks like a good running 85 318 V8 which currently has an automatic transmission into this truck.

We want this to be able to be a daily driver.

 

Any thoughts about this type of swap would be great.


Thanks for having me here I am sure I will have a bunch more questions. 
 

Edited September 29, 2018 by ehadams
Fix images

[Radarsonwheels]

Howdy!

 

Your pics didn’t work- I’m getting little photo icons with red Xs. Nice find! These trucks are like learning a new word I don’t think I ever saw one before I got mine (also a C) then I started seeing them all over.

 

The slant six is an easy motor to work on and pretty dependable (legendarily dependable according to some). There weren’t a ton of differences to them over the years. They have a rabid cult following and you can find out more than you wanted to know over on slantsix.org 

 

The mopar 4spd manual transmissions came in three main flavors- close ratio, OD, and a truck version with a granny gear for getting rolling with a load. Sounds like you have the truck one. Np-something? 

 

The OD 833 four speed is easy to find and cheapish- there is an aluminum case version that came behind slant 6s and 318s in 80s D150s and stuff like that. The aluminum case version won’t hold up to muscle car v8 power like abuse from 340s 360s and certainly not 440s or 426 hemis. So they can be found cheap in scrapyards or craigslist, just like slants which I used to buy for around $200 carb to pan. I’ve spent 2-400 on good transmissions, often with bells linkage & flywheels at the top of that range.

 

I am a huge fan of the 833od. The 3.09 1st gear is short enough to burn rubber or powerslide a turn effortlessly without being totally useless beyond 5 feet, 2nd is where most spirited driving happens, 3rd for cruising or passing on the hwy, and 4th/od for mellow highway miles. Or just skip 1st gear and keep your trans- I’m sure it works fine.

 

I am a big fan of the flathead motors but the slant is special because they are so easy to find and commonly discarded from muscle car engine swaps.

 

I use an iphone app (diptic) to resize pics and save them lower res. Then this site will upload and display a limit of a couple or few a day. Pretty nice.

 

Get that overheating figured out! Do you have a fan shroud?

 

Good luck!

 

radar

[Radarsonwheels]

Oh and a 318 swap shouldn’t be too hard but you better have a welder and some tools or deep pockets.

[59bisquik]

The 318 wouldn't be that hard of a swap. These trucks came with V8's so there is plenty of room. The radiator needs to move forward and you will need to build a set of front mounts and a universal tranny crossmember in the rear will work. The biggest concern is cost. Can you do it yourself or will a shop need to do the work? If you need a shop to do it, might be best to upgrade the tranny and keep the old 6 that is already there.

[ehadams]

Thanks for the tips guys. 

We did get the over heating sorted out. I don’t think the radiator was the actual problem. Water pump was seeping and it had both an engine mounted fan and an electric fan, Blowing in opposite directions. Once we swapped the  radiatorand water pump the engine showed it was overheating after only 5 minutes of idling. So I am fairly confident it is just a bad gauge. Taking readings of the temp with an infrared it is well in the normal range. 

 

The 318 swap may have fizzled out as the seems to good to be true deal hasn’t actuall materialized. 

 

I have  to try and hunt around for parts here in VT.  The junk yards have very little stuff older that 10-15 years. 

[59bisquik]

I dont know much about the slant 6. However, I am sure a quick google search would line you up for an overdrive tranny that would bolt up or an adapter.

 

Edit... here is a Wilcap unit to use a 700r4 etc.

Edited October 1, 2018 by 59bisquik