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Today for the first time since I got my truck......I was able to move it under it's own power. Yippee! Disc brakes worked well ......and the old clutch was flawless. Yes indeed.....I decided to take a chance and not mess with replacing the clutch and guess what? it worked perfectly. Gearbox shifted nicely too. With that unknown off my mind I can work towards putting it all back together and getting it dialed in. I am very excited. This truck is way cool. Still has a long way to go......but boy does it feel good. Jeff

Here's a video of one running. Kinda sounds like a bunch of flatheads running at the same time.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Created in 1941 as America entered World War II, the A57 Multibank engine was born out of the necessity for a rear-mount tank engine to be developed and produced, in the shortest time possible for use in M4A4 Medium tank. In order to use existing tooling, five Chrysler 250.6 in3 (4.12 litre; 3.4375" {87.3 mm} bore and 4.50" {114.3 mm} stroke)[1] L-head inline six cylinder engines were arranged around a central shaft, producing a unique 30 cylinder 21 litre (1253 in3)[1] engine in a relatively compact but heavy package. The crankshafts were fitted with gears, which drove a sun gear arrangement.[2] With iron block and head,[1] it featured Carter TD-1 carburetors[1] and 6.2:1 compression ratio,[1] for an output of 470 hp (350 kW) at 2400 rpm.[1] It necessitated a longer hull (same as the M4A6),[3] becoming the M4A4;[3] most of these were supplied to Allied countries under Lend-Lease.[3] In a February 1944 advertisement on the magazine Popular Science, Chrysler claimed the A57 could still move the tank it was fitted in even if 12 out of its 30 cylinders were knocked out.[4] The M4A4 was largely supplied to the British, the US preferring the M4A3 with a more conventional V8 engine, and restricting their M4A4s from overseas use.[5]

Flathead sixes aren't overly hard to find. I've seen them crop-up on Craigslist many times. They were also used in non-automotive applications like fork lifts, airport tugs, and agricultural implements. You should be able to turn one up.

There are some quirks but its not that hard to find a trans and flathead combo. For instance I have a 52 plymouth car engine in my 46 dodge 1/2 ton pickup. Adaptors to modern automatics are readily available.

The NAPA motor is a bolt in replacement for the Model 36 Mopar heater six volt motor, I changed to 12 volts when I did a V8 engine conversion. My research showed me that motor sizes and mounting bolt spacing and output shaft diameters have not changed much in the last sixty years for heater blower motors! It was inexpensive and was easier that buying a converter or voltage reducer for the old six volt motor.

The most important queation is what do you want to do with the car?

The nomenclature for me is Superlow, low, second, High in a four speed. In a three it's low, second, high. Some may go 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th; and/or 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Using the second sequence your 2nd would be my 1st. I have to clutch out of a dead stop. Now maybe my carb or dizzy are not working to automatically give me the extra power I need, so the problem may not be the gear ratio. I too like that color. The burgundy will look fantastic, but either leave the hub caps w/o color use burgundy on those too. IMHO. I still thing some subtle pin striping would be dynamite! Maybe you could use 4 font and list the names of forum members in the line around the cab waist! Keep them "letters" coming!

Sure is easy to suggest plans for other people. My car has beam axles and a 4.375 rear end, so I suspect its closer to your '40s truck than a '40s car is in terms of how it drives and the speed it is comfortable at. My round trip to the Tucson show with the other driving in the area was 2113 miles. On the return trip did about 500 miles on first day and about 400 miles on the second day. My take away from that is the car does fine but I'm a lot better off at maybe 250 to 300 miles per day with time for stretching and sightseeing. Whole point of driving the old vehicles is to enjoy them and that is easier if you're not sore from sitting and tired from driving. You do have to drive the old vehicles, not just point them down the road. So plan on that 2100 miles taking at least 5 or more likely 7 days. For those of us who are still working, than means a minimum of two weeks off work. If you are doing that type of trip it makes sense to add in a bunch of seeing the USA. There are a bunch of national parks, historic sites, etc. that you can easily include, so really 3 weeks or a month would be better. For me that means after retirement rather than before.

lol.....I actually started to google "Cheesville" to see where that was.....duh...lol. 48D

Tim; I think you should beat him to it. Toss an engine in that black smoker and head to his planned festivities in Cheesville. Plan your route through Tennessee and we could race for the chase to his place.

I got it running smooth now. I disconnected the vacuum line from the advance and it made no difference. I checked the advance with a vacuum pump, and it moved as it should. I had the vacuum advance hooked up to the port coming off of the back of the manifold, not the carb. So I changed it over to the one coming off of the carb, and capped off the one on the manifold, re-set my points, re-set the timing and started it again. It idles great, and the acceleration is smooth as well. So it could have been not enough vacuum from the manifold, or my points/timing being off, but I am leaning toward the vacuum. Either way I’m good to go now.

This guy?

Heres a couple pictures