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So there is no line to the temp gauge on the dash... so obviously the dash gauge isn't accurate. Make sense - it was showing like 100° which didn't seem right. I was worried about over heating because I drove the truck a bit and it got really hot in the cab. I added about a gallon of coolant and then filled it up with wood and drove it to the dump about 7 miles away. Used the suggestion above to check engine temps with a infrared thermometer and everything seemed to be pretty cool. The max temp I recorded was about 165° near the rear of the engine. The radiator was running at a cool 115°. I didn't feel comfortable going over about 30mph (if the speed is accurate). The steering was decent but not super tight and the bumpy road with the load felt a little wobbly. I will have to check the tire pressures again and see if that may be a factor. I also found out the truck weighs in "empty" (there was some gravel left over in the box, so that may be as much as 500lbs) at 9,140lbs. My current project is to get a canvas shed erected so I can park the truck out of the weather - thats partly why I was dumping the wood. It was piled up right where I want to part the truck. Then I will probably tackle the windows and brakes. I need to bleed the brakes and replace the rear brake line - just to be safe. See how that helps with the pedal feel - right now its still pretty stiff and I have to pump them a bit.

In California the motor vehicle code is silent on whether they can be restored or not. The wording is ". . . if the model-year date license plate is legible and serviceable, as determined by the department. . ." I haven't seen anything about what the DMV has internally on how they interpret that clause in the law. I took the safe way and got the YOM paperwork done with unrestored plates. I guess that would only work if your unrestored plates are in reasonably good condition. FWIW, the California YOM is different from, I think, from all other states in that it is basically a vanity plate for which you pay the full regular registration and a "special plate fee" every year. So it costs you more to have YOM plates on your car than regular series plates. Since you are paying "full fare", the state places no driving restrictions on the car. Your insurance company may have driving limits, but the state doesn't.

Always having had an interest in vintage cars; in 1962 I bought a 1937 Chrysler C16 coupe - absolutely solid stock body with no rust. When I bought the car ,it still had the stock radio for the year and also the original owner's manual in the glove box.The paint colour however had been changed to "plum red" .The engine while "stock" had been slightly modified ,fitted with an Edmunds dual carb intake,dual carburetors as well as an exhaust cutout.Not a hotrod by any means, but kinda cool at the time - owning the car helped me keep my bubble on the level for a couple of years tinkering and driving it.? The cost at the time to buy the car was $100.00

That is good advice. The only thing I would add is that after you get your budget in order and a time line set out you should, at least, double the dollars and time allotted. Then you won't go over the budget quite so badly.

The B-series were designed around the flathead with economical pulling power at low speed in mind. Powertrain upgrades for speed require commitment of resources to safely control that speed with modifications to chassis frame, suspension, steering, brakes and sheet metal....this is some serious cheddar in time and $$$ that requires skills that may depend on a learning curve. Another alternative is to put the Pilot-House sheet metal on a modern chassis, such as 1st gen Dakota, which requires skill in grafting the bodies together, while the powertrain needs only refreshing. This is also a serious undertaking, but viable. Having said that, my side yard is populated with the remnants of 5 beasts where the previous owner had grand ideas but insufficient skills and resources to make those dreams a reality before eventually abandoning those plans...I suggest making a plan that includes a budget of time and $$$ before diving in, just to get an idea of the task at hand. It is clear from the work/butchering of the rescued projects I have (as well as a couple more I've spotted over the hill) that the plans of attack employed were variations of "Willy Nilly": sheet metal stripped of paint then left to rust in the yard, powertrains and axles sold for scrap with nothing to put back in their places, a cheap stereo hacked into the dash with no speakers...talking with previous owners, they had visions of cruising Congress at the Lone Star Round Up, but then it got too cold, then it started raining, then it got too hot, then it was football season, then it got cold again, and time just slips away as life gets in the way. I am not breaking any speed records with completing my projects, but I have a plan and a budget in place and the skills to get most of the work done, so I'm holding off on major work until I get all of my ducks in a row...at any rate, take your time and choose wisely

12TH ANNUAL CLEMENTS TAILGATE BBQ APRIL 6TH 2019 SATURDAY 9AM TIL WHENEVER EARLY TOW-IN BEGINS NOW AND LATE TOW-OUT ENDED YESTERDAY Show up Thursday or Friday and Camp-Out til Sunday or Monday, always need the Help Its FOR REAL!!! The 12th year in a row that Old Dodge Trucks have come to a meet with their Ol' Dodge Owners!!! Unbelievable, #12 !!!!!....the place where the largest number of Dodge Pilot-House Era Trucks meet in the whole WORLD !! !( I think..lol ). The people I've met over the last 11 BBQ's has made my life so much better. This time of year is so awesome because finishing an old truck actually has meaning to the crowd you'll see here! Fenders and bumpers to hang on, hoods to lift, parts to swap, and stories to tell! I look forward to it all. Every year is special with returning long distant travelers and new ones that are finally able to make the trip! I always look forward to meeting you all! I've have been busy as always but never forget to make time for my friends. My son has moved to the Bay Area, my daughter has moved to Arizona and my oldest daughter has bought a new, bigger house, as her family continues to grow. Its been quite a year for the old man..lol. But with my changing life I could use the extra hands. Its a big deal every year!! The guys are coming from the north, the south, the east and the west. You know you'll meet someone you know from the forum, and it'll be the coolest thing ever...its true...I have good friends in far away states and countries because this here BBQ. Come on down and join in the "hard-work" and have a burger for your troubles! "The car crowd is growing and more than welcome to come. I could easily call it "The Tailgate/Trunk BBQ"!" "I can't tell you how much I look forward to this every year, its a blast and for some, lasts a few days. Campers show up on Thursday or Friday and leave on a Sunday morning.....all enjoying late night chat sessions around the fire pit." "I hope new and old members alike are inspired to make the trip and maybe even drive their trucks the distance....you know we have your back! " "So many good stories around the fire pit the nights before and after the event. I can't tell how cool it is to have forum members stay several days and just relax....." "Looking forward to a great party! Now build it, and bring it!!!" "It was around 2007 when Bob Koch, Jim Shepard, and myself (Tim Estrada), went to Reg Evans' place to check out his "yard". While we were eating hotdogs, drinking cold beverages, solving international and regional issues....we thought "lets have a BBQ". "Get the wheels on, and the tanks full....its time to finish up and git to the Q! It ain't no beauty pageant of trailer queens, its a truck show...so flex your rust as well as your shine!" Tim aka 48Dodger Flyer to follow after we vote on a picture...........

In California, yes: I got a bolt on tab to place the modern registration stickers. OTOH, you can do YOM on plates newer than 1963 now and those '63 and up plates have a place to put stickers so I don't know if they issue tabs when you do the YOM paperwork.

The factory intake/exhaust valve guides for the flathead sixes are the same.... #1124959 Late 30's up through 1956 including 218,230, 236, 251 and the 265. This out of several factory MoPar parts books. I have never needed to size factory guides. After market sometimes is questionable. Counterbore up on the exhaust.

That 340 tag looks like the tag I had on my 340 Duster back in 1971

I know here a guy who is doing license plates restorations for folks from California. Just contact him, his name is Greg. ecurse@gmx.de

Thanks! Yeah, I am pretty happy with it. I really could hit the ground running with the truck without having to do any major work to it. I am going to feel the truck out. My goal will be to keep it as stock as possible. It seems that such a big truck isn't to common and that's kind of cool. The engine seems to be running good. I have a few things I want to get done as maintenance and such. 1. Fix the passenger side mirror. I want to match the driver side, but they don't sell that by itself, so I might have to piece it together. 2. Replace the door glass. Driver side is missing, the passenger side it cracked 3. Check all the brakes, replace the rear flexible brake line (and maybe the front too), then bleed all the brakes 4. Paint the frame, dump box and wheels. The dump box and wheels I plan to paint maroon, and the frame will be black. This will probably have to wait until Spring 5. Replace the rear tires. I might be able to get some from my work for free... we will see

Since you've had it for 8 years already and haven't done any modifications to this point, you should seriously consider just keeping it original, play w/it for a few more years as it is, w/safety upgrades and regular maintenance that is, until you've figured out what you want. Seeing other vehicles at shows or cruises will give you an idea of what you might like. Reading about other Mopar forum members experiences and advice will also help get your decision made for you. Seems that if you start making changes to modernize it, you'll lose forever the original look & feel. For some, I suppose, that's okay, because they didn't really want the hassles of being original w/all of the attendant limits & problems. Maybe you would go "back" to original after the modernization, if you didn't like it. Or, as many others have experienced, the project will remain partly done, and you'll never "get around to it", as life gets in the way. Enjoy it for what it is, now, and then take your time to decide later what you want to do. (You're mileage may vary). Best of luck to you whatever you decide, and, Welcome to the Forum. ?

I now live in Indiana and a forum member found these unrestored plates for me.

I just spent 3 hours counting $540.00 of quarters and wrapping them into rolls...40 quarters a roll. Loaded them up in a box... took em to my B of A teller.... she gave me $540.00... Five 100's and two 20's. No Charge. I went and bought a new tool to play with...

Bjorn Larsen in Western Washington does a nice job and while he used to only do Washington plates, he's doing other states now. He does a nice job. You can contact him through http://oldlicensefarm.com/

In Kansas, you can have license plates for the model year of the car, provided the car qualifies as an antique. The tag can be restored, but must be in the same color combination as original. I’ve known a couple of incidences where the car owner painted the “background” color to match the color of the car. They got away with it for awhile, but when an astute LEO took notice, then checked with the book to verify the color combination for that year’s tag, and the colors were an obvious mis-match, the tag was confiscated right there and then, and the owner ran the risk of having the privilege of running a year-matching tag on the car revoked, thus leaving the standard antique tag as the only option for driving the car. The process for doing tags isn’t rocket science. Get the 2 colors, and a flat surface to work on. For raised numbers/letters, paint them first, and let it dry completely. Then, the background color, and let it dry thoroughly, as well. Then put the plate face down on the flat surface with 400 wet/dry sandpaper, and gently slide the tag across the sandpaper. Use plenty of water during this process, and check your progress frequently. You’ll eventually get there, and it’ll look original, since the original process is to paint the tag’s background color, and then the tag goes under a paint roller that paints the characters on the tag, much like a modern printing press at newspapers.

Remember, it takes two revolutions of the crankshaft for one revolution of the camshaft. Turn the crankshaft twice and the dots will line up twice. One time, No. 6 is ready to fire. Once more, and No. 1 is ready. You can tell which is No. 1 by the valves being closed, or by the old thumb-on-the-spark-plug-hole trick. So, with the crankshaft approximately at TDC and No. 1 ready to fire, the distributor should be installed with the rotor pointing to 7:00 o'clock. It sounds like more than one guy has lined up the dots, installed the distributor, and found that he has to run the No. 1 spark plug wire to the 1:00 o'clock position to have the engine run.

I go thru this one almost every day with my town and country or Tahoe and they both read right on at 30 mph... Close enough for government work ...

LOL...back in the day, I used to get called "Lyle" by friends of mine. For the life of me I don't know why! Sorry the image is so big....:D 48D

Just patched up the flintstones floors!

Blinds https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/pts/d/classic-car-bomb-vw-rear/6736435037.html

Yes Brent.. He is missing the brass manifold vacuum pipe adapter fitting...I don't know if his truck has a 2 speed rear axle too. Because the both 1/2" steel vacuum lines hook to it.. A couple lousy pictures of all this covered in hard caked grease from Eastern Oregon!

The oil pan has to come off to remove the engine mount plate as there is a bolt that goes in from behind. This bolt goes through the aluminum oil pan plate that bolts to the bottom of the block in front of the front main bearing cap and actually threads into the motor mount plate. Before you remove this plate, mark the bolts still holding the plate after the timing chain cover is removed. The cam timing gear has to come off too. Don't forget to remove the flat head screw next to the locating dowel pin. While the motor mount plate is off, replace the core plug behind it in the block. To re-assemble, I would glue the plate gasket to the plate first with Copper Coat, or gasket sealer so it's firmly attached, then apply sealer to the block side of the gasket. I'd put some extra silicone around the bottom where the motor mount plate bolts to the oil pan gasket plate. As I remember, there a three bolts that enter the water jacket so teflon tape these threads. I'd would take pictures at each step of the dis-assemblly and keep notes just to avoid aggravation. It's not really bad at all.