keithb7

Ah! Yes, that explains why when reading my manual, instructions seem a little off. Moving along...Thank you. Will post progress.

I do have the proper '53 shop manual. I read it a couple times. I am not quite grasping something. I am reminded again, the manual needs to be interpreted, not just read. I pried a bit and did break the caulk seal. That helped loosen things up. Thanks. I was worried about prying. I am wondering why are there instructions to remove the distributor cap, coil, and bracket assembly, during the process to replace the heater core? Upon further review it seems my manual lever to open the cowl vent is now impeding progress. I see that I am instructed to remove it. On to that that next.

Well, I think I am at least partially surrendering on this interior passenger heat project. The heater core cover on the firewall side will not come off. After taking out all the screws on the engine side, there are still self tapping screws from the interior side that are not readily accessible. It appears that a lot of parts have to come off up under and behind the dash area, including the air cowl system to access these fasteners. It is not a simple system. I did manage to get my heater control valve out. It seems to be working by hand once I removed the control cable. Seems to me the valve is not frozen, the control cable is. Getting the cable out is not easy either. It wraps in behind the heater cowl housing too. Looks like this stuff should have been addressed when the dash was all apart at an earlier time. Somethings I can consider. Maybe see if I can get some type of lube up inside the cable to free it up. That'll be fun. Maybe by-pass the heater control valve and run hot coolant to the heater core directly. Consider a manually controlled heater valve in the engine compartment that I can shut off and on. Pretty hard to regulate cab heat, but likely better than no heat. Thinking for my next steps I will pressurize the heater core and see if will hold pressure. Make sure there are no leaks. Then maybe try flowing water through it. See if can move water. Then go from there. This heater air distribution system for this era of car, from what I can see is a cumbersome system to access and repair. Oh well. If it was easy everybody would own one.

I am planning out a job for this weekend. Thinking of the heater core and water control valve. I see most fasteners holding cover on are accessed within the engine bay. Some however appear to be fed through from way up behind the dash. How much am I going to have to rip apart to access my heater core and water control valve? Tips are encouraged! Thx.

Check out my You Tube video. User Id Keith Barron. I break one down. Sorry here is a link: https://youtu.be/DtqjLNEOpqc

I'm feeling the years fly by as I hit 48 this year. My wife and I work M-F. Up early every day. Before 6 AM. Start work at 7. I get a good nite's sleep. You'd swear there was a brick in my pillow. When I lay on it, it knocks me out. I literally take seconds to fall asleep when I go to bed. We've developed into a working routine. However, sleeping in on days off? Not possible. Up at 6AM every weekend. Out late for a special event? Home at 2 AM, after a fair share of libations? Up at 6 AM. Taking a one-week vacation from work is pretty much useless. It takes me 7 full days, off work, before I start sleeping past 6AM. After a week, finally I can sleep in a little later. You folks that can't seem to sleep more than two hours, has this always been a thing? Or only once you seemed to hit a certain age? When you can't sleep does the Mrs. get annoyed? Tossing and turning? As mentioned, when I awake at 6AM on my days off work, I may try to go back to sleep. I toss and turn. My wife knows I'm awake. Every time I move I disrupt her. LOL. So I sneak out of the room at 6 AM now and hit the coffee at the other end of the house. In the winter months, I'll cruise forums like this one and kill some time 'till the sun comes up. Summer time, I am outside banging hammers and wrenches by 6:30AM or so. She can sleep in. I can't.

Well thats interesting. I’m trying to think about what having the incorrect oil in the TC would do. Too heavy viscosity, TC slow to spin up? Increasing stall time? Once up to speed extra momentum initially. Reluctant to speed changes to slow down? Increased heat? Possibly caused by heavier oil that is less reluctant to change direction against the stator? Bonus lugging power on grades? Too light viscosity, TC spins up quicker? Less momentum? Quicker to slow down. I’m interested to hear how this would stall the engine. Experts please chime in!

Have you a shop manual to research the electrical circuit that is tied into the carb? When your gas pedal is mashed to the floor under a certain speed limit, the ignition sysyem coil is sent to ground. Interrupting engine spark momentarily. This allows the tranny to down shift. Removing the engine power releases the load on the tranny gears. The oil preasure behind the tranny shift piston is released. Allowing for a downshift. I’d look into this electric system tied to the carb. It’s suspect. It may be cutting coil power when its not supposed to. Stalling the engine. Just an idea. Dig in to lean more.

I took her out for a date on Christmas day. Very little snow. That rarely happens around here. I had no heat. Need to get into the siezed water valve. Was a fine drive though. I was as proud as a peacock as I toured my neighborhood that day. Felt good after I rolled back into the garage. Hit the button to close the door, the old girl in her warm accomodations again. I walked back in the house to music, family and the smell of a roasting turkey. One of the greatest 10 minute drives ever.

And driving it on the hiway to work and back. In an early 50’s Mopar. That’s pushing the envelope. ? But I like it. Many people wouldn’t attempt it. Too cold. Too risky. This story reminds me. I need to fix my heater valve. Siezed solid. I’ve got just the thing in mind too for a replacement. Maybe I’ll get in there next week and wrap up the AM radio rebuild. Its back in and working again. Just have a few fasteners left to tighten. Then its time to get into the heater valve!

Oh boy! What a truck. Very nice find. I want to come hang out at your place and fix Mopar stuff. In an old wood barn. ?

You own a ‘48 Dodge? Nice truck! I love the split 2 piece hood! I have an old Mopar truck stuck in my head too. Maybe someday. I would love to own one. If the right one comes along, at the right price...

880 Million invested in it! Holy Moly. Mrs. Anna Dodge would have bought it!

Agree with John. A compression test is great start. I tend to start with the basics and go from there. Fuel Delivery, compression & spark at the right time is basically what the engine needs to run. That seems to be happening for the most part, as the engine will run. Albeit not smooth. Then I take each of the three basic things and strip down further to dig in and try to uncover underlying issues. Poor compression in some cylinders? Why? Valve sealing issues? Which cylinder? Valve lash settings? Sticking valve? Cylinder head sealing? Head gasket? Piston rings? Etc. Metered fuel delivery, not likely here. Yet consider Carb condition Air leaks? Fuel quality? Fuel pump pressure? Fuel filter used? Condition of filter? Clean fuel jets? Air flow? Float settings? Fuel tank and pick up screen condition? Choke functioning? Etc..On and on. Spark delivered at the right time is a prime suspect here. However, I would definitely be digging in looking for more clues to confirm. Further troubleshooting can get pretty extensive here. Checking for spark at each plug is an easy start. Pull cap and rotor to inspect & clean. File or replace points? Set dwell. Age of condenser? Condition and gap of the plugs? Coil wire and all related wiring condition? Clean contacts? Etc...

I wanted to document what I learned, and post a video for others to learn from on You Tube. This video was done from memory, based on what I learned here from @Dodgeb4ya and from reading through my shop manuals. I learned a lot here about these M6 transmissions. I realize there are other good learning sources courtesy of the Mopar Master Mechanic series. They are great. This was my way of explaining the workings of the tranny in simple stripped down terms. Maybe not 100% accurate in my word choices, as it was on the fly. No script, no editing. You Tube seems to be the Go-To place these days for most young people looking to learn about new things. So I thought it best to share my learnings there. Hopefully a future generation of Mopar finds something useful in my video. Thanks again Dodgeb4ya. Your help is much appreciated. I am not done yet with this tranny. I still want to get the countershaft out. However other projects have taken priority. I will get back to this tranny at a later date. Cheers, Keith https://youtu.be/DtqjLNEOpqc

Dodge Brothers were instrumental in early car engineering. They did a ton of great work. They took some risks and made some great investments. They deserve a ton of credit!

Got it. I got a bigger, longer pry bar so I could get more leverage. It was almost out, but still hung up. I figured, I already broke the rotor. So what's one more tap from the back end with a drift? That did it. That oil pump is a cool simple eccentric design. It works well. Low pressure, it gets the job done. Looking at the photo you can see a notch in the inner centre of the rotor. This is for a small pin that is set into the transmission main shaft going through the pump centre, and out to the drive shaft to the diff. The car moving, is turning the driveshaft, which turns the tranny main shaft, which in turns this oil pump. This pump provides pressure for the hydraulic shift piston action. Neat stuff... This next pic shows the oil passages on the back side of the pump. Neat castings here. Here you can see a good full shot of the main shaft. 1st and 3rd gear are on here. The last biggest on to the left end, is reverse. Of note, is the worm/spiral cuts seen in the main shaft toward the left just past the rear main support bearing. These cuts, mate with a gear and turns the speedometer cable drive. Depending on the car, factors such kilometers or miles on speedometer, or stock tire size, different sized matching speedo drive gears are used. This tranny was used in many Mopar applications. Last pic of the day, here are my work conditions and my '53 in hibernation over the Canadian winter.

Yes, Dodge, I have been prying on that little oval slot opening. That is why that one side is slightly lifted up in the image above that I posted. Thanks for the reply. That assures me. Now that I know there is no special tool or procedure I will try getting creative and prying up both sides of the retainer somehow.

When I bought my '53 Chrysler in 2017 i was new to the car show scene. I started attending shows. At one of my first car shows I saw a woman in shorts and a top, sprawl herself out on the hood of a restored vintage 68 Corvette. For a photo opp. Her significant other took a couple photos, while she tried to pose like a model. I was shocked. Being new to all this, I looked on in horror and said nothing. I should have spoke up now that I think back. The car owner was not in site and missed the charades. Unbelievable but indeed true.

Holiday season has passed, and all the house guests have been here and gone. Now I am getting back to this transmission learning project. I have pulled the main shaft from the rear housing. Output seat, retainer and bearing. The bearing feels rough. Not surprising. Here is how the rear housing looks, apart. Seal, bearing and clip seen here too. I am stumped trying to pull the pump out. The mainshaft bearing retainer plate is fastened to rear housing with 4 bolts. This retainer plate doubles as the pump housing end plate. I removed the four bolts, but can't seem to find a way to get the retainer cover off. I referenced 3 manuals that I have. All just say "remove 4 bolts. Remove bearing retainer, inner and outer oil pump rotors. Well I tried and I got a little rammie. I tried a drift and a small hammer, going in from the output end of the housing. There is little to nothing to push forward from the back side. I accidentally put my drift on the pump rotor and I split the rotor. My bad. As this is a spare tranny for me, and a learning experience, this is not devastating to me. I hate breaking up any old parts though. They don't make any new ones. I am learning though! So I come back here to ask for tips. Seen here is the rear housing. Pump side. You can see I have the retainer plate out a little on the left side. Tips to get the pump plate off are appreciated. Thx. Keith

I heard a rumor, maybe someone could elaborate. Brand new Ram trucks don’t have Dodge emblems on them anywhere. Is that true? In any advertising I’ve seen over the past years I’ve been looking for visuals, and listening for the Dodge marquee. Nothing. I heard somewhere that for every truck or car that the Chrysler group manufactured with “Dodge” on it, they had to pay a fee to the heirs of the Dodge Brothers fortune. That the RAM name become infamous and the Dodge name was dropped as it was no longer needed for marketing. Plus the Chrysler group saved considerable expense every year. Not true? I don’t know. I know a little bit about the Dodge Bros fortune. I believe a large part of it was lost in squalor after the DB’s wives passed. Anna Dodge had a granddaughter that kept coming back to the well and going in deep. One example only, of several is my understanding. So where there any heirs left to claim the Dodge royalties, paid by Chrysler? Did Walter P pay upfront, a one-time fee for everything? To the bankers group that paid out the DB’s wives when they initially sold out? Internet Folklore? The Modern RAM theory?

Merry Christmas Worden. Keep up the good work training your kids on the old Mopars! Great progress appears to be being made. Your boxer in the car is classic!

From our driveway to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my Mopar friends here. Thank you for all the support this year!

Sometimes I put on a toque and perform outside during winter in Canada.

I can’t stop thinking about all the little steps to make second gear work. I’m still missing something here in the power transfer through 2nd. According to the instruction above, when in 2nd gear the input shaft is coupled to the main drive shaft. Via direct drive clutch collar. Fair enough I get that. However in the above info on 2nd gear, it states that power travels down thru 3rd on the mainshaft, to the countershaft, then back up thru first. Via 1st counter shaft gear and mating 1st gear on the mainshaft. I can grasp that 1st gear is coupled to the mainshaft via the hi/low range sliding collar. Yet 3rd is not coupled to the mainshaft. The collar is slid back and coupled to first gear. So isn’t 3rd gear spinning freely on the mainshaft? Why does the above info, show that in 2nd gear, the power travels down thru 3rd to countershaft, then back up to main shaft via first gear? Yet 3rd is not engaged to the mainshaft. I suspect this scenario has something to do with the overrunning clutch gear on the countershaft being locked on now. I just have not grasped that concept and the related series of events yet. Does this make sense @Dodgeb4ya Thx.