keithb7

Sounds like a waste of time. I dislike experiences like this. It frustrates me when sellers lie. Good job knowing what you were looking at. Buyer beware they say.

https://www.allpar.com/mopar/flat.html

I'll take a stab at the order of luxury and pricing: Imperial Chrysler Desoto Dodge Plymouth

You found the right place. This is an excellent forum. I am less than 1 year into my first old Mopar. A 1953 Chrysler. These seem to be very well built cars. The flat head 6 is known as a very reliable engine that will seem to run on less than half of 1 lung. Better known for its reliability than horsepower. Easy to work on with pretty basic tools. I am quite happy with my Mopar.

Thank you @B-Watson. It appears I have a Canadian WM-4298 1953-1954 C-D-P-D Manual. As well as a D-14929 covering C56, C58, C-59 and C60 manual. Do you happen to be a member of VCC Collectable Chrysler chapter?

Looking though a couple of Chrysler shop manuals here, I don't see a spec on master cylinder wear. They do state that you can clean up scratches by boring .004". I took several measurements with a internal telescopic snap T-gauge. Then measured the gauge with a 0-1" micrometer. This is a 1" bore cylinder. At various bore depth locations I got: 0.9965 0.9966 0.9974 0.9976 0.9984 0.9987 Thinking my cylinder is ok ok to clean up and re-use?

Getting into the weeds on the pedal linkage now. I am supposed to have 2 of these lift springs on my clutch pedal rod. I only have one. I do not have a parts book. If anyone happens to have a Chrysler part number for this part please post it. Of if you know where I might buy one, I would appreciate it. Thanks. Spring circled in red. Also photo of the one that I have.

Brakes...The hard way. LOL. Oh well. Best way to retain this stuff is to learn from your mistakes I suppose.

Foiled again. I ordered the Master Cylinder re-build kit before taking mine apart. Seems I have a 1" bore. The new kit I ordered from Bernbaum reads 1 1/8" inch. Original piston on right, Bernbaum kit on left. I assume I am at 1" due to the brass insert? Seen in pic above.

Thought you gear heads might enjoy seeing photos of a V16 engine I saw today. 2800 HP Diesel. Full HP and torque nets 4.22 gallons per minute fuel burn. 4 turbos. Melted and extruded main bearing here. What the bearing half is supposed to look like, is in the background. What's left of connecting rod, small end. Still in replaceable cylinder. Another one. Big end gone. Crank is supposed to look like this: What's left here: When you hear something odd, it's often too late. The thing screws it's self apart and goes bang bang.

My linkage is a little different than what you guys are showing. I found this pic on line. This is like mine. Does anyone have a parts book for a 53 by chance? Maybe could scan me a better pic of this linkage? The pic below said it was for a Plymouth(?). This one I found is small and hard to read. Thanks, Keith.

I am quite enjoying these new -to-me jobs. I have a few questions for the experts: The master cylinder housing. Is it ok to hot tank it? I'd like to clean it up like new somehow. The cir-clips seen bottom right in the above photo. They go over the groove in the pivot shaft for the pedals. They seem kind of old and weak to me. Are these readily available to buy? Maybe I can replace them with proper expanding c-clips with the eyes in the ends for the c-clip pliers? Some of the linkage is pretty loosey-goosey. I am going to see what I can do to tighten a few things up. The rod from the clutch pedal for example. I suppose this is normal wear and tear for a 65 year old car. Have you folks had much luck sourcing some replacement linkage parts? The grit and grime under there is extensive. I am going to spend a few hours scraping and degreasing everything I can. Question about the cylinder. Is this a brass sleeve insert seen here? Or factory installed?

Whoohoo! The best Saturday night in recent memory. LOL.

Doh! I did not see that foot pedals were bolted to levers. Thank you! Got them off. Plan slid right over pedal arms and out of the way. Love this forum. Thanks again.

Finally getting back to this project. We listed and sold out house, and moved to a new home since the last post. Craziness. I was planning to drop the master cylinder out for rebuild. I hear it can be done still installed but I think I'd rather pull it. I thought removing the floor panel may make access easier. You guys probably know this, but floor panel does not just unscrew and pop out. The clutch and brake pedal linkage seem to have to come out with the floor panel. It seems there is no way for the floor panel to come up over the pedals. Those who rebuild: Do you remove master cylinder or leave it bolted in place? Here's the big move. Car was drivable but I did not want to drive it on our wet snowy sanded, de-ice sprayed crappy roads.

Brake light switch replaced as well?

Did you replace the rubber flex hoses in your brake ststem? We’d live to see some pics of your New Yorker!

Seems the HP varied during the 70’s oil crisis. I found this: “225 Cubic Inch Version The 225 cubic inch Slant 6 enjoyed the longest production run of all, being manufactured between 1960 and 1983. The 225 engine produced 145 horsepower, which was increased when the Hyper-Pak was introduced in late 1960 but decreased again when the focus of the Slant 6 shifted from high-power to fuel economy and reliability. The 225 had the 3.40-inch bore of the 170 and the 198, but its stroke length was longer still at 4.12 inches. Until 1974, the 225 shared the same cylinder block as the 198, before changing to a new block with the part No. 3462605. The crank of the 225 would fit in the engine of the 198 and shared its crankshaft specs.”

When I was about 16, in Grade 10 I bought a 1976 Dodge Dart. If I recall it had a 225 slant 6 engine in it. My Father was dead set against me buying any "P.O.S. import" he called them. North American built or nothing at all, I remember him saying. I spent what seemed like forever trying to find a car that Dad approved of. Finally I settled on the Dodge Dart. He gave it his blessing after going over the car with me. Within a few days I noticed it was hard to start when it was hot. It would crank fast but never start until it cooled down again. Dad was no mechanic. He had no idea what to do. I was new to cars but my brother who was 18 at the time in Grade 12, was totally a gear head. He was planning to be a heavy duty mechanic. Bro and I spent a couple of days troubleshooting together. We had few specialized tools. Finally we begged and borrowed a compression tester. Yup low compression across all 6. We quickly made a decision to pull the engine and rebuild it. Ourselves. In the back yard. No garage. We borrowed an engine hoist and by day's end the next Saturday, we had the engine out on the ground. Pulled the head. Found a tired engine with a considerable ridge at the cylinder top. Flipped it over on a piece of plywood and pulled the oil pan. I removed mains and rod bearing and lifted out the crank. Then out came all the pistons. Bay day's end Sunday I was staring at a pile of parts and starting to add up the bills. I was in high school and working part time as a dishwasher in a restaurant. If I recall I had about $300 in savings and I got paid again soon. I ordered an engine rebuild kit. I bought a reman exchange crank. Block and head was brought to a local car wash pressure washer where I blasted it as clean as I could. Next trip was to drop the block and head off at a local machine shop. I worked every Friday night after school and all day Sat and Sunday for weeks to pay for the needed parts and machining. Timing chain, carb kit etc. Dad convinced me to pull the torque and have it checked over too. I was tired of school and working, but I wanted my car bad. I had a sweet girlfriend and wanted to take her on dates. With no car, we could not meet very often. She was patient as I worked my butt off to buy everything I needed. She even came and hung out with me sometimes while I was re-assembling the engine. She was an angel. Finally after probably a month we were re-installing the slant 6 engine in my Dart. There was no way we could line it up to the 747 auto transmission bell housing. Finally we determined that the exchange crank I installed was for a different transmission. Drat! More delays. We pulled the torque again and had it machined to fit the crank. All went together well finally. The car started! I was excited. It was idling a little rough but I had no money left for new spark plugs, cap, rotor and wires. My brother took it to his Grade 12 shop class on Monday and hooked up to a scope. Hmm.. Spark looked off. He pulled all the plugs again. I had installed them. Several had zero gap as they had been dropped and kicked about for the past month. I had little experience and overlooked the plugs. He cleaned and gapped my plugs. Set timing and adjusted carb. He was my hero. The car was running in top shape now. I could not have done the engine rebuild without my brother. I had a ton of respect for him for helping me. Next came the courting again! Dates and ice cream often with my slant 6 Dart. Good memories with my girl. She's still with me today. It was just our 25th wedding anniversary in early January. I was a young dumb 16 year old. I drove the Dart for about 6 months and sold it for something faster. That was a huge mistake. I bought another car that I soon had to rebuild it's engine as well. I repeated the whole process again. I learned the hard way. This time big Bro was in trade school. I was on my own and rebuilt the V6 engine myself. Lots of frustration but what does not kill us makes us stronger. Below is a pic from 1987. Here we all are man handling the slant 6 engine. I'm in the blue coveralls. Big bro in the white T-shirt. Dad pulling the hoist. Good memories. How does all this relate to the flat head six? Well today I own a '53 Chrysler with a 265 L6 flat head. The story is a little similar. I bought my '53 last May and drove it home. Within a month I had the head off and did a full valve grind and all new valves. I'm a little smarter today with more experience. Today I can afford to order parts as needed. Today my best girl is home with me every night. No stress as I have other vehicles! LOL. My '53 is not my only car. My old Dart was. I believe the 225 slant 6 was rated at 94 HP. My flat head is rated at 119 HP. I am unsure of the actual torque of each. I would say that my flat head '53 has considerably more torque. It lugs down nicely and pull hills smooth. It was over 30 years ago that I owned the slant 6. The performance details are a little blurry. I do recall street racing my Dart against a 1974 Ford Pinto 4 cylinder, standard 4 speed tranny. It beat me off the line. Today I'd say I prefer the flat 6. I love how it sounds. It idles so quietly. It runs so smooth. It seems easy to maintain. I like it!

I saw the thread title and I thought , ”My wife’s pretty awsome too. I’ll share a story.” Then I saw the photos of your living room. Wow. That’s serious. Just wow.

I use my Mity-Vac. It works well. Crack the bleeder and suck the fluid through. Close bleeder valve first while still under vacuum. Then remove Mity-Vac hose after. I fill the Mity-Vac canister, dump it and repeat. This ensures all old fluid is flushed out of each line and wheel cylinder. I check my master cyl fluid often and keep topping it up as I travel around 4 corners of the car. I have used my Mity-Vac to flush brake fluid on all the vehicles in the family. No complaints. There’s probably a better faster way but I’m just a home hack tinkerer mechanic.

Only a 3 hr drive from me!! Not the right time. Awesome car though!

I am studying the two, to try and get it right in my mind. Am I on the right track here? A fluid drive is an oil filled fluid coupler. Right? A fluid coupler is not a torque converter. To the average Joe is may appear to be a torque converter, but it does not manipulate the torque. A Fluid Torque Drive system utilizes a proper torque converter. It is like the earlier fluid coupler with the addition of 2 stators and curved turbines. The stators and curved turbines offer torque multiplication, correct? The stators spin on over-running clutches that allow them to spin freely when no torque multiplication is required. Driving flat on the hi-way for example at cruising speeds. When a hill adds load on the engine and slows down car speed, torque manipulation again begins. Am I on the right track here? The simple fluid drive does not offer these benefits. The torque converter offers larger variation of torque, which is why I can drive around in my Fluid Torque Drive equipped 1953 Windsor deluxe in high gear range all the time. Some questions: Does the fluid drive run at cooler temps? I suspect yes. Does the fluid drive have any cooling for the fluid drive oil? Does the fluid torque drive with proper torque converter, run at higher temps due to the oil changing direction within the stators? Sitting at a street light with clutch engaged and foot brake holding car stopped, and transmission, does this cause increased heat in the torque? If left in this condition for considerable time, say waiting for a slow train that stops and backs up, on a hot summer day, will the torque heat up considerably? I assume there is no real way to know what your torque temp is, or if it got pretty hot. Smell of burnt oil maybe when draining torque oil. On engine-fed TC, I assume engine coolant could also get pretty hot in this situation also. No? I have never driven the fluid drive. I'd be interested in experiencing it compared to my Fluid Torque Drive unit. Your comments are appreciated.

Welcome Terry. Looks like a great car for a rebuild.

I just found these guys. They're almost in my backyard. I may ship them my split door sill rubber pieces. See if they can build me some new ones. http://www.runningboardrubber.com/