Bryan

Longer rods would decrease the angle, would it help that much? Would rather try something someone else has proven to work over a long period of time. Modern rings on the same piston as original seems safe. Toying with wrist pin & compression heights...have no experience with that.

That helped a lot ..not planning to run over 4,000 RPM much but I only want to overhaul my engine one time. I want it to be reliable if I have to cruise at 65 for any distance. Only think I would be doing that if I was going to a car show or club meeting. I might add a pre-oil electric pump or reservoir tank to circulate oil before starting (it won't be a daily driver). Since we're off topic, any opinions on the original thick ring pistons? I'm toying with the idea of custom pistons with the same skirt, but changing to a modern 3 ring setup.

Does anyone know the texture of the existing oil passages in the crank and whether polishing them (if rough) would improve flow? I read that flow rates in pipes are affected by roughness (PVC vs concrete). Y'all stay calm..

I was wondering how to get the paint on mine matched up. Firewall and door jambs are perfect, wheels seem darker. Did you bring an entire fender in the store or what? I can't find a paint code tag on my 48 Dodge.

Is there an easier way to get higher ratios and lower engine speeds without swapping the rear end? A 4 or 5 speed pattern on the column wouldn't bother me..if there was an easier transmission swap I'd do it later after I drive my original around for a few years (when I get the motor overhauled). Heck..just got to reading more..seems like the cheapest way is to put the tallest tire possible on the rear end. Wonder how my 48 sedan would look with 235 -75 on the back?

Holy S..! Did y'all see the link for the PtoP rally at the bottom of the page? Driving through creeks and pastures. Knew the roads would be poor but....

That's what I would want, something simple like a slightly higher volume pump,since I'm learning it's not the pressure. Pressure is from the resistance in the system..volume is more important. Planning on saving my money for balancing the crank, rods and pistons as a system.

If you have an engine with a draft tube (the thing to the left of your distributor) you might want to go with a PCV conversion instead. I think I read that a closed PCV system will have less dirt get in the engine.

Also by reading other forums, some mention the centrifugal forces in the crank as a factor. Notice that all the feeds from mains are to lower rods that are slinging oil outwards down the passage as the journal rotates. An added passage from #1 to # 2 would have the oil trying to leave #1 against the centrifugal force of rotation. Don't think I'll be messing with having my crank drilled...I won't be in a tractor pull with my 48 Dodge.

I see special oil shedding coating!

I'm trying to understand why anyone would cross drill their crank, even for RPMs above 4,000. Conflicting info from posts, one says "Cross drill crankshaft from #5 to the 3rd main and #2 from the 2nd main". Another says " between #5 & #4 and #2 and #3 main bearings". Looks like from the Dodge oil diagram that lower rod ends are covered. 1 & 6 are covered by 1 passage each from 1st & 4th mains respectively, but they are furthest from the middle feed. Lower ends 2 & 3 covered by 2nd main, 4 & 5 covered by 3rd main. See attached picture . Could someone explain how it would improve oiling?

If you are expecting low quality gas then I wouldn't raise compression too high. Mill enough to get the head flat. There are charts that compare compression ratio with coolant temperature vs gas octane. Or you could carry some kind of octane booster gas additive with you.

You're probably going to have a hard time getting comments without more information. I don't have a clue (any knowledge) about the Peking to Paris Rally and the condition of roads, speeds, rules on allowable engines, etc. If the roads are so bad you can only do 45 mph most of the way, high rpm and HP won't help. Near major Chinese cities the roads are developed, in Europe the same, but areas in between who knows? If the rules allow any motor, why not put in something newer that is reliable and you can get parts for? More info required.

I was looking at a 1948 video and they mentioned the bypass filter system or a full flow system. So I reckon either system could be on a car of that year. Try to see if the block fittings look like your picture.

And one more crazy question..how do these pistons differ in weight from the originals. If they are a lot lighter wouldn't it require removing weight from the crankshaft counter weights?

Nice! Nice! Nice! Would suggest pulling the oil pan & cleaning out before driving too much. Clean sump screen. Change the filter. If they were using non-detergent oil in it and you put newer oil you could stir some crud up and circulate it. Cost of a gasket and time.

If you do a search within this forum (upper right side of site) with words -> 12V conversion starter - there is plenty of info. Pro vs Con and how to do it.

Don't put any high detergent oil in it unless you pull the oil pan and clean it out. Stirs up settled crud. An oil pan gasket won't cost too much. Plus change filter.

Was wondering what the final price was. Earlier you said about $ 100 a piston. I got a rough quote from Ross over the phone and they were stating about $ 850 for 6. I wanted to go the same route to use modern rings.. Was the original piston compression height 2.0 or 1.9xxsomething for the 201? You probably know the quench area only covers 1/2 of the piston top, rest is flat. What will be your final clearance in this area? Really interested in how yours turns out. Besides higher reliability, modern rings reduces internal friction. One article on a different engine mentioned a difference between 14 ft/lbs and 34 ft/lbs of torque to turn the crank over with a T-wrench just from ring difference.

From article ..."In recent years there have been entirely too many wiped cam lobes and ruined lifter failures in traditional American flat tappet engines, even though a variety of well respected brand name parts were typically used. These failures involved people using various high zinc oils, various high zinc Break-In oils, various Diesel oils, and various oils with aftermarket zinc additives added to the oil. They believed that any high zinc oil concoction is all they needed for wear protection during flat tappet engine break-in and after break-in. But, all of those failures have proven over and over again, that their belief in high zinc was nothing more than a MYTH, just as my test data has shown. . A high level of zinc/phos is simply no guarantee of providing sufficient wear protection. And to make matters even worse, excessively high levels of zinc/phos can actually “cause” DAMAGE your engine, rather than “prevent” it. Motor Oil Industry testing has found that motor oils with more than 1,400 ppm ZDDP, INCREASED long-term wear. And it was also found that motor oils with more than 2,000 ppm ZDDP started attacking the grain boundaries in the iron, resulting in camshaft spalling (pitting and flaking). The ZDDP value is simply the average of the zinc and the phosphorus values, then rounded down to the nearest 100 ppm (parts per million)."

Pretty sure he wasn't pushing the importance of zinc last time I read it. Or leaded fuels. Main was how well oil holds up under pressure and high temps.

Bought a replica fuel tank on ebay for about $300.

Rather wordy..spends several paragraphs proving his qualifications to rate oils, then explanations on zinc, etc. Go to the list about at the top 1/4 of the whole thing... https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

Quick question(s) - are the overdrive units that would fit on my 48 Dodge 230 (3 speed with Fluid Drive) an R10 unit? Or some other number? Of the R10 units I see on ebay there are different R10s (E & F for example) that are for Mercury, Ford, etc. Are they all the same unit that would fit my Dodge?