55 Fargo

Can't figure out how to get the sending unit into my 2 gallon plastic jerrycan gas tank.LOL Fred

Hi all, taking a break from my coolant leak, will deal with it when I have my week off. Is it possible to buy new rubber for my OEM stainless steel wiper blades, seems a shame to not use them just beacause the rubber is hardened and crumbled away. Was thinking of using window squeege rubber cut to fit and install into metal body of wiper. I know I can buy these, but here in my part of the world they are $35.00 for the pair, for NOS or OEM style wipers.........Fred

Hi , just like to wish our Canadian members a happy and safe dominion day. Canada is 140 years old today, but this land was settled many years before this like the good old USA. Happy Indepedance day July the 4th to my American Friends,have a safe and happy holiday...........Freddie Canuck

Norm, I like. Now do you fasten it directly to the floor, or would you still use the metal base for the sill mats and glue it to that. Mine are in rough shape, so maybe I could put it to the floor, or make metal bases out of sheet metal and glue it to that and fasten the sheet metal to the floor first and add the rubber stair tread on top. Would also like stainless or aluminum, diamond checker plate cut to fit, use stainless counter sink machine screws and fasten through sill mat hole in floor. These could be removed one day, if I came across a decent set of sill mats or if I get rich quick at some point. If you happen to try this, please post a few pics for all to see........Fred

Well Larry were do you think we are ," in the midwest". Just the northern tip of the great midwestern plains. And yes we get Tornadoes here, as well Sothern Ontario gets them too. We also get killer Thunderstorms here, as well as large hail and humid muggy summers......Fred

Wouldn't a couple that maybe weighs in around 300 plus lbs be enough to raise the front a little. Thus possibly the steering could go off slightly. Are any springs broken, do they hold up there arc, what about when people are in the back seats do the rear springs sag a little. If these area original springs, most likely go there moneys worth.....Fred

Larry it's been wetter and cooler the last 5 days here also, we had a lot of rain to boot. Here is a pic of the F4 Tornado that ravaged a small town just west of Winnipeg Manitoba. This one even made CNN news. The storm that night was unbelieveable, I was at work, it looked like a hurricane, I even saw a funnel cloud form it's tail coming down, but it was pushed right back just as fast..........Fred:eek:

Hi Don, your right the glycol would not evaporate, maybe just my wishful thinking that it was splashed in the bellhousing somehow. I did find an old freeze plug from the side of the engine, it was prety rust pitted and thin on the inside end of it. I can see how th rear plugs could also be rusted through or a pinhole or 2........Fred

Hi, here is apic of my 47 Mopar rear brakes, new shoes, rebuilt wheel cyls, new steel lines and cleaned up drums....Fred

Lookin Good chet, keep up the good work.........Fred

Bob,I know the feeling of luck like that. Hey Norm, if anyone can figure out another way to "skin the Cat" it's You LOL. About now I would rather have a headliner problem than a leak at the back of the engine, now this was Murphy's Law, or maybe there is a reason for my misfortune.........Fred

Good Job Eric, hope to report a successful repair soon on the engine coolant leak at the back end of the engine. Hope to do this on my week off next week.........Fred ps tell you what you get your car running good, I'll get mine going good we then meet in Fargo ND, now hang on, mine is having trouble with 10 miles right now, Fargo is 200 miles from here hehehehe

No Greg, those areas are very dry and clean. Last year I had antifreeze, quite a lot blow up and onto the engine and go down the bell housing, it drenched the bell housing, but I am sure it would not have sta in there for a year and then starts sloshing around and leaking, or would it. Right now it's about dry in there. Should I leave it a day or 2, or run the ngine to see if more leaks in. Or is it the freeze plug leaking intermittenly. Best bet is to pull of bell housing and look. My only fear is realigning the clutch and housing, as I have hear it can be a pain......Fred

Here are a few pics of the floor pan removed. There is lots of room, the rear mounts have seen better days, will replace those. Good opportunity to paint the floor pan, as I did last night. Funny thing, there was next to nothing in the bell housing this morning for leakage, don't think it's possible that the antifreeze that blew in there las year sat in there spinning around, and once heated good and warm at a high rpm, was blown back out the bell housing vents and also leaked onto the floor, nah I doubt it, probably a slow leaking freeze plug.

Okay made the decision to do the job the right way and discover what needs to be done. Will prep job tomorrow, remove driveshaft, trans, and what ever else. I will leave the removal of bellhousing until a day when I can give it 100 % for 8 hours. This may turn out to be a good thing, as the inside of the bell housing is dirty. I will also reclean and paint driveshaft, trans bell housing etc. Make a decnt project out of it. Thanx all for your help and support........Fred

Thanx Rearview, I have a tendancy to go to far to the left when problems happen...........Fred

The spoke with a large engine rebuilder this morning, the machinist has been with the company 30 years. He told me up till up 12 years ago he would usually have about 20 rebuilt flathead Chrysler 6s in stock, the last price they charged was about $800.00 US, now it's $2700 US for a complete rebuild. he las told he has seen a resurgence in the last couple of years with these engines and other old style engines. Bombardiers, farm equipment, he also mentioned they wer the service depot for Lincoln welders that had the 265 engines. He said these engines were good and tough, thus why they had so many applications, he also mentioned the most popular were the 251s. He did tell me that I could try Silverseal, that it would go to the leak and seal it, he said the other portions of the silverseal would remain suspended in the system, just his opinion, he mentioned using products such as this with problem leaks many times in his career. He also uses Locktite on freeze plugs, just to make sure. He told me to check the rear of the head real well, as they are notorious for leaking also. Shadetree or not, I will try silver seal and see what happens........Fred

Okay, I am not a pessimist, but how many have our members experienced a all of a sudden leak from the rear freeze plugs. Has anybody heard of the block cracking in behind here, before my cooling problems were kinda resolved, I did have the engine block go up to about 205, but it always had lots of antifreeze in it. Don't think having the engine run up to the warm side with no real heavy load and for a short time would cause a block crack, in fact the rad never boiled over either. My other theory is, possibly there was crud in the back end of the engine, maybe after getting better flow, this area may have been disturbed, in fact maybe some crud was washed out of this area, thus a leak did begin. The first time I noticed antifreeze under the car was after the rad had been boiled out, but I thought it was just a small amount that I had spilled when refilling the system, so I dismissed it, as the rad did not appear to go down, I do notice now the rad level going down, possibly the leak is getting worse, now that it has started...............Fred

I like thoughts like this, but if the freeze plug has rusted through it may be only a matter of time before it disintegrates, or heaven forbid as it would put me over the edge a crack in the block. Or what you have mentioned using silverseal, it might just do the trick. Don't like to sound like a whiner ,but this problem is puttin a real damper on my spirits, it's not that I am lazy to do this repair, but to be honest with a large country yard, full time work in a prison, and 2 litttle ones at home, time is a real premium.......Fred

Phil is that 3 freeze plugs, or is it just the 2 silver plugs. Is theothera camshaft end plug. This is the way I plan on doing this job, looks like the 2 x 4 is holding up the engine just fine, did you losen up the front engine mounts............Thanx Fred

Greg the sides have been done already, I agree the pan should be supported right acros, I will also loosen the fron mounts so it doesn't wist them either. Will likely dismantle tonight and have a look........Fred

Norm the floor pan is already out, had a good look in this area. To proceed it is just a matter of removing the driveshaft, the trans, blocking the rear of the engine, lifting bell housing and remove. The back of the engine would be staring me right in the face this way. Of course I need to drain the antifreeze, remove starter, drop exhaust pipe. I was thinking of making out out of wood, a support to go right under the rear of the oil pan, as mine has an extra 1/4 inch plate steel welded to it. Would this be okay to support the rear of the engines weight as I describe. I could then pop out the freeze plugs, clean out the holes, re-install freeze plugs and hopefully fix the problem, cause man I have had no shortage of problems with this cooling system...........Fred

removed floor pan, had a look in clutch housing, sure enough antifreeze in there, suctioned it out, 1/2 hour later still leaking back ever so slightly but leaking none the less. Is this common, would it be cracked. My plan is to remove trans, support engine on rear bottom, with 2 x 4 cribbing, remove clutch and fix freeze plugs. Does anybody think this will work, the clutch housing is filthy and greasy inside, maybe I should replace rear main seal same time. Any other ideas from the masses........Fred

Thanx Norm, here is my idea of the plan of attack. Remove floor pan, Chrysler pans are huge. remove trans, support rear of engine, lif enough to rmove clutch and bell housing, inspect and find leak, remove flywheel and r and r freeze plugs as necessary, which would be all of them in this case. Does this sound like a sound method..........Fred

Not sure what to do here, I do own a 1955 Fargo truck engine, it was running up to 2 years ago when it was pulled out of the truck to make way for a SBC. It's condition is not really known to me other than it was "supposed to run well".I can also buy a 265 Industrial engine, from a lincoln welder, its 5 miles from my house, the owner wants $100.00 for it. This would be a good engine to use, providing it is in good condition. Or I can find out whats leaking on the back of my engine repair it and contiue to use the engine, it must be a fairly slow leak, as the antifreeze has barely gone down, and there isn't a huge amount of leakage, but the leakage is there. Any shadetree ideas to stop the leak, the trouble is you can't see exactly where it is leaking from. Can the bell housing bottom come off, so I canhave a look for antifreeze sitting in the pan..........Fred