55 Fargo

Good chance that diff was good and heated up. No point guessin, time to open her up and have a looksy. Does this engine run? To get into this diff, pull drums and brakes, by undoing the brake lines, unbolt backing plates, pull axles, and unbolt the diff carrie, you will then see what you are up against. Let us know what you discover.....

no it was used with Chrysler flathead 6s not just later V8s. It will handle it just fine, especially with the fluid drive spinning up from a dead stop...

Should be just fine considering the M5/6 came with 3.54 gears in Chryslers. It should be no problem..

Maybe but don't count on it, engine wil not be as busy, but your suspension, steering and driveline will be.....LOL

Glad to hear you are "getting a little respect", down there. That's a nice car you have there......

Hey DB, do you go out onto the freeways around Long Beach and LA area, I hear traffic moves 80-90 mph there now...

Greg are you able to run on the NY Interstate hwys, without too much troubles? Some states it seems no problem, and some it's downright dangerous...

Have you got an adjustment tool like the Ammco or Miller tool, to get those shoes adjusted very close, for total surface contact? If not, another method, as per Bob.H, and possibly factory setup. Point bottom arrows toward each other, then adjust minor adjusters for light brake contact as you spin the wheel. Periodically check wear and adjust minors. This has worked well for me, but not for some others. Unless you have had your brake shoes arced to your drums, they need to wear in to the drum radius for a while....good luck

Yes anything with 3.9, 4.10, 4.3, gonna be busy at 50-60 mph. My engine is not busy at 60 mph yet, but the old truck is a bit......LOL Yes insulation, tires, suspension condition, driveline balance, will all contribute to the ride quality at higher speeds. I wonder in my case, with 3.23 gears, how an OD trans, say a T5 for example might be. I would think I would be in 4th most of the time under about 55 mph, and needing to downshift against high winds or hills from 5th to 4th. I do find my gear spread, from 3rd to 4th not that pleasant with 3.23 gears. I still have to take off in 2nd, 1st is way too low even with a 3.23 rear end. Pickup from 2nd to 3rd is nice, 3rd to 4th is okay, once in 4th she is not overly speedy until about 50 mph....

Well with this braking system (Lockheed), you need these. Once the drum are on you need to adjust toe/heel, by adjusting the major adjusters, then tweaking the minor adjusters. You then need time for your new shoes to arc with the shoes, for a good fit....take some pics of what's going on there...and post them, do follow up when this issue is resolved.

Who has gone right out floored top speed in their flathead powered car or truck? I have not, have driven the old 47 Chrysler to about 70 mph, with more to go. Today drove the Fargo to about 70 mph, might go 5-10 mph more. I have 3.23 gears, would think I would top out at about 80 mph or so. So lets hear it, verified true top speeds you have driven with your current or past flatties.....

Nope, in about midway of the backing plates on both sides. Just crawl under there and you will see, 1 1/8 I think.

The 2 minor adjusters are on the other side of the backing plate, try and adjust those and see. Are your wheel cyl pins too long?

Welcome, we have met on the HAMB, you posted on 1 of my threads discussing an LA 318 engine swap...

Extremely Kool Tim, very interesting facts about the 265 and the early V8s, no doubt the 265 with factory dual/dual, packed a bit more punch, than the early Mopar flathead 6s. I always enjoy the stories about George and Your Dad, and look forward to more pics and historical accounts of the AoK Racing Boys. Hope to see your posts and pics about George Uncle Harry real soon. Now I invite those who have any experiences, stories and photos to get on this blog and share, sure makes for interesting reading on a cold early winter night. Happy Thanksgiving To Our American Friends too.....

Hi Tim, do you have any archived photos of old Flathead drag racing, or stock car racing, that can be added to this blog. Maybe we can even add in Chrysler flathead powered boat racing and Chrysler powered machinery, such as Bombardiers, Airport Tugs and forklifts........

The owner and driver of the 1961 dragster pic is Rex Raines of Wichita Kansas, he went on to run a Chrysler 392 hemi powered rail. Mr Raines is apparently still alive and well. Do know the flattie powered dragster, did go very fast for what it is, on his 1/4 mile runs. The Willys Aero, is owned by a member on this forum, FHRacer, this car was built by his Dad apparently, and was raced by His Brother, last time it ran was in 68 possibly. Larry still owns this car. Hopefully he will post pics and give details of the car and engine on here and on Tim Kingsbury Nostalgia Racing Blog....

Excellent Blog, and excellent read, hope we get others who can share there Chrysler Flathead Racing stories from the past....thanx for Creating this blog Tim

Here is a kool nostalgic racer, any idea what kinda mill it has... Willys is a 265 Chrysler flathead 6, with 3 deuces, hot cam shaved head,37 dodge 3 spd trans, reputed to have run 14.5 in the 1/4

Interesting James, well on a 1 bbl intake, make the hole bigger and use an adapter or machined aluminum plate to bolt on a progressive 2 bbl carb, might work. Most agree the 2 or 3 carb is better for a more even fuel distribution to the 3 siamese intakes...

To go 2bbl, and use the 2bbl adapter might be a wasted effort. At the least, the 1 bbl should be opened up for flow, or cut and made into 2 bbl hole. Anybody ever do this?

I think along with compression ratio increase, and combustion chamber design flow change perhaps?

Very nice....

Lou Earle, once shared with me, that shaving the head, split/dual exhaust and a 2bbl carb , was the best bang for the buck$. Now He and others have dual carbed engines, so not sure what he may or may not have liked about the dual carbs as compared to 1 2bbl. It would seem logical if a dual or tri carb set-up was jetted or run progressive, it should be very efficient. I have no experience or data for my hypothesis, but others do...

Hi Stan, not sure I should be responding to your ? as I have not done this mod to any of my flatheads, yet. There have been several whom have done this mod, and nobody has complained about it yet. I have heard some state about running rich on a multi-carb setup, this was believed to be a result of jetting issues or running a stock cam perhaps. Now do a search, there should be plenty of good reading on this topic. I have also been told by some that going with split exhaust manifolds, dual exhaust, and a 2 bbl carb to be very good too. But there is the idea that 2 or even 3 carbs, feeding atomized fuel more evenly to 3 siamesed intake ports, would be far more efficient, and provide a lot more on WOT. Good luck, and share your progress, that to me is a very important part of these threads, follow up info....