55 Fargo

What on earth for, got a 8 1/4 diff now with 3.23 gears, reason why pinion angle is so far out to begin with. I did not do the swap, whoever did, did not remedy this. Any modern 70-80s driveshaft will bolt right up, and will for the 904 trans, will have to shorten the driveshaft and have it balanced. The trans angle is 4 degrees negative to the back, the diff/pinion angle is 9 degrees positive to the front, not very good at all......LOL

Hi all, now today I realized how messed up my pinion angle is on my diff, as how it correlates to the engine and trans. It is bad, like 9-10 degrees going north, and the engine and trans your stock 3-4 degrees going south, as it should be. Now I missed this obvious area, for quite some time, not sure why it eluded me, but it did.....LOL Have a look, going to get new spring perches and fix this up quick. I am also about 75% sure I will be swapping in my LA 318/904 combo, I have almost all I need, and a very good friend and I will do the job, he has done many, and is a great fabricator and welder.... I have most of everything for the swap, still need a few things, but could go ahead anytime and get it done. I really love flathead 6s, but mine is a bit tired, and do not think I could afford a rebuild and the speed parts I would like to get the Ponies some more juice......

Hi Jeff, on my engine, have it timed well, dwell is correct, vacuum is 19, adjusted carb, runs well, accelerates well enough (albeit slow), but no matter what, will not idle smoothly at lower idle speeds, it just will not. I tribute this to old engine, with enough wear on all, and quite sure valves do not seat well in a couple of cylinders.....

Just a heads up, tired this experiment out today. It did not work well, for me, engine ran but not very good, and hard to start, not much power. I hooked everything up as per the article, allowed points to be closed on the high point of dizzy cam. I certainly did not do well with this experiment......LOL

Almost feel like I am "Hijacking" this thread sorry to the OP on this front. Yesterday it dawned on me, that I was carrying about 7 huge grain bags of wheat, about 500-600 lbs, my spare, my wooden army barrack box and 2 caravan rims, most likely around 700-800 lbs or so. I removed ll the grain bags, and rims, advanced the timing a bit, and voila, much better highway acceleration. Truck cruises easily at 60-65 mph at 2400-2550 rpm. This is not neck snapping by no account, but improved for now, could understand how a hopped up 265, with 50-75 more hp, could warm things up. Getting those extra HPs, is not overly cheap, especially at the moment if I buy anything from the US (dollar cdn/us exchange). I will be totally candid, have a nice 1974 LA 318 engine, and 904 trans, with a Holley 2bbl, and would have dual exhaust, regular electronic ignition, and smog devices are gone. This engine with said change would most likely yield about 175-180 hp. No it is not as coool as a hopped up flattie, but another deadnuts reliable Ma Mopar power plant, plus I like the 904 trans.

My 2015 Ram crew cab weights a whole lot more than my 55 Fargo, most likely over 2000 lbs

An interesting concept, writer exclaims works just as well as his dual point distributor... http://www.gofastforless.com/ignition/electronic.htm

Again a Ford TFI can be used with a stock distributor, as long as it is 12 volt neg grnd. The points , are then only a triggering device. Same idea as the mopar control box....

I hear some of those Austin Healey 6s can really go.

yes Greg think you faired quite well with your build, seems you have plenty of power to go. I know in my case, have a 228 or 250 in my Fargo, not 100 % sure which, as never pulled the head plug to confirm, usually for 1955 with this engine number it should be a 250, but could be a 228, HP aint much different. Having said all this, just came back from a drive, around town, no issues but on busy highways, geting going from a dead stop, with 3.23 gears can be challenging to about 35 mph. This engine, although has good oil pressure, reasonable compression numbers, is most likely tired, under induced and exhausted. Driving once in a while isn't bad with light traffic, but for heavy traffic areas, and hills, this would not be so fun after a while. Trouble is in my case, at 50 mph, turning 1900-2000 RPM, then when I floor it, with the 3.23 gears it won't spin up too fast, it will get to 60-65 no problem, but slowly. Downshifting at 40-50 mph is out of the question in my opinion. To sum things up, a 3.23 rear diff, is not the best, a 3.55 to 3.73 would be better. Anyway, have a 318/904 on my garage floor, just sayin, you never know BTW how is that Stude truck and V8 combo?..... PS my engine does not like to wind up too high, over 2500 rpm it does not like so much, never revved it over 3000

Hi all, been thinking about the possibility of running a Mopar electronic ignition control box with the stock dizzy. The stock distributor and it's points would act only as a triggering device, and would let the box fire when the points are closed not open. The control box would regulate dwell etc, the points may never burn out. Has anyone ever tried this? I also have an old stock dizzy apart, and ready to transplant to a / 6 dizzy, if I feel so inclined. Why bother, some may think or say, faster start-ups, better smoother idle, hotter spark, and possibly some better performance. The point of my post is not to dissect a pertronix, or Langdons GM distributor, or anyone's dual point style set-up either...

I also think they are great engines. I know if I am swapping, would go the 318/360 route.

No I am in the South in the Capital region 18 miles north of Winnipeg.

Oh okay, sounds like a good plan, seems to me there are a lot more 23 inch engines in the BC area, must be the close proximity to the Seattle area. Anyway, best of luck with your build, and will be looking toward your progress.....

Hey fellow Canuck hang in there, ther are a number of members very interested in Flathead Mopar performance, me being one of them. Although it's not a real hotrodder site like the HAMB, there are some real knowledgeable and decent Guys on here who can help you out. Don't let a few Boo Birds chase you away, as many others especially Tim Kingsbury,Tim Keith and a number of others share a common interest with you. Now your 201, is it a Canadian Engine? if so, the rods and crank from a 250 or 265, will give you a lot more displacement, if is a 23 inch, then get a 230 crank and rods, to give you boost that way. These are all only suggestions, and you may very well want to stay with the 201. I have read your threads on the HAMB, enjoyed them, and look forward to your progress. We have also had 1 post from a "FHRacer", I have asked him for more info and pics, nothing so far, maybe he is a Phantom of Flathead High perf, sure hope he joins the quest on here for more more from the Flathead 6 engine.....

There is a 251 and truck trans in Manitoba, can send you details if interested. I also knew of a rebuilt engine and truck trans too, near Stonewall Manitoba...

Here is a post in a thread I created on Flathead 6 high performance, it was posted by FHRacer, post #127 Hello, I am new here , and have read some interesting things about the flathead Chrysler 265. Me, being an old drag racer always want to know , What will it do in the 1/4 mile? I have read every page of this thread and no one is mentioning weights, gear ratios, including rear end gear ratios, actual readings from a tach, or even oil pressure. I myself have been racing super stock Hemis and max wedge cars since 1972 and I am thinking on building a Chrysler Flathead 6 in a Willys body. I will be using all the same parts suppliers as I have used in the Hemis and max wedges. My machine shop is on red alert about this project. This will be my second Chrysler 6 in a Willys that I own. The first one is still together and ran a best of 14.50 @ 91 miles per hour. It weighed 2860 with me in it, had a 4.78 gear in the 52 Plymouth housing, a 38 Dodge 3 speed tranny, went through the finish line at 5200 rpm. It was wound out long before the finish line. The motor was 60 over with 3 ford 94's for carbs, on a stock manifold,( reworked ), 100 thou off the head, a reground cam which I have the blanks so that I can grind more, headers. Absolutely no off the shelf speed equipment was used on this motor. This combo gave us 60 class wins, I still have the trophies, and many cash awards. This car has been retired since 1968, and sits about 15 feet from this keyboard. The car was driven to the track until 1966 and then we used a tow bar. So my question is , how fast are the big boys going with their new style "Speed Parts", on their flatties? http://p15-d24.com/topic/37882-the-of-chrysler-flathead-hi-performance/page-13 I did ask FH Racer to post pics and stories, but did not ever see any replies. I have read about his Willys Aerostar and did see pics on another web forum, sounds like a fast little car for it's time.....

Tim did you call and talk with George Asche, which build were you referring to? I bet you had a bit of a talk, George is not a 5 minute phone guy. Did he give you any guesstimates on Hp and Torque numbers on the more radical builds He and Tim Kingsbury created? Assuming it was George Asche you called, maybe you are referring to someone else, if so forget the question....

Whaddya fee,l if you could/can rebuild a Holley 850 Dble pumper....

As mentioned above, fuel, ignition and compression = fire. Did this mechanic do a compression test? Test fuel pump? Did he check carb float bowl to see if there was fuel sitting in there? The plugs were dry, so sounds like possibly no fuel delivery, so what is stopping it? Take off the gas cap if it is non vented, and either get a vented or drill a tiny hole through it. Your replacement gas tank, does it have a seperate venting line instead. Try priming the carb with gasoline, and see if it fires to life. The reversed coil, that shouldn't be that bad, shortens coil life perhaps, but have run a flathead with coil hooked up wrong once for a few years. The tiny wire inside of the coil, could this be shorting out, is sometimes an issue with these old distributors. These engines are quite simple in design and operation, and you need to do a process of elimination to determine the root cause, rather than going after every all at once and becoming frustrated and chasing your tail. So a systematic approach, to find the issue, good luck and keep this thread going until you resolve this issue, as it may help another flattie owner in the future. One last ?, is the car mad at you, should your Dad be driving her..........

Bill Watson can asnwer your questions or Tim Kingsbury. I would venture to guess it was originally a 228, but being a rebuilt, it could have been converted to a 250 even. Any rebuilders tags on it?

Yup, time will tell, will have to wait till get this engine apart, thanx for helping me figure this out

Okay I get it now. Looks like it's a 250 engine after all.

Yup, see if I can get this crank to spin, without hammering out pistons, its an odd number on the block P6D1, prefix, and it aint a P6 Plym engine, its possibly 1960 Dodge truck engine...

Now Tim, here is the ? when 2 pistons are at top dead center are 2 at bottom dead center nothing else.