51_Meadowbrook

Unfortunately my Meadowbrook does not have a clock but my Cadillac 75 has 2 of them. It was explained to me that when the clock winds down the metal tab attached to the winding mechanism comes into contact with the body of the clock. This creates a short which throws the mechanism back up and keeps it wound. When the car sits for a long time without being run the battery wears down. Even though the battery has voltage the amperage becomes too low to throw the clock mechanism. So it heats up and either fuses the 2 pieces together or creates oxidation (correct me if I’m wrong on that last part) that causes the contact to be unable to throw the mechanism when a new battery is put on. In my case, I took the back cover off of the clock, sprayed it with an electrical cleaner, gently cleaned the contact points where the winding mechanism meets the housing and then gently moved the rocking piece that spins back and forth. I don’t know the technical term for that piece. I hooked a wire to the hot stud and the positive terminal of the battery at my work bench and another wire to one of the outer studs on the clock and the negative terminal. It stopped a couple time so I had to keep moving that spinning piece but soon enough it ran nonstop and once the winding got down to the housing it clicked it back up and kept going.

There is a tab that is pressed into the ring and slides into a slot on the top side of the headlight then it is screwed into the bottom. I’m not sure why the aftermarket ones are smaller and flimsier but I don’t like how it looks. Unfortunately my Meadowbrook is hidden in a barn with 13” of snow leading to it and I haven’t shoveled it out so I could take a picture for you. But it’s one of those things where if you replace one with the new one you will have to replace both or it will look weird.

I hope you find it. They are thick metal. I lost mine on the way to the bank and couldn’t find it. The replacements are thinner and the piece that holds them on is flimsy. Plus they don’t sit flush with the curves of the fender like the original ones do.

I have no foot pump but the wiper switch button pushes in and springs back out. I’ve never operated a vacuum washer, does it spray as long as you hold the button in or is it more of a pump-to-squirt sort of thing?

Were windshield washers available in 1951 for Dodge? My Meadowbrook has a windshield wiper switch that pushes in and I am curious if it was a vacuum or electric button to operate washers in cars equipped with them.

It says it uses 5v, so it’s saying it will work on 6 and 12v cars?

I have a thread about this. I don’t know how to link it into this thread but if you look at my profile it is in there. It’s called Fluid Drive Stumble

I’d also like to paint these hubcaps. Any good ideas as to do this properly? How did the factory make them? Were they powder enamel baked?

What metal is this and how do I fix it? It split in several places around that area when it was damaged before I bought the car.

I checked the u-joints. They are fine. The drive shaft doesn’t wiggle at all. I took the end of the exhaust and jiggled it and it moved the entire system up to the header. I also could recreate the sound of the banging. The gasket has blown out at the header pipe. So I will have to put another one in and then tighten the pipe again.

Mine runs at the second to lowest mark, the last triangle on the left of the dot. It doesn’t matter the temp outside or the type of drive, it is always there. So mine must run colder? I have a 160 thermostat in it

Worden, when your car is fully warmed up where does the temperature needle rest?

I’m in Rhode Island so that’s a little bit of a drive. Mine started its life the same green as yours. Then spent its days in a barn in New Jersey from 1973 until 2013. A stuck valve, fuel, oil and new battery and it started right up.

Lol he’d have to have nuts of steel. I didn’t see anything just out at me when I looked under the car.

My ‘51 Meadowbrook has started making a knocking sound under the car when I decelerate. It’s not all the time. It happens more randomly. It sounds like it’s in the middle of the car but it isn’t always when I’m hitting the brake. Sometimes I am just letting the car slow down on its own and it starts knocking. Where should I be looking for issues? It doesn’t sound like the clinking of a broken brake component but I haven’t taken them apart yet to rule it out. It’s not when the car is speeding up.

Worden, you inspired me to take the Meadowbrook out for a drive today. I haven’t driven it in 2 months but it started right up and the heat worked great. Drove all over the state. Took some friends with me. I always say that the Meadowbrook is the best car to learn how to drive on because the fluid drive won’t stall if you don’t operate the clutch right. Sadly nobody around me wants to learn how to drive it so I don’t get to ride passenger. On a side thought, any guess how many ‘51 Meadowbrooks are still out there? I don’t hear many stories of them.

I think you might be right about the selling thing. The only other thread he made was asking how much some brass items he had would be worth if he was to sell them.

So here is something that I found interesting.. i was on a different forum site that I use for my Cadillac and I saw that a fellow Dodge Meadowbrook owner was having difficulty that I was knowledged in. He was describing it so well that it was identical to an issue I had had this summer. I remembered that I was on here talking about that issue so I went on here and took a couple pictures of the thread I had made and put them on his thread. I felt so good that I was finally imparting my knowledge onto someone else that I was telling the people around me about it. Then I got home and reread the post that he had made and it made me think it sounded too familiar. And I found it odd that the name of the thread didn’t make sense. The second and third words were fine but the first one wasn’t even close to fitting the thread nor was it something that is used to describe the problem he was having. So I went back on here and looked at my original post. Sure enough, it was my post word for word. He had taken everything I had written and put it on there as if it was his. That made me very suspicious of his motives. Not to mention that he had created his profile on there less than 24 hours ago. So with all that being said, I have to wonder, what would cause someone to take a thread and copy it onto a new one as if it were their own? What is the motivation?

I did some research and it does in fact smoke at acceleration as well. I did some rapid acceleration and highway driving for long periods of time. Overall it was a fun day of driving around.

That’s what a mechanic in town said. I was describing it and he told a story about his rambler that was similar to what you said. But if you describe this situation everyone seems to jump to valve guides. I can’t say for certain it doesn’t smoke when I accelerate. I am generally looking forward at that time. I get about 17mpg at the current time. It gets a random skip too so I wouldn’t be surprised if it uncovers some more things the deeper I get on it. I’m waiting for my Cadillac to get back from the doctors for it’s transmission before I take the Meadowbrook apart. I hate the idea of not having a fun old car to drive around in.

Worden, did your car run smoothly? It idles, with a slight skip randomly, but never stalls. Takes off and drives down the road very nicely. If I didn’t look back I wouldn’t know I had a problem.

A retired mechanic around town was listening to my explanation of things and said he was pretty positive it was the rings. The engine has 48k on it. I got it 4 years ago said 43k on it and it had sat since 1973. I believe what he said but every time I tried to look this up it always said the valve seals. So a quick search for those and I didn’t find anything. I’m pretty new to engine rebuilding so I need a quick education on ring sizes. Where do I find the measurement sizes that I need? Are they in the book or is it based on measuring the piston? Are the .010, .020, etc numbers the actual numbers I’d see on the tool? For example, 4.010?

So now that the weather is getting cooler I think it’s time to fix the smoking issue my ‘51 Meadowbrook has. It uses about a quart every 100-150 miles, depending upon if I go about 40mph. I can use a quart if I go 55-65 for about 15 minutes. At those speeds I get a faint smoke out of the tail pipe. During deceleration I get it too. I was going to replace the seals but i can’t find any and don’t see them in the book. Does this engine not have seals? I have been told it’s the oil ring on the pistons. I have been told it’s the valve guides. Is there a way to definitively know prior to taking off the head? My dry compression test was around 95 across the board. I didn’t do a wet compression test, mainly because I’m new to a lot of this and didn’t know I was supposed to do it.