Big Red Rustmobile

I had a problem near identical to your description with the B1D years ago. It turned out to be the distributor bearing. I sent the distributor to a place in Pennsylvania for a rebuild (I don't remember where ...this was back in the 90's). When I put the freshly rebuilt distributor back in, the problem was gone. The rebuilder described the problem as a "crystallized bearing". I'd never heard of bearings crystallizing before then, but apparently it has something to do with them aging. Hope this helps.

I just got my butt kicked by a plugged oil pressure line. The butt-kicker is that there was oil at both ends of the line. The seepage that was getting past was enough to convince me that the line was OK before I connected it, but not enough to move the gauge. D'Oh! I poked out the gunk with a wire and cleaned it out with gasoline and now everything is as it should be! Thanks! For a while I had nightmares spinning around in my head about oil dumping out around a missing cam bearing and what it would entail to replace the bearing. It is as unpleasant as it sounds, hehe! Thanks though, to everybody that contributed. I appreciate your time and expertise!

Hi all, This is my first post. I have a 1949 Dodge B1D with a commercially rebuilt 230ci flathead 6. The engine hung on a chain in my garage for 15 years before I could resume returning the vehicle to service. In that time it collected a lot of rust and a family of mice moved into the oil sump. After dealing with the rust and mouse nest, I got the engine running on an engine stand but it has never developed oil pressure. I've eliminated the oil pump and pressure relief valve as possible culprits. I've confirmed that the pump is actually primed and can see a weak flow of oil coming up from the center post of the oil filter canister. The pressure relief valve had a little black crud in the oil galley behind it that I removed with a rag to no avail. Has anybody else here encountered something similar? If so, were you able to find the culprit and fix the problem? Many thanks!