Loren

I am the devil's advocate here. Why do folks want to work so hard changing rear ends? Your 54 very likely has a 3.73 ratio stock. You can get a 3.54 and I've heard that there are 3.26 ratios are available for the Mopar 8.25 rear axle. Find the ratio you want and just swap the Differential Carrier NOT the whole damn rear axle. No engineering, no welding just a parts swap and an easy one at that! A Plymouth Overdrive transmission is transformative! They have a 30% Overdrive where the others are 28%. They are Automatic and very easy to drive. Again, no engineering, no cutting, no welding, just bolt the damn thing in and wire up the throttle switch, the relay and GO! When you find a Differential Carrier be sure to get the speedometer gear from the transmission. It will fit the Overdrive and that will be one less thing you have to worry about. If you keep your car ALL MoPar then all you have to do is swap parts. No engineering, no cutting, no welding and no Bravo Sierra! For alternate ratios to fit your 54 axle look at the spec sheet for any Mopar 1940-56 (V8s and automatics are most likely candidates). For Overdrives 1952-59 (unless it has been retrofitted to an earlier car 1940 or later) Overdrive prices are high but not prohibitive. Do not spend over $1,100 to 1,200 depending on condition and extra parts. Axles will cost $150 to 250 from a retail wrecking yard. FREE from someone doing a garage clean up. Just sayn'

That plug is what deleted the "Second Chance" full flow filter valve. When Chrysler added a full flow filter to the 25 inch engine they feared it would plug up and cease sending oil to the bearings. The industry solution was to make the full flow filters less efficient and add a valve inside the filter so they would always pass some oil. The original system had a floating rod which would by pass the filter. This plug took its place and stopped the by pass flow. Lucky for you, your engine does not have a full flow filter. it has the by pass filter. I say lucky because the plug screws into the block inside the pan at the pan rail. So you don't have to take the pan off.

They are around. First offered in May of 1952, they can be installed in any year from 1940 till I think 1959, for sure till 1954. Automatic Overdrive transmissions are highly desirable because of the 30% reduction in engine revs. When installed at the factory they came with 4.1 to 1 rear axle ratios. Better to use 3.9, 3.73 or 3.54 ratios. (there were some 3.36 made too...very rare) You can check your ratio by cleaning around the fill plug on the side of your differential carrier, it will be stamped there. The Overdrive is best used as designed with a Throttle Kick Down Switch, Relay and the connection to the Ignition Coil. These offer automatic operation and they protect the Overdrive. Many folks operate them with a toggle switch and those same folks end up breaking parts eventually. The automatic operation is so good it mystifies me why folks risk using toggle switches. Overdrive Mopar Transmissions are worth $1000 to 1200. I would not pay more. The other brands such as Ford and Studebaker are coming up to the Mopar price (11 makes used the B-W Overdrive). Once you have driven a car with Automatic Overdrive (especially a Plymouth) that is installed properly you will always want one. Geared right a 55 mph car becomes a 65-70 mph car. Drive shafts will be 6 1/4 inches shorter than original on 111 inch wheelbase cars. So if you're standing there looking at a donor car, take the carburetor (the throttle kick down switch needs the lever on the throttle and the bracket. Carburetor switches are smaller than the floor switches being reproduced now), the relay and the driveshaft. Take the speedometer pinion gear out of your old transmission and put it in your new Overdrive...they fit and your speedo will read correctly. If you change the pumpkin in your rear axle to get a different ratio, remember to get the speedometer pinion from the donor car. Keep looking is my advice. eBay, Craigslist and the Plymouth Bulletin are good sources. Be patient you will find one and do not over pay! There are two guys on eBay asking way too much money and during the time their transmissions have been listed I've counted 6 sold at $1,100 to 1,200. If you find one and need a relay, kick down switch, cable or solenoid try Van Pelt Sales. They sell Ford transmission parts but are much cheaper than other sources and have both 6 and 12 volt versions. PM me if you need more advice etc.

Hey while we are on the subject, I just acquired a 23 inch engine with a number I haven’t seen before. L230-xxxxxx What is it?

I remember in the 1950s there was a kind of fad around sintered bronze filters. Some were used as oil filters. I remember three kinds, one was a diamond shaped drop in that had around an 1/8 th inch wall thickness another was a cone shape that had a 1/4 inch wall. The last one was kind of a swindle. It was a regular filter with some grains of bronze bonded to the outside. The longest surviving in the market place was the cone shape. I think they lasted the longest because they were easier to clean and when you cleaned them you could see they were clean. The fact that they were cheaper and easier to make might have had something to do with it too. What most people missed about how they worked was the porosity sintered bronze has, not any other property of the metal. Sintered metal technology has come a lot way from what the Chrysler engineers invented before the war. An example of one of the uses are “Cracked” connecting rods. The joint at the big end has always been the weak point of connecting rods. Tight fitting shoulder bolts are the tried and true method for keeping them from destructive movement. Grooves and serrations are another but the best solution has been sintered metal rods finished in every way then snapped at the joining point. The sintered metal doesn’t bend (or suffer fatigue the way solid metal does) it just breaks. The joint formed upon assembly has terrific strength because of the tiny grains fitting back together. Sintered metal technology I fear will be slower to advance in the future as 3D printing technology takes off. The idea of a porous metal being more ridged than a solid one is hard to understand at first. When you learn that “solid” metal is a collection of atoms with a lot of space in between them it gets easier.

Very true! However, it is very easy to add an AUX input jack and a Bluetooth Module so you can use your iPhone, iPad or other MP3 player for music or news. SirrusXM can be had via the internet/cell phone data network, which of course costs money but isn't horrible if you don't drive the car for your commute. When you use it that way you don't have to install an antenna. One outfit I know of has a Bluetooth/FM module which has a remote, so you can have AM/FM and all the other stuff. Any of the guys who repair tube radios can install these and other wonders. www.retroradioshop.com has DIY AUX input kits

A couple of things happened which gave me a clue as to what I should do. First a Mopar parts catalog (1200 pages) showed up (at a hefty price to be sure) on my door step. From this book I spied the correct configuration of the manifold to pipe flange. The flange is welded on not loose with a protrusion into the manifold of the pipe. Second a check of the sellers on eBay revealed that one seller had the correct configuration and what looks like the right muffler. I think this configuration is the best because it takes the strain off the flange/pipe and moves it to the manifold to pipe intersection. Apparently the factory thought so too because that is the factory design. The company that makes these things is basically a muffler shop (aren't they all) and the pipes have muffler shop bends. Meaning when they put a bend in the pipe it kinks it. I seriously doubt you will find mandril bent tubing for an old Plymouth and it would be impossibly expensive. While I saw the photos of their product on eBay, their website has only P15 and Pickup truck photos. www.dixieexhaustworks.com What I know of their work I got from their photos. My criteria is based on what I know doesn't work (that is the failure of my car's manifold/flange crack and leak) and what I know the factory used. Your mileage may vary. I am not going to replace my exhaust system at this time. Mainly because I want to do a split manifold later. I am going to do a repair of the existing head pipe using what I've learned.

A quick check of my “new to me” Mopar parts book shows the “Sway Eliminator” to be the same P/N for 1949-54. There is a possibility that some assembly points may have omitted the Sway Eliminator as a local cost saving measure. One odd thing I noted is that the brackets which mount to the frame (for want of an official name) have no P/N and must be considered to be a part of “Shaft” P/N 1312-044 Another assumption I have from the parts book is that the Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler shaft may be heavier as those vehicles have a different P/N 1137-501 and are heavier themselves. Because the shaft is so simple it would be very easy to bend up new and heavier shaft. From a Hot Rod Magazine article 4140 material is suggested, bent by heating followed by a re-heat treatment to 45rc.

I feel your pain. Some previous owner replaced the exhaust on my Coupe with a "muffler shop bend up" which leaks in the same place. When I took the sheet metal cover off in the wheel well to see what was wrong, the flange they used was a loose one with a flared end on the pipe. Just like Leo's except the flair was 90 degree for use with a flat gasket. When you make that sharp a corner with aluminized pipe it will crack in the radius eventually. The flange they used was thin and had these huge slots for the bolts. When you tightened the bolts it deformed and it didn't center the pipe to the manifold. Properly done a thicker flange would be welded to the pipe that actually fit the manifold. I've tried to separate the head pipe from the muffler and that's not happening. To get the pipe out where I could weld on a new flange would require removing the entire exhaust or cutting the pipe. My NAPA has a nice selection of pipe adaptors. To do it right you need one that is expanded over the pipe on one end and shrunk inside on the other. Tomorrow is another day and I will see what is going to happen.

You might take a look at my experience under the topic frustration in getting the right part. I finally got an NOS clock for my 49 and being that it came with the wiring and lamp I think the extra money was well spent. Not every car of that era had a clock, so there’s no shame in not having one. Besides they are asking as much for a delete plate as you’d expect to pay for a clock. It’s surprising how well made such a primitive piece of technology they are. ”Electrically wound mechanical clock” is what it says on the box.

Besides the OEM modules there are performance after market ones as well. (the key is the 4 connectors) Then there is the MSD multiple spark boxes that just plug in to give you (I think) it's 6 sparks per firing up to 3,000 rpm. That pretty much covers the entire rpm range of a street driven flathead 6. If you are a gadget nut there's a lot of add ons for GM HEI.

Back in the late 1950s early 1960s all the pre war racers were deep into middle age. The old car hobby was getting started. As a little kid I was really into Model T Fords and I had every Floyd Clymer book on them that was in print. My Dad humored me but he liked Model As so we played with both. The added bonus were the race cars. For years we went to the Signal Hill climb just to hear and see them run. An old time racer Joe Gemsa took all of his pre war knowledge of what worked and what didn't and built the tooling and patterns for an Aluminum Overhead Conversion for a Model A/B/C (1928-34). They were really quite nice actually. There were some older guys who had several of the pre war designed heads and they got offended that now anybody could own an Overhead. A bitter campaign ensued over the "Purity" of having a car with one of his heads. It got so bad that people he considered friends shunned him. Gemsa finally retreated and didn't come to shows and swap meets anymore. If you saw him and asked about a head he blew you off unless you knew one of his better friends. It was really tragic what happened. The upshot half a century later is all the detractors are dead and a new generation are "discovering" the incredibly rare Gemsa head. These things are now literally priceless. So while a modern V8 powered engine swap car is not my cup of tea. I know that one day it will be a "Period Correct Hot Rod." It's just not from the period I wish to dwell in. Los_Control is on to something, the SBC's day has come and gone just like the Cadillac OHV V8's day before it and the Ford Flathead V8 before that. An old friend of mine told me stories about how he made money racing Model Ts that had an Essex 4 engine swapped in! I actually witnessed a very well driven very powerful Essex 4 race car at a Vintage Car race in Reno. It was very impressive! (both the driver and the car) I can only imagine a light weight Model T with one in it. So look around and enjoy the view, there may be row after row of swapped V8s around now but one day they maybe Tesla powered.

It does make you wonder how they did it. I am sure the engine came apart every race and was crack tested everywhere. They said he had post race inspections 15 times out of 19 races. They used to pay you around $100 (enough for a gasket set, rings and bearings) if you passed the inspection. That had me wondering if they called for an inspection just to help him with expenses. Petty more than the rest was doing this as a business. Using Plymouths fit his business model. A low priced car reliable enough for taxi duty with good handling because it was light. The ability to use heavy duty parts from other Chrysler cars (the Imperial springs, shocks and wheels). It all fits. The list of things they could do besides NDT and balancing might have included Nitriding the crank shaft (to harden the bearing surfaces). The 92 mph figure agrees with the magazine road test data I've seen in several places as the top speed of a Plymouth. All of Lee Petty's strategy was to get to the finish line in the money (5th place and above) at the end of the race. How long it took to get up speed didn't matter if he could stay at his race speed longer than the others even if it was slower. It's the old tortoise and the hare story with the added twist that he was doing this as a business. Fascinating!

There's been some questions about wheels and tires lately and because of my activities with brakes I've had to study up. I knew I had read about Lee Petty and his 49 Business Coupe and for the longest time I couldn't find it again. I found it last night and had to read pages of Petty Enterprises history....fascinating! He talked about using Chrysler Imperial springs (front and rear) shocks and wheels. Surprisingly he used 4.78 final drive gears! He said the little Plymouth would only go 92 mph! Now I maybe wrong but I had to calculate it out. C64 Imperial wheels are 15x6 with 8.20x15 tires C66 Crown Imperial Wheels are 15x6 1/2 with 8.90x15 tires Using the Crown 8.90x15 tires (31 inches tall) with a 4.78 final drive means the little Plymouth was wound up to 5,000 rpm at 92 mph! If that doesn't get your attention he said because the car was so light he never took his foot off the throttle. The Oldsmobiles had to slow down for the corner then try to accelerate out but because he never did slow down he had the edge on them. Imagine lap after lap at 5,000 rpm for 500 miles....in a flathead Plymouth!?!? We know he did it and so did others. So I don't think we can call B.S. on that. He said the car handled better than the big engine V8s, didn't use tires and was easy on fuel, so he made fewer pit stops and had fewer accidents because of blown tires. He just motored around lap after lap his objective was finishing in the top 5 where he could make money racing. This is what I am talking about! This is what gives me satisfaction with these old things! There's a story, a history and we can actually drive one. It's a different experience if you crane out the flathead 6 and install a V8. I personally think you lose something when you do that.

Machine shops which do a lot of this kind of work are never hesitant to take on this job. As usual if you have the right tool it is easy money. They don't have to jig it up and mill it or grind it. It's much easier than that! They use a really big Belt Sander made for just such a job. They only use a milling machine to do spot facing of the two manifolds bolt bosses. I've had trouble getting the exhaust pipe to seal at the manifold. The previous owner had a muffler shop bend up the exhaust and they put a flange which has oversized slotted holes in it. When tightened it flexes and misaligns so it never seals. Walker Exhaust makes a two piece bolt together repair flange for a problem flange on GM cars. I had to modify it slightly to fix my problem. The flared part which contacts the old flange and the flared pipe wasn't flat so I used a belt sander to get it flat. Now it contacts the flange all the way around and since the bolt holes are smaller it aligns much better when tightening. Walker P/N 36132

I have a 52 Suburban too! In the coming weeks I might even be able to SEE the car. It's buried inside a warehouse behind an unassembled garden building I am going to put up soon. Mine is getting a 265 Chrysler 25 inch engine I built for it. What a great and useful car! A recent "Plymouth Bulletin" had Walter Redmond's 52 High-Clearance Suburban on the cover. Kind of gets you going! One question, have you found a source for the tail gate rubber? I totally agree on V8s (of any kind) in early cars. There has to be a story or some kind of history to make it worthwhile. Just cramming a V8 in doesn't have enough "romance" for me. I used to live in Northern Nevada where Hot August Nights is a yearly event and after you've seen row after row of nice cars all with Chevy V8 power you begin to think the owners lack imagination. I don't wish to offend anyone, we are all entitled to what gets our pulse quickened. I favor the traditional hot rodded 6 (or flathead V8) that was buzzing around when I was a kid. Chevy Overhead Valve V8s came on the scene too late for me to get excited about, besides when they did start to race they blew up a lot (then). On my Suburban I figure most folks will see that Chrysler Flathead 6 and think it's a Plymouth engine anyway which will be my own little joke. Besides the guys who know what it is are the kind of guys I want to talk to.

My Mom had a 1955 with with the 277 V8 and a PowerFite and it was wonderful car! I wish she had saved it for my first car but she sold it for $15! It was absolutely reliable and a great looking car. It was a Red and Black 2 door hard top, very snazzy! Or at least I thought so from the first time I saw it, till the last time. Oh and you can put a Bendix-Stromberg WW on it to good effect! Just say'n. If you have to put a V8 in your 40, I'd have to approve that one for purely sentimental reasons. lol But that is what the car hobby is all about...how your car makes YOU feel. I admit I go out to my 49 and open the door just to see the new clock ticking away and keeping perfect time! That makes me happy!

Bless you for saving this marvelous car! I was turned on to these carburetors from a guy who specialized in carburetors. He had once held a license to build Stromberg 97s and thought the WW was a much better carburetor. He proved it by put them on all sorts of cars from Mercedes 450SLs to my little SAAB 96 V4. The SAAB set a class record at El Mirage Dry Lake of 117.42 mph way back in 1978, breaking a record that had existed for 20 years. WW carburetors are found on so many cars I can't list them. Bendix-Stromberg also sold them as replacement carburetors for cars that didn't come with them and I can't imagine that the performance wasn't improved by using one. The Power Pack manifold added a bunch of horse power and it was so simple. One carburetor and simple linkage to deal with. Of course if you wanna trade I have an Edmunds or an Offenhouser manifold I'd trade for one, might even throw in a couple of carburetors too. lol

Wow! You have three desirable cars! My 1949 Business Coupe came with a 218 and 3,73 gears. I've put an Overdrive in it and I think it's great! Suburbans are heavier (the Coupe being the lightest Mopar) but even with the 201 it should be able to pull 3.73 gears. You might see more Kick Downs with your Overdrive however in hill country. That said a 3.54 is not a huge difference and with the 230 Power Pack it would be ideal. BTW the Power Pack Bendix-Stromberg WW carburetor is my all time favorite. Here's the best part about your plan: You don't have to dismantle the whole car to change gear ratios. You can just change the Differential Carrier NOT the whole axle. Which means if 3.54 is too tall a gear for your area, all you have to do is change the Differential Carrier to the 3.73. Much easier than changing whole rear axles or pulling them out to change ring and pinions. Plus if things change (like if you move to hill country) you have a selection of gear ratios on the shelf ready to go. You have options! The question becomes Overdrive or Automatic. If you still have the original 1940 gear box it may still have the one year only second gear ratio the old time Hot Rodders prized. (The Ford guys had their version too. If you heard an old timer talking about Lincoln Zephyr Gears, that's what they are. LZ gear sets are going for $600+ now days) So you have much to play with! Enjoy!

I am a big fan of the stock 8.25 rear end. (1937-56) However, your 1936 has a different rear axle that I do not have experience with. I believe a 1937-56 8.25 could handle a V8 as they were used in a lot of cars that had them. My M.O. is to make a change AFTER the stock part has been proven to lack the needed strength. The old "if it works don't fix it" motto applies. As far as the Overdrive transmission is concerned I am a huge fan of those too but again there's an age problem. The R10 Overdrive that most of us are used to can be installed easily in a 1940 to (what?) 1956 because of the column shift. A 1936 might be better off with a T5 because of the floor shifter. People who know me know I dislike T5s intensely. The reason is most are sourced from S10 pickups (because of the shifter location) and have the worst ratios ever. So how would I approach this? I'd be seriously questioning myself as to why I wanted a V8. In the end I think you'll be changing everything and it might be better to get a later car (1940-41?) There's no way I can see what vision you have for your car. Just know anything is possible but even if you can, should you be doing it? More power, more reliability might be had from a later 230 Plymouth or Dodge flathead six and that would be a lot easier and cheaper to do.

Generally you use a ridge reamer BEFORE you take the pistons out. The so called ridge is the place in the bore where the rings start and stop. The top ring gets rounded on its edge and as it rocks in the bore it wears the "ring lands" (or grooves) in the piston. This causes them to recede in the bore a little. The results are that a groove in the bore forms. When you go to remove the pistons the rings hit that ridge (I have heard them called "cylinder ledges" as well) and they break the rings when forced. Needless to say you might want to change the pistons if that has happened. If you change pistons you might as well bore the block. A caution: some machine shops will bore a block to pistons they have on hand....not what is required....so suddenly an engine that needs a .010 overbore gets a .060 overbore. I've taken to supplying the pistons rather than buying them from the machine shop thereby removing that temptation. But you have to have the means to accurately measure the block to guess what size you need. The idea behind removing the ridges (besides getting the pistons out safely) is to remove the "dull" radius worn area which will encounter the new sharp piston ring thus breaking it on the first rotation of the engine. The problem is as I see it that unless you are real careful and have a good sharp reamer the area you're working on is the place in the bore that sees the maximum pressure. Not done perfectly and you will lose a lot of pressure to blow by. If you're doing a "used car lot" rebuild, go ahead on. If you plan on keeping the car then do a real rebuild with properly fitted pistons. A ring and valve job is not a rebuild, it is a kind repair as the engine still has old worn cylinder bores and certainly doesn't have the compression of a new engine. Just my humble opinion.

Please be careful! I see the clock I sent back is already on eBay again along with the one I actually paid for. Still no apology or other communication. I too am interested in Sniper's find. An instrument cluster a radio and a clock plus the rest of the dash for $300 delivered. Bravo! I think I'd be having it Hydro Graphic printed with wood grain with the savings.

There's a non-working Jaeger on eBay for $200. You might give Instrument Services a call. The one I got from them is a Berg. Who knew a clock could be so expensive that one that doesn't work is worth $200? I have more money in that clock than I do the radio....if only the radio worked as well.

I finally got the new clock! It came in the original MoPar box and it was so nice it was almost a shame to install it. I got it in the dash and wired up, as soon as I put the battery cable back on I could hear the clunk of the winder. You have to put your head near the clock to hear it ticking. It was date stamped June 1949. I expected to have to have it cleaned but the company who sold it must have done that already. It was expensive but very satisfying to hear it working and see it keeping proper time. I was supplied by Instrument Services, Inc. 4075 Steele Drive Machesney Park, Il 61115 WWW.clocksandgauges.com (815) 316-2921 I think they deserve a shout out from a very happy customer!

A good Speedometer shop can fix it fast and they will check the calibration too. This is one of those items I don't bother trying to fix myself. If in doubt...send it out. You'll be money ahead. Also with all the electronics these days, these guys are like shoe repair guys. If they are still in business they probably do good work and you need to support them.