Tony_Urwin

Lou, check out www.desotoland.com The names are different, but the cars are the same.

Cool website! My song was "Doggie in the Window". Man, do I feel old...

Thanks, Ed. What's the best way to break that nut loose? An impact wrench?

Has anyone swapped the pinion flanges from a car and a truck? I obtained a 3.73 pumpkin with the correct axle spline count, but the pinion flanges are different. Will they swap?

I can't imagine why you would want to connect a V8 to the original tranmission (unless you were going to use it as a stump puller). The ratios on Pilothouse transmissions are just not desirable. I think a far better idea would be to swap in a 318 with a late model transmission and fabricate a new crossmember for the transmission. A lot of Mopar transmissions had a drop-out center section for the transmission crossmember that make it easy to fabricate a new crossmember. You would lose the stock pedals, but there are simple ways to hang pedals under the dash.

I would have to agree that the least expensive option is to make your own. The original harness is pretty basic, and easy enough to copy. However, if you are not committed to an original restoration, the 12V harnesses from Painless or Ron Francis will give you lots of fused circuits, flashers integrated into the fuse block, and wires that are labeled every 12 inches along their entire length. I found an 18 fuse wiring kit from Painless on eBay. It cost me $275 including shipping, and it was a breeze to install.

And they say white folks can't dance!

I'd buy your CD if you wanted to go into production!

Bill, I'd be very interested. Send me a private message. Tony Urwin

This A-833 link is from a previous forum post: http://hometown.aol.com/erlihemi/PwrGiant.html

I always like that tail light treatment. They would look good with some nice pinstriping!

I salute anyone who makes a 60 year old Mopar his daily driver. James deserves credit for besting the hills of San Francisico. Personally, I can't stand Fluid Drive and understand completely why he would want another drive train. Robert, I respect your perspective and Tim, your electric expertise. I just think we're getting a little too excited on this thread. James, you have a right to vent, but no right to expect that your car will run any better than ours, pal. Now that I've got you all straightened out, I think I'll go have some milk and cookies.

I would have to agree with Don that George is an honest guy who can make honest mistakes. The overdrive that George built for me was missing an expansion plug. If I remember correctly, George himself noticed it as we were loading it into my truck. Another thing to remember is that George is rebuilding, but not installing these transmissions. I think he is limited in how much testing he can do before he sends them out for us to install. James sounds like a very capable mechanic, but San Francisco would seem to be a challenging environment that would test any classic car. I think that Mr Coatney and Mr Anderson will both attest that things can go wrong when rebuilding transmissions.

The E-brake is reasonalby effective if it is in good shape and adjusted properly. The location of the E-brake on old Mopars is a great oil collector if you have any leaks.

One of my sidelines is installing surveillance systems. Not cheap, but very effective for deterrence and apprehension. Only problem, some criminals are just too dumb to notice the cameras!

We'd love to see photos of your truck, Lyle. I have Windows XP and I adjust the size of my pics with Microsoft Photo Editor. If I open an image file, it opens with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, which doesn't allow resizing. However, I can right-click on the photo, and a menu pops up . One of the options on that menu is "Open With" and that allows me to select Microsoft Photo Editor. If the photo is opened with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, you can also click on the icon (second from the right) to open Microsoft Photo Editor. Once the photo is open in Microsoft Photo Editor, click on "View" on the Menu Bar at the top to resize.

Sweet! Let us know how it works. I have bought a couple of similar models, one on eBay, one at a swap meet. Neither of mine worked very well. I guess it may be hit or miss with an old compass.

Fred, do both of your pumpkins have the same pinion flange/yoke? The 3.73 I found for my Pilothouse truck has the DeSoto flange, while the Pilothouse has a yoke. Can anyone tell me if I can swap the two? Sorry, Fred, don't mean to steal the thread. Just seems to be the same general topic...

James, I sent a PM to you through the forum. Let me know if I can help.

George told me that he has milled .090" from the head on his '50 Plymouth and now has to use 93 octane to keep it from pinging. Just something to consider before raising the compression too high.

Fred, I'm no expert on these, but I can tell you that the gasket is easily available from all the usual sources. The same gasket will have different part numbers, depending on make and model (1121939, 1318011, 663474 to name a few I found on Lightning Jar). Roberts Motor Parts sells them for $5.00. I am in the process of putting a 3.73 into my Pilothouse truck. The 3.73 pumpkin looks to be in great shape, with little or no backlash. It has a different pinion flange than my truck, so hopefully the flange from my truck be a swap. Both my 4.11 truck differential and the 3.73 car differential take 10 spline axles, so that looks good. Good luck with your swap!

Just ahead of the rear wheel well is one of the places that mice love to build nests. Those nests really hold the moisture and create rustouts.

Looking in one of Don Bunn's books, it seems to say that the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks came with 4.1 or 4.78 ratios. Should be stamped on the pumpkin if you want to get under there and degrease a little.

I should have said they use the same differential or center section. The axle housings are different. Am I monopolizing this thread or what? George has a bunch of larger trucks on his property, that's probably why he gave me that info.

I found it in my Hollanders (duh!) The '41-'50 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks use the same axle as the 6 cylinder cars. Thanks, Ed, that's good news!