wagoneer

I couldn't find the bleeder screw by itself for my 48, but I was pleasantly surprised new bleeder screws came with new wheel cylinders. I think you might just have to go with the new 39 wheel cylinder for certainty. @desoto1939 I'm coming to your house for the brake job; you have all the good miller tools from the book!

finding original Miller tools of this era is harder than finding original mopar batteries. It seems the ones that were used have disappeared or are lost in tool piles without proper identification. Later on. I see various Miller tools occasionally on eBay. seems to me there should be a modern equivalent to these old tools ? Control arms exist today, and many a gomer piles in the past did this probably without Miller tools.

This chart is very interesting. The 5E battery is most oddly shaped given our modern perceptions of nominal battery shape and size. Looks like Pontiacs, Packards, and Oldsmobiles used them. @chrysler1941According to this dealer poster, and dealers never stretch the truth, Dodge 1/2 ton trucks were sporting #1's or #3a's. Looking forward to your reproduction.

Congratulations as well. I purchased my own truck in need of... painting, and I am taking inspiration from your success at DIY home painting. I would love it if you can share some of that experience, and any tips on DIY home painting. Did you build yourself a makeshift paint booth? Color lessons? Number of coats? Clearcoats? Looks really sharp! That's a pandemic silver lining -- lots of time... for sanding...and a great truck!

I have never wanted to visit an army surplus until now. A little googling and now I have to stop on my next road trip on the roadside -- http://wwiijeepparts.com/WWIIArmySurplusStores.html There must be another flathead 6 engine in a crate somewhere.... Too bad the Army never wanted to put a flathead 8 in their trucks! I wonder if your engine is still 6-volt even late into the 60s? Probably... This is the benefit of being defecto drive train supplier for the military -- millions of parts that fit our trucks...

It might be interesting to propose that to one of the manufacturers? A medium sized one that makes these ring and pinion gears similar to the one mentioned recently for making pistons. They might be receptive... and see a market opportunity.

Looks brand new rather than a rebuild though. Some fascinating evolutions on it - Probably from the late mid 50s trucks. Seems to have factory PCV valve, maybe factory EGR (see the pipe from exhaust back into intake where the normal manifold heat valve is located. The filter is still oil bath, but located on opposite side and connected through an interesting adapter on top of the Carter carb. That silver pipe coming out of the back of the head is maybe for a heater core? @PT81PlymouthPickup Maybe you can shed some more light on this IMHO fascinating engine's origins, any serial numbers, etc?

WOW! WOW! Could this be the last "new" "new" flathead 6? It's so shiny, and pretty. What a find! What a deal! I'm in love. If it doesn't fit your PT81, I have a B2B that will happily keep it warm at night. ?

I like these guys. I just got a complete M5 transmission for $150. Super reasonably priced. You end up spending more on shipping... just by the nature of it.

i agree; I meant that mopar batteries were rebadged willards. Most, if not all, the batteries are probably the victims of the most successful recycling program - automotive batteries. The contents are so valuable and done usually through professional shops that they invariably end up at the recyclers. Even DIY mechanics trade in the old one for return of the core deposit. Best bet would be some long lost barn find somewhere.

of note, antique auto battery and likely restoration battery are out of business. That linked website seems to be spam/click bait, so I don't recommend clicking on it.

I think the interesting part is that the new color pictures show the original battery to be yellow, gray and a little black with stripes, and not just all black and yellow. Of interest, below is supposedly an authentic Willard battery of the 40s/50s vintage. Willard made all the Chrysler batteries, and you can see they just adjusted their design a bit. Not the pre-40s version (which was also a Willard). Surprisingly few photos of the battery or the engine bay for that matter in 30s / 40s. You'd think somewhere someone has one of these batteries from a 80 year old barn find, or something. https://forums.aaca.org/topic/298044-willard-battery-question/

Hmm, I thought they were those too. looks like the one spare pin I do have. I’m away from home for a while so I can’t look, but the flipper itself had a couple of metal slots that the handle goes into, and there is a pin that holds the whole bit together. Looked a lot like these...

https://dcmclassics.com/home/612-i-180-door-and-window-handle-lock-pins.html also at 14x price https://www.ebay.com/itm/1947-1948-1949-1950-1951-1952-1953-1954-DESOTO-DOOR-HANDLE-WINDOW-CRANK-PINS-/323417125903 Somewhere recently someone was asking about the spacer around the horn button and had to make their own ... but I can’t find that reference . this site cbodies.com has a lot of great nos parts. http://www.cbodies.com/proddetail.php?prod=7226-BRT86 http://www.cbodies.com/prodimages/large/7226-BRT86-1.jpg Enlarge 1953 Chrysler and Imperial felt spacers that fit in steering wheel center, good used condition, package of 2 pieces

I have the lucite flipper knobs but the metal bracket inside the flipper broke on one side. I was considering how that might be repaired reliably?! I found a site that sells the little pins that go inside ... need to find the link . only one is still on the handle, but three are loose. Thoughts on what kind of craftsman can repair the inside of the handle to stay back on the arm?

How will you paint the exterior? In a booth at home, professionally, or with the can?

@James_Douglas I keep staring at the picture trying to mentally put the parts together along with your description. Let me repeat to you what I think you did for my own clarity: You took a standard 3 speed gearbox from 46-50 probably from dodge or Plymouth, modified it with an assortment of parts including an input shaft from a mystery manual fluid drive trans (post 48?) that is long enough to fit the BW overdrive (from what year?) and then modified your drive shaft to accommodate the extra length thereby creating a one-off (now two) post war overdrive enabled fluid drive desoto . The difference between your 3 speed and our 4 speed semi automatic is the automatic upshift/Downshift provided by nominal fluid drive vehicles ! in the words of Doc McFly, Great Scotts!

Found this great quote from @James_Douglas -- https://p15-d24.com/topic/40078-of-mopar-flathead-reliability/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-424881 > I removed the M5 trans and keeping the fluid coupling and added the 3-speed with Borg-Warner OD. What's exciting is how James Douglas uses his for long distance trips, and has great reliability. Also from @55 Fargo with the Chrysler 8 1/4 diff that has the 3.23 rear end. His trans has even higher gearing than the M5, but his videos show nice smooth power. https://p15-d24.com/blogs/entry/125-a833-overdrive-trans-conversion/?tab=comments#comment-722 Seems Both an OD and low rear diff gearing is possible just need to either swap the trans that has the OD already, swap the rear differential, or find substitute gears somewhere for rear diff @James_Douglas Do you have any more info on your 3-speed OD swap coupled to the fluid drive? Which specific trans did you swap in? Do you know what it came from, and did you have to mod your suburban shift linkage from column to floor shift?

I've been looking at lubriplate as a non-detergent 10W. Lubriplate seems to the have market for industrial oils an lubricants of all kind. Has anyone tried lubriplate? https://www.lubriplate.com/Products/Fluid/Motor-Oil-Series/NON-DET-MOTOR-OIL-10W/NON-DET-MOTOR-OIL-10W/ With regards to the recirculating oil, @James_Douglas seminal comment quoted here many times https://p15-d24.com/topic/36209-fluid-drive/?tab=comments#comment-371508 I'm pretty sure there are also suitable alternatives nowadays that are recirculating fluids with similar properties to DTE. I have been eyeing a few recently.

These days you hardly see a car from the 2000s let alone 1980s. people held onto their car much longer up until the 90s, then somehow cars turnover every 10 years . I was on a long road trip recently, and you hardly see any cars older than 10 years. muscle car restorations are most common older restoration. Pre and post war almost never outside of parades. Come to downtown Raleigh most days of the week, and you’ll spot at least one 1948 vintage Chrysler out and about.

Could you send a picture of your final setup please?

I am running Antique plates myself, but really that is only ornamental in North Carolina. Age of vehicle is the key factor. Your insurance comments led me to re-read my policy documents word-for-word (very boring), and I do not have those restrictions in my insurance policy about limiting to weekends. Regardless, my car is a light use daily driver vehicle, and that is my focus of my questions. Granted, my vehicle has gone through a complete restoration in the last 20 years or so, and is therefore very reliable. There are some limitations with our vehicles related to gearing (limit highway speeds -- see other differential thread), emissions (this thread), and some safety features (seat belts nominally). @Tooljunkie I certainly think PCV valve is in my future. I've been studying the PCV diagrams , and eyeing the kits on VPW. Still, we seem to be underestimating the power we have in our vehicles. 4.1 liter (251 CU) for vehicles that mostly go 60 mph or marginally more. That's a lot of engine and bigger than 2/3 all engines out there. I'm sensing tension/aversion to applying nominal emissions control mechanisms like PCV, Catalytic converters, but I don't see why? Still seems that nobody has applied catalytic converters to the inline 6 / 8 Mopar flathead. Putting it in my backlog of work to do, and fun things to try. I think I'll try it on my truck that I am building first. Look for a future update one day

I'm kind of partial to the traveler sand/beige two-tone combo. My C38 came in gun-gray, which gets tons of compliments from people and grows on you, I think its a slightly lighter shade of gray maybe closer to the cadet gray you have there. I'm impressed that Bernbaum's has been around for so long. I think they would be amused by just the phone call. Maybe it's derigour that restorations take forever, and we buy parts to sit on our personal shelves until that fateful day comes, but 28 years is also quite a gap!

I take all of your points on the tune up - and I am going through those steps separately. My original question stands even as a technical curiosity -- Has anybody put catalytic converter(s) on their flathead 6 successfully? I only found this reference from @brian hood on a slant 6, and the result was a fouled convertor. ---------- NC Regulation No such sophisticated dynamic regulation here in North Carolina as far as I can tell. The only factor is age of vehicle. In fact, in NC, the C38 is NOT subject to safety nor emissions inspection ever. Emissions are not required for vehicles older than 20 years. Seatbelts are the same. https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/law-enforcement/state-highway-patrol/faq/seat-belts https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2019/2019-11-19-twenty-year-rolling-emissions-inspections.aspx https://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/title-registration/emissions-safety/Pages/safety-inspections.aspx

Great link @Sniper . @Plymouthy Adams I agree that a tune up is necessary, but I'm looking to make my C38 as street-friendly as possible. I'd like to be able to idle in front of a coffee shop without stinking up the place. The C38+ have huge displacement power that is literally wasted power most of the time. It seems the Fluid drive equipped mopars are pretty much equiped already to handle a 2-stage catalytic converter. A 3-stage would require brains beyond the time of 1948 (electronics in the form of a fancy Carburetor with Electronic metering) that is a bit more than I'm looking for.. 1. Could potentially put in the Chrysler lean jets or just properly tune the carb per spec 2. ?? 3. ?? 4. easy enough 5. buy correct size 6. built-in for Fluid drive Carter B&B The percent reductions in HC, CO, and NOx with a two-stage system alone is pretty dramatic.