Bryan G

I had this happen with an off-topic flathead six; not much space between those cylinders and the gasket was breeched right there. No coolant issue, just compression leaking between 3 & 4. A new gasket and I was in business. They sure don't have much power that way!

The cover to my solenoid has a hole in the center top; not sure if this was common or if someone just added it. I keep a paper sticker over it. I've had times when it acted up and I could pull that sticker off and poke something like a toothpick in there and manually activate it. You could pull the cover off and do the same thing. It might just need a good cleaning inside. First, I'd triple check all connections and, as Sam said, make sure you have the right sized cables.

That's my kind of car, it really is. I'd have a lot of fun getting this up and going, and gradually back to being a good "Dependable Dodge".

Looks like a close competitor of the Marvel's Mystery Oil Upper Cylinder Lubricator. Debatable how much good they did, but they didn't do any harm.

I was surprised the difference a good quality flare wrench can make. My first one didn't seem like junk (from NAPA, made in Taiwan as I recall) but I kept having trouble. Then I picked up a used Mac and it made all the difference. On another car I had I bought pre-bent lines from classictube.com and they worked well, though I paid someone else to install them. (I chickened out!) But on my current car I bought sections at the local parts store and put them together. Nickel-Copper is the way to go. I didn't have to use any tools for bending. Very user friendly.

I like to buy NOS points off eBay; it can sometimes take a bit of work to make sure you're getting the right part number for your application.

I very much appreciate these links; I'd long been wanting to know what Uncle Tom thought of the new '49s, and I'm pleased to read how impressed he was. I have a smattering of issues through the years but not the ones I needed.

Mine had the visor when I got it; I probably would have never added one, but I feel it does a lot to help the styling. I'm 6'2. Only traffic lights are an issue, and those accessory viewers do work. Note: you will get more questions about that "thing on your dash" than almost anything else!

I like the list FarmerJon made. My guesses: vapor lock, coil or condenser.

They may seem daunting but they really aren't that complicated. I would pretty much ignore low range; you really don't need it. I seem to recall that a "worst-case scenario" might be that it won't downshift back down into 3rd from 4th until you come to an almost complete (or maybe complete) stop. And that's not really that big a deal, at least not temporarily. I suspect, thanks to Fluid Drive, you could totally eliminate the transmission and just have direct drive and do okay...until you had to back up!

Yes, that is where I got my information. You can just email it, but you should change the address to @stellantis.com (I suspect the FCA address would still go through.) They had quite a backlog due to covid but seem to have caught up from what I've read from others. Aside from a photocopy of the build sheet, they will tell you the name of the original selling dealer & town, but that's it. I think back when the museum was running they would go more in-depth.

The timing mark on mine was messed up to the point of being indecipherable, so I just hooked up a vacuum gauge and set the timing for maximum and tweaked it slightly from there. I had to dial back just a bit to eliminate spark knock on heavy acceleration. Really, you could get by with just experimenting to find the maximum advance without any extreme knocking. The cheapest modern gasoline is so much better than what these engines were designed for (octane wise) that they will run well over a fairly wide gamut.

I've been slowly trying to fit the pieces together on my car's history. I learned from Chrysler that it was sold at East Side Motors, Granite City, IL, but lots of searching has yet to turn up anything on the company. A possible successor outfit seems to have existed for 2-3 decades and the building seems to still exist in a lonely/gritty section of town. Unsure if that's where East Side was, however. It has a sticker in the back window promoting a union pension fund in the "quint cities" (Bettendorf/Davenport, IA, East Moline/Moline/Rock Island, IL.) By the early 90s, and probably before, it was around Muncie, IN. I was able to find and talk to the guy who owned it in the mid-90s, and the guy who sold it to the folks I bought it from. It's...been around! I'd love to know about the first owner but digging back that far is a tall order.

I'm contemplating trying to do mine at some point. I'd be elated if mine turns out anywhere near that good! Maybe I should carry my seats over to your place...

Overall, I'd say your cylinders look better than the worst of mine did. I honed them the best I could, installed new rings, and buttoned it up. I've put somewhere around 8-9k miles on that engine now. I pulled the plugs last week and they all look great, even the one with the most miserable looking walls. Mine was stuck tight. A month or more of soaking and lots of beating on the pistons, using a long piece of pipe as a breaker bar on the crank bolt to the point I bent my ancient Craftsman wrench...nothing. With the pan pulled, a lined up my floor jack with one of the crank throws, cushioned it with a scrap piece of 2x4, and started jacking. After a few pumps, with the whole car starting to rise, there was a pop and the engine was finally free. In my case, old gasoline had simply turned to glue and cemented the piston rings in place, along with every one of the exhaust valves. It was a great learning experience, and I don't regret a minute of it. Hard to buy an education like that! Tip: buy good tools, even if old ones. Lots of swap meets, antique tractor shows, etc., this time a year. I was at one a couple weeks ago and I guy must have had a half-dozen flathead-style valve-spring compressor tools on his $5 table. For things like piston ring compressors, hones, etc., better to buy something like a Lisle brand vs Harbor Freight. You'll get that money back, and then some.

My first hose came from Bernbaum and was wire reinforced. A real wrestling match! After a couple hours I got it, but wasn't really happy with the fit. In time it "buckled" and began leaking at that point. I found another hose online (I believe on an old Chevy website.) This one didn't have the wire and was much easier to work with, though it had to be cut down to fit. Even so, at that point I entrusted the install to a mechanic friend. Much easier with a lift and proper tools to hold the tank in place.

While I'm all about stock for my own vehicles, I have respect for someone keeping it Mopar, and I've been driving Dakota's since 1992. I'm thinking the 2001 is a good candidate vs later ones that use the CANBUS, which seems to complicate all sorts of little things.

I'd never owned a zero-pressure car before; in the couple years I've had it, I've yet to see anything come out the overflow hose. In some extreme situations I watched that temp gauge sit at 212, but never any drama nor loss of coolant. Were I to feel the need for a catch basin, I vote for what Veemoney suggested.

Thanks for the ideas! I didn't feel up to crawling underneath today, but I'll give it a go soon. Ideally I can get it up in the air and run it, but we'll see. I have a couple theories, based on some of the thoughts here. I'll report back when I figure it out.

This is one of those problems that doesn't seem to hurt anything, aside from perhaps my pride! When backing up I hear a noise: squeak, squeak, squeak. I want to blame it on something to do with brakes but, oddly, I can push in the clutch and the car will continue rolling backwards without the noise. Foot off the clutch, the noise returns. Only in reverse. Ideas? Not a steady noise, more like something just hitting or rubbing intermittently.

I replaced mine with one designed to activate at a lower pressure; I think an old Jeep application? A bit of net searching should find it for you. The wiring connectors were different but it works well. I believe in this case I had installed it prior to bleeding but I've installed one on another vehicle without having to bleed. Just have to be quick

A good question; still an issue for automakers today, perhaps more than ever. One advantage back then was the limited color palette, with mostly solid colors. There could also be a pretty distinct separation of panels that today's vehicles don't often have. Two panels without a shared plane? You can pull off a slight variance there without anyone noticing. I suppose if one came through the line with too much difference they would just send it to the rework shop before shipment and respray what they needed. I have to wonder if there is anyone still around from that era who would really know.

I can tell you that I messed up the threads on mine, and wondered along the same lines. I decided to try something that isn't supposed to really work: JB Weld. That was a year ago and...still no leak.

Agreed, mine is the same way. If you shift from low to high range at a slow enough speed you should find yourself in 3rd. I've found there really isn't much point in using low. In the time it takes to do the shifting, you can pretty much just let the transmission do it for you in high. From my experience, it seems best to get into 4th as soon as possible as that is where these engines seem happiest. I've found there aren't too many opportunities to use the "passing gear" feature. I'm not entirely sure if mine is working right now; I keep meaning to try it again. The switchgear on the carb that makes that happen seems a bit finicky.

About a dozen years ago I had an old tank I intended to clean and recoat so I bought the POR-15 kit. The first step is their cleaner/degreaser. After that, I decided not to go any further. Two rounds of that stuff (mixed with hot water) removed an amazing amount of crud. Mine proved solid, just crudded up, and I figured any attempts at coating could foul things up. I would second the idea that, if the tank has serious issues, a replacement is worth doing. On models where it is available, the price really isn't that bad.