John-T-53

SJC isn't that big of a town, but I usually head south to San Clemente or San Diego from where I am (was). Bottom line is - I always run the truck for a minimum of 30 minutes each time I take her out. Anything less is just enough to get everything wet. No sign on the swallows yet, but the official day for their return is March 19th. All new guides and stainless valves. But the updated status is...smoking still a little, but less now. I removed the pcv and reinstalled the draft tube, and it made no difference. The engine has developed a bad knocking sound today. Its getting worse, and occurs when accelerating or going uphill. Oil pressure and temp are good. I drove the truck north 300 miles, the bed packed to the brim since I'm moving. Before I left, I changed the oil and found no water or any other bad signs. I pulled the plugs and they looked fine also - no oil or moisture. I checked the head bolts and they were tight. I checked the coolant and didn't see any oil and its level hasn't gone down. I wonder if its a just a cylinder that has gone bad? Why such wear after only 3,000 miles? I have been driving this truck on the highway regularly doing 50-55 for 5 hours at a time...including after I broke it in. Never had any problems before. Would driving the truck at these speeds during the first 1,000 miles play any role in premature piston and ring wear? I'm really bummed...after investing $6k into a rebuild and 7 months of my time, this could have not come at a worse time. Gotta drive 230 more miles tomorrow, and start my new job Monday. I'll let you know if I make it.

Every time I start up the ol' gal, I always get 'er up to full temp. Usually my drives involve some highway time. I'm gonna pull the PCV and reinstall the draft tube for another freeway outing coming up at 3 p.m. today. I'll see what that does. The head bolts are tight, and the head and block were milled. I used the copper spray on both sides of the head gasket when I installed it, so in theory that should be leak-free. I had a problem sealing the two lower exhaust manifold bolts - the two long ones that protrude into the water jacket. I wonder if they also pass through an oil area?

My rebuilt flathead has just over 3,000 miles on it and has started to burn a little oil when it's hot. There's a puff of oil smoke out the tailpipe when the truck gets going in 1st gear from a stop...usually the engine revs a bit. It's on its 3rd batch of oil, and it was last changed at 1,000 miles. It runs fine, has 40lbs oil pressure, and no other problems. The only thing that has caught my attention is a small amount of white greasy susbtance on the dipstick. I have a PCV system so not sure if that's caused by condensation. Could the rings go bad so soon???

It's hard to tell from the photos, but make sure the filter inlet line comes from the upper fitting on the block, the pressurized oil galley. The lower fitting on the block is the return line. Otherwise, you'll be running your filter backwards and it'll get clogged much quicker.

In that case, use vise grips or a pipe wrench. To make room, you may need to swing the distributor so its vacuum advance is out of the way. You might also need to heat the old petcock up with a torch and give it some taps with a hammer to get it loose.

I replaced the petcock type drain with a solid brass plug for a similar reason. It never worked good because chunks of scale and rust from the water jacket always got stuck in the petcock's narrow opening.

Wow that's a lot of work. Sounds like I need to invest in some metal working tools and a welder too. I wonder if I could get the OD bellhousing and just use that with the OD tranny? I told my friend who gave it to me - if I can't make the OD work, I'd give it back to him, so being an honest dude, I'd be at $0.00. The T5's I've seen have the shifter way back on the tranny housing and it looks like it would interfere with the seat, or just be out of place, if installed in a Pilothouse. That and the e-brake issue are the reasons deterring me from it.

I lived in San Luis Obispo for 10 years, a big ag county, and that's where I bought mine. But never saw another up there....Chevys and Fords left and right like you said. All the ones I've spotted in Orange County have been on the road, but parked. This Friday, my old Dodge is about to do another drive up the 101 to its new home in the Bay Area. Time to be spotted and represent! Wikipedia has an entry for the B Series Pickups, and it states these trucks are now rare because they're known to "buckle and break in the middle".....what the freak? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_B_Series

In the last 8 years that I've owned mine, I've only seen 4 other B-Series Trucks in person, by chance. One of them was a Panel that used to live in south San Clemente, but its owners recently moved. Never seen any B-Series at a car show, but at the same time I never made it up to Pomona yet.

Hammerite is a shop staple around here. Aside from the durability it provides, it doesn't require primer, can be applied over rusty surfaces, dries quickly, and looks good! I used it in my Chevy's heater and it came out great.

So I picked up this Borg Warner R-10 overdrive from a buddy of mine up north, for the price of "on the house". He said it came out of a '52 Plymouth, and he showed me the flathead 6 that it was mated to as well. Not knowing much about these trannys, I said sure, I'll take it, and see if it could be installed in my B-4-B. I did some research on these, and I'm now informed they're known for being bullet proof and easy to operate. If I were to put it behind my truck's motor, I could get 5 speeds, keep my rear end as is, and make my daily driver more enjoyable and economical to drive. But take cover, the big elephant looms in the room.... Taking some preliminary measurements and observations: 1. The mounting holes on the bellhousing don't match up. 2. The throw out bearing collar surface looks like a smaller diameter (from memory). 3. Not sure if the input shaft is the right length. 4. The e-brake control is on the other side. 5. The Speedo cable needs to be longer. 6. And, finally, the driveshaft will need to be snipped a bit. Anybody ever do a mod like this in their truck? Not sure if I'm wanting to violate the backside of my flathead with a different transmission, I'd like to get some imput on the items listed above, and any others, from y'all. I like this option for OD better than a T-5 because I can keep the column shift, which I like. I had also looked into a Gear Vendors divorced mount unit, which would be easy to install and provide great performance, but they're cost prohibitive ($3k +).

Tom, Welcome to the site. There's lots of friendly folks here who have more than enough knowledge to help you out. Looks like you live out here in the Golden State...where 'bouts? As for the spark issue...check that the points are opening and their gap is within range, and also check to see if the coil is getting power on the negative side from the ignition switch. The old cloth covered wiring is easily shorted out with the age that it is. The Pilothouse knowledge section on the DPETCA site is another very useful page to check out: http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/know/know.htm

How 'bout using a small spring bottom oil can for this mix? Also, the small 3-in-1 oil cans might work well. I'll have to give this mix a try....Dextron for GM rusty bolts, Type F for Ford rusty bolts, and ATF+3 for Mopar bolts. This might have been a good thing to try on the door lock set screw!

Since we're dealing with flat glass here, I would consult a local automotive glass shop. If you have the originals, take them down there and have duplicates cut. Probably would be a lot cheaper than catalog ordering, and keeps your money local. I plan to do this when I replace the windshield. I want to get tempered glass instead of AS2 for the doors and wing vents, but not sure if tempered glass can be cut to shape in the shop.

A variation of bus driving from some of the locals in Oakland:

I think I can definitely make it. I'm moving up to the Bay Area in a couple weeks, so from there it will be about 300 miles less to drive at 50 mph!

I can't tell but I would guess they put the head aft of the rear wheel. In either case, you probably wouldn't want to use it while the vehicle is stopped on a public street. Just like the trains in Italy - they say don't flush at the station.

Funny thing, I've been fighting this damn screw the past two months in short increments. I ended up drilling a hole in the center of the screw head for using an extractor. After breaking three screw extractors, I got a bigger drill bit and drilled it out further in hopes the lock cylinder would just fall out. I only drilled halfway into the nut, but nothing yet. Maybe I'll drill on it some more tomorrow...or next month. Is the nut attached to the lock cylinder or part of the door? Bottom line is I don't want to drill too much so that I ruin the lock. It's hard to see in there to figure out what's going on.

Nice video! I have to do this on my engine again and now I'll consider doing it this way instead of the static method. I just bought a new set of bent feeler guages at Sears today. I looked for the Craftsman tappet wrenches but they're a catalog item only. I'll have to use my regular wrenches like last time.

Nice!!! With the easy and stress-free and method you demonstrated in the video, you'd be a good candidate for hosting the home improvement TV show "Hometime" (if it's still on). I did mine like this too - both sides, out and in. Like others, it took more time and some profanity, tho.... but it can be done!

Wow that's one clean truck! I'd even be scared to move a couch in that thing. I've never seen one of these in person, but looking at all the detailed pictures, it's interesting to note how much hidden similarities exist in comparison to our Pilouhouse era trucks. For example, the frame, shackles, back of cab, bed interior, and tailgate. On the outside, the truck looks very different than the B-series with a few clues to its past.

I've been thinking about doing this soon too. The interior of the pillars behind the doors concern me because they weren't engineered with seat belts in mind. The sheet metal where the seat belt would attach is only held on by a few welds and screws. Even with the anchor behind there, I'm skeptical if this area would hold in a higher speed collision. Keep in mind, with increasing speed, the attaching point must resist a pulling force of your body weight with inertia added to it - upwards into thousands of pounds. I'm thinking of this because I take my truck on the freeway often and see accidents all the time in LA. But, installing it as the kit comes is no doubt a huge safety improvement, even over a lap belt. This combined with safe driving is a big step to lessen the chance of being killed or injured if the unthinkable happens. My mom gives me hell for driving my truck and my other 1950s era car all the time, just for the reason of safety. I hope I don't ever prove her right!

I would agree - looking at the sign to the right, there's an Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach that runs north from Downtown. I don't know if they still pump oil down there but they definitely refine it. There's also other oil fields in Huntington beach, Ingelwood, and Montebello. The last two are still in heavy production. I know that during the recent height of crude prices a couple years ago, the Montebello oil field pumped $100,000 worth of crude each day.

I have a set of four Dodge hub caps I want to sell on ebay. They're currently on my truck, but they belong on a car. Anybody know what years these are correct for? Thanks in advance...and if you want them, let me know!

Chris - I have an extra set of electric wiper transmissions - the part that bolts to the cowl on each side. Let me know if you're interested. I spent the past weekend rebuilding my wiper system and had some extras in my parts trunk.