Bobacuda

If that door was a brass monkey freezing his parts off this topic would have blown up...

When you do your fuel tank, replace the fuel level stuff in the tank while the tank is not in the truck. It will make it much easier to pull the unit in and out until you get the float set for an accurate reading. I didn't do that when my tank was out...so my fuel gauge accuracy is still "more like a guideline."

Now would also be a good time to replace old steel freeze plugs with brass ones. MUCH easier when the engine is out.

Snow Thanks! I think my ancestors had enough of that type of weather when they left Denmark and Sweden for Texas .

Pete - Make sure the starter you use has the same "starter arm" as your original. Some of the older models have different arms (the part the stomp starter hits to actuate the starter). Since it is all apart, you might want to consider "MC from a Cherokee" swap. It has been discussed on here several times. Raybestos still carries MC's for your truck ($100+), but it will be a single chamber. If you use an original transmission, make sure you have the shifter arms for it. I think the fluid drive trans arms are longer...but I could be wrong. Good luck finding a grille. might get lucky in a boneyard out west. If you can get the entire nose section with the grille, take it. It will be less expensive than fixing the one you have. Jocko - Here in South-Central Texas, I do not have a heat riser in my truck.

If you need any photos of a '53 for reference, or if you have general questions, shoot me an email. I finished (are they ever finished?) my '53 a couple of years ago. The wiring (I made my harnesses), brake and fuel lines were definitely easier to replace with the engine out. I see on the side of the hood that you have "Fluid Drive" emblems (mine is a Fluid Drive, as well). If you are keeping it Fluid Drive, make sure your new engine's crankshaft has the same thickness "flywheel flange" with the same number of holes as your original. Also, the Fluid Drive has a longer bell housing to accommodate the Fluid Drive coupling than a "standard transmission" bell housing. If you are installing the engine & bell housing (with Fluid Drive or flywheel installed) as a unit, I would recommend mounting the starter and the master cylinder before putting the engine back in the truck - much less cussing involved. If you are not going with the Fluid Drive, consider changing to a modern 5 speed while it is all apart - less gear grinding and an overdrive for cruising. Several of the folks on this site have done this modification. I kept my truck predominately original, so it is still Fluid Drive. But I did go with a '90 Dakota diff. When I rebuilt the front end, I replaced my spindles, hubs and brake with those from a '70 Dodge Sweptline truck. I did this to make the brakes easier to work on and to make parts readily available. Overall, finding some of the small parts was a challenge. However, the folks on this site were great at helping me figure things out and some even had spare parts. One of the things you will get a kick out of is whenever you take it out, your truck will not look like everyone else's.

I cut mine out of an old mud flap.

Look up "24 Hours of Lemons" races. A few years back, a '48 Dodge truck with a Jag front suspension did well. I have seen the video on their website of it on the track. You can probably find that person through the Lemons folks and ask how he did it.

Pecan Grove Store is an old Sinclair gas station between Fredericksburg and Llano, TX (on the way to Enchanted Rock) that has been repurposed as a bar and grille, live music venue. This past Saturday, they held a car show to benefit the local food bank. Although I am not in to car show trophies and such, I took my '53 B4B to give folks something to different look at (everyone loved the fact it was a Dodge and it had a butterfly hood). My truck was in the 50-59 Group that included a really nice '55 Chevy, a slightly modified 50's GMC and a heavily modified 50's Chevy truck (think Gas Monkey style). Surprised me when my truck won the division. I wish I could get the photos to load easier for this Luddite. B4B at Pecan Grove.pdf

Texas drivers are bad...? No, you just have to remember that we own the road . In Texas the speed limits on all backroads have no meaning unless the weather is lousy (wet or icy), someone is moving livestock on the road, the deer population is contemplating suicide, the city drivers are sightseeing, or the damn bicyclists are on the road. Worst city drivers I have encountered are from Austin or San Antonio. When on the interstate, unless you are in a city (lots of cops), move fast or move out of the way.

Clesters is a "one piece" that fits my '53 better than the one I had from Robert's.

When I put the Dakota diff under my '53, I tried using my existing under-the-dash housing and the Dakota cable to the rear. Problem was I could not get enough mechanical advantage to set the emergency brakes. After lots of attempts that did not require lots of fabrication, I gave up and went back to the original parking brake.

Thant thing looks like a multi-car collision on one set of wheels.

Wait...you saw the US Olympic Soccer Team beat the Russian Olympic Soccer Team? After the Russians lost in hockey to the US Olympic Hockey team, that must have really upset them. BTW, just having fun with you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

If your rim is not "shaped" like the factory rim, the clips won't help. They are replacements for busted clips. Check Wheelsmith. I think they have an option to use your hubcap on their stock steelie, but it won't look original. Have you thought of asking if anyone on this site has a set of correct rims to sell?

EOJ - Bolt pattern is "4.5 on 5." The "barrels" on my wheels were rotted so I needed new rims (16"), but I wanted to retain the original hubcaps. I spoke about it with The Wheelsmith. They had me send them my old rims, they removed the centers and put them in new "barrels" with as close to the same setback as possible. Had them powdercoated at the same time. With freight from Texas to California, it cost me just over $800. But they look great, my hubcaps still fit, no problems with the width for modern tires, tubeless and no rust. Quite happy with the end result. BTW, like color of your truck

Brent - Nothing so exotic. A friend and I had it loaded with live oak firewood, stacked about 2 ft higher than the bed, going up a rough pasture road, up a steep hill, next to a bluff, and I killed the engine . Truck started rolling backwards (gravity works!), the brakes locked the wheels and it was skidding, heading for the bluff. Fluid drive, so the engine did not help slow down anything. As a last resort, I picked a small, but sufficiently sized oak and did my best to only hit my junkyard salvage rear bumper on it ( it was as wide as my fenders). It worked. Destroyed the tail light, destroyed the junkyard bumper's mounting brackets, caused me to have to modify the bumper (trimmed it down with a torch), and stopped my truck from getting a lot of custom body work going off the bluff. Had to take 1/3 of the wood off the truck to get up the hill, where my friend and I took a much need "rest stop." Quite a ride.

Dodgeed - My truck's original tail light (just one) got ripped off and the bracket bent to hell in a pasture around 1978. The current brackets & tail lights are actually replicas of some used on old Ford cars. My brackets are welded on. The lenses are just plain old red, no logos.

Dodgeed - My '53 has the seat frame with the posts that allow the bottom part to be moved forward or backward on the frame. Real PITA to get them set if the back is already in place. I generally pull the back up, set the bottom where I want it, then mash the back into position. That's the same seat and frame that was in the truck in 1975 when I bought it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't changed out before that. The rear fenders and dash plate in yours match my '53, but our wiper buttons are different. Yours looks like the one we had on our '51 Dodge. Look at the attached photo of my truck, you will see the rear fenders, the Fluid Drive emblems and the factory rear view mirror. Maybe someone on here has found the mirror brackets in a boneyard they would be willing to sell you.

It needs the top made from Mopar "Mod-Top" material. Blooming idiots...

My son has one for a daily commuter (about 100 miles a day) - avg about 26 mpg. A friend has a 4-wheel drive version he uses around construction - 21 mpg. That's two different guys with lead feet in full size trucks, running the AC and carrying loads. Both love 'em.

I got mine on EBAY - best price at the time. If I were buying one now, I would look into the one with the replaceable ends from DCM Classics ($160) like Merle got. I paid more than that for mine and when its fixed ends are toast, I have to replace the whole thing.