JBNeal

I spotted the remnants of this V8 decal on a survivor at auction...looks original to me as there are some specks of the original turquoise tailgate paint behind the decal...

SURVIVOR: 1954 C-1-B8-108 spotted at that Big Spring Auction, engine missing but entirely salvageable

The barn full of miscellaneous items...a treasure trove indeed ?

The auction workers mentioned that the car trunks and cabins had been used to store many items, so if the cars weren't sealing up well, then items kinda didn't fare well...also, what was described to me was that they had to sort through piles of stuff that they did not know what was what nor did they have any cataloging information other than it was all Mopar related (sorta)...witnessing them still labeling items in almost a frenzy just hours before the auction deadline was a bit of an eye-opener...did I mention there were big barking dogs afoot? This DeSoto, which was missing almost everything from the cowl forward and had an illegible data tag, struck me as kinda funny, like its trunk lost its lunch This Dodge reminded me of the one that a college roommate had, until I took a closer look...his car, which was immaculate and ran smooth as silk, did not have the West Texas cotton thermal engine blanket ?

made the trip out to West TX today to see what all the hubbub was about...HOLEY MOLEY ? I chatted up some of the auction workers as they were STILL tagging stuff, they even started asking me what some of the tools were for and some of the boxed parts as I pointed out they had mixed up flathead 6, slant 6, and V8 stuff, as well as car and truck items and mismatched Miller tool part sets. They still had stacks of rims to go through that they were tagging for the auction, even witnessed them trying to start up a few buggies that had not run in some time. Some nice older restorations, some diamonds in the rough, quite a bit of junk tho, some of it could be classified as wildlife habitat ...I've got some pics that could illustrate this point that I'll try to post tomorrow...

On extension spring installations, the springs need to have the same amount of tension on them so they exert the same amount of force to both sides of the door. A single torsion spring can be used instead of the 2 extension springs, but that requires different brackets, hardware, and mounting to the structure. A balanced door has enough tension on the springs (extension or torsion) so that when the door is halfway opened, it stays in that halfway position. Too much tension, and the door wants to stay open; too little tension, and the door wants to stay closed...either condition causes the opener to struggle to operate, leading to premature wear. A balanced door takes very little effort to open or close, allowing the opener to use little energy to operate, as the springs are carrying the load of the door, not the opener mechanism. Once the door is balanced, then the opener upforce and downforce can be adjusted so that it operates adequately. If these two adjustments are off, the thermal breakers for the electric motor can trip because too much current is being drawn to operate.

I have rebuilt 2 flatheads with engines in the truck, including worn valve guides, as I read about how to do it in an old shop manual, no machining done other than lapping valves by hand. I'd lose about a quart every 3500 miles, but I'd be changing the oil anyway at that point. The best I can figure is tight valve guides seep very little oil into the combustion chamber as the lubricant surface tension resists vacuum induced flow. Worn valve guides allow the lubricant to flow freely due to vacuum as the surface tension becomes irrelevant with the additional space for fluid movement. Always check your tailpipe and body panels for extra carbon residue as some of the exhaust emission swirls and sticks to adjacent metal surfaces...a dirty backside is a clear indicator of poor engine health

Definitely check to see if the door is balanced with the halfway open test. If the door is not balanced, then the opener will not work properly and could wear prematurely. Properly balanced doors require very little effort to open or close. This summer, I serviced my neighbors metal building with 12' doors as both openers were on the fritz and the garage door guys never would show up for their appointments after 6 months of rescheduling. Doors were not balanced, one opener fried a belt, the other opener fried the receiver. Both had the torsion springs, so I sucked it up, cut some scrap rebar for spring tools and got everything balanced. Replaced failing parts, reprogrammed transmitters, and he was back in business a day later. He commented how quiet the openers were nowadays, before they hummed fairly loudly, he thought that I must have "tuned up" them electric drive motors

These small items are tricky getting ordered these days...I've stalled on several projects because of the non-negotiable 15 buck shipping fees from vendors that could ship in a small padded envelope for 5 bucks 2 yrs ago, it's like they want to make up for lost sales from last year or sumthin'ruther ?

I've lowered the float by about 1/32 and that helped keep the carb exterior dry. Another thing I've done is soak the leather seal on the accelerator piston in 10W30 for about 24hrs to saturate with lubricant, as well as adding Marvel Mystery Oil to each tankful, to add more lubricant to the fuel and extend the leather service life as well as decrease startup times after extended idle periods additional information - leather seal preparation

Slew grease is nasty stuff, not really meant for enclosed spaces as it basically just forms a thin friction-reducing film when compressed but eventually sloughs off the load bearing surfaces, not sure if it's meant for a worm gear application...I would think that it's tackiness would damage the output shaft seal to the point where the sealing material is removed from the seal assembly. Slew grease is kinda chunky and not known for being able to displace moisture as well as the corn head grease that can flow more easily into tight spaces. And WOW does slew grease stink ?

Skip the grease fitting and just fill through the oil fill cap...driving around, the corn head grease will settle while displacing air...top off as needed

A powertrain upgrade that is well-executed can be fun to drive with modern traffic, but the flathead has a wow factor coming and going...and just sitting there in between Sunday drives

Correct, the Cummins 6.7L is the stump-pullin' yet refined improvement over the 5.9L HO...lots of support out there for this blue ribbon power plant

it's on the way...found a few at the 2nd truck stop on the way home from town

When is the deadline for submitting?

this may or may not help: https://www.townwagon.com/sites/tw/index.htm

additional information - 2x4 engine stand

Have ya reached out to Clester's for some technical assistance? They may have some info they can fax...

The engine and pinion offsets are more for packaging advantage than for performance gains. The universal joints transmit torque within a certain cone of travel, anything beyond that begins to wear the joint out prematurely. This is why ya see older ridiculously jacked up trucks on the side of the road with dropped driveshafts. Since the shorter axle shaft generally transmits most of the engine torque to the road, the longer shaft complements this torque application under changing road conditions, like rounding a corner on sorta wet surface.

I remember seeing different kinds of west coast mirrors at truck stops and local car parts stores, painted, chromed, with and without reflective stripes...cannot remember brands, but Grote still cranks out quality products: additional information - west coast mirrors additional information - west coast mirror bracket (stainless)

DCM, Vic's and Roberts have listings for the parts you are looking for, including rubber boots and rebuild kits.