JBNeal

I've had a local shop make the exhaust from manifold to tailpipe and only had issue with the mufflers. The locals don't carry, nor could they find the original style from their sources, the straight-thru inlet/outlet muffler, so I went with the center inlet/offset outlet cylinder-style muffler they could get. It looks great when I'm rolling down the road, so I live with it...eventually, I'll go for the straight-thru muffler, if I can find one. Anyhow, I went with the locals cuz Robert's, etc. was about $100 more cuz of the shipping costs. To get the tailpipe right if'n ya don't have a pattern to go by, buying one from a supplier is probably the way to go. But the manifold to muffler is an easy bend & flange that a local shop can make for a reasonable price, if they have the same material that the tailpipe is made from.

some exploded views are found in the shop manual, but more are found in the parts manual and are helpful in repairs. I've already buttoned up the parts trucks as the weather is about to change again, but according to the parts book, the 1/2 & 1-tons have different washers, spacers & horseshoe clips, with the 1-ton's 11" drums having larger sized parts.

Dodge was playing with the idea of a "lifestyle truck" as a replacement for the Dakota before the economy tanked...kinda liked that term and the Rampage concept truck the rolled out. Anyhow, another option with the fuel tank is to check out that Tanks Inc. unit, I've heard good things about it. That way you can install it in the original location & reclaim the spot for the spare tire. As for the wiring, I replaced the entire wiring on my '48 cuz the insulation was falling off of the conductors. With the factory wiring diagram, you can replace each wire with hardware store conductors. I scratched out a modified wiring diagram that includes a relay to improve headlight performance.

The B-4 shop manual may be helpful, but I recommend getting your hands on a B-1 shop manual hard copy to flip through. I picked a reproduction up years ago, and made copies of specific pages that had instructions and/or diagrams that I would need to consult while working on the machine so that I could dirty up the copies & not the book. As for the assembly of the brake shoe, from the manual diagram it shows the brake shoe rides on the pivot bolt against the spacer on the backing plate, with the felt washer against the shoe, the metal cap over the felt, and the horseshoe clip in the pivot bolt groove over the metal cap. From the service section, I reckon there's mention of using light oil on the washers to keep the pivots lubricated when the shoes are to be adjusted every 10,000 miles.

The parts book shows different part numbers for 1/2, 3/4 & 1-ton front wheel cylinders for different years, but this was printed in '53. I pulled the drums off of the 1/2 & 1-ton parts trucks by the house, and other than the 10" drums & shoes on the 1/2 ton and the 11" drums & shoes on the 1-ton, the wheel cylinders & hardware look the same. The parts book also shows the same master cylinder used on 1/2, 3/4 & 1-tons for '48-'53. NAPA has only a listing for the '53, and 1/2, 3/4 & 1-tons use similar wheel cylinders. Rock Auto has a few more listings, and it looks like they are listing the same front wheel cylinders for 1/2, 3/4 & 1-tons, '48-'53. Looking back in the parts book, it appears they went from the step bore to the straight bore in late '52.

Finally finished this book this morning during a rain delay...I empathized with the narrative's salty language, high expectations and distractions from the task at hand. It's a good read for the Pilot House trucker, kinda wonder what happened with that ol' beater since it was 'fixed up' about 40 yrs ago, the serial number reported is not listed on the registry yet...

FWIW: the 02 Ram CTD has an asphaltic sheet material on the firewall, a heavy rubber-backed carpet with a durable vinyl in the foot areas, a light carpet-like material on the back wall, and the foam-backed headliner. Rust-O-Leum has the bed liner in a can that I've heard is a good alternative in the floor area to the bituthane, but it's probably a li'l tricky at the battery lid, fuel tank sending unit access, filler neck opening, etc. Then a decent floormat can be laid over that for a good trim job. I did a search using "firewall pad" and remembered that the Quiet Ride firewall pad has gotten high marks from users as it is tougher than the cardboard firewall pads.

have ya tried to clip an old wheel weight & hammer it into the pits as a gasket filler?

sounds like somebody started working on it, then gave up; engine does not sound to be original and it may be shot...shoot 1500 at'm and see if that'll get the ball rollin'

FWIW: on cold flatheads (especially in temps below 50F), full choke, 1/4 throttle, stomp the gas 2x, crank the starter; upon engine fire, reduce choke to 1/4 and have throttle just cracked open to get idle rpm to about 1000 until the thermostat opens, then reduce choke to 0. In electronic fuel injection systems, the cold engine is in open loop mode, requiring a more rich fuel mixture to optimize power. Once the engine has warmed up, further engine re-fires shouldn't require choke and little to no throttle input, depending on ambient temperature. From what I've seen, automatic choke operates off of engine manifold heat, an early form of open loop engine controls. One of the driving instructions I was given by Dad was to drive the truck with the 1/4 choke when it was cold. Without 1/4 choke, the truck will idle fine, but stumble upon acceleration. With the increased rpm & 1/4 choke, the engine will warm up faster. Consulting the shop manual, there are different carb settings that will control the stroke of the accelerator pump lever, allowing for more fuel delivery with the winter setting. With the winter setting, maybe not so much throttle is required at cold startup. I might try that someday...without a heater in the truck, I'm not too motivated to drive the beasts when it drops below 40, so I'm on the intermediate setting year round

haven't tackled the knobs just yet, but have refurbished some Farmall stamped aluminum emblems with similar recessed lettering details and had gotten some advice from a fellow Red Power enthusiast. Painting the background, then waiting a few days to letter by paintbrush works depending on a steady hand, a good brush & paint, and a good wipe cloth that is slightly moistened with a lacquer thinner (preferably a cheaper, less aggressive brand from the chain stores & not the body shops) and won't track any lint. An alternative to lettering by brush is to mask over with a quality tape and use a sharp knife to stencil in place, but that can be tricky as tape has a tendency to curl up when ya least want it to, especially at sharp points like the letter K. Another alternative that I've only read about is to paint the letters first, wet sand the excess paint, then fill the recessed lettering with petroleum jelly or grease, cleaning off the excess with lacquer thinner, then painting the rest. That one sounds kinda tricky, especially on these control knobs, and might be prone to having paint too thin at the transition from the black to the white. For best results, as with most paint jobs, applying multiple thin coats results in a robust appearance

The concept of the fuel injected turbocharged flathead 6 reminds me of something I had to learn before I earned my engineering degree. My design group was tasked to develop a fuel injection system that ran on LPG. What we found was that extensive program mapping was required for the fuel injection system under a variety of loading conditions, something we did not have time to do in one semester. But the thing that changed the project direction was calculations that showed that in order to keep the LPG flowing under certain high acceleration conditions, that the fuel injectors could not open & close fast enough in a very short amount of time. The lesson learned was that before installing hardware, be aware of any of its physical limitations. When it comes to maximizing bhp in the flathead 6, increasing induction is one part of the equation that has to be balanced with managing exhaust. With the increased bhp, how will this affect the lower end of the engine? Will lubrication need to be increased to the crankshaft & cam? Will the valves & head gasket be able to handle the increased pressures? I don't know the exact answers to these questions, but I do know that Chrysler only did so much with the flathead 6, so I reckon they had good reason to limit the output of these engines because they may have found problems in their test labs that pointed them in the direction of going with the eventual slant 6 (rather than the Hemi V6). Heavy duty Dodge trucks had flathead 6s with dual carbs & split exhausts; later flathead 6s had increased CRs & sgl 2-bbl carbs, with optional 180F & 195F thermostats available; a factory aluminum head was available for a few years; and there were variations of a PCV system available as dealer installed items. These upgrades are practically factory approved for today's flathead 6 owner. As several flathead 6 owners can testify, upgrading the transmission and/or rear axle can make that flathead 6 come alive

sometimes it's a train

had to catch the light at sunset before it got away...catching light at sunrise don't take much skill cuz it's a-comin' right at ya

ya might want to stick that rubber to the drawers, cuz it'll slide on ya over time unless it's super heavy & thick. Putting the heavier, larger items in the bottom drawers helps to keep the thing from tipping over. Organization & labeling is up to the user, I've never seen two toolboxes organized the same way, with the exception of small tools (mini screwdrivers, razor blades, spark plug gappers, pencils/chalk/paint pens, etc.) in the small drawer(s) on the top. If ya wanna go all Martha Stewart on them tools, get'm all cleaned up & shiny before ya put'm away...it's a good thing

truck picture B-1-B-108: headed up the road to catch the light at sunset...

the '48 has been running much better since cracking open the carb to unstick the moving parts, it even started in 20F weather a few weeks ago. So yesterday, I fired it up for a trip to the post office as temps were in the 40s. Who needs a heater when most of the firewall & floorboard insulation is gone, the heater is on all the time. Later, I loaded some lumber into it (and a frying pan with some hamburger grease) for a ride up the hill to use my Dad's carpentry tools (and let the dogs clean out the pan). I'll even take a ride in it today to blow some more of the leaves out it

truck picture B-1-B-108: during a sight-seeing tour, I made a stop at the rock pile...

another possibility could be the rear cab mounts might be busted...the doors on my '49 were sagging about an inch, then I noticed the back of the cab sheet metal was resting on the frame rails. When I pulled the seat out, the cracks in the cab were obvious as they radiated towards the door jambs & sills. Had to fab up temporary brace plates to fix the cab so the doors could operate without using some creative german phraseology. Eventually I followed the instructions in the shop manual and strategically placed a wood block between the door and door jamb to bend the doors/hinges into position...it took a few days for my shoulders to recover from that

if ya disconnect the tube from the carb, the carb now has a vacuum leak, causing the engine to run a tad lean. Any moisture and combustible fumes in the crankcase would then stay there until they could escape through the vented oil filler cap and/or the PCV valve (if it was open). additional information - PCV system operation

I can't remember exactly when I ordered my copy, probably around '99, but I distinctly remember ordering it cuz there was a Pilot House on the cover and was disappointed at receiving a copy with a chewed up Apache. I was so miffed I never bothered to crack it open, just put it on the shelf and forgot about it. Now that I've found it again, flipping thru the pages I see plenty of references to the Pilot House...reckon I ought'a give it a read now that I've grown up a li'l bit

I have seen most heater controls mounted to the left of the steering column, many mounted in the center of the dash below the key, and several where they drilled holes between the radio & gauges to mount the heater controls on the B-1 & B-2 cabs, and several where they drilled holes in the center of the dash on the B-3 & B4 cabs. Even seen a few on the B-1 & B-2 cabs where they only had the HEAT & TEMP controls, and one was mounted between the speedo & gauges, and the other was mounted between the speaker & gauges. Cain't say that I've seen the under-the-glove box mounting before, I kinda figger that'd be a little tough to operate while on the road, but if that's all the control cable length will allow, then that's where they were mounted. My problem with the location to the left of the column is that I'd hate to bang my knee against that metal hanging below the dash for any reason. The center location might be trouble as stated when dealing with the parking brake or cab vent. With the control cables mounted in the unused space of the dash, ya get'm out of the way and ya can still reach them. My guess is that the original mounting bracket was used as a template for hole spacing & alignment, then tossed in the scrap metal bin or re-purposed as a handy paper weight in the shop. Since this is your truck and ya ain't aiming for trophies at car shows, do however ya please cuz I don't reckon too many folks would know if it was "correct" or not

that is not a factory installation, but the adapter mounted on the block appears to be similar to the adapters used on Power Wagons. At any rate, that's a start on a PCV system, as this will draw combustible fumes in the crankcase into the charge air stream. That PCV valve looks similar to ones I have seen used on early slant 6s, as the PCV valve mounted in a rubber grommet in the valve cover with a hard line screwed into the valve from the intake manifold, similar to your installation.

go 5150 Eddie Van Halen...it cain't miss

If the mechanical or electric pump generated flow that was in excess of the carb needs, how does the electric pump know when to stop producing flow? The mechanical fuel pumps I've played with have two check valves: one upstream to keep flow from feeding back into the fuel tank, and one downstream to keep fuel from the carb to flow back into the pump. When the carb needle valve closes, eventually the downstream check valve closes. But if the engine is still turning the cam to operate that pump arm, then the pump is drawing a suction on something. Bypass is the wrong term I reckon as flow is not going in some alternate circuit at this point. So the upstream check valve closes with the pump in operation causing the downstream check valve to close, which brings pump flow to 0. With fuel injection systems that I've worked on, the electric fuel pump pushes flow to the injectors, and unused flow is re-directed back into the fuel tank. This allows the fuel pump to run continuously during engine operation, with unused fuel going through the bypass circuit. This allows for quicker injector response as it sees max fuel pressure at all times and only allows the injectors to use what the ECM requires for optimum operation. With an electric fuel pump used on a carburetor, what shuts the fuel pump flow off so that the carb needle valve is not forced open, causing the carb chamber to flood? There are no external sensors involved to control a logic circuit, nor is there a bypass circuit to redirect excess flow. My guess is that on pumps designed to be retro-fit on fuel systems that had mechanical pumps operating under 10psi, that the sealed electric pump has check valves in it that are similar to the mechanical pumps. But I don't know for certain, and the Carter 6V pumps I have on the shelf did not have any documentation on operation, just a warning to add an oil pressure sensor for a safety precaution.