JBNeal

with a grommet in the valve cover, I reckon someone thought blow-by gas extraction was necessary from the valve chamber because that is how overhead valve engines are set up. It's not necessarily the wrong approach on the flathead, but I don't see any benefit from pulling blow-by gases from the crankcase via the draft tube port and the oil filler neck similar to how Power Wagon flatheads are set up.

I reckon yer friend ain't heard of one of the unique features of the Dodge flathead ignition coil in that they only work well when upside down, kinda like the bottles at the water cooler or a hummingbird feeder. Technically speaking, the coil's efficiency is increased when the lead to the distributor/spark plug is as short as possible to reduce load losses. Some of today's car's have a coil plugged directly into the spark plug to eliminate the coil/plug wires entirely.

I have looked at the Juliano's tech section again, and I reckon the third point anchor plate welding is just for show as a mechanical attachment would work also. Welding that structural plate to sheet metal only holds the plate in place and gives the third point anchor a clean look as only the shoulder bolt passes through the sheet metal. If the anchor plate holes are tapped and round head screws are used to mechanically attach that anchor to the sheet metal, that should work just as good as the welding. Epoxy may work well, but the bonding surfaces need to be clean and preferably roughed up a bit to produce more surface area for bonding. All of the anchor plates act to spread the load over the sheet metal when loaded in compression. Since the sheet metal loading is in compression and not in tension, welding the plates to the sheet metal does not contribute to any structural strength the sheet metal has. Factory anchor plates are usually welded to sheet metal because it is a faster attachment process. But as this is an aftermarket addition to individual vehicles rather than a step in a high volume assembly line, the plates can be attached to the sheet metal by whatever means are available to the individual.

if you're taking I-10 all the way through Texas, maybe swinging off to Iraan to visit Alley Oop Fantasy Land for a photo op could break up the monotony of the whole lotta nuthin' between Fort Stockton & Junction...don't know if they're open this month tho.

hmmmmm...

back in the day, trucks were sold as bare bones as possible because they were pieces of equipment rather than commuter vehicles, most being used until their wheels fell off and then put out to pasture. If hauling livestock or grain in the bed, large side boards would be used to extend all sides of the bed, rendering a center mounted rearview mirror useless. And as a piece of equipment, these trucks mostly carried only the driver, so passenger sun visors & arm rests were omitted often. Those who remember Western Auto stores know that they sold lots of aftermarket goodies, as well as stuff for the home. So rearview mirrors could have been one of them impulse buys made just like steering wheel covers or suicide knobs or beanbag ashtrays. But whut I'd like to know is why on God's green earth did Dodge put 80mph speedometers in these low-geared low-revvin' slow-brakin' beasts...I reckon the only way these trucks would see 80mph would be after going over the edge of a very tall cliff

swap the front tires and see if the problem moves

found some pics from '96, taken after the first road test:

there is a clip on the transmission that holds the cable housing in place below the floorboards, and another clip on the firewall:

this sounds very similar to a problem I wrassled with on my '48 for years...the engine idled fine, had plenty of power (for a stock flathead), and would idle fine when pushing in the clutch to coast at highway speed, but clutching while braking would cause the engine to stall. I tried to remedy this by setting the throttle to partially open, as this seemed to help while braking by not allowing the engine speed to drop below 1500 rpm. I rebuilt the Carter B&B carb annually and set it to specs, but that didn't improve the stalling issue. After over 10 years of this nonsense, I broke down and snagged a used carb off eBay for $20, cleaned & rebuilt it, and haven't had a problem since. I still have my original carb and have yet to perform a post-mortem on that cursed thing, but I have two suspicions: there may be a crack in the casting allowing the fuel to go where it shouldn't; or more than likely, one of the passages that has the check balls has some varnish in it that I haven't been able to boil out.

the dome light installs centered over the rear window, about 3 inches above the back panel. This places the dome light in the middle of the original headliner curve, as the light attached to the original cardboard. The light was grounded by a 10 inch lead to the cab in the same line as the back panel push pins, towards the driver side. One of the small improvements I plan on doing is to mount this dome light on a sheet metal bracket rather than attach to the headliner, possibly making the bracket the ground strap. From Bunn's Restorer's & Collector's Reference, a decent photo is on p.37, another is on p.137, and a brief view can be seen on p.134 & p.143.

The problem I've had with structural butt joints is cracking beyond the weld from vibration. A small crack will propagate parallel to the weld until joint failure. Looking at the location of the welding on this frame, it may be beneficial to box the frame from near the crossmember to the leaf spring hanger, as well as grinding the butt welds flush and adding fishplates to the channel outside web & flanges that extends about 4 inches beyond the butt weld. Boxplate & fishplate thicknesses should not exceed the thickness of the channel.

use a multi-meter to check for continuity between the circuit breaker posts...probably wouldn't hurt to pry the tabs back carefully on the drawer switch and clean the contacts, then apply dielectric grease to get the switch back in working order.

here are the filler caps from the '48 & the '49...they were painted black with a small vent hole in the middle, covered with a formed baffle that doubles as the mating lock onto the filler neck. From photos I've seen in Bunn's books, this cap looks to have been used from the late '30s to the early '60s.

...or ya could try doing this

after sitting for that long, ya might want to pull them out for complete disassembly & cleaning cuz those brushes are probably all crudded up and may have dirt dobber nests all up in cases. Purt'near any starter/alternator repair shop that can fix heavy equipment or big rig parts can work on these relics...the guy I use routinely has Caterpillar, John Deere, Mack & Peterbilt cores laid out on his counter to be picked up after he's given'm the business.

I reckon that extra room is so if ya brush up against the starter pedal (like bouncing down a country road at a high rate of speed), the starter won't engage.

Castrol CR is recommending 5W-50 over 20W-50...then recommends following the oem guidelines...hmmmmm

this seems to be fairly informative after the steering box has been adjusted.

I replaced the valve guides in the '49 with the motor in the truck using a procedure I read about in an old shop manual. Each tappet is bottomed out, and using the 5# hammer & a drift with a center pilot that I found at a local heavy equipment repair shop, I could drive the guides into the block until they were almost on top of the tappet. The valve guides are cast, so they can be fractured and knocked out of the way with a cold chisel. The guide can then be driven again; repeating this 3 or 4 times, the old guide is out of the way. Driving the new guide in with the same center pilot drift, they can be set in place per specifications. If the guide is over driven, a prybar seated on the back of the valve chamber can be used to ease the guide back out. This is a tedious process (with #6 akin to a game of Operation up against the firewall), but it can be done. The same old shop manual also had procedures for valve grinding, valve seat facing, and cylinder honing while the block was in the truck, albeit with special tools that I've never seen other than in books.

from what I've seen, the B-1 had uncoated square thread bolts screwed into J-nuts, the B-3 had fine thread bolts screwed into a type of U-nut...I haven't replaced any yet, but I'd see about using a phospate coated extruded U-nut with a zinc-plated coarse thread bolt because they are easy to get and are rarely seen. The extruded U-nuts distort at final bolt torque to lock the bolt in place, similar to a helical spring lockwasher. They work really well in sheet metal applications, and the modern coatings virtually eliminate corrosion at the threads.

If the entire brake system is being replaced, this would be the best time to switch to DOT 5 fluid to keep the moisture out. I've had DOT 5 in my '48 since '99, and so far, so good...the only leaks have been at a couple of tube flares that I had to do over, and the pedal is just as firm as it was after the first time I bled the air out. I tried to buy new master & wheel cylinders back in '99, but I could not find a supplier, even Roberts was out of stock. So I shipped my existing heavily pitted master & wheel cylinders off to White Post Restorations for brass sleeving, and $700 later, I had all "new" components. Of note, I had two "L" front wheel cylinders, and the truck brakes fairly straight. I later found one "R" front wheel cylinder, and plan on sending that one off to be sleeved someday on another project.

the problem with these cast iron bores is that after sitting for years, the moisture-saturated brake fluid starts to corrode the bores and pitting will be present, which is purt'near impossible to hone out without having to go back & sleeve the bores for a rebuild kit. By this point, it's easier to replace with new than bother fixing up the old stuff.

NICE

duct tape on the seat cover, vise grips for a window crank...that looks familiar BTW what is the dash knob in front of the steering wheel?