JBNeal

Orientation of the PCV valve depends on the type of valve. Some older valves have an internal spring, so they can be installed vertically or horizontally. Vacuum that can overcome the spring force will open the valve, and when vacuum drops, the spring closes the valve. These valve were hard to test without a vacuum gauge. Later PCV valves are much simpler designs, and are akin to a simple ball-check valve. Vacuum pulls the valve off of its seat, and gravity re-seats the valve since there is no internal spring. This type of check valve can only be mounted vertically so that it can function properly, and can be tested by shaking the valve & listening for the rattling noise of the freely floating check valve. The 'closed' system described is a bit of a misnomer as the modified oil filler vent caps do not have a true sealing surface to the oil fill tube. Closing off the oil filler vent vastly reduces the crankcase exposure to the environment, but doesn't completely seal it off. Chrysler's service bulletins regarding the installation of a PCV system on the flatheads shows the oil fill tube changed to accept a vent-less oil fill cap + gasket, as well as a port for venting to the air cleaner. If the oil fill tube is sealed off or the oil filler vent cap is sealed off without a provision for venting to the air cleaner, excess blow-by pressure will likely try to escape through the main seals or the dipstick tube. One thing that I have realized after studying the PCV discussion threads is that much like today's modern gasoline motors, the flathead requires two PCV sources, with one source using a PCV valve to the intake area and one routed from the crankcase to the air cleaner. At idle, the engine produces high vacuum at the intake, which opens the PCV valve to allow induction of blow-by gases. As vacuum drops with the increase in engine speed, the PCV valve closes, allowing blow-by gases to be metered by the PCV valve & excess pressure to be vented to the air cleaner. This subtle balancing act of the PCV valve on crankcase gases allows the engine to burn as much combustibles as possible, as well as remove moisture from the crankcase vapors. When adding a PCV system to the flathead, the carburetors need to be reset to account for the controlled vacuum leak being added to the induction system. Otherwise, idle speeds will more than likely be accompanied with an engine stall unless partial choke is applied.

Definitely go with a local muffler shop. When I was ready for the 1 ton to go street legal, I brought the original parts to Lamb's in Waco, they bent the parts using my template and ordered the muffler I wanted to keep things stock. I even had them make a new tailpipe for my 1/2 ton since all it had was a 3" down pipe behind the muffler, right under the bed. They used the 1 ton as a template for the over-the-axle bends, cut it 18" shorter, and it fit like a glove. I think I spent less than $200 for both trucks, cuz I only bought the parts and opted to do my own installation. If your exhaust is too far gone to be used as a template, then definitely have a local muffler shop take a look at it. More than likely they'll know what you'll need right away, only needing to know what kind of muffler you want and how you want the tail pipe to be routed. The $300 quote sounds kinda high, but if that is installed with high dollar parts then ya might just be in the ballpark.

When I had to file for a lost title to the '49 1 ton, eventually I had to get a rep from TX Dept.of Public Safety to do a verification inspection. At the appointment, I was reticent and answered all questions asked of me, without any anecdotes. He looked at the paperwork, glanced at that rusty beat-up Dodge, opened the hood to see the rusty dirty motor, and says to me "Yep, that's an old Dodge" and signed off on it. He didn't exactly verify every identification number because he knew that what he was doing was just a formality, and he told me in passing that his job was to look for stolen vehicles at auto salvage auctions. Unless there has been some obvious vehicle alterations, I don't reckon you should have a problem. btw, the DPS rep was wearing a sidearm, so that helped me in keeping my trap shut.

By putting about 4 capfuls of engine oil or diesel in the cylinders before start up, you are eliminating the dry friction that would result before the oil pump could force oil through the oil rings. I prefer diesel because it can provide some lubrication before startup and it burns off easier after startup. Engine oil could foul the plugs a little, but using fresh gasoline and running the engine for about an hour could clean the plugs off. Another suggestion is after the engine is running sufficiently to use an engine flush to remove any crud that may have accumulated in the internals. I prefer using a flush that requires to be added to the engine after it has reached operating temperature and only requires the engine to idle for about 10 minutes. A trick that I've been meaning to try is to put a plastic garbage back against the inlet side of the radiator so that the fan sucks the plastic against the honeycomb. This should allow the engine to warm up faster, allowing the engine oil to get heated enough to remove any crud in the internals. The mass of the flathead 6 engine block is so high that a great deal of heat is required to be generated in order to heat up the engine oil. Blocking off the radiator's ability to shed heat should allow the block to heat up faster.

ya might want to see if the valves move freely & aren't gummed up. Pull the cover off of the regulator and carefully clean the contacts, check the points in the distributor also. Definitely get some lubricant in the cylinders, the oil cups on the generator & distributor & prime the oil pump either by removing & submerging in engine oil or by cranking the engine with the ignition turned off. Put some compressed air through the radiator to flush out the dust & cobwebs. Consider draining the coolant and replacing with straight water, that should heat the motor up a little quicker, and might give ya an indication if there's a lot of crud in the jackets.

Surgical strike with the blow torch, you can try to blow it out into the water jacket, where it'll make ugly b-b's that'll need to be flushed out. The cast iron can take the residual heat as long as it is allowed to cool with ambient temperatures. If thread are waller'd out too much after chasing the threads clean, try the helicoil repair.

I've heard of some machine shops & speed shops that can rebuild bent driveshafts by cutting the yokes off of the old one & re-using them on a new tube, but it might be a li'l pricey. I'll have to check, but I'm a-thinkin' that the 126" w.b. uses the same axle & driveshaft as the Power Wagons.

On several farm PTO driven gearboxes I've worked on, I switched to Traveller lithium multi-purpose grease. It's thicker than gear oil, but thinner than higher quality wheel bearing greases such as Valvoline or StaLube. If the shafts are wore a little at the seals, the grease has a harder time leaking out than the oil. Also, any condensation that may form will bead up on top of the grease and can be removed easily with a paper towel at service intervals. The trick is submerging the gears with the grease. Turning the gears will force some of the grease up the walls of the gearbox, but vibration during vehicle travel eventually levels out the grease.

How'bout this li'l gem...anybody up for the challenge? It even has the optional hood ornament, heater & rear bumper!

Terrell Machine also sells valve guides & valves, as well as fuel pump rebuild kits. I took a day off & drove up to DeLeon and got visit the shop, it's a nice li'l operation.

Yep, washed the engine compartment on my '48 after I got it all put back together years ago...then got to pull the starter & later the generator back out to clean the innards as both stopped working. It seems that the oily residue that I wanted to clean off of the motor deposited itself on the brushes and resistance went sky high. On the bright side, this made for good practice as it only took about half the time to do this the second time around.

Here's a useful chart to take a gander at. I prefer using Chevron (green) or Valvoline (red) #2 wheel bearing grease, I've used it for years and it appears stable after lotsa hours of use. The Tractor Supply variety Traveller brand appears thin and I've seen it get slung out of high speed bearings. The #4 grade is excellent for lubricating speedometer & weedeater cables, it's thin but sticky. I've used #5 grease (yellow) to assemble gaskets on flanges and for other assembly chores, as well as slow moving bearings as it is very thick & sticky...it's kinda like RTV but takes much longer to dry out. When ya play around with enough grease lubricant, like concrete, you can go by feel as to how effective it will be for a certain application.

I had assumed that the gasket for the road draft tube would fit on the adapter but haven't done the research in the parts book to see if that was valid. At any rate, sealing the adapter should reduce crankcase contamination & reduce vacuum loss when the PCV valve is open.

ditto...t'ain't nuthin' to keep them rings from rotating, but statistically it'll take a while for the rings to all line up if the gaps are far from each other.

I hate to put a damper on yer enthusiasm, but ya might want to take a systematic approach to component inspection before sparking some charged air. If that engine has been sitting in the Texas heat for decades, odds are every seal from timing chain cover to rear main is crunchy and the valves might be gummed up in their guides. What bugs me about that truck is why was it parked in the first place, that kind of information would be gold. My '48 was parked for 20 yrs by my Dad cuz it ran fine but burned oil; turns out the rings were stuck, no internal damage. My '49 was parked purty much for the same reason for 20 yrs, as evidence to the crud I scooped out of the oil pan & water jackets. Both have leaky main & cover seals that I will need to address asap cuz I'm not allowed to park in certain driveways & local parking lots. A few suggestions to mull over: if the oil looks ok, see if you can drain it out & re-use it. If the pan plug can be removed but sludge is blocking it, see if ya can get the sludge out with like a coat hanger or other stiff wire. I've taken one, bent it so it can swing around inside the pan, and taken samples from the '48 to see if any crud has built up in the past ten years. Inspect the valve area for valve + lifter movement. If they are gummed up & there is lots of sludge in the chambers, get some good parts cleaner and a stiff nylon brush & have no mercy on the enemy. Getting that area moving freely is a must. Pull the distributor & soak the advance mechanism in Marvel Mystery Oil. Those little parts freeze up and you'll have heck getting the motor to run right. Cap rotor points condensor might be in order if they are too far gone. Odds are the vacuum advance diaphragm is toast, so don't expect too good of performance without replacement. I eventually sent my distributors off to a pro in Michigan who tore down, cleaned, serviced & tested them on the right equipment. It cost a few bucks, but so far so good... Remove the cover from the regulator & inspect the points. Clean, square points are best for the 6V system. The innerds might be full of spider eggs & whutnot and that will need to be blown out. I highly recommend pulling the generator & starter and taking them to be serviced by a pro. I had them take'm apart, cleaned them thoroughly, replaced all the critical parts with new, lubricated and tested for less than $75/each. With the exception of a starter pinion shearing after 5 years, those electrical parts have been trouble-free. Check with Bigham Implement or Williamson Cty. Equipment for recommendations if ya don't already have a guy. As for the carburetor, check the air horn for the model & order a kit. The kit will have an exploded view of the assembly, as well as installation instructions. Once disassembled, soak it in parts cleaner for a couple of days to get all the varnish & crud softened up. Get a small stiff wire, such as a strand form a copper wire, and snake out any visible passages carefully. Shoot compressed air in all of the passages, assemble & prime. The fuel pump will need the same attention, but this can be bypassed with a temporary gravity feed gas can. Anyhow, that's a lot of work but it will save a lot of headaches. It's not a full engine teardown, but it'll address some critical areas that can bring about a satisfactory end result.

I've done stick welding on sheet metal, with the electrode as the negative & ground as positive, following a method I read in an old welder's book. The trick is to stitch the weld to keep from burning through the base metals. Some older body work I've found appears to be done with oxy-acetyl, either done well or done marginally, but either way the base metals did not appear to have distorted or burned through.

Yep, it's do-able: Instruments are similar, but instrument housings are different.

Original wiring harnesses should be discarded, IMO, even if the conductors are intact. I've seen the cloth insulation rot away inside the factory electrical tape sections and things get kinda warm & gooey after that. A battery disconnect is a great idea, especially if the vehicle isn't driven every day. A simple knife switch from the battery to the ground cable works on my IH diesel tractor. I reckon I'm gonna try to put one on the firewall of the Dodge to have an engine compartment accessible emergency shutoff. Most of the lights & gauges are grounded to the chassis, and this is a problem whenever any corrosion is present. The 6V systems don't have enough oomph to overpower the added resistance, and this affects light & guage performance. I've run a separate ground lead from the fuel level sending unit to the battery, which has yielded more accurate gauge readings. I plan on running a ground lead to all lights, especially the brake lights.

'48 B1B108: bought new by my great grandfather, was his first new farm truck when he was 68. My first memories are of riding in that truck when I was still in diapers. Dad parked it by the barn in '78 cuz it was burning oil and the brakes were iffy and he didn't have the time to fix it & farm 1000 acres by himself. I was told when I was 13 that if I fixed it up, I could have it. I had been fixin' up lawnmower flatheads & furniture, so I graduated to workin' on a bigger flathead with a windshield. '49 B1D126: saw it on eBay back in early '01 but didn't bid on it. It showed up several more times during the summer, so I emailed the owner who was in the Panhandle, a good day's drive just to get there. His health had started to deteriorate, and he didn't have the energy to fix up that hulk after years of trying to get started on it. So end of September, I went up there & picked it up...paid too much for it, but live & learn I reckon. That guy had it for 5 years, where his cats hung out during the winter (I'm guessin' that's why I don't have any problems with rats getting into that machine parked next to a corn field). The guy who owned it before him was the son of the original owner, who parked it in '84 after years of farm use in western Oklahoma. '53 B3B116: Parts truck that my neighbor told me about. The previous owner had dismantled it to hot-rod it; tossed the drivetrain, stripped all the sheetmetal, primed all but the back of the cab, then lost interest in '02. It sat rotting in his mother's front yard and was slated to be hauled to the junk yard because his mother was going into a nursing home and her house was being sold to make way for an elementary school. '51 B3B108: Parts truck I spotted in 2000 in a Waco salvage yard stacked on top of two Tradesman vans. The yard owner told me it wasn't for sale because it had been sold to a guy in Florida. In 2008, I saw it out front of the same salvage yard...when I asked the owner what happened to the guy in Florida, he just looked at me funny. I then talked him down to half the price he was asking for it to keep it from going to the crusher. '52 B3B108: found here (thanks tonybiel) with complete drivetrain and a title; grille is from a B1/B2, bed is a low-side that has seen better days...thinkin'bout takin' what's left of the '51 and putting on this one. '51 B3D126: found here (thanks jakenoklahoma)...it needs a little work '53 B4B116: found on CL (Mansfield) listed for $1 by an older gent with medical issues...in surprisingly good shape for a truck that's been baking in the TX sun for over half a century '48 B1D116: found on CL (Marble Falls) listed for a few bucks by a kid who was under orders by the city to clean up his property...the Dodge car engine has all kinds of cracks in it from maybe being dropped off of a bridge or something, the interior is gutted, the bed wood is long gone, and there's not a lick of paint on it, but the rims & original early '48 bed fenders are in good shape. '50 B2D116: found on CL (Dallas) listed for a few bucks, worked out a trade for a spare cab and a couple of doors...the Dodge car engine isn't running but turns, the grille, rims & some of the interior parts are salvageable, the rest is "practice material"

The dimmer switch is supplied voltage from the headlight switch and directs it to the low beams or to the high beams + dash indicator. With a multimeter, check continuity between two of the three terminals. Toggle the dimmer switch; if continuity stays, then those two terminals are your output to the lights.

that sounds alot like how "Hansel & Gretel" got in trouble

BTW another advantage of drilling out with progressively larger bits is that the metal will gradually get hotter, causing some expansion of the surface of the threads. On some occasions, I've drilled on a busted bolt and eventually the remains of the bolt grabbed the sides of the bit...I then was able to back out the bolt with the drill bit, just like an extractor would.

How'bout some teflon tape on the tube nut threads, that might help. I fudged a li'l bit & put some teflon on the end of the tube just shy of the flare, then teflon on the nut. If your flares have any distortion or tears, they won't seat on the brass mating surface cleanly. Brass is supposed to form to steel taper threads, but I've found that a li'l teflon fills in any gaps that might form.

if ya look close at the pic of the tipped-over air filter housing, the carb.mounting gasket is directly below it on the fuel pump splash guard. This gasket is found in a Fel-Pro gasket set, probably 3/32" thk rubber or thereabouts. Your plastic 'crush' gasket sounds just as good, if it doesn't deteriorate from heat+vibration.

I went so far as carefully prying the tabs open and cleaning the innerds real good with rubbing alcohol, let air dry, then coated with the dielectric grease and put back together...did the same thing with the headlight switch. If'n that don't work, you can always bypass this switch & wire directly to the headlight switch...that way, when ya hit the headlights, the panel lights fire up too, just like in modern automobiles.