knuckleharley

ALL 6 volt engines turn over slow. You would swear your battery is going bad if you didn't know better.

It's worth more than $300 in parts,even if it has a rod hanging out the block. Go on ebay and search for a cast iron exhaust manifold,head,starter,etc,etc,etc for a 230 and see what I mean. I have no idea what the 2-speed auto will sell for,but I'd be shocked if you couldn't get 300 out of it even if it needed new clutches. They ain't makin that stuff no mo,slim! BTW,yes,the 55 230 makes more power than the 48 230. I bought a 55 Ply parts car to get the rebuildable (IF it needs rebuilding,I was told it ran good,but ain't we all be told that at one time or another?) 230 to rebuild and put in my 42 Dodge coupe. IIRC,it makes around 30 more hp stock than the earlier 230's. I think this is mostly due to increased compression and a better head. Don't quote me on that,though. My memory sucks.

Thanks!

DAMN! I have sworn off buying any more old cars,and here you pop up with a good one at a good price,and it's not even that far from me. MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE CARS,MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE CARS,MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE CARS,MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE CARS,MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE CARS! My prediction is that one isn't going to last long.

Got another PET scan on the 18th. Wasn't scheduled,but I had serious night sweats every night for about two weeks so I called my cancer doc,told her about it,and she scheduled me for one in the first opening available. Night sweats are caused by your body heating itself up to fight off an infection or disease,and can be one sympthom that Lymphoa (the type I have) or two other types of cancer are returning. . When I say fever,I am not not talking about a typical fever. I am talking about a fever so high and lasting so long you lose weight and can't remember a damn thing. I would black out with no warning while sitting in a chair watching tv,and wake up 3 hours later soaked in sweat. Change clothes,towel down,and stat watching tv again,and the same thing would happen again. 3 or 4 times a night. Boys and girls,if any of you or anyone you know starts having night sweats more than 1 or 2 nights in a row,get thee or them to a cancer doc right away to be tested. Early treatment is EVERYTHING. One or two nights in a row could be your body fighting something like a flu or something similar. Every night for more than a week means you need to pay attention to it. Might not be cancer,but it doesn't cost that much to find out,and can cost an unbearable amount of grief and money if it is cancer and you ignore early warning signs. I am an Agent Orange vet. Got medi-evaced from VN in early 69 because of it and had no idea what it was. The goobermint obviously knew it was more serious than the Tropical Acne they called it in my records because it got me booted from SF and off jump status because I couldn't wear web gear or a parachute harness. Acne isn't a permanent disability,and if they really thought it was just acne,I would have been put on a temporary physical profile,not a permanent one.

Forgot to look while I was out there feeding the shop cats. Chemo brain,AKA "CRS".

Thanks,Greg!

Ed,just out of curiousity,what was the factory color for the flat 6's of the 40's and 50's ? First one my family owned was a 51 in the late 50's,and the engine no longer had a speck off paint on it anywhere. I now own a stock 55 Plymouth parts car with the original engine in it,and not a speck of paint anywhere on that one,either. Was this because their paint sucked,and couldn't stand the heat? If not,what did cause it?

Can't speak for anyone else,but *I* was not offended in any way.

Thanks. I never really paid any attention to the engine when I bought the car. It had already been taken out,and I was told by the previous owner that "It's too worn out to rebuild,so I bought the 318 siting next to the car to replace it." Since both came with the car,I took both home,thinking I would sell the 318 and put the flat 6 in it. Then I found and bought a 1955 Plymouth flat 6 to put in it. When the 33 sells at my estate sale,the pround new owner will also get the worn original engine and trans to do with as he wishes.

Don'/t get SS tubing for brake and fuel lines. Depending on what mixture you get,it can be brittle and crack after vibrating. Buy the new copper-nickel brake line tubing available everywhere. Cheap,you can bend it with your hands without it kinking,and it wil never rust in or out. You can probably buy enought to do your brake lines and gas lines for 30 bucks or so. Haven't bought any in a few years,and chemo has destroyed my memory,so don't quoe me on the price. Just stop in at your local NAPA store and ask them how much for a roll long enough to do your brake lines,and a roll long enough to do your fuel lines. While you are there,buy new rubber brake lines to replace your old ones,regardless of how good they look.

Or/AND carry a fire extinguisher. I carry one,and it saved my 48 Plymouth coupe from burning to the ground one day when it backfired in the carb and caught on fire.

I dunno about "too worn to economically repair". I worked in a machine shop in Denver in the late 70's that did nothing but rebuild camshafts and crankshafts. We even welded broken ones back together,chromed the journals,and turn them back down to stock specs. The owners liked racing,so even a few "one off" stroker cranks were welded up for racing engines. I was told it was the largest crankshaft rebuilder in the nation,and we even rebuilt a few that were 16 feet long and came out of the huge trucks used in the salt mines. Have no idea what it cost to rebuild one of those cranks,but I'm pretty sure the bill would scare you. The bread and butter was regular automotive cams and cranks for distributors,though. People like "NAPA stores". And we kept busy doing it. They had already been in business (2 brothers) for something like 18 years when I was hired there,and their "plant" was a whole city block when you included warehouses for shipping. We even got in cranks to rebuild from as far away as Australia and Europe. That business wouldn't have been as successful as it was if it cost that much to rebuild cranks. Granted,we did our own welding and chroming in-house,but it still wasn't "Free". They were great guys to work for,too. A couple of their original employees were still working there when they hired me.

Yeah,you actually get to drive the damn things,not just point them where you want to go.

My "good truck" is a 3/4 ton 4x4 GMC turbo diesel. Best damn truck I have ever owned,and has torque up the yahoo. It's beein paid off for several years,and will get sold at my estate sale. My daily "don't give a damn,drive it in any weather truck" is a 2016 Chevy half-ton 4x4. I bought it because the Chev dealer offered me the best deal and I liked the Chev truck styling a lot more than the Dodge. My ex is trying to buy it off me now,and I'm tempted to sell it to her. Don't really need it,and it would free up some money to spend on my project cars/trucks. It's just a "tool",so I really don't care about "losing" it.

I understand,and I also understand what inflation and rarity has done to antique or just plain obsolete auto parts. 60 grand ain't what it used to be. Still a lot of money,but just a couple of decades ago you could buy a nice new house in many areas with 60 grand. Now it's more like a downpayment. I am GUESSING there isn't a lot of dollar difference between buying a buildable 392 core and then building it and a Torqueflite up,to buying a new hi-po hemi,wiring harness,and transmission. If it were me and I was building a show car,I'd go with a blown 392. If I were going for a car to drive and enjoy that had a stunning amount of power,I'd go with the new computer engine and trans combo. I am sure there are members here who could pretty much quote us fairly accurate prices on both off the top of their heads,but I ain't one of them. I know for a fact I can't afford and don't even want either,so I have never bothered to check it out. I am one of those "keep it simple" guys that prefers "daily driver in good weather" cars and trucks. I have modern trucks and cars to drive in bad weather. I do LOVE slant 6's and 318's because they are damn near indestructable,though. I suppose the 360's are too,but have never had a car or truck that had one in it. I even have a new factory crate 318 and AOD for my 37 Dodge 4x4 1.5 ton truck. I am redoing it to sell,but I am also redoing it to keep and drive if nobody wants it. Can't go wrong that way.

So my 33 Dodge engine won't look different than a 46 Dodge engine on the outside? BTW,what is the displacement on an original 33 Dodge car engine?

" 1957-1958 Chrysler 392 seems a good start" REALLY? You need a new tape measure. I AM beginning to understand your 60 grand budget,though. If you want to "dress to impress",why not go for a 426 hemi or a Max Wedge? Or mo betta,a new hemi with all the computer advances and wiring/controls on it? It is a LOT smaller and lighter,and makes more power to boot. IF it were me,I'd go with a 318-340-360. The 340's make more power,but are almost stoopid expensive these days with the original heads on them. Then again,if you are not going to race the car,go with a 318 and dress it up a little . I have seen a 33 Plymouth coupe with a blown 392 in it,and there wasn't a whole lot of room and truthfully,the guy driving it didn't seem to be having all that much fun. Maybe he was just having a bad day,or maybe he didn't recess the firewall enough for idling around a swap meet on a 95 degree day with a chrome engine with a blower and most everything else covered with chrome? Your money,your car,but why not make it into something you will enjoy driving every day if you decide you want to?

Thank you! I did not know this. Got to try to remember to take a look at the flat 6 engine that came with my 33 Dodge that I was TOLD was the "original engine".

Frankly,I am more than a little surprised those things are still easy to find. I have never thought they would be very secure,and there are better ways of transporting things than trusting a suction cup system that still exposes your cargo to wind and rain .

My biggest concern about drilling holes for a roof rack are destroying the headliner. They are expensive and hard to install. Go for the ones that strap/clamp to the rain gutters.

If the plugs look clean,NOT NEW,the engine shows compression when your turn it over by hand,and the oil looks to be used and good,not new,it looks like a hell of a deal to me. Let's face it,the trans,bellhousing,and pedals being a part of the deal really sweetens it,and 500 bucks ain't what it used to be. . Neither is the ready availability of complete motor and tranmission units. The trans is easy to check. Put it in neutral and pull the top plate with the shift lever,and look at the gears and brass rings. Truthfully,that trans and bellhousing witht he pedals,clutch,and pressure plate is probably worth 500 bucks these days to a lot of people. OOPS! Just noticed it was from a 1950 pu. Wouldn't that make it a 218?

My first job was as the only deckhand on my uncle's 38 Foot shrip boat the summer I was 14. Worked at construction site clean up the next summer,and after that I worked as a mechanic trainee/grease rack monkey at the local Jeep dealership. Joined the army as "airborne unassigned" on my 17th birthday,and was in for 7 years before what later became known as Agent Orange put me out of the army with a disability check of something like 50 bucks a month.

MY serious suggestion is "don't",for a couple of reasons. Number 1 is a stock 283 doesn't produce enough HP or torque to make the expense and the work worth the effort. Not even if you already have it. The second reason is I am one of the crazy people that like flatheads and semi-original or orignal cars,and since you obviously have no intention of making a street racer out of it,why not spend the same or less money to fix the flat 6 you already have? After all,all you are going to do is drive the car,and people had no problem driving them cross country back in the 40's and 50's. Just make sure you rebuild the brakes with NEW parts (NOT NOS parts that have been sitting on a shelf for 40 years),and fix anything suspiscious in the steering/handling. Finally,since this is a Mopar board and you now have a Mopar,why not put a 318 or a 360 in it if you decide to go with a V-8? Or even a 340 if you have deep pockets? It ain't like it would cost you a pile of money compared to the Chevy swap,providing you stay away from 340 hi-po engines. Chances are you could even find a good 318 a LOT cheaper than a good 283-350.

Sure is pretty, LOVE the blue,too!