Dodgeb4ya

I`ve always used brass 1-5/8" soft plugs in all my flathead rebuilds. They are forever. Just clean the soft plug (Welch) plug recess and check for pitting too. Bob

Here is a picture of a 53 Dodge Ram ornament.

Here is a picture of one of those Torque shaft spring clips that are missing on a lot of old Mopars! I think maybe 2 are used but cannot remember for sure. With 2 installed if there are 2 grooves, the engine side 1/2 bearing halves won`t pop out when greasing the torque shaft! Bob

The 3.36 Chrysler 8 cyl. pumpkin mounting gasket is a different size (bigger) than the smaller 6 cyl. cars and pickups. I don`t think it will bolt into the housing. The car to truck axle housings also have the spring perches swapped top to bottom. Bob

1949 Plymouth`s original rubber floormats had " jute" backing- horsehair glued to the underside of the rubber floor mats front and rear and were just laid down over the floor. Plymouth Belvedere`s 2 Dr Hardtops`s in 1952- had factory carpets front and rear . I think that was the start of front and rear carpeting for Plymouth. Bob

Here is a picture of a magnetic "KD" valve keeper installer tool on left and a better type 'Sunnen" installer on right. Bob

B-1&2 steering boxes have a different part#`s than B-3&4 series do. Guts are the same but the steering shaft angle means different mounting ears on the steering box castings. Info from the 1948-53 Dodge truck parts book. Bob

I bought a full gallon of old stock (dated 1961) water pump grease on Ebay never opened for $34.00. It`s the brown waxy pump grease. Good for your washing machine pumps too! Bob

Look under the car for large washer marks on the underside of the car- a sure sign of seat belts. Bob

Maybe a planter box? Just kidding or probably seat belts. Bob

Too small of point gap means large dwell angle which then causes slow ignition timing which then can cause more gas pedal application to get the rig going and this also causes combustion pressures/temeratures to be higher which loads up the compression rings and of course somewhat poorer gas economy and......................Well,, probably good idea to check points and timing to eliminate all of the above!! Bob

Thanks guys- I`ll call the above Ph.#. The cones (2 speakers) are torn badly. ED, I got the distributor today! Thanks a million!!! Bob

Anyone know of a reliable person or company that repairs or recone`s speakers? I need to get a couple of 802 radio speakers for my Chyslers done. Bob

You do not need to take off the solenoid or the govenor off on the 1946-8 "Fluid Drive" M-5 transmissions, even on the convertibles. They are just really heavy! Bob

The OD pictured by Greg is an R-7 41-2 model. Bob

Some of the old Dixco tachs (late 60`s had a resistor that you could remove to change to a 6cyl/6 volt. I still have it in my 52 Dodge P/U. Still works after 25 years!

The market for it is at Barrett Jackson!

HyDrive gear ratio`s are as follows- 1st gear 2.37:1, 2nd gear 1.68:1, 3rd 1:1,reverse is 3.46:1. Regular 3-spd/OD trans ratio`s are 1st gear 2.57:1, 2nd gear 1.83:1, 3rd 1:1. If a HyDrive input shaft/cluster and or all the Hydrive front case gears are put into a OD front case it should work. You need to use a OD front case(front case is drilled for the lockout shaft) or a complete OD trans to do a HyDrive OverDrive combo. Bob

HyDrive torque converters were prone to failure-the internal vanes failing/oil leakage ect, causing sluggo performance! Engine oil changes were more complicated and on and on! But--- yes just put a HyDrive input shaft and possibly the cluster gear in an OD trans and you will have a "HyDrive/OverDrive" !! Oh and HyDrives use a different 2nd gear ratio too, causing possibly cluster gear swap too. Bob

I put a "265 Chrysler 6" 8 hole crank in my 52 dodge pu and used the original 218 3 speed 4 hole flywheel set up W/ no problems. Up to 48 a wide ring gear is used and 1949 and later a thinner ring gear I think 3/8" is used through 1954. You have to watch clutch cover clearance and use at least "grade 5" nuts/bolts for the flywheel. I`ve done a few of these years past. Bob

Too high of an idle can cause dieseling.The choke not being open all the way vertical will pull up the fast idle cam for a higher idling speed. Check the fast idle cam. Back fire out the exhaust can be caused by too rich of a fuel mixture /needle and seat leaking? -and too high an idle shut down speed-- and the muffler being very hot igniting the rich fuel. Old Datsuns and chevy Luv`s would always backfire on shut down if the Idle shutdown solenoid and diverter valves were not funtioning correctly. Warm idle speed has to be correct. As mentioned -check distributor points/ gap timing and internal wiring too. Bob

Chrysler C38 6 cyl U-joint part# is 947550. Same front and rear. These joints are not like modern U-joints because 2 of the caps have bolt hole ears on them. Bob

Len Dawson has been in the NOS Mopar business for years and years. I`ve met him and bought parts from him for some customers cars. His prices are TOO HIGH, but they are clean nice NOS parts. He has a large -extremely well organized inventory of NOS Mopar parts in a spotless warehouse building. He is a perfectionist type of guy. Guess thats why he charges a LOT! He`s honest to deal with though! Bob

Here are a couple pics of your U-joints. To pull the driveshaft undo the (8) 1/2" nuts at the front and rear U-joints, wedge the driveline rear end U-joint away from the rear axle pinion flange-then carefully wedge/work the front driveline U-joint off the 4 studs at the rear of the transmission brake drum. Keep the U-joint caps W/ the ears from falling off the driveshaft U-joints while removing the driveshaft. Then on the bench you can do further assembly. Mark the U-joint caps and yokes so you can reassemble exactly as they were. The round U-joint caps are pressed into the driveshaft as are most modern day rear wheel drive cars and trucks are. These U-joints are kinda hard to come by. The clips on the inside of the U-joint caps (4) keep the U-joint caps from moving sideways-both in the driveshaft and in the rear axle pinion/transmission mounting yokes. Bob

42 was the only year!