Merle Coggins

If you're at 6 BTDC now, and you're shootin' for 4 ATDC from your manual's spec, you need to retard the timing, not advance it. Anyway, your manual's spec probably isn't relevent to your engine now. You stated that you have a performance manifold and head, so you may need to use the advice from the other guys and adjust by feel until it runs good without any detonation under load. Merle

Now you've got it. I can't determine from the photo which direction we are looking at the pully, but if we are looking at the pully from the right side of the vehicle, than your lower mark would be 4 deg ATDC. If viewing from the left side, it's 4 deg ATDC. Depends on the direction of rotation. When rotating the engine in the normal direction of rotation, does the 4 deg mark get to the pointer before or after the "0" mark?

Well, after saving your picture and opening it up with another program so I could zoom in on it, it looks like your red arrow is pointing at 15 degrees (before?). Your blue arrow is pointing to 11 degrees on the other side of TDC (after?). About half way between your two arrows is a mark with a "0" on either side of it. This would be TDC. I don't see the timint pointer in your photo. Merle

Robert, By the style of the nose and doors, that's a '48-'50 model. (if the parking brake is a lever through the floor, it's a '48 or '49. If the park brake is cable operated with a handle under the dash, it's a '50) And it looks like it's a 1 ton. Is the serial # tag on the cab post by the drivers side door? The 1 ton trucks had the 230 CID engine. Is the P26 engine also a 230? Merle

Byron, Just put a stamp on the corner and lean it up against the mail box. Then set up a camera to see the postman's espression when he arrives. :D Bryan, You could set the boards in place and then mark the hole locations through the bed side flange. Then remove the boards and drill away. Merle

Lookin' good, Dave. By the way... what's that rear bumper off of? It's not an original B-Series bumper, is it? It looks good though. Merle

Welcome Tom, Interesting user ID. Care to elaborate? You've got a nice lookin' truck there. Is it road worthy? Anyway, you'll find the serial number stamped into the left front frame rail, just ahead of the front axle. I borrowed this pic from the DEPTCA site for your reference. Merle

I don't think my wheel wells are big enough for 23' rims. If he wants $1800 for the rims, what will the tires cost? The other problem I forsee... Most overpass bridges are around 14 - 16 feet high. How you gonna get 23' wheels under them?

The T334 would appear to be a truck engine, but not from a Pilot House light duty truck. '51 - '53 engines are listed as T306 (218) in a 1/2 ton, T308 (218) in a 3/4 ton, T310 (230) in a 1 ton, or T137 (230) in a Power Wagon. My guess is that it's either newer than '53 or its a big block from a medium duty truck. What's the length of the engine? Merle

WOW!!! How bad is your's? I had both my generator and starter cleaned and gone through for that price. I do have a spare gen, but I can't confirm it's condition. Merle

There are several options here... There's Robert's Motor Parts http://www.robertsmotorparts.com/index.html Or Andy Bernbaum Auto Parts http://www.oldmoparts.com/a.htm Or Clester's Auto Restorations http://www.clestersauto.com/dodge1.htm#Weatherstrip%20Packages Or Dodge City Truck Parts http://www.antiquedodgeparts.com/wthrstrptrk.htm#48 Or Steele Rubber Products (highly recommended) http://166.82.96.3/homeframes.html There may be others too, but these are the ones I've come across. Merle

Emails through this site get caught by my spam filters. I regularly check my spam folders before I clear them out, and I've found emails from guys here. If I tell it that it's not spam it'll come through the next time, but only from that one preson. I can't get it to allow the entire domain name. Merle

You'd need to put a votage reducer (resistor) in the power wire that's feeding the gauge. This will let your gauge work at 6V again. Merle

Hey Joe, I don't remember seeing this post on the truck side, but it's a good question. I found a screw type jack and handle amungst a bunch of junk in the bed of my truck. It's too rusty to be of any use, but I wondered if it was original to the truck. Merle

If you're gonna fit a Detroit 6-71, why not mate it up to a more modern Fuller or Roadranger trans with OD? Merle

I believe T137 is a Power Wagon code. It'll probably be a 230.

Napa has master cylinders. That's where I got mine, but I don't have the P/N handy. You could bleed the M/C by cracking the line loose like a bleed screw. Also, be sure that the hole is open between the reservoir and the M/C bore. If it's plugged you'll get no fluid down to where it can do the work. Merle

Why couldn't you run both pipes down the right side together, then split one off to the left side near the back?

I was kind of thinking the same thing, Brad.

Well John, that's definatley not a truck engine. The correct engine for your truck would have a T306 (or is it T308) designation. It would have been a 218CID engine. Is your current engine the short block engine (23" long) or the longer engine (25" long)? That might help narrow it down some. I'm sure these car guys will have an answer for you. I thing the "C" represents a Chrysler engine, but I thought they only used the long engines. Merle

With all the recent postings regarding the value of our Mopar trucks and cars, I now see how to increase the value... All you have to do is put a Chebby 350 in it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1942-Dodge-Pickup-Original-Steel-Cab-Doors_W0QQitemZ290150404739QQihZ019QQcategoryZ6197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Fred, When you pull out your starter, have a look at the flywheel teeth. If they have sharp square edges, than you have the problem that Justin mentioned. If the teeth have chamfered edges, you're good to go. From my experience, some ring gears are flippable, others are not. Another fix for a worn ring gear is to remove it and turn it several degrees. Engines have a tendency to stop in roughly the same place most of the time. Because of this, the ring gears tend to wear out in 1 or 2 areas. By turning the gear several degrees you will now be using a virtually unused portion of the gear. However at this point there's no way to tell where it was originally since it's been removed, flipped, and reinstalled once already. If you have to pull out the flywheel again I suggest a new ring gear for peace of mind. Merle

WOW, a 6V53. I've worked on many of those. I had to change a blower on one once, and after I got it together I had to set the rack and check the RPM. This engine had a no load rpm of 4500. DAMN, that thing SCREAMED! That's the highese RPM I've ever dealt with on a diesel engine. Those 6V53's have a very distince sound. A fellow I used to work with (long since retired) would call them "converter engines" because all they did was convert fuel into noise. Merle

Norm, I'm guessing the reduction in oil consumption may have something to do with the fact that the so called "diesel oil" is a heavier grade than what they were using. A common oil grade used in truck and equipment diesel engines is a 15w40. As for your misconception regarding diesels not using oil... well my friend, I've got a lot to teach you. Diesel engines use the same type of lubrication system that you are used to in your car's engine. The main difference between a gasoline engine and a diesel engine in the fuel system. In stead of mixing the intake air with gas vapor, as in a gas engine, the intake air is drawn in unrestricted and clean. The fuel (diesel fuel oil) is then injected under extreme pressure (3000 - 5000 in a conventional engine, and up to 30,000 psi in the new Tier III emission engines). This fuel is injected into the compressed air and creates the combustion. Otherwise it's just a normal 4 stroke engine. Now to add some confussion, GM (Detroit Diesel) used to make 2 stoke diesel engines. However, you didn't mix the fuel with the oil like you would with your chain saw or weed wacker. These engines will not run without a blower. You've no doubt seen these blowers on performance engines. The blower that you'd mount on your Chebby 350 is basicly a Detroit Diesel blower (usually from a 53 or 71 series engine). A Detroit Diesel with a blower is considered "Natrally Asperated", but with a turbocharger it's considered "Super Charged". On these engines there is a ring of intake ports in the cylinder liner. When the piston gets near the bottom of it's stroke it uncovers these ports the air is forced into the cylinder by the blower, and at the same time forces the exhaust out through the exhaust valves in the head. The piston then travels up, compressing the air, fuel is injected, BOOM, Power stroke, piston reached the bottom, intake/exhaust, compression, Boom, etc. But even these engines had a typical pressurized lubrication system with an oil sump, oil pump, filters, etc. End of class. Please return next week when we discuss tune-ups in "Diesel Engines 101" Merle

I believe what you guys are referring to with your "diesel oil" has more to do with the additive packages in the oil, not the oil it's self. Oils marketed for modern automotive engines are without many of the additives that help our older engines. As I recall one of them is Zinc, and the others I forget (maybe molybdenum?). Anyway, oils sold for diesel engines don't have to meet those tighter emission standards so they can still have those additives. Even automotive oils that don't fall into the tight emission standards may be OK. Usually anything 10w40 or heavier will be OK. It's the 10w30's, 5w30's and lighter that are recommended for modern emission engines. That's the way I've understood it lately anyway, Merle