Merle Coggins

Welcome to the ‘family’, Carl, When I got my truck the engine was in worse shape than yours. It was also seized tight. The head had already been removed and there was some concoction of ATF and who knows what in the cylinders. There was also a fair amount of water that had filled them again. My truck also has Fluid Drive and since I couldn‘t rotate the crank I couldn’t get all of the nuts off to detach it. So I laid the engine on it’s side (didn't have an engine stand at the time), removed all of the bearing caps, and slid the crank out the bottom. Once it was out I could easily remove the FD coupling. Then I went to work on the cylinders. I used a wire wheel and a flapper wheel sanding drum to remove as much of the rust scale as I could. I then used blocks of wood and a large hammer to get the pistons out. I first had to drive them down a little bit to get that last bit of rust scale, then I could drive them up and out. As Keith said, don’t beat on the rods to avoid any damage. The pistons will be replaced anyway, so they are sacrificial. Once I had the pistons out I turned my focus to the valves. They were also seized tight into the valve guides. The heads and valve seats were also badly rusted. I used my large Channel Lock pliers to grip the cam sprocket and I was able to turn it back and forth a little at a time until all valves had been pushed fully open. That allowed me to remove the camshaft and tappets. Then I could hammer the valves back closed. A couple of valve heads snapped off at that time as I wasn’t being careful to save them. Once closed again I could remove the springs. Then I used a long punch to drive the valves out from the bottom. I took everything to a local engine/machine shop. At 0.030” over bore the cylinders cleaned up enough to be useable. There were still a few small pits in the cylinder walls but it hasn’t effected it’s ability to run. He also replaced the damaged valve seats and guides, decked the block and milled the head. I reassembled it with new pistons, valves, and etc. It’s been running great for nearly 18 years.

I believe there isn't a bushing on the clutch pedal because it isn't designed to move on the shaft except when making an adjustment. The bracket that is keyed to the shaft locks onto the pedal with a couple of adjusting screws. When you step down on the pedal it reacts with the bracket to rotate the shaft with it. The brake pedal, on the other hand, will rotate around the clutch shaft when depressed so it needs a bushing and grease. Some trucks do have bushings in their clutch pedals, such as on my truck. My truck has Fluid Drive and the clutch setup is different. My pedal rides on a fixed shaft along with the brake pedal. Both pedals have bushings and grease fittings. The clutch pedal then connects to an adjustable connecting rod that in turn connects to the clutch shaft.

I could only play the video on my iPhone. It wouldn't play on my Windows computer. It's a raging stream/creek

I've said it for years now... If sense was common more people would have it.

Hopefully some of the rain out there will also get into the Colorado River and help refill Lake Powell and Lake Mead

That key should come out. I even took a look in the parts book and it shows it as a separate part.

I know this engine has been discussed here in the past, but I just came across this YouTube video about it.

I've used many a can of Summer Air (starting fluid) to get old Detroits started in the winter. It's a must in my climate.

Looks like a fairly common dual exhaust manifold modification. People will cut the outlet flange off another manifold and weld it to the manifold being modified. They’lll then fix the heat riser flap into the vertical position to direct the front cylinder exhaust out the added center port.

You may want to think about getting the thermostat bypass reconnected at some point in time. With it blocked off you won’t get the circulation, with the thermostat closed, that allows the warm coolant to flow past the thermostat so that it can open when needed.

Looks similar to mine. ?

Don’t give up on it so quickly. My engine was seized up quite badly. I had to pull the crank out without being able to rotate it. Then I could drive the pistons down slightly with a block of wood and a big hammer and use a wire wheel and/or flapper wheel sanding drum to clean up the cylinder bores enough that I could get the pistons out. My valves were also seized into the guides. I finally got the cam to turn enough to push all of the valves open, then I could remove the cam and tappets. After hammering the valves back closed I could get the springs off, then I could then get a long punch in from the bottom to drive out the valves. My machine shop was able to bore the cylinders .0030” oversize and replace all of the valve guides and seats. They also decked the block and milled the head for me. I reassembled the engine and it’s been running without issue for the past 15+ years.

I remember that it was a VW application, but I don't recall exactly what.

That upper section of the air filter isn't meant to come apart. If it needs cleaning you'll need to soak it in solvent and flush it out. I converted my oil bath filter to use a paper element, then updated to a K&N filter element. I only did that because mine was in very bad condition. Much of mesh was badly rusted away due to it sitting in the bed of the truck, and filling up with water, before I got it.

When I did the clutch on my truck I wanted to get the FD driven plate / clutch mounting plate resurfaced. I rigged up an H-bar puller to remove the plate from the FD. I didn’t know any better at the time that I could have caused damage to the seal, but it pulled rather easy with a proper tool. I took it into the clutch shop along with the clutch. They surfaced the plate there and sent my clutch out to be rebuilt. When I got the plate back I carefully set it back in place and tightened the nut. It’s been working fine ever since then. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it’s not as sensitive as some make it out to be.

A 3 ton truck would be about right for that engine/trans combo. Some 5 speed truck transmissions had an overdrive 5th, some did not. Either way, it’s not likely to fit in your car .

I agree with Keith that this trans may not fit into your car. Even the truck bell housing would likely take some major modifications to make fit. After looking at your trans some more, and comparing to my 4 speed trans, I am thinking it may be a 5 speed truck trans as it’s longer than my 4 speed. That’s even larger than the 4 speed trans. The park brake lever makes sense now with the 8-11-49 date case in the shift cover. What is the engine number stamped into the pad above the generator? Since you say it’s a 251 it’s quite likely it came out of a larger truck, which could confirm the possibility of it having a 5 speed. If the engine is good I would recommend that you divorce it from that trans and bell housing and mount it up to your existing bell housing/trans in the car.

It looks like a 4 speed trans (NP 420?) with a PTO mounted. However I find it odd that it has the trans mounted park brake handle if it is out of a ‘58 truck. Trucks moved to under dash mounted park brake handles in 1950.

Maybe you need to mount a plow on the front of that 'tractor'. ? Or mount a front loader... (not actually mounted, just tied down together on the same trailer)

You ever try to put ear plugs in a cat's ears? Me either... but it doesn't sound like a pleasant job. ?

I lost a hub cap on the way to a WPC meet one time. I ended up shuffling caps from side to side for pictures. I took the remaining 3 off for the drive home so I wouldn’t loose another one.

Yup… I see them too. ?

Typically a coil wrap like that is used on brake lines for protection from road debris. I can’t imagine that it would do much for heat resistance.

I've heard about that ride, but never got up the courage to ride down there for it.

At first I didn't understand what you meant by, "both had the upper shaft oiling hole". Now I believe I understand your comment. That "hole" is actually the pin that retains the gear to the shaft. One of them looks like a solid pin that is peened over on the ends. Another one appears to have a roll pin.