meadowbrook

My 50 dodges 230 has 90k miles and has not been rebuilt. It has great oil pressure, 50 psi at speed and never less than 10 in the hottest idle at 500 rpm. But compression is low, about 60-80 psi cold. No head gasket leaks into coolant (I tested for in coolant Exhaust). It runs fine and starts readily but it does idle kind of rough, even after a carb mixture adkustment giving me the highest vacuum. Would it be worth it to pull the head and perform a valve job? Maybe a re ring and hone if the cylinder walls look ok?

Hi. I am in process of replacing the incorrect Carter BB in my Meadowbrook with the correct Stromberg BXVD-3. So far I feel like the Carter worked better. I am still tuning the Stromberg but although it is true that the throttle dashpot works well to keep from stalling, it also seems to hang up a bit on deceleration, making the car rev higher. I will keep decreasing the damping adjustment but welcome any tips. Also is there a resource on the jetting of this carb or were they all the same for the 230? I rebuilt mine but it seems to leak gas from the area near the dashpot linkage where it is attached to the throttle shaft every time I pump the throttle. Any thoughts? Anyone have a similar experience? Are the Carters better carbs?

Hi Does anyone have access to a crossection or exploded diagram of the AC or Airtex 9418 dual action fuel pump that fits the 230 engine? A while ago I picked one up and I am rebuilding it, but I forgot where some of the parts go. Thanks!

I wonder which is quicker, my 1965 Karmann Ghia, with 40 hp and 1800 lb or my 103 hp Dodge at 3500 lb? Ghia should take it outta the hole but past 35 -40, who knows?

Hey guys, would you say a 3/16" fuel line between the fuel pump and carb is too small for a stick 230? The inlet fitting in my 'new' Stromberg BXVD3 seems to be made for a 3/16 line with a bubble flare.

Hi guys. I finished wiring the new 160 watt 6v cooling fan in my 50 Dodge. I wired it as follows, the hot lead for the fan comes directly from the battery through 10 gauge fused wire to a relay and then completes the circuit to the fan. The ground goes directly to the battery. The thermostat is what closes the relay. I also added a manual switch that also can close the relay but it's hot source is the switched ignition. So basically, the fan remains on after you shut off the engine until the temp drops. Which may help with any heAt soak. My question: I would like to see the fan current draw through the ammeter, do I lose much if I route the fan's hot wire all the way from the ammeter to the fan instead?

Hi guys. I am in process of replacing my incorrect Carter BB with a proper Stromberg BXVD-3 I found on ebay. I have seen the float setting as 1/4" from the top bowl gasket surface and 5/8". Any tips? Is that a good carb compared with the BB? Any unique idiosyncrasies? On the rear axle, there are these plugs near the ends to lubricate the rear bearings. How does one lube them properly? I squirt a pump or 2 from the grease inside and replace the plug, but I have no idea how much is too much and don't want to blow a seal and have grease in my brake shoes. Finally, I am installing a Maradyne MP166K-6 Pacesetter Series 16" 6 Volt Universal Fan and am wondering if my stick 6V generator can handle it. If not, are there more powerful units that are still 6V out there?

Thanks!

Hi all, I am installing an electric fan in my 50 Dodge. My fan thermostat is the type that is supposed to be pushed through radiator core. Problem is, the probe is longer than the core is thick. So should I push all the way through or stop once it's about to break through the other side?

Hi, so as some of you know, my '50 D34 came with a Carter BB despite having fluid drive with the 3speed manual. Id like to use the proper Stromberg bxvd3 . Aside from the expected damper coming off the float area, are there any other ID features I should look for?

Hi, I won't be there till Thursday will anyone the there? I am driving my car in Saturday for the show.

Well, the radiator is thicker than stock. The wp is new and has no slop and the rear engine mounts are old but the front is new

Thanks, but where do you install that sensor, I was thinking of those that you put in through the radiator fins, yours looks like a bolt on.

Hello all. I made it from Detroit to Philadelphia in my 50 Dodge. Thoroughly enjoyed the vaccum wipers as it rained much of the trip and the car ran flawlessly, with overdrive on, averaging 65-70 mph. Only issues were me forgetting the parking brake on and burning it to a crisp. Right before the trip, I installed a Champion Radiator and that worked well too, except that the fan grazes it when I do a hard stop. I bent the blades back some, but I think I need to go for electric fan now. Any suggestions? Amazon has 2 six volts ones, I am at a loss as to how to get a six volt thermostat and switch for it, any tips?

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Hi all, thanks for all the support with my questions on the timing chain and coolant. My adding of a spacer to the carb did not correct my stalling issue during long periods of hot idling. (I am convinced it is due to flooding from percolation since when it stalls, there is still fuel in the bowl since I can see fuel being squirted when I open the throttle ) So I will look into lowering the float. I checked the distance from the plane of the carb sealing surface to the body of the float at its highest position. It was 4/32". That is lower than the spec of 5/64". So I lowered to a total of 6/32", or 3/16". Another clue to the percolation was that the carb's iron section, the throttle body, is always wet . And often it smells like gas after sitting after a hot drive. There must be a vent somewhere.

Hi all, thanks for all the support with my questions on the timing chain and coolant. My adding of a spacer to the carb did not correct my stalling issue during long periods of hot idling. (I am convinced it is due to flooding from percolation since when it stalls, there is still fuel in the bowl since I can see fuel being squirted when I open the throttle ) So I will look into lowering the float. I checked the distance from the plane of the carb sealing surface to the body of the float at its highest position. It was 4/32". That is lower than the spec of 5/64". So I lowered to a total of 6/32", or 3/16". Another clue to the percolation was that the carb's iron section, the throttle body, is always wet . And often it smells like gas after sitting after a hot drive. There must be a vent somewhere.

Thank you so much for the responses, this is one of the best forums I have ever seen, makes it worth it to just own an old Dodge to belong to it I have installed the radiator and added 3 gallons of coolant 50% mix of filtered water and Prestone green coolant. (I hear good and bad things of distilled water so filtered should be ok, especially since even modern cars' shop manuals (like my 2007 Chevy) mention drinking water and not distilled, but whatever floats your boat ) I did a measurement of voltage on the coolant to ground and I got an interesting reading, it started at 0.27 V and slowly dropped to below 0.1 V. Maybe I will hang a piece of Magnesium inside the radiator just to be sure as an anode. The only concern was how close the fan is to the radiator, as close as 1/4 inch. I will see if it comes close to hitting with a warm engine. I may have to remove the fan and add an electric one.

As I prepare for my trip to Hershey, I have replaced the radiator and water pump on my 230. I got an aluminum Champion radiator. Any tips on coolant type? I am thinking a basic green coolant should be fine, but the aluminum radiator may set up a galvanic corrosion issue since it is now connected to the iron engine through the coolant and bolted to the steel radiator support. Am I being paranoid?

Thanks for the response, I did something similar to what you recommended.

Hi, I did not see any shim related to the timing cover.

I will be there I think Wednesday and Thursday, maybe Friday, I will show my Car in the non judged driver class. Look for a big red d34

Thanks, I have installed it per Don's recommendation and all looks good. Now I have to find a way to jam a large screwdriver on the flywheel ring gear to be able to tighten that crank pulley to 108 ft lb without spinning the engine since I have fluid drive. i hope the bolts I used hold the cam gear, I reused the originals because they looked good and used loctite as well as new lock washers. I just love how the top of them has the 'DPCD' stamping. Are these grade 5 bolts? If all goes well, I am on my way to Hershey the 31 St in the Dodge, I will drive around to gain confidence this coming week. Here are two pics of the job. Oh, and I got a new water distruBution tube from VPW but it sure seems flimsier than the original, see pic. Which would you use? There was som corrosion but not through, and I sand blaster it off, but I know nothing of the interior.

Thanks for the responses. On the lube tube, it is fine, I even cranked the engine prior to removing the old timing set and if flows well, see attached. But on the felt ring, is it inside the chain cover or outside, the old seal assembly had a felt ring but it was within the seal assembly, not loose outside. What is it for?

Hi all. just installed a timing chain and sprocket set from VPW on my 230 and it seemed kind of tight, I was was barely able to,install,the camsprocket onto its hub when the chain was wrapped around it. Is that ok? Also, there are no specs on the manual for the cam sprocket bolts. So I used loctite, new lock washers and 250 in lb. hope that's also ok. Finally, the timing cover crank seal kit has what looks like the seal assembly to be pressed in the timing cover, and also a felt ring which is too large in diameter to fit and a paper round gasket. Do I need these extra items?