48Dodger

Great article! Thanks for sharing it. 48D

Hey Sean, I have both types of oil pans. I'll take pictures of both for you. Just thinking out loud.... if you raise the engine, move forward (like you mentioned) and use a truck pan, it might work. Otherwise, nothing wrong with modifing the fire wall. 51 fargo's (and others) have done nice work with the center hump. 48D

Gettin' the yard work done for BBQ. President Bob stopped by and dropped off some chairs. Its gettin close! The Spring weather is awesome!! Something like 75 degrees today. Hope everyone plans on comin'. 48D

For balancing reasons I'm leaving the engine in the orginal location of the X-member and using an Aluminum Radiator . If I WAS to move it, I would remove the radiator fan from the engine, put an electric fan on the front side of the Radiator and if neccessary, move the Radiator forward through the "U" brackett. The only other factor I haven't delt with is the oil pan. I'm mocking up the motor and tranny this weekend for the tranny X-member (I want to keep the orignal gas tank which will present its own unique problems). When the motor is in, I'll take a few pictures of the oil pan location. My thought is a switch to a 360 truck pan might fix the problem of a new forward location of the motor. 48D

I have two 1 tons as yard art right now, but both were running as recently as 1964......so they should be in great shape for a SF head. Probably hang it on my wall in the shop and smile at it once in awhile. 48D ebay name: "68dodgerboy"

There aren't paint chips, but the codes are there. page 5 lists the 1950 colors. I think there are two kinds of blue, "La Plata Blue" and "Dominion Blue".... 48D

LMAO......best laugh of the day. Geeez, you're funny Don. 48D

http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/know/color/imgcol/index.htm Don't know if you have tried the DPETCA Knowledge section. There's a link at the top this page labeled "Visit DPETCA". Bunch of good stuff there. 48D

Dang! I guess "cars in barns" applies to bikes too. 48D

Sorry about that. With the BBQ coming up I'm getting a lot of questions and stuff. I'll clear it out tonight. Merle is the motorcycle guy. I like the classic look, goes good with my truck. A Fatboy is kind of a compromise. Its a 2004 for 9500.00. Seems like a good deal. Really, I would prefer a Deluxe or a Road King Classic, but its a little more than I have right now. Especially while Im trying to get my 1950 PH done. A guys gotta dream, right? 48D Harley Davidson Deluxe Harley Davidson Road King Classic

A lot of work there! Looks Sa-weet! 48D

A PCV valve should be easy. But I dont think I've ever seen one on a flat six. Anyone have this set up? Just to add a bit more info: Unburned gas is "the pollution". The Volumetric Efficiency of most engine cylinders are 80 percent. The trade off, to oil the piston in the hole, is "blow by". The "blow by" eventually makes oil acidic, keeping the oil from doing its job. A PCV valve using the vacum from the Carb or Intake manifold will suck the unburned gases out of the crankcase, keep the oil cleaner, and have a chance at burning up the unburned gas in the "blow by". EGR's allow unburned gas in the exhaust, back into the intake manifold. A.I.R. (air injector reactor) units force air into the exhaust so unburned gas will burn in the exhaust pipe. Catalytic Converters gets things hot, to burn up the last bit of gas in the exhaust. The Japanese Auto makers put spark plugs in the exhaust pipe or exhaust manifold to attack the unburned gas. Dodge went a big ol step further, putting 2 spark plugs per clyinder in its Hemi's. 1 for power, 1 for clean up. So again, I say, a well buildt, well tuned engine, along with well maintained running gear, is a fair offering to the enviroment. 48D

Grey Beard said it best I think. So much of the effective power is lost in heat. This is still true in todays engines. Mechanical Efficiency's biggest power stealer is friction (FHP), the difference between BHP and IHP. In a frictionless world you have IHP, which is the mythical 100% Mechanical Efficiency. BHP is the real world number. So after you start hanging every little pulley and pump and port on the engine, the losses add up. I think the real change comes from the gears and suspension. Torque is what makes you move and the suspension is what keeps it where it belongs, on the road. A 500 hp 360 will lose to a 500 hp 440 in the same set up because of the leveraging power of the big block. The fact you asked about a Catalytic Converter makes me think your question was more of a "green" question. In the US we measure HC's, where in europe they use MPG as the determining factor of pollution. Diesel engines are more efficient, but put out more HC's than gasoline engines. I think if you take care to build a well tuned motor and get the most out of the gearing, you'll have the best of both worlds. 48D

That is sad news. I appreciate his wife sharing this very personal information about her family. I pray that their journey is strong, simple, and full of love. I wish I had had a chance to thank Don personally for his contributions to my favorite trucks, but from where I stand, I can only tip my hat, and say thank you. 48 Dodger

Where is your chamber at? Neg or positive? Where is your caster set? Where is the toe set? Everytime you adjust the T-bars you need to recheck aligment. Left adjuster raises/lowers Right side, and Right adjuster raises/lowers Left side. These are under the crossmember located in the "slotted" area. Top of the upper control arm are two nuts that allow you to adjust the UCA arm. Then there are the tie rods. If your truck has been driving on its current set-up for awhile read the tire wear first. I would reccomend reading an "alignment 101" type site/book to get familar with the terminalogy. Where you have your settings at, will determin the "kind" of performance you have (ie. fast cornering, straight liner, cross between both). In some cases, "slamming" and "raking" sacrfices a lot of the daily driving experience. http://rqriley.com/suspensn.htm http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0604_rear_suspension_guide/index.html http://www.dippy.org/forum2/index.php/topic,396.0.html 48D

Hey all, I've been on the phone with Lavonne helping her figure out how to use Photobucket and the fourm. She's a very cheerful person who wants to share pictures of thier 48 panel truck. She's been using this thread to practice. We should have this figured out shortly. 48D

Maybe a bed mounted antenna would work better, I mean, if you're not mounting a M-60 or somethin'........ 48D

I just learned from the racing site I belong to, that a small company is making the hard to find torison bar bushing in polyurethane for the Volare type front end. Of course rubber is a softer ride, but worn out rubber aint no good, so its a nice option. http://www.polybushings.com/pages/1100.html 48D

Great picture Harvey! I like the background too. I think I always intended to put wood stakes on my truck. These pictures just confirm that. 48D

Looks Awesome 51Fargo! I remember asking advice from you and a few of the members. You all said the same thing, get it straight. lol. Not much else, just get it straight. I can't tell if you boxed the frame. The one photo I have of your truck, the frame isn't boxed. Did that change, or are you happy with the result? 48D

Here' the notch for my power steering. I've been getting a bunch of emails from guys whose crossmember didn't end up straight. Some have even had the centerline off by an inch or more. I followed two thoughts when doing this build: It isn't a ford, so forget those guys....and, use the Body Builders' Layout in the DPETCA Knowledge section. This was one of my replys to a PM. "Great letter! My build is done. My centerline is straight, and my tires are centered. I've just begun posting the pictures. I developed 3 jigs to get the front end centered and leveled so i can quickly duplicate the build again without excessive measuring. I followed the measurments on the factory build sheet to place my centerlines. centering the crossmember invovled the "bare" towers more than the zerk fittings. I used several reference points. The final wheelbase is 108". I never used the original axle as a reference. Its not a reliable way to do it because of the wear of the springs and bushings. Unless it had just returned from the alignment shop, why trust it? I didn't. One of the reasons I put the frame at the facotry height, was to establish the truck in its "normal" operating enviroment (ie fully weighted) and deviate from there. The final thing I did was place the cab and fenders on the frame before I welded the crossmember. 48D" All this is my personal experience and wanted to share it. I hope any of this helps, and I'll keep doing the best I can to answer the PM's. If anyone wants to pay me to put one in thier truck, why not. I already have two on the books. I love these trucks and I hope it shows. 48D

Ok...last try. You still haven't told me about the condition of the sparks plugs, BUT....if they are fine and the dist/coil are good....then I begin to wonder if your new feul pump got its rubber parts broken down (ie ethanol=solvent) and plugged small passages in your Carb. Your idle may be good and even your accel/pump....but maybe your high speed circuit, main open throttle circuit, etc. got plugged. If the fuel line is slightly occluded at the fuel filter, the fuel bowl level won't let you know. What I'm sayin is your cholesterol level in the gas (rubber) may have slipped by the filter(liver) and may have caused an infact (dead spot) in your carburetor (heart). Boy....I gotta take more time off work. Good luck GB, I'm out of ideas. 48D

You know....I had a 68 Camaro straight six that had a stumble that turned out to be a cracked rubber fuel line. It was a short elbow between the tank and the hard line. It didn't leak, just sucked air at high rpm's......hummmm. So where you at Greay Beard? Any new info? 48D

Try cleaning up your spark plugs.....run it to 2500 rpm's....check the plugs , and see if your lean or running into a timing problem. If its not the Dist/coil, I'm wonderin' if it's one the carburetor circuits. Hope you get it figured out soon, nice weather is around the corner. 48D

Nice Bob. Where'd you get those? 48D