Kensoldtruck

That's where the problem is, that area has been ground smooth and there is no stamped information.

Just completed an axle swap on my 1949 Dodge truck. The new gear is a 1986 Diplomat 2.9:1posi from a police car and is coupled to the original engine and transmission. The engine does not appear to be original as the stamping has been ground off making it more difficult for me to identify the engine block. The head has the big "P" casting along with an indication that it was cast during the night shift and has the following additional casting information, 16168237. An "A" appears over the casting date, 1-3-55 on the head. The block casting appears to be 65 cast over CWC 3 and then further toward the rear of the block the cast information is F23. I am trying to figure out which engine I have. All help is appreciated. BTW the truck now has the modern rear drum brakes from the Diplomat and front disk brakes. Thanks

I have been looking through the forum to find the 1st and 2nd gear rations for the 1949 B1B 3 speed trans but can't seem to find them. If anyone knows them can you please post them or direct me to an existing posting with this information? Thanks

Where are you located. I did the front brake disk conversion and am currently installing a different rear end so I have all of the parts. I had a brake job done on both the front and rear brakes just before the conversions.

A lot of the Model A guys just install an inline fuse in the starting circuit. Remove or partially remove the fuse and unless the vehicle is towed it isn't going anywhere.

I must agree with Young Ed. I've done a few of these and found that if the bleeder is frozen then the system has not been maintained and most likely water has been drawn into the system which can cause pitting in the wheel cylinders and master cylinder. If you are that far into the system you will ultimately be money and safety ahead to replace all the components including the lines. For the amount of money you will spend in order to do the job properly the safety that you, your passengers and all those around you gain is priceless. Do it right the first time and save yourself a major pain.

At a car show in Florida I ran across a guy who out AC in his 49 Chrysler. He used the generator bracket to mount the compressor and rigged up a bracket above that, using the same 2 bolt holes as the AC compressor was using as the lower bolts for the generator bracket. The top generator bracket came off of the water pump. The way he has the compressor and generator mounted made it difficult to see the ac compressor which makes it look almost stock. The condenser is mounted in front of the radiator and the hoses are routed underneath the car so that they did not "stand out". The evaporator was mounted up under the dash out of sight and had hoses routed to dash vents that he had managed to blend in nicely with the rest of the dash. A heater is not a necessity in our area or Florida and I have a 49 truck which will get AC this winter so keep us posted on your project.

I got all of my rubber for my 49 resto from Roberts. Everything is still holding up well and it has been close to 20 years. The only problem that I had was the rear window rubber was just too thick to fit in the corners of the back glass and I had to have the rear glass put in by a window shop using their own gasket.

Mine 49 is one of the priceless ones. My Grandfather bought it new and I can remember riding in it shortly after he purchased it. I bought it from my cousin who got it from my Grandfather's estate but I can't remember what I paid him for the truck. I did the complete frame off every nut and bolt restoration of the truck myself with the exception of the final color paint. I put close to $20K in the restoration but as I said it is priceless to me. If I was to sell it I know that I would get no where near what I put in to the truck. But even though it is priceless I will end up giving it away to one of my grandchildren. I currently have another 49 being rebuilt as I am at an age that prevents me from doing a lot of the work. I paid $4500 for a nice looking original truck and the work that is being done will run another $4K to $6K so $9K to $10K in the truck and it should be worth that much when it is complete. I have also bought and restored or repaired at least half a dozen other 1948, 49, 50 Pilot House trucks. I bought them for anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars and generally sold them for about the same as what I had in them. But when it comes down to it each buyer and each seller has to decide what a specific vehicle means to them both monetarily and emotionally.

http://www.wilcap.com/chryslerfh.html#230350BOPAT auto or manual transmission adaptor

Here is some adaptor info. Quality Engineered Components: Quality Engineered Components has an adapter for the Late Torqueflight to flat 6 & 8 inliners. The adapter will mount the small block 904/A500 or the 727/A518 as well as the small block manual bellhousing. email to: bacchus_lane@yahoo.com phone inquiries to 888-Hemi-Parts (888-436-4727) M-F, 0700-1700hrs. No special parts or odd-ball modifications, just nuts and bolts and all MOPAR. This guy knows his stuff, and is seriously all Mopar. This is hands down the best and simplest adapter to do the job, period! And it's cheap by comparison to anything else!!! This is a copy of a post by OldDaddy.

An adaptor for an automatic is available from a guy in Washington. I am having one installed in my 49 B1B so my wife can drive it. There are also adaptors for modern manual transmissions, I have noticed that info posted elsewhere on this forum. It will take a little research but keep checking older post on this forum and you should be able to find it. Best of luck in your project. I had a similar situation with another 49 B1B and I got some heavy duty rivets to reattach the "knuckle" at the top of the steering column. The problem was compounded by a bad bearing in the slider gear lever, I ended up putting a 47 3 speed floor shift in that truck and it worked great for me.

I just finished a 6 to 12 volt conversion and rewire of my 49 B-1-B using the 21 circuit EZ wire kit. I went with the 21 circuit kit for a couple of reason. Reason 1, safety. The original truck did not have fuses and the old wiring had been reworked and added to over the years. So a complete rewire eliminated a lot of concerns. And 2, the 12 conversion had already been started and the truck generator had been removed. The 21 wire kit is vinyl coated wire so does not look original but the truck is a driver not a show truck and the 21 circuits gave me the option to add "creature comforts" such as a modern radio and maybe even vintage air to the truck. In my opinion it all comes down to what makes you happy. Good luck with the truck, and I agree with one of the earlier post, save the patina, don't repaint the truck.

Hi all, I am located near Kankakee, IL about 50 miles south of Chicago. I have a 49 B1B that was my grandfathers and I am the second owner. The truck was all original when I restored it several years ago but since that time the tranny has had to be replaced. If a get together is planned for WI or IL I will plan to attend. I have already committed to an around Lake Michigan trip with my Model A club Sept 7 through 15 so will not be able to attend during that period. Ken

Sorry guys, I had to have it so it is now in my driveway.

Thanks, that is what I expected but was unsure and didn't want to make things worse. Part of the front end work I am planning is a complete front end rebuild and adding disk brakes. I plan on leaving the truck as stock as possible but still be able to join in on the club cruses which often end up traveling at highway speed.

I have been looking through the forum but can't find how to tighten the steering gear box adjustment. I want to see if by tightening the adjustment I can remove some of the steering wheel play and then attempt to figure out what else I need to do in order to be able to drive without the constant "white knuckle" experience. I am taking my stock 1949 B1B in for some front end work in April but want to drive it in the mean time.

Don't know if you completed the project or not but I have installed the engine, bell housing and tranny all as one with the cab in place. The first time I did it it was a pain because I left the shift lever in place. The next truck that I did I removed the shift lever and it was not too much of a chore, but then again I was dealing with 3 speed and in each case the fenders and radiator support were not in place.

When installing a fatman IFS and keeping the stock engine and trans does the oil pan fit without mods? I am considering making this change and when I spoke to the shop that I am planning on using this was a concern he expressed. So any clues will be appreciated.

Saw someone looking for an original radio. I have a couple of 802 radios laying around. One is stock and the other one my electrical engineer son was goig to change out to modern condensers. That was 8 years ago so I have given up on that happening. I wont sell the radios but I will trade stuff. I have a pair of stock 49 pickups and am always looking for "stuff". Post hereif interested.

I found this truck for sale on Craigslist Ocala Florida. I've been a member of the forum now for a few years and have seen this type of posting before. http://ocala.craigslist.org/cto/3623991716.html

I have a 1949 1/2 ton with the 4;10 gear. I also had a 48 with the same gear. I changed the 48 to 12volt so that I could put a tach on the truck. 48 to 52 mph was about all the truck wanted to handle. I met a guy who had a 39 Plymouth. He swapped the rear end out for an Aerostar 3:45 gear. He said that he can get over 70 mph and the car handles it well. I asked him about how the car stops from higher speeds. He said that thus far he has been able to get by without any panic stop situations. Scarebird has a kit that will allow disc brakes to be installed on the front to bring the truck to a stop. Going fast is good, but being able to stop is "priceless".

I originally used the Roberts stuff when I did my B2B about 10 years ago. Within a year or so I was very dissatisfied with the interior sagging. I took the truck to a professional auto interior shop to have it redone. They put in another Roberts interior and although after several years the door panels are still OK, the roof panel sagged almost immediately. Worse than that the shop lost one of my original visors and one of my door arm rest. They replaced the arm rest with a Roberts which in my opinion is not even close to the original. I'm still looking for a fix for the roof headliner.

Thanks for all the post and pictures. I will be trying several of the suggestions. Also the pictures helped me solve another concern regarding connecting the linkage. I would post pictures of the linkage setup on my truck but I am on dial-up and connect at 12.4k, (I am way back in the woods and can't even get satellite). Posting a picture is nearly impossible for me at my connection speed.

I discovered while researching my adjustment problem that all of the photos that show the column linkage show the linkage running near the top right quarter of the steering column. My column linkage is on the lower right quadrent. Does anyone have any experience with that issue? Does anyone know how to rotate the steering column so that the linkage would be on the top right quadrent? I have loosened the clamp at the bottom of the column sleeve but nothing moves. The linkage is still hooked up. My next move will be to try bending the top lever as suggested by one of the responses.