moparmonkey

Napa should have them. Take the old ones down with you just to be sure.

You mention the drums being thin- if they're truly out of spec, it may not be the wheel cylinder actually causing the problem. Sure, the cylinder is leaking, but if its overextended that's not the wheel cylinders fault. It may be that the drums are too thin for the wheel cylinder to maintain the proper seal. It could be the wheel cylinder too, but if the next one leaks, you may need to find a thicker drum. As far as the flare, if the flare itself is less than perfect it may not seal at all.Try loosening the fitting a bit and then tightening it back down, there may be a bit of crud or a metal shaving in there that needs to work itself out. Otherwise, "snug" should be enough. But, I have tightened flares down as tight as I could make them before they sealed. That's well beyond "snug", I'm talking as much as the fitting will take before the edges round off the hex head. It's not "proper", but I've done it when I was learning how to flare lines myself. Let's just say not all of them were perfect. But most of them did seal, some just took a little more help than others.

It would probably help if you posted a picture of your lenses. Standard for most of these trucks was a single tail light above the license plate mount. Actually getting 2 tail lights was an option! This is the back of my '53. It has 4 lights, but I'm pretty sure only the upper left one is stock, it has the plastic lens and 3 screws. The one on the upper right looks the same, but it may have been added a little later, I'm not sure the bracket is factory. The two lower lights were definitely later additions. I think the earlier trucks got the glass "Dodge" lettered lenses, at some point they switched to plastic. Your "generic" looking tails may very well be the originals.

If I were closer to Wisconsin I'd certainly be interested! Too bad. Shipping it to CA would more than double the price tag.

If the drums aren't on, is it possible that you're overextending the pistons and causing the leak?

Interesting! I knew the Dodge's/Fargo's were like that, guess it makes sense the Plymouth's were too. Sounds like a 251 to me. π(3.4375/2)^2 x 4.5 x 6= 250.57 Good deal too if its clean, maybe just a quick freshen up and get it back on the road.

The bores were not all the same. 3 7/16" is a 251/265 bore size. 218/230's had a 3 1/4" bore. So if the red "P" engine really does have a 3 7/16" bore its at least a 251. Guess all those codes don't always apply to Canadian stuff. The industrial is a 218 though. I'd measure the stroke on it next. If its 4 1/2" its a 251, if its 4.766" its a 265. The 251/265 shared the same bore, the 265 had a longer stroke. As far as pulling the engine, yeah, pulling the front clip to pull the engine is a pain. But there are much harder engines to pull than the flathead 6. And with these trucks, you'll have to pull the front clip for pretty much anything you want to put in anyway.

Hmm. Well, if they're both 25" blocks, then the first one shouldn't be a Plymouth. They only used 23" blocks if I remember correctly. The industrial could be a 25" 218 though. Can you take pictures of the number pads? Your only other option to positively determine which engines you have is to measure the bore or stroke, or both. Unfortunately, because of the layout of the spark plug holes on the flat heads you have the pull the head to do either of those.

The block number that starts P18 is likely a '49 Plymouth 218. The other number doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless it actually start IND instead of 1NP. If it actually reads IND, its probably an industrial 218. You can check out the numbers here http://www.t137.com/registry/help/otherengines/otherengines.php They have a list of all the block numbers broken down by year and prefix, along with pictures etc that are really helpful in identifying the flathead 6's.

Chassis swaps can get interesting. Especially if you're planning on running the Ranger drivetrain. At that point you'll need to swap over the ECU and everything else, and that gets to be a headache FAST. Also, just because the wheelbase is 108" doesn't mean everything will line up. Fender and bed length are undoubtedly different, which means the cab will be in a different spot, which means the engine may not fit into the bay properly. Not to mention the track width. I would suggest using the 5 speed and possibly the rear end out of the Ranger with the 230. You'll get better gears and driveability, but won't have to mess with all the accessories. Just swapping the trans and rear is pretty straightforward. Although I wouldn't move the spring hangers on the truck, I'd move the perches on the axle. Much easier to deal with. And the Cherokee rear end might have better dimensions, not free but they're usually not that much at the local pick a part. Keeping it to swapping components also keeps things more tangible, less likely to stall out than on a big project like a chassis swap, where you will run into a lot of issues that you didn't see coming.

The rare emblems? And a 4 speed fluid drive? Lucky dog. Mine has the "regular" fluid drive emblems and a 3 speed on the tree. As far as how it works, I think Merle explained it best, so I'll just quote him from my thread...

Take a look at the bellhousing. But Ed's right, 4 speeds came with fluid drive's too. The bellhousing for the the fluid drive was a lot longer. Here's a picture of my fluid drive bell and 3 speed transmission (Yes, its really gross looking) I measured the length of the fluid drive bell at about 13 1/2", although that's not exact. It was the best measurement I could take with it in the truck though.

Standard cab models didn't even come with them, only De luxe and Custom cabs did. I haven't done it, but based on the design of the window hardware I'd say you can definitely convert yours using the stock parts. You might have to do some tweaking to the lower window channel on the regulator, and move the front run and channel to the front of the door. Other than that, you'd need new glass and new weatherstripping. It really shouldn't be all that difficult, I doubt the factory used any different fancy parts for the standard cab. A better question would be, why? I mean, I know they aren't really aesthetically pleasing. But, unless you're adding AC, they're pretty functional. I can't wait to start driving my '71 Dart, and believe it or not, the fact that it has wing vents is one of the reasons (my '72 Challenger doesn't have 'em). And the Dart even has AC! And I don't smoke either (the other reason besides no air conditioning to have wing vents). Wing vents are just one of those little things I enjoy about old cars and trucks. Not really sure why. But I know I wouldn't trade my wing vents for a built in GPS, heated power seats, voice control, or a car that can parallel park itself. They're just one of those things that makes driving an old car or truck worthwhile.

Thanks Dan! I kinda figured the pedal assembly wouldn't clear, I remember you talking about the GM brake set up. Wasn't sure about the extended bell, I guess it would depend on engine placement. But I imagine at the least it might require some kind of clearance or transmission tunnel. I was just curious. I'm looking for a running 218/230 because I think mine may need a rebuild and I found a supposedly running extended bell 331. But I think the swap would be more involved than I what I want to get into right now. I do have a couple of extended bell blocks that need a rebuild though, so I still might tackle it down the road.

Awesome video! Congratulations Dan! That hemi sounds great! To get it to fit with those modified Hurst mounts I know you had to move the radiator forward, how was everything else? Would the stock pedal assembly clear? Brain is really spinning now. The large majority of my Hemi's are Chryslers. I do have a 315 Dodge and a 291 DeSoto. But I think I'm going to need one of those for my '37, I don't think I'm going to get a Chrysler to fit in that one the way I want. How much clearance is there on the firewall and near the transmission? Do you think an early 331 with an extended block would need the firewall or tunnel modified?

Those tools are an awesome find! Good luck with the project, I hope you can get it running!

Same here. Delete the i26. out of the url. Nice vid! Can't wait to see your truck back together and on the road. Since I've got a few old hemi's laying around now, this might come in handy...

I've used it, it works pretty darn well. Heavier rust takes a day or two of soak, but I used it to clean up a bunch of brake hardware, including some backing plates, with very good success. As far as head bolts go though, if they're that rusty I'd replace them. There's a chevy headbolt that's the same size as the Dodge headbolts for the 218/230's, you can get them from Summit in a box of 25 for less than a dollar per bolt. Part # is PG-362-25.

Sounds like a nice truck! Can't wait to see the pictures!

Running tomorrow?! Hope it goes well, I know I'm jealous!

Can't wait to see the pictures! Didn't get to make it out this year, I was called in to work at the last minute. I guess I'll have to try again next year!

I like how it sits, but its pretty obvious the Chevy frame is too wide for the body. The tires must stick out a good 8-12" past the fenders. I'm surprised the wheelbase worked out as well as it did, the wheels look pretty well centered. Without the title though the entire thing will be a headache. If you're doing a frame swap, be sure to get your title in order first! I'm sure in some states that might not be as big of a deal deal, but I know in California you'd probably have to register it as a '79 Chevy and be subject to smog laws. Only other option would be a special construction title, which are fairly limited in numbers and require a special ability to navigate a fairly intensive paperwork maze to obtain. A good idea, but I think a little lacking on the execution...

While I'm not a 1 ton owner, some of the later Dodge muscle cars have a bolt pattern problem as well, since for a few years they had a 5x4" bolt pattern. Finding wheels with this pattern isn't all that easy, especially for aftermarket rims. Changing the pattern is pretty common, but most folks do it with later model parts. But, you can also have the axles and drums re-drilled with another pattern. In the case of the 5x4" muscle cars, most find the axles and drums can be re-drilled to 5x4.25" and use later stock rims. I'm just thinking, that rather than deal with trying to have rims made to fit, it might be a lot easier to have the axles and drums drilled for a more common pattern. Most local machine shops should be able to handle this without issue, and typically its not that expensive. In the case of the muscle cars, its quite a bit cheaper than buying new axles with the later pattern. It certainly wouldn't cost $250 a wheel. The only issue would be how closely you wanted the new wheels to match the originals...

Depends on the condition. Most of the ones I see on eBay sell for at least $50, obviously the nicer it is the more it will bring.

Tim's right, that's not a 3 line master cylinder. That's the proportioning valve. There's only 2 feeds from the master cylinder, the proportioning valves splits the fronts.