oldodge41

Been working on my D19 off and on for awhile now. I started having issues early in the summer. After 20 minutes or so of driving, the car would start running rough, missing, stumbling on acceleration and surging at cruising speed. After sitting awhile everything ran ok, not as smooth as a flattie should but ok. I suspected vapor lock since I have had those issues before and this felt similar but it never quit. After swapping out the rear diff I was adjusting brakes, test driving and repeating. Seemed the longer I did this the worse it ran. I put it in the garage and adjusted the brakes again, when I tried to start it I had no spark. Checked points and could see no spark at points. Replaced with my spare set and it started right up but had a high rpm miss. Looking at the points fire it looked like way too much spark. I suspected condenser but didn't have a spare on hand so I quit for the day. A couple days later I started it right up and started up the road only to have no power, missing and bucking. I pulled the distributor because my spark at the points was now very faint and I wanted to have a good look. Everything looked good but it still ran like crap. Was reading some posts on here and it hit me like a ton of bricks! This all started with the car only missing after everything heated up and got progressively worse until what I have now! It's the dang COIL!!! Today, I threw in the one from my Dart, hung it from the one horn with ty-straps, and fired it up. Ran very smooth in the garage and a short ride told the tale. This thing hasn't run this good in a very long time. I've been thinking loss of power due to compression but have held off doing a compression check because I didn't really want to know. Now I fully believe it has been a deteriorating coil all along. Getting it running right I finally got to really try out the new rear and I am very pleased. My speedometer is really way off now, but I will address that later. Been working on cars for a lot of years and never had a coil do this before. Heard of coil failures, but never saw it in person before......................Tim

Looks great! Nice car and nice scenery.

I see they sold. Did you get them Mackster? If so, congrats.

Nice car!

My '41 Dodge (prewar) has the stepped cylinders. I recently replaced my rear end with a modern unit but still have the stepped cylinders on the front. I have wondered if it would be possible to use the newer (post war) cylinders from the rear of these cars on the front of mine. These cylinders are available at reasonable prices through auto supplies. The stepped ones are available from specialty shops at specialty prices. I have also wondered about modifying the front brakes to a floating type rather than the anchored type by adding the pins and springs thru the backing plates / shoes and adding the adjuster between the heel of the shoes. I think it might work but I really haven't even mocked anything up to try the fit. With the availability of disk conversions and subsequent replacement parts I will probably go that route. As for your actual question about swapping backing plates, I don't know. I don't particularly care for that brake setup and actually prefer the single master cylinder setup I have now over that one. We had a 48 Chrysler with the dual cylinders on the front and to me it was just double the amount to go bad.............Tim

6.00-16 bias ply. Mine fit pretty tight but a screwdriver working around is the only way I know to get them off........Tim

Near Yellowstone maybe? LOL

Hopefully something simple. If it got progressively worse instead of just stopping it probably gave you some clues on where to look. Fuel system, ignition system, charging system. The little things can drive you nuts. If it is home that is half the battle. Now you can look at it at your leisure........Tim

I didn't get to take my oldest Dodge on the "Allegheny Mountains Conventions and Visitors Bureau Mystery Tour" today because I have some drive shaft work to complete and it needs a set of points and a condenser before its next longer journey. That being said, my wife and I wanted to try the tour since we've never done one. It was great! About 160 miles total. Several stops of interest and some real nice scenery between stops. We like to "just go for a ride" and it was nice to have someone else decide the route for a change. It will not be our last. If you get the chance to try one of these tours I think you will like it. Travel at your own pace on your own schedule. We were alone but it could be a good outing for groups too. Here is a photo from one of our stops.

Yes, mine look like that as well. Maybe they are Lyons. There were some in the trunk when we drug the car out of the old barn and I found a couple at the Carlisle swap meet 20 years ago. My Dad had a '48 Chrysler Coupe that had ones like the "47 Chrysler pictured in this thread. They were 15" though and mine are 16".

I have them on my '41 Dodge. Not sure what brand they are. Have thought about going to 15" radials but like my current wheel decor too much to do it yet.

More words to live by!!!!!

I was reading the Tech Tips on the website and saw mention of using an 8 volt battery. I made the switch to an 8 volt about 15 years ago on the advise of an old mechanic I know. I am on my second 8 volt battery after the first lasted about ten years. I simply installed the battery I purchased at a local Battery Warehouse and then tweaked my voltage regulator to put out a little over 9 volts. About 9.25 volts, if I remember correctly, was the most I could get out of it. My car sits all winter here and in the spring I charge it with a 12 volt charger just keeping an eye on it so it doesn't boil over. If I run with my high beams on I notice the ammeter doesn't go very positive when it charges, but it does still go positive and lighting the brake lights will drop it back to about even at that point. Lights seem a little brighter but I haven't had any bulb failures. I don't drive it that much at night but my brake and turn signals have been no problem either. I got the second battery at Tractor Supply, both times they were stocked items. I also read about the 6 volt having larger battery cables, I replaced mine 20 years ago with used ones from a modern car, but will now get the larger ones. My color coding has always been backwards with a red negative and a black positive but my Dad and I are the only ones who ever worked on it so it didn't matter. LOL! All in all I like the 8 volt as it not only works good but is something different from the normal 6 or 12................Tim

Yeah the cross type u-joint adapter is available. I am drawing up an adapter on AutoCad and a friend is going to show it to his buddy that works at a machine shop to see what he thinks. Rockable, I have been following your build on The HAMB. I have really enjoyed it. I do appreciate you guys helping out........Tim

I went out to the garage this morning and fabbed one up with some flanges made from 1/4" plate and a piece of 2" pipe welded in between. I took it out for a test run and everything worked great. I still may have an adapter made like you describe. I think it would be stronger and I'm sure a machine shop would have everything centered up better than I can do with a hand held drill and a 4-1/2" grinder, which would reduce wear, although I didn't have any vibration. The pinion flange has a 3" circumference pattern while the u-joint pattern is less but different on each axis, so I rotated my flanges to offset the bolts from each other to spread the weight more evenly. Andyd,thank you for your interest and input. It felt good to take the '41 for a ride even if it was only a half mile up the road and back.

Yes but he got his info from Oliver Evans I'm told!

Thanks Andydodge! I like that idea. Any idea what something like that would cost at a machine shop? I've never had any machine work done.

I have installed a furd 8.8 rear differential in my '41 D-19 cpe. The 8.8 has a flat flange on the pinion and my Dodge drive-shaft has ball and trunnion u-joints. What I am looking for is a way to adapt the flange on the pinion to the flange on my u-joint. I know I can have a drive-shaft made with cross type u-joints and buy the adapters to mount it, but, my u-joints are both as good as new and I don't want to spend the cash for a new drive-shaft and adapters, plus I think the old ball and trunnions are cool. I need to make my adapter 1-1/2 inches long to get my u-joint in its original location. I am thinking maybe two flanges with a piece of 2" pipe welded between them. 2" because that is the clearance I need for the 8.8 flange bolt and centering ring. Anyone know of a ready made adapter? Or maybe a better / different idea? By the way the rest of the drivetrain will remain flat six with fluid drive so i don't need some race or ultra heavy-duty setup. Thanks, Tim

The 41 Dodge of course.

Hope everything is ok, really enjoying following your trip.

Have a safe trip!

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I live just about dead center of PA. About 40 miles west of State College and Penn Sate University.

Hi all, I have been lurking around for a couple weeks. I really like the atmosphere here. I have a 1941 Dodge Business Cpe, it is a D-19 but alot of the stuff is the same as the D-24/P-15 from what I see here. It was a barn find 20 years ago that my Dad and I fixed up from pretty sad shape. Came a long way. Been very reliable in stock configuration. I've been fighting brake problems the last couple years off and on, master cylinder and wheel cylinders. The most recent is a rear brake drum that broke. It has had a chip in the outer edge that I have watched for years and it has now developed into a crack. Couldn't find a reasonably priced replacement and I have wanted to change rear gears for a long time so I am in the process of installing an 8.8 Explorer rear. I am not modding anything that I can't return to completely stock in the future if I decide I want to, but for now, economics dictate that if I want to keep driving it I have to use more modern (cheaper) parts to keep it going. I'm ok with that as long as what I do is reverse-able if I get the originality bug. I have entertained thoughts of street rodding it in the past but always decide that it is too cool as is. Fluid Drive and all. you just can't buy 'em like that anymore! My name is Tim and I am from Pennsylvania.