martybose

Actually, the Fatman upright is exactly the same height as the stocker, but the pivot point for the spindle is relocated about 2-1/2" higher up. Marty

Getting custom pistons made is not that difficult. When my Dodge 230 core turned out to be a worn out .060" over motor, we started by researching a Speed Pro ring catalog. We found a metric 3 ring set made for a Toyota that measured out as a .072" overbore for my 230. If memory serves, I contacted Jahns and told them what I was doing; they checked their piston cores and found they had one that would work. I sent them a 230 piston and pin, and one set of the metric rings, and they made me a forged set of pistons with pins that used the metric ring set. I don't remember what they cost, just that I didn't think they were unreasonable. Of course, this was 7 or 8 years ago! Marty

Don, You've got it backwards. The OEM connections were straight manifold vacuum, so there would be no advance when you were on the throttle and accelerating, but you would have the advance when the throttle was mostly closed and cruising at a steady speed. Having the advance generally improves gas mileage, but you can't run that much advance under full power. Marty

It's also worth noting that the first table is in distributor degrees, where the second is in crankshaft degrees. You would double the distributor degrees to get crankshaft degrees, and you would double the distributor RPM to get crankshaft RPM.. Marty

A while back someone had published a wiring diagram that used modern Radio Shack relays to run the overdrive circuit. The one thing it didn't have was the ignition kill part of the circuit. I've been doing some research, and may have found a relay that I could use to interrupt the power to the coil on my HEI setup. I'm going to source all of the relays from McMaster-Carr. When I get around to trying it out I'll let everyone know. Marty

Not really. the consensus seemed to be a 37 to 41 Mopar of some sort. Marty

The only "issue" is that the Carter-Webers are still available new, while I believe the Holley-Webers are all rebuilds, at least from Langdon. I'm not sure if it is really an issue or not. Marty

I've got the Carter-Webers on my car, using Lagdon adapters on an Edmunds manifold, with linkage that I made myself. Like many others, I'm running them as-is, straight out of the box, and they run great The only issue I had, which may be unique to the Edmunds manifold, was that the carb spacing was a little too close together, so the electric choke connection for the front carb hit the back carb. I rotated the carbs a little bit to clear. Others have not had this problem, as they seemed to have more distance between the carbs. Marty

Unfortunately, in my correspondence with the seller today, he agreed that he shipped me the wrong bumper, so this afternoon I packaged it up to be shipped back. Sorry! Marty

Here's a couple of photos of the bumpers in question. In the first you can see the bolt holes centered instead of offset. In this shot you can see how much flatter the new bumper is. In looking at listings on eBay, I'm thinking this may be something like a 1940 Plymouth bumper. Marty

Norm, The original bumper on my car looks like yours. The other bumper does not have the top and bottom curl to horizontal that you can see on yours, nor does it have the holes for the bumperguards. Maybe tomorrow I'll find my digital camera and post some pictures. Marty

Recently I found a guy who said he had a rechromed set of 46-48 Plymouth bumpers for sale. We agreed on a price, and he shipped them to me. I received them and unpacked them today. The front bumper is an exact match for my old front bumper; so far so good. But the back bumper isn't the same. it is much flatter and shorter in cross-section, doesn't wrap around at the ends as far, and only has five square holes on centerline, as opposed to the seven square holes off center on my existing bumper (the extra holes are there to mount the OEM stone deflector). The two square holes at either end of the bumper do seem to line up with my 47 brackets, however. My 47 parts manual only lists one rear bumper number, and it looks the same as my old bumper, so I'm wondering if this bumper is maybe an earlier model Plymouth/Dodge/Mopar rear bumper. Does my description ring any bells with anyone? I'd like to positively identify it before I contact the seller. Marty

I'll bet you haven't been for a ride in a 230 with a dual carb Carter-Weber setup yet! Three would be overkill! Marty

My commute car is a 1990 Honda Civic hatchback that is lowered slightly with stiffer springs and shocks, front and rear sway bars, 4 wheel disc brakes with the fronts a larger brake out of an Integra, and a stock drivetrain. It gives me a car that handles and stops superbly, and still gets 35 MPG. I only have to fill it up twice a month. Marty:p

Norm, You should probably sell the van, use some of the money to put airconditioning in the coupe, then buy a small box trailer for hauling stuff around behind the coupe! Marty:D

If the price includes preparation and minor repair, and is a quality chrome job, it's not too bad. I've got a pair of bumpers on my car that I would like to chrome; ask him if you can get a quantity discount! Marty

I use this rather complex search, but it catches a lot! Marty (Dodge, Mopar, Plymouth, Ply) (1942,1946, 1947, 1948, 42,46, 47, 48)

I've been watching it on the Speed Channel, and enjoying it immensely! Marty

Be careful about making assumptions about tailpipe color when running unleaded gas; it will be black under almost any condition. From what you described, I think you're actually pretty close. Marty

The Fatman kit tells you it should only be used with aftermarket disk brake kits. I put them on with the stock drums anyway and found that the backing plates hit the lower A-arm, causing you to about triple the cars turning radius. I wound up taking a grinder to the backing plates to cut holes in them to get back some of the steering, but it is still no where near what it was before the dropped spindles were installed. There's a picture of my car in my profile showing how it looked with the dropped spindles and stock rear springs; since that picture was taken, I have put 1-1/2" lowering blocks on the rear to level it out again. Marty

Actually I thought it worked the other way around. In the transmission that is used with the OD, the internal reverse shifter shaft is longer and has a hole in the back of the trannie case so that when you shift into reverse, it disengages the OD as well. The mechanical lever on the OD unit is there to prevent the OD unit from activating at all, and has nothing specific to what gear you are in. Marty

If you look where the transmission rods connect to the shifter shaft, there is a slotted section where you can loosen the bolt and readjust it. On my car, first gear is about half way between where yours is and horizontal. Marty

While Tim's answer is technically very accurate, I don't think it is as much a factor with our manifolds, which always have both carbs feeding a common plenum. It's really important when there is no connection between carbs, as you want all of the engine running the same. On my Langdon setup I just backed the idle screws out all of the way, played with my linkage until both primaries opened simultaneously, then set the idle speed by adjusting both equally; seems to run fine. Marty

It isn't just a change in the head, there's a corresponding change in the block as well. The later block (such as my D24 block) has an extra hole going into the waterpump that acts as the bypass path. If your block is a P15 block, it won't have that extra passage. With the later housing on the older block, for all practical purposes you won't have any water circulation until the thermostat opens. Conversely, with an external bypass thermostat housing on a later model head and block, you would have two bypass paths, and might not get enough flow through the radiator to cool well enough. Marty, been there, done that ........ PS, I'm pretty sure I've got an extra external bypass housing if you need one.