PhilJohnson

I have a Gyromatic trans in my Dodge. I've managed to get the bugs sorted out of it. The car seems to be geared pretty low. I almost never use low range. The last time I used low was to pull my mom's 2001 GMC Safari Van back home. I couldn't even tell the van was back there I want to get better fuel economy out of the Dodge, that low gearing seems to be a bit of a waste. So I have an idea to use the rear end out of my AMC Eagle. It has I think a 2.32 or a 2.54 rear ratio. I would no longer be able to start in high range but theoretically it should give me the equivalent of running an OD. It would screw up my speedo calibration, any ideas about some potential fixes for that? I would like to get about 20 mpg if I can instead of the 15 or less I get now. Any thoughts?

Well I've decided to get rid of the whole works. The heat riser gasket is blown out and I've decided not to spend any money on something I never missed in the first place.

Quite the adventure, gotta say I'm a little jealous

I have a non-functioning heat riser. Does turning the valve clockwise shut off the flow of exhaust to the intake ? I have a vice grips on the counterweight so I can turn it on or off depending on if the engine is cold or warm. I don't want to burn my valves. Thanks

I'm afraid my bike isn't nearly as cool as some of you guy's bikes. For one it's a lot slower. But the gas mileage is excellent

I went into town on my bike to pick up a chainsaw chain (it's like 11 miles one way). Darn place wasn't open despite what their sign in the window said. It was kinda cold with a biting wind blowing in from the north west. I rode around town for a little bit to get some pastries and some other random stuff. I then decided to go to my parents place instead of going home. They live about 7 miles out of town. The main factor in my decision was that nasty wind. Going home I'd be riding into the darned wind the whole way home. Once I arrived at my parents I faced with how I'd get home. Now I was even farther and no one was home. I looked at the Dodge. It's been sitting in my parent's driveway since my ill fated Christmas trip (I wound up biking home on that one). I had a boat gas tank under the hood with a primer bulb. The primer bulb had a tear in it and the plugs got fouled out pretty bad. So I cleaned up the plugs and started thinking about how I could get fuel to the engine. The darn fuel pump broke over a year ago and I've been too cheap to replace it. I found an old windshield washer tank in a pile of junk and rigged it on. It didn't hold a lot of gas but it did allow for the fuel to be gravity fed into the carb. I then shoved my beach cruiser in the back seat. It fit, but barely. Started up the beast and let it warm up. I then went to take off when I was met by yet another problem, no brakes! There is a leak somewhere in the braking system, usually I have to top it off once a month if I don't drive it. I searched high and low for brake fluid but apparently the old man didn't have any. There was plenty of transmission fluid though. Since I was going to drive on nothing but back roads anyway I decided to give it a shot. I poured the ATF in there and pumped up the brake pedal. It worked! Drove it home without a hitch although I did have to fill up a couple of times. After sitting a couple of hours though my makeshift fuel delivery system was already starting to have problems. Apparently the rubber seal is not rated for gasoline and it started to leak. Oh well I guess I'll have to come up with something different.

Didn't do too much to the Valiant today. I worked overnight so energy was an issue. Still I managed to put on a different cap and rotor. Motor seems to run smoother but nowhere near as smooth as the old 50 Coronet. Also hooked up a vacuum line to the hot air thingee on the air cleaner. It seems to work. I noticed the car makes a strange rattle noise under load. I'm going to check the ignition timing tomorrow. Before I turned down the idle it used to diesel pretty bad. Probably going to try and adjust the valves tomorrow too if I can find my feeler gauges.

Interesting, will look Well the transmission seems to be good, no slipping. Unsure of the rest of it. Worn out it may be but I still think it should be able to obtain 20 mpg. My wore out no compression F100 with a 300 six got 20-22. It does seem to require a lot of throttle to maintain speed. I'm gonna tinker with it some more tomorrow.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Hopefully I can tinker with it this Sunday No' date=' supposedly the car has 25,000 miles on it. I bought it from an agency disposing of a very elderly lady who was the original owner's estate. I have my doubts as to the 25,000 mile claim, it seems a bit too rusty for that low of mileage. Also either Granny was portly, Valiants have really weak seat springs, or they are weak from 125,000 miles worth of driving. I do agree the valves need to be adjusted which makes me wonder why Chrysler just didn't go with hydraulic lifters right from the start. I've never adjusted valves before so it'll be a new experience for me. It seems to run well, no leaks, and the accelerator pump seems to be working great. I hate tearing something apart that doesn't have any obvious signs of issues. I'll leave that for last if all else fails. Plus I have property taxes due so a 200 dollar carb is out of the question.

No black smoke however I noticed above the exhaust pipe there is quite a bit of black sooty buildup on the bumper (can see it in the one picture). It does seem to ping some under load. The diesel noise is from a clattery valve train. It sounds like the valves need some serious adjusting. I have no idea what it's running for a temp, it does have great heat so I'd assume it's good.

I bought me a 74 Valiant to replace the 98 Crown Vic that I had been using as a DD. The Vic's oil pan has a huge leak among other things. I figured that I'd be getting at least low 20s for fuel mileage. Last time I checked the car was getting slightly less than 16 mpg. It's a 225 with the automatic. I consider this to be horrible in a light car doing 90 percent country/highway driving. I had a Ramcharger 4x4 that I got an honest 20 mpg with a 318 and a 3 speed automatic. I did your basic tuneup. Car is still running bias ply tires, no fuel leaks, carb doesn't leak either and seems to be in good working order. The engine does sound like a small diesel. Am I missing something or is there some sort of trick to wringing out a few extra miles out of a slant six?

My 1950 Dodge seems to have a little trouble with it's tail lights. A quick test with some wire revealed that the headlamps do work, at least on high beam when wired directly to the battery. The driver's side head lamp seems to have a ground problem which I've temporarily solved by running an extra ground wire. The head light switch will turn on the lights on the dash but not the head lamps. I have an extra wire which I can wire to the battery directly so I can have head lights. Is there a fuse somewhere that might have gotten burnt out? I've found a couple of in line fuses but they were both good. Thanks

I don't think there is anything wrong in the transmission however it is possible that you might have messed up the linkage. I've had 3 speeds that have fallen out of adjustment and become hard to shift. A couple of wrenches and a little patience and it's all better. Good luck

I can see why Germans settled in Wisconsin, the landscape is very similar.