Desotodav

I found that most of my (9) trucks have been fitted with a flex line... but we might have done things differently here in Oz!... and my trucks are all a later model than Matt's. I recall discussing this topic a while back, but I couldn't find the thread. I did find the oil gauge flex line listed in my Canadian 40-47 truck manual and it shows the 'flexible line' part # as 655498.

Congratulations on getting the old truck going again Martyn. What a great feeling knowing that you have breathed life back into something that has been sitting for the past 30 years. Well done my friend!

Paul, please wish Darlene well for me and I pray that she has a speedy recovery. Must have been one good butt kicking she dished out to you... was it for burning down the garage and losing the flame cat, not painting any of your vehicles, or dragging too many vehicles home over the past few years? Even you gotta admit that you had it coming!

Thanks Dave. Frame is 2-pak semi-gloss black. It's all coming together slowly but surely!

I decided this morning that it was time to convert another oil bath filter to something a little more modern and effective. I removed the filter which I modified for the blue 52 truck to use as a template. It all sounds very difficult, but it's probably one of the simplest things one can do to these vehicles. I found a good method when I did the first filter so I'm happy to share my secret here:... I inserted a bolt through a piece of flat ply wood so that I could turn the filter (upside down) so that it could spin around on that bolt to keep the cut even. I measured the point at which I wanted to cut and used two pieces of timber under my 4 inch angle grinder (fitted with thin cutting disc) to keep the angle grinder at one level. I spun the top of the air bath oil filter on the bolt cutting a shallow cut around the outside of the top filter piece - cutting through the piece entirely in a few revolutions. I then removed the bottom section of the air filter, and removed the piece of the mesh at the top of that filter housing. I have just ordered another stainless steel filter mesh piece with the oil-soaked foam cover. I will clean up the cut edges with a file and spot-weld a small 'apron' around the perimeter to give it extra strength. I feel that there are numerous benefits of this minor modification... a couple of them being: better filtered breathing for the engine, ease of cleaning the filter foam and re-oiling.

Well, the engine install all went well. I have even added parts like WDT, waterpump, fan and manifold since then. Now it's onto some smaller pieces whilst the body and panels are still off for panel beating.

The breather is more or less just a bolt with a hole through the center with a small metal cap that sits on top - there is no open or closed position. The top cap can be removed for cleaning underneath if you wish as it's just pinched at the bottom to stop it from coming off. The whole breather bolt can actually be removed if you wish as it is just a mounting bolt for the 'T' piece and is not connected to the pressurized brake lines which meet at the 'T' joiner fitting.

Thanks for the quick reply Merle. I will try as you suggest in the morning. The pulley appears to be quite a tight fit and I was concerned at pushing the key in too far. I saw in the manual where they suggested one have a centering tool for the timing chain cover plate. I will back those bolts off a little as you suggest also. I'm about to head off to bed (11:18pm as I type here in Oz now) and would have lay awake thinking about that darn pulley and key. Thanks again.

Just a quick question for those mechanically-minded persons out there..... I plan on installing the front crankshaft pulley in the morning and see that it has a square key that inserts in the slot/s of the pulley and crankshaft. Is there a particular way to install that key - in that should I install the square key partially in the rear of the pulley and tap the pulley onto the crankshaft, or should I try to tap the pulley on and tap the key into the slot between crankshaft/pulley from the front?

Looks like your stop has come loose. Did you check out the 'resources..tech..heat riser' section at the top-center of the forum page?... there's some really good information there on the heat riser.

That DD interior looks great Rob. I notice that the kick panels either side are only short - is that how they came out in the USA?... ours here in Oz extend down to the floor...

Thanks Tim. It's all a great deal of fun.... but it's hurting our bank balance for now! Our truck bodies here in Oz are a little different to what you guys are used to over there, so I am pleased to be able to document this build here for interested parties to view. There is still plenty going on with the Pop truck project - the guys have been repairing rust areas, and I have been playing with getting the engine back together. I am most fortunate to work in an area where additional overtime is available as this supplies me with additional funds for the project.... the only downside is that my shifts are long and the hours of work are 'unusual'. I was looking around my shed this afternoon for the oil pressure relief valve and the oil tube which supplies oil onto the timing gear.... only to find that they were already installed on the engine! One tends to get forgetful when life is busy! I'll update with some more photos soon when things quieten down a bit.

Don, did you try Bob Drake.... https://www.bobdrake.com/Categories2.aspx?Id=beautyrings . I'm running a set of his 16 inch ribbed beauty rings on my 52 truck and they fit perfect.

Hope this helps... The pedal is held on with the 'collar 6-45-3' and there is a half-moon 'key 6-45-3' which stops it from spinning on the shaft.

I did a search and found an old Police van photo this morning. I reckon that it would have been hot for anyone in the back of that van. Interesting raised roof section with air vents in the side. Also interesting how it has 2 windscreen wipers as we didn't really do that here in Oz in that era.

This photo was sent to me tonight by my friend Janie. It shows an old Dodge Police truck in Box Hill Melbourne Australia. Check out that Police sign at the top center of the windscreen... and the old canvas canopy on the back of the truck.

You can buy the rubber bushings for the original 'lever stud' Tones - I got a few a while back from Andy Bernbaum's. The springs can break as well. I had some made up a while back, but the truck ones are different to the car ones and I only have truck ones left.

Yep, what Ed said Merle. I did knock the dowel pieces back to remove the bell-housing with the flywheel still attached. I'll slip it over the top of the flywheel again and then attach the front-lower cover plate and the bottom pan after I bolt the bell-housing to the back of the engine block. The Aussie bell-housing/clutch setup is a little different to your USA ones as they need to cater for our pedals being on the right (as opposed to the left) side. I wondered if it was simply a case of the 'fork 6-22-1' being a little different, but I think it is a little more involved than that.

I made up my own dual horns - thanks again to David Anderson for the precise drawing of the mounting 'Z' bracket. I will soon make up another set for the 53 coupe truck (12v this time). They may not be original, but it sure beats the ridiculous prices the last couple of original sets have sold for online.

I really should do that Dave, but I managed to do it today with a clutch aligning tool...

Pressure plate bolts are finger tight at this stage - clutch plate and throwout bearing are still here on my office desk. I hope to achieve more tomorrow in the light of day.

I had a couple of hours to spare today so I went down to the shed to play with my engine. I got the rebuilt engine back about a week or so ago, so I decided to paint it the other day. It was while I was painting the engine that I noticed that the engine builder had installed the flywheel bolts in the wrong way and there was no easy way to remove them, so I cut them out this afternoon... taking care not to cause too much heat which could cause damage to the freshly installed rear seal. Lucky I had a spare set of flywheel bolts at the shed hey! I had the refurbished flywheel held on with a couple of bolts, and then I realized that all 8 of the bolt holes didn't line up... so I needed to remove the bolts I had already tightened and then rotate the flywheel to the correct position. It turns out that this would have been quite a simple process had I initially seen the punch marks which someone had already made! I then installed the clutch pressure plate, but am yet to install the clutch plate as I need to borrow a clutch plate alignment tool from my mechanic friend. I hope to have the engine sump and bell-housing on soon so that I can install the engine back into the chassis. Mechanics is certainly not my strong point, but I am learning quickly as I go !!!

Come on PP, stop torturing us and just paint it !!! ...

Welcome aboard Tom. That's a good looking engine in your old car. I was wondering if AndyD had sold you his spare motor as it looks quite similar to what I saw in his garage...

I haven't posted an update here for a while, but major things have been happening to my coupe truck over the past week so I guess that it is timely to provide an update. I delivered the coupe truck body to my Panel Beater (Richard) a couple of weeks back and he has moved ahead in leaps and bounds over the past couple of days. The body is not too bad for it's age, but it does have some significant rust in areas which require a fair deal of work. There was some discussion between the 2 Panel Beater's (Richard and Bill) whom I have asked to complete the truck body and panel restoration for me and it was decided that the best method to attack the project was to remove the rear panel sections (most of our trucks here Oz are somewhat different to those cab + bed trucks seen in USA) so that internal pieces could be better reached and repaired. I have attached a few photos which Richard was kind enough to post on his website to show some progress to date. I also recently spoke with my painter friend Graeme (who painted my blue 52 truck when it was fully restored a few years back) and we decided that the 53 coupe truck would be painted white. I will possibly look to paint it an original MOPAR shade of off-white which is correct for that era. A couple of days ago, I delivered most of the other body panels to Bill (the other Panel Beater) as he will repair the minor imperfections to all panels and attend to the overall finishing work of the whole project. I suspect that I will have a few more photos of repair work to add within the coming weeks. On another note, I also collected the rebuilt 'long block' 218 engine from the Engine Builder this afternoon and will start reassembling the final pieces soon. The engine was in good condition but the piston walls were badly scored for some reason (bore walls were good though), so I replaced them with 30 thou over Egge pistons from USA. The camshaft bearings are standard and the big-end/main bearings are 20 thou. I had all of the moving parts to this engine balanced whilst they were at the engine builder's as I believe this will make for smoother running. I will post up engine pictures at a later date. More to come soon.