hkestes41

When I put the R10 in my 48 Plymouth coupe I had a dual carb setup so I just mounted the kickdown switch to the bottom lip of the dash. There was already a hole there on the left side below the starter button that appeared to be a factory hole and the kickdown switch fit perfectly. When I wanted to kick it out of OD I would just reach under the dash and push it with my finger.

Wonder if it would be covered under the extended warranty those people in India keep calling you about?

Yes you can change crank and rods to make your 218 a 230. One other thing you have to change is the flywheel as the rear flange on the 230 crank is thicker than that of the 218. If you don't change flywheels your starter will not engage properly. The other option is to have your 218 flywheel machined to compensate for the extra flange thickness or machine the starter mounting face on your bellhousing. Likely the easiest thing to do would be to just find a 230 and swap it in place of your 218. Should be a direct bolt in swap and nobody would ever know the difference unless they checked the number stamped on the front drivers side of the block just below the head. Heck if you check the number you may find that the engine currently in your car is not the original anyway. Many of the flatheads were swapped out over the years as the old original got tired. I went from a 218 in my 48 Plymouth coupe 95HP stock to a 57 model 230 which was 135HP stock and there was a very distinct seat of the pants increase in power and drivability. As Andy said above an Overdrive or rear gear swap will also help greatly to cruise at highway speeds. I installed a 53 Borg Warner R10 Overdrive in the 48 and it would cruise at 75mph all day long. However, it was a column shift so with your floor shift 37 you might want to look into the T5 swap from an S-10 pickup. The old flatheads can be very reliable engines when built correctly and treated right. They also draw some attention at shows when parked among the sea of small block chevys. Here is the 230 I built for my 48 which I sold a few years back. I now have a 37 Plymouth coupe with a 360/727.

James, not necessarily true. My Hagerty policy on my 37 Plymouth includes the following. The coverages are as below. 1: Bodily Injury Liability: $100,000 Per Person / $300,000 Per Accident 2: Property Damage Liability: $100,000 Per Accident 3: Medical Payments: $2,500 Per Person Per Accident 4: Personal Injury Protection Benefits: $2,500 Per Person Per Accident 5: Uninsured Motorists Coverage: $100,000 Per Person / $300,000 Per Accident 6: Uninsured Motorists Property Damage: $25,000 Per Accident 7: Zero deductible

I use Haggarty for my 37 Plymouth coupe. When I took out the policy I had to provide photos of the front, rear, left/right sides, front 3/4 from both sides, interior and engine. I did not have to provide any documentation as to an appraisal. The Agreed Value policy is for $30K. They asked how many miles a year I would be driving and I stated 8K miles. There are no limits on where or when the car is driven only that it can not be used in racing or as a ride share vehicle. The coverages are as below. 1: Bodily Injury Liability: $100,000 Per Person / $300,000 Per Accident 2: Property Damage Liability: $100,000 Per Accident 3: Medical Payments: $2,500 Per Person Per Accident 4: Personal Injury Protection Benefits: $2,500 Per Person Per Accident 5: Uninsured Motorists Coverage: $100,000 Per Person / $300,000 Per Accident 6: Uninsured Motorists Property Damage: $25,000 Per Accident 7: Zero deductible All for $395 a year. For an additional $45 a year I have membership in their Hagerty Drivers Club which covers unlimited number of roadside assistances and unlimited number of 20 mile flatbed towings. Another $25 per year would bump the towing to 60 miles. Much better coverage and at a lesser cost than our daily drivers.

I agree with Ken. I used a new Vega box on my 37 Plymouth coupe to replace an old Flaming River box that was worn out after about 20 years of use. The Vega box from Speedway lasted all of about 6 months. Went to a Borgeson Universal 920011 - Borgeson Universal Saginaw 525 Manual Steering Box that has now been on for over a year with absolutely zero issues. It has the same mounting pattern as the Vega box so bolted right to the mount.

I drove my 48 Plymouth coupe as a daily driver for about 5 years in Dallas traffic. On 75 (Central Expressway) every day on the way to and from the office. Pretty much followed the recipe that AndyDodge put forth above with the exception of the electric fan and balancing the reciprocating assembly. Did it first with the original 218 while building a 57 model 230. Moved all the "speed" parts over to the 230 when I made the swap. In addition to the driving in Dallas made multiple trips to Joplin, MO for the HAMB Drags on I-44 through OK at 75-80 mph for an 800+ mile round trip. In good working condition and tune the old flathead provided all the power needed to keep up with traffic running through the 53 model R10 overdrive. With the completely rebuilt front suspension and Rusty Hope disc brakes was pretty comfortable running those speeds as well. Even with the disc brakes I just had to make sure to leave a somewhat reasonable distance between me and the car in front of me. Sometimes in Dallas that is hard to do because if you leave more than about 10 feet to the rear bumper in front of you some knucklehead is going to shove their Suburban or Expedition into the hole. I own my cars to drive. If I can't get in it and drive it anytime I feel the urge then I don't want it. I don't own them to leave them in the garage or only drive out in the country on the weekend.

Thanks Bob, hope you and your family are doing well. Missed you at the last HAMB Drags I attended two years ago and will not likely be back considering I am now living about 1200 miles away in Orlando. That Plano, TX to Joplin drive was not too bad at 350 miles and with mom living in Carl Junction. Now that she is with us here in Orlando I wouldn't have a place to stay.

Our daughter Natalie was FINALLY able to get married this past weekend after two postponements and over a year delay due to Covid. It was a great night. She was beautiful, the weather was beautiful and we had friends and family from Colorado, New York, Ohio and Texas make the trip to Florida. The wedding was outside under massive live oak trees with Spanish Moss hanging from the limbs beside a lake. Temps in the low 80s and a steady mild breeze. They used the trunk of my 37 Plymouth coupe for the guests to place their gifts then at the end of the night used it as the get away car. Hopefully you all are seeing things loosen up around you and having opportunities to reconnect with family and friends.

Here is another local guy who lived in the same small town we did named Bob Cooper that my dad sponsored also running a flathead Mopar.

Packing up for a move to Florida and found a few photos of my Dad's old race cars that he ran in the late 50s early 60s around the Joplin, MO area. The red and white coupe I'm pretty sure is a 32 Chrysler and believe the black and gold is the same car with the cowl cut off following a crash rebuild. Both are running flathead 6 Mopars. Lot of new guys ask about the power potential of the flathead six and I can tell you Dad was pretty successful on the track. Now later on he did switch to V8s including a big block Mopar A sedan but did pretty well with the old flatheads.

Money

My first post in this thread was back in Jan 2012 when I still had my previous 48 Plymouth Club Coupe. Ended up selling it a few years later to help my daughter through a rough spot. About two years ago I started getting the itch to find another car and came across my current 37 Plymouth Coupe. While the 48 had a hot rod flathead and overdrive the 37 is powered by a 360 5.9 Magnum and 727. Found it in Detroit. After several conversations with the owner I flew to Detroit made the purchase and drove it back home to Dallas. Have made some updates since then like a new intake/carb, redid the A/C, new gauges, rebuilt the transmission. I drive it a lot putting about 8 thousand miles on it last year.

When I did this one I was lucky in finding a 230 from a 57 Dodge that had been recently rebuilt with only about a thousand miles on it. The owner decided he wanted to go V8 so pulled the engine and sold it and the transmission to me for $150 just to get it out of the way. Was bored 60 over with all new bearings, rings etc. Jumping from the stock 218 to the 230 boosted it about 45HP. Then I added an Offenhauser intake, Mini-HEI, Cast Iron Headers, Carter-Webber carbs, all from Langdon's. That was around $1500. Ran 2.25 dual exhaust with a crossover pipe and small 14 inch turbo style mufflers. Then added the Edgy finned aluminum head which at the time was $700 shipped to my door. Prices have gone up a bit since, but the head has also had some updates to improve the combustion chamber and bump the compression a tad. Not sure how much HP was added by these parts but assume they bumped it around 20-30 HP which put it in the 150 to 160 range. I can say that from seat of the pants experience it was a huge increase in performance from the original stock 218. Was not going to win any drag races but it ran well and would keep up with interstate traffic running through the 53 model R10 overdrive cruising at 70 to 75 all day on some 800 plus mile round trips. They can be fun engines as long as you have the right mindset going in. They also will draw attention at shows/cruise nights in the sea of small black Chevys because you don't see that many.

Congrats Nick. Just remember if you ever see me running you better run too because something dangerous is chasing me.