Rusty O'Toole

If you have all the parts keep it stock. If you need to buy a carb and exhaust you can get a Holley/Weber progressive 2 barrel and adapter for about the cost of a rebuilt carb. If you get the 2 barrel carb the most economical exhaust is to use the stock manifold but have an exhaust system made up that is 1/2" larger in diameter. The 2 barrel carb and 1/2" larger exhaust, is basically the same as the Super Six option on the Slant 6. This was an optional engine for Valiants and Darts in the 70s and early 80s, that gave 10 extra HP. These 2 mods will free up a little more power. If you can find a 1957 or newer cylinder head it will have higher compression, or get your old head milled. I wouldn't bother with this unless you have the head off anyway.

How is the compression? If compression is down nothing you can do will make it easy to start. If it has good compression ( 100 pounds or more) then you need a tuneup. Perhaps someone can give you the specs for an industrial engine. If not the same year pickup truck should work. The main difference so far as I know, is .002 more clearance on the valves.

Everything else being equal I would swap over the complete engine/trans assembly. This assumes it is in good running order. I would not mess with it. The hopped up engine and overdrive is a great combination. It would be easier than swapping everything piece by piece plus you know all the parts are set up to work together.

That's not how it works Don. We are supposed to figure out the problem from 1000 miles away, to save the guy from looking at his own car. You have seen this 100 times and so have I.

The bypass filter with the correct element gets the oil cleaner than a full flow. The full flow may be better than a bypass but the bypass is better than nothing. In fact I am not sure the full flow is that much better than the bypass.

Wrist pin can tick at idle, quiet down when you rev up.

In those days cheaper cars came with no filter but oil change intervals were shorter. The filter was optional at extra cost. The filter is a good idea, they are not hard to find or install. Elements are available. But as has been pointed out, if you don't drive a lot, and on today's paved roads with little dust, and change the oil regularly it won't make a lot of difference to engine life. You might want to take off the oil pan and scrape out the dirt every 10 years.

Phantom Corsair built by Bohmann and Schwartz for Rust Heinz, heir to the Heinz pickle fortune. Used a Cord front drive chassis. He meant to mass produce them but died first. See it in action as the "Flying Wombat".

I was thinking of piston speed and the distance traveled by the piston and rings in a long stroke engine at hiway speed, compared to modern short stroke engines. And the sudden stop top and bottom every turn of the crankshaft. Plymouth and Dodge engines have a habit of breaking the rings and upper ring lands on the pistons. I always attributed this to the stress or pounding they took especially if the ring groove got worn. This bothers me. I was thinking that the best modern piston rings would be a good investment in terms of engine life.

The original pedal said "Safety Clutch" on it. Most of the old pedal pads have been worn out and changed. Chrysler could have put a vacuum clutch on and had a full automatic drive but they didn't. This struck me as odd, they knew how to do it - they offered a vacuum clutch in the 30s, before fluid drive! I guess they figured it was a safety feature. In those days automatics were new and everyone was used to a standard, in an emergency they would instinctively hit the clutch pedal. With the new wide brake pedal (first used by Studebaker in 1951) you could put the whole family through the windshield!

The crazy thing is fuel sales are down 25% in the US in the last 2 years. So how come the price of fuel keeps rising?

You did right to check them. Sometimes the adjustment closes up as they break in. They should not be noisy. I know it is not a very enticing prospect but you will have to go over them again.

Wonder if the rubber motor mount has gone mushy and collapsed over the years? I'm sure they didn't design a car that rubbed the steering on the oil pan.

Have you seen the chase between the Plymouth convertible and the DeSoto coupe at the start of Sunset Boulevard? Take a look at this and fast forward to 9:55 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkDLI43iiTs&feature=related

On mine I made 2 hooks from coat hanger wire and pulled it out. There is more than one hole you can hook into. One hook just tore the metal.

Don I have seen that type failure before and thought it was piston failure from too high revs. Are you saying the ring breaks first, breaking the upper ring land? In that case would more modern molly rings eliminate the failure point?

With a long stroke engine the rings take a beating especially in a low geared truck.

As you live in Canada, if you can find a head off a Plymouth or Dodge car 1957 58 or 59 you will have high compression, they were 8:1 on the 230, higher on your engine. Then there are the Dodge trucks up to 1962. 55 and 56 cars about 7.5. This trick will not work in the US as the Dodge and Plymouth head will not fit the DeSoto block.

Old condensers go bad from sheer old age. Even if they have been sitting on a shelf for 70 years. They were made of wax paper and tinfoil. New Mylar condensers are a lot more durable.

Ford sender 1935 - 1955 from one of the Ford antique guys, $35 will work in a car if you modify it a little to make it fit. Not sure if trucks use the same sender as cars??

A 52 Chrysler will have a Fluid Drive or Fluid Torque Drive transmission. You can tell which because it will be marked on the shift quadrant. Your trans is a cross between a manual and automatic. In fact it is one of the first automatics on the market. Driving technique is simple. Put the trans in neutral and set the hand brake. Start the engine and let it warm up. Step on the clutch, shift into high, and release the clutch. The car will sit there idling like a typical automatic. When you are ready to go release the brake, step on the gas and away you go. At this point you will be in low. To shift into high, once you get going 14 MPH or more, lift your foot off the gas pedal. You should hear a soft *click-clack* from under the floor boards. Now you are in high gear. Step on the gas and go someplace lol. If you come to a stop the trans will shift back to low automatically. Just come to a stop like an automatic and take off again by stepping on the gas. No need to touch the clutch. When you get up to 14 MPH or more, lift off the gas etc. There is also a low range for slow driving, starting on a hill, with a heavy load, or in snow, sand or mud. In low range you shift into high the same way but at 6 MPH or more. On the highway, if you are in high gear and you tramp on the gas pedal it will kick down like a typical automatic, at any speed up to 50. To shift into Reverse, or into High Range or Low Range you need to use the clutch. You can also start off like a standard trans by slipping the clutch but it is kind of funny. You should just release the clutch and let the fluid drive do its stuff. You do not need to slip the clutch or maybe just a little for smooth engagement. The Fluid Drive system is one of the simplest, most trouble free and rugged of the early automatics. It is pretty simple, if it gives trouble it is usually just low on oil or maybe the wiring is messed up. There is an electrical control system to control the shifts. The wiring and controls are all on the outside of the trans, easy to get to and easy to diagnose and service. There are 2 wires that go from the coil, to a control box, to the carburetor, then to the transmission. Those 2 wires control the whole system, very simple. Your car probably has a quadrant like an automatic. When you go to shift into Reverse you have to pull the lever towards you as you shift, there is quite a stop to prevent shifting too far. Or if it is the older style it will have a shifter like a manual 3 speed but with only 2 speeds or ranges. Reverse, towards you and down. Low range away from you and straight up. High range straight down. There are manuals on line you can look up if necessary but this should be enough info to get you going. Chances are you will not have to do anything or check anything. Come back and ask again if you have any problems.

It is possible to have a 6/12 volt system quite easily. I did this years ago after putting an Olds V8 into a Willys. You can use a 12 volt battery with a center tap. Or in my case I used 2 six volt batteries connected in series. Take a full 12 volts for the 12 volt things, and 6 volts off the center tap or off the second battery. So, in a sense you have 2 different systems on one car. In the case of + ground cars the only polarity sensitive part is the radio. And you have to reverse the connections on the ammeter.

Next time stuff a rag around the hole, guess how I found this out lol. My car has a plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. I took the plate off and carefully turned the fluid drive unit by hand, using a pry bar on the ring gear, and the plug fell out unharmed.

Definitely Canadian. Here is the difference. In the US they made 2 flathead 6 engines. A short one (23 1/4" long at the head) for Plymouth and Dodge. A bigger one (25") for DeSoto and Chrysler. In Canada they only made the one, the big DeSoto/Chrysler block and juggled the bore and stroke to make smaller versions for Canadian Plymouth and Dodge. The 251 is always the larger block no matter where it was made. The 251 was used in Chryslers in the late 40s, DeSotos in the early 50s, and in big Dodge trucks till 1962 and military spec Power Wagons until 1968. Usually when they talk of "canadian" vs "US" spec motors they are referring to Dodge and Plymouth. PS there is another difference that might crop up. Some motors had a square hole at the front of the head gasket, others did not. It is not always easy to know which motors had this feature. You have to look at the old gasket or head to be sure. The difference is the water passage at the front of the head.

It sounds like the carburetor is badly out of tune. What does the compression test tell you? What is the oil pressure? Should be 45 PSI @ 40 MPH. If you have good compression and good oil pressure, then a tuneup should go a long way to curing your problem. In some cases, if a car has been out of commission for a long time, the rings get stuck and it takes a while to free up. But once you drive it 500 or 1000 miles it settles down and stops burning oil. In other cases it is necessary to renew the rings and valves. How many miles on the car? Normal engine life between overhauls is 50,000 to 80,000 miles.