kencombs

It is my understanding that Powells were not assembled on a new chassis. Used from the ground up with new sheet metal. If that's true then mother Mopar had no part in parts sourcing, just the local salvage yards, and maybe used car dealers.

I think you will find the car wheels to be smaller OD than the truck thus less leverage. Depending on use that may not be an issue.

Cleaning whitewalls brings back old memories. Worked in service station '59/60 where a lot of our business was hand wash and wax jobs. We had a whitewall cleaner, 30gal drum of concentrate that we mixed with water. Put it in an air-up spray container and spray it on. Then just hit it with a wash mitt and done! Westleys Bleche-White is the closest thing I've seen since.

Overcurrent protection is a good thing. But, as I mentioned earlier, IMO a maxi fuse (or breaker) makes much more sense than a fusible link. More than on car fire has started due to those. Some have been know to heat nearby insulation above the kindling point. Fuses don't do that and are much easier to replace when and if needed. Just like the 10/15/30s we carry in the spares kit, just add a big one and you can be back in action in minutes. Most newer cars incorporate them. My old ('97) F150 has a couple inches from the battery. One for the fused circuits and one for unfused.

Folks forget I guess, but it is critical to max tire life. My 'good' vehicles get them done at every oil change so I don't forget. 5k intervals as specified by Toyota for the Tundra and wifes Town and Country just to be consistent.

Excellent idea but can be improved by using a Maxi-Fuse instead of the fusible link. I've seen a few fires caused by those. And, sometimes a failed link isn't obvious as it is hidden under insulation. Fuse is easier to tell that it's blown. My old F150 (1997) has TWO! 175A next to the battery.

I still remember the first Toyota engine that I worked on. Everything looked like a Chevy six. Clearly the Japanese studied the Stovebolt very carefully before building it! But it is not a copy as nothing interchanges. General head bolt placement for instance, looks like the Chevy, but the actual measurements are not the same. That one out of line head bolt has stymied many a shade tree mechanic. We sold more than one head to replace those damaged by using chisels or such to force a 'stuck' head off the block. Bolt still in place! I think GM stayed with cast iron on all the 216s, but switched to aluminum on the babbit versions of the 235. All full pressure sixes had aluminum pistons. Lots of them had the cast pistons replaced with aluminum at rebuild time. And usually without any balancing, a testament to the great inline six configuration. Sure couldn't do that with a V8!

Agreed, stroke does effect the max rpm, but lots of others things do too. Probably the most significant is the weight of the rotating and reciprocating pieces. Starting and stopping a long cast or steel rod is hard on everything. That's also why chevy 216/235 with iron pistons were so tough on soft babbit rods.

Most likely rear shackles on the front springs are worn. Front anchors may be ok as they only move a little bit.

The two red statements above seem to point to an issue. Sound like the sending unit is a mismatch to original equipment. Nevermind, Plymouthy answered while I was typing.

I don't know for sure, but I've never seen that part in any repo catalogs. But, they should be fairly easy to form from steel stock.. The welding is the real issue. One could probably jack the body up a little to allow access. Of course body off is more convenient for welding and grinding.

Take a look here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/overseas-jack-rebuild-help-tutorial.51105/ More info than you'll need but a good read anyway.

Some clues as to what engine it is and location will help with responses.

Too bad you're so far from me and not going to use it. That would be a perfect fit for my 56PU project. I have the correct clutch housing already for an early hemi or poly. Actually, I have a 230 ready to go in, but set the chassis up to accept a V8 should I not be happy with the power when done. That 277 is the first of the A engine family that became the 318 poly. And the lower end of the later LA series. Differs from earlier polys in that the intake is also the valley cover.

Let's first clarify which engine you have. Is it a 277CI poly or some other variant? Also what vehicle was it's original home? Standard shift with flywheel or? In any case, engine mounts and clutch housing are the key elements of the swap

I have a 2007 T&C which had a leak, thankfully way back when it was in warranty. Rear evaporator. They had a bunch of them due to a run of bad ones that cracked. Probably not your issue though being older as they usually failed early. Sniffer is the easiest way. OTOH, with refrigerant leaving that quickly I'd expect to see dampness from oil at the leak point. So I'd first follow every visible line, check every fitting for that. If no luck with that a detector can be had for less than 35 bucks. But, I can't vouch for the accuracy of the really cheap ones.

IME, grabbing/locking brakes have always been caused by brake fluid leaking onto the shoes. Worth taking the drums off and examining everything inside. Springs, shoes, everything. The reason for it being directional was explained by another poster.

Ford had a huge recall on those, but mine got missed somehow. Not a rare occurrence at all. Friend of mine had his catch fire overnight, IN HIS GARAGE. Huge insurance claim as his house is huge also.

Exactly right. My 2000 Expedition caught on fire sitting in front of our store about 2004. I got to it with an extinguisher very quickly, but it was totaled. The internal fluid leak was so small that it didn't affect the brakes at all and there was no external evidence of the leak. Just enough to create a high resistance point in the switch itself.

Easiest way to prove this is to use air. Doesn't take a lot of volume or pressure, Remove both spark plugs, Make an adapter from and old plug shell and a quick connect male half. Some can be tapped with a 1/4"FPT, but most will need a little silver solder, weld or brazing, depending on your tools. Hook your air source to either of the plug holes. It'll be obvious when the air into one hole comes out the other! This fitting will be useful for leakdown tests also.

Couple of things stick out to me from your post. First, those are good compression numbers, very good driver condition. I've seen low mileage rebuilds lower than that. Second it would be a rare occurrence that black sooty stuff come out of an engine with those numbers due to oil burning. Much more likely to be carb related. Choke not working well, float to high etc. Hard to tell what the knock is long distance, but a telltale for me searching for rod bearing knocks is to rev the engine slowly up to 1500-2k rpm range and just very slightly let I drop 2-400 rpm. A rod knock will almost always get worse during that decel period. How's the oil pressure? Loose mains will always show up a very low pressure, not so much as a knock. Before committing to a high dollar rebuild, I'd first do a through examination as suggested by others.

Little black particles is not normal. I think a brake flush is in order. Since I can't feel the seal from here I can't offer an opinion, except to say that dot3 shouldn't attack any parts for a car that age. The black stuff commonly appears when brake flex lines start to fail internally.

Sounds to me like you have air in the lines still. Pumping up the brakes compresses that air, it then pushes fluid back into the reservoir when the pumping stops. At least we're sure your return port is open!

His description' crank sporadically, and maybe spin for a few seconds, stop, clunk, clunk maybe catch and start' sounded to me like solenoid releasing. Maybe I misunderstood the phrasing. What I've often seen looks and sound like bad battery cables, connections etc. Weak sound of solenoid 'snapping' in and/or buzzing, maybe a half-hearted attempt roll over. Relay fixed 'em.

I've seen similar issues with small tractors. The wiring to the solenoid coil has to pass thru several safety switches first. The wiring was of marginal gauge to begin with, the the switches contacts age,, the plugin connections all oxidize . The result is the current arriving at the solenoid at to low a level to activate the pull-in coil. Many makers offer a kit to place a little plugin relay near the starter. It takes much less current to operate than the solenoid and when it closes it supplies power to the solenoid directly. Same thing happens to some small diesels that have solenoid operated fuel shutoffs. Long way of saying that a poor solenoid voltage (or ground) will not pass enough current to operate the plunger. There is a surprising amount of amperage needed there.