frankieflathead

Congratulations on your new score. It looks like a real solid car to start with. Although the discussion here has been about the engine, I thought I'd mention something about another subject, since you said that this is your first old MoPaR. It's a fairly simple thing, but might save you a little head scratching (and possibly worse!) down the road. When these cars were new, the wheel studs on the driver's side were reverse thread. That is to say, righty loosey, lefty tighty. All things being equal, studs will have an "L" stamped into the top. However, that will only be the case if a stud has not been replaced at some time with a standard thread one or if the front drums have not been swapped or replaced with an incorrect one. Just a cautionary note to save you a little grief when the time comes to start pulling the wheels off. I'll bet most of us here have snapped off a stud or two when we first started messing around with these cars. Best of luck with your project and please keep us updated as it goes along.

A recent trip to Bennington yielded a number of good photo ops..... First stop was at a friend's place out in the country to show him the car. He hadn't seen it before. Located less than a quarter mile off the pavement, I didn't feel too bad about driving the old bus that short distance on dirt..... The Blue Bus at the Blue Benn. "I'll have the Blue Plate Special, please!" This is what cruising in southern Vermont is all about. Hogback Mountain, about ¼ of the way there.... On the way over and back, there are a couple of really long steep grades. If any of you guys have ever driven Vermont Route 9, you know these used to be infamous car killers : Searsburg and Woodford Mountain. These were the biggest challenge for the old Dodge to date. I made a run at the hill on the Searsburg side and got the old girl up to 60 m.p.h. at the bottom. She pulled the entire hill in third gear, and had only slowed to 40 by the top. Temp rose from 165°F to 180°, and rapidly cooled off once on level road once again. Compression held me back very well on the down hill side, so I could save my brakes. In the old days, people who rode them all the way down might experience real fading. Returned 15.9 m.p.g. for the trip with that kind of severe use. I couldn't be happier with performance like that! And thanx fur lookin'!

Yup. Kind of a "stop and smell the roses" driving style. 45 to 55 gets me there every time.

Hi Mark, and welcome. With all those old MoPaRs, I don't think you'll be needing either that cart or the horse!

Looks like a great old bus. Isn't it wonderful how different the driving experience of these old things is from modern cars? I regularly drive at 10 m.p.h. over the speed limit in my daily driver, but find that the speed limits on the two lane rural roads here in southern Vermont that seem so slow are the ideal pace for my '49 D24C. Welcome to the forum and to the cruising season.

Thanx very much. The backgrounds are a large part of what makes these shots work. That and the classic lines of the D24!

You're very welcome, guys. Glad you enjoyed them.

You're very welcome. Glad you liked 'em.

HA! Don't feel too bad, Tim. Your gas is about 20¢ a gallon less than it is around here.

Thanx, Robert. Me too, and my Dodge couldn't possible be anymore stock than it is. Only concessions to modernity are radial tires and 6 volt halogen headlights.

Thanx, Tod.

Not in the Dodge, but I have driven it a few times in my modern car. It can be an exciting stretch of road, hey?

You're very welcome. Although it wasn't a perfect day up here, it was nice enough. The little town of Grafton provides some excellent backgrounds for photography. Hope you're feeling well enough to get out and about sometime soon yourself.

Thanx, Ed. That's what I like about these cars : they're so simple!

While I was out tooling around yesterday, it occurred to me that I didn't know where the fuse box was on my D24. I have always made a habit of carrying spare fuses in any car I've ever owned, modern or not-so-new. When I got home, I checked my owner's manual and reprint shop manual and the only mentions I found were for inline fuses for the clock and radio and for a circuit breaker in the headlight switch. So what's the story? Is there a fuse box somewhere that I have yet to find? Are there separate inline fuses, fusible links or other circuit breakers for the different systems? Thanx in advance for the help.

Finally got a chance to take the old Dodge out for a longer drive yesterday. Put about 70 miles on her, and gave her the exercise that she so sorely needed. She was running okay before I left, but ran so much better afterwards. And thanx fur lookin'!

That's what I thought, Don, but I wasn't 100% sure. Like you say, that's one marble that had partially fallen out of my bag. Thanx,

Eezy, peezy. And cheap, too. Nothing like a part number to simplify things. I'm assuming that you have real world experience using these. Thanx, Shel.

Thanx, Tim. I'm looking at a six volt coil that's marked "internal resistor".

Thanx, Darren. I know it has an internal resistor because it says so right on the coil.

All that elbow grease paid off. It looks great. Bon voyage!

Thanx Tod, but since this is a 6 volt coil with an internal resistor is there any reason why I can't use it with my stock 6 volt ignition system? Will it provide sufficient power or harm my stock points and/or condenser it any way?

Been thinking about the spare parts I want to have with me now that the car show season is officially upon us up here. Aside from tune up parts, I thought it might be smart to carry a spare coil, but for the life of me I can't remember if I need a resistor or non resistor coil in my D24. Can't make out the markings on the one in the car and it's running fine right now. Local parts store has one with an internal resistor for $20 and that seems like a great price. I'm currently running Champion J11C non resistor plugs in the car and it may very well have old style copper core wires on it. Checked the tech section here and found nothing on the subject, and my factory shop manual reprint just says use OEM. HA! Do I need to run a non resistor type coil, too?

"This one? Or this one?"...... HA!

The car is mine and I was just joking about the rental.