bosworth

I put a Langdon’s Stovebolt Mini HEI distributer on my 51 B3B. You have to have 12 volts, but the kit pretty much has everything you need including the coil. As for speed, while I was rebuilding the truck, I installed a 3.55 rear axle from a Jeep Cherokee. I can run 55 to 60 pretty easily on the flat, but it will still slow down climbing hills, with my single barrel carburetor it’s still no muscle car Bill

Hi Bobby i got all of my glass for my B3B pickup from Bob’s Classic Autoglass, I was very happy with the fit and the quality. The windshield is laminated safety glass, all other windows are tempered safety glass. Good luck Bill

Try this link; https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-1948-plymouth-that-defeated-the-north-dakota-winter-11546958215?emailToken=2f62cd30b8c9d7777794b4ebdc5793ce3Az5m6re69f5M3accGWG6Tyu0EXQckYhTyDNDRT3auRIcb+SI2F005OqC6fTlry5zBmPoXP68p+fylOvtX2YS7zHw+UUC5a3PhI8umZtD5MLCTxqmBoGVUebYt3qOPTT&reflink=article_email_share What a great article and beautiful car!!!

I just replaced my transmission lube. I had sta-lube 85w90 In it and had problems with grinding going into third unless I double clutched. I drained the transmission and put in Pennzoil Synchromesh manual transmission lube. It’s fairly thin but the transmission shifts like new. I think Redline 75 w 90 might be a good choice too. Both of these oils are compatible with brass syncros Bill

I was having problems shifting into first and reverse due to the linkage being incorrectly adjusted. With the shifter in neutral the play in the selector rod needs to be minimal, tighten down the adjustment until all play is gone then back off about a half a turn. Hope that helps Bill

I used yellow pine for my bed floor, i was able to find relatively clear 1x6 stock, I used waterproof glue to glue the boards to correct width. I think it would be a bad idea to try to glue the bottom into one large solid wood panel. Solid wood will expand across it's grain no matter what kind of finish is used. If the bottom is separated into individual strips, each board will expand and contract a small amount that can be concealed by the metal strips, if the panel is one large piece it will expand and contract as much as 1/2 inch in width. If you have holes drilled through the panel the board will likely split at one or more of the series of bolts. Plywood will not expand and contract in the same way. Bill

I'm hoping that the collective wisdom of this forum can help clear up some of my confusion. I installed a Stovebolt Mini HEI distributor in my 51 B3B 218, this truck has a newly rebuilt engine. I'm generally very happy with the distributor but want to get things timed properly. My goals are to have a good reliable driver, achieve the most performance that I can from the engine without causing damage. The instructions for the distributor suggest an initial timing of 10 to 18 degrees. Tom Langdon said that this basically S-10 distributor doesn't have the same curves as the original and it is best to built up the timing early for this engine. When I set it that far advanced I felt that there was a lot of pinging going on. It seemed best with an initial advance of about 4 degrees or so. I ran the engine up to about 2000 rpm and found that the total advance was about 35 degrees. Today I went over to the shop that rebuilt my engine (did a little showing off). One of their first questions was about my timing. They suggested that I block off the vacuum line and set the initial timing to about 10 to 15 degrees. They said I would get more power going through the gears (three in my case) and having the vacuum can out of the picture would prevent the timing from going to high at the top end. The shop I dealt with mostly does performance engines. I blocked the line and disconnected the vacuum advance, set the initial timing to about 12 degrees. At 2000 rpm I had a total advance of about 25 degrees. The truck seemed to run pretty well, I want to try it out climbing a grade though. I'm wondering what you guys might suggest, if your are using a "mini HEI" or other dizzy how did you set it up? I know that timing is pretty critical for good performance and improperly applied can lead to engine damage, so any suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks; Bill

Thanks all; I spoke with Tom Langdon, he said that from the hundreds of sets of plugs that he has sold, this problem only happened one before, I guess my block and head have been milled enough to cause the problem, tom said that I could use the RJ18C6 (without the y) as it doesn't project as far into the cylinder. I have Autolite 306's in there for now, seems to be running ok. thanks again; Bill

I wondered about adding a gasket or shim, didn't know if that was kosher.

Recently I had my 218 engine rebuilt and last week in installed a "mini" HEI distributor, wires and plugs from Langdons. The plugs provided were RJ18YC6 with a .060 gap. I haven't been all that impressed with the sound or the performance of the engine so today I pulled the plugs and did a compression test, two at 135 psi four at 140, so that seemed OK, I examined the plugs and noticed that each had been hitting a valve, one was no longer .060 but down to .020 I am concerned about how much damage I might have done to the valves in my new engine. I replaced the plugs with a set of Autolite 85's that I had. I gapped them to .055. It runs better but not as smooth and quiet as I had hoped at 55 to 60 mph. I am not at all anxious to pull the head, I wonder if I should just run it and be happy or if I should be digging deeper. I will send Tom Langdon a note about the problem with the plugs. It might not be a common problem but the block was decked and the head was surfaced so things might be a little closer than normal. I think I'd better get some bandages on my damn foot! Bill

Turns out that I needed to crank down on the adjustment a little more. I pulled the top off of a spare transmission to see how the selector worked, now she shifts nice and smooth. Thanks for the help! Bill

thanks, I will check that out. Bill

My 51 B3B now has a newly rebuilt engine, now I'm trying to work out the last of the bugs. I have a column mounted three speed, I often have difficulty finding first and reverse, I have taken up on the rod that I assume selects the rail for 1st and reverse. the book says to take out all of the play then back off a turn. I'm not sure just what is play and what is not. I'm hoping that someone will have some words of wisdom on adjusting the linkage. Thanks; Bill

as I understand it, this series voltage divider should give you 6 volts at the junction of the two resistors when the motor is not turned on and will put a constant 6 amp load on the battery. Once the motor is turned on the current should increase through the first resistor to at least 8 amps dropping the voltage at the junction to about 4 volts. I'm thinking that this would make a good experiment.

I went through this with my 51 B3B. I measured the current draw of the wiper motor, heater fan and horn. I did this by connecting the motors, one at a time to a 6 volt battery in series with an inexpensive Harbor Freight multi meter on the AMP scale. I found that the current draw of each motor was about 6 amps. Since I wanted to drop 6 volts I connected each motor in series with 1 ohm resistors similar to https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Ohm-100W-Watt-Power-Aluminum-Shell-Resistance-Shell-Case-Wirewound-Resistor/302391738234?epid=1593151861&hash=item4667f3bf7a:g:NOMAAOSwfjRZ5azf I mounted the resistors to an aluminum heat sink. If my calculations are correct, 6 amps flowing through a 1 ohm resistor will drop the voltage by 6 volts, the heat generated in each resistor should be 6 amps times 6 volts which is 36 watts. In reality I find that the 6 volt fan and 6 volt horn work fine but that the 6 volt wiper motor runs to slowly and with little power. I'm planning to try connecting a second 1 ohm resistor in parallel with the wiper motor resistor which should give me 1/2 ohm and a 3 volt drop. If you would like I can take a picture of the resistors and heat sink. Bill

I rebuilt a Mopar model 802 for my 48 Plymouth, which appears to be a similar radio. I have a copy of the service documents, I had to replace the paper and electrolytic capacitors. I also replaced the mechanical vibrator with an electronic one. Radio works well, but the darn thing only gets old AM stations. Bill

What a beautiful truck! Hope you have many wonderful ,safe miles with it. Bill

check out Amazon, I think they are under 11" classic wiper blades

I used 3/16 premade brake lines

I haven’t run over 60 but haven’t noticed any vibration

The oil soup, did you connect the Jeep e brakes using the Dodge e brake cable? What other hardware is involved? At some point I may want to switch over to the Jeep e brakes thanks Bill

I didn’t modify the drive shaft at all. The Jeep rear end uses the same universal as the Dodge. So spring perches are about it. I used the shock mounts from the stock axle.

I'm sure you could pull tree stumps with the stock rear end, it was a 4.11, with the Jeep rear end the truck move along very nicely, I don't have a tack but the engine doesn't sound very busy at 55 or 60 mph, I also have easy to adjust brakes and easy to find replacement parts. I had tried to pull the rear brake drums off of the stock axle with no success, as I planned to swap out the axle I didn't keep up the effort. The stock drive shaft mates up perfectly with a standard universal joint. So yes very happy with the swap. Bill

Turbo53 The axle that I used was from a 1990 Jeep Chreokee it's a Dana 35 with a 3:55 ratio. the swap wasn't to difficult, I had to cut off the Jeep spring perches then purchase new 1.75" perches to fit the axle diameter. Welding the new perches back on is critical as you need to make sure the input shaft is in the correct plane, there are some excellent references for how to do this on this forum. I also needed to buy new "U" bolts. The axle length is an inch or two shorter than stock, but doesn't seem to cause any problems. Many people have used similar axles some preferring one with disk brakes. I replaced the axle bearings and seals as well as the brake cylinders, shoes and all brake hardware. I removed the emergency brake hardware as I am using the stock emergency brake. This axle is not limited slip and as far as how much power it will handle, I have not idea, but I'm sure it's up to handling what my 218 can deliver. Bill

I didn't use a kit for the interior, but I did get ideas from this forum and from looking at Pilot House interiors website. I used a cardboard sheathing material that is plastic coated on both sides to make patterns and to make the final head liner, back panels, door panels and kick panels. I'm fairly happy with the way they turned out, everything is covered with vinyl except for the kick panels which are carpet. Bill