jeffsunzeri

Great truck! As for value, keeping it as original as possible maintains value the best, and in my opinion is the best way to enjoy the time machine. I see converted Job Rated projects with a variety of engines and modifications, and they sit with 'for sale' signs for much longer than an original will. The 41-42 built trucks often had some military components on them as the factory decided what was going where. Often the military steel-edged windows found their way onto civilian trucks, and I've seen many components with OD green under the factory applied 'color'. It was an interesting time for MoPar. There is a Yahoo group that many members here also belong to that provides great info for these pickups.

I had the larger mirrors for years and removed them. I now run with the stock mirror mounts which hang from the top hinge. On the larger truck, the support extends. On the 1/2 ton, it does not. I've installed a 5 x 8 mirror head on the stalk, and I get plenty of picture for backing up. This setup doesn't interfere with 1/4 view visibility. Also, the WC mirror requires drilling holes into the door and invariably causes corrosion down the road. I plan on caretaking these trucks for another 70 years, so that's not good.

The three generally available types of coatings you might use on your automotive project: 1. Urethane or acrylic paints with a variety of primers, including epoxy primers and conversion primers (POR, etc.) 2. Powder Coat, baked on thermoplastic or polymer over material prepared by media blasting. 3. Polyurethane paints over an epoxy primer, applied essentially as urethane or acrylic paints. Type 1 coatings are generally the least abrasion and impact resistant, and lest corrosion resistant. Type 2 coating are generally the most impact resistant and are significantly thicker in cross section than other coatings. Type 3 coatings are very impact and abrasion resistant, chemical resistant, potentially very flexible and are chemically bonded to their substrate. Each coating has it's plusses and minuses. Type 1 coatings are those used as a top coating on cars and trucks. Base/Clear, single color, candies, etc. all fall in here. If you are restoring, you will not be using powder coating unless the original manufacturer did. Powder coating does the most irreversible damage of the three types of coating (similar to polishing and plating) to an original part. In production-class judging, powder coating will lose points. In the real world, powder coating (actually the media blasting mostly) damages original material. Powder coating processes are great, but a good deal of judgment must be leveraged in its use especially for long-term viability. Powder coated items are easily discerned from other coatings by its thickness and texture. A properly applied polyurethane coating system is extremely durable and aesthetically pleasing. It must be applied by a well trained technician using proper equipment as the components are extremely toxic.

Chrysler used mahogany panels in the '41 and '42 T&C's. Dinoc was introduced in 1947 models.

What a beautiful car. In person, those cars are impressively large and incredibly useful. The Chrysler variant with the 8 cylinder is an outstanding automobile, far nicer than anything the competition had at the time in all regards. There were no weak points on the car other than the wood needing a bit of extra care. The engine, electrics, running gear, brakes, handling and good looks were all superior. Driving one today is a treat as you cruise along rightfully thumbing your nose at the lesser vehicles. That video shows why the Desoto with Fluid Drive was the favorite of the cabbies for many years. One could do much worse than have 12 or 27 of those in the garage. They are so useful for carrying parts for projects.

"Will it work" and "Will it work safely" are two different questions. A no-weld, modern adhesive seam can be as safe and as show-perfect as a welded seam if properly applied. A welded seam can be inferior in many cases if unprofessionally done. Are you going to employ professional-level skills and materials for the repairs? If so, the choice is probably going to end with the welding process as it's likely to be the most cost and time efficient. If you're thinking that since you don't have welding skills or equipment available, can you make-do with adhesive and rivets, then no, you will likely not get a safe repair because using the adhesives systems requires a high level of fit and finish preparation as well as some technique, and the adhesives are significantly more expensive than welding supplies. Too often "driver quality" ends up meaning "cheap and shoddy" and often unsafe quality. Bad floors and rockers run the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, and crash-worthiness safety concerns as well as other issues such as body integrity down the line.

From under the car: Disconnect the drive shaft at the trans so that you can turn the output shaft by hand. Disconnect the shift linkage. Position the shift linkage to the neutral position and verify by turning the output shaft. Using a long wrench or other lever, manipulate the 1st/reverse lever at the transmission until you get it into gear. You may have to rock the output shaft to get it to go in. Have a helper kick the starter to confirm direction. If you don't get a reverse or first gear selection manipulating by hand, you may have messed up the shift forks and a teardown will need to be done and re-assembly using a manual. If you can get 1st and reverse this way, you had a linkage problem.

About the most common was 5.23:1. There is no reliable identifier on the outside of the case to tell this. Jack up the rear, chalk mark the driveshaft and turn the rear wheel slowly for one revolution while counting the driveshaft revolutions.

The transmission is a Warner T9. Variants of the T9 were used on a variety of trucks from the early 30's through the 50's. You should find diagrams in older Chilton's manuals for trucks as well as proprietary (Ford, Studebaker, etc.) shop manuals. It won't be practical to get higher ring and pinion sets for your rear end. The highest made (lowest numerically) were in the 4.5 range, and most are in the 5.n range. Best bet for modern cruising is a Gear Vendors overdrive. Costly, but the best. Second best is to replace the transmission with one that has an overdrive. Discussing that will open a can of worms, but I favor the A-833 or NVG4500 conversion. Whatever you do, try to keep it as original as possible. What a great truck!

Yes, it is a substantial move up. The New Yorker has a more sophisticated, quiet, and more roomy interior. It is better appointed. It will be different driving a New Yorker over a Plymouth. The Plymouth is lighter and noisier and gives a different sight picture from the driver's seat. The NY has a higher top end, stops faster and handles better with less roll than the Plymouth. You might note that either the Plymouth or the Chrysler are far better handlers in all respects than any Ford or General Motors product of the era, including the Cadillac which handles poorly and has poor braking in comparison. The engine makes a difference. The 218 is a good motor and is quiet, but the larger 6 and even more so, the larger 8 cylinder is a more powerful and still quiet and smooth engine with very excellent reliability and cooling. Oh and don't forget the Fluid Drive and Semi-Automatic available on the Chrysler and not on the Plymouth. Cab drivers loved the fluid drive and semi-auto for all the right reasons. The Chrysler was not an everyman car at all, where the Plymouth was.

The pump with the larger holes is referred to as a "High Volume" pump. It does just what its name implies, delivers a higher, or larger volume (gallons per minute) flow rate. I've never seen comparative numbers, but have installed both and any difference is not noticeable in oil pressure or running temperature. I suspect it may improve bearing longevity, but who knows.

Probably not. In 1955 trucks could come with NP 4-speeds as well as Acme and I think at least one other manufacturer (or more). I didn't think any of them got synchros in 2nd until later. Who knew! Vintage Power Wagons has an identification chart to tell one trans from another. It's hard to tell the players without a scorecard!

Short answer, no. It would take more than cleverness. Truck transmissions with granny-gear first and synchro on the remaining three began in the '60's, I believe. It may be a simple retrofit, worth investigating. Also, when you modify the flathead for more power you will also change the power curve, usually narrowing the power band and moving it higher up the rev range. Something to consider.

The A-833's came in all sorts of Mopar vehicles. For the older flathead vehicles, I've kept an eye on the local pick-n-pull yards for years for the old Aspen/Volares from 75 on up, and they come available regularly. They provide the clutch disc and complete trans for less than $100. I also scope out the Craigslist ads and find the fine-spline A-833's from time to time for free-to-cheap. I've been running a 3.2:1 rear in my WC-15 for several years with the 4-speed granny, and am looking forward to putting in an A-833. It should work out great as the 1-3 gears on the A-833 come real close to the 2-4 gears on the original granny box.

Stock rear ends in all cases. One one of the PowerFlite installations I recall we had a 3.23 rear end and it cruised real well, but was a dog off the line. Because you could hold it in first or second as long as you want, it was a nice setup. The customer used his truck for farm work and the automatic made getting out of the mud much easier than with the standard 4-speed granny. One of the A-833's was installed with the 4.1:1 rear end and the overdrive gave her an easy 60 MPH cruise and the lower gears worked real well around town. The blessing of the flathead six is it's ability to make power from around 1,000 to 2,000 RPM so it's pretty much impossible to lug it too much. The opposite problem is that it is a horsepower dog. No 2 ways about it. Going from a flat six to a slant six feels like a hop up, and the slant 6 is a pooch which makes the 2 BBL 318 look like a monster! Sometimes livin and drivin in the 40's - 50's has it's good points and bad points.

We've installed at least 2 Powerflites into 39-48 Dodge pickups, and 2 A-833's, all with 218/230/251/265 flatheads. We did these decades ago and unfortunately don't have any photos for DIY'ers, The Powerflite is an easy installation and works quite well, and requires no cooling lines as the later Torqueflites do. The biggest deal is the rear transmission mount, which varies depending on the chassis, otherwise it's pretty straightforward with all factory parts. The A-833 requires a plate to accommodate the different bellhousing bolt patterns, and fabricating a shifter assembly to work with the cab configuration. Now that adapter plates are being made, this avoids the custom fitups we did 25 years ago (we just did 2 custom plates at the time using borrowed equipment). The A-833 also requires some modification to a frame crossmember on some chassis, and it also requires that something be done for the emergency/parking brake. Solutions we used were driveline disc brakes and hydraulic valve parking brakes. The A-833 also requires a change in clutch plate to a later spline configuration, but otherwise allows you to keep the flathead starter, bellhousing, and clutch/brake setup. The overdrive 4th and all-syncro made this a great setup. I plan on doing it again for my '47 1/2 ton and probably for the '42 WD-21.

Install a Powerflite. Install a Torqueflite. Or, if you want to break down more often and generally beat yourself up, put a GM automatic in with a trans adapter.

Going to 12 volt will cost you the price of several components for zero return. 12 volt systems don't start any better or function any better than 6 volt. If you want to use 12 volt accessories, inexpensive converters for both voltage and polarity are easily sourced and reliable. Also, keeping it stock increases or at least maintains long-term value. "Unmolested" and "Original" vehicles are highly valued in the market.

1/4" brake line. 5/16" fuel line.

You are burning oil. Check this by putting a piece of cardboard near the end of the exhaust pipe to see if the content of the smoke is watery or oily. Since you say it has a blue tint, it's likely oil. Some motors can sit for decades and fire right up with no problems at all, while some will need an hour or two of running to free up rings and burn out soot. Best thing to do is to drive it and check oil consumption carefully while watching the temps and oil pressure very closely. To get the rake stance you want, install a set of air shocks in the rear. They work real well and are easy to install on this truck.

The two threaded holes in the master cylinder are for the outlet to the brakes and the pressure switch for the brake light.

They should be the same. Due to pricing and availability, I have been using readily available M37 wheel cylinders and master cylinders on my '47 and '42 trucks. Some minor fitting needs to happen to the brake backing plate for the M37 wheel cylinders, but it's worth the effort.

There were some tests done in the past few years by some Mopar magazine folks that compared various headers and stock cast iron exhaust on the 440 engine. They found that there was little, if any, performance gain to be had with the headers. Not that the headers are crap, but that the stock manifolds were really well designed. In the 3,000 to 3,500 RPM range, hp increase with elite headers was anywhere from 0 to 5 hp. With crappy, no-name headers hp gain was elusive.

Gear Vendors overdrive units are in the $3,000 - 5,000 ballpark. While that's not insignificant, if it's a deterrent to doing it right, maybe one should re-think vintage vehicle ownership. Not to mention is the potential cost reduction if one decides to go it on their own and source their own OD unit and modify as GV does.