MBF

Charles-Woodstock is about 25 miles from me-how did you sneak that out of here? Beautiful piece you have there. Mike

I wonder if that crank has a different flange to mount the flywheel on since it powered a welder? Could you get by with an input shaft swap on the 3 spd? I'm sure there are folks here that can speak more to this than I can. Best of luck-Mike

Old Woolie-no offense taken, and I'm with ya on keeping stuff all Mopar when ya can, but I don't think there's a good substitute for th T-5 as far as an o/d tranny. Mike

Hey Dutch-likewise-I took a couple of pics of yours and was walking around the show area and greeting exhibitors most of the day. Spent a good portion of the remaining time in the orange registration tent. Sorry I missed you. Mike

Go for it what have you got to lose. If it works-great-if not then you know what you've got to do. I've gotten a long way with temporary repairs that once they prove themselves automatically migrate to a permanent status. Just my 2 cents. mike

Dutch-I like the looks of yours a lot better. Now the other sheetmetal on your rackbody for only $20K and its still way outa my range. The day these things start going for $39K on a regular basis, I know where there is a 52 rack body that will be for sale too. Thanks Barret Jackson! Mike

GB-do you have any pictures of your progress? Macungie had 532 trucks as of Sat afternoon. They were waiting to get on the showfield Thursday by noontime! It was a great show-still couldn't find any 16" 6 hole Budd rims for my 1 ton's new shoes. Mike

GB-I know I bought mine from either Roberts or Bernbaum. If I remember correctly they came in strips about 6" long that you had to cut to legnth. They were called window snubbers or something like that. Have you tried an automotive glass shop? Oh-btw-did you ever make Macungie? I was running around there 3 days working various areas of the show. Sorry we didn't hook up. Mike

Merle-installed the new steering arm today-it was about 1/2 again as thick as the one I had on the truck. (I suspected the old one might have been flexing.) A noticable difference in the steering-really tightened things up nicely. Thanks-Now on I've got to make a decision on the next project. T-5 or install a higher rear with the 4 speed! Mike

As a long time guest and then poster on this site I'm very interested in the questions that he's asking as I'm strongly considering the T-5 swap (which by the way was not used by several different manufacturers-see previous posts) in my 52 1 ton with the intent of getting more highway speed and better mileage. I am trying to keep my current mopar rear with the 6 hole budds all in the interest of stayin as original as possible. With gas at $4+ per gallon efficiency is going to be one of the things that enables this hobby to keep going. Mike Fowler (and I approve of this message)

Peggy-NAPA probably is not going to have the lugs listed by truck application. What I did was take one to them and they matched up the dimensions and pulled them off the shelf. I didnt have a good experience w CranknHope and bought only 1 manual from them. The rest came from other sources, (Bob Johnson). Mike

I just checked the mileage on my 52 1 ton on a 60 mile trip to a show and back. Got just almost 13! I noticed my front tires are a little bit soft, and I've got the brakes a little too tight. I thought I was pushing it at 45 (she's a lot happier at 40 in my mind at least). Now that I have a baseline I can start messing. By the way-my homemade PCV system and the 165 thermostat is doing a good job of keeping the oil noticibly cleaner. I'm thinking of going to radials in the rear if I can find a set of 6 drop center 6 hole 16" Budds. Mike

My son and I just did an engine swap in his MR2. While we had the engine out I lined up the disk by eye and tighened down the pressure disk bolts. Tranny slid right in on the floor w/o any problem. Sometimes you just get lucky. Mike

Merle-I've pulled the core out of the housing and used both Vaseline or a graphite liquid with good results, but I think first you should wipe down the inner cable and then maybe flush some penetrant through the outer jacket, and then chase that with some compressed air. There is also a screw type fitting that holds an oiled wick on the back of the speedo-I'd hit that with a little light oil too. Mike

I got the wheel studs and lugs from NAPA. Check ebay-there are several vendors selling service manuals. Mike

Dutch, I'll be there on Sunday with the '52. I'm heading for Macungie with the other Dodge early tomorrow morning. Look forward to seeing you-we're getting a lot of interest from exhibitors for Rhinebeck so it should be a good sized show. See ya Sunday. Mike

A lot of farmers up here did that with coupes of the era, especially during the war. Kinda the forerunner of the extended cab. Mike

Excellent!

Allan-that's good news. I've got several of the old SEAKING twins that were made by GALE and sold by Montgomery Wards. One is almost brand new-I found it under a workbench when cleaning out a relative's house. Any single line setup would work the way I decribed to you-the double line would be a problem since it relies on pulses from a running motor to pressurize the tank and send fuel to the o/b. That type is easy to spot-they have the pump pluger mounted on top of the tank to get the motor started. The single line types use the inline squeeze bulb to get fuel up though the pump to the carburator. Once the motor is running, the pump draws it to the motor. There's an Antique Outboard Motor Club that I used to belong to and I know they were still on the web last year. Great source of parts and knowlege. I've also got a couple of Evinrude Zephyrs (4 cylinder horizontally opposed 7 horsepower. The power head would fit in a shoe box. With gas where it is, there may be a return to that hobby! Mike

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that's a spacer. Its a thermostat housing. There are two types-the short steel one for the internally bypassed cooling system, and the longer cast iron verions that has the nipple on the front for the bypass hose that attached the bypass fitting that bolts to the top of the pump. I've got an extra short one that I took off a parts truck, but I don't have any of the longer cast iron ones. Maybe someone here will have something you can use. Mike

The ATCA annual show in the Macungie Memorial Park is next Friday and Sat (6/13 and 6/14). Huge truck related flea market, and lots of trucks. For those near the Hudson Valley of NY our local show is 6/14 and 15 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. Bring a truck to display and get in free! Hope to see you at at least of one of these great events. Check out the antiquetruckclubofamerica.org Mike

Good thing that insomnia!

I think the two fittings on top of for the support bars that go to the firewall. You're going to have to do some measuring of the mounting brackets of the two different types. If the core and tank sizes are the same but the brackets won't bolt up you may have to have the brackets removed from a PH radiator mounted to the "donor" radiator. Then again-you may get real lucky! Mike

Before I resealed my truck's tank I had a wooden shipping crate up on the rack body that had a lid on it. Inside of that I had 2 steel Evinrude gas tanks that I used for years. You couldn't see them unless I was filling them since they were in the shipping crate. How about putting a beer keg in the pickup bed? Mike

If you can get it running and up to temp you can try dumping some Marvel Mystery oil down the carb throat. That may loosen up a sluggish valve. Don't try this near your neighbor's house or if your wife has wash hanging out to dry! Been there done-that! Good luck. Mike