clarkj

I have made up my mind to sell my 218/4 speed combo. I got it running on the floor the other night and it fires up almost immediately and seems to run just great! I put an ad in the classifieds section if any of you might be interested. I would be especially interested in getting my hands on some nice Utiline rear fenders. Link to vid of engine running: http://vid42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/jc3147/IMG_0998_1.mp4

I appreciate that offer, Smokey. For now I think I will see what all I can locate before I make any plans. I found a running 230/3 spd pulled from another 57 very close to me that is technically spoken for, but if that person flakes out I could end up with it. It is ready to bolt right in to my truck, all there and complete. Hard telling what I will do yet. I do have Scarebird brackets to start working on converting the front axle to disk brakes in the meantime.

Yeah, a part of me really hated to see the 55 go, since I at least somewhat resurrected it. Thing was, this truck looks to nickel and dime me less (hopefully!) on things like glass, swapping the front hubs to stud style from bolt style, is already 12V, etc. The glass was a big deal on this truck. It is all there and not cloudy. MY 55 needed at least $500 worth of glass, which was going to hurt.

So as I mentioned in my 55 build thread, I found a 57 that I liked and decided to sell the 55. I sold the 55 to a guy here in town who is already working on it, so that is pretty cool. I got this solid 57 with the idea I would drop my 218/4 speed into her for the time being and be running in short order. Well, in my haste I did no research on frame differences, bell housing differences, etc. and now see that my 218/4 spd combo from a 49 Dodge truck is not quite the bolt in I had hoped. The front engine mount is different, which should be no biggie, but the bell housing is where I am really seeing issues. My bellhousing is the type with the master cylinder bolted to it, which makes it point the wrong direction and be in the wrong place all together for the brake pedal assembly on my 57. Also, my 57 has a cross member for mounting the transmission, where this bellhousing has frame mounts built in to it. These don't look to match up to the 57 frame at all. There is also a big difference in where my z-bar for the transmission mounts in relation to transmission and frame. None of this will be impossible to change, but I am starting to think I should work on finding a newer bellhousing that will work better in this truck. Will the 4 speed from my 49 combo bolt to a later 3 speed bell? Here are some pics:

I am going to stop posting in this thread and start a new one soon...as I have sold my '55 to start working on another project. I found a very solid '57 that i was able to trade a motorcycle for. I have always liked the '57 style a little better and this one is in better shape than my '55 was. All of the glass is there, too! I will have pics up in the new thread I start. I hope to have my 218/4 speed bolted in place in the next couple of weeks, and have have some brake parts on order. I was able to sell my '55 to a guy in the same town who started messing with it that same weekend. Hopefully there will be 2 50s Dodge trucks running around Laramie in the not so distant future.

I went and looked at the engine today...didn't have a good opportunity to compression test or anything. I haven't totally made up my mind, but I think I am going to pass on this one and keep moving forward with my 218. Maybe take on something else down the road if I deem it necessary.

I would prefer to use my 4 speed if I do end up with this 270. Do you think the 270 flywheel and bellhousing will be an absolute bear to find?

It is in a 56 Dodge Custom Royal Coronet right now. I don't have a clue on the old powerflite transmissions, so I don't know if that can be saved, etc. I think I will go look at it, pump it for compression and see if I can essentially steal it. If I can't get it cheap I will most likely pass and keep going forward with my 218.

So I think I am getting the engine pulled out of my 55 here pretty soon. Just when I think I have it all figured out and ready to drop my newly purchased 218 in her, I find a guy selling a 270 Poly and transmission right here locally. Anybody have one in their trucks? Some digging tells me that you could get this from the factory in late 55 and later, so I am hoping finding motor/tranny mounts isn't going to be too bad. I don't know if i will go this route or not, but I am going to take a look at it pretty soon and see what it has for compression, etc. He wants 600 bucks for the pair, but unless it checks out amazingly on compression and surprises me at how clean it is, I won't give that for it.

I agree they are stout, and I have found the newer stuff to be plenty strong as well. I can't count how many times I have lifted an engine by using a floor jack with a piece of 2x4 or the like between the jack plate and the pan while changing headers, motor mounts, etc. and never had any issues. I have no problem with being cautious or being told I am doing something stupid, though! Please don't hesitate to say something if you see it. I think every one of us can still learn something from each others' experiences.

It is resting on the pan. I guess I have never had a problem doing that. Have you seen some issues from that?

I went and picked up the 218/4spd combo yesterday and have it home now. I know you can't tell much from the outward opinion of an engine, but she does look pretty clean for something of that age. It has what appears to be some type of block repair on the driver's side, but nothing appears to be leaking from there. Working with it as a combo like that I can sure tell you it's a heavy old pig!

Cool truck, Floyd! Looks to be in better shape than what I am working with. I like the look of that low bed as opposed to my high sides.

Glad to know I have some options, guys. It is really exciting to have this project back on track after seeing it sit for a few months.

Yet another question for you guys....I am looking at going disc brakes for the front via a kit from Rustyhope or Scarebird and wondered what master cylinder to use. If anyone has made this conversion and has a suggestion that would be great.

I'll be sure to check out that radiator. As far as patina goes, I will definitely be keeping that look. I really like how it looks now and I honestly think the body is too beat up to really warrant going too far with. I wil be sure to keep everyone posted with bits and pieces I plan to sell as I go further and make changes.

It has been a long time since I've posted, but I may finally be moving forward with my truck! After deciding the flatty in this truck is awfully tired and needing lots of work I started kicking around the idea of a newer LA small block, poly V8, big block, you name it. I happened to be looking around on Craigslist and found a running 218/4 speed with 18000 miles pulled from a one owner truck only a couple hours from me. The guy just had the trans rebuilt and a new clutch put in a few months back and then had back surgery and doesn't want to drive a 4 speed anymore. I should be picking this combo up over the weekend, so it looks like the old girl will stay flatty powered. I would have rather had the 230 over the 218, but as long as it runs right I am happy for now. This truck is beat up enough that I really just want to make it run and drive reliably rather than dump a bunch of time into fabbing up mounts for swapping engines, etc. On another note, does anyone have a good suggestion for a junkyard radiator that is a decent fit in these trucks? My current radiator leaks profusely.

I am still up in the air on what I'll do. Looking at the prices of re-build kits sure makes me dread going that route. If I could just knock the rods out from the bottom and re-ring it and be good to go that would be great...but after seeing how beat up everything looked while the head was off I am skeptical that would do the trick. I sure wish it was running just a hair better so I could have a more honest idea of where to go. Right now it will idle and free rev nicely but is a huge turd under any sort of load. I am thinking some carb tweaking may be in order. I definitely need to check out my dizzy to see if the vacuum advance is working right, too. I did put some oil down each cylinder before testing the compression, just to address the good idea brought up earlier. I love the idea of sticking with the flathead, but when I can grab a running 318/727 at the pick and pull for under 400 bucks it makes throwing money at the flathead harder to swallow.

Well I decided to do a compression check and I am not thrilled with what i see. I had a high of 90 and low of just under 70. I sure wish I would have done this before rebuilding the carb, adding the Pertronix, doing the head gasket, etc., etc. I think the old girl is tired and a re-power is looking like my next move. Am I wrong to assume I should be seeing around 110 psi on this engine? If I do yank her, I will have some stuff to sell like the rebuilt carb, rebuult dual action fuel pump, Pertronix, and maybe some other odds and ends.

Please do let me know on that glass, Unbreakable! I have some of what I need located close by, but not everything. I actaully found a 55 dually with a 315 Hemi in it not a mile from me sitting in a fence row. The Hemi is locked up and the old guy seems to think it is worth more than I do, but I think I iwll end up with all of the other stuff I want off of it pretty cheap. He also has a 38 Plymouth truck that is taken apart but almost totally complete that I will most likely end up with, too. I keep telling myself 1 project at at time, though....or maybe that is the GF telling me that

Thanks for the welcome! To answer a couple of the questions, yes I do plan on running it just how it looks now. I think I will wet sand it and maybe use CLR to knock some of the crust off, but no plans to go any further. I didn't take any pictures of the engine with the head off, kind of wish I would have. Yes this head does have a big P cast in to it. I am really anxious to get her road worthy, and the trip around the yard made it worse! I was pleasantly surprised to see how freely it steered after sitting for so long. Once I grease the king pins and whatnot it should be even better.

So far since getting it home I have rebuilt the carburetor, replaced the plugs, cap and rotor ( still waiting on wires), added a Pertronix ignition, flushed the radiator and put new top and bottom hoses on, new water pump, and new head gasket. I also cleaned the carbon off of the valves and pistons while the head was off. From the looks of it with the head off, this thing had a pretty bad detonation problem at some point, as pretty much every piston, every valve, and all of the compression chambers in the head look like they had been hit with a center punch all over the place. I really wish I had pulled the head and done a compression test before I started down the road of tuning this engine up. I really hope I don't find it to be too tired to logically continue with. I did drive it around the yard under it's own power the other day though, so at least that is a start.

Hi guys, new to the forum and thought I would let you know what I am working on. I have been working on Dodge trucks since I was 14, but this is my first one of this vintage. I picked her up out of Oklahoma as a complete, non running truck that had been sitting since the 70s. It appears to have been an old US Forest Service truck and still had government license plates on it. It has a 230 that was apparently original to a 54 Plymouth according to the casting numbers. Here is how it looked when I got it, and still looks now.