Dartgame

The service manual covers this. You are correct, service manual uses two pieces of wood to hold the valve open. The lifters are held up using clothes pins. I would imagine taking out as much adjustment as possible on the lifters to reduce their effective height is needed as well.

The Amp meter gauge is fine, just reverse the connections., so it reads positive when running the engine and charging. As to the lights staying on - sounds like a wiring issue. Did you change your wiring harness ? Also know that there is a switch on the door pillar that runs the dome light, is it on ? Yes the dash lights need to be 12 v equivalents. The horns should be okay as long as you only use them in a short burst. Fuel gauge can use a runtz resistor to drop voltage. Heater and other motors will need a 12 v motor or a steady state voltage reducer - since the load on them is variable. If you have a two speed fan switch you could just use the low speed which is about 6v full using 12 v input. Hope this helps.

If you have a two speed switch on the fan - use only the low speed, it runs about half the rate of full using 12V, which would be high on 6V.

Might be a sticky float valve...fuel pump is more likely a pin hole leak.. Be sure to check your oil. You may find its got a bunch of gas in it.

These motors are long stroke already - shortest rod piston combo is going to be more durable...oddly enough 230’s use shorter rods than 218’s because the pistons on both are the same the cranks are different stroke.. Eventually I will be building a modded 230, but for now the 218 runs really well.

Bought mine on -ebay 10 spline 1 inch x 3/4 inch input (iirc) 5$ plastic, worked great !

I put a set of 80’s police rims on my 52. No clearance issues at all. But then again mine is a 52 and yours is a 46, so do check if you go that way.

An engine stethoscope can help with stuff like this too. Touch the probe end on a generator bearing area etc and listen...glad you found it !

I do like John above, except I take a couple ounces of gas and pour it carefully down the vent tube to get gas into the float bowl. I only have to do this when the car sits for a week or so. My Darts have the same issue, dump some gas in the float bowl and voila ! Instant start. The problem is the gasoline today is so volatile and has ethanol in it, it evaporates in no time. Even worse is winter gas - it has butane in it, yes butane. Before storing for the winter I use stable in the gas tank, and I spray penetrating oil into the carb and if possible down the top into the accelerator pump. A lot of accelerator pumps use leather instead of neoprene and will dry out, light oil will help them live until ready for use again.

Get a long piece of hardwood like oak that can slip in all the way down to bottom of the stuck piston. Strike with a large hammer to drive it out - especially easy if the crank is out. To get the cam out, turn the cam to lift the valves to max height. At max lift, slip some hard wood shims under the vavle - head seat, move on to the next and so on until all are being held open. Next screw down the valve lifter adjusters to their minimum. Remove cam, with engine upside down.

Interesting. I would think there is little to no difference. For muscle era mopar v8’s there is no difference.

When you rebuilt the carb did you check the float ? If the float has holes in it, then it will sink and make the mixture impossibly rich and completely insensitive to idle mixture screw adjustment. If not the float, then try spraying some carb cleaner around the throttle shaft while running and see if the engine speed changes or smooths out, if it does then the throttle shaft is loose and needs to have bushings installed on the carb base. I’d carefully check the assembly of the carb as well, make sure any check valves (steel balls) and rubber o rings are present. There is an o ring that sits under the step up piston - I missed it and have rebuilt many carbs over the years....my car ran, but idle was less than sensitive to mixture changes at idle. After i found the missing o ring, and installed it, voila smooth idle and sensitive mixture screw.

I have not installed mine yet, too much other stuff to do right now, but you could do the slant six electronic distributor swap. Do a search it should show up from a member named thrashing cows (I think). What you would need is a slant six distributor that you mix and match parts with a flat head dist. You end up with a pointless electronic mopar distributor and can use a standard mopar ignition box. I have not installed mine, but plan on using a GM HEI module and a Ford style coil = lots of spark energy .

Try Mr. G’s in Texas. They used to do plastic chrome.

I’d start by doing a compression test. Check each cylinder, and record the results. Then go back and repeat and add a teaspoon of oil in each cylinder and record results. All should be about the same in a healthy motor. A sick motor will show variance in psi for more than 20-30 + psi. Healthy motor should have compression of around 100 psi. If the pressure increases with the oil - the piston rings are worn out = bore block and new oversize pistons. If the oil changes nothing then the valves are worn and need a valve job. Assuming the motor is high mileage I’d imagine both need to be done, a complete overhaul.

You might need a speedy sleeve to repair the yoke. Look for a deep wear groove. The old leather seals we really tough on sealing surfaces and would wear a nice groove in them...

Advance springs are important items. Common speed trick is to decrease the spring tension on the weights for a faster timing curve. I talked with George Asche about using lighter advance springs in a flat head dizzy, and he did not think it was something that helps the performance of these engines. I might try it someday once my car is streetable. Maybe next year.

Easy to check the chain. While still assembled and the chain cover off, see how much slop there is in the chain using your fingers to move it on the side not driving the cam, if its floppy, replace it. I know - not technical, just a mechanical feel one acquires. The big deal with chains wearing is the distance from the two sprockets. Flat heads are really close compared to a lot of v8’s, and the older ones use a really beefy chain, less likely to wear. I talked with George Asche about timing sets and he said the gears don’t usually need to be replaced, only the chain when they go bad.

Get some NGK replacements. I researched plugs by testing a bunch of manufacturers for the same application on primary resistance. NGKs are consistent at 5 Kohms, on a sample of 8. Of those tested, champions were the most variable and resistance was upwards of 15 to 20 Kohms. Significant because of ohms law - higher resistance = less spark energy. Furthermore I believe the high resistance causes more stress on the rest of the ignition system. I used to replace coils on my lawn boy once every 1-2 years. Since I put in an NGK plug the coil has lasted 5 years and is still working fine. I now insist on NGK when replacing a plug, and my mowers, snowblowers, cars, anything with an engine run better and start easier.

Be sure that the fuel pressure is set to factory spec, maximum. If its 5 or 4.5 psi etc. You could be pushing more fuel past the needle seat, install a permanent mini fuel pressure gauge near the carb. I’d check the dist. For free movement of the mechanical advance weights, and that the vacuum advance is working and holds vacuum with NO leakage (very important). And as others have noted the plate has another set of slots to move around as well. I set mine at about this 7 degrees BTDC and it runs well.

Try reading the casting number on the middle of the passenger side of the trans, should be a 6 or 7 digit raised number in rather large font size. You may also find the production date stamped into the flat flange area of the trans right next to where it bolts to the bell housing, again on the passenger side. With these numbers we can probably ID the trans in it. If it is similar to mine then an R 10G overdrive should be a bolt in.

Set your timing to around 5 degrees BTDC with the vacuum advance disconnected and carb side of the line plugged. Reconnect vacuum advance, and adjust idle speed to around 550-600 rpm. Using a vacuum gauge hooked up to manifold vacuum, adjust the idle mixture screw for maximum vacuum, idle speed may need to be adjusted while tuning mixture screw. Do these first and then ask again about the vibration. If you are not able to set timing - there may be a problem with the vibration damper having slipped assuming it has one.

I’d get one of those infrared digital thermometers about $25 or less, (harbor frt) and check the radiator outlet and inlet hose temperatures. You should see a temperature difference of 10-20 degrees F. I had a similar but more serious temp problem with one of my darts. What I saw was 205 or more on the outlet and like 145 on the inlet. It appeared as though the water was flowing. NOT. The water pump impeller was spinning free on the shaft inside the pump, it was so smooth, made no noise, like it was riding on a polished bearing. Changed the pump - problem fixed. By the way, the faulty pump was brand new. I spent a lot of time and effort trying to fix that problem. I’ve never seen something like that before...probably a part made overseas.... Other things to consider, hoses will sometimes collapse partially restricting water flow. These old engines sometimes don’t get proper maintenance - maybe the block is full of crud and sediment. There is a plug on the drivers side of the block to drain it and could be used to flush as well...check it out.

My car had one of those stubby transmissions in it, but maybe not the same as yours because yours is probably a floor shift and mine is a column shift - Is your trans original ? I was able to put in a 1953 vintage RG-10 overdrive in place of the stubby trans, and use a shorter driveshaft.

I was pleasantly surprised at the price - to do both flywheel and pressure plate was around 150-200$. But then again, the owner turned out to be a classmate from high school- we did not know each other back then though. So maybe he gave a discount...but the stuff worked beautifully, ultra smooth engagement...