Dartgame

Strongly suggest you consider using a Best Gasket brand rear main seal. I had heard good things about them, but was doubtful considering price. I put one in my 52 218 that had the rope external seal - with the 53 and up style seal. You may have to plug a couple of holes in the rear main cap with JB weld, clean the holes and cap to surgical level before plugging. Not a leak so far. Excellent product. WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Bought some pieces from them this summer. Kind of slow shipping. One item never arrived, even after persistent polite conversations on the phone with them. For me I was okay with the way it went. The item missing was minor.

I recall the bolts need to go in from the engine side to “lock” in place. Someone else may know better....

I had a vent window replaced - took it the local glass shop and they installed it for a 20$. I understand this is not a tough job - I reasoned it was something I did not need to learn and only needed one done. I figured the cost of the tape roll might offset the shops fee. What I did do is remove the old glass from the frame and also from a donor. That was a pain. Soaked in very strong solvent for many hrs and slowly scrapped out the old setting tape using old dental tools, very messy and slow. Next, I sand blasted the frame and painted it before taking to the glass shop...

when I rebuilt my trans I used a speedy sleeve, new seal, and then cleaned the splines on the output and the drum. I put a thin layer of silicone on the washer and put it together. No leaks. Be sure to allow 24 hrs for the silicone to cure. Silicone cures with moisture from the atomosphere so in a closed space it takes a long time.

For the lines get some copper nickel - sold at all parts stores. Never rusts easy to bend and easy to flare.

Take it to a lock smith ?

I asked George Asche about that - he says the jet is larger and the emulsification tube has larger holes in it on a truck version.

We’re using ply doctors stuff for some of the pieces to fix the 52. Wayne is a nice guy and his stuff is quality. He also sells some used stuff as well. Been to his shop and met him face to face. He can be a little hard to reach at times on the phone, but polite messaging and persistence pays off. I had ordered parts from him and later found missing items a year later (stupid on my part for not checking sooner). Wayne took me on my word and sent the missing items.

Sorrry this is not a direct answer for you. I seem to recall the bell housing pattern is the same from the poly v8 motor and the late model 318. The difference I recall though is the crank distances from the back of the block. what you might consider is using a so called wide block 318 in your ride should be a bolt in deal....problem with the wide blocks is hot rod parts, 4 bbl intakes are rare and expensive...cams etc not real plentiful and while folks know what cams to use, choices are limited. If you want to drop in a late model 318 and matching trans It’s probably not real hard. Take a look at butches cool stuff (listed above). Another site to look at would be quality engineered components, and maybe try forward look.net. Forward look specializes in 55-60 mopars.

Agreed - I actually prefer something a bit more around the 3.23 range. My favorite for 1:1 final drive ratio cars w v8s....that’s what i put in both darts one auto the other 4 spd.

Regarding the diplomat - Is a 2.94 ratio in a 4000 lb car aggressive? I hardly think so. Car drives nicely, honks pretty good at midrange rpm, gets close to 20 mpg on the highway, and handles well with the police spec sway bars and springs.

Yup - very aware of the differences in swapping gears in an 8 1/4 vs 8 3/4 axle. What would be new for me is doing the 8 1/4 gear change. I’ve built engines, transmissions and rear axles myself over the years so I have no real concerns, main thing would be getting the long reach side adjuster tool for the 8 1/4. So if I added ~ 1/8” x 2 for the drums then the WMS is 60.25 - which matches big block mopar’s info. So it must then be a B body axle. My sons 87 diplomat had one of those ultra highway gears - believe it was 2.24 or something like that. Insane. We put a 2.94 cop axle in it.

Thanks guys - I’ll be getting the car back from the shop in a few weeks. When I get it back I am going to pull all the trim, glass etc, and then send it back to the paint shop to get the work done..If I pull the motor we will paint the entire firewall body color, if not then probably just to the pinch weld...Really helps to have input from you folks, much appreciated ! Good to know the undercoating on the underside of the hood wont need to be replaced. This car while rust free, has a ton of undercoating which has had a direct effect on its overall condition of course...

I picked up an 8 1/4 from a 70 satellite yesterday for free ! Has a 2.76 ratio in it - no surprises though these were used in lopo mileage cars 318 2 bbl etc.. If I end up using it - I will stuff a 3.55 gear in it. My brother has a 79 truck 8 1/4 w 3.55’s in it he is not using....can’t beat free stuff. I measured the 8 1/4 WMS to be 60 inches w/o drums. This is different than what my mopar chassis book states. Seems odd the info in those books is usually quite accurate. Maybe its not a true B body axle, was not in the car when I picked it up. I measured the WMS on the 52 - its 61.5 inches. Will have to see if perches are close...8 1/4 should be 44 inches according to mopar chassis have not measured yet...but any change I do is contingent on how I like the 3.91 that is in the car - once the overdrive is functional.

I will be painting my 52 plymouth soon, and am curious about the under hood panel colors. My issue is that the car is the original color which is black so everything under hood - inner fenders firewall etc are black. I intend to change the body color from black thus my question. I had seen that most cars appear to have the firewall painted body color, and the rest of the panels are black ? Should the under side of the hood itself be black or body color ? Mine is coated in heavy undercoating which I intend to strip off. Was it standard to undercoat the bottom of the hood on these cars ?

Many of the low line dart and valiants used a foot operated pump ....

Something you might consider is an electric washer from a mopar. These are simple to operate. One wire connection and a ground and a couple nozzles +hose. Put a push button switch under the dash. One from a dart or b body mounts more or less on a flat surface and the pump hangs below it off the washer tank....

If it were me and you want more performance than a straight six - I'd drop a mopar small block in it with an auto trans. I prefer keeping the drivetrain all one make - but that's me. Lots of 318's and 360's in most bone yards or find a good running example from a private individual. Folks in the car hobby usually have a good runner or builder core engines laying around.

Hi Fargo- what vehicle is your axle from ? 1988 _____. ? It sounds like you used the wedge shims to corrrect the angle ? For the limited slip - are you using a donor carrier or another axle assembly ?

Hey Bob - are you saying you did not need to move the spring perches ?

Knuckle is right. However the person making the change, has to do some limited rewiring depending on the type of electronic distributor they installed. That's when it pays to keep track of what was changed and how to change it back.

Does anyone know how to decipher the mopar codes for jeeps relative to the axle ratio and open vs limited slip ?

It runs great, a lot quicker than i would have expected. How fast ? Not sure but it felt fast enough for a flat head -

I visited George last August and spent a very enjoyable 2-3 hrs chatting with him, and going for a ride in his 230 powered 1950 plymouth. What a nice man, and he's a wealth of knowledge about flat head mopars. I traded him some parts I had for stuff I wanted and later I bought a dual outlet exhaust, throttle linkage, and reground cam from him. Should have done it when I visited but was not sure what I was doing at the time. Eventually this stuff will find its way onto a 230 for my 52 bus coupe. If you have the time to make the trip - do it, you wont regret it. Could not be a better thing to do whether you are a flatly nut or not. Glad to hear he is doing better now after being ill sometime earlier this year.