Dartgame

If you want to increase the operating temp put in a hotter thermostat - 195F. Most folks limit this to 180F. A hotter thermostat will help efficiency if i am not mistaken. Look at the current fuel injected cars they run at around 200F for better combustion efficiency and mileage etc.

The window crank and door handles are held on with w/ a pin. You push the spring loaded eschution at the base of the handle inwards and the pin becomes visible. Push the pin out and the handle comes loose. sounds like you are on your way to getting it running. The master cylinder is under the floor, you can remove a floor panel in the drivers foot well to gain access to it. Likely you will need to remove the brake and clutch pedal pads to get the floor panel out. lots of info on the site here to assist you as you progress. Use the search function to locate various topics and how to's.

You might also want to check the outer diameter of a new bearing race. The original might have been faulty and is under the specified dimension.

You might also consider using some red lock tite bearing mount and thread locker. Put a film inside the axle bore and some on the outside of the outer race and assemble it. The end play is pretty tight, so it should grab and hold. I have also seen people make raised areas inside a bore like this to take up clearance. Mind you this is not something I have done, only seen it in some things Ive taken apart over the years. What folks do is take a chisel or punch and whack the bore in a bunch of spots symmetrical to the bore to make raised dimples or grooves, and that takes up the clearance as well. I might consider using red lock tight as well. It should hold. If you need to get apart you would need to heat with a propane torch to soften the lock tight, and then yank it apart. Andy's suggestion is the best though.

I went through the same dilemma with my 52. I could not put dual filament bulbs in the oem sockets, because the lugs on the dual filament bulb bayonet are offset vs the single filament which are symetrical. I should also mention that i changed from 6 v to 12 v so this was for 1157 NA bulbs. what I ended up doing was remove the old socket by carefully grinding away the peened over end of the socket in the end of the bracket. I had some good used 1157 style sockets from a dart laying around, so I fitted them to the bracket and then tack welded them to the bracket. The bracket I refer to is the roughly V or U shaped metal piece in the attached pictures. Hope this helps.

I have met George last august. Super nice guy. He does not do anything on the internet- you will need to call him. His contact info can be found on this site - do a search. He can help you w whatever u need on carbs cams engines trans., etc. he likes to talk so be prepared for a long discussion.

If fuel economy and power are the goal, then both can be achieved with a progressive 2 bbl like sser2 describes. An overdrive is probably the other big change that would help along with a highway rear axle gear, or at least something under 3.50. If I had a 2 bbl intake, I'd experiment with it to see how a progressive 2 bbl works. But too much other stuff to address on my car, meanwhile the engine runs terrific as it sits, so why mess with it. someday I intend to explore this kind of stuff. It would be great to hear if someone has done the 2 bbl conversion.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how easy my car is to start even after sitting all winter. I think it has to do with several things. The fuel pump has a glass bowl that holds a fair amount of gas - that does not evaporate on sitting. So it has almost instantaneous fuel after a short crank. I cheat this a little by dumping a small amount of gas down the carb when starting after sitting all winter. I have not tried starting it without that in the spring. It has the B&B carter one barrel. During the summer the car will sit for a week or two - sometimes longer (while I am working on it), and even then - just a quick stomp on the gas pedal and twist of the key and she is up running like a top, no extra gas dumped in. Fuel evaporation is the big problem for carbureted engines. We all know the evaporation rate is faster in warm weather, but do not forget that winter blend gas has butane in it making it flash off even more quickly once cold weather is over. The other factor which i have found to be very true is the ignition systems health. I am using points and stock stuff except the plugs - I use NGKs. I tested a bunch of plugs for primary resistance and NGKs are the most consistent. Almost all right at 5 KOhms. No other brands i tested were better. This includes champions (the worst), AC delco, Autolite. Plugs and ignition energy have a huge part to play in starting. When I re-wired my car I used a late model ford starter solenoid. On these there are two leads for the ignition - one for 12 v and the other for stepped down voltage of around 8 volts. The full 12 volts is supplied during cranking, and switches to 8 volts after its running, I have to believe that helps alot. Strombergs may be slower in evaporation. Easy way to tell, is to remove the air cleaner after it sits a long time - move the throttle linkage without starting it cold, and see if the accelerate pump spits some gas. Would be interesting to know !

You wont need a spring compressor - just follow the removal and installation as I described or read a service manual-its the same. My car is in storage - otherwise i would provide the height measurement. Car wont be out of storage for several months. Sorry about that. Ride quality is firmer than the 65 yr old springs. So whether that is the same as the original design or otherwise - I cant say. What I can say is these work very well and are not sloppy like the old oems were. I would judge them to be as smooth as I like, but since they are progressive the spring rate changes as the suspension articulates, which is what i believe is desire-able, for safe handling characteristics. Will you like them ? I think so. Don't overthink it. The springs are cheap, and if you don't like them, buy a set of oems and sell the aerostars to someone on the site here...good luck with the job. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of swapping and the improvement.

Some one asked for moog aerostar installation results. I will state again - my car is a 52 ply bus coupe. I replaced the rear springs with 8 leaf espos, and the fronts with uncut aerostars - net result is the car raised one inch in front and back compared to original 65 yr old springs. My car is very low miles with 40K on it, and although old the springs were even side to side etc.I like a rake, the fronts could be trimmed a little to fit the tires into the body - much like bobd1976 did. I might only go 3/4 of a coil - I do not have access to the car now, otherwise I would check the ride height, and report it. Worried about ride quality and height etc. ? - do not be - save the money and use the aerostar springs. You wont regret it and the improvement in ride is outstanding. I found the swap is amazingly easy. Once at the full extension of the suspension travel, there is almost no tension left in the spring. So when you lower the control arm to remove it, the spring has very little load on it. I found this amazing, and delightful considering what I have heard about swapping coil springs over the years.

Not sure what the flange to flange is. Should be 5 on 4.5 inch bolt circle. It seems to me that others have done this swap in car applications. If it is free - I'd grab it along with the shock mountings, driveshaft etc....anything that is attached to it, rear sway bar etc. You should grab the front sway bar too as these can be adapted to work on the front end of most plymouths and dodge cars w king pins...lotsa good stuff there.

Laynrubber - its not a big deal to figure this out. I just needed to figure out where this went originally. The cable goes through the firewall in the spot dpollo mentions in the first reply above. I moved to a different spot on the firewall because I mounted my fuse panel too close to the punch out for the grommet. If you have a similar issue then choose another punch out, or drill a hole as I did - there are bunches of existing punch outs and holes around that area. Mine went in slick as snot. The dash has a pair of holes in the bottom edge for the cable bracket. These are to the left of the steering column between it and the parking brake handle. Route the cable over the column on the engine side and then to the outside of the left rear motor mount easy peasey...follow the parking brake cable. I zip tied to it - to keep things tidy.

Probably too late - but I would install a borg and beck clutch and disc. Those auburns are kind of wimpy looking clutches. Earlier in your post you mentioned the trans leaking. There is a gasket that must be installed between the trans and the bell housing. There is a hole in the face of the trans that is open to the gear box and will leak oil if the gasket is not in place. Car looks good !

I would not steer away from a lean burn car. We bought an 87 fury for my son and did the swap to standard ignition and carb. Runs fine. Agree that the lean burn can be set up right, but most parts are not out there anymore to service it.

I did the aerostar swap on my 52 plymouth. Obviously not the same car. I replaced the rear leaf springs at the same time. Car sits dead level maybe an inch higher than before the swap. The front springs are amazingly easy to swap out. Maybe an hour a side depending on your skill. I had never swapped coil springs before either ! I have tons of experience with the 60/70's torsion bar front ends on mopars. Fear not ! Doing one side at a time, I supported the car frame with a jack stand and then put a floor jack under the lower control arm, raise it and support the weight of the car with the jack. Remove the shock, and loosen the lower bolt on the upright, remove the lower bolt and then lower the control arm using the jack, pull out the old spring, note and keep the upright rubber seals in their original orientation for re-assembly. Reverse process with new spring - torque fasteners to specs. Done. I have heard that the Desotos and chryslers used a deeper pocket than dodges and plymouths in the lower control arm which may effect the stock spring length. The aerostar springs are progressive rate and do not compress as much as the stockers so yes they are shorter. But for 40 or 50$ in the springs I'd give it a try. It might lower the front end a little - maybe an inch ? given the control arm pocket difference. The swap made a huge improvement in the ride and handling. You might also be able to install a spring cushion in the lower arm which would take up some of the difference.

1 inch bore will give you lower pedal effort and is usually what is used in manual brake applications. Muscle car era mopes used 1 inch for manual and 1 1/16 inch for power brakes.

Glad you got it sorted ! Besides cleaning plugs you might want to switch brands- NGK plugs seem to be the most consistent. I tested a bunch. You might also want to install a hot thermostat if not already. 180 or 195 F. I had a 160 in my coupe and noticed some slight misfiring. After installing a 180 F stat the misfire went away.

You probably know this. But the reason your car is or was running hot is that the timing is way far retarded, 20 degrees is a lot, and will cause it to happen. I know this from past experience with v8s.

If you end up replacing the block remember that a 230 is the same block as 218. Just different crank and rods.

I plopped in one of the two row versions in my 52 ply. Other than a little filling of one of the mounting holes this was a perfect fit. Its been in the car now for 1.5 years and no troubles. Cooling is plenty enough with stock mechanical fan. I doubt 3 rows are needed unless you are running a small block. It was $165 to my door, and a direct fit.

After you run your compression check- if the results are good, I'd consider the following - For what its worth, your rough idle could be: idle mixture, a worn out carb, vacuum leak, valve adjustment or an ignition problem. Low oil pressure at idle indicates worn rod & main bearings, worn oil pump or both. Its easier to drop the oil pan and put in new bearings than pulling the head and honing cylinders etc...new oil pump is easy to install too. All depends on what your compression tells you.

True in many cases. But as an example the chrysler big block (383 & 440) and gen 2 426 hemi all have external oil pumps. Its a really nice design feature.

You might consider taking it to George Asche in Venus PA. West side of PA, but he is the expert. He is listed all over the place on this site. He specializes in mopar flatheads and the old trannies like the R-10 overdrive that are used with them. Very nice man and a wealth of knowledge.

Anyone know what the cfm of these 1 barrels are ? I am considering a 2 x 1 barrel install next spring.

New front and rear springs - used the aerostar front springs. Huge improvement. Installed a front sway bar from a 70 road runner given to me for free. Hits the frame on deep suspension excursions. Will rethink this - the handling improvement is outstanding. Plan to scour the boneyards for something different than a cherokee bar. Rebuilt and installed an R 10 overdrive - w/ a new clutch, bearings etc. along with new or refurbished cables for the speedo, parking brake , and overdrive. Installed new parking brake lining and restored brake mechanism. New spicer style driveshaft - car had a short tranny. Replaced the rear main bearing seal and pan gasket - using a best gasket seal. No leaks yet, with several hours running time. Restored a model 53 comfort master heater converted to 12v, installed with a 501/550 model oem heater control panel. Installed hotter thermostat.... Drove the car a fair amount - and found that a lot of people were curious about it. Cool not having a brand x car from this vintage at cruise nights. More to come next spring. For now Beeker is taking his long winters nap. Every time I change something, I am finding an improvement...cool deal !