dpollo

The crankshaft pilot bearing is an oilite bushing lightly pressed into the end of the crankshaft to support the transmission input shaft. Just check to see that your replacement engine has one since the automatics do not need this bushing. They are mostly all the same for many years. To remove a bushing, fit a piece of round stock to the bushing even wood will do if it fits snugly, fill the space behind the bushing with grease or even water, then strike the end of the round stock. The resulting pressure will force the bushing out of the crankshaft and it can be re-used. Interesting that the car was assembled in Sweden. I know that this was done before WW 2.

I have enjoyed the six cylinder trucks but when the six in my 57 Fargo went bad, I replaced it with a 273 Dodge Dart engine with a 3 speed all synchro..... later a 4 speed all synchro and it made a very satisfactory driver for years. It no longer exists but is preserved in a photo in the American Light Truck book. Would I do this swap again...... maybe with a 318 automatic. I now have a 52 Fargo and have adapted a passenger car overdrive to a 251 engine. 3.9 rear with 205 R15 tires. Should be just right for my mountainous area. I can fine tune by changing tire size. Most important is using the torque range of the six effectively. a 3.73 ratio worked well in my 57 when it was both a six and later a V8. while the 4.1 ratio kept the engine revs too high for highway comfort. Latter day JOB RATING. Time consuming but satisfying when you get it right.

Here is one you may not have noticed. Deluxe has the dome light switch on the opposite side of the car. (RHS) This is because the Special Deluxe came equipped with a door switch on the passenger front door. There were no Special Deluxes in the P19 series. There was, however a Special Suburban. All P19s used P20 engines.

Timing parts are the same. The only difference I have observed is that from 54 onward the chain is not divided in the middle, it is more conventional. If you change the sprockets too, this is not a problem.

When you go to drive a clunk o matic for the first time, here are some pointers. First and foremost, as was mentioned above , there is no compression holdback and no park position so the handbrake is very important. Also, make sure the lever is in neutral before starting the engine, but depress the clutch in any case while starting. Then, use the clutch only when moving the gear selector. Up for low range, down for high range and reverse is back toward you and up. With your foot on the brake, select your range...... normal driving.... high range..... and let the clutch in. remove your foot from the pedal and hook your left foot around your right leg just to remind your reflexes that you do not need the clutch pedal. Release both the parking brake and the foot brake and drive off. When you have attained a reasonable forward speed, let your foot off the gas and the transmission will shift into the higher gear of the range you have chosen. It will drop back on its own at a stop sign or will kick down if you floor the throttle. You can change ranges while moving but you must depress the clutch before moving the lever. This is a heavy car so as you get used to it, you might try this. Choose the low range. Wind it up in low then release the throttle and let it shift into the top speed in the low range. Wind it up again then declutch and pull the lever down. You will now be in the top gear of the high range. Most of the time you will simply leave the unit in high range. Performance will be Majestic. When stopping, you do not need to declutch. Confusing at first but it grows on you ! You will rarely win a drag race but soon you will grow to like driving this Semi Automatic. Good luck.

I think Knuckleharley has the answer. Ran into this on a slant-six, years ago. If not a loose impeller then something is preventing water circulation.

Cup expanders are present in some cylinders and not others, I have found. A service assembly would be a new or rebuilt part assembled and ready for installation as a unit. There is no point in doing anything with a cylinder ( other than throwing it away) if its bore is not perfectly smooth. This is achieved by using a brake cylinder hone operated with a drill motor and liberal application of brake fluid. The hone is not moved rapidly up and down the bore as in engine cylinders, but more slowly. The cylinder must be washed with Methyl Hydrate and thoroughly dried before reassembly. It may be relubricated for assembly with clean brake fluid.

I have a bezel, pn 1345693 LH used some pitting , would replace nicely or suitable for use as is on an unrestored car. I have lense which fits this bezel pn 1340236 LH some sun checking but acceptable on an unrestored car. $ I also have RHS equivalents all removed from same car years ago.

I actually have these parts but I did not remove them from the original car (s) so there would have to be a lot more investigation... like jigging everything up on the bench...... possible but time consuming and Vancouver Island is about as far from NJ as you can get both in terms of shipping costs and the opportunity to use the input shaft as a weapon of destruction if things do not work out. For my own curiosity I think I will do a tooth count on other input shafts to see if they are the same on 3 speed standard, three spd. with fluid drive and the long shaft input which I spoke of earlier.. This shaft puts the disc spline in the right place to do what you want it to do. I cannot see any part numbers or casting numbers at first glance. I am the tech advisor for the Plymouth Club so my contact info is in the Plymouth Bulletin under 1950. Thanks for giving me something to think about on a rainy wet west coast day. BTW I have some Irish ancestors who claimed to have worked on fortifications at Sandy Hook back in the 1860s. Probably on a chain gang. If your car is truly a Gyromatic, none of the above will work. It will have the M-6 transmission with 2 speeds in each of 2 ranges and this unit needs the fluid coupling. You would be well advised to enjoy it as-is. Performance can only be described as Majestic but it is better than a Rolls Royce of the same vintage.

You can do this without a major tear-up if you are lucky enough to locate the necessary parts which include, as you mentioned, a flywheel but also an extra long input shaft, throw-out bearing collar and sleeve ( the part which holds the bearing itself) These parts will allow your clutch controls and bell housing to remain as is. I suspect these were available as an obscure "delete fluid drive " option but I also discovered them in a red ram powered 54 Dodge which used what appears to be a fluid drive bell housing to get floor clearance in a car originally designed for a six.

all 25 inch engines use the same bearings 218 228 236 251 264 there was a different part number for fluid drive engines rear main but I have never noticed what the difference is. Vintage Power Wagons may help supply.

I am curious that your car has the 23 inch engine . It must have been built in Detroit for export. Most every Kingsway I have seen is Canadian made and uses the 25 inch engine . Basically a Plymouth in disguise. If it has a 4 bolt crankshaft, you need to check ring gear positioning discussed elsewhere in the forum. Don Coatney offered the best solution.

You will have to change the front mount plate , timing cover and water pump to the ones from your original engine, including the pulleys. Also , use the flywheel and starter from the original engine with your bell housing. 1957-9 have a different tooth count. The temperature gauge bulb may not fit the head so you can either change the head or put the bulb in a tee in the heater line. Make sure the crankshaft has a pilot shaft bushing installed. It may not since automatics don't use them. Other than those items, it is a bolt for bolt swap.

sorry, no photos....... perhaps if I have to take it apart again ( hope not ) at the time I did this, I was unaware of this forum and did not suspect there may be others out there who share my madness.

I put a passenger car overdrive (R 10 ) in my 52 Fargo by inserting a 3/4 inch adaptor between the transmission and bellhousing and altering a couple of bolt holes. The adaptor is machined to retain the front transmission bearing and the truck clutch release bearing collar bolts to the front of the adaptor. Alignment of these items is critical and must be done in a lathe. There is no reason why the longer input shaft and collar from a passenger car fluid drive will not work with this setup. The fd shaft can be fitted to the passenger car overdrive. The driveshaft needs to be shortened about seven inches and there are issues with the park brake cable which is very important with a fluid drive vehicle. With some modifications the column shift adapted nicely. I have not yet driven this truck at speed but expect good results with its 251 engine, 3.9 rear end and 15 inch radial tires.

Refer back to Plymouthy's comments. Spitfire heads came on 251 engines bore 3 7/16 by stroke 4 1/2. Your Desoto is likely a 236 3 7/16 bore, 4 1/4 stroke so a Spitfire head would reduce compression if placed on your engine, so would the head from any engine with a larger displacement. If you want to raise compression, substitute the head from a Canadian 218 bore 3 3/8, stroke 4 1/16. Mill enough to get the gasket surface flat and your compression will be boosted somewhat.... at a guess maybe to just under 8 to 1 but you can do the arithmetic based on stock compression ratios of the early 50s. ( 7 to 1 ) now put your thinking cap on and go back to Plymouthy's comments.

Remember, your transmission will not shift until you release the throttle, that is why the engine idle speed is important. It should shift up even if the electrics are disconnected. As I understand it, the electrical components cause a downshift when activated so it may be possible to troubleshoot by disconnecting the governor. The upshift should then occur but it will not go back down until you stop the car. If disconnecting the governor allows the shift to happen then the governor points need attention.

I traced two engine failures in the same car to a bypass oil filter installed with the lines reversed. The contents of the filter element were then forced back into the pan where it was in turn picked up and blocked the annulus in each of the end main bearings which quickly resulted in bearing failure on #s 1 and 6. The residue in the pan had the consistency of wet toilet paper and this convinced me that it was not something I would want loose in the engine. In this case, it would have been better not to use a filter at all. Needless to say , the "mechanic" in this case was not the sharpest knife in the drawer but everyone makes mistakes. Many different elements can be used in bypass filters as long as they seal around the center post. Tractor and industrial sales counters may be of more help than a modern "auto supply" . Baldwin P 73 is a filter I have been using in recent years. Part numbers have changed in recent years so I am reluctant to list them out here.

The chart above is a good reference. Thanks, PA. I have had good luck and great tread life with the 205/75/R15 on both 5 1/2 and 4 1/2 rim widths. on my 51 convertible (which originally used 6-70 x15s on a 4 1/2 rim) I got over 30 000 miles from P205 R 75 R 15s mounted on 15x5 1/2 wheels. better by far than what I used to get with bias plys.

Some no starts, after a period of idleness, and particularly when the engine seems to be trying but not quite making it, are the result of low compression. After sitting, the rings, if worn, may not be giving a good seal. Put a little oil into each cylinder and try again. If all else fails , a push start will bring it to life. I had one case where the exhaust system had been blocked by mud wasps which is pretty unlikely in your case.

Before you get into a teardown, make sure you have adjusted any slack out of the low -reverse selector. Right below the steering column there is a rod with an adjustment on the upper end. If this does not pull the lower lever enough when the gearshift lever is pulled toward you, you cannot select low or reverse. For some reason of geometry, reverse is the first position to be lost. If you tighten this adjustment too much, you will lose Second and High , but no harm can be done. Sometimes a loose steering column jacket will cause all sorts of shifting problems.

no such thing as a foolish question, yes, the engine will fit both check the ring gear position ( distance in from starter flange) if your replacement engine has a different number of bolt holes in the crankshaft than the original.

Why not buy one ready made? Excellent quality , prompt delivery. Paul Taylor pwjitaylor@msn.com He advertises in the Plymouth Bulletin. I have used these in a 50 and 51. The one for the 53-4 is $169 + 15 s&h Meticulous detail and perfect fit. Better material than the original by far.

To the best of my knowledge, they are the same.

The tooth count changed for 1957.