Fargone

Well today my engine tear down starts in earnest. I'm indirectly benefiting from the fire situation in my home town of Fort McMurray. Several of my friends have evacuated to Edmonton and they're getting bored with being house bound so we are doing garage therapy for the next little while. It keeps their minds off the turmoil at home for a few hours and I get access to a wealth of mechanical skill and knowledge I do not possess.

Now I know why I've seen pictures of plates used to hang a Flat Head 6 on an engine stand.... crap gotta go shopping for steel again.

That's been my experience as well US vendors have vastly better pricing, I'll be buying most of my parts State-Side. Hell, I may even take the whole engine down south for machining as well. There are advantages to wintering in Arizona.

Thanks John I've used ARP hardware before and it is top notch.The high temp and reflective coatings are an interesting idea I'm wondering what prompted you to try it for your rebuild? What brand name do these products go by?

I've read a lot of posts and articles thanks for this one, it does look familiar. I'm planning to do as much of the engine reassembly as possible my self (with journeyman over sight). Machining will of course be farmed out and that will include the valve grind and inserts so thanks for the tip.

I will reach out to Mid Canada Parts thanks.

Yes there is a small bump on the 1951. Does that make the 1951 design a better engine candidate than the 1950?

I've got the advantage of tearing down a 1951 218 and a 1950 228 at the same time. I've come across some weird supply chain things. I use Rock Auto for reference and supply on a lot of my mechanical repairs on my more modern vehicles with great success. My mechanic friend asked my to get an overhaul gasket kit for the 228. I assumed the the 218 and 228 would be the same part number, but nope. I've swapped the head gaskets between engines and can see no difference. Rock lists two different numbers for the overhaul kit and the head gaskets, though thus far every gasket looks the same on the two engines. Maybe Rock has some bad data in the system or there is a thickness difference on the head gasket? I hope I don't run into too many situations where I have to guess which part number to choose. I planning to build a updated version of the 228 addressing as many internal systems as possible, starting with lubrication. The goal is to have a low maintenance, reliable and strong flat head 6. I'm not concerned about my engine looking authentic, in fact I'm hoping to have a very unique looking flatty under my hoods. This site and others are a gold mine of data and building on the success of others is what I plan to do. Any engine related successes or more importantly failures you could share would be most helpful. My other post seems to have strayed too far of course for the moderators. I'd like to thank all the posters that provided me information related to the engine swap, it was very helpful.

Hold the phones did you say power windows, very cool! How much of a pain in the @$$ was that modification?

Thanks for the offer, but as Formula Deluxe says it's a completely different tank.

Yes that's why I thought I could just throw my old tank out. I was hoping a tank fabricator out there was making one specifically for my year. But, if all else fails I'll use that one or the Nissan tank if I can find one at a wreckers.

I wonder how hard that change would be vented windows would be a cool option? Why did you removed yours because of noise, leaks or maybe appearance?

Nope

Nope, it fell apart on removal and I disposed of the chunks thinking replacement can't be that hard...... I did a ton of photos and measurements before I removed it, but now I wish I'd have kept the filler neck and other chunks.

Thanks, I'm starting this work today maybe I can salvage the the works. I can't wait to see how Flathead does with the Clester windshield seals.

You are probably right I took a close look at all my glass and most of it appears to be delaminating. I did plan to have a glass company give me a quote on cutting all my glass.

I'm concerned about my side windows (no vents) the regulators are frozen in the up position and all the seals, wipers and tracks appear to be toast. In fact all the window seals in the truck are leaking and brittle. Luckily the glass is complete and only one windshield panel is cracked. I'm hoping to take out the rear window and side windows for reuse. Crossing my fingers that taking them out goes well and that they can be saved. The problem I have is removing the side windows requires me to roll them down first. I can't do that yet and access is pretty limited. Maybe I can drop the whole assembly glass and all down and free the regulators through the access panel? Anyone had similar issues with their window regulators?

We have a shop in Edmonton that does custom fuel tanks for rods and race cars I'll check them out.

Here's my research for you.

I did some research through the old Dodge Serial number books and your truck is indeed a 1949 B-1-F / H. The reason your search through VIN decoder came back so inexact is that during the time your truck was built, Dodge was building a wide range of 1 1/2 ton trucks. I'll post a screen capture of my manual so at least you have it. That is a nice old truck.

Very sexy!

When I bought my truck I knew the tank was bad. I didn't know it was Swiss cheese, but I knew it leaked. I've found a thread or two here about Nissan Frontier fuel tanks fitting old Dodges and I've found a reproduction tank for older trucks that will fit with bracket extensions. I'm wondering if anyone has found an actual correct tank being made or sold somewhere in the USA? Failing that I'm wondering what you guys have done with your fuel systems. Many builders use a fuel tank mounted in the rear of the trucks frame away from the cab. I can see how that has safety and weight transfer advantages, but I don't see the old girl going into competitive auto cross anytime soon. Modern tanks generally use in tank 12 volt pumps and senders that may not work with stock gauges?

Wow now that's the kind of detailed reference material I like. Thank you so much it looks like I'll be making those changes as well. I've even got a line on a Grand Cherokee diff complete with disc brakes.