Los_Control

I thank you for your question to the public ... I will give my humble reply. While a manager in a bandag retread shop ... and our buffer was down for repairs and mechanic was there to fix it. I asked mechanic, Why is there such a crappy brass screw block on that shaft, obvious it wears quickly. Mechanic replied, The brass screw block cost $300, The six foot long screw shaft cost $3k ...he asked me which do you want to replace? He then went on to explain that engineers design machinery this way, A sacrificial piece to avoid replacing the prize piece. This is the same attitude I use to the brass plugs and cast iron block today. I may be wrong, but the steel plugs will easily rust out after I am long dead and ashes spread around. The next care taker should have same fun I am having in replacing them.

My two cents .... I first bought cup plugs instead of the flat .... they looked stupid as they hung out of the block 3/16" So I went back and bought the welsh plugs (convex) I installed them and looked much better. Because the old plugs were installed with the dimple in, I installed new ones same way .... wrong! You need to install with the dimple out, then when you smack it with your favorite tool, the dimple will be in, and the metal plugs will expand to seal. I bought brass, and after I installed them backwards .... yes they do leak. I read one persons opinion about not using brass because of dis-similar metals. When you put brass into the cast iron block, something is going to rot ... since the brass will not, the block will. Granted, will not happen in my life time. But to help preserve the block for the next generation, for my next and final attempt to install welsh plugs, I bought steel. Much cheaper and easier to replace the plugs then fix the block.

I wonder if a cover from another heater would fit? Mine is a model 61. Just saying you might refurbish it and use it, keep your eyes open for another cover. I measured aprox 8" from top to bottom not counting the tabs. is 7 & 3/8" wide and tabs are 4 & 7/16" apart

While it is a different model then mine, the truck master plate would go where you say

Let me add to this ....This advice is 100% correct, do not forget to backup your photos. I had a old beater computer in the shop, something did not really care about, hard drive died and I lost all of the photos I have been taking along the way. Now I am struggling because I lost the photos I had taken to help me. In the computer world, geeks say, "there are two types of computer users ... those with backups and those who wished they had backups"

If you hold your tongue just right, inhale and exhale, you will make a really funny sound as you suck in air and expel saliva .... plus your wife will be calling 911 If fluid is coming out, you are guaranteed air is coming in.

little bit of playing, here on linux I can open almost anything. I tried to convert to jpeg, pdf and simply the file itself has issues and not the file extension. To answer your question, windows photo viewer should open it for you .... still I think is bad file not a issue on your end.

Just saying, if I had your parts ... would throw mine away

fwiw, I plan to pull my engine at a later date, not this date. I removed the water pump and radiator, snaked a piece of flat bar through the grill into the dist tube and rodded out the calcium and lime. Removed the oil fill tube, distributor, and the soft plugs. Then snaked Ford wire up into the block and pulled all the sand out. Be amazed how much sand comes out ... people claim it is left over from when the block was originally cast'ed, they just never cleaned it out. Why everybody has same issue .... I do not think hot tank cleans it out. Just sits there. Total cost is gaskets and 5 soft plugs ...maybe $20, just labor to get er did. And now in West TX is a great time to fix this.

My 218 flathead when I first got it running after sitting 20 years. it warmed up and continued to climb straight to over heat level. Then go to remove T-stat and was already 1 bolt broke in the T-stat housing. I think this is why my truck was taken out of service for a long sleep. I found the water distribution tube clogged, and the block was filled with original casting sand. If you open your block drain plug (located near distributor) no water/coolant comes out, most likely you have casting sand also ... think most all do. I fixed these two problems, now idle in driveway with no T-stat installed for 45-60 min, it runs at 160. Then it will start to creep up to 180, fast idle and drops right back to 160. I imagine if I drove it, the temp would not reach 160 with the air flow. I need to install a T-stat to get to 180 operating temp. These engines normally run cool. If you are reaching 200, I suspect you have a circulation issue. I have been hanging around these forums for a few years, is common to use the modern T-stat you show .... I bought stant 13478 for mine. Is 180 degrees. Pull your t-stat out and see where it runs .... only takes a few min and think you will at very least, establish a base line and see what a T-stat will change.

imho ... think I have even read on adjusting newer trucks steering boxes. (60's-80's) Fords are terrible and every Ford I owned the steer box needed adjusted. On my 1987 I got it dirt cheap because it needed adjusted, took 2 min and drove it for 15 years afterwords. On my 1969, I adjusted it once, then 6 months later twice, then a year later the gears were so worn they broke. I believe you can only adjust them so many times before it becomes unsafe to drive. The gears are getting worn and sloppy, so you adjust and pull them together, then you repeat .... at some point they are to thin to be safe. My 1969 broke in the driveway, would have been a disaster if was driving down the highway.

Thanks kencombs for explanation. I was particularly thinking of a thread in another forum where a guy was putting a chevy 4 cyl marine engine into a model T ford. Dual 4 or 6 cyl may be more popular combo for the average joe boat. A Mexican drug cartel leader, may want dual 273 mopar engines .... Just not a impossible combo. If I was parting out a dual engines boat, I wanted one of the engines for self, which engine would I sell first? I just thought it worth mentioning, most boats would have single engine and a non issue then I suspect. Even then, is the marine engine like a stationary industrial engine? No vacuum advance, governed carb and sometimes a cam to match the use of a stationary engine? Just thinking that a marine engine is fine, it just may not be a drop in plug & play engine. If a guy is aware of what they have, could be very minor changes.

Installing a new seat, I think you will want to remove the base from the floor of the cab. You also will need to reinforce the floor when you mount the new seat. I read your post as you are trying to adapt the new seat to the old base? I also need to choose a new seat, The original seat of my 49 b1b is 59" wide. I recently ended up with a seat that came from some unknown Toyota truck, I thought it would be fine, turns out it is 49" wide and just wrong. I do have it sitting in the cab temporarily, replacing the 5 gallon bucket I was using .... height is all wrong. I am a shorter person, and the Toyota seat tracks, sitting on 4x4 wood blocks is only 12" tall to seat, I feel like a kid trying to look out the windshield. While a guy 6'5" may think it is perfect. If you can mock up a height that you like, know your width, then take your tape measure to the wrecking yard and pick one. Right now I am leaning to dodge mini van front bucket seats with arm rest and build a console. My wifes dodge mini van is very comfortable, the seats sit on pedestals and seat is 16" off the floor. Just saying is height along with width.

Just curious, I have no clue, seems I read that some marine engines actually run backwards compared to a automotive engine. Then there may be a issue with distributor, cam vacuum etc. I guess it depends on the boat manufacturer and the out drive it was connected to? I just assume you already know this and checked into it, if not you may have a bigger surprise then just bell housing coming.

Curious what others think about this product to repair the steering wheel. it is a multi purpose product, so when you have it around the shop you never know what you might use it on. Oil pans, gas tanks, radiators, rust holes in sheet metal Wallmart sells it online, 8 0z cans for $14 .... I assume 2 parts = 16oz? No idea what por 15 product wants for theirs. $14 seems cheap to me. There is also pc 11, is a slightly better product, Walmart sells for $15, you can repair fiberglass boats under water, cracks in swimming pools, cracked plumbing drains, one advertiser claims steering wheels. Either way, pc 7 is often compared to jb weld, and jb works on steering wheels, I like that you can buy it in a can at a reasonable price, and not price gouged by little tubes of jb. oops .... I just saw this ..... carry on

Pretty obvious in the photos of the rear axle, pinion is offset and one shorter then the other, swapping them to right side seems fixed to me Is a common way to narrow a rear end, use two short axles and cut down the axle tube to fit .... I suppose in this case, a guy could use 2 of the longer tubes and axles and widen the rear end, not needing spacers. Nobody is going to care about using the spacers though .... carry on

My worthless opinion, pictures can be deceiving. Imagine if you had chrome acorn nuts for your mag wheels, threads are not going to protrude out the end. You could put a cap on yours and have acorn nuts .... imhwo, what I see is not really uncommon and has been done for years. With that said, Looks like in the photo there is only a few threads engaging the nut. Maybe that is because of the magic of photography? We can not see how deep/wide the existing nuts are, possible there is plenty of contact surface, all we see is the threads left over. Just use common sense, would be real easy to change them now then fix broken pieces later. Looks awesome!

No mechanic, just curious what type of ignition system, points or hei and have you checked the point gap if points?

That actually is a good idea, may be possible to feed 2 wires through instead of coax. I was just kinda sleep walking and not paying attention to how important ground is with this system. Originally was thinking horn button was a switch and no need to think about ground .... I see now is very wrong. I find it curious how they put extra effort into creating the tabbed plate the horn button connects to.

Yeah, maybe I did not think that one through. I was in clean and paint mode, was 1/2 way done before discovered the copper base. Is just rattle can of rusty metal primer and gloss black paint. Probably easier to sand it clean then mask it off anyways. Hind sight I suppose should have just cleaned it then soak it in oil, since it never was painted from factory. Now it is cleaned, painted,sanded and soaking in oil.

Also curious about the horn assembly, I cleaned and painted it. The base seems to be copper and think I need to scrape the paint off for it to work, is this true?

I swear I have attention deficit disorder .... going to be a looong build. I got side tracked with mowing the grass, then thought would like to buy a riding mower and found a cheap rider that needs work at a estate sale. Came home with a few other items, one is a box of pullers .... funny how life seems to smile on us at times.

You ever think about putting wipers in them holes? I have to admit Texas is pretty lax about safety inspection here, when I had my truck inspected the daughter was sick and at home, so father the shop owner just passed it with out moving from desk. If his daughter was there she would make sure the wipers worked and then lecture me on how old the rubbers were. Wipers are something I seldom use in West Texas, I sure would not want a car without them.