Los_Control

Seems molly is a trickster and wants to play games, going to pull the head today and play "whack a mole" with the valves. Compression test came up 60 60 30 0 0 0 Assuming the valves are not stuck on the first 3 cylinders, the numbers are terrible, If 60 is all can get from last 3 cylinders, may not start. At that point, I may spend time more wisely on the rebuilt 218 sitting in the shed. I dunno, needs a lot of cleanup and probably have to pull the pistons to do it. Finish this cup of coffee and get going! I am staying over at my uncles place at least until the 5th. Will help getting in some serious molly time. I think in about 3 hours, will have a better picture of the future

compression check would be a great idea. Something I learned over time, spray a little starting fluid in the carb. If it has any spark at all it will try to fire. you have a fuel issue. If it does not change at all with the either, you have a spark issue. I have seen new condensers go bad, get spark at the points but nothing to the plugs.

Being a armchair mechanic does not go over to well on old trucks. I started the oil change today, 40 year old oil is ugly! I took the top off the oil filter canister, spring broke while removing it .... was 1/2" of powder rust sitting on top of the oil filter. Removed the canister from the engine block and put it in the parts washer. Then grabbed another canister off the 52 plymouth and ended up cleaning it up and installing it. Had to grab a copper line from another 218 sitting in the shed, finally got all back together. and put the oil drain plug back in. Was not much oil in the drain pan, took the plug back out and started poking a screwdriver in the drain hole and more started coming out. After cleaning the two oil canisters and looking at the oil sitting in the bottom of them, I know exactly what my oil pan looks like, no doubt in my mind it has to come off to be cleaned. Was going to run a quick compression check on it, get a base line before starting it .... starter solenoid is trashed, I cleaned one up and it seems to be in good shape, and good contact. Need to swap it first thing in the morning and go for day 2 ..... almost a full day just changing oil. Hoping fixing the starter will not be another full day project. Man, it sure was a great day spending it working on the truck. Loved every minute of it

good chance someone has changed it to 12 volts, pull a tail light bulb and see if it is 12 volt also. I could only assume, if they switched to 12 volt, they also would switch to negative ground.

The problem with my wiring was the cloth falling off where it came through the heater housing. There was a bare spot on the longer power wire also. I used some thread and wrapped the wires to replace the missing cloth, and wrapped it a little thicker then original. Then I got into the wifes nail polish and found some black and red, painted the complete wire. The polish acts like a glue, it holds all the original cloth in place, and is flexible. I can bend the wires around and does not crack or peel. I then wrapped the repaired wires in electrical tape heavily, where it exited the case, I did not have a new rubber grommet for it .... not perfect but will last as long as the motor does. I just did this while watching tv and being bored, no real time involved. I did pull apart the motor and lube the bushings and clean it, looked at the brushes. When finished putting the heater back together, I just connected it to the wifes 12 volt battery in her car to see if it would spin up, it went really fast You could probably run it for some months or years on 12 volt, but it will wear out much faster ... to check it you can try. My thoughts are, they have plenty of new replacement motors with a new pig tail connected for pretty cheap. I was unsure if I would stay 6 volt or switch to 12 at the time, I just repaired what I had for the time being.

yes good advice, have been adding oil and turning it for last year and a half. Last time I left the plugs in and turned it with the starter, just never gave it gas and spark yet.

I have been searching the last couple hours on other sites to see if anyone else has done this .... I think you are right. My biggest fear is it loosens it up in big chunks and clogs the screen while it is running. Yet I will have to start it up and verify its condition before spending to much effort on it, I will just change the oil. Next is buying the battery today. Kicking it around, decided to get a 12 volt and swap it over now. I need a tach, want a radio and gps. Pretty sure all the bulbs, generator/voltage reg are ready to be changed anyways, after 40 years.

Ok, time to kick er in gear! We bought the house above, really worked out well and happy with the purchase. We stayed in it for a week and have all the utilities changed over to our name, now back in WA, and I need to start Molly up and see what way am going to go. Seriously thinking of hiring a transporter at this time and just ship her over. I never tried to start her because I had no funds for fresh oil battery etc... We were not going to spend any money until after we bought a house. Trust the plan. Question / discussion on oil. Going to pick up some castrol 10-40 from walmart. What about using diesel fuel to clean out the engine? Drain the 40 year old oil, fill the crank case up to the brim with diesel fuel. pour it in through the oil filter and let it run down and clean all the passages. pull the plugs and turn it over to run it through the oil pump, valvetrain etc... let it soak for 36 hours My goal here is to eliminate sludge sitting in the bottom of the pan. Change the oil twice more after it has a few hours on it before long drives on the highway. Good idea? or will it cause more problems then it fixes?

Sorry I should have posted a link, just ran across it today and when I saw this thread it kinda sparked a idea. https://kpr.craigslist.org/cto/d/rare-1941-dodge/6542997772.html Rare 1941 Dodge pickup. Fully functional, street legal, and runs good. Is titled and registered. Originally was a Command Car in WWII, has command car chassis, now a flatbed. 4x4. Has original in-line 6 motor, 4 speed manual. Glad to answer any questions about the restoration. Makes a great parade car, very fun! Delivery available. $6,400

It has possibilities? A little fabricating for the grill and .....

no picture of mine, but has a magnet from a cabinet door holding it closed. Pretty simple and does not look to hokey .... to me

Are you asking what he tells the wife he spent, or what he actually spends?

get that cat out there with the torch! I really like the project, looking good. I would think making rounded corners would involve a different framing process. Making a corner out of steel, then use it as a template duplicate and add to the corner to each of the trusses. Just more work and is it really worth it? And you are correct about less storage space, working on a old travel trailer with the rounded corners, it is a little extra effort and less space. Then could you imagine using a english wheel to get the outer skin to lay down and sit pretty? To use period correct rounded corners, would add 6 months on to your project. Some of us want to use the few little 6 months we have left, for more gratifying goals. I love where your going, keep it up!

I just wanted to thank you for saving the car, rather see it on the road with a sbc then in the scrap yard. Seems to me that a early 283 with the horseshoe mount would be dead simple, but any year sbc the mounts would not be difficult to fabricate. I think your big issue may be clearance with the steering box. That is where you need to research and see what others have done with the exhaust or even moving the box. Once you start getting into custom exhaust headers and or moving the steering box, A inline six could look like a good alternative. Either way, I like the idea of the sbc if I wanted to make a highway cruiser, I personally prefer a flathead to haul my arse to the lumber store and back. All about choices. ... I hope you make a build thread and keep us updated, always good to have some excitement around here Forgot to add, check clearances with the brake, clutch pedals mounted under the cab, just keep it in mind.

double check the ingredients for those of you in Washington and Colorado

if you search split exhaust on the hamb you will find lots of good info, including a thread 5 pages long on just mopar 6's. This is actually a good one to read as it talks about actually doing the work. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/i-want-to-split-my-gmc-manifold-possible.1081250/#post-12473409

I would say the rear end swap would be first in line, even with the slant 6 you would want better gearing. Then would consider upgrading to disk brakes in front, simple and reasonably priced. From there I would consider if wanted to upgrade motor and trans. I hear that 2 single barrel carbs will distribute the fuel more equally then a single 2 barrel. More power and economy ... vroom vroom!

I could be wrong here, is my understanding that you can add the divider and wing window to a door without wing window. It just depends how was ordered from factory as to which is original. I like the vents myself.

I cant say yes or no, but funny how things can work out. Currently we are sitting in Texas waiting for our house to close so we can move in. Another 2 weeks? Of course we want to spend a couple weeks in the new house, then we are on the road back to WA. Wife said she wants to drive straight across the south through NM, AZ, NV, CA and then up to WA. I think with just a small amount of effort/planning, we would be driving right through the area and stop to visit for a few hours.

I sure hope we are that lucky, I am always friendly and try to be helpful where I can. Honestly people are just not the way I remember them. My uncles new neighbour is a real peach. My uncle owns 2 acres since 1960 and he knows his property lines. New neighbour moves in and right away tries grabbing 20'x300' because of some google map he downloaded. The guy comes over and stands in your face, tells you you need to move your **** now or he is going to kick your ass. He drives his tractor onto your property and threatens to drag your **** away, he uses his tractor and removes ground cover from your property .... I cant tell you how many times the police were called and reports filed. Finally uncle spent $1200 and had the property surveyed, the lines were exactly where he said they were, neighbour started pulling out the survey stakes, we called the police again. Then when my cousin and her grandson was out looking in a storage shed at 10:00 at night, 500' away from the neighbours, he comes out and starts calling her a crack hoe and every name in the book in front of the kid, because his dogs would not stop barking. I hope I have good luck with my new neighbours, but I lack real trust in human nature today, way kids have been raised with no supervision. They feel they can scream and cry and get their way .... not for me. I want a tall fence!

Good fences make good neighbours. Just bought a house, very first thing that will happen is a 6 foot privacy fence around the back. 3' around the front.

agree with straight water, but you might try vinegar instead. it is a good cleaner, will knock loose the rust and scale in the old water passages, gentle enough to not damage the radiator or heater ..... and gives it a fresh clean smell I think maybe others might have a different suggestion for product to use, I would want something that would remove the old oil in the water passages. Couple thoughts here, I use to use a radiator sealer. This stuff looked like brown molasses with little round rabbit poop in it. .... Think it was called bars leak dont remember. That product sealed 7 holes in a radiator that had contact with a fan. Is it possible you have something like this in your coolant? Also what pressure cap do you have on the radiator? Possible you have to much pressure in the system and forcing it out of strange places.

I heard they being imported from Texas this year

I think a wise man once said, "life is what happens, while your busy planning other stuff" We bought a house in Texas like we planned, not a big shop with a couple acres outside of town, but a clean little 3 bedroom in good shape in town with a one car garage. Compromises is probably a main reason been married for over 30 years At least we made our offer in writing on Friday, the owner accepted the offer in writing, and now waiting for title company to get busy on Monday, probably be a few weeks to get it all closed. in reality, this changes everything. The 2 ton 52 chevy no longer fits in the plans. As much as I would love to drive molly back to Texas, just not realistic to do so, after sitting for 38 years. The house needs furniture, fridge, washer dryer etc.... We need a truck now. Now we are looking for a truck that we can drive back to WA, rent a uhaul trailer and bring molly back with us that way. Looking to buy something for $4k-$5k with 150k-175K miles or so, no idea if to go ford chevy or dodge, always had good luck with fords in the past. You can see where the wife will be parking, me and molly will be in the grass in the back yard. I think I could put in a man door to the garage from the back, pour a slab and build a carport and be comfortable working there. Store tools in the garage. Just have to see what life throws at us

without spending much time, I blew up the photo you posted, they sure look like tubeless tires to me. IE 22.5 This in my book is considered a upgrade, some may prefer tube type. But I do not think they even made tubeless 22.5 in that era. I imagine the speedometer will be off with taller tires, just something to check.