Los_Control

I think that would be true with some shops, but not all. At the same time, finding used 15" is almost impossible ... certainly rare. All newer vehicles have gone to taller wheels for larger brakes. Even small cars have 17" wheels or larger on them. What would be easier to find, a set of used tires & wheels that share the same bolt pattern as yours. I'm not sure what bolt pattern your Desoto uses. If it was the same 5 on 4.5" like the dodges, plymouths .... then some wheels off of a Ford explorer, Jeep cherokee .... Dodge Dakota ..... many choices. Possibly a wrecking yard would have a set cheap .... If a wrecking yard had a stock set of wheels for a jeep cherokee that has so so tires on it .... low tread & hold air .... they would sell them cheap. They have little chance of selling the wheels, basically scrap metal prices ..... the tires they have to pay a disposal fee to get rid of. Just saying, if you called a wrecking yard and told them you need some rollers while you restore your car, they could probably hook you up. This also leaves your original wheels free so you can restore and paint the wheels, then add new tires to them as you see the need. ..... Just another option.

I have given a little bit of thought to trailer tires ..... Is a good used set local pretty cheap. What I believe is they may be a heavier ply rating for heavier loads, I think they also have a speed rating meaning lower speeds. Trailers drive down the road all the time at 70-75 mph .... how fast will you drive? The heavier ply rating would make them ride rougher. Because they are a cheaper trailer tire ..... I do not think you will get many miles out of them. I think they would be fine to use for awhile .... If I bought a set really cheap used. I think I would rather spend my money on better tires if buying new. My daily driver chebby truck uses the same size tires as my 49 dodge truck. 235-R-75-15. So the Dodge gets the hand me downs from the chebby .... Dodge is currently sitting on dry rotted tires I took off of the chebby when I bought it. I need to put new tires on the Dodge before I can drive it ... The new tires on the chebby are now 5 years old with low miles on them. I'm thinking about putting new tires on the chebby and then put the gently used tires on the dodge. Just an idea if you have another vehicle that uses the same size.

I have a BIL in a hospital. He rode a bus 3 days from Washington to Texas to hang out for the winter. Been here since the 4th of the month. He has been in the hospital for the last 4 days dying. They found tumors on his brain .... transferred him 75 miles away to a larger hospital. Opened his skull and found the brain covered in fungus and closed him up. He is on a heroin drip to control his critical blood pressure. He is confused and combatant .... wants to walk out of ICU naked with a hole in his head so he is strapped in restraints to the bed. Serious hallucinations ... This Dude is really messed up. Hepatitis C, Type 1 diabetic, high blood pressure, fungus, tumors ..... If one does not kill him the other three will. I think it is sad that he burned all his bridges at home and nobody wanted to help him. ..... Go to Texas and see your sister. He has a father, sister, 2 brothers, his daughter, 2 cousins .... all wanting to get the latest updates on his health ..... We cant do the 150 mile drive everyday to go see a guy tied to a bed sleeping. .... It is $35 each trip for gas, 3 times last week, we will go again tomorrow. On a fixed income we simply cant afford it and our bodies do not allow it. Sure gives me a lot to think about and be thankful for. Being married for 40 years, her brother made many bad life choices 40 years ago ... lived life the way he wanted to. Now he is paying for it. Just makes me think how thankful I am to have made the life choices I have. Everybody will die, fact of life. ..... Seems the older we get, the more we see of it. Sorry for my rant ... I am not really sad at all .... just thoughtful of life. Wife and I have been very chatty while both kicking in efforts for our dinner ... Having a great time. I'm going to enjoy a nice quiet turkey dinner today .... jump back on the 150 mile merry go round tomorrow.

Thats a good idea to have a right angle drill .... turns out I used a map gas torch to heat the bolt and it came out using vice grips ... I still pulled the radiator because I forgot to put the pulley on the water pump before installing it. I installed the water pump and was no way to install the pulley after ? I think the JB weld will probably work fine. ... It actually seems to work well as a filler ... for example it works to fill cracks on a steering wheel before painting it .... anytime it is under stress or pressure it will fail quickly. I need to do work on my rail also, sadly it is bent from some sort of collision. Not terrible, but you will sure see it in the gap when the tailgate is closed. Thats a future Fred problem

I would think that will work fine for you. Grandpa had a 1952 Plymouth Suburban that had a extra heater under the drivers seat. I imagine some might have a heater in the rear of a station wagon or a panel van. I had a 1958 chebby panel with a rear heater. Just wondering if those spacers are part of a rear heater package .... to supply extra lines for a extra heater? iirc, Grandpa's suburban had T's in the heater hoses ..... looked pretty sloppy.

I went south last week and picked up a 1970 318 2bbl engine with a 3 on the tree trans. Was in a 1970 Dodge 1/2 ton truck. I know it is nothing special, but these engines are getting harder to find. The owner has owned the truck since 1980 ... he is now going through the truck and added a 1985 front clip for independent suspension & disk brakes. He is installing a 315 Hemi with a 727 overdrive trans. .... Just saying he had no interest in the original 318/3spd and did not want to send it to scrap. So I made a 8 hour drive to pick it up, claims it has about 126K on it... motor runs fine but the trans was noisy or growled when idle in neutral. Shifted fine though. I really have no plans for it .... but it is all pressure washed and tucked into a corner of the garage under a warm blanket

I will only suggest that the quality of the fuel has been going down year after year. 10 years ago the fuel was better and not a issue to most, then a couple years go by and gubment regulations change the fuel, then a couple more years go by and the regulations change again .... just saying this is getting worse & worse as time goes on. We notice it slowly. Modern cars do not have a problem with the lower quality fuel .... so they just keep lowering the bar until they do have a issue. It still can be another issue altogether though.

Sings Hi Ho ... Hi Ho off to San Angelo I go.

What you describe sounds like vapor lock? Seems unlikely in your area at this time of year though. When you shut the car off the cooling system no longer is working and the engine heats up .... modern fuel sitting in the carburetor & the fuel line from the pump to the carb will heat up & turn to vapor. .... Kinda sounds like yours is right on the verge of doing so ... it will run but not smoothly til you get the engine running and the fuel moving through the lines again. Same thing at a long stop light, the engine is running producing heat, the carb is filled so the float is closed .... the fuel just sits in the hot fuel line above the exhaust manifold and turns to vapor. What others have done is add a electric fuel pump near the tank .... when the problem comes up, turn on the electric pump for a few miles until the issue goes away then shut it off. The stock manual pump sucks, it is very good at sucking fuel .... but it can not suck vapor. The electric pump pushes, it sucks at sucking .... but it will push fuel a long ways. So the electric pump mounted near the tank, will push the cool fuel to the carb .... pushing the vapor out of the way. ..... Hope that makes sense. This is only a problem with older vehicles ..... all modern vehicles run electric pumps in the tank and have a return line back to the tank, so the injectors are always getting fresh cool fuel. Doug&Deb also seem to think this is the issue and I agree with them that it is possible something else is causing it .... but it sure sounds like typical vapor lock to me.

Just for basic maintenance after 75 years, I have had my cluster out a few times for cleaning and oiling. And needed repairs.

Sometimes I think it is just the way the past generation raised their kids with no manners. I went on a little road trip Last Thursday. Was a 4 hour drive each way, so I hit the road at 5:00 AM .... Would put me at my destination just after 9:00 AM to load up a engine. Then still get home at a decent hour. While going through some road construction on I20 about 6:00 AM it was still dark and rush hour traffic with people going to work. Traffic was slowed down to stop & go in the right lane .... Not much better in the left lane. Looking in the drivers mirror there was a line a mile long in the left lane .... no chance to move over .... eventually a space appeared and I had room so I took it. All I'm saying is it was stop & go traffic and I pulled in front of a semi truck ..... they left themselves way too much space for the speed we were traveling. So for the next few miles the semi truck driver kept flashing his high beams & driving lights into the back of my truck. .... I get it, he was pissed off. What I walk away with, just a young driver that has no experience .... showing his road rage for such a trivial event at 30 mph or less. Possibly his first run after getting his license, or possibly his last run if he keeps up the childish behavior. Yeah I was pissed at his behavior at the time ..... several days later, I do not feel I'm a better man .... I just feel they were a ignorant man and have a lot of growing up to do.

Do you have a spacer also on top of the water pump? Just saying, I have no spacers, The T-stat housing is 1 piece, same with the bypass unit. All you need is to use the extra outlet to add a nipple & run it to the heater .... then a valve on the back of the block for the other side of the heater.

Same as Ivan here also. I do not understand the spacers ... what there purpose is? I have my heater out right now, so just looping back to the block from the T-stat housing. ... I also added a flushing T in the heater hose ... convenient place to have one. I threw in a gate valve which is very ugly ... but it works until I can find a valve more sexy looking.

I know I suggested to add water to it so you could hear it run and let it warm up .... then if you found any more leaks you could fix them before adding coolant. That was several weeks ago while you still had time to work on it. Seems like that time has passed, I would not be adding antifreeze until after I checked with plain water that there were no more leaks. I would not be adding plain water if the temps are below freezing ...... so I would just leave it dry at this point. I'm in the same boat right now. I've been messing with mine, I had to pull the radiator out ... I put a new water pump on it while I was there .... I pulled the heater out because I need to paint it .... still not done that yet. I needed to move the truck to get access to the carport, driveway .... looks like I have a leak somewhere but cant tell where. I just do not have time to work on it right now, so will be draining the block and let it sit dry, until I do have time to work on it.

While the # looks weird to me also, remember back in this time period it was normal to re-stamp a motor to suit the stampers needs. Seems I have heard you can get new engines with no stamp, then stamp it to match your old engine. Same with installing a used engine .... grind off the old number then stamp the number you want. I wanted to suggest Bannerman but could not find a link to them .... Thanks to @billrigsby for finding it. Bannerman has been collecting & logging motor identification numbers on these engines for years. Possible they know something about yours, I'm sure he would like to have your information either way just for his logs. Just thinking the # in your case only meant something to the re-builder. If you are unsure of the size of the engine. You can measure the stroke without pulling the head. That should tell you something. Also you can pull the head and measure the bore. Then go through a engine manual checking for bore & stroke for different engines .... Why possibly just the stroke will tell you what you need? I do not know the bigger 25" truck engines so I'm no help.

Here is what I consider a rough 1950 Dodge. Straight out of the field it sat in for 20 years..... Really took little work to get it running. The cooling system needed a lot of attention. I feel a experienced person could have gone through it and made it a safe dependable driver in less then 6 months of spare time. Not me though ..... Having never painted a vehicle before .... I just had to try it. ? Seriously, if it had some paint or bad paint ..... I would have been fine. But no paint .... I would feel guilty for being a bad caretaker. So while piddling around learning to weld & paint, I have been going through the undercarriage cleaning & painting everything. Inspected the front end, greased everything ..... upgraded the master cylinder, new wheel cylinders & lines. New fuel tank, lines, carburetor. Wiring was garbage, generator wrong & non working. New GM alternator and a universal wiring harness. I admit I was very lucky that mechanically the truck was in decent condition .... just needed a lot of neglected maintenance. I am not restoring it, just repairing it ..... fixed all the rust, took out the big dents left the little ones. Still a ways to go yet, when I hit the road with it "I" think it will be a dependable driver that is well maintained and have about $4k - $5k into it? She is the official Hound Dog Hauler. I live in a small rural town and expect to daily drive it for everything .... including dump runs when needed.

That crew is awesome. Seems they are having some website issues. ... Couple weeks ago I ordered a parking light lens from them ...... While installing my original glass one, I dropped it on the concrete and broke it I ordered the part and went through the full steps. After the final step I expect to see a page that says order has been placed .... instead I get a 504 error. So thinking I messed up I ordered again .... and got the same 504 error at the end. About 15 minute later DCM calls me on the phone, asked if I wanted 1 or 2 lenses. Explained that the order goes through, just the customer see's the error and they are working on fixing it. I received the lens in a few days, to my surprise it was also glass like the original .... I was expecting plastic. It was also cheapest at $26, on ebay they were selling $35-$40.

I think it really depends on condition of the engine. How much compression, a good working carburetor. Proper tune up. These engines ran in the winter time when they were new .... If in good condition they will run fine now also. I had a 1960 slant 6 truck ..... I sometimes needed to put a heat lamp under it to get the oil warmed up before it would start on very cold mornings. To be fair, the oil was probably closer to sludge then oil ..... I never changed it, just added to it when low. I had a 1951 Ford truck flathead V8. I needed to throw a rag over the top of the carburetor for extra choke to get it to fire up. Carb was Just wore out. Just suggesting that you can get the old beaters started without too much trouble .... I imagine if block heaters are normally used in your area, then use one. Might be a fun project, to have one that you can enjoy and use as you want. Not be so worried about parking lot dings or other normal issues that arrive with a daily driver. That is the whole goal of my truck ..... something safe & dependable to drive.

I like to think the Mopar Engineers designed it to be a self oiler ..... They were just way ahead of their time. They knew the average person would not remove the starter and oil the gear at the recommended intervals.

I checked mine, seems like a 1 13/16 socket fits. I have no idea what a 33 Dodge uses ..... or if it is the same nut the engine was born with. I never did report back ..... Wrong information can be harmful. My engine is a 1950 and 1-13/16 .... @Doug&Deb says 1-11/16" .... Ours are different. Just not sure about quality control back in those days, even tougher to guess what was available 10 years earlier.

You're progress looks great. Sometimes it is not what we want or meet the mental goals we set for our self. But it is still progress. Because I was medically retired, it was different for me to get accustomed to a different life. When you are working you have a pretty structured life where your time is taken up on a schedule. Retired it is now up to you to make a new schedule for your time. ..... Just different. I have not made any recent post in my thread either .... I've done some since the last post, but life just keeps getting in the way. ..... When I think I want to do something then my water heater in the house demands attention. I have my favorite Brother inlaw going through some problems. Wife & I got him moved from Washington to Texas .... getting the spare room in order ...... I just have no time to get things done on the truck. I went out yesterday to change the water pump on it. I have had the water pump on and off at least 3 times in the last 5 years ..... A bolt broke .... what I thought was going to be a quick, easy swap now is going to be a issue .... I'm only hoping I do not have to pull the radiator to drill it out & tap it. .... Again, not what I wanted to spend my time on. You know what I mean? I've had the new water pump on a shelf for 4 years ..... old one works fine just needs grease and the zirk fitting is plugged. While I'm here, I'm just going to put on the new pump. .... I can sit on the tire and get it done. So what should be a 30 minute job, life come along and I have no idea how long it will take to fix it. We may think as retired people we control our time ..... I'm not so sure we are in control. One day I went to the wrecking yard 1 hour away and I called the yard to tell them what I wanted. I got there and they never pulled the part yet. ..... Then it was lunch time, come back in 1 hour .... I did, then took them 30 minute to pull the part ...... Me & the sales lady was in a heated argument about the time it took to get the simple part .... she pulled me aside to talk to me to calm me down. ..... I said look lady I'm retired and I do not have time for all this BS. ..... We both laughed so hard, gave each other a hug and went on our way.

I will be out later working on my 49 218 ..... no idea if they would be the same as a 33 201. I do remember it awkward to measure because of the deep pulley and the small space. I do remember I found a socket to fit it though. I bought a tool box at a estate sale years ago, it had a set of 3/4" drive sockets in it .... thats how I happen to have the tool for it. Just thinking you might make a treasure hunt out of it ... go search a few pawn shops for a used 3/4" socket set .... maybe harbor freight has a cheap set? Just not something you will use very often but handy to have when you need it. ... Times like this. You can get a 1/2" > 3/4" adapter so you can use your 1/2" ratchet with it. I'm thinking if you go to the local parts store and buy a decent 1.5" socket, you may get a complete set used for about the same price.

Several years ago I had a Ford 1 ton work van. Wife & I drove it from Seattle to New Mexico .... we had it about 15 years. The heater worked awesome and always kept the front 2 passengers so warm we had to turn the heat way down and it kept the windows clear also. It was a awesome heater. One year it started leaking and I replaced the old brass heater core with the modern aluminum replacement ...... That heater just sucked after that .... It never warmed up enough to keep us warm .... I'm sure the windows would be a issue in the right weather. I remember thinking about a possible air pocket, I switched the heater hoses around just in case I installed them backwards, I put in a new T-stat thinking it might be bad .... I tried everything I could and nothing helped. My final take away was aluminum heater cores suck .... maybe different manufacturer & quality is the problem .... I do not know. Question to @uncleaud Do you have a modern replacement heater core?

Without knowing your location, cooler temps means different things to different people. .... Today is 60 degrees out and I needed a jacket to drive to the store ? I find when everything is in proper working order, these engines run cool. I ran my engine for a bit in the driveway and it never really got up to a good running temp with no T-stat installed. Then when I installed a 180 T-stat it runs right at 180. ..... If you are running in cool temps it may never get as warm as it should be. It was common in the old days to run a summer or winter T-stat depending on the season. Was also a known trick to put cardboard in front of the radiators to block airflow and raise the coolant temps to get the heater to work better. I remember hearing stories about truckers installing a roll up window shade in front of the radiator then just lower or raise it as the weather changed. Modern cars have pressurized cooling systems and run coolant at a higher temperature. The higher the pressure the higher the boiling point of coolant. Just saying modern cars are different because of a pressurized system and no longer have this issue.

My 2 cents on it .... It can be done in a emergency situation. If I'm at home in my garage ..... I do not consider it a emergency situation. To me if you are at home, if you need to assist it with 12 volts to turn over fast enough to start. .... You have a problem .... fix the problem. You need to know your wiring well and know exactly what is getting power to avoid possible damage. Not really a question a forum can answer ..... Nobody here knows what has been done to your wiring system over the years. In my case I feel like a total dummy when it comes to automotive wiring. I am in the process of converting to 12 volts and building a new wiring harness for my truck. Just saying I have a 12 volt GM alternator mounted, not wired yet. I have a 12 volt battery. All my original wiring has been removed .... only wiring I have left is power to the ignition switch turning power on off to the coil. ..... I know I can start my truck with a 12 volt battery ..... I still wont do it. I know I need to add a ballast resister into the system to drop the voltage to protect the points ... I have not wired it in yet. So I start it with 6 volts. I did start it on 12 volts for a short time .... I just knew it was not the correct way to do things. Just too many if', and's butt's & why thrown into it. ....... On the roadside getting a jump from a 12 volt battery to get it where you can fix it ... sure. Just doing it at home for no good reason ..... not for me.