Airborne Ed

Rich , If he comes to your house ---KEEP BOTH EYES ON HIM --- he may try and steal your Desoto. Just kidding Gary !!!!

Well Gary , I took care of you over Nam and I am doing the same for you now . Trust me brother . I don't see the crank needing to be spray welded ---Just trued up . Thanks for the continuous ongoing comments . No matter how old you are it's always great to learn something new everyday .----And I will be asking for many more answers down the road here. Thanks , Ed

Thanks Guys , You always come through .

Sometimes I would like to bump his head over here !!!

Hi to everyone , Gentleman , I have been arguing with my buddy Garyp who is on this site . I should say friendly discussion since he was my combat buddy over Nam .I have been helping him with his 39 dodge business coupe by tearing down the flathead 6 .Basically I found that 3 of the main bearing had shims in there and 1 rod bearing also had a shim . The crank has some scratches on the journals . So I know the crank will have to be ground down . The problem is he said he was talking to a machine shop near him that will most likely do all the machining that needs to be done. Gary said that the guy told him to get the new bearings and he will machine the crank to them. I have never in my life heard that . The guy has not even seen the crank .I tried explaining to Gary that you can't know what size bearings to get until he grinds the crank . He doesn't believe me , Please help and talk some sense to him when I show him this post . Thank you all

To all the Veterans here , Have a great day --- you all earned it . Airborne Ed Combat Paratrooper of the 101st Airborne --- Vietnam --- 68-69

Gary , That's why it usually take years for a rebuild for most people unless they are rich and have it all done by someone else and then say they restored it. I respect people that did it them selves rather than people paying to have it all done even if it's far from show quality.. Also supply and demand hurts ,buddy Sorry for getting off track !! .

El Cheapo !!!!!

Thanks guys ,for the great info. after all the replies I have come to the conclusion that those inserts were done sometime ago by other than the factory. It truly is amazing that the engine ran ,the way the engine was filled with sludge and the cooling system as well.. I guess if I was 77 years old I may be that way too..

Thanks for the info ,guys. I intended to have the crank machined because of that and a few small scores (scratches ) on a few of the journals. I guess I can assume that the lower end was touched sometime in the past .. Ed

I don't know who did it ,I thought it might have been the factory like I said ,Don

Back here again , While waiting for the valve spring compressor to arrive ,I was looking at the rod and main bearings today . I pulled all the bearings out of the rods and I see no 3 piston had a .002 brass shim behind the bearing and all the mains except the rear main also had brass shims behind the bearings .This is the first time I came across a engine having this . It's my first flathead that I am working on. Over the years I have torn down a few ohv's ,however never came across shims behind any bearings . I'm pretty sure the lower end has never been rebuilt . My question is would this be fairly common back in the day ? I don't know if someone screwed up machining the journals when the engine was built . I know the history of the engine repairs was a head gasket and milling of the warped head . It looks to me that 2 valves might have been replaced at some time . The reasoning I have is all the other valves have a straight screw driver slot across the top of the valve and 2 don't have any slot . I haven't Miked the crank journals yet Any feed back would be welcomed ,guys As always thank you for any knowledge you can share on this engine..

Thanks again ,Guys My buddy Gary is in a bidding war on e-bay for one now .

Thanks Guys for all the info . I got my buddy to order the one that Plymouthy Adams mentioned about on e bay ,a used kd700. I forgot to mention that I have the block disassembled except for the valves and cam . I will be rebuilding the engine over the winter . I know I will have many more questions about the flathead . It's my first flathead rebuild ,so it should be interesting to say the least . Thank you all for your input . You guys are great !!!!!!.

Thanks for the info ,guys .I don't want to choose sides ,but in everyone's humble opinion should I go with the one Dodgeb4ya recommends. Will it work on the 39 Dodge flat head 6 valves ? I just want to get the one that works the best out of these. Thanks for all the info so far guys !!!