homer41

Not much progress today, I got side tracked a bit. A friend wanted to check out a fishing lake from the air, he wants to snowmobile in and wanted to scout the route. Great weather! Casper50, I must have been fairly close to your place, I was up near the upper end of the lower Kenai river, can not tell you exactly where because there was fog on the north side of the river. I made some progress on the valves, now I only have 2 that will not come out, I might make some sort of puller. The water distribution tube is really stuck. I pulled the freeze plugs and found lots of rust plus extra junk, not sure what it was, some stuff was wire. There was another piece I could not ID, I cleaned it up and bead blasted it, still no idea. I dug a lot of rust out, will hot tanking clean it up? I put a ring in a cylinder and came up with a gap of about .026, kind of loose! I will have to decide if I want to tear the old 230 down. Dave

Not to worry, I plan on doing this the right way. The neighbor I have coming to evaluate has all the proper equipment to do the measuring and do the machine work. Dave

Good thought on the rings, I will try that today. All rings were free to move and pistons actually look new, Dave

That sounds pretty good. When I get this totally apart I have a neighbor coming over to measure and evaluate components. From what I have seen so far it looks really good, I will then know how much machine work is necessary. Dave

If I rebuild this 218 will I need a 218 rebuild manual or will my 41 manual for a 201 work? At this time I have no idea what differences the two have in them. Dave

Well, the results are in! I now have a few black feathers around my mouth from having to eat crow. It looks exactly like Dart says and is not tapped. What did I think, I had a huge diesel? This thing looks really good so far, just to the casual eye. All of the pistons came out easily some needed a slight tap with a piece of dowel with no hammer, no ridge at cylinder top. Can still see hone swirls in cylinders. All bearings on rods look great. All I have seen on the crank so far is some slight marks on the #1throw. I have been dealing with stuck valves, I have all but 3 out and they are stuck, I have them soaking now. 2 have the keepers off, all are open. Just hoping soaking helps. Any advice on taking the coolant tube out would be appreciated. Dave

I will try to get a picture tomorrow. Now you are making me re think what I saw. Still think it was threaded, will get the picturd to you. Dave

Well I bought both engines, the 230 is older, could be 41-42, confirmed the plymouth is P24 1953 218 for sure. I pulled the head looks good. The #1 piston is fifferent than the rest, it has a drilled and tapped hole in its center, what is that about? It also has L2101- STD on piston top. Is it a standard piston or does it have a sexually transmitted disease? So far so good, cylinders look good, most everything looks good. Several valves are sticky but they will move with help. the 218 has a Rochester carb and the 230 has a stromberg, could they be original? Dave

The car spent most of its life in California and Arizona. From the size of most of the holes the fish would have to be very small, our bait fish would not fit through these holes. Dave

Most certainly not rust holes! Some were from the same kind of fasteners used to hold down the rub strip between the cowl and the hood, a sort ofgrooved nail that must have been driven in. Guessing it was used to hold the carpet liner down as there were some behind the rear seat. There were also 2 other bigger holes that I have patched under the passenger seat very crudely cut, can not figure what for. There are quite a few holes, most in the bottom of the forming bends, again NOT RUST, these holes are perfect as if they were punched during the forming process. Dave

I have the floor stripped out of my 41 plymouth and want to know if there is any reason to leave any holes open? Can I just go ahead and plug all the small holes? By the way they are not rust holes, I did have very few of them. Dave

Never thought you were pulling my leg. Unless things look bad I will most likely buy both engines, time will tell. Thanks for your help. Dave

I am not trying to go more than just stock Hp. I just want a great running dependable engine. I was wanting to know how they increased Hp.over the years from 1941 230 with 105 hp to 1950s 130 plus hp. Dave

I will be tearing both engines down to assess their condition..what was done to the engines to increase Hp.over the years? Dave

Back again, I am looking at buying 2 engines a p24 plymouth ( 1953) and a possible 230 which could be a 41-2. My question is, a 1941 230 shows as 105 hp and the 53 218 shows as 100 hp. What would have to be done to the 230 to bring it up to the 130 hp. Listed for the later models? I am thinking of getting both engines, tearing both down and see which looks the best and rebuild that one. If the crank is good in the 230 would it be a direct replacement into the 218 with rods to convert to 230? If the 218 is good I may just leave it as is. Dave

Randy, sent you a PM. Dave

An individual has the 2 flatheads. Dave

Sounds good, I may be passing through on my way to Wasilla, I found a couple of engines up there. Maybe in the next couple of weeks. Dave

Sometime I would love to stop by and see your car. Dave

I looked at a picture, it has provisios for a hand crank. I know that could have come off another engine, but what year was the last fo that provision?

Are there any changes over the years that would point to a specific year?

I am no longer looking for size as much as year. Are there any changes over the years that would point to a specific year?

Ok, did the stroke change over the yesrs? Dave

If I can not rely on the engine serial number for ID is there any other way of narrowing down the year of a 230? Dave

Our DMV does not title with the engine # only the vehicle number, I already did the title thing, I have a clear title. Dave