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switching from a 218 to a chrysler 265, chrysler has a eight bolt crank, Understand a six hole flywheel with 146t will work for my 10 inch clutch and fours speed manual. would appreciate any information on starter issues and overall concept.

My 218 is mostly together and this morning I was in the process of mounting the flywheel and torquing the flywheel bolts to 55 ft-lbs per the shop manual when I started to feel the last bolt give out. Sure enough, the bolt thread had stripped out. I guess it was just an old worn out bolt that I should have replaced before installing the crankshaft. Has anyone else had this happen and what would be the best way to fix this problem? I'm sure the original style bolts are unavailable. Would any grade-8 hardware store bolts be OK if I grind off one corner of the head to make them fit? Last but not least, why on earth did Dodge not design the flywheel to be bolted on from the flywheel side??? What a pain.

I have a Dodge 230 flathead six out of 1957 Coronet. The tranny that came with it was fluid-drive. The engine now has a bell housing from a 1953 Dodge 1/2 ton truck and a S-10 five speed. I used the fly wheel from the Dodge Coronet, 172 tooth. The problem that I have is that when I installed the starter that came with the 1957 Dodge 230, 9 tooth and 1 inch diameter gear, it binds the flywheel and I cannot rotate the engine. I have also used a starter with a larger diameter gear but the same tooth count. I'm aware the teeth on the flywheel and the starter are binding. All of this is installed in my 1940 Plymouth Pickup. Any information on a fix for this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hello all. My name is André, and i live in Switzerland. The original 218 engine of my 1947 Plymouth special deluxe is broken. My plan is to install a 230 engine out of a 1950 Dodge with fluid drive, and keep the bellhouse and standart 3-speed transmission of my Plymouth. I 've heard there are problems with flywheel and crankshaft. Does someone knows if this is possible? Thanks in advance

I am working on a 251 to replace the stuck 230 in my 52 dodge pickup. The engine I found is a rebuilt 251 that was in an M-37. I know this is a 25 inch motor instead of the smaller 23 currently installed in the 52. When I got the 251, it didn't come with a starter so I put the 230 starter on it. This is before I realized the 251 could have a different flywheel tooth count. Anyway putting the 230 starter on was no problem and it worked fine - didn't bind up and sounded ok. So is this normal? The M37 that I got this motor out of was an ex brush fire truck from central Oregon. The front mount was welded to the frame instead of bolted. I am betting the M had a 230 originally and it was replaced with the 251 at a later date. The serial number on the block is from a 48 to 49 truck. So I now have a few questions. First - could the 230 flywheel fit on this motor (explaining why the starter didn't get bound up)? The 52 has a three speed fluid drive. Will I be able to bolt the fluid drive to the 251? I'm pretty excited about getting this motor installed it the 52. I fired it off briefly and it sounds really strong. Can't wait to get it cleaned up and ready to go. I have it on a run in stand so it will be easy to work on and get running before being installed. Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks for letting come here and ask questions. The 52 is going to be treated a dropped front axle, new brakes, and a higher geared rear axle. I have not decided what I want to do with the body. For now I just want to get it on the road with a good reliable engine and updated suspension.

I took the flywheel that came off our 1946 P15 Plymouth Club Coupe project, over to a highly recommended differential clutch and gear machine shop that repairs the majority of older flywheels here in the Dallas Ft Worth Tx metroplex area. Super nice bunch of folks, incredible busy bunch - my gut impression was really good and my understanding is they've been there for over 25 years, anyway - Reason for getting with them is to have the flywheel re-surfaced and to replace the ring gear. Immediately upon looking at the flywheel - he asked how many miles were on the car. (the odometer reads 44,000 and some change),....he said I need to know if that's supposed to be a flat or a step flywheel, as he pointed to the round depression area (exactly where the clutch rides) on the flywheel surface. (I measured this lower surface area where the clutch rode in relation to the flat outer surface of the flywheel, with the slide rule end of a set of dial calipers, and I get a depth measurement of 24 thousands lower then the outer flat surface area of the flywheel. Their machine shop books did not go back as far as 46-48 so he wasn't able to look it up in his documents. But in looking at the lower circular area he stated that it would seem like an abnormal amount of wear for a car with 45K miles, so his guess was that this flywheel was a two step flywheel and not a flat flywheel that could possible have that much wear. Obviously I'm not much good here - except to show what details I have been able to put together, which are as follows: ###note### just an fyi - This car came from a car collection in Louisiana. So far in dis-assembling the car (and I've got it completely taken apart except for the frame and suspension), it has been a 100% original oem part car...course that still doesn't mean that this flywheel couldn't be a step child - but I would have to think the odds are in my favor, (initially, I had thought the rear motor mounts might be something odd but the more I've studied them I think they were just so badly deteriorated and squashed that they looked wrong at 1st eyeing them, the more I've studied them I believe they were also original). 1: 1946 Chrysler Corporation, Parts Division, Parts List Book, shows oem starter to be pp# 1113 119, (this is a match for the starter on the car) 2: " " " " " " " flywheel to be a PP# 1119 716, (the only numbers I can find on this flywheel . are a (2) and a (13) as shown in the casting, see the following 2 pics... . , 3: This car does have the standard 9 1/4 " clutch, however you can see in the pictures that the flywheel is drill and tapped for the 9 1/4 clutch basket, as well as what looks like the larger 11 " clutch basket. , . 4: The lower, round surface area of the flywheel - where the clutch rode in relation to the flat outer surface of the flywheel, when measured with the slide rule end of a dial caliper, shows a depth measurement of 24 thousands lower then the outer flat surface area of the flywheel. I'm trying to rule out the possibility that someone has done something (C R E A T I V E) here , regarding this flywheel - but obviously my knowledge isn't sufficient to know or see what might be going on. Any of you 1946 - 48 P15 guys out there who can shed some light on this,....your help is needed and greatly appreciated. QUESTION: Did the 46-48 Plymouth's have a two step flywheel ? Could they have a two step flywheel ? etc.. Thank you all so very much. If I never received any further help from this forum, I would still consider it in nothing but a positive light. The help sent my way to date has been second to none. I've certainly gotten more than my share of help and I will definitely try my best to hold up the standard set by the folks here on the forum, and try to help others in the future as my knowledge grows, again with and thanks to the help of YOU ALL. Steve Gentry

I just picked up a 1953 Dodge Pickup with a flathead six in it. Based on what I can find on the internet and in the forums, I'm pretty sure the engine is out of a '58 plymouth. The boss is stamped with LP6*7621*, and there is a casting number of 1484929-41 on the block with a date code of 6-17-58. The head number is 1326306-3, which looks like a 53 Dodge head. The starter is also a six volt 1953 dodge starter. (PN 1383847) I'm guessing that the engine block was replaced at some point but the original head and starter were kept. The truck was converted to 12v, but I don't think the '53 starter had the same pitch on the teeth as the '58 flywheel... the ring gear is trashed and there are a lot of metal filings in there. The starter appears to be shorted internally as well. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement flywheel? I'll need to replace the starter as well, but I want to make sure I get a matching set. I'm reasonably sure the engine is a 230. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks.