1950 Coronet

[longtops]

Hello to everyone.I have been reading a lot of the older posts and I have a few questions, #1 what is a dash pod and what is its purpose.#2 When I turn the heat on in the coronet it feels like it comes from under the firewall pad, is this correct?#3 after sitting for a week or so I have to give the carb a drink of gas to get it to start,is this a pump problem?#4 The trans is a gyromatic,is there a fluid or grease level I should check.If so where do I check it.#5 I have been thinking of lowering the stance of the car in the front,possibly by cutting a coil ,I have told that any lowering of the front would really screw up the way the car drives,would tend to dip and dive any comments on this? Again thanks for all the help in getting me this far! LONGTOPS in TENNESSEE.

[Norm's Coupe]

You are full of questions there.

#1 - Did you mean Dash "Pot" when you said Dash "Pod"?

#2 - The heat should be coming direct from the heater or from a heater vent. Maybe it's covered up so you can't see it.

#3 - If all is working well, you should not need to prime the carb to get the car going. Should be able to pump the accelerator a couple of times then start the car up. A few more times if the car has sat for a month or more.

#4 - Since I haven't owned a car with a gyromatic since 1963 I can't answer what type of lube it needs but it isn't grease. That should be in your service manual though.

#5 - Yes, lowering a car will change the handling of that car. Depending on how well the job is done, it could make it handle really bad. Not only that but you'll also feel the bumps more when going down the road.

[wldavis3]

Longtops,

I will try to answer a couple of questions.

#1: I think the term you are thinking of is "dashpot", as used

on a carburetor. My car does not have this item, but I

think it is a part used in the linkage to prevent the throttle

from slamming shut when the foot is taken off the accelerator

pedal (to keep the engine from stalling).

#2: The heat in my car comes from under the dash, mostly

from the right side of the car. The air exit is right at the

passenger side of the firewall. But, your car may be different

than mine.

#3: My car is somewhat like this. I try to drive it every

weekend, though I sometimes do not do that. I think that

the way gasoline is formulated these days causes it. But, if

I let my car go longer than a week before driving it, I do like

you do. Newer cars have closed fuel systems, so their fuel

does not evaporate like this.

#5: I have read here or somewhere that cutting a coil

equals to lowering the car by the height of two coils. So, if

I were doing it, I would cut only one half coil, reinstall the

spring and see what it looks like. A better way might be to

purchase some new coils made of thicker stock that are

shorter that the original springs. I do not think that you

would have any problems lowering the front by an inch or

two. I do not know if "dropped spindles" are available. I

believe that they could be made.

Hopes this helps a bit.

[Frank Elder]

Everytime I see one of your threads I think it is the same one cause they all say 50 Coronet. Try using your subject as your title and maybe you will get more responses.

Good luck, Frankie.

[plymouth49]

Your car might have one of two transmissions. The terms 'fluid drive' and 'Gyromatic' (plus some others) are often thrown around willy nilly. Regardless, your 50 Dodge has one or the other of these two.

As background, Chrysler had two distinct 'fluid drive' transmissions. They went by different names, and both of them were not always offered in the same make/model (Dodge, Desosto, Chrysler). Also, owners usually called them by the wrong names, like the name 'Frigidaire' might be ascribed to anyone's refrigerator.

Note: these cars all used fluid couplings. They did not use torque converters. A fluid coupling has similar straight vanes on both sides, separated by a fraction of an inch. One side spins by the engine. It moves oil, and that gets the other side moving, like a water wheel. At first there is slip - in fact the oputput side can be motionless when the driven side is turning - but the faster the one side goes, the faster the other, and at a certain point it locks up because the oil is moving as a solid mass with both sides.

A torque converter uses curved vanes and adds a set of vanes (a 'stator') in between the two sides. This arrangement permits torque multiplication to occur. A torque converter never completely locks up. Lock-up torque converters have a mechanical clutch that is applied by hydraulic pressure in order to lock up.

So, a fluid coupling has little adverse effect on economy because there is no slippage when cruising. A torque converter (if it is not a lock-up tranny) always slips and that takes away from mileage.

Chrysler's first true automatic transmission did have a torque converter and was just a crude modern automatic with planetary gears, etc. But that is not what is in your car. You have one or the other of these:

First type: A conventional three on the tree manual and conventional clutch mounted behind a fluid drive coupling. This is the same tranny as found on zillions of MoPars, just with a longer input shaft and bellhousing to account for the added length of the fluid coupling. The torus would slip at low rpm and then slip less and less, and finally lock up at cruise.

With this transmission you could leave the car in high when coming to a stop. The turbine would slip and the engine would not stall. To accelerate again, just step on the gas and the car accelerates away, albeit slowly, in high gear. With the long stroke and tall rear, you can even drive one of these cars today in mild traffic. For a little extra pep, you could start in second and only have one shift. Or, you could run thru the gears as normal. You only used the clutch when moving the shift lever. A secondary bonus was that it was almost impossible to stall the engine. Just put her in gear and take your foot off the clutch. It was really hard to kill a clutch disk in these cars for that reason. The turbine would slip to accomodate. This was a versatile transmission at a time when the need to shift less - or not at all - PLUS the ability to not stall the engine when starting out was an important marketing feature. Also, automatic transmission technology was in its infancy back then, and this was a very reliable and inexpensive design. I still have a 49 Dodge with a quarter million miles and the fluid coupling has never leaked, or been topped off, and the car is on its original clutch disk.

To recap, the first type is a regular three speed manual and clutch, mounted behind a fluid coupling. In a 50 Dodge, this would have been called Fluid Drive.

Second type: This used the same bellhousing/clutch setup as described above, but the tranny was different. It was a manual four speed. But you could only move the shift lever (on the steering column) to one of three positions. Reverse, of course. Then low range and high range. Low range would put the tranny in first. When you hit a certain (low) speed and released the gas pedal, a solenoid similar to that used on an overdrive transmission would shift to second gear. Floor it below a certain speed, and it would downshift back down to first.

Low range was useful for climbing Mount Everest or pulling stumps out of the ground.

For 99% of your driving, you would put the gear lever in high range. Just remove your foot from the clutch as described above. Then, the car started in third gear and did the same upshift or downshift according to road speed and throttle position into fourth gear (direct drive).

This setup gave better acceleration (because of gear ratios) than leaving the Type 1 setup in high gear, and eliminated the need to shift from second to high (again, Type 1). But because the lags in this very simple electromechanical setup were long, it took a while.

Also, you could not go thru all four gears unless you did this: start in low range, let the tranny shift to second, then shift to high range, but you would then be in direct drive so floor it for kickdown to third, then let it shift up into high gear. By the time this all happened your kids had grown up.

If you were grandma, you could drive silky-smooth as you would want with a tranny that did not depend on the fancy hydraulics of the Powerglide, Dynaflow or Hydramatic.

These trannys were pretty much gone by the early 50s when the Powerflite/etc true automatics debuted..

To recap, the second type is a four speed standard transmission mounted behind a conventional clutch and a fluid coupling. Two gears are selectable by the shift linkage (first or third), and two gears are only selectable by automatic control (solenoid/governor/etc.)( second and fourth). In a 50 Dodge, this would have been called a Gyromatic transmission.

One other thing about these trannys (both types). No engine braking with the motor off, because the torus would slip. So keep a good parking brake or remember to park with your wheels pointing to the curb or against a rock. Also, both types made it really really easy to jump start the car. If there was the slightest downgrade, just switch the ignition on, put the car in gear and let her roll. In a moment the turbine would impart rotation to the engine, and the motor would start up smoothly and silently without using your battery or starter motor. This also saved me on many an occasion when the battery was too weak to spin the motor fast enough on its own.

There is a lot of confusion and partial truths out there on these somewhat oddball trannys.

For lubrication of the transmission, it is the same as on any old MoPar standard transmission. There is a filler plug on the side of the tranny, and you fill up with 90W gear lube.

The fluid couplings are accessed from a plate on the passenger's side of the transmission hump. There is a plug in the fluid coupling - you have to rotate the flywheel to get to the right spot. Remove the plug and fill until it pours out. Replace the plug - don't drop it!!!!!

Some people top off the fluid coupling with ATF but this is not a good idea as it hurts the seals and then they leak.

99% of the time the fluid couplings never leak, and never need to be topped off. You will know if yours is low as it will slip like crazy, just like as if you had a bad clutch in a regular car. DO NOT put 90W in the fluid coupling; that would be bad. I believe that the current recommendation is regular hydraulic fluid; check the archives on this point to make sure I have it right.

Keep the regular clutch pedal adjusted properly and the clutch will last forever.

Proper driving technique on these cars is NOT to add any gas while you are taking your foot off the clutch. This wears the clutch disk. Just smoothly let the clutch pedal up without giving any gas. The engine will not stall, and you will hear the fluid coupling whirr. Foot off the clutch, accelerate away.

Enjoy! These are unique transmissions. They are easy to maintain, and provide a unique driving experience. They will not, however, provide any drag strip thrills.

[Niel Hoback]

I drove a 51 Dodge from Gary Ind. to St. Petersburg Fla. in the summer of 1962. Some where in Tennessee in the fluid coupling broke loose from the input shaft where one of my cousins had welded it previously. My Angels were with me and if I idled it down and slowed to just the right speed, it would bind up and stick.

It took me 24 hours of pushing that Gyro-matic hard, but it made it. Unfortunately, the next day, after it had cooled off, I went to move it from the back yard, it would do nothing. I left there a week or so later, but I don't think it ever moved again.

That car taught me two things, lots of patience, and don't pass a new Pontiac in Georgia if it contains guys wearing smokey bear hats. The speed limit was 55 out in the sticks, fer cryin out loud. And you know I had to wait for a long downhill to get up enough speed to get around them.

Sorry for the ramble, I'm an old guy. Its what we do.

[49roadster]

If you have the series 500 heater the heat will come from the firewall pad. The "pad" in this case is hollow and is designed to spread the heat all across the front of the car.

The 300 or 100 heaters dump the heat on the right side.

[Phil Martin]

I have the second type. There is a tag on side of trans says Warning use only 10 wt motor oil. This is trans not coupling.

[plymouth49]

I have the second type. There is a tag on side of trans says Warning use only 10 wt motor oil. This is trans not coupling.

On the Gyro-Matic, IIRC that would be OK.

Another clue that you have the Gyro-Matic is that you have electrical conenctions at the carb. One is a kickdown switch and the other is an interupter that cuts out the ignition momentarily when the unit shifts to smooth things out.

[Frank Elder]

IIRC, would you please expound further,

Clueless in Omaha.

[plymouth49]

IIRC, would you please expound further,

Clueless in Omaha.

if I recall correctly

[Frank Elder]

Thank you,

Frankie

IMHO gave me fits too

[Normspeed]

Here's a link to lots of coil cutting info. Down near the bottom is a how-to. My 53 wagon handles better after cutting the coils and getting a good front end alignment.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=5200&highlight=Coil+spring+R%26amp%3BR