Advice on Freshening Flathead

[Rumble1960]

I just pulled the flathead out of my 1960 Dodge Power Jiant pick up. I was thinking about putting a modern day drivetrain into the truck but over the last year the charm of the old flathead seems to suit the truck just fine. Also at the couple of shows I took the old truck to people seemed interested in talking about the motor and how nice it was to see a original powerplant still in the 48 year old truck. So back in it will go, it has 72000 original miles, compression was between 120 and 130 psi taken just before removal. It has many oil leaks, the clutch and bell housing has indication of oil contamination. What I would like to know since I have very little experience with this particular engine is what upgrades I should consider doing to it during the process. Recommendations on performance upgrades would also be great but mostly I'm concerned with good sealing and reliability. Thanks

[Normspeed]

The compression readings sound real good. If it also has good oil pressure, you probably have a nice strong flathead there. Oil pressure should be around 40 lbs at operating speeds, and it can drop down quite a lot at idle.

Some of the common oil leaks are the pan gasket, rear main seal, timing cover seal, rubber flex line in the oil pressure gauge line, and the mechanical fuel pump. There is a vent hole in the pump casting that will blow oil if the pump seals are going south. The oil will run along the oil pan seam and drip towards the rear of the motor. Valve cover gaskets aren't usually leakers. You will also get a little drip from the crankcase vent tube if equipped, and maybe from the rear seal in the transmission. The only part that I would call difficult is that rear main seal, but lots of folks here have replaced them and can offer tips. There were 2 or 3 different seals used so if yours is bad you'll need to determine which one you have.

You might want to clean up the motor with some gunk and observe where the oil is coming from. Be wary when working around the old wiring, because it can get real crumbly and if you spray wash the motor you might blow apart some insulation.

That's my $.02, some other folks might have additional info for ya.

[greg g]

biggest thing for these motors is more compression which is easily and affordably accomplished by milling the head. You can take about .070 off and still run regular gas. You can put on a carter webber 2bbl carb on an adapter and pick up a few HP that way. Dual exhaust is also claimed to be a good investment for more ponies. There is a fellow here who will split your exhaust on an exchange basis his website is www.rustyhope.com. He also splits intakes if you want to run dual stock carbs.

[Young Ed]

Don't forget to tackle all the frost plugs and the water dist tube while you have it apart.

[Don Coatney]

As you are in Canada I must assume your engine is a "long block"?

[Rumble1960]

As you are in Canada I must assume your engine is a "long block"?

I believe the engine is the short version 230, I imported the truck a year ago from Georgia. Is there a way to tell for sure?

[Tom Skinner]

Dear Rumble,

If its a 230 cu. in. its about 23" Long a 250.6 cu. in. is 25" Long.

Tom

[Reg Evans]

I believe the engine is the short version 230, I imported the truck a year ago from Georgia. Is there a way to tell for sure?

Does it have an engine number just below the head up front on the drivers side. If so we can identify it for you.

[Rumble1960]

Does it have an engine number just below the head up front on the drivers side. If so we can identify it for you.

The engine # is TP23 2II

Thanks

[oldmopar]

That looks like the original engine

TP23 230ci 23 Inches Dodge Truck D100, D200, D300, W100, W200, P300, P400, WM300 1960

info from

http://www.t137.com/registry/help/otherengines/19581968engines.html