Will a 53 Dodge Truck engine fit a 48 car?

[barbqueboy]

Hello All, I am new to the web site and to the Old Mopar scene. I have just bought a 48 Dodge Club Coupe with a Fluid Drive Transmission. Can someone tell me if a 53 Dodge Truck engine will bolt up in this car. Thanks Chuck

[Young Ed]

Chuck do you have pictures of this truck engine? It will bolt up depending on a few things. Fluid drive cars require extra bolt holes in the crank. Reg 3spd engines have 4 bolt holes and you need 8. You also need to make sure its from a pickup and not a bigger truck that would have had the 25" block. Some pickups did have fluid drive so its possible it will have the 8 bolt crank.

[barbqueboy]

Young Ed here is the description, You are bidding on a running Flathead 6 cylinder motor and 3 speed manual transmission pulled from a 1953 Dodge 1/2 ton Pickup. Motor has been rebuilt. Could be 218 or 230 depending on what was done when it was rebuilt. Not sure how many miles on rebuilt motor but ran good when pulled! I've included quite a few pictures for your inspection so study carefully. The Engine # is not legible (see picture). Might be able to make out a couple numbers. The head is 23 inches long. The block casting # is 1119729-27, head casting 1311810-5, intake Manifold 1311805-23, and the Carter Carburetor # is DTE2. Sorry we don't know more about the history...we got the 53' Dodge truck thru a trade. The 'original' build date stamped on is 11/16/49. As I said, it has been rebuilt in recent years but we don't have date or how many miles since the rebuild. When we got the truck we went for a ride and it ran and trans worked fine. We took out the motor and tran for my husband to put in one of his restores, but now he's decided to sell. Hopefully this info and add'l pics will help you identify

They have a bunch of pic's but I don't know how to post the. Here is the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230325704860&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=

[Young Ed]

This is the motor. Looks like a standard truck 3spd. Without knowing the engine number to know what the motor came from originally its really a crap shoot. If thats a dodge car engine that was rebuilt that just ended up in a 53 truck you'd be set. If its a ply engine you've got a paper weight.

[greg g]

The truck bell housing is different fro the car but should be a bolt for blot swap. the trottle linkage is also different car to truck. The comment about 218.230 depending on how it was rebuilt is a bit off putting. You can make a 230 out of a 2i8 block but you need to swap craks and rods. the difference in the engines is the stroke. You can ask the seller to measure the stroke.

This is done by removing the pipe plug in the head above #6 cylinder. By inserting a piece of stiff wire into the you can measure the stroke as the engine is turned over by hand. The wire will ride up and down on the piston revealing the length of the stroke. 4 3/8 = 218. 4 5/8 = 230.

You will need to make sure what the crank is also as the Dodge car runs the Fluid drive trans, and it requires 8 mounting bolts on the business end of the crank. Plymouth's read 218's only had a 4 bolt crank till they switched to the 230 in 54.

[Young Ed]

Greg have you ever heard of anyone drilling the 4 extra holes? Would be a lot of work to get it right but I suppose it could be done

[tinlizzy]

The engine pictured has the gas pedal linkage of a truck as well as a truck oil pan. Car engine has rear sump pan, but to add to this I have a chrysler 25" inch in a 49 pickup and it has a rear oil pan sump. The modifcation that I can see is radiator is moved forward and the motor mount hole was redrilled about 2" toward the front of the truck and it is bolted to a 3 speed floor shift tranny.

Lee

[brian hood]

I put a car engine in my truck. It was a bolt for bolt swap. You will need the oil pan from a car. Also, the bell housing is different. It will bolt to the block, but the housing from a truck has different attachments for truck than car. Other than that, you will be fine!

PS. Dont throw anything away! While you are in there, keep everything and take pictures.

[greg g]

I suppose the machine shop could drill more holes using the flywheel as a pattern. My 56 fly has 8 holes uses 6. Lotsa permutations out there.

[wayfarer]

Redrilling the crank is possible, and depending on the application, 4-bolts may be acceptable. I have several 4-bolt flywheels in 'the pile' so Chrysler thought it was ok at some time. If you redrill you should only need to have 6total, same as late model stuff. Since the engine is out the best method for redrilling will be to use a high quality mag drill so you can keep the drill bit aligned. If drilling by hand you will surely get holes that are less than round and probably on some bastard angle.

Gary

[krodaddy]

R If drilling by hand you will surely get holes that are less than round and probably on some bastard angle.

Gary

" some bastard angle" Now that's some funny stuff.

[greg g]

I think the flange on the crank might be a bit beefier on the F/D cranks,

[Guest P15-D24]

You need a 230 as it had a different crank bolt pattern. The 1/2 tons are 218s with a four bolt clutch hub. If you try to run that on a fluid drive it will fail.

[grey beard]

Will my bastard file fix a bastard angle?

Q. Where does the automatic pilot go when you turn it off?

A. Down to the D.C. bus bar to watch the terminal strip . . . . . .