Another Engine Quesiton

[JR-39D11]

I’m Newbie to this forum and Dodges. I’ve been into old cars for a while but this is my first trip into Mopar country. I picked up a 39 Dodge business coupe with what I think is the original flathead in it, for sure it’s a 6v car, three on the tree and no oil filter. It idles great, starts right up when cold, eats oil like nobody business and its totally gutless. I want to keep it original but I need it to have more power less oil consumption out of the tailpipe and hopefully hang with freeway traffic so I pretty much decided and I need to do something with the engine.

I have a 50 Dodge Coronet donor available to me with a fluid drive straight 6 and what I’m wondering is would it be better to pull the engine out of the Coronet to start with a platform with more Horsepower and would it bolt in without any modifications or should I pull the current engine out of the coupe and rebuild it and can I get enough hp out of it? I tried looking for an answer in previous posts and it does seem like the Coronet should be a bolt up but I’m not confident enough to invest the money and time into the Coronet engine for the 39 and I’m looking for specific guidance.

Thanks JR

[greg g]

The coronet engine shold be a bolt in, you might need to change the front engine mounts and transfer over the some of the stuff from the earlier engine. The 50 engine was rated at about 110 HP, the 39 was around 90. The fluid drive may cause a problem at the rear of the engine, as the flange on the end of the crankshaft might be thicker for the fluid drive unit. But you should be able to transfer the 39 bellhousing flyheel and transmission to the later engine without too much trouble. You will probably need to use the starter fromt he 39, or you will need to wire in a solenoid and starter button if you want to use the later starter.

You would be better served to post this question on the general message board as it get more traffic than this tech section.