A few little tweaks

[Jeff Balazs]

Well I finally have a pcv valve installed that works well. Surprisingly the truck even seems to run better with it. My truck had one mickey moused on it when I got it but it did not function properly. I had tried the VPW kit and could never get a steady idle with the valve they supplied. So I used some of their plumbing and a different type of valve and bingo....it runs good now. I have always suspected that my carb had been modified for use with a PCV.....this appears to be confirmed by how well it runs now.

 

A few more little tweaks....painted fan HiVis yellow. I had John at Pilothouse Interiors make me a Cargo Pocket for one of my doors that some of you might appreciate. Also added a handy first aid kit and an accessory thermometer / barometer recently.

Hope some of you like this.

 

Jeff

[Don Coatney]

Looks great. Couple questions, is your alternator a true single wire with no tickle wire required? And it appears the red wire from the left primary coil terminal goes to ground?

[Jeff Balazs]

Hey Don;

Yes it is a Quality Power 50A single wire unit. Pretty much fit and forget.

The wire you see (+) does go to ground. When you do a Pertronix conversion the trigger wiring is completely isolated.

 

Jeff

[Don Coatney]

Thanks!

[BobB]

Jeff -

In your second photo, I notice a black hose coming from the top of the silver manifold. On my 52 B3B, that hose goes to a vacuum gauge labelled as a "Motor Meter" that is mounted in the bottom hole below the speaker grill on the right side of the dash knobs.

I've done a bit of searching, but haven't found any information about this meter being an option or what not. I have about come to the conclusion that a later owner added it for some reason.

Is such a meter attached to that hose on your truck? if so, I'd appreciate any background or other info you could share about it.

Thanks -

- Bob

[Jeff Balazs]

Hi Bob;

Yes I have an aftermarket vacuum gauge mounted on my steering column. I have not ever seen anything indicating that these were offered as a factory option.  I would imagine that a previous owner fitted yours. They are as you probably know an extremely useful instrument to have in place. The perfect "analog" addition to almost any vehicle of this period and type. I am not sure why you don't see more of these gauges fitted to our trucks. To me they seem kind of naked without one.

 

If yours is working correctly you can tell an awful lot about the condition and state of tune your engine is in. If you are not familiar with how to interpret the readings you see there are several good tutorials on the web. Being able to see manifold vacuum can make problems like a stuck or burnt valve very easy to spot. The same is true with most of the common mechanical maladies we face when operating an older engine like this. In my opinion having a working vacuum gauge permanently fitted is one of the smartest things you could do.

 

When I fitted the PCV valve the other day I could tell right away that I finally had the correctly sized and functioning item in place.....just by watching this gauge. A test drive confirmed what I already knew.

 

Hope this helps.

Jeff

[The Oil Soup]

Hey Jeff, where did you get the oil filler cap. Looks great. Gary

[Jeff Balazs]

Gary;

Thanks. It was a swap meet special......I think several companies like K & N make them. Makes for a pretty good breather.

 

Jeff

[ruff1148kr]

wow love the truck and all the little tweeks Love the color too  (what is it) do you have any full truck or dash pics

[Jeff Balazs]

Hi;

Thanks. The color is a basic Chrysler color called cream. Here are a couple of photos of the truck exterior and the dash.

Jeff

[DJ194950]

Gotta love that dash work with the contrasting color that shows off the gauges and chrome.

 

Your hard work and determination to build a very nice truck shows! 

 

DJ

Edited November 16, 2014 by DJ194950

[ruff1148kr]

thanks for the pics great looking truck WELL DONE

[Jeff Balazs]

Thanks guy's.

I am happy with the way it turned out. I was looking to retain the period look without following suit with everyone else.

These colors worked out really great in the cab.....the brighter interior makes it feel more spacious than it really is.

 

Jeff

[MBF]

Looks really nice Jeff.  Do you know what size valve (or for what application) you ended up using?  What kind of vacuum were you pulling when you had the uneven idle, and what is the reading now?  The reason I'm asking is that on the 230 in my 1 ton, I'm using a valve from a slant six.  It runs ok, and keeps the oil much cleaner than before, my wipers seem to work ok, but my wolf whistle is anemic to say the least.  Not a real accurate test, but I think I could go just a bit smaller on the size of the valve.  Definitely can't use the wipers and whistle at the same time-but is doesn't see much rain.   I think I'm going to convert the 251 in my 2.5 ton to a PCV system too.  Mike

[Jeff Balazs]

Hi Mike;

It is a Standard # V298 PCV. Not certain of the application. It is a plastic body item and threads into the elbow I used at the manifold. I want to say I was getting around 19" or so with the VPW supplied valve. This was accompanied by around 1" of needle bounce. Idle was less than steady and trying to come to a stop in gear with the fluid drive resulted in stalling. It did not cut it at all so I removed it quite a while back.

 

With this new PCV I am getting around 20.5" and if you look at the gauge very closely you can see just the faintest amount of needle bounce at idle. Idle is nice and steady and installing this valve has had no negative effect on the way the fluid drive works at idle speeds. If anything adding this has actually made the engine run a bit better. I am very happy with it.....I was anticipating much more fussing with it than it turned out to be.

 

Hope this helps.

Jeff

[48Dodger]

You gotta make the BBQ this year Jeff.....you got a show winner there!

 

48D

[ggdad1951]

You gotta make the BBQ this year Jeff.....you got a show winner there!

 

48D

yah I wanna see the heater in place!  

[Jeff Balazs]

Tim;

It has always been one of my goals. The truck is hardly a show stopper but I will consider it a win when it can make it up there in one piece.

Breathing life back into this truck has been reward enough for me. I can't begin to tell you how much enjoyment I have got from this experience. It has kind of taken on a whole life of it's own. Being able to share the ups.... and the downs with my friends here has made it even more meaningful.

 

I still have a few more little tweaks on my list but there is one unknown that must be addressed before I attempt the trip up. I have some end play at the crank that could be a big deal. And it is not an area I have any expertise in. I finally have a magnetic base for my dial indicator so I need to make some time to get under there an assess the situation. I have my doubts about it being something I can fix by simply replacing the main bearings. So far hardly anything on this project has been all that easy and I don't have any reason to think this will be either.

 

Jeff

 

Mark.......don't worry the heater works just fine.

[John-T-53]

Hi Mike;

It is a Standard # V298 PCV. Not certain of the application. It is a plastic body item and threads into the elbow I used at the manifold. I want to say I was getting around 19" or so with the VPW supplied valve. This was accompanied by around 1" of needle bounce. Idle was less than steady and trying to come to a stop in gear with the fluid drive resulted in stalling. It did not cut it at all so I removed it quite a while back.

 

With this new PCV I am getting around 20.5" and if you look at the gauge very closely you can see just the faintest amount of needle bounce at idle. Idle is nice and steady and installing this valve has had no negative effect on the way the fluid drive works at idle speeds. If anything adding this has actually made the engine run a bit better. I am very happy with it.....I was anticipating much more fussing with it than it turned out to be.

 

Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

Sounds like the old PCV valve had too strong of a spring in it preventing it from closing at high vacuum (idle) conditions, so you were running with a vacuum leak more or less. That amount of bounce in a gauge is a lot!. Keep in mind most PCV's need to be installed in a certain position (usually upright) to work properly. Sounds like you got 'er under control. I still have a bit of bounce when I connect a vacuum gauge to my motor....(no PCV) and looking to figure out what's up with it.

[pflaming]

Hey you only have to make it over the grapevine, the torch it and Mark will trailer it the rest of the way. Trust me, I know!

[Jeff Balazs]

Paul:

You crack me up.....but I would rather not do it your way if it is just the same to you.

 

Jeff

[deathbound]

Not sure if you've seen this on vacuum gauge readings (scroll down to "the readings")....http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

[Jeff Balazs]

Yes that is a good tutorial. This is exactly why I really like a vacuum gauge.

About the only thing I would add to that is that often the readings you might see are a little more subtle than the examples shown.

Once you familiarize yourself with the baseline reading you get with your particular engine any deviation from the norm is an indication that something is amiss or heading in that direction.

 

Jeff

[Jeff Balazs]

I wired in a HD headlight relay this week.  Makes a huge difference in this 6V system. I give this upgrade a big thumbs up.

It is an easy and inexpensive job. Around $30 and less than an hours work. The halogen headlights are nice and bright now.

 

I also started experimenting with LED lighting for the instrumentation. Had mixed result there. Turns out the one light I had the most hope for is polarity sensitive and does not work in the positive ground mode. I will have to continue the hunt for the right light "bulbs". I have some inverted single LED's in place right now and while I like the white light they throw the correct intensity is just not there.

 

Jeff

[Jeff Balazs]

All's well that end's well..........or so the saying goes.

 

I have known for a while now that the there was too much end play on the crank in my truck. I started looking at a possible solution recently and happened upon an interesting listing on ebay for a bearing set. This listing had a notation that this bearing set was made specifically for use when one of these engines was fitted with a fluid drive. I had never seen anything about a different set of main bearings for fluid drives. There is nothing in my Dodge manuals. So I started asking questions. The first group of people I queried did not know anything about this.

 

So on a hunch that there actually was something to this I started digging deeper. Sure enough Bob (DodgeB4ya) knew about this Federal Mogul bearing set. Thanks Bob. I then spent some time with the seller and based on what he read to me from the Federal Mogul catalog it became apparent that they had created an upgraded rear bearing to handle what they had almost certainly determined was a weak spot in the stock bearing composition. I then got a hold of an old buddy of mine that is highly skilled machinist (artificial hearts these days) and an ace mechanic. Sure enough he knew all about these bearings. "Get a set" he said 'and we will just see if that doesn't solve your problem"

 

Of course when I called the ebay supplier the next day somebody had already snapped up the last set in the size I needed. Couldn't believe that one.

Fortunately it wasn't the last set in existence. My buddy helped me locate what we needed. Turns out he knows where mountains of NOS parts were just sitting collecting dust. Got what I needed for next to nothing.   

So then we dropped the oil pan and sure enough the crank was in fine shape. whoever had rebuilt it had used the standard type bearings and while they showed almost no wear on the running surfaces the thrust surfaces on the rear main shells were another story. The crank thrust surfaces looked perfect. We fitted the new bearings and all is finally well inside the old beast. .004" end play after several hours run in. My buddy Vic say's it is one of the quietest running flatheads he has ever come across. So all's well that end's well. Yeah!!!

 

Y'all have a great holiday season and so long for now.

Jeff