Cabbage Hauler - WD-21 Build Thread

[Jomani]

On 9/26/2018 at 1:49 PM, Dozerman51 said:

That Spitfire and Tranny you have looks like it was installed in a military 1/2 ton WC 4x4. The Power Wagon has a  2 speed transfer case and this set up shows one lever so hence, a single speed transfer case. Also they used the brake and transfer case mounting bracket off the original WC crash box to fabricate the set you show. That tranny is also not a fully synchro one. Only 3rd and 4th gear have synchro’s. The NP 435 was the 1st 4 speed Dodge Installed tranny that had 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear synchro’d. I have the same transmission as the one you show which I plan on installing in my WC-12 military. I will study the photos you have and try to replicate the modifications that were made. Do you have any Idea what displacement the Spitfire is? What are the numbers stamped on the raised pad just below the head on the left front of the block? That should give you an Idea what size it is although you never know, sometimes the crank and rods were switched out among the same sized engine blocks. Good luck on your projects. 

 

Thanks for the info. I just happened to pick the engine and trans up today.

[Jomani]

Now that I have the engine home, I need some help identifying it. The previous owner believed it to be either a 251 or 265 Spitfire. The numbers stamped in the block don’t match anything I can find searching online. The first thing I did was to pull the plug in the top of the head and check the stroke. From what I can find, a 265 has a 4.75” stroke and a 251 has a 4.5” stroke. This engine appears to have a 4.25” stroke.  I think that would make it around 236.6 cubic inches if it has a 3 7/16” bore (0.7854 x bore x bore x stroke x #cylinders).

 

 

 

[wallytoo]

a 237 would also be a long block (25").  this is the that  came in my 1.5-ton originally.engine 

[Dozerman51]

Hello Jomani,

What is the letter or lettering to the left of the of the engine serial number. Is T, S, IND or maybe a rebuilders letter(s). What part/casting number is on the head. Does your transmission have the drain plug parallel to the bottom of the case or is it facing at a downward angle. Downward angled plug = non-synchro. tranny, parallel plug = synchro. tranny. 

[Jomani]

On 9/28/2018 at 11:38 AM, Dozerman51 said:

Hello Jomani,

What is the letter or lettering to the left of the of the engine serial number. Is T, S, IND or maybe a rebuilders letter(s). What part/casting number is on the head. Does your transmission have the drain plug parallel to the bottom of the case or is it facing at a downward angle. Downward angled plug = non-synchro. tranny, parallel plug = synchro. tranny. 

 

Unfortunately, there are no letters in front of the engine serial number. The picture above captured everything - it looks like a dash in front of the one. The  transmission drain plug faces rearward (parallel to the bottom). The casting number on the head is 1313826-2. The casting number on the block is 1138129-1

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Jomani]

I just couldn’t resist checking the compression. For some reason I wasn’t expecting to see the numbers that I did (see below). A little disappointed with #s 4 and 5. I don’t think I got the oil into the cylinder on #2 - after I finished I noticed that a lot of oil ran out of the intake  valve. I will have to do some research on compression - I expected to see around 120 not 145.

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Jomani]

On 9/28/2018 at 4:00 AM, wallytoo said:

a 237 would also be a long block (25").  this is the that  came in my 1.5-ton originally.engine 

 

Thanks for the info. It looks like that was the standard engine for WF series trucks as well as a number of 1 1/2 ton military vehicles. From what I can gather, it could be any one of the following engines; T118, T122, T128, T148, T149G, T152, T178, T179, T192, T194, T314, T316, or T328 - all are 25” engines.

 

I can only guess that there are some distinguishing features among all of these engines. Any help identifying this one would be greatly appreciated.

[Jomani]

This build took another major turn yesterday. I just couldn’t let that engine sit there without finding out why the compression was off in a couple of cylinders. I am telling you, I ran this thing for the better part of 30 minutes before buying it - no smoke, no overheat issues, and purred like a kitten.

 

Pulled the head and found a burnt piston and scored cylinder on #5 and some slight scoring on number #2. Appeared to be something that could be cleaned up with a hone. Still optimistic (and probably against doctor’s orders), I had to see the rest of the engine - the crank looked beautiful, cam showed minimal wear, and no obviously burnt valves (didn’t inspect the seats yet). Still hoping for the best, I hit the two bad cylinders with a hone to see if they would clean up. It was getting late and the light wasn’t great. Hit it with a better light and saw these...

 

 

 

Officially calling the block toast - way too much invested in what appeared to be a good running, plug and play engine and transmission to even consider spending considerable money to repair. Probably need to take a step back and rethink... 360 and 727 trans are still sitting in the corner of the garage.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Dozerman51]

I this the motor that came with the 1 ton WD you purchased?

[Jomani]

No. This is the second engine I purchased. The one that came with the truck was a 218. I ended up selling it since the original trans was bad and the engine smaller than the original 230 - was planning to convert to the 360 and auto trans. I stumbled on this engine and 4 speed trans so I decided to go back with the Flathead. Now I am undecided about the direction the build will go.

[Radarsonwheels]

Bummer man but good catch. 

[Jomani]

Looks like I committed to converting to the 360 (still on the fence about the automatic). I got a couple of estimates to fix the Flathead block - $800 to fix the two cracks  (bore, pin and sleeve) and $1200 if I went ahead and freshened up the valve train while it was in the shop. It has been a long time since I needed machining services - sticker shock to say the least.

 

I tore down the 360 over the weekend expecting to find a tired engine with 120,000 miles on it. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a freshly rebuilt, .020 over diamond in the rough. When I bought the old motor home, the guy claimed the engine only had a couple thousand miles on it. He said he picked it up after it had been sitting for “many” years. Given the difficulty of pulling an engine out of a 1974 C Class Motor Home, I had zero confidence in his claim. I can honestly say that I have never seen such a nice engine on teardown. New crank, rods, pistons (the crosshatch is still visible in the cylinders). The cam looks good but will get a new Competition RV cam. Heads look new - if not new, someone did a fantastic job making them look new.

 

Years of sitting did take a toll on the cylinders. There was some minor surface rust in a couple of cylinders. A quick once over with a stone hone removed almost all of the pitting. I will finish with a flexible ball hone to get a perfect crosshatch, new rings and bearings and slap it back together.

 

I put the flathead in the corner and ordered all of the new parts for the 360. It looks like the guys over on the Power Wagon site have motor mount kits and steering conversion kits that may work on the WD series trucks. Looking into that this week while I wait for parts to arrive. Not sure this build meets the requirements for this site anymore since the flathead is out - I am sure you guys will let me know...

[Dozerman51]

Hi Jomani,

Would you be interested in selling the transfer case shift lever set-up. I could sure use it for my WC-12  transmission swap. Thanks

[Radarsonwheels]

On 10/8/2018 at 10:17 AM, Jomani said:

Looks like I committed to converting to the 360 (still on the fence about the automatic). I got a couple of estimates to fix the Flathead block - $800 to fix the two cracks  (bore, pin and sleeve) and $1200 if I went ahead and freshened up the valve train while it was in the shop. It has been a long time since I needed machining services - sticker shock to say the least.

 

I tore down the 360 over the weekend expecting to find a tired engine with 120,000 miles on it. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a freshly rebuilt, .020 over diamond in the rough. When I bought the old motor home, the guy claimed the engine only had a couple thousand miles on it. He said he picked it up after it had been sitting for “many” years. Given the difficulty of pulling an engine out of a 1974 C Class Motor Home, I had zero confidence in his claim. I can honestly say that I have never seen such a nice engine on teardown. New crank, rods, pistons (the crosshatch is still visible in the cylinders). The cam looks good but will get a new Competition RV cam. Heads look new - if not new, someone did a fantastic job making them look new.

 

Years of sitting did take a toll on the cylinders. There was some minor surface rust in a couple of cylinders. A quick once over with a stone hone removed almost all of the pitting. I will finish with a flexible ball hone to get a perfect crosshatch, new rings and bearings and slap it back together.

 

I put the flathead in the corner and ordered all of the new parts for the 360. It looks like the guys over on the Power Wagon site have motor mount kits and steering conversion kits that may work on the WD series trucks. Looking into that this week while I wait for parts to arrive. Not sure this build meets the requirements for this site anymore since the flathead is out - I am sure you guys will let me know...

Well I have been on this forum for a little and I ditched my flathead for a stroker big block this year. I’ve gotten all kinds of help and encouragement around here. My  truck is a beat down example though- if it had a chance of even breaking even in a restoration maybe there would have been more negative feedback about chopping it up. Like me you seem to be ‘keeping it mopar’ which can be a little meaningless but I hate to see them with chevy 350s or crown vic chassis. 

 

I’m a relative newcomer on this forum but I sure want to see how your truck comes out and watch you overcome problems and eventually get it back on the road. There are a lot of folks around here that can help!

 

I also like to think of my  truck as an uninterrupted working truck for it’s entire life. I even occasionally hauled motorcycles (triumph bonneville, harley sportster, xs 650) and drywall in mine when it still had the flathead, 3 on the tree, and a vague idea of brakes. If farmer joe had a 512 big block or more practically a torquey 360 smallblock available back in the day you can bet somebody would have gotten out the ac arc welder and made it work.

[Jomani]

20 hours ago, Dozerman51 said:

Hi Jomani,

Would you be interested in selling the transfer case shift lever set-up. I could sure use it for my WC-12  transmission swap. Thanks

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the shift lever - didn’t figure I would need it for my build.

[Dozerman51]

Any chance you could give me the contact info of the person you bought the tranny from? Thanks.

[Jomani]

2 hours ago, Dozerman51 said:

Any chance you could give me the contact info of the person you bought the tranny from? Thanks.

 

I will contact him and get back to you

[Dozerman51]

Thank very much. I appreciate it. Have a nice day.

[Jomani]

Ok back on track with the build. I set the trim aside while I checked out the engine - got back on finishing the front trim today. I found enough of the original trim color to match the paint. Masked off the trim, scuffed up the surface and hit it with a self etching primer.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Jomani]

The flathead now in storage. 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Jomani]

The orange paint came out ok. After a couple days drying, I can give the final buff and clean up some of the lines.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[ehadams]

That looks nice. Keep up the good work.

[Jomani]

Parts for the engine came in so I couldn’t resist getting started on the rebuild. I got the block cleaned up, new Competition cam and crank installed and pistons in the holes. Very happy with the progress so far. I should have the heads back together tomorrow - cam kit came with new valve springs, caps and keepers. I need to check the spring height on each valve so assembly will be slow.

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Jomani
Removing watermark from pictures

[Jomani]

2 hours ago, ehadams said:

That looks nice. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks

[Jomani]

I spent the last couple days pulling the bed and cab off the truck. The wood on the bed has seen better days - decided to cut the bed up to make storage easier until I reach the point in that point in the build.

 

I plan to use the steel that I salvaged from the old motor home (lumber rack and home made bumper that you can see in the first picture) to fabricate a rolling stand for the cab. I don’t have a shop so it will move in and out of the garage a lot over the next six months or so.