Changing My Mind ?

[Heavy Flat Head]

I think I am going to modify my plan for the Plymouth. With the prices rising as they are I am going to put the 6 cylinder on the back burner. I have a 318 with a 727 behind it from the pick up I am working on.

I am ready to blast the pick up frame so I thought why not do the Plymouth frame at the same time. If I lift the body and roll the frame out I should be able to sand blast and rebuild the front end. I have all the parts for the front end; I just need to get a rack and pinion and disc brakes (front and most likely rear).

The body on the Plymouth is in good shape, the paint is good at 20 feet and no rust underneath expect for the rocker panel on the drives side. This way I can get the Plymouth back on the road by the middle of summer and when I get the six rebuilt I can install it with out to much trouble.

It does not look like it would be too much of a hassle to add motor mounts and a new cross member for the V-8 and still return to the six. My first choice is to use the flat head but it looks like it would be at least another year before I can get the motor into the machine shop. Of course the head and pistons are another matter. I would like to install pistons with 3 rings (for better compression and oil control), the head what can I say about the cool factor.

At work I have the Plymouth as wallpaper on my computer and blueskies motor in one program as its wallpaper. This way most of the time I get a mopar fix, but even with all this and going Vroom Vroom in the garage it is not enough. I need to drive the old girl and besides she keeps talking to me at night (when do I get to go to the coast and the mountains). This is shaping up to my new plan, install the V-8 and still keep working on the flat head. This way I get an old mopar to drive until I get the pick up finished, then I still get to drive an old mopar. Win win in my humble opinion.

Ed.

[Young Ed]

Curious about the 3 ring pistons? I would think you could loose some compression or oil control compared to the original 4 ring design with the trade off being a lighter piston for more revs?

[oldmopar]

Why would you want to swap back to a 6 once you have the car set up with a 318 ?

[Heavy Flat Head]

Part of a long list of reason I want a flat head.

I think the 6 is a better looking motor, look at blueskies, with fuel injection and a small turbo the flat head would wake up.

I would also like to see what she would do at DEQ before and after fuel injection was added.

Even if I could get the exhaust crap to drop by at least 50 % that would be a real plus in doing my part for the planet. Then add a converter to her and she should breathe almost as good as a new car.

Then let’s hear people say how bad a old car is. The low rpm and bad flow can be over come with a small turbo thereby producing at least 150 hp.

With a 518 auto behind her or a T5 you could cruse all day at 70 and she would never break a sweat.

And the last one (not really, I could keep on going) in my opinion the only real deference between the flat head and a new motor is the fueling system and lack of points. The last one is an easy fix. Just take the parts of a dist. from a slant six and machine them into the flat head dist. and presto mopar electronic ignition.

The fuel system; take two to three crabs, take out the guts and install injectors or injector, to keep her looking cool. Run the injector and dist. with a megi squirt and watch her hum.

Even could get rid of the dist and run a waste pack coil system from Ford. That would be cool.

Any way it is fun playing to see what you can do with these old motors. If I wanted a vehicle that had a V-8 I could go buy a new Dodge with a hemi.

Where would be the fun in that?

Of course if I could come up with an old hemi, I would jump at the chance to play with that type of V-8.

Oh boy there are three 53 Desoto in eastern Oregon a guy wants to get rid of, all have a hemi!

Thanks a lot!

Know I have more thinking to do.

What are you trying to do to me; my brain hurts just from work and now this!

I am not doing this for speed, but the cool factor.

All kidding aside, just for the fun of it.

[Heavy Flat Head]

Curious about the 3 ring pistons? I would think you could loose some compression or oil control compared to the original 4 ring design with the trade off being a lighter piston for more revs?

The way I understand it you get better oil and compression control with the newer design rings.

Ed.

[martybose]

The way I understand it you get better oil and compression control with the newer design rings.

Ed.

This is particularly true if you bore and hone the cylinders to modern clearances and finish.

Of course mine was done this way, and still burns a little oil, so YMMV.

Marty

[Heavy Flat Head]

This is particularly true if you bore and hone the cylinders to modern clearances and finish.

Of course mine was done this way, and still burns a little oil, so YMMV.

Marty

Marty,

How many miles do you have on your car? Could the oil problem be in the valve guides? If I remember right the flat head do not have as much of a problem as a V-8 in this area, but still if vacumm was leaking past the vlave stem this could be a reason for a small amount of oil loss. I wonder if it would be worth having the guides machined for a seal before the guide was installed in the block?

It would be nice if the form had a page a person could but the modification that was done to a engine with the results. This could help any one else out in the future on what to do to there flat head.

As I am a little behind text messaging (like 100 years) what does YMMV mean?

Ed.

[Young Ed]

your mileage may vary. I was thinking the opposite of Marty's car. Sounds like its rebuilt and maybe not 100 broken in yet. I have heard of them burning a little oil for the first 1K miles or so.

[martybose]

your mileage may vary. I was thinking the opposite of Marty's car. Sounds like its rebuilt and maybe not 100 broken in yet. I have heard of them burning a little oil for the first 1K miles or so.

The truth about my motor is probably somewhere in between. It was rebuilt a number of years ago, but has only driven about 2100 miles since being rebuilt. It got all new bronze guides and new hardened seats on all valves. It has never had a long continuous run, I have mostly just driven it around town. The head is off now being reworked, and most of the bores look pretty good, although one has some light scoring. Not enough that you can feel it, but you can see it.

In my case, I think the majority of my oil loss is leaks, judging by my garage floor. It definitely got worse when I put 100% synthetic oil in it, will be trying Rotella 15W-40 oil when I get it together again.

Marty