1939 Plymouth Coupe P8

christcrusader13 said:

That is some painfully slow work, but it looks like you got that portion whipped, it's always good when you can clean up nice new holes for your fasteners to easily go into on the next go around.

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I am really happy that part is over. I was pretty nervous using the torch inside the car to heat up the screws. The last thing I want is to have it all go up in flames, including the shop. Luckily all went well. I shouldn't have any problems down the road removing the floor pans, all bolts will get anti-seize. Next up is removing the engine.

-Chris

I finally got the motor and trans out of the car. Everything went rather smoothly except for one of the transmission mount bolts on the passenger side of the car wouldn't come out. The angle grinder and cut off wheel made quick work of convincing it to come out.

Next step is to remove the tranny from the engine and work on getting my '53 Plymouth 218 ci running. Hopefully that engine will be alive and well and ready to take the place of the original flathead.

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

A little more progress to report... i pulled the transmission, bell housing, clutch, and flywheel off of the 200 ci flathead that was in the car. I found a surprise in the rear of the engine block a HOLE!!! It was packed full of dirt and i spent a little bit scooping out as much crap with a screw driver as possible. The hole is deep enough to shove a 4-5" long flat head screw driver all the way in. So after pulling the tranny and leaving the shop for the night i returned today (a few days later) to discover green liquid dripping out of the hole. This is engine coolant coming out. Anyone ever seen a hole like this in the block? This is a first for me and i had no idea it was there when i bought the car.

Also the teeth on my flywheel look to be kind of chewed up, hopefully the flywheel from my replacement 218 will work.

So i decided i would spend some time today and bring my 53 Plymouth 218 ci over to my shop from my house. I pulled the transmission off this engine and will get ready for a test fire pretty soon. The plan is to check out how healthy this engine is and swap it into the car.

Happy Holidays,

-Chris

Looks like you've got a bad soft plug..
Not that unusual.
Torchie.

Torchie said:

Looks like you've got a bad soft plug..
Not that unusual.
Torchie.

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I was thinking bad freeze plug. They do rust out like that in time. Just lucky it didn't let go going down the road.

Torchie said:

Looks like you've got a bad soft plug..
Not that unusual.
Torchie.

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Bamamav said:

I was thinking bad freeze plug. They do rust out like that in time. Just lucky it didn't let go going down the road.

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Yup you guys are correct it was a rusted out freeze plug. I took a pic of it after i removed it and of all the crud that was in the hole (Pic 1 and 2). That thing must have been rusted out for quite some time.

I also had some time today to hook up the carb, power to the coil, and a few other odds and ends to get the 218 flathead ready for a test fire. That will hopefully happen tomorrow. I also swapped the front engine mount from the engine that was in the car over to the 218 (Pic 3). The 218 had the mount for a truck and the car one is a bit smaller and shaped slightly different (Pic 4).

-Chris

Best wishes on your fire up tomorrow.
Keep us posted.
Torchie.

I hope that things fires up for you, at least it was a rusted freeze plug, I ran into a block that was cracked on two side earlier this year... Sad Day

Very nice car; i've got a thing for old Mopars. You just can't kill those old Mopar flatheads. They made that same basic engine from the 1930s all the way into the late 60's. Not only in cars but a lot of industrial applications, too.

Torchie said:

Best wishes on your fire up tomorrow.
Keep us posted.
Torchie.

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christcrusader13 said:

I hope that things fires up for you, at least it was a rusted freeze plug, I ran into a block that was cracked on two side earlier this year... Sad Day

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falconvan said:

Very nice car; i've got a thing for old Mopars. You just can't kill those old Mopar flatheads. They made that same basic engine from the 1930s all the way into the late 60's. Not only in cars but a lot of industrial applications, too.

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Thanks guys. I was definitely happy to see that it was a rusted freeze plug and not an actual hole in the block. These old Mopar flatheads are certainly a reliable old engine and i plan on keeping this coupe powered with one. No V8 swap for me. Im okay with going slow and looking cool lol

So i was able to get the engine fired up yesterday. It didnt have to crank over to many times and it started right up. Damn is that old flathead loud as hell with an open header inside of the garage. I did encounter an issue though. As soon as the engine started it didnt idle, it went to wide open throttle. Regardless of what position the throttle lever was in it sounded like it was flat out screaming. Now the carburetor that is on the 218 ci is from the 201 ci that i pulled out of the car. I had just rebuilt it so i decided that i'd put it on the 218 and try starting it.

Im wondering if the idle screw was just turned up way to much therefore not letting it idle and making it run wide open right away? When this carb was on the 201 it ran fine but was obviously adjusted to run on that engine. Any ideas guys?

I didnt get to try running the engine again with the idle screw turned out because my fuel line/fuel pump fitting was leaking like crazy.

Thanks for any advice guys and Happy Holidays,

-Chris

On the no idle issue, check to make sure the throttle butterfly is closing and tha the arm for it is not slipping on the shaft. If you close off the air to it it should slow the engine down regargless of the mixture. Good luck

kenny c said:

On the no idle issue, check to make sure the throttle butterfly is closing and tha the arm for it is not slipping on the shaft. If you close off the air to it it should slow the engine down regargless of the mixture. Good luck

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Thanks for the tip. I did make sure that the butterfly was working as it should.
The engine was acting as if the butterfly wasn't working because it was running flat out regardless of throttle position.

-Chris

I decided to do a compression test on the 218 ci flathead. I remember back when the motor was in my '52 dodge truck it smoked a good bit so it may need a ring job. I got the compression tester out and set off to work. Heres what i found:

Cylinder 1: 80 psi
2: 80 psi
3: 80 psi
4: 80 psi
5: 90 psi
6: 90 psi

The service manual says i should be getting any where from 120 - 150 psi of compression. I was happy to see that all the cylinders where pretty uniform. So i poured a wee bit of oil down the spark plug hole on cylinder 1. Let it sit for a little bit and re-tested the compression, i got 105 psi. So it confirms my suspicion that she needs the rings done. I'd like to have the old girl running pretty decent before putting it in to the Plymouth.

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

Dude......It's Christmas.....

1952B3b23 said:

I decided to do a compression test on the 218 ci flathead. I remember back when the motor was in my '52 dodge truck it smoked a good bit so it may need a ring job. I got the compression tester out and set off to work. Heres what i found:

Cylinder 1: 80 psi
2: 80 psi
3: 80 psi
4: 80 psi
5: 90 psi
6: 90 psi

The service manual says i should be getting any where from 120 - 150 psi of compression. I was happy to see that all the cylinders where pretty uniform. So i poured a wee bit of oil down the spark plug hole on cylinder 1. Let it sit for a little bit and re-tested the compression, i got 105 psi. So it confirms my suspicion that she needs the rings done. I'd like to have the old girl running pretty decent before putting it in to the Plymouth.

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

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let the old girl lie for a day......I have to work today....occupational hazard........but you don't ....chillax....Merry Christmas....

sgtpontiac said:

let the old girl lie for a day......I have to work today....occupational hazard........but you don't ....chillax....Merry Christmas....

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I may have posted the compression test results today but doesn't mean i actually did the test today.... Merry Christmas

-Chris

I started the process of changing out the piston rings and everything has gone pretty smoothly. The cylinder walls are in good shape and the pistons tell me the engine was bored over 0.030" at some point. When i dropped the pan i was happy to see things look nice and clean with minimal sludge build up.

So today i was able to swap rings and re-install 5 of the 6 pistons. Unfortunately i wasn't able to finish the job because i snapped one ring. Once i get a replacement i'll finish her up.

-Chris

The piston ring job has been done now for about a month. I just didnt get around to posting cause i took a little while off to build myself an english wheel. This past weekend i sprayed the engine with VHT gloss black engine enamel, i think it came out decent (painting is my least favorite thing).

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

This is gonna be a great running little engine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Engine looks great.
Any pics of the English wheel????
[P [P [P
Torchie.

Thanks Old Iron and Torchie. Here are a few pics of the e-wheel. I built it using the Hoosier Profile kit, it's a 3 x 8" hardened upper wheel with 6 different 3" lower anvils. The frame is made of 4 x 8 x .25" steel tubing and it has a 30 inch throat. Should be plenty big for what i plan on doing with it. Then i brush painted it with Rustoleum gloss black.

-Chris