Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[Stanley Doble]

I may have a spare manifold. Does your car have the original engine and manifold? I believe they changed the design of the manifold at one time. The earliest ones have the exhaust outlet at the very back, the newer ones have the outlet 5 or 6 inches farther forward. If I have one it will be the one with outlet farther forward.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I know the owner of a local garage who rebuilt a 1941 Plymouth for a customer. When the car came in the customer inquired about changing the transmission or rear axle for better performance. When it went out with the new engine, there was no more talk of any other changes. With the engine running right he had all the power and performance he needed.

The garage owner told me they sonic tested the block and it had the thickest cylinders he ever saw. This guy is a Chrysler expert known for his hot Hemi and 440 builds so he is familiar with heavy duty engines. The Plymouth engine would be the same model as your car.

 

[David Conwill]

I thought the Canadian cars used an under-bored version of the DeSoto/Chrysler engine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mine is the 25" long block 218 -- they've got my copy of the shop manual at the garage, but I think I remember the only difference between the Canadian Plymouth/Dodge engine and the DeSoto/Chrysler is the bore and the stroke. I'll see if I can get the specs on the manifold -- they're supposed to send me a bunch of pics as the rebuild proceeds.

 

[jamespowers]

Mine is the 25" long block 218 -- they've got my copy of the shop manual at the garage, but I think I remember the only difference between the Canadian Plymouth/Dodge engine and the DeSoto/Chrysler is the bore and the stroke. I'll see if I can get the specs on the manifold -- they're supposed to send me a bunch of pics as the rebuild proceeds.

Ooooh pictues. Please share.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I thought the Canadian cars used an under-bored version of the DeSoto/Chrysler engine.

That is correct. In 1938 when Chrysler corp built their Canadian engine foundry they decided to standardize on one engine, the same one used in US made DeSoto/Chrysler cars.

This engine was used in cars, trucks, farm machinery, military vehicles, snowmobiles, boats etc until 1972.

The same block was given a 3 3/8" cylinder bore for Plymouth and Dodge, and a 3 7/16" bore for DeSoto and Chrysler.

Displacement further varied by using different stroke crankshafts from 4 1/16" to 4 3/4".

The result was a range of engines from 218 to 265 cu in. They were careful to make the Canadian engines the same displacement and horsepower as their American counterparts in spite of slightly different bore and stroke measurements.

Lizzie's "Plodge" is a Canadian made car, a cross between a Plymouth and a Dodge. Actually a Plymouth with Dodge grille and trim, and a detuned Chrysler engine :O

 

[David Conwill]

So in theory, one could install Chrysler rotating parts in the Plodge block and end up with quite the mover...

Not that Ms. Lizzie needs that, of course.

 

[BigFitz]

Ooooh pictues. Please share.

+1!

 

[Stanley Doble]

So in theory, one could install Chrysler rotating parts in the Plodge block and end up with quite the mover...

Not that Ms. Lizzie needs that, of course.

It would be possible to bore the block to 3 9/16 and install a 265 crankshaft making a 283 cu in engine. With a few hop up tricks, raising the HP from the original 90 to 150-175 would be a cinch.

Or, a 1952 - 54 Chrysler 265 120HP engine will bolt in. This would give larger displacement plus a full flow oil filter system.

I'm not suggesting any such thing. Simply pointing out the possibility.

There are a few eccentrics who have built hopped up Plymouths, Dodges and Chryslers in this manner with gratifying results. Of course for sheer power and speed the V8 engine has a lot more bang for the buck.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, I live fifty miles from the nearest Interstate -- just about all my driving is done on two-lane 50mph speed-limit roads. About all I could do with 175 hp is lay a patch in the parking lot at the Shop-n-Save. Although that might get me more respect from the bag boys.

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, I live fifty miles from the nearest Interstate -- just about all my driving is done on two-lane 50mph speed-limit roads. About all I could do with 175 hp is lay a patch in the parking lot at the Shop-n-Save. Although that might get me more respect from the bag boys.

:rofl: There is something to aspire to.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I'd have been cheering you on, in my stock boy days lol

I'm actually embarrassed to say that I was known for whipping donuts in my Caprice wagon in the High School parking lot...

Yeah, I live fifty miles from the nearest Interstate -- just about all my driving is done on two-lane 50mph speed-limit roads. About all I could do with 175 hp is lay a patch in the parking lot at the Shop-n-Save. Although that might get me more respect from the bag boys.

 

[jamespowers]

I'd have been cheering you on, in my stock boy days lol

I'm actually embarrassed to say that I was known for whipping donuts in my Caprice wagon in the High School parking lot...

IN a Caprice Wagon?! Now that was insane. It would be like turning a dinosaur.

 

[Gregg Axley]

IN a Caprice Wagon?! Now that was insane. It would be like turning a dinosaur.

Fun on the ice sure, but really hard on the dry pavement I'm sure.

 

[jamespowers]

Fun on the ice sure, but really hard on the dry pavement I'm sure.

On ice it would be worse. You could barely control it. :eeek::eusa_doh:
Dry pavement wouldn't scare me quite as much.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I took driver's ed in a '76 Monte Carlo, and one of the things we had to do was slalom it around a grocery store parking lot in December at 6AM, avoiding the light towers and the giant snowbanks. The boys in the body-work class down at the voc school got a lot of assignments on that car.

 

[jamespowers]

I took driver's ed in a '76 Monte Carlo, and one of the things we had to do was slalom it around a grocery store parking lot in December at 6AM, avoiding the light towers and the giant snowbanks. The boys in the body-work class down at the voc school got a lot of assignments on that car.

I bet. I know I couldn't do it way back then.

 

[Big Man]

... I'm actually embarrassed to say that I was known for whipping donuts in my Caprice wagon in the High School parking lot...

Did the same thing in a '68 Dodge station wagon on the school football field. Turned that big Dodge so tight and fast that I spun off two hubcaps. We spent quite a while looking for them in the woods where they ended up. It's a wonder that big old car didn't roll over. If I'd have caught my children doing something as stupid as that, I'd have taken their driver's license. Of course it was 1971 when I did that, so that's my excuse.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

It was insane, but I was 17 lol

IN a Caprice Wagon?! Now that was insane. It would be like turning a dinosaur.

I used to love to whip it around in the school parking lot on snowy mornings. I'd leave for school extra early before anybody else got there, including the plows and have at 'er!

On ice it would be worse. You could barely control it. :eeek::eusa_doh:
Dry pavement wouldn't scare me quite as much.

Those old wagons are wide, long, and low enough that they don't typically wanna roll, which is a lucky deal! What drivetrain did you have in that '68 Dodge?

My dad would have chewed me up and down if he knew some of the stuff I got into, but I heard stories about him at that age, in his Caprice wagon (a '66, 396 Turbo-Jet)

Did the same thing in a '68 Dodge station wagon on the school football field. Turned that big Dodge so tight and fast that I spun off two hubcaps. We spent quite a while looking for them in the woods where they ended up. It's a wonder that big old car didn't roll over. If I'd have caught my children doing something as stupid as that, I'd have taken their driver's license. Of course it was 1971 when I did that, so that's my excuse.

 

[jamespowers]

It was insane, but I was 17 lol



I used to love to whip it around in the school parking lot on snowy mornings. I'd leave for school extra early before anybody else got there, including the plows and have at 'er!



Those old wagons are wide, long, and low enough that they don't typically wanna roll, which is a lucky deal! What drivetrain did you have in that '68 Dodge?

My dad would have chewed me up and down if he knew some of the stuff I got into, but I heard stories about him at that age, in his Caprice wagon (a '66, 396 Turbo-Jet)

It is in the blood----the spinning donuts gene.