Hi Fran, Just read your post and Hudsons reply. I'm not fimiliar w/the 228 eng.either. Being in a DeSoto it must be a 25 inch eng.? I have a '48 DeSoto Club Cpe. I plan to restore when I finish w/the '48 Ply.bus.cpe. It had a fluid drive and the rear ratio is a 373. Burnt the left rear axle bearing while towing it from Dallas. Installed a '79 Caprice rear axle unit in it, a 273 ratio. The unit fits very good,its 3/32 longer on each side,which is nothing. You may be a purest and would not think of installing anything but Chrysler parts in your car. I have the '38 Dodge Bus.Cpe. Hudson referred to. I took a c/shaft and rods from a '56 Ply and installed in the '38 block,bored it .o30 over and made a 234 ci eng. Installed the '56 c/head to raise the compression,using the '56 bellhousing I installed a T-5 manual O/D transmission coupled with a Camero 273 ratio rear end. This car had a 473 ratio from the factory and I knew I couldn't get on the freeways in Dallas with that low rear so I went w/the Camero and didn't think the car would pull off with the 273. Had a 343 that was planning to replace the 273 but thought I should try the 273 before I made the change. Surprising to me the car would take off with no problem , no doubling clutching, as if the rear was made for the car. Needless to say I never installed the 343. Built the car in '98 and its been great since. Its cruises at 70 mph @ 2000 rpm and get more than 20 mpg.The torque seems to be @1200 to 17 or 1800. Don't know just how fast the car will run, 70 to 75 is a plenty for me,really just want to cruise at a low rpm, however, I was very surprise to hear Hudson is turning 6000 rpm with a 230 eng. Didn't think that eng.would turn that much. We met for lunch last week and had an afternoon to talk mopar. He is a man w/knowledge when it comes to engines, even a one cylinder inline. I might add the '38 Dodge has an HEI dist.which helps a lot. Regards...
