Inliners International Forums General Discussion MOPAR 265 inch flathead

Hello everybody

Some of you may have seen my posts from the past about installing adapting the complete computer distributor and throttle body injection from a chevy 4.3 liter engine to a long block (25 inch) dodge in line 6


I had no idea what cubic inch the motor is, other than the long block 25 inch motor and the engine id serial matched up to nothing.

Any how i parked the truck until now, because the engine had a slight rap.which i believe is a main bearing.

But recently i had the good fortune to buy a 265 inch industrial motor, with less than 10 hours run time on it. It was part of a 3 phase standby generator.

The motor is totaly free of any sludge, in fact the cylinder head is still shiny in side the combustion chamber.

As a matter of fact, it even came with the engine logs, very lucky for me.

The plan is to bolt on the complete fuel injection setup from the old motor.

I will also be machining the adapters to hook up the engine with a torque fight trans.

I have a few questions that i hope you will be able to answer or share some knowledge with me, i would very much appreciate it.

I have heard that the connecting rods are weak in these motors and to stay away from high compression heads. Is that accurate?

Who is the person to go to for a reground cam?

the reason i am going with the torqueflight is that i will be using the fargo to pull and old 24' airstream, and i feel that it would be easier with an automatic.

So the cam grind i am looking for would produce even more torque.

Any information you can provide will be really appreciated,

I would appreciate it if Don Coatney would contact me, but welcome any help or suggestions

Thanks,

John Schaner

You can write me off the list at john@fargopickup.com

John-

For the cam, I would contact Earl Edgerton of Edgy Cams. You can contact him through his website:

http://www.visionquestwebdesign.com/edgycams/

Earl did Don Coatney's cam, and races a long block Chrysler flat six on the salt in a '33 Chrysler. He can probably answer your questions about the rods too.

Here's a pic of his race engine, a custom 12 port fuel injected flathead with lots of one off aluminmum castings...



Pete

John, I don't think an automatic is really the way to go... despite what you see written in magazines etc.

You have more control with a manual, in my opinion, especially on mountain descents and the like.

Here is a very interesting article by a long time owner of a 1951 DeSoto 8 passenger sedan, and how he rebuilt a 265 flathead six for it. He tows a trailer at 70 MPH and reports that at 10000 feet altitude it runs as smooth as a turbine.

There is also some discussion of safe RPM's, temps, miles between overhauls etc.

The stock connecting rods are not weak as long as you respect the fact that you have a long stroke engine and keep the revs down to 3600 or so.

For trailer towing the stock cam will be fine. In fact a totally stock engine will handle the load with the least stress and the longest life.