Hello, Inliners,
I just now found this site on the internet, and its fascinating....... : )
I've been around these engines since back in the '60's, but had largely gotten away from working on cars and trucks for quite awhile.
(years ago, I'd worked with a nice group of old truck fanatics in a small shop, doing engine, gearbox, etc., rebuilding. Our "niche" was the smaller trucks, generally the old gas rigs, GMC's, Whites, Dodges, Binders, and suchlike, and quite a few 1/2 tons as well)
One of my last few projects was fitting-up a 265 in our military Dodge....see it at our web-site "www.tactical-link.com".
I've no idea as to the origin of that particular 265, as some rebuilder ground the original serial number away. I just did up a 'once over lightly' with new rings, inserts, and valves (this one has the sodium-flavoured exhaust valves), and split the exhaust manifold.
At the moment, I'm working on '41 Plymouth 201 for a friend, the president of the local Chrysler Club, who was rather horribly ripped-off by a "professional engine rebuild shop".
The so-called "rebuilder" left a good bit of dirt and grit in the oilways of the engine, leading to a nasty big-end failure on the #1 rod after the engine had run only fifteen minutes. The crank is scored enough that it must be ground, sad to say.
I've got the engine down, and here's where I really need some good advice.
We're located a bit east of San Jose, about 50-ish miles SE of San Francisco. For years, I'd done up occasional engines for our own use, or for friends, and had been accustomed to farming out the boring, crank grinding, rod reconning, and balancing for my engines, to one or another of the old-line automotive machine shops in San Jose.
Now, those old reliable shops are closed down and gone.
Does anyone know of anyone who is doing crank grinding and balancing work in the South Bay area, who can be relied on for accurate work?
I'll be getting into another engine project fairishly soon, also. Some time ago, we got an original, low-mileage, extremely well-preserved '34 Plymouth sedan for our own use. (a Plymouth wouldn't have been my first choice, but my partner Tricia really likes the style of the '34)
The original '34 engine runs alright, but its low compression and rather low hp, so I'm thinking about fitting a later Dodge/Ply 218 or 230, just for a bit nicer feel on the road.
We've accumulated a few engines to pick from, one of which is rather interesting.....its a '43 Dodge military 230, new in the cosmolene (but there's a catch, there always is.....that engine was donated to a high school automotive shop class after the war, and the kids took it to pieces. Fortunately, they didn't lose anything critical)
Alternatively, I was thinking of looking for a '57-'59 Dodge passenger engine.....but I'd appreciate some opinions about that....the '57-'59 sixes are nominally rated for a good few more hp than the earlier ones, and I just can't remember what was different about those, compared to the earlier engines. Can anyone give me a clue on that?
I really just want to build up a nice gentle road engine....nothing fancy....maybe a half-point off the head, maybe a set of Fenton exhaust manifolds, if I could find them, and a Mallory dist, if possible. I'm suspecting that my chances of finding those bits and pieces today are somewhere on the close order of nil.....oh well.....
Anyway, if someone could point me out to a reliable automotive machine shop in the S. F. Bay Area, we'd be really grateful......I've got to get that '41 crank and rods done up as soon as might be.
cheers
Carla
I missed it.