Fleetwood Meadow

I’m glad to hear there is some interest in my little giant of a car. In March I sent the engine out to a local rebuilder in the area that is very knowledgeable with these 331 engines. At the same time I sent the transmission out to be rebuilt. I got the transmission back about 8 weeks later. In May we moved so the old parts car got hauled away and this one went on a trailer. 2 months later it got dropped off at the house. I wanted to punch the friend that was helping my cousin deliver it. He looked me straight in the eye and said “I really don’t like this car. It lacks style. There is nothing exciting about it.” I smiled and thanked him for coming by and that was the last I said to him. Since the engine was out of the car I decided to take the front fender off and clean it up a bit. It was then that I discovered that the bottom of the fender was hidden under an inch of body filler. I should have known since that same side’s rear door was the same. So I spent a while hammering it out the best I could. But then it got cold and the garage is unseated so my body work has stopped. My intention is to remove the front end and fix it, then put the engine and transmission in while it’s easy and accessible, and then reassemble the front end. I’m glad to hear that people want to see the story because I was telling my wife that I wasn’t going to post anything else since nobody seemed that interested.

I was told that the tall bias tires were not good in weather, rain or snow. Here in New England we get either at any given moment. This car is not one that is afraid to be out in a storm and I want to feel confident that it will not slide around on bias tires.

He passed away. It is posted on fordbarn. https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279413

I had been enjoying my ‘51 Meadowbrook and took off from a red light. First gear was fine, second gear started making some rattling, then third gear was rattling so bad I thought I was going to lose my driveshaft. I got it home and checked and the driveshaft is fine. The u-joints seem solid. There is some play in the rear end. I topped off the differential and left the house and it started rattling bad in second too. After about a month of not driving it I took it out tonight around the block. Second gear sounded quieter but still rattling and third gear was rattling. I can’t seem to figure out what it is. It’s only when I accelerate. If I am coasting it doesn’t make the noise. If I push the clutch when coasting it doesn’t make the noise. But as soon as I press the accelerator it starts rattling again. There is no rattling in reverse. I see no signs of anything scraping. I checked the transmission mounts and they are tight. The transmission is a 3 speed manual fluid drive, not the gyro-magic electronic shift. Any suggestions?

I’m new to Connecticut and am trying to find someone knowledgeable about my ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook’s fluid drive transmission. It is making a loud rattling, metal on metal sound when it’s engaged and stops making the sound if I push the clutch in while it’s coasting down the road. Then when I release the clutch it happens again. I don’t hear it in 1st gear and it doesn’t make the sound when I am just revving the engine. Anyone know of anyone on the east side of Connecticut near the Rhode Island and Massachusetts borders? Or if what I said the symptoms are make sense to you any advise is appreciated.

Ed, not to sound ignorant but how do you know the correct tire pressure when switching from bias to radial tires? For instance, if your pressure should be 28 lbs for the original bias, is it 28 lbs for the radials too?

I ran Thermocure over a period of 1-2 months at a time and then drained and refilled with more Thermocure in my ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook. I talked about this in my thread called “Summer of Exploration” in the Our Cars section. I didn’t know how to add the link here but I’m sure you can find it. It was in 2018. My car was overheating like crazy and as the days and weeks went on it would start getting cooler and cooler. I had to replace a couple of freeze plugs because as the buildup cleaned away from the walls it revealed some corroded plugs. The inside of that water jacket looks brand new and the brass sleeve was not damaged in any way.

It seems so strange that they are on both of my Cadillacs. To me that makes me think it is a factory part but I haven’t found anything that tells me what it would be used for.

That wire has no spring to it and I can’t figure out what it would be used for unless it is a loop for a shop light for the mechanics when working under the hood.

I have had quite a tough time with my '51 Meadowbrook over this past year. The latest of issues started with a faulty ignition switch; it would shut off if you hit a bump and would have to jiggle the key to get it to gain continuity again. It's a strange one that has three terminals, listed as ST, ACC, AM, and a central wire that is fixed to it under a metal sheathing that goes through the firewall and attaches to the horn relay. The switch I bought was from a '50 Coronet and has four terminals, listed ST, ACC, IGN, BATT. I'm not sure what the AM standards for but it had one wire attached to it. The ST had one wire attached to it. The ACC had the rest of the wires, such as the radio and heater motor, attached to it. So I connected the ST wire to the ST terminal of the new switch, the AM wire the ACC terminal, the set of wires from the ACC in the old switch to the IGN terminal in the new switch, and I ran a wire from the BATT terminal to the outside of the firewall to the horn relay. I did this based on position of the wires on the switch. Well that didn't work as it shot my Ammeter down to -50. So I found that the wire that is attached to the ACC wire had current in it and connected it to the BATT terminal. From there that left the wire on the ST, the wire on the BATT, the wire going to the horn relay on the ACC, and the set of wires on the IGN. I turned the key and the starter turned and turned but would not fire up. I found that the only way it will fire up, and it fires up immediately, is if I turn the key to ON and connect a wire from the IGN to the ST. I can't understand why it will not fire is I turn the to the START position. I also found out that if the engine is running and I turn the key from ON to ACC the engine continues to run. What am I messing up, or is this switch faulty as well? And through my playing with this switch I fried the LED flasher relay so I need to replace it.

No I don’t see one. It isn’t on a spring either so if you pull it down it stays there. If you push it up it stay up.

On my ‘52 Cadillac there is this loop of metal that can move back and forth about 15 degrees. What is it for? What is the purpose of it?

On my ‘52 Cadillac there is this loop of metal that can move back and forth about 15 degrees. What is it for? What is the purpose of it?

Aren’t they part of Laferriere’s collection? He has a collection of cars in a factory down the road from the police station.

Being unable to make the lights any brighter than they were, which probably was right for that car, I converted them to led. I picked a bulb that was about the same brightness for both dim and bright filaments. The led is very distinct on the bright light. You can tell I’m hitting the brake and when the directional is on. And the bonus is that it barely draws on the battery. Since I bought the taillights I bought the front directionals and the flasher. They work beautifully now.

It’s time for me to replace the tires on my cars and the old debate pops up. Which tire size should I get? My ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook originally had 7.10-15 bias tires on it. The guy I bought it from out 225/75/15 on it. So when I changed them I put them on too. As I’m looking at different conversion charts they are saying 215/75/15 or 225/70/15. Being a little green on tires I’m not sure exactly what makes one tire better or worse than the other. I understand the fundamentals of the tire sizes but not necessarily the functional difference between them. Anyone willing to shed some light and their thoughts on this would be great. Does one provide a better comfort when riding down the road than the other?

I’ve been battling that honing tool all day. I tried using oil like it said to and I wore through a whole stone in 15 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. And it wasn’t even close to round. So I cleaned The cylinder and used another stone and I got it close to my end measurement. I am trying to get to 3.8330”. That puts it .020 over the 3.8125-3.8145” standard bore. I got the top to be within .001” and the bottom to be within .001” but every time I lower one of those spots the middle bores out. The middle is .005” oversized from the rest of the cylinder. That makes, roughly speaking, the top 3.8333”, the middle 3.8338”, and the bottom 3.8333”. It doesn’t make sense based on the tool I’m using. (Lisle 15000) How do I fix that or is that discrepancy within a reasonable difference? The tricky part for me is that I have to convert all of the measurements from the gauge from mm to in. I’m going to have to go out and get an SAE gauge so I will not have to keep converting.

Well I took the engine apart and did my measurements again. Pretty big taper so I bought the Lisle 15000 cylinder hone. I read a lot of stuff about dry honing. This seemed contrary to common belief but I thought alright I’ll try it. Plus the instructions said I could. Got the #6 cylinder back in round and almost got rid of the concaved ridge at the top where it seems the piston rocked. Took the rest of the night off feeling proud of myself. Had my friend come over to see the progress. I was doing great on a new cylinder and then I hit the bottom of the cylinder where the crankshaft sits. It broke the stone. So I replaced them and started again. No idea how the drill got locked because I didn’t have the trigger pulled all the way down since I was trying to keep around 300-400rpm. Well it got locked and hit the bottom again, which stopped the hone, but since it was somehow locked it spun the drill out of my hand. Thank God I had it plugged into my overhead plug because when it hit the ground it unplugged. One of the scariest moments I have experienced in a long time. So I took a break from the honing and measured the cylinder. It was out of round and terribly tapered. Left the garage disgusted. Today I went back out with a finer stone, my final set, and took up at the cylinder again. I got gun shy about hitting the bottom so I was careful. It went great. But when I went to measure it I saw I hadn’t been going to the end of the cylinder. However, I got it back to round and the top of the cylinder is almost dead on the final measurement I was looking for. Assuming I can get all of the cylinders to finish with that measurement I’ll be great. I ordered new 80 grit stones and will try the other cylinders then order finer grit stones. The company that I am ordering the rebuild kit from says to end around 240 grit. I’m going to use an oil to hone it this time because doing it dry I keep dislodging the stones from the backing plate. Lubricating it will help with that. I just need to figure out how to keep the fluid flowing, essentially create a bath system. I’m also going to go from the inside of the engine, where the crankshaft would sit. That way I can extend the hone out the bottom, which is the top at the head, and make sure I see where the stop that I keep hitting is so I can avoid it. Pictures to come with it. If I can get this done right I have a ‘51 Meadowbrook that will show up on here too with an engine rebuild.

Ben, what do you think would be the issue? What am I overlooking?

Ben, I installed standard rings and my compression was at almost 40 and I had blue smoke coming out of the odd bank’s tailpipe.

Using a dial bore gauge I got my measurements for the ‘52 Cadillac. I set it to be within factory standard specs and this is what I came up with. I can see out or round and I can see taper from the measurements. Is that all it was that caused my low compression and oil consumption? I’m assuming I need to bore these to .010 over now. Knowledge me up on this because this part is new to me. T - Top (about an inch down) M - Middle B - Bottom (about 1.5-2 inches from the bottom) H - Measuring rod was horizontal V - Measuring rod was Vertical

Using a dial bore gauge I got my measurements. I set it to be within factory standard specs and this is what I came up with. I can see out or round and I can see taper from the measurements. Is that all it was that caused my low compression and oil consumption? I’m assuming I need to bore these to .010 over now. Knowledge me up on this because this part is new to me. T - Top (about an inch down) M - Middle B - Bottom (about 1.5-2 inches from the bottom) H - Measuring rod was horizontal V - Measuring rod was Vertical

Found a gouge that I didn’t feel comfortable with on that crankshaft so out came the parts car engine. I haven’t taken it apart yet but I know I will need to smooth the metal where the harmonic balancer goes.

I did. There is a hole there. There are 8 holes on the damaged one. I saw online that there are some crankshafts that only have 7. I feel like that would cause that bearing to not get enough oil. I’ll check the casting numbers and make sure this one is acceptable to be used.

Looking at the area where the other oil hole should be doesn’t show an indication that there is a hole covered by anything. I feel like without a hole it will create friction and that will cause the bearing to bind and wear out. The crankshaft I have in the engine now shows holes where every bearing is. This one shows 7 holes for 8 bearings.