Mr. Bee

I have the 1939 original shop manual. It shows studs with nuts for the 8 cylinder and cap screws for the 6 cylinder. That's why these odd bolts/nuts are so odd. What makes it worse is that there are other pics online that show a mix of cap bolts and nuts, or the head-tapped cap bolts that some posters suggested earlier.

That is a great reference photo...looks like the are intentionally designed like that. Weird thing is that my engine has cap bolts that hold down that bracket. Still a mystery to me.

Once I get it ready for testing vacuum and compression etc I'll see if I have to pull the heads. If I do, I'll post what I find about these bolts.

Hey Spinneyhill: after all the responses so far, I came to the same conclusion you did. I think a couple decades ago someone tried to lift the head. All the cap bolts came out but three. I think they snapped the heads off those three with just a couple/few threads still visible. Once the head was mounted again they just screwed three nuts on what threads were available.

Okay...so the last two posts are perplexing. I just searched "1939 Dodge engine" in Google and I seem to have found some with studs and nuts and some with bolts and or a mix. Does anyone out there have a 1939 Dodge 201.3 engine? Studs that come out of the block or bolts that go into it?

Hard to believe there's any meat left between the head of these odd "tapped" bolts with their own shank. The tapped hole must be a bit smaller than the shank thickness below; dunno, as I haven't pulled one of these out yet. I'm guessing you can't use one of these to clamp a chain onto to lift the engine-tranny.

My 1939 flathead six has normal bolts holding down the head with the exception of three mystery bolts. As per the attached images they look like a hex nut just sitting on the head where a regular hex bolt would go. You can see the thread inside these odd bolts but there doesn't appear to be enough of an engine stud to even grab any of the threads, or maybe barely one thread. There are two at the back, drivers side, nearest the engine starter and one right in the middle. Any ideas what they are and how they are fastened to the head or block?

Thanks folks. Ya...I should have posted this on the Dodge sub forum. Sorry...newbie on this forum.

The ply33.com website appears to have a long list of suppliers. That'll take me a while to go through all those and find those that have parts for my car. Thanks very much.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been finding it difficult to find Dodge stuff. It's easy to find pretty much anything for late 30s Fords and Chevys but Dodge...geez. I'll look up the site mentioned and see what I can find. I need lots of parts but tough finding sources. Cheers.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been finding it difficult to find Dodge stuff. It's easy to find pretty much anything for late 30s Fords and Chevys but Dodge...geez. I'll look up the site mentioned and see what I can find. I need lots of parts but tough finding sources. Cheers.

Ha...ya...for sure!

Anyone willing to share their favorite online stores for Dodge, Chrysler and/or Plymouth late 30's (prewar) cars? Cheers!

Engine and tranny are out and safe. I ended up using the generator mount as per one of the earlier replies. On the back end I used one of the tranny mount holes. Worked well. Although I managed to get a leveler I didn't have to use it since it was a simple lift straight off the frame. I will however use it for the installation later on. As for metal epoxy products there used to be an exhaust manifold epoxy on the market years ago. I used it on my 85 Chrysler 5th Avenue and it worked for all the years I owned it. Haven't seen the product in years.

OMG you're an engine hero. I would have yelled uncle with the first 6 inch crack! By the way, does that epoxy work for exhaust manifolds to rebuild a small broken part right where the two header bolts are? I'm hoping my engine and tranny are healthy...I heard the engine run okay but that's not enough to be certain. This morning I'm lifting the whole engine and tranny assembly.

Thanks for the photo M. White. That's certainly the preferred way to do it. I'm assuming you didn't have any issues removing the head bolts as well as the exhaust and intake manifold bolts. Did you use an air impact driver or crack them by hand with a long breaker bar?

Regarding the use of a leveler...you're lucky you can get one for 40 bucks. I'm in Canada which means a couple weeks to get here plus duties etc and a pricey exchange rate. In any case I found a local equipment rental shop that will rent me one for 10 bucks. All good.

Yeah that's a nice leveler. If I can weld one satisfactorily I'll get one.

I've got some good tubing stock that I use for welding so I'm going to make a custom bar. But I'll use your comments as a guide. Cheers.

Three points...got it. And yes, a bar is a good idea as I'm trying to avoid parts on the sides. Thanks very much.

It's odd that there's nothing left on the engine from the factory. I haven't been able to find a photo of the engine being lowered on the assembly line. I'll see if I can get a bell housing bolt off. Thanks.

I can easily use a starter bolt or the generator, both on the drivers side. What do you use on the other side?

Anyone know the engine hoist lift (anchor) points for a Dodge 1930's inline 6, with the transmission still attached? Mine is a 201.3 cubic inch motor in a 1939 Dodge D13 but I'd guess they all used similar lift points.