Jan Arnett

Shawn: Now that you have the engine apart you are over the hard part. The first thing you need to do is take some cloth and wrap it around each journal on the crank and then cover with several layers of tape. You want to tape it so it does not come loose. This will protect the journals as you work. Disasamble your oil pump and clean it. Take all the oil lines loose and get a bottle or test tube brush to clean them. Remove the main caps one at a time and plastigage them. Blow the oil lines down with the caps off and run kersosene through them to clean up. Cap off the lines. If you use oven cleaner keep it away from bearning surfaces. Varsal will not break down the gunk except with some effort but it will work with some scrubing. Now you have to decide what to do in rebuilding the engine. You are through the hard part. I recommend that you grind and seat the valves, replace the tappet, hone the cyc and put new rings in. While you have it apart these items are easy to do and relatively inexpensive. Get a good bottem tap and clean all holes. Get a good die and clean all studs. Remove the exhause studs and replace while you have it apart. Run a straight edge on the block and head to make sure they are not warped. Send me and Email address and I can send you picture as I just went through the process. By the way your pan is galvanized and will react with oven cleaner.

Robin: Your profice does not have a location. Where do you live I may be able to help you.

Shawn: I staqrted working on cars at 14 and I am 61 now so I have been through a few. How you restore it depends on how much time, money and patience you have. If you have the room I like to remove the springs from the frame and rebush the springs and then put teflon between the leafs to make it ride a little better. Unless you know that you have problem in the rear end I usually just flush out the old grease and put it back together. In a Model T you need to replace the bushing but not a dodge. I would replace the grease seals and if you are real driven you can put modern seals in. I would reline the brakes and make sure there is not excessive wear on the clevis pins. Unscrew all the clevis pins and grease them so they will turn later. Make sure you get the serial number off the frame before you paint it. make sure you run your new wire before you put the body back on and if you decide to do turn signals put the wire in for them. Check your king pins for play and replace them while you have the front end apart. Clean out all grease fitting holes and run a clean up tap through them to make sure all threads are good. Check your outboard bearings in the rear end. Hope this helps. Take lots of pictures both still (digital) and movies. i set up a camera on a tri pod next to me and film the diasambly in case something get dropped. Build a baby book of your progress. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Shawn: The bushings are pressed in Bronze busing. You can get them from Romar or I purchased mine from sears. I removed mine by getting a long threaded bolt which will go from one side to the other of the eye. Get a socket which will just fit in the eye and put the bolt through it. Take another socket which has and inside diameter large emough to allow the old busing to be pulled into the socket. Take your bolt put a large washer on then the smaller socket put thru the spring eye then the larger socket, then a large washer and then a nut. When you tighten the nut it will pull the socket thru the eye and the bushing will go into the large socket. You can press the bushing back in with a reverse process. There is a Dodge Mechanics manual that you should purchase. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Shawn: To get you started there are several kinds of primers. Etching, epoxy,2k and high build or filling. Most people only use epoxy and 2k on their car. Etching primers have a mild acid in them and are not used as much but are still used. If you do not use an etching primer (veriprime, ect) then you want to shoot an epoxy primer, then do body work, and put a 2k primer over it. A high build or high solids primer is to fill minor pits. Your color goes over the 2K primer. This is general information as each manufacture has there own instructions and recoat window which you should observe. There are also sealers and primer surfacers but stick to epoxy and 2k and you should be ok. Aren't you sorry you asked. Remember that body shops are high volume operations and the way they do the job may not be the optiumum method but it will work. With time and patience you can do the job.

Shawn: If you are a cabinet maker then I am sure you can shoot lacquer then you should be able to shoot BC/CC or catalysed enamel. Both will do a good job for you. As you know from you line of work 95% is in the preperation. Get the metal work right, lay the primer correctly, sand it smooth and you are almost there. The selection of the gun is as important as the paint. Go for a good HVLP gun. Get a good drier and go paint some hoods. Go to your friendly body shop and get some left overs and practice. With your background it should be relatively easy to shoot a car.

Shawn; There are various ways to treat rust. You can mechanically remove it, turn it into an inert material or encapsulate it. POR15 encapsulates it but not remove it. I have used it on frames and running gear and it does a good job but on the body there are primer products made specifically for it. Go to this link as there is a discussion going on which will interest you. http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/recommen...t=southern+poly Black is Black is not a valid statement. Various companies add more or less pigment to their products to produce various black colors. Remember that the color and material that the Dodge was originally painted is not avaliable today so you are left on your own to determine which Black suits you. See Romar for the proper engine paint. Since you are going to have a professional painter shoot color discuss the various options with them. You should be able to do the prep work and save money and learn how to shoot primer. This is what takes the time. The shooting of color will take one day where the primer and metal work will take months. If you get a run in the primer you just sand and reshoot. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Shawn: Before you can answer your question you need to answer a few more questions. Who is going to do the painting? If a professional is going to do it ask them what they prefer. How are you going to use the car. If you are just going to drive it you could go with base coat clear coat but it will be two shiney for most people but you could use it. I prefer single part paints if you are going to paint it your self. What ever you use make it a name brand or southern poly and do not use POR15 as a primer. The primer is the most important part of the process and there are different primers for different stages of the process. I find it easier to paint the parts as they are put together. There is not way to paint the entire car assembled. Go through you metal work, prime the parts, reassembel to make sure they fit then take it apart and paint, then reassemble. If you want a full explination go to Southern Polyurane web site and download the material. If you buay a book on painting make sure it is a new one as things change rapidly. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

If they were factory disk wheels they would date between 1924 to 1929. The serial number is on the floor board and on the right frame above the rear of the front spring. If you publish the dash we can tell what year you have. Picture of the engine would also be helpful or send the information to me direct.

I ahve them of three cars of which two are 6 volts and I have only experienced one problem. I found that I was getting arching and could not figure out why. Turns out a dash light was shorted and every time I turned the knob off I have an arch. This saved my battery and it was not the fault of the switch.

Post it on the Dodge site. Many more members there

I alway use a cutter and then touch it up with a stone. You might to consider having hardened seats up in if you are going to a machine shop. You will never have to worry about it again.

I do it a little different. If there is visible sludge in the pan you should pull the pan. Kerosene will only disolve a little of the sludge and if there is a lot of it is not going to help. If there is only a little sludge then fill with kerosene and let it sit for a couple of weeks before draining. Do not turn over an engine with Kersosene as it has very little lubrication properties. Old engines are less sensitive to sludge then modern engines due to babbet bearings which are softer.

If you ever run into the same situation you can make a cutter which will go between the head and the stud by taking very thin wall tubing and cutting cutter teeth into the end. Make the tube about tweleve inches long and put it into a slow speed drill. After going over each stud put a lifting eye bolt into the from spark plug hole and one into the back spark plug hole and you should be able to pull the head off. Hope this helps in the future?

Bob: You mentioned a coulple of things which concern me. You said that you had trouble removing the head on a just rebuilt engine. Why? The head should just pull off unless you have bent studs holding it on. If the studs are bent you will not be able to properly seat the head. To remove heads you should either make pullers (spark plug with and eyebolt) or buy some and then pull the head straight up. Do not pry and head off. It sounds like you did not grind new seats only seat in new valves. This can cause a poor seat in new valves if the seats are oblong. Using a hand valve seater/grinder will not solve the problem. Did you use compressed air to determine where the leak was. I prefer composition gaskets when avaliable.

Nick: It is the old depends. I believe the early cars were always painted and the items you mentioned are not pot metal. My 23 screenside has the items mentioned painted.

I agree with valves probably being the problem but if that does not solve the problem check your gasket. You can take and old spark plug and remove the element, put a 3/8 nipple in it and connect it to an air source. Put about 40 # of air to your cyc. and see where it is comming out. You can do this with out removing anything and it is a good test. When you ground the seat do you use an old seat grinder or a new multi step unit. You may have sunk you seat too low and now the valve is setting to high.

Wooden wheels are not that difficult to take apart and rebuld as long as you do not have to make new spokes. You need a way to press them apart and put them back to gether. I have used bumper jacks under a stair for a press or long bolts. Usually the spokes are not the problem but the rim. I would lay the rim on a flat surface and see if it is bent before doing inything. "As was said earlier it sounds like bearings not spokes are the problem.

National gage made gages for Dodge in the twenties

I agree. Without pictures it is hard to sell something particularly a sign

Sounds like a tank for a 1923 screenside truck. I don't know what else it will fit. The vent you describe is the outlet and it has a tube in the tank to draw gas.

Jim it will not hurt it if you are only using it on the tank.

Martin made sight seeing buses out of Dodges for use in places like yellow stone park. They are real nice if you can find them. I haven't seen on in years.

Dave: Nice wood work. My sons says he is only a buck over you if you want the license plate topper. He was buying it while i was in Italy.

Peter: Dodge did not make a Depot Hack in the early years. Most of them were made by cantrell. You can put seats in a screenside if you want but they were intended for the business trade (hardware, grocers and ect.)