Rusty_OToole

The 51-53 tappet was a 2 piece design with a removable insert. This will not interchange with the newer one piece because the older one is taller. You could use them if you bought new pushrods but why bother? If money is that tight just buy one lifter to replace the broken one, under $10 bucks. If you can afford it, it might be a good idea to replace all the lifters, simply because lifters tend to get tappy after a while especially when the engine is cold. So if you were going to replace them, now would be he time (while you have the engine apart anyway). And be sure to use the special assembly lube or breakin lube on the new lifters. You don't want to take a chance on damaging your cam. It's not likely you would but why take chances?

You can buy the Sisson choke gasket on ebay for $7.50 but I made my own using material from a leftover Ford flathead intake manifold gasket.

Any good mechanic or auto electric shop should be able to fix the wiring. If it is real bad you might consider buying a new wiring harness. But usually the under hood wires are the worst, years of heat dries out the insulation and it crumbles away. The rest of the car may be OK depending what kind of climate the car experienced.

Thought it was something like that. Your symptoms did not match any known form of normal wear. You mean cleaning off the sludge that holds the lifter from coming out? Good luck. Try spraying with carb cleaner or penetrating oil and working them up and down until they come out. Clean the lifter bores with carb cleaner or brake cleaner spray on a rag. Do not use any sandpaper or hone. A scotchbrite pad is ok. I believe Chrysler used the same lifters up into the early 90s. You could check this by cleaning up one of your lifters and taking it to a parts store. If they are the same diameter and height and the pushrod sits at the same depth you are in business. Lifters for a 318, 360, 440 etc engine are all the same. If the parts guy is too dumb to figure this out you might ask at an auto machine shop. Show them your old lifter and ask if it is the same as a late model Chrysler engine. You might want to just replace the whole set if the engine is in good shape.

It would probably be easier to fix the Sisson choke. All you need to do is take out (or if necessary drill out) 2 studs and replace them. The choke mechanism has a V shaped bimetallic spring and an electric solenoid. You can test the solenoid by connecting to a 6 volt battery. The arm should go to the full choke position. It is very simple to install and adjust. If it is really worn out I don't know what to say. I recently replaced mine (51 DeSoto) and was lucky enough to find one on Ebay for $15 bucks in like new condition. Once it is on the manifold here is how to adjust it. There is a place where you can put a wire or finishing nail down thru the shaft to lock it in position. Loosen the nut that clamps the arm to the shaft. Close the choke fully and tighten the nut to lock the arm in position. Remove the wire or nail .That's it.

Can anyone identify this model? Apparently in the prohibition era there was a model of Studebaker that was so popular with bootleggers and rumrunners it was nicknamed the Whiskey Six. I have seen this in 2 or 3 different books, not fiction but rememiscences of old time rumrunners and histories of the time. I already tried this question on the prewar studebaker board with no results.

You have pretty well exhausted the possibilities. At this point the only thing left to do is remove the manifold and valley cover and take a look.

With the valley cover off you can easily see the lifters. There is a row of oval holes, you can look down at the cam plus you can pull the lifter out to check the cam lobe.

RShepherd is correct. You are supposed to so your driving in high range, low range is for slow going such as towing a trailer up Pike's Peak or driving thru heavy snow, sand or mud. You can start off in low range and shift manually to hi range but this is not necessary except in unusual cases. There is a special technique for driving a fluid drive. It's not hard but it is different from an automatic or a standard and has features of each. I have covered this recently in at least 3 different threads, if you look around the Dodge and Chrysler boards for threads on Fluid Drive I'm sure you will find some interesting reading.

Did you take the lifters out? Could you have switched pushrods? They used 2 different length pushrods.

The transmissionis supposed to shift when you lift off the gas at over 14 MPH in hi range. The shift takes about 1 second or 1 1/2 second. One thing that can cause the trans not to shift is low oil or wrong oil in the transmission. The transmission is supposed to be filled with #10 motor oil.Its supply is separate from the fluid drive, you check it by a pipe plug on the right side like any manual trans.

I would use 10W30 like everyone else. Maybe 15W40 to mask the symptoms of a worn engine if it is bad but not in a good engine. Check the manufacturer's recommendation, they probably called for 10W30 when it was made. That was what we used in everything made in the 50s 60s and 70s. If you just did a complete rebuild synthetic may be a good idea. Depends how long you plan to keep the car, and you should check with the oil maker to find out if they recommend it for a car getting only occasional use.

Something is seriously wrong. You will need to investigate. At least take off the intake and valley cover. If your engine is an early 53 it may have the early style lifter with a removable insert. Late 53 up uses a modern type lifter. A 1" gap is too much to be a worn cam.

There used to be a special fluid drive fluid made by Chrysler. This has been out of production for years. Some use automatic transmission fluid. Others recommend tractor hydraulic fluid. That's what I use. I don't remember the exact name but it's something like TBH fluid for Transmission Brakes and Hydraulics. The grade is ISO 32. It's under $10 a gallon at auto parts stores and farmer's co-ops. By the way you might have better luck with technical questions in the Dodge forum below.

And don't park under any more trees. Does anyone know which trees are the worst to park under for ruining the finish on your car? I'll start the list off with falling trees LOL.

Value of 1952 Windsor club coupe, condition #3 "Very Good" $9000 #4 "Good" $4000 #5 "Restorable" $2400. Your car would probably fall in the "Good" to "Very Good" category. You shouldn't have too many problems with your experience. Don't know what you mean by brake cylinder "revision", new brake cylinders and rebuild kits are available. The Chrysler Centerplane brakes on that car are about the most efficient available at the time. Of course they don't compare to modern disc brakes but if you keep out of real bad hiway traffic you should be ok. They are at least as good as what's on your Caddy. The Edsel is a much more modern, more powerful car with 12 volt electric system, OHV V8, automatic, power steering, etc and drives very much like a car from the 70s or 80s (but watch out for those drum brakes). It would be similar to your Caddy, at least more so than the Chrysler. The real downfall of a car like that is the complexity. The basic mechanical components such as engine, steering, brakes etc are reliable but the luxury features like pushbutton transmission, power seats etc can drive you nuts if they go wrong. In this case you would want to hunt up the Edsel club. They have no doubt figured out how to fix everything that goes wrong long ago. One make car clubs are good that way. As to which I would buy, I already told you I bought a DeSoto which is practically the same as the Chrysler with a different grille and cheaper trim. It even has the same body, frame, wheelbase, engine, trans etc. It's pretty much a matter of which you like better, or which is in better condition and offers the best deal for the buck. For comparison a 59 Edsel Ranger 2 door hardtop in #4 condition has a book value of $3520. By the way these book values tend to be on the high side if you ask me. I think they do this to quell squauks from the 1949 Blivet owners "You said my Blivet is only worth $5000 it's worth a lot more than that blah blah blah". So they jack up the price a little and everyone is happy.

I have a technique for driving a fluid drive that works very well and makes it practically the same as driving a modern automatic. Start the engine with the transmission in neutral, the hand brake applied and your foot off the clutch pedal. Let the engine warm up until it will idle at its slowest speed. Depress the clutch pedal shift into gear and release the clutch, all with the handbrake still on. Release the handbrake and drive away like any automatic. When you get up to 15 MPH lift off the gas and wait for the "click-clunk" and step on it again. This is very easy, it is based on the owner's manual recommended technique. You have to drive it more like an automatic, if you drive it like a standard you will hate it. It is not a standard, it is a primitive automatic with a few quirks of its own but with a little understanding your fluid drive or fluid torque drive will work great for you. This came from a post I made on this thread. There has been quite a bit written on this transmission. http://forums.aaca.org/showflat.php?Cat=...ge=1#Post402103

First of all are you in Canada or the US? That would be a clue. Second look under the hood at the ID plate on the firewall and at the plate on the doorpost, one or the other will give the country of origin. Probably the firewall one.

I sympathise, I used to own a 1952 New Yorker. Now that battleship had a lot of chrome and almost all of it was pot metal. Managed to find a few NOS pieces but the chrome was so poor they needed to be replated after they were on the car a year.

I happen to have a 1951 DeSoto coupe which is almost the same. I can tell you they are a comfortable well made car with no real bad faults. But you must remember that car is over 50 years old and there has been a lot of progress in the last 50 years. For a start it is going to be slow, heavy and sluggish to drive compared to a modern car. That is part of the character. The Fluid Drive is a transmsission all its own, neither a standard nor an automatic. There are a couple of excellent threads on how to drive and maintain the fluid drive, in the Chrysler and Dodge message boards.You should look them up before you try to drive the car, it does need a different technique from anything you ever drove before. It isn't hard just different, and if you don't read the threads you may be a long time figuring it out. Another thing is the 6 volt - ground electrical system. This is OK in itself except cars have not been built that way for 50 years. There isn't much point in changing it to 12 volt, it would be like hanging a satellite dish on a haunted house. You will have a whole lot of things to learn on that car. You would really be better off with something newer that had better performance, more modern design. But if you really love the car and are willing to learn you can have some fun with it. First thing you will need is a repair manual. You should also look up some old gray haired or bald headed mechanics and parts men to help you keep it on the road. There were around 112,000 Chryslers produced that year and about 60,000 of them were Windsor 6's. Of those 60,000 roughly 10% or 6000 were coupes. The 4 door sedan was by far the most popular body style. Would you mind telling me what you had planned for the car? Because if you have a garage to put it in and were planning on keeping it for special occasions you should be OK. If you planned on using it for regular transportation it won't work out. The car is just too old and too far behind today's designs especially in the brakes. The other thing is, cars back then were high maintenance. Oil change and grease job every 1000 miles and there are 26 grease fittings for a start. Plus regular tuneups and lots of other things. When that car was built there were about 1/4 the cars on the road as there are now but there were 5 times as many garages if that gives you any idea.

I thought they all allowed fuel to flow thru??? The old ones I am used to worked this way. If you can find the old style low pressure pump for carburetors that was used in the 60s.

There are lots of cars around that are 50 years old and they weren't sealed in a concrete vault. If it was reasonably dry it should be in excellent shape. I think the car and everything else belongs in a museum. If the ground water didn't get in my guess is it would be in the same condition as a car that was stored in a garage maybe better.

The Spitfire marking on the head indicates a Chrysler flathead six. The number C48 indicates it came from a 1950 Chrysler Royal or Windsor. C48S = Royal 6, C48W = Windsor 6. They were identical in bore, stroke and horsepower. I don't know what the difference is if any. Bore and stroke, 3 7/16 X 4 1/2. Displacement 250.6 cu in. Horsepower 116@3600. Torque 208 ft lbs @ 1600. Oil pressure 45lbs@45MPH. This would make an excellent engine for a 54 Dodge pickup. If the pickup was made in Canada it will bolt right in. If it was US made you may have to make room at the front of the engine by moving the rad, also change the motor mounts and a few other things. The transmission is probably the M6 semi auto. I believe all Chryslers had this transmission. You can tell if it has this transmission because it looks like a standard but has 3 electric devices on the right side, a solenoid a governor and a switch. If it just looks like a plain standard transmission that's what it is. In any case it will have the fluid drive which is a device like a torque converter but simpler. That is why the bell housing area is so long, it has clutch and a torque converter (fluid drive) both. You could use this transmission or you could change it for the standard out of the pickup. So far as I know the flywheel clutch and transmission off your truck will fit the car engine. Hope this helps. You might have better luck getting answers if you go down the page to the Dodge pickup section and post there in the future.

If you like newer Packards there is a murder mystery called He Walked By Night starring Richard Basehart. In it the villain spends a scene working in his garage with his 1950 Packard convertible. There is another movie Sudden Fear with Joan Crawfor being stalked by Jack Palance in a 1952Packard Mayfair.

If anything the big block chev head design was copied off the Chrysler polysphere. Chev introduced it (1965) just as Chrysler was getting rid of it. Actually the 348 and 409 had staggered valves, the new head design leaned them at an angle. This was the Polysphere design Chrysler had been using since 1954.