49 Chrysler with no compression

... ?anyway, aside from the

NZA

I had a 29 6 cylinder Chrysler like this. After determining that the oil pump was indeed pumping oil I took it out on a country road and gave it a long push. It did eventually start but burned oil like crazy for a long time. But I solved that problem too. Also maybe the timing chain is broken or skipping a lot.

As for the wiring. There are places that will make you a new wiring harness. And if you do this strongly consider converting to 12 volts.

Bob AZ

Wouldn't that be considered a lot of mile between rebuilds for that vintage (materials and motor oils of the day)?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Well, I reckon if i'm going to try the push-start method, i need to make the brakes work again first.. LOL

I ordered a new harness already. I decided to stick with 6 volts for now. That decision was made mainly because i already purchased an 8 volt battery to try it out (the regulator was 'turned up' to 8 volts years ago). From what i've been reading on the internet, the bigger wiring of the 6v harness will accomodate 12 volts easily, should i decide to go that route in the future.

I reckon it could be considered such. My dad said he drove the thing

750 miles right before he put it in storage for those 27 years and it ran pretty well. Obviously, "ran great when parked" doesn't really mean anything when the rings are stuck in the pistons..

SISSY!! :)

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

LOL ! Hey, i just thought of something... this car has the Fluid Drive tranny, so do you think it will push start at all ?

Lack of compression could be stuck valves, a rudimentry form of leakdown testing could be performed by positioning each cylinder to TDC on the firing stroke and injecting compressed air through the spark plug hole to check for the sourse of the leakage.

Pressurized sump points to stuck rings, air escaping from the intake or exhaust indicates stuck valves.

I will definitely try that! Thanks!

Yes, I have done that with my 49 Windsor and 40 Royal. FluidDrive came in two different varieties, a regular 3 speed transmission with fluid drive, and the M4/M6 dual range fluid drive.

ok! I'm pretty sure this one just has the 3-speed w/ fluid drive.

Mopar flatheads tend to get very sticky valves when parked for a long time, and they have pretty light valve springs so the valves may stick open when you crank the engine after a long period of sitting. You can drown all the cylinders in marvel mystery oil, rotate the engine by hand a few times (with the plugs out) and then let it soak on the valve stem seals for a week or so, then crank it over (still with the plugs out) to clear the oil and then test compression.

But after 27 years, it could be too much for mystery oil to un-stick, and it could also be that the rings are completely shot from scraping on surface-rusted cylinder walls.

My '49 Plymouth went about 120,000 miles before its first overhaul (which my granddad had done in 1964 for about $300- and the engine still runs today after that overhaul). It was still running at the time he decided to overhaul it- Mopar flaheads were a lot tougher than a number of contemporaries. The Chevy Stovebolt six was a crappy lawnmower engine by comparison (splash oiling whereas the Mopar had full pressure), and the Ford flathead v8s had a lot more problems with overheating and consequent damage. Its pretty darn hard to wear out a Mopar flathead from the 40s to the point where it just wont run anymore.

So yes, it may be getting close to overhaul time, but its likely got a good bit of life left based purely on mileage- certainly enough to fire up and run. Sitting for 27 years probably did it more harm than the 92k miles, though.

yeah, ideally i should have just pulled the motor out and reconditioned it from the get go. too bad i didn't really realize what a sweet car it is until a few years ago.

Actually, I was reading about the "tip-toe" transmission and how to shift it.. I think this car may have that dual range thingee after all instead of the 3 speed..

Drained the coolant today... i pulled out the thermostat and put it in a pot of 180 degree water and it opened... did it a few times and it opened more and more until a certain point.. was wondering though if the thermostat is supposed to close all the way... i'm assuming it is. When cooled off, this one is not all the way closed.

The Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge had the M6, PrestoMatic, TipToe shift, four speed, dual range Fluid Drive. The "second" gear position is Low/Low-High and the "third" gear position is High/Low-High/High. Almost all of the time you will use the High range. Shifting is accomplished by slightly lifting your foot off the accelerator at about 15 or so, hearing a clunk, then pressing on the gas again. You only need to use the clutch for reverse and starting, although you can start the car in gear. There is a fill port on the passenger side of the transmission whereby you remove the plug from the torque converter to check the fluid, which is really 10 weight oil. Draining and refilling requires turning the converter with the plug downward and letting the oil drain, then reversing the procedure. All in all, the transmission is very good. Make sure that the electrical connections to the carb are good and that the solenoid and governor on the transmission case are operating. As to the thermostat, it should be a 160 degree opening with a non-pressurized system. I have had no problems with my 49 Windsor or my 40 Royal.

As always, thanks for the information! I'm flying blind on this one, pretty much.. except for you guys and a 1957 version of the Motor's manual..

So basically there are only four positions for the gear selector... reverse, neutral, high-range, low-range... If I understand correctly, most of the time i'll just slap it into high range and leave it there and use the high and low for around town-type stuff..

The thermostat has a "180" stamped into the end of the plunger. I verified the temp. of the water when the thermostat opened with a digital thermometer.... but like i said, it still doesn't close all the way. So, i'll probably need a new one. Someone at some point put a 4 psi rad. cap on it, so i guess i'll need to change that as well.

Okay, here's a question i've been wanting to ask for a while, but kept forgetting.. My battery charger is either 12V or 6V... so what should i use to charge the 8V battery? Was thinking I need to put some sort of resistor in-line with it to drop the voltage and set the charger on

12V.. don't want to start a fire though, so suggestions will gladly be accepted.

Thanks in advance!

A resistor of the right value could work - just make sure it can handle the heat (worst-case amperage of your charger x the voltgage drop across it).

However - I might be more inclined to use several power diodes in series instead because they tend to give a more constant, less current-dependent, voltage drop. Experiment a little. Measure the charger's voltage output charging a 12 volt battery, then try different numbers of diodes in series (assume somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.6 to 1.1 volt drop per diode) on the 8 volt battery to see what gives you close to a 4 volt total drop (or a reasonable charging current - 10 amps or less at start of charge). Again, consider the power (actually, in this case, current) rating of the diodes - probably use a stud-mounted rectifier from Radio Shack - probably will be dissipating 7 to 10 watts each - might need to heat sink them.

Other possibilities: Do you have a variable power supply with current meter on the front panel? Adjust the voltage output for a reasonable current (again, 10 amps or less initially) into the battery (monitor it and adjust as necessary as the charge progresses).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

I think 4 PSI caps were fairly common in that era, that's what I've always had on my '49 Plymouth. However, after blowing a freeze plug a couple of times I started running it unpressurized with no problems whatsoever. You will need a 160 degree thermostat to run unpressurized, though, you'll likely have a problem with "burping" coolant if you run that 180 degree stat.

I always wanted to drive one of those cars. Sounds interesting.