That's a beautiful truck...what kind of brakes are on it??? Did they have air brakes ten or were they still hydraulic?
Man...what beauties! I bought a '50 F6 flatbed from Dennis Moomjean 5 years back. It had a '52 Olds 88 in it, was new when installed in '53. (!) I changed oil, did a minor tune and it lit immediately, along with the infamous Olds hydraulic lifter chatter... Quieted down in 2 minutes, ran like a new one. Sold it, my friend Lester had a '34 Coupe to put the engine in.
So, dumb question time. There's no more oil flowing out of the motor and it doesn't look like there's any gunk up in there. How much do I add? I know the motor will hold five quarts with the optional external oil filter, but do I need to do anything special to 'wring it out' or do I just dump five quarts in it now? 10W30? Does synthetic or non-synthetic matter?
I wouldn't use synthetic. Also, after you add the oil and have a guage in place, leave the spark plugs out, when spinning it over. That way, you can get a feel for compression on all cylinders, before your initial start up.
trevorsmith I have the stuff together to whip up a stand. I have a bunch of 2" square tubing and whatnot. Should be set for a stand on Sunday.
Looking forward to Sunday! I ended up with 15W-40 Rotella - apparently popular for flatheads, and, conveniently, on sale for $15 a gallon. I can't get the oil filter canister lid(?) off - it's the only thing I've encountered so far that's given me any trouble. It's seized up pretty tight. No point pulling the filter right now I guess since I don't have a new one to put in but I'd like to be able to when I do.
Remove the bolt, then take a sharp edged hammer and slide it up the side of the canister, tapping the lid upward all around. Be ready to catch it when the spring flings it upward.
These are the kind of threads I like. Takes me back 25 years, when I started fooling around with Flatheads, for the second time.
Was able to wrangle it off but now I don’t understand the filter cartridge inside lol. It spins in place 360 degrees but lifting up on the handle does nothing.
Electricity IS magic, but there are many magicians on the HAMB, so just ask and we'll get ya fixed up.
Lol whoops, must have nicked the gasket on the cleanout. Got a nice steady drip now. There goes $20 worth of oil. OK, got a drip pan under it to catch it & I'm done for the night. I was able to get the oil filter out using the fulcrum method. Concluded I didn't need to be messing with it right now and put it back. Very clean inside the canister. Looks like tomorrow I need to buy some gasket material and another 5 quarts of oil.
As a young Mechanic I was taught when removing a Flathead starter to Loosen both bolts about 3/8". Then tap on the section of the Starter that rests against the bellhousing till it comes loose and pull it back against the through bolt heads. Then continue removing the Top bolt till it comes out of the threads in the bellhousing and tip the starter away from the motor. Next get a 1/4" nut and put it on the top bolt and tighten it up. Then continue removing the lower bolt. This keeps the starter housing from coming apart into 3 sections. Now you can wrestle the starter past the ring gear without it falling apart in your hands.
Just an observation, clean the engine ( exterior ) really good before removing pans , parts of pans , carbs whatever. I have used a shop vac to get as much loose dirt as possible. Then brush, used various pointed tools, clean crevices, vacuum again wipe. Just hate the thought of getting any of that cruddy dirt inside engine .
Get Vern Tardel’s book(s) on flatheads. Money well spent - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, knowledge is power, etc. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I'd suggest building a test stand somewhat like Marty Strode showed in post 63. You don't have to use an old frame unless you just happen to have the front part of one, you can use heavy angle iron or channel iron or square or rectangular tubing or even round tubing. What ever you come up with that doesn't cost a bunch to build it with. That lets you get the engine running and dialed in before you find the vehicle you want to put it in if that part of the hunt is a bit slow.
Spent the evening carefully cleaning the oil cleanout and the bottom of the pan so I could use gasket maker to seal it up. Not sure I did it right but we'll see what happens. Yep, RMONTY and I are going to be building a stand on Sunday! Looks like the gasket maker stuff is working. If I have to do it again though I'm going to just buy that stuff you cut yourself. Will be a pain in the ass for this big circle but I think it will be cleaner and better overall.
Went great! We finished up a few minutes before you posted and I was coming straight here to post about it. The test stand is built. @RMONTY did the bulk of the work. It came out great. I have to finish bolting it down. Later I'll add an extension for a radiator. The carburetor from @winduptoy didn't make it Saturday so hopefully it will be here tomorrow. Today we pulled the starter and threw a battery on it. It's good and the Bendix works, but without the motor bolted down we couldn't actually spin it over. Compression test and first start attempt soon... Don't worry, there will be video in case of shenanigans.
I seem to remember something to do with the Fuel Pump pushrod having something to do with Oil Galley and Oil Pressure. With a block off plate and electric pump permanently mounted you probably won't have an issue, but if you have low or no Oil Pressure I'd lift the block off plate and see what was done to the Hole. Some guys would just cut off the pushrod and stick it back in. This led to a funny Tap, tap, tap. No problem is you know what it was. Some would install a soft plug and I've seen it tapped and plugged. At any rate not an issue if you have good Oil Pressure.
I have only just learned what that hole at the rear of the intake manifold is for. Right now it is covered by what looks like a piece of cardboard held on by two nuts... I wouldn't really call it a plate. I'll pull it off tomorrow afternoon and see what's in there. I guess I also need to test the fuel pump. I assume it will burn up on 12v.
Your right on the 12-V . Look the housing of the pump over real good. As I remember it there was a small flat spot cast on it and had 6-v or 12-v stamped right on it.
If you elevate your gas tank 2 or 3 feet you can just run the fuel line into the carb and just gravity feed it. I am so cheap, I didn't want to spend the money getting a new fuel pump diaphragm until I need it.
@RMONTY Got her bolted down! Had to bust out the old harbor freight concrete drill to get my bit through that square tube, my cordless wasn't cutting it. She's rock solid now though. And while I was doing that, a package arrived... @winduptoy It's here! Dropped right on. Just sitting on there for now until I make up gaskets and fit the lines. The stock carburetor had what I guess was probably a vacuum line coming off it going down to the distributor? I guess for the vacuum advance. There's nowhere to hook that up on the Stromberg. The fuel pump is indeed 6 volts - glad you told me it'd be marked somewhere @Pist-n-Broke. And speaking of fuel pumps, let's see what was under the disintegrating cardboard cover... Oh. Clean enough in there to eat off. I guess I need to buy or make up a solid cover plate though. Unfortunately there was no good way to clean that surface before removing the cardboard cover, so a bit of crusty old oil fell in despite my best efforts to brush away from the opening. That's all for tonight, got some homework to take care of so I'll have to reinstall the starter tomorrow.
The Jalopy Journal
