First of all I have a 1941 Chrysler Windsor 4 door sedan that was originally purchased by my grandfather. I want a little more power out of it, Im not new to this just this specific engine. So I've been searching and I haven't found much for the engine besides rare and expensive intake/exhaust manifolds and stock parts. Is it worth it to keep the flathead 6 or bang it up a notch and do the basic "put a Hemi in it" response that I get form every other website.
I was going to originally ask this question in my introduction thread but that got locked for an unspecified reason EDIT: I now Know why that thread was locked, Im sorry I should have read deeper into the forum rules before posting. This point forward Im just looking to learn
Go here, for Mopar Flathead advice, opinion, conjecture and experience. www.p15-d24.com Lower budget stuff, shave haed to increase compression, split exhaust for better breathing, still ain't gonna be fast, but more power. Which engine? 228, 237 or 251, fluid drive too?
BTW Manifolds by Moose, is in your home state, He builds intakes and exhaust manifolds for these engines. George Asche is not that far away either in Venus Pa, can split your stock exhaust manifold, grind cams etc, they sell nice tri carb intakes too.
First and foremost, Thank you for the information! What I was told by my uncle who I acquired the car from (he stored it for a few decades) the Engine is a 241.5ci The car is still fluid drive and it works flawlessly.
3 spd or M5 semi-auto 4 spd. if this setup works great don't mess with success, shave head, spilt exhaust, should give you some boost. If you have a 3.54 diff, should be able to drive 70 mph all day long, as long as those Lockheed brakes are good, you can upgrade fronts to disc pretty easy too...
semi auto 4 spd, I just rebuilt the entire brake system with now parts from a vendor out here in Massachusetts. I was really cool to replace the liners and not the entire shoe, It put life into perspective of how it was and how it is now. They didn't waste anything!
Those brakes if adjusted correctly, and the shoe lining worn in or arced, can be great. I used to have a 47 Chrysler coupe, and if i hit the brakes could put the passenger into the dash board quick. Just beware of their limitations, and at higher speeds and they will be fine. BTW what kinda freeway cruising speeds you running at? The limiting factor can be taking off from a dead stop with Fluid Drive, in high range, not exactly neck snapping, but not bad on the highway, even has a throttle kickdown, when you floor it.... If it's a nice old "Family" car, with it running and working fine, just do a few things to perk it up, and keep what you have, but it's all up to you. I vote for you to keep it as is, with some performance enhancements that won't break the bank....
Id like to keep it in original configuration but spice it up a tad, I haven't hit an interstates with it but adjusting the brakes was amazingly easy. Im going to do a few neighborhood laps this weekend before it goes into hibernation for the winter
" adjusting the brakes was amazingly easy" is not the usual response...must be something wrong... Great cars for relaxed driving. I'd suggest doing a compression check and a leak-down test so that you have a point of reference as well as getting a 'heads-up' on any existing issues. As mentioned, cutting a bit off of the head will bump compression and doesn't cost much and some folks have adapted a newer 2-bbl to the stock manifold for some improvement in drivability. .
Well you can get the cam reground and shave the had for a little more performance on a budget. You can also split the exhaust if you can weld or you could build a set if headers. you can also build a multi carb intake but if I went that route I would not go with more then 2 carbs. it is not going to give you the hemi performance that the other people would like you to have on your dime, and it may not perform much better then it already does but it will look and sound cool. If you want to go the V8 route with it a 413 would be way cooler than a hemi. But I am a wedgy type of a guy.
The only thing with dual carbs or even tripple carbs, is the throttle kickdown and ignition interrupter for this M5 semi-auto trans. That would require some thought, and planning to see if it will work, sure there must bea way. I am thinking 1 carb does all the low rpm work and electrical stuff, the other(s) are progressive....not sure if my thinking is right...
I don't know too much about them, but I've seen a slew of MOPAR flat 6's for sale locally this month, not that that's necessarily much help unless you need parts or spares. Welcome to the HAMB!
My dad had one in the 1950's. He had a bet with a friend who had a 50 merc with a 55 T-bird V8. The bet was to drag race which they did on the main street of our small town. Dad took two manifolds and made dual intake and exhaust. He also locked the fluid drive in first? I was too young to know how he welded the cast iron manifolds.
He had two choices for welding the manifolds brazing with brass rod or welding with nickel rod. brazing was the most common back then, more people owned or had access to a torch than had access to an electric welder.
I too have a 41 Chrysler Windsor 4door sedan that I've owned since 1974. Don't know how much of a performance hot rod you can make without spending a whole lot on the 6. With the six , Fluid Drive and Vacamatic transmission in good order you'll have a nice comfortable cruiser.
All of the information delivered here is phenomenal, in 24hrs Ive had more logical and positive responses then Ive gotten in 2 years from other internet resources! thank you HAMB!!
Start by checking your compression and oil pressure. Compression should be 90 - 100PSI oil pressure should be 40PSI@20MPH. These engines are very well mannered and will continue to start and run with no bad noises when badly worn. The only symptoms are lessened performance, poor gas mileage, and if really worn they get hard to start. I know guys who planned to hop them up and started by rebuilding the motor. Once they drove a good motor they had no more desire to hop them up. If the engine has more than 50000 miles on it you should do a complete rebuild, if it is not too bad of shape a ring and valve job may be all it needs. In any case they are not hard to work on and all parts are available. I don't recommend hopping up an old motor unless you rebuild it first. You can take an old motor that would run for years if you baby it, and blow it sky high in a month if you hop it up. Have seen this happen more than once. If you do a rebuild there are lots of little things you can do to improve performance like mill the head, install a reground camshaft, larger exhaust pipe. You are somewhat restricted by the Fluid Drive which needs a special carburetor and slows performance at low speeds. They are no ball of fire off the line but cruise down the road real nice at speeds up to 70 MPH. Unlike cheaper engines of the time, they came with full pressure lubrication, aluminum pistons and good cooling systems so fast driving is ok as long as they are in good shape. For an idea what the old flathead is capable of see this story by a guy who drove one 185000 miles in a DeSoto 9 passenger sedan. If it can make it in this whale it can make it in your car. http://www.allpar.com/cars/desoto/suburban-1951.html Notice the part where he says 'at 70 MPH at high altitudes it smooths out like a perfectly balanced turbine'. This in a 5000 pound car with 4:11 gears.
The Fluid Drive came with a 4 speed transmission. They would wind out pretty good if you knew a few tricks. One trick was to drain off half the oil from the Fluid Drive unit. This had the same effect as a high stall speed torque converter. You could cut nearly a second off the automatic shift time by whipping the gearshift quickly into neutral and back while lifting off the gas. If your old man knew how to hop up the motor he was probably up on all the tricks. I DO NOT recommend doing this kind of thing today. Any more than you would expect a 70 year old athlete to jump over the hurdles like he did 50 years ago.
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