This is pretty embarr***ing. I am a Chevy guy, but I just bought a 49 Plymouth Woodie. It has a flathead six. I know nothing about flatheads - 327's,454's, I'm good. Flatheads? I am lost without valve covers. Can someone help me identify what flathead I have in the car sio i can find the right manual, order the right parts, etc. I highly doubt the engine is original to the car because it has a montgomery wands badge on it. It runs pretty well, but i need to tinker. I frankly don't even know if it is a Plymouth Flathead, thoug I pretty much ***ume so because the car is in outstanding basically original condition. I have been bouncing around the net trying to find ID guides, etc., but have had no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It's a Monkey-Wards rebuilt eng. Can't tell what you have without a pic. Think it should have a 201'' eng. Congrats on the Woodie. Frank
what's the serial number stamped in the side of the block? that is how you can code them. and put a picture up, too and people can help you out.
If it is the later 49 then you have a P18 Motor or a 218ci. Look for the number stamped on the block. The later 49's had the ribbeb bumpers.
Just above that core plug on the left front of the block you will find a machined pad with a serial number. The first character should be a letter, identifiing the car line the engine was in, or maybe it was industrial. The next two numbers will indicate the series car it was in. For instance my 56 Dodge PU has a P25**** engine. From a Plymouth of 1957 vintage I think.
Ken C ..... A P25 will be a 1954 Plymouth motor, not 1957. Jim K1954..... could be a Plymouth (prefix P, or Dodge, prefix D ). Here's some sites for ya: www.p15-d24.com ..... great info, including dating your engine, also a great forum for flathead Mopars. www.oldmoparts.com www.vintagepowerwagons.com www.kanter.com www.rockauto.com
that motor was probably a rebuild done by T.A.M. engineering back in the 80's. they used to do the motors that were sold by montgomery wards and sears. take a picture of the tag and i can tell you if it is or not. used to work there in the 80's.
Building a 53 plymouth coupe here. Does anyone know what the weight (lbs) is for just the flathead 6 cly Plymouth engine? I'm trying to calculate the difference in weight of a org. flathead 6 and the 56 '354' chrysler firepower hemi I'm going with.
Hi Everyone, Thanks for the great information. Hoping for more help. Here is some more data that you guys have alerted me to: Engine number: P23 then a star then 9350 and another star Head No: DN in one section, then a really big A and below the A is 6.5.53 (which looks like a date?) I need to get to another computer for pictures, but this may help in the meanwhile. A lot of great suggections form you all, I really appreciate it as my wife is beginning with the side-long glances. The sooner this runs reliably, the better.
Except for rods and cranks the difference between a 218 Plymouth engine and a dodge 230 is nothing. The 230 is a stroked 218, add cranck and rods and your 218 can be a 230. For internal parts Terrill Machine in texas is a great place, also vintage powerwagons. Terrill does not have a website. VPW does. Aslo EGGE has internal parts, gasket sets etc. If its free do a compression check, anything over 75 and you should be good to go for a start up. If it has been sitting for a while it will likely have a coupe cylinders with stuck valves, as they will sit on the cam open the when the cm turns they will be hung up. As far as valve covers go they are located behind the exhaust manifold. If stock car is6V positive ground, if you are gonna put a 6 v battery in make sure the primary battery cables are 0 gauge minimum. Whimpy 12V cables won't cut the mustard. Stock coil is a bit of an issue as on the 41 it is mouted on the firewall and only has 2 connection on the engine side the coil to dizzy and the coil to points. The ignition terminal is on the p***enger side on the back of the coil. If it is a rebuilt unit, it should have a tag riveted to the engine block usually between the genny and the oil breather. The info on the tag should refer to oversize pistons and undersize crank grinds. Basically you have a very reliable 100 HP engine, that puts out over 200 ftlbs of torque at 1600 rpm. Biggest cheapest improvent you can make is milleing the head, decking the block, up to .090 is do able and still run on regular. .050 to .070 is probably the most reliable. lots of info and parts sources on p15 d 24 website and forum.
Ply 46 - there is a rblt tag on the left side of the block: bore - .040; rods - .020; mains .010. I am guessing that means they bored out to cylender and and the main and rod bearings to that tolerance. It looks like this is a 1951 or 1952 218 (from a spec site) Any significance to the head (DN A 6.5.53) is this a date or just a casting number? Current set up is a single throat Carter ((E4 D6H2). Car runs only so-so currently, but I think after I adjust the valves it will make a big difference. It does have the feel of either timing not advancing or not getting enough air/fuel at higher speeds. I bought this from a private museum where they exercised their cars monthly, but this hasn't seen much use for several years. Kept inside though, with very nice wood and paint. I will give it a compression test before deciding what else to do with it. Is there a better choice for carburation? Also, do you think the engine, running strong, would handle aftermarket AC kit? California is a hot place. Thank you for your help.
Jim, Langdon's Stovebolts http://www.stoveboltengineco.com/ has Offy dual carb intakes, cast headers, mini HEI distributors. In addition to the shaving the head as mentioned, letting these things breath is a big improvement. These old mopars will indeed handle AC you can check out the P15-D24 site for a lot of nfo on Mopar flat 6's. http://www.merc583.addr.com/mopar/index.html Also take a look at Pete's (BlueSkies) site. http://www.50plymouth.com/ He built a very nice 50 Plymouth and has do***ented the engine build.
A 1949 Plymouth wagon, second series, would look like left one. The first series 49 would look like right one.
The number on the head, 6.5.53 is the date it was made. The DN should have pointer looking thing cast under it somewhere pointing to either D(for day shift), or N(for night shift). I don't remember what the A is, maybe a mold number? Unless it's really making a racket, I don't know if adjusting the valves would gain you much. My 90,000 mile motor never had it's valves adjusted and they were still in spec when I rebuilt it. It's a pain to do too because the side cover is behind the intake/exhaust, and you're sullosed to adjust them at operating temperature. I'd look at a tune up and carb rebuild before I went to valves.
Check you vacuum advance and accelorator pump. The Acc pump also has a three position adjustment on the stroke length. The carters are simple and reliable, and about a 10 minute rebuild. The thing with the comp check is to do a dry one, then another with a bit of oil down the plug holes. What your looking for is a consistant reading from cylinder to cylinder. Factory was 100 to 110 depending on CR I belive 53-54 was 6.7 to one so anything between 75 and 90 is probably a good deal. cyls should be plus or minus 10% across the various cylinders. So according to the tag you're already .040 over stock onthe pistons, and the crank was ground .020 so he bearings are +.020 from stock onthe crank and +.010 on the rods. It was very common for these engines to be rebuilt or swapped at 50 to 60 K due to dusty operating conditions, oil bath filters non detergent oils etc. ot uncommon to find truck engines in cars car engines in truck and industrial motors in either.
For those of you asking for pictures, I have posted a few to my album here and HAMB. Of course, i can't figure out how to access those to the forums. I also can't get attachments to work. I will figure it out. Here is anothet question on this engine. It runs OK, but not with a lot of power. I have between 88 and 90 Lbs compression across all six. It does not sound like it misses, but has no top end. It starts very hard, hot or cold. When I time it, the timing light shows the timing mark to be a good three inches from the pointer - that would have to be something like 60 degrees? advance. I don't think that is possible and still be running. I am already at full advance on the adjustment. Pulling the screw and advancing more makes little difference. I really cant get the timing marks to align. Seems really strange. Is it actually possible to install the balancer wrong? My #1 plug is at about 7 oclock, but, in that position, my points are on the bottom - doesn't seem like it should matter, but the manuals all show the points essentiall on the top. For this motor, I should be at TDC. It can't be that far out and still be running. Any thoughts? If I put piston 1 at the top of the compression stroke, should the timing mark align with the pointer??
nature of the beast! the carbs that langdons sells seem to inprove the motors as they have idle circuts. this is feedback coming from guys that run them. priced right also.
There are two adjustments for the advance. One is the bolt that holds the distributor plate to the block. The other is a bolt under the distributor that holds the distributor plate to the distributor itself. No one knows about this second adjustment point because they are too young and the distributors are covered in crud. LOL It does not matter where the #1 plug is. If it bothers you, pull the distributor and rotate the shaft 180 degrees. Now #1 will be at the top, like in the pictures. Rotate your plug wires too, of course.
One other item about not having a top end. Remeber the old rule of thumb. Misfire/rough running/weakness at low rpm = ignition, at high rpm = fuel. Pull that carb and take it all apart. Dunk it in a carb cleaner (NAPA sells in 1 gallon and 5 gallon cans). Not as 'strong' as in the old days, but an important 'tool' if you run older vehicles. Spraying the carb p***ages with carb cleaner is NOT the same thing and you can spray a case of carb cleaner thru it and it will not get the gunk out the way a dip will. Wear gloves, don't get this stuff on your skin. When you re***emble your carb you will see the difference.
I had a 54 Plymouth Savoy given to me and I am trying to get parts for the engine, but I don't think it is the original engine. The Carb Rebuild kit I bought doesn't match. The serial number on the engine is *P25*445233*. Any help identifying this engine would be appreciated.
hi there all hi tankwilson do you have some place where you have pictures of your plymouth flathead thanks
Old thread, but related... My number on engine: PI5*43I300* I have a 40 Deluxe - the PO indicated it was a numbers matching, but I think this is a 46 engine number maybe?
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