Ok, So for my star trek reference I am referring to rear end gears. I took my car out yesterday for a cruise yesterday and I get that the car is a 1933 Dodge 3 speed flat head 6. but I was expecting to at least get to 45-50 mph. well I am curious what I should do to get this car moving a bit faster. I am curious if I am able to change the gears in the rear end. is this a possibility? who sells rear end gears for these old cars.
Explain! It did not have enough power to pull it faster? It SOUNDS like the engine is revving to fast? Ben
reving to fast? it revs up then I shift, I have not tac so I go by sound. it seemed to almost miss or sputter when I got going fast. did not know if its normal or if the motor was reving out.
The top speed of a 1933 Plymouth 6 coupe was 85mph (advertised) and 29sec 0-60 times. I know this isn't the same car as yours but it should be a close reference of what should be possible.... Are you sure that your carb is delivering? Does the linkage allow WOT? or is it limited somewhere? Ignition? I am not sure what (if any) timing advance mechanisms these engines had. Good compression on all 6 cylinders? with a 3 1/8" bore and a +/- 6 to 1 compression ratio one cyl falling out will make a big difference. What's 1/6th of 75 brake HP? (25 HP rated) Chappy
I would have 100?s. How long have you owned this car, is this something new, when has it had the last tune up? Try it with air filter off, it could be that simple. Exhaust could be restricted (bent pipe, something in it). Try all simple things first before thinking about fear change, which wouldn't help the sputtering anyway. Fuel...could be restriction...pump (do a pressure and volume check). Ignition...if new points/condenser/plugs could be coil is breaking down. A couple of 50s cars we have wouldn't rev up...one had a mouse nest in air cleaner housing, other had a bad distributor condenser. If it has centrifugal advance that can cause problems (stuck plate or weights). Carburetor problems also. With it in neutral I assume it sputters when you try revving it? Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
when in Neutral it sounds great, no issues with revving, smooth. but when I drive and get up to 40-45 it seems to have some kind of vibration. so the car should be able to go 60-70 with a flathead 6 in it???
As others have said , do a basic tune up first. Check the balance of the driveshaft. Your car should cruise at 50 mph with no trouble. Calculate your rear end ratio. It should be 4.375:1. Easy to check that - jack up one wheel. Put a chalk mark on the driveshaft and pinion and then turn the jacked up wheel two turns and count the number of times the shaft turns. Also hook a tacho on to it so that you can heck the revs it is pulling. Work out the rolling radius (the distance of the axle from the ground when the tyre is compressed by the car's weight) of the tyres and from that you can work out the number of revs it does per mile, multiply that by 4.375 and it will give you the revs at 60 mph. I would expect it to be around 3,000 rpm. The book says peak power is at 3,400 rpm so it should pull 3,000 without straining. If you were to change the rear end gears you might find that the stock engine would not pull it up hills. Depends on how hilly it is where you are.
I had a 34 Plymouth that ran 65 all day long with the 6 cly. flathead. I'm also had a vibration and a lot of noise when I first got it, found out the lower cluster gear had way to much wear shaft to bearings, after fixing that no noise or vibration. Just so you know the bearings are metric sizes.
I'll be the first to ask...I mean I know there has to be a joke in there somewhere, but I can't figure it out!
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/to-tint-or-not-to-tint-that-is-the-question.1102829/ There ya go
How long have you owned this car...is this something new that happened? Wheel weight fell off? How bad, is it like lose your dentures vibration above 45? Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
The car was gently treated for decades, and was probably never driven over 35 - 40 MPH. Occasionally, when somebody young gets a car like this, they take it out to some clear stretch of road & "clean 'er out"... after a couple high speed runs, say up to 60 - 70, the top rings will have hit the ridge worn in the top of the bore enough to ruin the compression seal & begin scoring the walls & burning thru the broken ring lands. Personally, I'd keep it under 45 - 50 ...
I am cuious if any of you know if I change the rear end and gears to 3:55 if the transmission / motor would be able to handle it. 1953 Dodge Flathead 6 ci 230
The limit does not seem like gears at all! Read the stuff above! The engine does not want to rev or put out power. If it can't make power it may well be SLOWER when it has to pull higher gears...really! You need the sort of analysis that would start by going through all the tuning factors, and also trying out possible blockage problems by removing air filter, loosening an exhaust joint, etc. the two likeliest scenarios are: You will find something dirt simple...mouse nest in the exhaust, advance rusted up, points corroded from sitting, etc. Or...a simple but bigger problem like rings stuck, valve seats corroded, etc. It is HIGHLY unlikely that changing gearing will do anything good.
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