Hi guys, thanks for allowing me to join this forum. Have a 55 Plymouth Belvedere, Australian put together, I think surplus from you guys when you bought out the 55 Plymouth. Similar to your 53 / 54 model. It sports a 25 1/2 inch flathead six. Stamped Kew on the block , can’t find much info on it over here . Apparently from Canada, but hopefully you knowledgeable chaps can enlighten me more. Look forward to any info you can share. The more I know about this car , the easier it will be to find parts for it.
Pictures might help....of the engine, and the stamps on the engine, and any casting numbers on it. Also the serial number tags, etc on the car. And the whole car. Interesting that it has the big engine.
Hate to steer anyone away from this great place, but there are some guys with lots of Mopar knowledge at the p15-d24 site. Actually even a few with insight on the down-under versions. There are several with the steering on the wrong side there.
Since your car has the 25 inch engine, it probably came from Canada as a CKD import. Canada based all its six cylinder engines on the larger block after building their engine plant in 1938. The 1953-54 cars Didn't sell well due to the styling so that is probably why excess inventory got sent to Australia as 1955 models. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks , any info on the larger block, stamped KEW. Either I’m an idiot or there just isn’t a lot of info on them, and most of the posts I read, and parts is see for sale are all based around the smaller block.
Chrysler US had 2 six cylinder engines at the time, one was 23 1/4" long used in Plymouth and Dodge, the larger 25" long model used in DeSoto and Chrysler. When they built an engine foundry in Canada in the late 30s they only made one engine, the big 25" block. Then they juggled the bore and stroke to get smaller engines for Plymouth and Dodge. Small bore 3 3/8, large bore 3 7/16. Stroke from 4 1/8 to 4 3/4. Your car probably came with the 228 cu in small bore engine. They made this model of flathead six from 1937 or 38 up to 1959 for passenger cars, 1962 for Dodge trucks. 1968 for military 4 wheel drive Power Wagons, and 1972 for industrial and marine use. Millions were made and thousands are still in service. They are a simple engine to work on and parts are still available. Most parts from regular auto parts stores, or specialists like Vintage Power Wagons who have tons of used and NOS parts. Andy Bernbaum is another Chrysler parts specialist. You can probably get everything you need locally as they were used in a lot of Australian cars and trucks. Engine is well made though simple and comes with hardened exhaust valve seats and other quality features. The only unusual fault I have seen is broken pistons in worn out, high mile motors. Even with broken pistons they continue to run without drama. They can be foolers, and run without excess knocks or bangs even when worn out. They get hard to start, down on power and burn more gas and oil but they keep on running. To assess the engine's condition start by checking the oil pressure and compression pressure. Oil pressure should be 35 pounds at 30MPH. Compression, ideally 120PSI or so but 90 - 100 is plenty to be going on with. Difference between cylinders should be less than 10 PSI. Cars with points ignition and carburetors need regular tuneups and oil changes, more than modern cars. If you service the engine properly it should last about 80,000 miles, maybe more on modern oil. Rebuilding the engine not very difficult or expensive. A couple of points that trip up new owners of old Chrysler products. Watch out for left hand threads on the left side wheel nuts. The electrical system is 6 volt positive ground. Hope this helps you get familiar with your new steed. Good luck and happy motoring.
I think this model was the first Chrysler product entirely built in Australia, and not from imported parts or with an Australian body on an imported chassis. When the 1955 Plymouth came out they shipped off the old tooling to Australia and had a ready made factory to set up. The 1954 model did not sell well in the US where the demand was for longer, lower, gaudier and more powerful cars. The 53-54 Plymouths had been designed to be smaller and more economical than previous models and that was not what the customers wanted. On the other hand there was a big demand in Australia for a simple, rugged and reliable car built on American lines but slightly smaller and more economical than American cars of the late fifties. This model filled the bill admirably, and I believe they sold well and were popular for several years before being replaced by the Valiant. One point I am not clear on is whether Australia had their own engine foundry or depended on imported engines. I believe their engines were sourced from Canada, and in addition to the flathead six they offered a 318 V8 which was never in this model in north America. Kew was the location of Chrysler's English importer, it is a suburb of London. Engines marked Kew suggest they were made for England, I don't believe they had an engine plant in England. Plymouths were sold in England as the 'Chrysler Kew' in the 1930s The engine number should allow you to find out all the information you need from local sources. The number may be a unique Australian one, not the same as Canadian or American series.
pictures...where are the pictures? https://forums.aaca.org/topic/126439-help-identifying-dodge-engine/
Kew is the name of Chrysler's assembly plant in Surrey, England. I have no information what they did there in the 1950's.
looks like they built trucks there in the 50s. British Kew trucks, like a Dodge, only different. I can't find any info on engine manufacturing there, though. But they did make engines in Windsor, CA. starting in 1938.
neat! Are there any interesting foundry casting marks on it that might indicate the casting date, or which foundry? looks like it's been recently overhauled or rebuilt.
You have a sweet looking ride there. It reminds me of a 2 tone blue 54 Plymouth hardtop my uncle had when I was a kid. That serial number is not one used in north america, they all began with P for Plymouth, D for Dodge, S for DeSoto, C for Chrysler, Ind for industrial, T for truck, or M for marine. You should be able to find an Australian service manual that can ID the engine. Every dealer's service department had them and they still turn up at swap meets and online. Kew suggests an English spec motor. How they differed from Canadian or American I don't know. They did make some small bore engines for England in the thirties as a tax dodge but the horsepower tax based on cylinder bore was done away with in 1947.
Squirrel's link says Aussie Plymouths used the 250 cu in engine used in NA Chryslers and DeSotos in the early fifties and in Dodge trucks and Power Wagons. This is a 3 7/16" bore and a 4 1/2" stroke and is the second larges of the series, the only larger one being the 4 3/4 stroke 265 used in 52-54 Chryslers. These last are quite rare. If you want to check engine size there is a handy feature on all Chrysler made flathead sixes. There is a pipe plug in the head over the last cylinder. You can unscrew the plug and drop a screwdriver down the hole and it will hit the top of the piston, by slowly turning the engine you can measure the length of the stroke. This is also handy for finding top dead center for setting ignition timing, #6 piston and #1 rise and fall together.
Am 3 rd owner, last guy was a collector and only put 1000 miles on it. Has 48,000 miles on the clock and both previous owners have never cracked the head open. Probably looks tidier than it appears , did all the welsh plugs over a year ago . Only one was weeping , but decided to do all of them. Planning on a dual carb setup , hence why I initially asked those questions regarding parts from your corner of the world. Should I be looking at power wagon parts as they had the dual carb setup and the bigger block? Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
The truck engines with dual carbs are a much bigger block and parts will not fit your car. The flathead six responds well to a few hop up tricks but it is recommended you replace bearings and rings, check clearances and check for crankshaft and cylinder wear and touch up the valves in the interest of durability and longevity. Dual carbs, dual exhaust, reground camshaft with shimmed valve springs, milled head and shaved flywheel are the usual touches. I expect they were raced in Australia back in the day, everything else was, and there should be some old timers with a few tricks up their sleeves. I know for other engines there are Australian made hop up parts that are not available elsewhere, and that importing parts from the US can be slow and expensive. You can make your own dual or triple manifold by welding short pipes and flanges onto the stock manifold. Muffler shops have 2 bolt exhaust flanges that work well for this and pipes too. Cams can be reground, heads and flywheels shaved, exhaust manifolds split for dual exhaust. All without buying expensive and hard to find parts. Possibly the simplest cheapest and best hop up would be a turbocharger. For certain technical reasons, flathead engines respond well to supercharging. The only drawback is, the turbo could cause the exhaust valves and seats to take more heat than the cooling system can disperse resulting in burnt valves. But if you keep the pressure down to 5 PSI or so there should be no problem and this should give you a 33% increase in usable horsepower, which is about all you will get out of a typical hop up, and do so at low cost without spoiling low speed docility.
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