Technical 55 royal build, or how to build on a budget and not get put on the couch by your wife.

63k on the odometer, pretty sure it hasn't flipped. The ol timer said it was a "family" car out of New Mexico. It's been in the desert with it's clothes on for 20 years.
My thought was if this motor is for some reason trashed, I don't think it is either, I'd get a little 350 and turbo 350 and "drop" it in.
Is there any reason I couldn't get a yolk welded on to the stock drive shaft and run the Mopar rear end that way?

 

And the reason im leaning Chevy , if need be,is they are a dime a dozen out here.

 

bet the motor is fine. figure if the guy let it go for $400 his investment was probably minimum and had better things to do since it cool but....! Hell find a cheap toyota truck and drop a 22R in it! If it was in Cuba it would have a Russian diesel 4 cylinder in it!

 

Hes on older guy. Builds old willys jeeps.
Told me his wife is pestering him to get their yard cleaned up and he has too many projects going on.

 

The reason you can't use the stock rear axle is the handbrake is on the trans on those Dodges. That means, no emergency brake on the axle. If you junk the trans you have to change the rear brakes and you might as well change the axle. It has bolts instead of studs and nuts, and left hand threads on the left side, and removable hubs you have to take off with a big puller to do a brake job, and they are usually frozen on.

All in all if you swap the engine and trans you might as well change the rear axle, it is easier than monkeying around with the old one. You have to have a driveshaft made anyway because of the "unique" front universal you can hardly get anymore. If you change the rear axle you might even be able to use a junkyard drive shaft if you are real lucky.

It's worth trying to save the original engine even if you have to give it a ring and valve job and a set of bearings. If it needs a full rebuild you might think twice.

But, with 63000 miles, there is a good chance it doesn't need anything but a tuneup and oil change. Provided they never ran without an air filter.

 

Ok I see.
So "park" won't hold the car on those trannies?

 

Those parking brakes were good providing everything was up to snuff. I did see one go on fire in an old Plymouth, it may have been sticking and the linings went up, possibly fed by a coating of grease under the car.

 

Butch's Cool Stuff (also an alliance vendor) has a kit for what you want to do. Definitely worth checking into. He also makes one for the 318 small block Mopar series swap.

 

It's not a "drop in" which is where you are better off sticking with what you have if in the end you want it in the car. Otherwise you have to undo everything you did to put the 350 in.

I'll bet you could find something running that would "drop in" for less than a 350. Outside of the hemi's there isn't a huge market for old Chrysler engines of the smaller displacement variety.

 

Park won't hold when you hit the off ramp @ 80 and the brakes quit working. A hand brake or E brake is a mechanical emergency brake and not a parking brake. Anyway that is what the fellas are trying to tell you. I have seen guys with a mechanical disc setup on the pinion but it may be hard to impossible to get one setup for your rear.

Your old drive shaft has a trunnion instead of a U joint, you could not doubt get a U joint yolk welded on the drive shaft but it may be hard to find a u joint yolk to fit the drive shaft diameter. In the whole scheme of things it is easier to change the rear if you go the engine swap route, and perhaps even cheaper in the long run.

All of this is nothing that I would sweat today, find out where you are at first and go from there.

You are probably correct about the grease I think that the steel would catch fire before the asbestos.

 

Good to see so much interest in an old sedan.
Allow me to recap a couple of thoughts; The only engine that will 'drop-in' will be a similar, 1955 Dodge 270 or '55-56 Plymouth 260/270. The difference is that of the front "Floating-Power" mount. Other useable Mopar engines pre-62, including the A series poly, EarlyHemi, or the Hemi-based poly (which you have now) had side mounts (and no, the B-RB has a different bell to block pattern). The block bolt pattern and the crank flange design changed for the '62 model year when the flex-plate arrived on the v-8. Confused yet??
As mentioned, mounting kits are available for engines with side mounts but that money could also be used to clean-up the existing engine (assuming that there are no broken parts).
'Usually', the cost of a Cherokee or Exploder axle is similar to the cost of rebuilding the brakes on your stock piece so most folks swap. The wheel bolt pattern is the same.
One way to keep the old axle is to swap the engine and trans from a motor home since many of those had the e-brake also mounted on the trans...however, the assembly is quite large and likely wouldn't clear the floor.

So, check the trans fluid and see/smell just how bad it might be and pull the plugs and get some PB penetrant in the holes.

.

 

Yeah, the "park" position will hold with these transmissions. Some states require a park brake or emergency brake. I've had cars with and without a park brake and been in spots where I needed the park brake to stop the car when a brake line failed. Also drove cars with no park brake and just been lucky. Your mileage may vary.

 

And in the end it'd be just another car with a bellybutton engine, how boring.

 

Yeah, I agree with this.

If you end up tossing the original engine for some reason, please just do something original besides another generic cookie cutter SBC swap. Please.

 

The long term goal would obviously be to get it back to original, power train wise, I'm just not familiar with Mopar anything and just "thinking out loud" to feel out options.
I got a trailer lined up so when I'm done checking my rigs I'm going to go pick it up and I'll have some bearing on a starting point.
Hopefully I can get this 270 going. I've been researching brakes and if it's just cylinders and minor stuff it doesn't seem outrageously expensive at all.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate the input.
I always wonder how the ol heads got shit figured out without the interwebs. Haha

 

Says the guy with the belair avatar.

Yea like an inline 6 or maybe a flathead. Those certainly wouldn't be cookie cutter.

I don't think that an SBC in a Dodge would be cookie cutter, a stock engine would be cookie cutter and it would just be another stock dodge. Does that mean that an SBC is the perfect option? Perhaps perfect is what allows someone to drive on their budget as opposed to own a car that will never run because of their budget.

 

More than likely, the brake was accidentally left on for a while, then things got hot to the point of igniting the xmsn grease.
Had an old '50 Dodge with that type of brake. It had to be used almost all of the time because there was a Fluid Drive in the car; which is not a solid coupling.
Occasionally, the brake would slip, so I'd apply it not too tight, then speed on down the road 'til I saw smoke in the rearview mirror. Stopped just short of fire.
It was good to go for another 6 or 8 months.

Also had '57 Dodge with that tail-shaft brake. The TorqueFlight xmsn did not have a Park position.
Just R N D L. I converted the push-button to a floor shift. No detents, so you had to exercise a little caution when starting the car. It was also necessary to use the hand brake with that car.
And the rear end did not have mechanical braking; the car being "parked" via the hand brake only.

 

Exactly. The goal is to get her going and enjoy her .
That's what all this is about in the end.
Get in and go, and look sexy doing it ! Haha

 

If it won't turn with a socket on the crank bolt, don't be in a hurry to pull the engine. Remove the starter and pry between the bellhousing and flywheel teeth using a LARGE screwdiver or something similar. You can get a lot more leverage than with a socket on the crank bolt. But do this after you've soaked the cylinders with oil, and tapped on each rocker to make sure the valves aren't stuck.

 

Yea I'm gonna pull the valve covers and I've already found a guy close that will rebuild the starter for me if need be.
He says the old dodge starter shafts will sometimes lock against the flywheel.

 

Ha, obviously the SBC is probably the greatest bang-for-your-buck engine of all time, I just think with a little looking you can find a nailhead or OHV Cad motor (for example) which would make almost equal power as a smaller SBC, but at the same time would be a much more unique combo for roughly similar costs.

Anyway, I guess the main point here is that another cool old car is being saved. I'd be proud to drive that no matter what was under the hood.

 

It's not going to have one of those trannies. If you change the engine you have to change the trans too, remember?

The new trans won't have a hand brake on it. None of them do, except Chrysler products, and then only up to 1964.

That is what I am saying:

Easiest choice, keep the original engine

Second easiest, if it is possible, install a later model 318 to your existing trans (if it can be done)

Last, replace engine, trans, driveshaft, and rear axle with Chev or whatever you like.

Just going by the information you have given, 9 chances out of 10 I could get that engine running again in a few hours.

It is also possible you could freshen it up with new rings, a valve job, possibly bearing inserts and a timing chain. No need to bore the cylinders or buy new pistons if the cylinders are worn less than .010. Just hone with a bottle brush hone, polish the journals with crocus cloth and take the heads to a machine shop. All this should cost under $1000

If the rod is sticking through the block, you can replace it with a later model engine of your choice. But if you don't use a Chrysler product, you have to replace the whole drive train.

I'm still waiting for someone to chime in on mating the old Powerflite to a later engine. I believe it is possible but forget the details.

 

I got nothing against saving the car, or even hot rodding the car or slicing and dicing it. it is just the belly button thing that grinds on me. It is a kind of a holier then thou attitude usually spawned by someone who is running a non belly button flathead or inline 6.

I have been pretty lucky in my time I have had opportunity to play with a multitude of different engines, some not mine, and have fallen into come pretty different power trains cheap. But I have also had to scrap by with what I had more then once and managed to enjoy every minute of it. It is a shame that we cannot have one of these threads without someone who is not having fun opening their mouth with some sort of an unsolicited insult.

OK off my soap box, getting back to the question at hand, one can turn the engine at the flywheel with a screw driver as has been stated, or a fly wheel turner is cheap and makes it even easier.

Rusty,
I think that I have seen an adapter for a post poly small block to the early transmission. Maybe it was here or maybe I was researching it for someone, maybe advance adapters or transdapt?

 

Taking her home finally !

 

6 volt and positive ground. its possible somebody tried to start it with a 12 volt negative ground and fryed relays. put a socket on the crank and see if you can turn it over by hand.

 

Well I got her to the shop and spent about 30 min on it before it started pouring rain.
The Good: seats are in really good shape. Wheels roll freely.
All the glass is their and in good shape, driver window cracked. The side trim is in the back seat along with an extra front fender. I didn't bother trying to get the seat out to get in the trunk, the whole car is a spiders nest. I'm gonna throw a bug bomb in it. Haha

The bad: motor won't turn. Put a socket on the driveshaft bolt and nothing. Maaaybe an 1\8 back and forth. Pulled a couple plugs and sprayed some PB in it. Pulled a valve cover and didn't see any major damage. Couldn't turn the pushrods by hand, but the car had been sitting for 10-15 years minimum without running so no surprise there ,Not sure how tight Mopar valves are adjusted either. I sprayed the valve train with PB on that side.
I didn't have time to get the car in the air and look at the starter and make sure that's not locked up.
Tomorrow I'll pull the rest of the plugs and pour some sea foam in the cylinders and put the plugs back in and let it sit. Look at the starter and make sure there isn't an issue there.

Leaf spring on the drivers side is flat, no biggie.

So not bad for the price so far. Crossing my fingers I can get her to roll over and then I'll start digging into electrical etc .there is a 6 volt battery in it. I'm sure it's a goner but I'll try and trickle charge it and see if it'll hold a charge.

 

The car looks amazingly solid and complete (note to self... no more basket case cars..). Watch out for the spiders! I had spider nests all along the bottom of my Ford when it showed up last summer. And in the brake drums.. everywhere.

I got a bite on the back of my hand and on 2 fingers that was pretty nasty for a while. I put the car on stands and blasted the whole bottom of it with a power washer.

 

PB evaporates fairly fast. ATF, MMO, ect is a better choice. Don't recall seeing new engine to OEM tranny adaptors, the OEm trannys ain't all that great.

 

per Motors Auto Repair Manual 1956, both intake and exhaust valves of the 270 are set to zero clearance when at operating temp. The engine uses hydraulic valve lifters.
Have used ATF/acetone @ 50/50 mix with good results. It won't evaporate away if it's in a dispensing bottle.

 

Yea it's all I had. I was gonna mess with it today but I got called out for work.
I'm gonna stop and get some stuff y'all mentioned on the way home and work on it mañana.