Putting a Chrysler Industrial Hemi in a 52 Dodge truck

A helper is a must. You should see the look of disgust on my 14 year daughters face anytime I call her to come help me and the word "brakes" falls out of my mouth. My wife absolutely refuses to pump the brakes anymore. She helped me on her Charger and figures the little girl can do it on her truck. My son gets a pass for now, but it's only because his little legs can't push the peddle all the way down...he'll get his day though I assure you. As far as I'm concerned bleeding brakes is a right of passage and simply part of growing up.

 

I took a set of speed bleeders off my car after I found out they were sucking air. Thought it would be a great way to get the brakes bled, but they didn't work for crap. I had a hard time even getting them to seal at all after I opened/closed them a few times, and I had just bought them brand new. Back to the original style and no issues, other than the need for someone else to step on the brakes.

And I would still check the master cylinder bore. Sounds like all the valves should be good to go, but if the bore of the master is smaller than the bore on the wheel cylinders in the back you may have issues.

 

Pedal is getting better...still needs work.

But, i did take it for a real short drive down the block just a few mins ago. Once i get the pedal firm, I will put the front end back on and get it tuned.

Feeling a bit more positive today.

 

Got some much needed help this morning (Thanks Rock).

Discovered that my master was plumbed backwards. Made new lines to fix that, so now I have the larger bowl flowing to the rear drums. That helped a lot...we're getting a solid pedal for the rears.

But the fronts still don't want to work well.

When I push down the pedal, it gets solid about halfway through the travel...but at the start, it's soft. We're not getting any air coming out through the front calipers.

Could the combo proportion valve needle ( or whatever balances the front/rear fluid flow) be stuck or need to be reset somehow?

Any tips on what to check?

Another question - when I look into the bowl of the MC, there are two holes in the front bowl....a really tine hole and a slightly larger one. In larger one, you can see the piston about halfway covering that hole. Is this right or is it possible that my MC isn't fully releasing and not pushing enough pressure through to the front calipers?

 

I've thought about it some more and there is definitely something wrong witht that combo valve, Dan. Since I don't have any information on it, I can't tell you what. But I'm willing to bet that once you get that fixed, you'll have plenty of pedal.

I think your pushrod adjustment is fine but I'll be interested to see what other say. It's filling the cylinders and it cuts off the bleed hole in the first 3/4"-1" of travel.

Good luck. Let me know what you find out. Also, you need to come get those flare nut wrenches so you can tighten everything up properly.

 

Since your m/c was hooked up backwards, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the proportioning valve has probably equalized in the wrong spot. Most of these are just a piston that equalizes between the front and rear lines, and according to what I've read before you just need to bleed the brakes in the proper order (passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front) to get these to settle in the right place. Sometimes they require some extra steps though, which will depend on the type of proportioning/combo valve you have. I used to have a set of instructions for a Ford combo valve, but I can't seem to locate them at the moment...

 

We bled them in the proper order, three passes. So, that's been done. Dan didn't have any documentation and thinks he's got it all plumbed correctly but there is something definitely wrong besides bleeding at this point.

 

As I was following this great build, a question came to me and I don't want to cause problems when my turn comes.

I noticed Dan had run his engine with the transmission mounted to the block prior to plumbing the cooling lines. Did he risk damaging the bands or clutches by running it dry?

I hope to have my project completed soon and don't want to start it up without plumbing the trans.

Thanks guys, and great work Dan!

 

I had fluid in the trans....I just ran a short hose to connect both ends. You can't run the transmission empty (even in park, it spins) and you need the lines looped (otherwise, you can damage the pump).

Good question though...I had to ask the same one before my first startup.

 

I found the instructions for the proportion valve - and it has a test procedure to determine if the valve is operating correctly. Back to work testing tomorrow. Need to try to dig up a test light.

PDF here....this will download the manual as a PDF file. Based on the picture, I have the lines routed correctly (now).

http://www.mbmbrakeboosters.com/ind...hk=559c3c84d62a0e733fc365ef118a23c5&no_html=1

 

You can use an ohmeter, Dan. You're just checking for continuity.

Also, there is no adjustment on this one, so it's either working or stuck. It appeared we were getting flow to the fronts ok. I'd pay more attention and maybe check that now. If all of this checks out, you've got the residual valves plumbed backwards, I think.............

 

Did another round of bleeding last night....didn't help much.

There are small leaks at the pressure valves and I think they are introducing air into the system. I currently have one pressure valve for each front line. One seeps just a bit...the front driver side drips more.

No matter how many times I bleed the front line, I'm still getting pretty good sized bubbles. The front pass side just barely seeps and I only see micro-bubbles on that side...almost perfectly clear.

Because of where I mounted the pressure valve, I just can't seem to get a good grip on the valve to tighten it, so I think I'm going to redo the front lines. Going to block off one output on the prop valve. Then from the other output, run a line to a single pressure valve...then T it off to the front calipers. Then I only have one pressure valve to worry about and I'll put it where I can get to it easily.

If that doesn't work, then I'll just throw away the front brakes and rear drums only.

 

Do you have the 3/16" inverted flair to 1/8" NPT adapters screwed in both ends of the valves?

 

Yes...that's where the leak is on both of the RPVs. The adapters are the ones that came with the valves.

 

If fluid can come out, air can get in!

 

Did you wrap the threads of the adapters with teflon tape or some sealant, Dan? If not, you will have to. They will leak otherwise.

 

You will never get a good pedal if you still have leaks. When the fluid runs out under pressure, it sucks air back in when the pressure is released. Pipe threads need a sealant of some type, the flair has to be metal to metal. If your leak is at the flair end, inspect the tube for a crack on the flair end.

If your concerned about the plunger in the master not coming all the way back, you can space the master off the booster with a couple flat washers on each stud between the booster and the master then tighten the nuts up. It will reduce the pedal travel, but will add free play between the booster and the master which will allow the master's plunger to fully return to the seat at the end.

If fluid is passing through both the front and the rear of your combo valve, it is OK. They are either centered or they are not. Gene

 

I thought that brake fluid would disintegrate any type of thread sealer over time.

I spent last night rerouting my brake lines so I could easily tighten all the connections. I only have a very slight seep now and it's at the pipe adapter on the pressure valve. It's as tight as I can make it, so I guess I will need a sealer.

What's the best stuff to use for that one connection?

 

As noted, pipe threads (NPT) need sealant, either teflon tape or Blue Locktite.

.

 

I've given up on the brakes. I put the sealant on the pipe fittings and the pedal is only a little bit better. They're good enough for me to drive to a shop (as long as nobody's too close in front of me), so today, I put the front panels back on. Surprisingly, something was easy to do on this project.

It fits better than I thought and I have plenty of clearance from the valve covers to the wheel well covers ( I was afraid that it would be tight).

I haven't bolted them in place yet, but here's a couple pictures.

 

Damn, Dan. I just knew you had this licked. I'm off to Chicago for the week. Hopefully, you'll have gotten it straightened out by the time I get back.

 

Getting closer to calling it done. Got the bumper and hood installed...then relocated the horn. Also finished up all the lights and after fixing a wiring mistake, got the turn signals working.

It's close, but I can remove the air cleaner lid (didn't think of that until I had the hood on and was relieved that it slides out).











Tomorrow I'm going to drive it over to the tire place to get the toe adjusted.

 

Looks great, Dan! I know you're excited.

Did you get the brakes straightened out?

 

Looking absolutely great Dan! There's nothing else to say.

 

Great project w/ an even better engine swap. Makes you realize how big the Chrysler
variety of the Hemi family really is.......

 

Brakes seem sorted out. I was missing a bushing on the caliper bolts. That was allowing the calipers to move, thus the soft feeling pedal.

The engine wasnt out of tune...at least we dont think so...the exhaust crossover ports are leaking. I probably didnt seal them up good enough when i put on the double gaskets. I may ave forgotten sealant. Ordered new gaskets today and i will try again.

Whats the strongest gasket sealant i can use?

 

Go to NAPA and ask for a tube of 35959 Walker AcoustiSeal and put some of that on it and reinstall.

 

I can use that stuff on my intake manifold gaskets? It looks like it's meant for exhaust pipes...want to make sure it's water tight too.

 

Dan
I just went fire my 354 truck motor up . When I was adding water to to the radiator I thought I had a big orange sprinkler. Then I used Locktight 567 on the bolt threads to seal her up. I hope to have it started up next weekend. From you pic it looks like you need to seal the top valve cover bolts. They go into the water jacket on my truck heads. I am also going to seal the intake bolts. Your truck looks great!
Wayne

 

I'm good on water leaks...nothing showing up there. Just need to properly seal up the gaskets. I had to double up the gaskets to make up for a space between the intake/head surface.

I friend can make me up some spacers to fix that problem and I'll get that done, but I want to try to drive the truck to AutoFair this weekend, so I want to make the double gasket fix work for the short term.