40YearOldFury wrote:If you don't get that Weiand let me know! That would make a great EFI manifold for my poly when I graduate from the TBI I have now. Great score and Happy Birthday!
Will do!
So I got the Town Wagon all vacuumed out yesterday, pulled out some ratty wires that led nowhere, etc. etc. Today I threw on a distributor cap (was missing for some reason), dropped in a hot battery, and tried to get it fired off to no avail. I lined up the balancer with the timing mark and got the plug wires all squared away (found number 1, 18436572 clockwise), filed and re-gapped the points, and shot a little ether down it, but I got nothing. It was cranking a bit slow, though, which leads me to this: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=32716&p=237518#p237518 . I'll keep you guys posted as I get more time to fiddle with it LOL!
Keep fiddling! I found that a splash of gas worked better than ether. Not sure why... maybe my starting fluid is old? Then again... dumping gas down a carb isn't always the smartest thing to do either.
I would hope that my High Output 6.7 ( w/ 3.73 gears as well) could hold it's own... I just did a day trip down to the southernmost part of Illinois on the 16th to pick up a 9' Utiline box and I
cruised 75 mph the whole way down and back... 1,193 miles in just over 18.5 hrs. I guess what I am saying is I could be there Thursday to get the Townie if need be.
Hahaha you guys crack me up!!! No, the townie is going to be staying here a while longer at the least. I threw in the towel with the starter today and ordered a reman from NAPA, even though the old one tested fine. It just didn't spin as quick as I thought it should on the tester. I pick up the new one tomorrow morning and hope to get it in tomorrow night or Thursday. Will keep you all posted!
Jims68 wrote:Keep fiddling! I found that a splash of gas worked better than ether. Not sure why... maybe my starting fluid is old? Then again... dumping gas down a carb isn't always the smartest thing to do either.
Jim
I agree. I would dump a little gas in once you get that new starter on.
Picked up the starter this morning on the way to work, but just got home (won't be putting it in tonight LOL). I did have a chance to do a little wet-sanding on the passenger door this morning and found "Dryer & Sons Electric PR4-1606" in really cool old hand-painted script. Sadly all the lettering paint seems to have been sanded off before being repainted red years ago- the only way to discern where the lettering was, was the difference between where the red paint from under the letters remained, and where it had been sanded to bare metal around the letters. I did a little online research and found the company operated out of SE Portland from 1957 on, was sold to outside of the family in 1997, and appears to have closed their original location in 2003. I might have to post a few craigslist ads and see if anyone has a pic or info on it. One never knows!
Plan to get the starter in tomorrow- update to follow!!!
Cool rig, I bet it gets a cummins though. I still have a Weiand 4 barrel intake new in the box for a poly if you go that way, I'll be coming down in April.
Arne
Hey Arne- good to hear from ya! Yeah, anything is possible- the ol' poly is proving difficult to get running. So many variables to mess with with the missing distributor cap, loose distributor, etc.
I think I have the ignition system mostly nailed down, now- known good cap, rotor, wires, and distributor. Using the timing light while cranking shows it's firing around 3*-4* BTDC. The new starter helped a good deal. Cranks over great but seems to fire intermittently- like on 3 or 4 cylinders. Compression seems pretty good when trying to turn it over by hand, so I'm going to throw some plugs in it and try again. Will keep ya all posted!
Wow, cool truck! I think we're lucky to live in the Northwest, as these old Dodges may be hard to come by generally, but around here can still be found for pretty reasonable. Have ya got that beast to fire up yet? Maybe it overheard you talking about a new motor, so it's not wanting to start and waiting patiently for a new transplant! That thing would be cool to see out in the woods wheelin or at a mud bog!
Thanks! No, I haven't gotten it lit off yet. I bought all new plugs and put them in and it didn't do anything. I'm thinking maybe the rings are stuck as well as a valve or 2- compression test showed low (under 100 PSI) compression across the board, with 3 of the cylinders at 75 psi. I found out an older friend of mine has rented a storage unit at the place since '85, and he said his son monkeyed around with the TW a couple years ago and had it running great. Plan now is to pull all the plugs, put it in 4th gear, and drag it up and down the road a couple times to try and get freed up, then reinstall the plugs and go from there. We shall see what happens!
Noooo!!! The show must go on!!! Hahahaha. I can't let the old tank defeat me. Having never owned or even driven a town wagon, I'm really curious to see what it's like. Plus, getting it running is presenting a very curious challenge that I've never encountered in my 12 years of solo mechanical tinkering/ 100+ vehicles. There's something new to be learned here; some problem or issue that I yearn to overcome and add to my repertoire of troubleshooting and repair knowledge. And when that glorious realization occurs, rest assured you guys will be amongst the first to hear!
Don't rule out the timing chain? I would think that 90 psi cranking would be enough to start and run? Compression would read low across the board if timing is off across the board, I would think? Good luck with that non-compression fired power plant! Doug
dougdodgeman wrote:Don't rule out the timing chain? I would think that 90 psi cranking would be enough to start and run? Compression would read low across the board if timing is off across the board, I would think?
Very good point! Unfortunately the compression is kinda mixed across the board, with at least three cylinders reading 75 psi. I'm not sure how prone the early steel timing sets are to wear/failure- I know the later sets with plastic covered gears are known to crap out due to the plastic falling off, but the early motors don't have that problem. I guess it could've stretched or somebody could've set it wrong.
I'm relatively certain the motor has been apart before- I found a pushrod laying in the bottom of the drivers' side frame rail . Lets hope they bought another one to put back in the motor
I think we're lucky to live in the Northwest, as these old Dodges may be hard to come by generally, but around here can still be found for pretty reasonable. Have ya got that beast to fire up yet? Maybe it overheard you talking about a new motor, so it's not wanting to start and waiting patiently for a new transplant! That thing would be cool to see out in the woods wheelin or at a mud bog! 
