engine help

[tonkaman]

ok so i know this si a power wagon forum but i cant seem to find a forum on just the old pickups so here goes. i have the chance to buy aa 1940 somethin half ton two wheel drive dodge pickup that needs a motor. and i have two engines from a couple of 1946 and 1947 dodge one and half ton trucks. would the engines from the one and half tons fit in the half ton?

The half ton:





the one and a half tons:

[greg rider]

Nice find! I had a WD21 stolen along with my WDX Power Wagon. The engines will probably fit. I think the trucks in the picture are still in the small enough catagory that they didn't get into the bigger gas engines. They probably have a 230 flathead. If you can get the number off of the block it will positively be identified. I would love to have one of those bigger trucks, even without the engine.

[tonkaman]

ok sweet i belive the one engine was a 230 when i checked the numbers. dont remember what the numbers are but i will have both engines out here in a week or two if the weather will work with me. but it wont seem to let up at all.

the little half ton should have what size engine stock?

[greg rider]

The half ton may have a 218 or 230. I just noticed that the bigger truck on the left is an early model, so is the half ton. The grill and headlight placement give that away. I would love to have that other flatbed but my wife would kill me.

[Kaegi]

the bigger trucks run the 25 inch long engine and the 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton trucks run the 23 inch engine. it will fit but you have to move the radiator to the front of its big support bracket and make extension plates for the stock motor mount. a very easy conversion that only requires 2 pieces of steel. oh and you will possibly have to notch the radiator support bracket so the crank pulley can clear. the bigger truck eninges would be probably either a 236 or a 251. both are 25 inch engines. 218s and 230s are 23 inch. the longer eninges wind up better and are a slightly better design on the connecting rods. a good 23 inch engine is fine but the 25 inch would be a slight upgrade.

[tonkaman]

ok so i hate to dig up such an old thread but i finnaly got the engines out. the one engine has no casting numbers on it on the drivers side of the block where it should. the other has numbers where it should, up on the drivers side of the block near the front.

you said the truck on the left is an early model as is the half ton, i belive the half ton is a 41 and the id numbers on the motor for the bigger truck come back as a 40. and the bigger truck engine comes back as a 228ci. is this right? how do i find out exactly what the date of manufacture is on the trucks?

[Kaegi]

ok so i hate to dig up such an old thread but i finnaly got the engines out. the one engine has no casting numbers on it on the drivers side of the block where it should. the other has numbers where it should, up on the drivers side of the block near the front.

you said the truck on the left is an early model as is the half ton, i belive the half ton is a 41 and the id numbers on the motor for the bigger truck come back as a 40. and the bigger truck engine comes back as a 228ci. is this right? how do i find out exactly what the date of manufacture is on the trucks?

run the vin numbers thru the decoder over at the registry. have you found the registry yet?. 228 is a long 25 inch block. and that should be correct. there are many sizes of both 23 inch and 25 inch engines.

[tonkaman]

no i havent found the registry yet where is that at? as for the other engine with no numbers on it how do i identify it? is there any other way other than pulling the head and measuring the bore and the stroke?

also what kind of value would you put on these engines? no they were not runnin when i pulled them but they were suppoed to have ran like 5 years ago, and both turn over good. i have the transmissions as well.

what year did they change the grill and headlight position, i was told both trucks were 46's. but now im perty sure the one is much earlier than that.

[Kaegi]

no i havent found the registry yet where is that at? as for the other engine with no numbers on it how do i identify it? is there any other way other than pulling the head and measuring the bore and the stroke?

also what kind of value would you put on these engines? no they were not runnin when i pulled them but they were suppoed to have ran like 5 years ago, and both turn over good. i have the transmissions as well.

what year did they change the grill and headlight position, i was told both trucks were 46's. but now im perty sure the one is much earlier than that.

The engines are not really worthe much maybe 50 to 250 depending on if they run good or not. the trucks with the headlights mounted closer to the grill would be 1939 or 1940, the other truck with the headlights farther out would be 1941 to 1947 style. here is a link to the PW registry, it should work to decode your VIN numbers. on the blank engien the numbers should be stamped in at eh front drivers side at the top of to block on a pad just below the head.
http://www.t137.com/registry/index.php

[tonkaman]

hmm, thats where i looked for the ID number on the block but the pad is blank. it has a spitfire head on it if that makes any difference. i was told it was a factory installed replacement engine, it did have a small square alluminum tag riveted to block on that pad where the ID numbers are supposed to be, but the tag was completely blank.

where would be the best place to advertise them for sale? i would like to get some cash to put towards that little yellow half ton.

[Kaegi]

I would run ads on all these dodge truck forums. might have beter luck getting the big trucks running and selling them whole. what are you going to run inthe 1/2 ton?

[gmharris]

hmm, thats where i looked for the ID number on the block but the pad is blank. it has a spitfire head on it if that makes any difference. i was told it was a factory installed replacement engine, it did have a small square alluminum tag riveted to block on that pad where the ID numbers are supposed to be, but the tag was completely blank.

where would be the best place to advertise them for sale? i would like to get some cash to put towards that little yellow half ton.

Re-manufactured or rebuilt engines often have ID tags riveted to them. I have heard that such engines sometimes have the serial number removed, but I don't know why anyone would do that. Maybe, your engine was a replacement engine bought from a dealer. That might account for the fact that it has no serial number. It could also be an industrial engine. Chrysler made many industrial engines and these show up all the time.

You could try selling it on Ebay. Many Power Wagon parts are sold there. Although, without knowing the identification of the engine and its condition, I wouldn't expect that you would get much.

Vintage Power Wagons sells old engines, but they take them apart and inspect them and they know what the engines are for. I think they go for a few hundred bucks,

[MoparFreak69]

Hate to throw an off topic post here but do any of the truck happen to have the pop-out style front windsheild? If so any interest in selling a set?
My dad has a '46 half ton and has been looking for all that hardware.
Great looking start you have there. That body style is one of my favorites.
A running engine is always worth more than one that "is supposed to run". I would say if you are looking to make a few $$$ to put into the yellow truck you may consider trying to get one, or all, of the motors to a running state so that a potential buyer can get a better idea about what they are buying and will fork over a bit more cash for it. Am I talking about a full blown rebuild? No. Basically just little things like pull the carb apart and just clean the gunk out of the bowl. Doesnt really matter if it leaks a bit from a torn gasket, the running part is what gives the most punch. Pulling spark plugs and cleaning them off is something that shouldnt cost a dime but can mean the difference between running/running poorly/running good. If you can come up with 6 good spark plug wires from everything you have just tell the buyer you are using those only to show it runs, so that you dont have to buy a set for the second, third, so on. Scraping the corrosion off the distributor cap and rotor can also make a non-runner run. A couple drops of oil in each cylinder can mean the difference between enough compression to fire and not enough. Dont worry about things like water pumps, belts, leaking gaskets etc. The potential buyer should know that a rebuild is the best thing, but a runner may mean the difference between a cosmetic restore and a full blown overhaul.
A mechanical gauge hooked up to the oil pressure port can show a lot of things about an engine to a buyer as well. Good oil pressure = pretty good chance it wont need much machining. Low oil pressure could be a lot of things and will lower offers considerably. This will also help you decide which one you want to keep if you are going that route.
Biggest thing is supply vs demand for these types of things. There is a larger supply than demand, as people often look to upgrade to newer, more powerful means of powering their otherwise stock looking rig.
Sorry for the novel, especially if you already know this stuff, but if you didnt then hope you can put some of it to use.

[tonkaman]

yea i have sold everything else from those two on ebay already. thats what i was thinkin was to at least do a compression test on them and try to sell em that way. as for the half ton im not sure yet i would love to stick a hemi in there but, it would be sweet even if i just stuck one of these two engines in there. either way it will need an engine if i ever get to buy it.

[tonkaman]

moparfreak69 i have several frames if your still interested here is my email address 1953powerwagon@gmail.com