Wrong Carb

[Jack605]

I am a owner of a 54 M37. The engine looses power when under load, I can get it up to 45 on a down hill if I am lucky. The Carb was replaced with a Carter YFA single barrel carb (7389) from the research I did it looks like it came off of an early 80's 4.9L Straight six ford. I am currently looking for a manual for the carb but have not had any luck. The vacuum advance for the distributer is hooked up wrong but I have not been able to tell where to hook it into all the vacuum ports on the carb have little to no vacuum and where it is hooked up now is definitly not right. Any ideas or advice on how to proceed?

[Gordon Maney]

I am a owner of a 54 M37. The engine looses power when under load, I can get it up to 45 on a down hill if I am lucky. The Carb was replaced with a Carter YFA single barrel carb (7389) from the research I did it looks like it came off of an early 80's 4.9L Straight six ford. I am currently looking for a manual for the carb but have not had any luck. The vacuum advance for the distributer is hooked up wrong but I have not been able to tell where to hook it into all the vacuum ports on the carb have little to no vacuum and where it is hooked up now is definitly not right. Any ideas or advice on how to proceed?

The correct carburetor for your M37 exists in large quantity. How do you feel about getting the right carburetor, rather than trying to make the wrong one work ?

[Jack605]

I figure if I cannot get this one working by the end of the week I will go ahead and buy the right one. Would I have to purchase the air cleaner as well or can I get by without the original?

[Gordon Maney]

I figure if I cannot get this one working by the end of the week I will go ahead and buy the right one. Would I have to purchase the air cleaner as well or can I get by without the original?

No, it is not an imperative that you have an original air filter assembly, but it is imperative that you have a suitably sized, properly connected filter that will not admit dirty air at the connection point and will filter the air.

By the time you look at adapting some filter to the M37 carburetor, you would likely find it was about as cheap and convenient just to acquire a used M37 air filter. The woods are full of those, too.

[JStinson]

Just to save you a search...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge...#ht_500wt_1182

Put "Dodge M37" into the ebay search bar and you'll find 2 or 3 more examples.

[Jack605]

Thanks for all the help most likely I am already shopping. Another quick question, can you replace the timing cover without pulling the engine?

[Gordon Maney]

Thanks for all the help most likely I am already shopping. Another quick question, can you replace the timing cover without pulling the engine?

Yes, you can!

[Matthew Ziegler]

vacuum advance

Do you still have the military distributor, if so what looks like a vacuum advance hookup isn't, it's supposed to circulate air through the distributor to cool it, this makes for a giant vacuum leak which will make anything lack power.

[Jack605]

The distributor is a 12 volt replacement that does have a vacuum advance on it or at least I believe it is a vacuum advance line. The truck has a bad knock that I am trying to cure right now but with the weather turning cold I will most likely start tearing into replacing gaskets and anything else that I need to do to stop some of these leaks.