49 Chrysler with no compression

I recently pulled my uncle's 1949 chrysler Royal out of storage. It
was sitting for 27 years in the garage... anyway, aside from the
wiring being totally useless and in need of replacement, the only
problem i have is the engine has no compression. I have put marvel
mystery, motor oil, even a little gear oil down the cylinders, but no
return of the compression.

This has the flathead "spitfire" 6 cylinder engine. It spins over
freely... way too freely.

Anyone have a method i might not have considered? I'm willing to try
a lot of things before i pull the engine from the car... i'm hoping to
at least get it running before I have to do that. The thing only has
92,000 original miles on it.

 

.... ?anyway, aside from the

NZA

I had a 29 6 cylinder Chrysler like this. After determining that the
oil pump was indeed pumping oil I took it out on a country road and
gave it a long push. It did eventually start but burned oil like crazy
for a long time. But I solved that problem too. Also maybe the timing
chain is broken or skipping a lot.

As for the wiring. There are places that will make you a new wiring
harness. And if you do this strongly consider converting to 12 volts.

Bob AZ

 

Wouldn't that be considered a lot of mile between rebuilds for that
vintage (materials and motor oils of the day)?

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Well, I reckon if i'm going to try the push-start method, i need to
make the brakes work again first.. LOL

I ordered a new harness already. I decided to stick with 6 volts for
now. That decision was made mainly because i already purchased an 8
volt battery to try it out (the regulator was 'turned up' to 8 volts
years ago). From what i've been reading on the internet, the bigger
wiring of the 6v harness will accomodate 12 volts easily, should i
decide to go that route in the future.

 

I reckon it could be considered such. My dad said he drove the thing
750 miles right before he put it in storage for those 27 years and it
ran pretty well. Obviously, "ran great when parked" doesn't really
mean anything when the rings are stuck in the pistons..

 

SISSY!!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

LOL !
Hey, i just thought of something... this car has the Fluid Drive
tranny, so do you think it will push start at all ?

 

Lack of compression could be stuck valves, a rudimentry form of leakdown
testing could be performed by positioning each cylinder to TDC on the firing
stroke and injecting compressed air through the spark plug hole to check for
the sourse of the leakage.

Pressurized sump points to stuck rings, air escaping from the intake or
exhaust indicates stuck valves.

 

I will definitely try that!
Thanks!

 

Yes, I have done that with my 49 Windsor and 40 Royal. FluidDrive
came in two different varieties, a regular 3 speed transmission with
fluid drive, and the M4/M6 dual range fluid drive.

 

ok! I'm pretty sure this one just has the 3-speed w/ fluid drive.

 

Mopar flatheads tend to get very sticky valves when parked for a long
time, and they have pretty light valve springs so the valves may stick
open when you crank the engine after a long period of sitting. You can
drown all the cylinders in marvel mystery oil, rotate the engine by hand
a few times (with the plugs out) and then let it soak on the valve stem
seals for a week or so, then crank it over (still with the plugs out) to
clear the oil and then test compression.

But after 27 years, it could be too much for mystery oil to un-stick,
and it could also be that the rings are completely shot from scraping on
surface-rusted cylinder walls.

 

My '49 Plymouth went about 120,000 miles before its first overhaul
(which my granddad had done in 1964 for about $300- and the engine still
runs today after that overhaul). It was still running at the time he
decided to overhaul it- Mopar flaheads were a lot tougher than a number
of contemporaries. The Chevy Stovebolt six was a crappy lawnmower engine
by comparison (splash oiling whereas the Mopar had full pressure), and
the Ford flathead v8s had a lot more problems with overheating and
consequent damage. Its pretty darn hard to wear out a Mopar flathead
from the 40s to the point where it just wont run anymore.

So yes, it may be getting close to overhaul time, but its likely got a
good bit of life left based purely on mileage- certainly enough to fire
up and run. Sitting for 27 years probably did it more harm than the 92k
miles, though.

 

yeah, ideally i should have just pulled the motor out and
reconditioned it from the get go. too bad i didn't really realize
what a sweet car it is until a few years ago.

 

Actually, I was reading about the "tip-toe" transmission and how to
shift it.. I think this car may have that dual range thingee after all
instead of the 3 speed..


Drained the coolant today... i pulled out the thermostat and put it in
a pot of 180 degree water and it opened... did it a few times and it
opened more and more until a certain point.. was wondering though if
the thermostat is supposed to close all the way... i'm assuming it
is. When cooled off, this one is not all the way closed.

 

The Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge had the M6, PrestoMatic, TipToe shift,
four speed, dual range Fluid Drive. The "second" gear position is
Low/Low-High and the "third" gear position is High/Low-High/High.
Almost all of the time you will use the High range. Shifting is
accomplished by slightly lifting your foot off the accelerator at
about 15 or so, hearing a clunk, then pressing on the gas again. You
only need to use the clutch for reverse and starting, although you can
start the car in gear. There is a fill port on the passenger side of
the transmission whereby you remove the plug from the torque converter
to check the fluid, which is really 10 weight oil. Draining and
refilling requires turning the converter with the plug downward and
letting the oil drain, then reversing the procedure. All in all, the
transmission is very good. Make sure that the electrical connections
to the carb are good and that the solenoid and governor on the
transmission case are operating.
As to the thermostat, it should be a 160 degree opening with a
non-pressurized system. I have had no problems with my 49 Windsor or
my 40 Royal.

 

As always, thanks for the information! I'm flying blind on this one,
pretty much.. except for you guys and a 1957 version of the Motor's
manual..

So basically there are only four positions for the gear selector...
reverse, neutral, high-range, low-range... If I understand
correctly, most of the time i'll just slap it into high range and
leave it there and use the high and low for around town-type stuff..

The thermostat has a "180" stamped into the end of the plunger. I
verified the temp. of the water when the thermostat opened with a
digital thermometer.... but like i said, it still doesn't close all
the way. So, i'll probably need a new one. Someone at some point put
a 4 psi rad. cap on it, so i guess i'll need to change that as well.

Okay, here's a question i've been wanting to ask for a while, but kept
forgetting.. My battery charger is either 12V or 6V... so what should
i use to charge the 8V battery? Was thinking I need to put some sort
of resistor in-line with it to drop the voltage and set the charger on
12V.. don't want to start a fire though, so suggestions will gladly
be accepted.

Thanks in advance!

 

A resistor of the right value could work - just make sure it can handle
the heat (worst-case amperage of your charger x the voltgage drop across
it).

However - I might be more inclined to use several power diodes in series
instead because they tend to give a more constant, less
current-dependent, voltage drop. Experiment a little. Measure the
charger's voltage output charging a 12 volt battery, then try different
numbers of diodes in series (assume somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.6
to 1.1 volt drop per diode) on the 8 volt battery to see what gives you
close to a 4 volt total drop (or a reasonable charging current - 10 amps
or less at start of charge). Again, consider the power (actually, in
this case, current) rating of the diodes - probably use a stud-mounted
rectifier from Radio Shack - probably will be dissipating 7 to 10 watts
each - might need to heat sink them.

Other possibilities: Do you have a variable power supply with current
meter on the front panel? Adjust the voltage output for a reasonable
current (again, 10 amps or less initially) into the battery (monitor it
and adjust as necessary as the charge progresses).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I think 4 PSI caps were fairly common in that era, that's what I've
always had on my '49 Plymouth. However, after blowing a freeze plug a
couple of times I started running it unpressurized with no problems
whatsoever. You will need a 160 degree thermostat to run unpressurized,
though, you'll likely have a problem with "burping" coolant if you run
that 180 degree stat.

 

I always wanted to drive one of those cars. Sounds interesting.