Keith-wc42

I made a new fuel line and also drained the fuel filter. There was a lot of "mud" in the fuel I drained out. It run perfect yesterday, not a single miss fire. Even when we're were driving at walking speed for a while following a parade of ex paras it ran great and the temperature only went up to around 150. I fitted new spark plugs though and after pulling them out again after only a few minutes of running they are black. Plugs two and four were wet and black. I just hope it's not the valve seals or piston rings. Since my Dad rebuilt the engine it's hardly done any miles though. Next job will be to rebuild the carb.

I masked the area off and put a smooth coat of jb-weld over it. I used the original jb-weld after reading some bad reviews on the extreme heat version. I pulled the masking tape off while it was still wet, so just need to sand paper in the edges and paint the block now. I went out on a big run in the Dodge yesterday and it's fine.

Think it was done by lock stitch if I remember rightly back in the early 90's.

I think I'm going to leave it here for the cleaning and seal it with the JB-Weld tomorrow.

Working on it in daylight it's clear it's had some sort of stitch repair or downward rods. Not sure if you can see them in the photo as I'm outside using my phone and can hardly see the screen in the sunlight. The pores are at the bottom of these stitches. This is sort of good news for me, as it means it's been like this for almost 30 years, it's not happened on my whilr I e been the owner.... which I was feeling guilty about and the holes are not areas where the block has rotted through and would get worse, but down to a repair. Im feeling a lot more confident about this now.

When I was flaking the paint of that area, it was a bit wet under the paint. Looks to me like a tiny amount of water is getting through, nothing that has dropped the level in rad at all.

Thanks Pete and Nick.

Thanks again Gordon. And to think I this time yesterday I was worried about getting the air filter finished before weekend 🙄 I've just had it blasted and finished painting it late last night.

It has a couple of little pores. One of the is marked in the photo. The other one can't really be seen in the photo, but its to the right and up a bit from the marked one. I don't think i want to risk using K-Seal after reading some reviews of it blocking water channels. I've just ordered some JB-Weld Extreme Heat which will arrive tomorrow. If you look below the sanded away red primer though above the ring marker, it looks like its had JB-Weld or something similar already put on it. So it looks like these may have been repaired before. Although i know nothing about this repair, it must have been done by my Dad. Ive attached a zoomed in photo of this engine on the floor in 1991 and there is no repair, but a possible rust area in the same spot.

Thanks Gordon. The rad is not pressurised at the moment. My Dad got a new cap for it, but ended up leaving the old one on it unpressurized. Can cracks here be fixed these days without the engine coming out?

It's not got wet since I touched up the paint. It looks like water has run from there but dried off quickly due to the heat.

I've just been looking through some photos I've taken of my Dodge engine while I'm at work and I noticed something worrying. The three photos attached here are cropped/zoomed in on the same area of the block. The 1st one was taken when I was in the process of repainting the head a few months ago. I sanded down a scruffy patch on the block ready to touch up. The 2nd photo is after I touched it up with some grey paint. The 3rd photo was taken last Sunday. This must be a crack in the block I suppose. I would appreciate some thoughts on this please at this worrying time😔

Thanks. What about the little square felt pad though....it's in a bag in the glove box at the moment. Can I leave this off?

I have a few questions regarding Points and ignition timing on my Dodge. I had a breakdown which turned out to be a broken wire to the coil. The negative wire had broken at the terminal under the rubber sleve section so i couldnt see it. Anyway, before i found it was the coil wire, i was changing the points and condenser by the road side. On removing the original points, the little square felt pad fell out without me seeing where it was. My understanding is that it goes between the rubbing block on the points and the cam. I have just fitted a new set of points, but i haven't put the felt pad back. Do i need to put this felt pad back and if so, what do i oil it with and will i have to set the points gap again if i fit this pad? For lubricating the cam, will this stuff in the link below be ok? Im going to an event in the Dodge this weekend and i don't have time to order any lube off the internet incase it doesnt arrive before weekend, so i want to be able to buy it locally. https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/bike-lube/halfords-lithium-grease-40g-651225.html My last question: If its not running right after fitting these new points, am i best turning the distributor to set the ignition timing? I've never done this before, so any tips would be appreciated. I don't have a timing light, so will be doing this using my ears.

I want to get rid of these big modern rear lights on my Dodge. My Dad fitted these, as he was always very keen on having highly visible signals, but im not and don't like them. The hole rear light bar is removable and is connected via a trailer socket seen here in the 2nd photo under the vehicle. I want to convert the blackout lights in the original light housing to indicators and im trying to figure out the best way to do this. At the moment, i'm thinking about getting another plug for the trailer socket and only having the left and right indicator wires in the plug and running those wires to the black out light bulb holders. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or tips on doing this? I don't want to alter the original wiring loom or tap into it and would be looking to tuck the original blackout light wires away somewhere under the vehicle. The front indicators will be easy and just a case of changing them for smaller rectangular indicators on a smaller bracket.

Another good day on Sunday.

Had a nice day out on Saturday at Uppermill, Saddleworth.

Working on the Dodge today getting it ready for a couple of trips out this weekend. Is this the correct manifold setting for summer use?

Will do Gordon, thanks. Im going to order some nickel fuel line and replace the copper line from the pump to the carb, so i can run it further away from the manifold. What size is this fuel line? My vernier gauge has gone walkabout.

Ok thanks Gordon. Considering that the filter is probably more than likely not the problem and just the extremely high temperature on that day was, I'll leave messing around with the filter. Five out of the seven vehicles in the convoy that day broke down with the same problem.

Thanks Gordon's, I thought it had a filter element in there. Thanks Peter, I will look into that for the fuel line from the pump to the carb. There are fuel line covers available to buy from places like demon tweaks. Not sure how good they are though.

Can anyone tell me the best type of fuel filter to get for this 1/2 ton Dodge and where i can get one from pretty quickly. Not sure when the filter was last changed and where i would normally not ask the above, i want to have a new filter by next weekend if possible.

In 1983 my Dad bought a wc42 from Grange cavern. It had plenty of bullet holes in it. Looking through my Dads photos, i found a file of photos of another WC42 in Canada that had been shipped over there from the UK in 1950. This also had plenty of bullet holes in it that the Canadian owner thought must have been from an "eager hunter". A couple of days ago i started to think these bullet holes may be connected to wc42's ending up at the same location together after the war. I then remembered my Dad found a wc42 at Mains scrap yard in 1988, so i went looking for the photos to check for bullet holes..... I found it had pleny of them in the side of the body panel. Is there any known history as to what the British did with their Dodges after the war? It seems more than a coincidence to me that at least three wc42 panel radio vans were found to be full of bullet holes.

Yes Pete, I should have said that I've been avoiding the head, block etc....I was using water last Sunday trying to get the command car going after my panel Van was abandoned. My t-shirt ended being used as a wet rag for the parts I couldn't pour water onto (my drinking water that was). The water "seemed" to work, but again it could have just been the passing of some time. It was one of those repair jobs similar to just hitting something. It worked but there was no clear method to it.

Thanks for all your help and advice. I will always make sure I carry plenty of water to try and cool things down. Maybe we should all park our military vehicles up through the summer and only take them out when its snowing!