My 1952 Dodge M37 re-building process

[Argie1978]

I've been traveling a lot for both work and family vacations, so I have a few weeks now, before going abroad again, to dedicate to the truck.
Repair and specific restoration tasks have gone thru the roof in terms of costs, for which I have been slowing down the pace. Also here in Spain is the annual tax season for private limited companies (I believe it's called LLC in US), so after speaking with my accountant I will decide further steps in terms of money release.
Body work is done, next is.....

A)Electricity (yes, finally....):
1 - installing the new-old harnesses (both front and rear)
2 - installing turn lights
3 - installing a few relays (security reasons)
4 - debating with the electrician as he wants to install an auxiliary fan for helping the rad during hot weather (it's 38ªC today). My point is "NO" as these girls can take it, but we'll see.
5 - finishing the dash indicators and connect them

B)Rebuilding seats: the internal structure seems fine. I've procured original military canvas from the Spanish army that seem to be super tough. Again, better for the summer conditions.

That's it. I will try to post some pics eventually.

[John Mc]

I swapped from a 230 to a rebuilt 251 engine a couple of years ago. I had a freshly rebuilt radiator installed shortly after that (and accident forced me to replace the radiator). The radiator was stock, nothing added, and I have the same fan that was on the 230 engine. I have a 180˚F thermostat installed (stock was 160˚, but they called for 180˚ if a hot water-based heater was installed, which I have.)

I've driven it in all kinds of weather with no problems: towed heavy trailers, driven in stop & go traffic when it was 90˚F (32˚C), driven 320 miles going 40-50 MPH the whole way (except when going up a hill slowed me down). I've never seen the it go above 190˚F on the temperature gauge.

I have not driven it in 100˚F (38˚C) - I think I would overheat before the truck did in those conditions, even with all the windows open. I also have not driven it in a parade when it's very hot out. I imagine driving at walking speed would be a tough one for heat, since there is no extra airflow from the road speed.

If you are making up a new wiring harness, maybe put the wire for the fan in, in case you decide you need it later? IF you are not making a new harness, I'd drive it first and see how it does before adding the extra fan.

[Argie1978]

I'm installing NOS harnesses, not making them from scratch.
Even though I don't see complexity in the addition of a line for a possible fan, decades ago I've driven the truck (not this one) in Argentina's countryside (pampas) where easily temps can get up to 33ºC -real feel can be much higher as no air flow around- when going fishing in the summer. That's why I have trust on the engine's capabilities.
Again, it's a ongoing debate as here we can reach 40ºC during heatwaves (currently having one). But this happens three or four times per year and for a couple of days.
I don't see myself happily driving the Dodge for an ice cream under such melting conditions.

[PoW]

Stock M37's in good shape/unmodified have no cooling issues.

I should know, where Summers routinely hit 120F easily.

Chrysler engineers knew what was expected for their last power wagon designs.

PoW

[Argie1978]

It's taking some form, isn't it?











Starting with the dash. For this part the spider harness is NOS but the rest will be new short lines:


The seats. A few springs were found very loose...


Very good idea from the guys at the shop to reuse the wooden box the bed's floor came in....


When I created this entry in the forum I named the thread re-building process because I thought that "restoration" should be applied to a more deep work. But man.....this has been tremendous, never imagine that "being in good shape" was FAR from the actual truth.

[Argie1978]

Short update:
Opening the brake cylinder (because no braking at all), releveled a lot of corrosion inside. Just thinking about purchasing a new one instead of going for the repair kit.
The fuel pump is not working, no pressure. But we saw this coming.
I will not judge the carburetor's performance due to this lack of pressure so I'm crossing my fingers this one still has a chance. Just to be on the safe side I checked a few distributors/collectors here and the ETW1 is a pain in the arse to find. And if lucky enough I need to get somebody willing to sell without the core in exchange (remember the filled cracks...?). Guys at the shop recommend to switch to a modern carb, but I'm reluctant.

[ashyers]

Argine1978,
The ETW1 is a nice carb and works pretty darn well. When we ran the our M37 on the chassis dyno the mixture was near perfect and the governor is useful once you have it dialed in. I've resurrected a couple of ETW1's and they are not too hard to deal with. One was really funky and we cleaned it up by blasting with baking soda. It's on the truck now and works great. Another was from a truck involved in a fire. As an experiment we filled the float bowl with WD-40 and let it sit for a few days then flushed it out. Then we set up a gravity feed to try it. It worked well!!!!

Issues I've seen are corrosion which can destroy the body, poor float setting which I've seen lead to fuel starvation under heavy load, wonky accelerator pump seals that are too tight or just destroyed and warped top covers which don't seal vacuum and lead to issues with the accel pump and other bits. In California we have 10% ethanol in our fuel and use a winter and summer blend. This stuff is crap. I use the truck frequently so the fuel does not sit in the bowl (or gas tank!) long and I suspect this helps keep things alive. If you let the ethanol stuff sit it can cause some corrosion issues (but it sure does clean out the system!) and if you have winter blend gas in an M37 when the temps go up you can have some vapor lock issues on hot start. Usually you'll need go to WOT during cranking and then lift the moment it starts.

I'd bet your ETW1 can be saved.

Andy

[PoW]

Be aware not all ETW1 rebuild kits are alike.

I have seen where a kit sold as compatible is missing several important parts, especially the accelerator pump vacuum piston parts.

Other than that, the ETW1 is as good a carb as one might want on the older flatheads.

PoW

[ashyers]

PoW,
Where have you purchased the best kits from? I've had mixed results too.

Andy

[Argie1978]

I bought mine from eBay. But it was fairly complete.
Note that my carb was just the core. Not even gaskets. Had to procure everything...., even the choke level was missing.

ETW1-kit.jpg (58.63 KiB) Viewed 37718 times

I do have faith it will work.

[PoW]

Looks correct from what I see.

The complete accelerator pump is the key to a good rebuild.

PoW

[NAM VET]

My truck, stock, other than an electric Facet 24 V fuel pump, runs great. Once I figured out the in-tank fuel filter from the previous owner was a tiny lawn mower filter, leading to a burnt out fuel pump. My truck always seemed to run "hot", with hot oil on trips and such, and last year I finally pulled out the labeled 180 degree thermostat, tested it, and it didn't open until 200 degrees! No wonder my truck ran too hot for me and my oil viscosity. So put in a 160 degree thermostat, and now in slow traffic in 95 degree days, my max is about just over 160 degrees. I know about burning off engine gasses and such, but I just change my oil yearly. One of my problems recently was a blocked small canister oil filter, metal, so I could not see how it was doing, so I now run a plastic WIX fuel filter back by the rear frame rail.

My truck also has a coolant filter, installed by Charles T when he re-did my truck. So my coolant stays a bit cleaner. but in summery, if your radiator and engine cooling passages are pretty clean, the cooling capacity with the correct thermostat should work fine. But check your thermostat for your self, mine was labeled 180 but did not open until 200 degrees. hal

[Argie1978]

Hello all.
Not much progress. The carb is a headache.
Now I have a new fuel pump (late model for the T-214, will show in the thread I created apart). And new brake cylinder I purchased from John Bizal.
I think it's time to start a deep search for the carb. Funny thing is that when looking online, places where a Carter ETW-1 is offered only show the B&B downdraft carb (without governor) and things get tricky because seems people publish things without a clear idea.
Anyways I am not very confident in finding an ETW-1 soon (may I remind my core is not for exchange), so probably I go with the model offered.

[PoW]

Keep in mind the ETW-1 has a unique air cleaner system that also supports the sealed distributor airflow.

The Carter B&B carb will not do this.

[Argie1978]

I have the ETW-1 air cleaner (oil bath) installed, I don't see any problem. Not the sealed distributor though.