Repowered 1953 Dodge Pickup

Repowered 1953 Dodge Pickup ENGINES Engines 18-1-34 I repowered my 1953 Dodge pickup with a used Perkins 4.203 45 hp diesel engine and David Brown 4-speed transmission that I bought in England. Now my pickup is as dependable as a tractor. It sounds like one too, although I replaced the worn-out exhaust system with a new stock muffler system. I wore out two gas engines on the pickup before I decided that I wanted a diesel. Old pickups like mine have very deep and narrow engine compartments that work perfect with a diesel. However, I couldn't find an affordable diesel engine made in the U.S. that was small enough to fit my pickup so I made a trip to England. England makes diesel engines even for the smallest cars and they're reasonably priced. In fact, in Europe they call this Perkins diesel the 'poor man's diesel'. The engine came out of a Dodge 1-ton delivery van and was in good shape when I bought it. I think it'll run forever. The pickup's original 6-cylinder flathead gas engine had 25 hp and got about 14 mpg. The Perkins diesel engine has 45 hp and gets 40 mpg which I think is fantastic. It has worked so well for me that I bought several more of these engines in England and have sold them to neighboring farmers who have repowered their own pickups. One disadvantage is that it costs about as much to transport an engine back here as it does to buy it. The pickup originally had a high speed 4:11 to 1 rear end which limited top speed to 35 mph. I replaced it with a 3:73 to 1 rear end out of an old Plymouth car. Top speed is now 55 mph. I also installed an extra leaf in the springs up front to handle the extra weight of the engine. The pickup has about 200,000 miles on it and is still going strong. (Fred Binns, Rt. 1, Box 252, Clinton, Ark 72031 ph 501 745-4283)

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