1941 Dodge- Engine Heater?

kshansen said:

Well then I don't think many of us here would want to take a ride in that 1941 Dodge at least not till next May at the soonest!

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Oh come on now, I know if you just had the chance to ride in open air at 15* you would jump at the chance.

I've got a recirculating type block heater on the Chrysler flat 6 in my old Hobart portable welder. i'm not home til the end of the week and then I can see where I plumbed it in and then pass on the info. whenever I needed it I would plug it in for an hour or two or I would put it on a timer

The coffee pot type (recirculating type) are the best, in my book. Usedta have an allis D-19 turbo diesel, you had 1 shot at starting it, in cold weather. My grandfather had a ether can on solenoid, and that damn junkie tractor somehow figgered out how to push its own buttons. After the 2nd rebuild, I yanked that out by every root possible! What was in place then, was an air horn pre-heater, which if you heated it with 90% of the batteries' capacity, would occasionally start it, in the cold. Most of the time, it just killed the batteries. Bought a coffee pot, for it, went in from the block drain, to the thermostat bypass hose, about 12-1500 watts, IIRR. Best $20 I ever spent on that tractor AND, you can hear and feel it working, 1/2hr to 45 mins, and 4 barn cats would be perchin on the hood, purrin with approval!

Was at an auction, today, picked up 2 Katt LR hose heaters, both new (I think)fer $10.00

Truck Shop said:

When you get old and wrinkly and arthritis starts setting up house keeping in your bones, you will want a warm car interior-pronto pup.

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I let the truck run for 20 minutes in the driveway regardless. Its toasty warm when I get in.

Truck Shop said:

Oh come on now, I know if you just had the chance to ride in open air at 15* you would jump at the chance.

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Well sure but only if owner wasn't around and I got to drive! Might want to put on my carhartt coveralls first!

Thanks Guys! I knew I would get plenty of advice here.

I think I am going to go with a small recirculating tank type heater, maybe switched on by a thermostat whenever the temp gets around 50f. Now I just need to figure how to plumb it. I am probably going to go with a radiator hose adaptor, and maybe the block drain, though I am leery of unscrewing anything that has been screwed in for 78 years! If I go with the block drain, should I then go to the upper or lower hose?

I know this is absurd. This thing has a delco 10si alternator and a 12v coil. The first service call I got to it was because it wouldn't start at 40f. I traced the choke cable to the firewall, got in the seat, pulled the choke, played with the accelerator and it started right up.

I was asked what that knob did, nobody there knew a vehicle could have a choke. Some training and the employees can start it right up.

Next service call, the owner couldn't remember that, so he poured the ether to it. It split the muffler wide open, BOOM! The owner "got scared" and gave up on his whole weekend's hunting and drove 75 miles home.

He wants it start and run like it's July at any time.

If it was mine, I'd go in from the block drain, to the center of the block, or head, in the water jacket. You want as much vertical separation, between the drain, and the top of the water jacket, as possible. You also need to mount the heater in as near a vertical orientation, as possible, they don't take off camber mounting well, as they operate under the thermo siphon principal, just like a coffee pot. You want the heated coolant, to dump into the middle of the motor, for even heating, as you want the motor hot, not the radiator...

You said in the first post that this guy is a "multi-millionaire lawyer". Just goes to prove that being rich does not equate with smart.

I just hope you are "smart" enough to make him pay big time for his lack of what most here would see as common sense. If he can't use his brain make sure he can use his check book!

I had the privilege of motoring about in Thule Greenland in that things brother, known as "Weapons Carrier".
It would start in temps that would sap the batteries.
Hook up jumper cable, apply full choke, no rproblem

The thermosyphon needs vertical height coming off the top of the heater to where it enters the engine. Even if the hot hose going into the engine is the lowest point on the water jacket, it will work fine if the heater is one foot below that point. So the lower water radiator hose would work fine for the supply as long as you can mount the heater low. Don't use the upper radiator hose, the heat will be able to be lost to the radiator.

Be careful coming straight up off that head, if any air accumulates there it will stop the circulation. Maybe use a tee with a riser for the air to go to.

Sounds to me more like it may be a good case for fuel injection make it start like a newer vehicle for him

Chances are it may still need choke even if the motor is 100 degrees.

Did anyone mention that square pipe plug above the water pump? Coffee pot heater, hot side there, cold side to a tee cut into the lower rad hose ("Jags that run" has them)

here is how the recirculating heater is plumbed into my Hobart welder engine. there is no temp gauge on this engine but a tee fitting would probably work on the cyl head but may not be as accurate as if it was actually screwed directly into the head.
also, there is a picture of the original heater in the head bolt

That looks like it's BEGGING to be plugged in, those pics are making me cold.....

Tags said:

That looks like it's BEGGING to be plugged in, those pics are making me cold.....

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I hope it has some good ignition wires and dist. Cap or that is never going to start!

Dodge Command Car.

Isn’t that installed upside down. It should say up on one side and the cord should be at the bottom.

Wow! You are confused. Your picture is a Dodge 1/2 Ton Command car. They were not preferred by Commanders as enemy guns shot at them first.

The "Jeep", which was not called that in the beginning was designed by American Bantam in 1939 or 1940. Bantam didn't have factory capacity. The US Army stole the design, issued contracts to Willys & Ford to build the much smaller four cylinder vehicle later known as Jeep.

Six volt systems are known as hard to start. They are old. A restoration should bring the system back to original condition. \
At six volts the needed current to do the job is double that of a twelve volt system. Cables must be bigger, and any point where one conductor ends, another begins must be perfect. This includes where castings bolt together.
Eliminate the high resistance connections caused by 80 years of age, your six volt system starts pretty good.

Willie, read the posts. That was not the actual vehicle, just a representative photo. It is the same 1/2 ton vehicle, with a pickup type bed originally.

It has absolutely no problem starting in any weather for me. The owner just wants it to have the original engine and systems, but start like his 2020 pickup.

I'll post an update when I do it next week.