Speed

Hi,it's me again;

On this ol' gas engine ,does it hurt to run it against the governor going down the road? I remember a friend of mine used to drive an old Detroit powered truck,and he said those were designed to run wide open. That rig never seemed to suffer from running up against the governor on the highway,but I'm not so sure on the old 354 I have. It'd seem to me the governor would be set towards the maximum rpm the engine should see,so that'd be a bit too high to cruise at.

What's a reasonable engine speed to cruise on the highway? I saw that the max torque was at 1,100,but the max. horsepower was at 2,850. I'm thinking 2,200 would be about the best. Am I thinking right on this?

Speed

Just got done with a FORD L-9000 with a hole on both sides of the block also, and the bolts backed out of the rod cap. Very nasty mess!

Different ballgame,but my Dad broke a smallblock Chevy so bad it broke the manifolds and cracked the carb base. All the mechanic could save off it was the air filter and the fuel pump. It was in a 1969 four wheel drive and let go at about 95 miles per hour coming home from Salt Lake City one night. (Nevada had an open speed limit back then,and he typically drove at that speed on open road.) Dad said the engine suddenly just went quiet and the truck coasted down to a stop. He thought it had broken the input shaft,and out of curiosity tried to start the engine again. the starter spun,but nothing turned. (Actually it was turning the flywheel and about the last 3 inches of the crank.) Coincidentally,that night the mobile phone's repeater site lost power,too,so when he tried to call for a wrecker,the phone wouldn't work either. He was wondering how these two things could be related. Wierd night. You guys have him beat cost-wise though! Glad I didn't have to pay these repair bills!!

Speed

Well,here's what I found;Champion D-16 is a Bosch M10ACO,AC C-87,Autolite 386,NGK A-6,and Denso L14U,L14RU,and/or M17,depending on what brand you cross from. Couldn't find a way to cross to a Bosch Platinum. It's amazing how few online parts suppliers have provision for us to shop by part number.Pretty near everything I found required that I give a make,model,year,etc. but NONE even showed ,let alone a 1940 . Maybe I need to get me some new search engines...

Speed

Naturally I like my '40 EH best,but I also like the looks of the B-61;that's what most people think of when you say " truck. I've always gravitated towards vehicles you don't see very often-I guess that's a lot of what I like about 30's and 40's trucks,but ya never know-maybe as I learn more about my prefrences will change. But I doubt it.

Speed

Probably easy to spec one of those out;"Gimme the biggest truck,the most power,the most gears,the heaviest GVW,the most fuel capacity,whatever it is-if there's more,I want it...Hell,just max it out across the board!!"

Speed

Nice work! I couldn't do that if I had half a day to work at it.

Seems like the idiots who leave things in the alleys like that don't give a thought to the drivers. I ran into some places like that when I delivered for the 7-up distributor here a few years ago,I had a different way of doing it. I'd nose up to the dumpster and skate it down the alley about a hundred feet,then back into the dock. (Old GMC reefer with a killer grille guard for delivering to the ranches.)Once,the kid from the store next door came out to throw out some boxes just as I was leaving. He waved me over and asked "Where's the dumpster,did the trash guys come and get it?" I said "Nope-its right there.",and pointed to rhe end of the alley." I guess it musta caught a gust of wind or something..."

Speed

It should use Champion D-14 or D-16. Doubt that Bosch even makes that in Platium.

Probably not,but it couldn't hurt to have a look...Thanks for the info -if I don't find 'em in Bosch,I can at least pick up a set of these for it.

Speed

Hi everyone;

Hope you all had a fun Christmas!

I'm trying to find out what spark plugs my 1940 EH should have. I'm hoping to have a new set with me when I go after the truck,so if they aren't in stock in the parts stores I won't have to wait for them to arrive. If anyone can tell me what plugs it came with,maybe I can cross reference up a set of Bosch Platinums for it. (I run Bosch Platinum plugs in ALL my stuff.) I'm also expecting to have to rebuild the carb,so if you can tell me what carb this truck has,or a part number for the rebuild kit,that'd be a huge help too. I've already discovered none of the parts stores even have any references to parts for ignition and fuel systems parts in their books. Looks like I'll have to get my own set of parts books for it,huh?

Speed

Hey Andy;

I wanna get in on this,but I won't commit until I have title in hand for my Mack. No matter how well a deal is set up,there's always the possibility of change before it's complete. But you'll be getting my submission as soon as possible.

Speed

How about:

Do you most enjoy looking at:

Show Macks

Working Macks

Parade/occasional use Macks

Project Macks

Speed

Doug. they are PVC material and not rubber. A lot of folks around here refer to them both ways so I just stayed with the convention at hand.

Rob

So--how much per set are we lookin' at? I'm sure my li'l EH will be needing a set...

Speed

The Flying J still carries those around here still maybe yours does too.

I'll cruise over and check that out this weekend. Actually,I kinda like the ones I found on ebay,but 50 bucks each sounds a little extreme right now. BTW-check their website;they have a marbled one thats pretty nice,too,and they'll also custom build 'em to your spec's.

Speed

chicken lights are all the lights you see on the modern over the road rigs.

greg

Well,I'd like to add a little more lighting,but mainly for safety,not glitz.I'm thinking Halogen headlights,maybe a couple of road lights,a pair of stoplights,a back up light,and possibly a marker on each side at the corners of the truck. That's pretty much it.

Thanks for the explanation,Greg!

Speed

Painless does a pretty good wiring harness. Popular with the hot rodders and custom car builders. Their prices are pretty reasonable too,and if there's a problem with getting something to work,they have good tech assistance.

Speed

Freightrain;

I'd be happy if ANY of my truck looked that good!!

Beautiful work,Barry-your pride in workmanship shows!

on the board he goes by Bigdog , he is a hell of a nice guy i met him at Macungie , if you go back 2 weeks you will find his post on steering wheels Dec. 5. Ron

This is from a different vendor,but you might wanna check it out anyway. It's pretty cool,and it's for a MACK!!! Ebay Item # 260063855432

Speed

It should be a EN 354 ,115HP at 2850 ,254 ftlbs at 1100. 5.5 comp ratio.Plug gap.025,points .018-.024 ,timing 7 BTDC on damper,valve clearance cold IN .008 Ex .025. Postive ground. 20-50 oil will work but I would drop the pan and clean out any acumulated sludge ,or min. change the oil after 100 miles or several hours. Figure 45-55 MPH top speed depending on gearing. Takes 11 qts with filter. And whats wrong with a generator ????? LOL Put'n chicken lights on it ?? LOL

Thanks John!

WOW-you sure have good info on this ol' truck. I just didn't know what kinda juice the generator'd provide. I ran the stock generator on my '57 GMC for a buncha years with no problem,but while pulling my 35 foot RV trailer down from Caldwell,Idaho,it went toes up and made my life a little bit of hell;couldn't find anything to replace it until Elko,drive a ways,stop and have ranchers charge the battery for a couple hours,go some more,etc.,so since the engine was expiring anyway,I just changed it all out.That GMC was too modified to restore anyway. Trouble free since then.

What's chicken lights? Thats a new one on me. I'm wanting to run Halogen headlights(can't have TOO much light!),and I guess I COULD set it up with six volt ones,but they be hard to get on a Sunday night in Podunk suburbs.'Course,now that I think about it,wouldn't be that big a deal to carry a SPARE one...DUH..

Speed

22.5 rims do fit in place of 20" tube rims Thad is correct. you can put either 11.00-20 or 12-22.5 tires on it to pick up a couple mph's but they are a heavier duty tire with more plies and the price is also quite a bit more expensive and the selection is a little smaller than the more popular 11-22.5's and 10.00-20's

Maxidyne237;

Thanks for letting me know that. Since my 10.00-20's are still okay,I'll go ahead and hang with them. I guess the next possibility would be re-gearing the rear end.(How far before and after this truck are the punkins interchangeable??) BUT-I'll wait until I can run it out and see what I'm working with before I worry about that. On my cars and pick ups,I've always used taller tires as a way to improve my road speed/rpm situation,but in the big truck world,it appears the options are a lot more limited. There are still options to look into though. For now,I'll concentrate on learning about Mack EH's and pulling a plan and design together to get a good flatbed and boom built for my truck. (THAT oughta keep me busy for a few days!)

Thanks again for your input,guys!

Speed

Hi,all;

I'm trying to find out more about the flathead six gas engine in this '40 EH I bought. Anybody know what engine should be in it? It appears to be original,or a bolt-in conversion,from what I could see.

The truck's titled as a 1940,but looks more like maybe a '38. Did they have the same engines?

I'd like to know about its displacement,what its redline is (I'm assuming the gas engines also redlined at 2,100 rpm's.)

What kind of performance did these engines provide? Strong? Gutless?

What was typical oil pressure for a good engine?

Being a gas engine,I plan to run Castrol 20/50 oil in it;I've run it in all my other cars,trucks,and bikes. Is that suitable,or would something else be a better choice? Also,would this be a positive or negative ground system?

At the risk of offending the purists among us,I intend to install an 85 amp Delco alternator,wired the RIGHT way,so I can upgrade the lighting and install an electric fuel pump.

Thanks for tolerating my ignorance of the Mack Trucks world. I'll try not to be too much of a nuisance.

Speed

Hi,all;

I posted on this subject in General Discussion,but decided it probably belongs here.

I would like to know a little more about the flathead six gas engine in this '40 that looks like a '38 EH I bought. I'd just go look if I was about 300 miles closer to it. Anyway,what displacement would it probably be? (The truck appeared to be original,but I don't know what engines could have been swapped in without mods,so Was redline on the gas engines also 2,100 rpm's? Assuming good running condition,what's a safe upper cruise rpm for it? I'm asking this because I was told that,for instance,a Cummins should be run at around 1,800,and a Detroit likes to run WFO,so I wanna be sure of what I'm subjecting this engine to. (I'm taking the Detroit comment with a grain-o-salt...) And how were they known to behave as to performance-powerful? gutless wonders? You'll hear this from me a lot-I can't wait to get this truck home!!!

Speed

Bulldog man;

It might be worth picking up a bunch of those and re-selling 'em through the site-I'd wager there'd be plenty of markey for 'em. About the only thing I have close by is a Flyin'J about 50 miles away and a Pilot about 20 miles out. Up here,it seems like unless you run an air-shift,there's nuthin' for ya.

Speed

MadMacks;

Thanks for the info-it looks like about the only advantage to going to 22.5's would be availability of tires and better handling. The current tires are pretty good,so it'll probably be awhile before a change is necessary.

Freightrain;

Thanks for sharing that-it's proof that the wheels will fit.

Did it change your road speed any? Sounds like the two sizes are so close to the same height it probably didn't make a difference there.

Speed

Thanks Thad;

Cool-so theoretically I could upsize to 22.5 inchers,tubeless. Guess next I need to find out what size 22.5 would be substantially taller than the 10.00-20. I'm not very familiar with the OTR truck tire sizes-my trade was car/light truck tires. I'm trying to back-door a little more mph and less rpm,even though I don't know for sure yet that the stock mill will have enough suds to carry it...

Speed

Hi all;

Another newbie question for ya.

I'm wondering what size wheels are available for a 1938-40 EH. It has 10.00-20's on Daytons now,but are all Dayton hubs the same size as far as the wheel size that will fit? Are Daytons available as 22 or 24.5,and could they be used on this old truck?

Thanks for your patience-I'm learnin' as fast as I can...

Speed

I'd have to say it depends on the amount you need and your credit. If it's not an un-godly amount of money,you might be able to swing a signature loan-that's how I bought both of my Harleys;of course THAT was back when I still had credit... The reason for that,at the time,was because using a loan that was non-specific,I didn't have to tell the bank what I wanted to use the money for,and I was able to go with less expensive insurance than their required full coverage,keeping my payments about a third lower. If you need a larger amount,you might see if you have any close friends or relatives willing to co-sign or put some property or a newer vehicle on the line as collateral. Also,in some truckers' magazines there are advertisements for sales brokers who specialize in this kind of situation. Probably couldn't hurt to check into that option. Best of luck with your purchase!

Speed