Bill Holbrook

Thanks for the help guys. will be performing compression test hopefully on Wednesday if weather holds out. will post updates then. @desoto1939 no I am not part of the group, does it have a website or anything? @John Reddie thanks man, really cant wait to get it painted up. will make a world of difference on my old ride.

@Andydodge I apologize for not replying sooner. I am not getting notifications that people are commenting. I posted pictures of my car onmy other post. You have a very beautiful ride I must say im a bit jealous. As for my wanting to keep mine all original I love seeing old hot rods as well. nothing wrong with getting the most out of your ride. I can certainly agree with keeping them on the road no matter how it happens. no insult what so ever toward anyone on me saying "real" either, I guess I should have more said stock. and I would be very appreciative if you sent me the information you have. @desoto1939I have your information saved and will be in contact with you for a manual.

When I got the car It was absolutely a hot steaming mess. they had taken what I thought to be an old ford starter relay and tried to wire up to replace the original and ran a pig tail wire from it to manually bridge over the starter to make it work. I searched and found a new original relay and installed and rewired it. the starter had to be rebuilt though because they was running the car with a 12 volt battery instead of a 6. also that is an air cleaner I had purchased to do away with the oil bath air filter but I no longer use it because the car refused to run smooth with it installed. it only had that for a day and now has its original back on unmodified. as for the massive amounts of primer on the car now. I done that to save the metal which has wide scale surface rust. it will be going to a professional in the spring to be repainted it original color. I took paint chips of what was left of the paint to match it up as its codes do not show up in any system I have found yet. a lot fo cobbling had been done on the car and it was in poor to border line salvage when I got it.

all wires inside of the dis have been replaced. even that little bitty annoying one that you can barely get too. and the vacuum wasn't working but it has sense been replaced. I have already gone over all plug connections as that was one of my first thoughts given the suddenness. also point gap was set already to the manuals specs the. we played with it some as it did not run well at factory setting. as for pics ill get some better ones today for everyone.

I have replaced all plugs and wires, condenser, cap and rotor, coil, coil wire and points. I also pulled the distributor disassembled it inspected cleaned and lubricated. I installed a new gas tank along with lines sending unit fuel pump and filter. The tank has no old gas in it at all and I do not run any additives. When I do fill ups I only put premium in it. Also haven't put any used parts on the car everything is brand new. I have not performed a compression test yet.

hey guys. 54 desoto has a hard vibration on the engine. thinking it could be misfiring but also concerned on the carb as it is not in the greatest of shape according to the shop who rebuilt it. car had been running perfectly fine for two months and I had drove it home from work that morning. when I came out that night and started it with no warning or noise at all, as soon as it started I immediately felt hard shaking coming from the engine. also the car has had a very large loss of power. can barely pull itself up hills even pulling out at a traffic light the car has hesitation and will sputter. any advice? 1954 desoto power master 251 flathead 6 carter ball and ball 1 barrel automatic choke 2 speed powerflite transmission

hey guys new to the forum here. I have a 54 desoto with a powerflite tranny that is leaking out of the vent on the passenger side. this is my first old vehicle ive owned. last was a 89 f150 5 speed and is totally different. I am not looking to ad brake fluid which I have heard works and I don't want to put any stop leak or anything like that. I want to do an actual fix on this with new seals and everything. has anyone ever actually done anything like this before that would have any good pointers as to how to do this job? car is very important to me and im really wanting to keep it all "real". thank you guys for any help you can offer is much appreciated.