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James_Douglas

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Everything posted by James_Douglas

  1. I have a couple of second gears in my parts and one is a fast second gear. If you look at my old posts what I found was that the fast second gear works great in the lighter cars. In the big suburban, I found that the standard second gear and OD worked better in city traffic. Since I have run both, I had the opportunity to get a feel for them both. James
  2. I use a wheel chuck here in San Francisco with the 5000 pound Desoto Suburban. Every time. One reason is to not allow the thing to roll back with the OD engaged, the other is so that I do not have to curb my wheels which is a PITA in parallel parking. Although once a meter reader gave me a ticket for not curbing my wheels and I had to go to court. The judge admonished the meter reader that in California by law a chock is acceptable in place of curbing your wheels. James
  3. I would have to go back and check my notes on the joints. My plan down the line when I have some time is to figure out how to sleeve the old bat wings and use off the shelf joints. Then if needed one could pull out the sleeve and press a new one in and just use a off the shelf joint. James
  4. Just unbolt the clutch. Do each bolt a little at a time until the the clutch is loose. If the pressure plate is ok, then just get a new or rebuilt clutch and or pressure plate assembly as needed. Just do not rock the unit on the coupling. James
  5. RNR1957NYer, I know the feeling. I went through and restored my parents 1964 300K coupe in the 1980's. They purchased it new. I even have the original window sticker my mom too off with a razor. I then got a '64 300K convertible and restored it. I then moved into San Francisco. The old buildings garage doors were just too narrow to get these cars in and out of. I stored them out of SF. But after many years of them sitting, and me paying to store them, I decided to sell them. What a stupid mistake. The CV I could live without, too much scuttle shake for me. But mom and dad coupe I should never have sold. So, now I will be doing more more of these cars over the next couple of years. I will also rebuild the 1947 Desoto. The car things we regret! James
  6. What state are you trying to register it in? If in California, have a CHP "VIN" officer come out. Also, check with the DMV Special Processing Unit in Sacramento. If you have any family registrations from before non-op with your relatives name, they may process it without worrying about you having to go find the frame rail stamp. I have never gone looking for the number on the frame of my 1947 Desoto, but I can tell you that my 1949 Desoto Convertible has the number stamped on the top of the frame about 1/2 down the frame rail. No way to see it without taking the body off. As Tod mentioned, sometimes engine numbers were as the VIN and sometimes used the body number on the door pillar. Make sure when you do the paperwork that you use the body number NOT the engine number as if you ever rebuild the engine and deck the block that number goes away. Of course any idiot can stamp the number back on the engine. Best, James
  7. I seem to remember ordering some rod from McMaster many years ago and cutting a longer rod and then drilling the ends for a couple of small cotter pins... James
  8. I really do not know why not? I have been driving and parking my classic cars here in San Francisco for 30 plus years. I do not leave them out on the street overnight, but other than that I use them just like any other car. I have never had a car stolen, I have never had a car get hit. Given that San Francisco is more or less a classic grid, one can always find ways around to avoid the bad traffic spots. What would make one make such a blanket statement? In a few weeks six hundred of us will be driving our classic cars to the annual old car picnic in Golden Gate Park. James
  9. I have had two 300K hard tops and two 300K convertibles. So, I know well what I am walking into. The big deal is the unitized body. The rust proofing from 1960 to about 1968 sucked and a lot of them are rust buckets under the skin and hard to fix. Not to mention expensive. I plan on rebuilding the 413. When I do, I may down tune it to 9.25 to one so I can run regular. I may also put on fuel injection with a knock sensor. We shall see... James
  10. After a lot of discussion we decided to not use the 1947 Desoto Suburban for our cross country retirement travels. The big issue is that we now live in an age where: 1. People just have no patience on the freeways and in the mountains for slow 1940's cars. 2. No trunk. We are seeing more and more reports of people with cars, both classic and not, getting broken into by bashing the windows to get to things in sight. The 1947 Desoto Suburban does not have a trunk. We do not want to worry about someone looking in and deciding to break a window to get to things while we are in some diner someplace. By dumb luck we ran across last week an 88 year old man that had a few cars. He cannot drive any more. One of the cars was a 1964 Chrysler 300K hardtop. It was his mothers that she purchased new in the fall of 1963. FACTORY paint still on it. The sheet metal unibody is perfect. A couple of small dings here and there but where it counts the metal is just fantastic. The car has a documented 98K miles on it. Now you have to understand that my mom and dad, in addition to the 1949 Desoto that a got back and restored, purchased a 1964 Chrysler 300K in the fall of 1963 as well. I restored that car as well a convertible. I sold them both in the late 1990's. I regret to this day selling the hardtop. Neither of the 300K's would fit into the garage space here in San Francisco at the time. So, we are going to rebuild a stock 265 for the big Desoto and not do all the fancy modification I was contemplating. We will use it for spring and fall cool weather trips in Northern California for fishing and the like. The 1964 Chrysler will be completely rebuild for cross country trips. James
  11. I have done several of these and I have not had any of them leak. I do however cover the recess with some silicon seal before I add any oil just as insurance. You could take the entire trans to a general machine shop and have them place it in a mill and create a step in the case around the hole, like the engine blocks. Then place a flat style welch plug in with permatex. That should seal it up tight. I suspect that the case or the shaft is out of spec. The other option is to source a NOS shaft and tap it through and see if it seats better. James
  12. Domi, My friend is out of town and I am heading out of town for a week or so. So I will not be able to get you photos until I return. James ******** Domi, Mon ami est hors de la ville et je pars de la ville pour une semaine environ. Je ne pourrai donc pas vous obtenir de photos avant mon retour. James
  13. I have driven my friends car on several occasions and it drives just fine with the single BBL Carter BB. James
  14. I have tried using this tool in place and could never get a good angle to do the job correctly. I ended up having to pull the fender, both inner and outer to get a good hit to replace the brass plug leaks. I used JB but after 50K miles it is showing signs of some weeping. That is why on the next one I am going to machine the step out of the block and use the cup style ones...
  15. Domi, I have a good friend with a 1946 T&C. In fact I flew across the USA with him to advise him when he was looking at it and I have helped him with work on it. In the next couple of days, I will take some detailed shots of the parts in question. There was a shortage at the factory in 1946 of Carter One Barrel Carburator's and some of the T&C's got a Two Barrel Carburetor and some got a Strongberg. So, if you are starting from scratch, you could hunt for any of the three sets of needed parts. Give me a few days and I will see what I can photo and get it posted. James ******** Domi, J'ai un bon ami avec une T&C de 1946. En fait, j'ai traversé les États-Unis avec lui pour le conseiller quand il le regardait et je l'ai aidé à travailler dessus. Au cours des prochains jours, je prendrai quelques photos détaillées des pièces en question. Il y avait une pénurie à l'usine en 1946 de Carter One Barrel Carburator et certains des T & C avaient un carburateur à deux barils et d'autres un Strongberg. Donc, si vous partez de zéro, vous pouvez rechercher l'un des trois ensembles de pièces nécessaires. Donnez-moi quelques jours et je verrai ce que je peux photographier et le faire publier. James
  16. I have been driving my 1947 Desoto Suburban as our daily driver for 20 years. San Francisco daily traffic and hour and 20 minute rides to our place out of town on the freeway at 65-70 MPH. 251 engine, three speed with OD and front disc brakes. At 175K miles on the car and about 65K miles on a rebuilt engine it is time to go completely through the car. I look forward to another 20 years driving it. James
  17. Hi All. My 1949 has a leaking MC. All my spares are at my place out of town. I am using a 1951 Imperial MC and pedal as the power brake cars 1951-1954 used a different pedal and a different push rod. This changed the pedal ratio. Also, the 1951-1954 MC had a 1.50 stroke versus the 1946 to 1950 which had 1.125 stroke. What I noticed on my now that it is on the bench is that when the pedal is in the resting position, up against the stop on the housing, that the face of the plunger is dead even with the face of the MC. My question is: Are the 1946 to 1949 units the same, or does the change in the push rods on the power units from 1951 to 1954 allow the plunger to travel out farther than the non power ones. Since all my hard brake spares out at my place out of town, I cannot check them. So, I wanted to see if anyone has one on the bench and call advise. ************* Well, since I wrote this I got a new master cylinder from one of the usual suspects that claim that this MC is all American made. I can tell you that the two machine screws that hold the plate and boot to the MC on the new unit were #10 Metric heads. The threads were SAE. Made in the USA, perhaps. I see that the length of the bore for this unit and my 1951 Imperial Unit are the same. All the difference in stroke is in the different pedal ratio and different pushrod. Speaking of that. There is no way to get the pushrod "B" setting to 3/4 inch as is advised in the service manual. The different pedal and pushrod set that geometry and no amount of adjustment can change it. It ends up being about 1.25 to 1.5 inch of total travel before the bleeder port stops bubbling inside the master cylinder. I spent an hour on the bench with it full to set it. I gave it a generous 1/4 inch of free play for the "A" setting. I suspect that nobody at MOPAR had a light bulb go off and amend the service manual. WARNING! The Master Cylinder I got had a pedal pin hole size of .7465 with the pin being .75000 inch. The engineering books tell you that for cast iron housing and steel pin that the press fit should be a maximum of one 1.3 thousands of an inch. My had 3.5 thousands of an inch. So I needed to ream it. If one tries to press or hammer the pin in with that tight of fit you may crack outright the housing. You may also induce some unseen cracks that could get big and fail in the future. I would suggest that people check that hole if they buy new master cylinders. Best, James
  18. There is one other way to deal with the boost pump issue... Cut the fuel in near the tank and put in a russell one way flow valve. The split the line into a double "Y". One side just heads to the front of the car like normal and the other side place into it a Carter 6V gear pump which is still generally available. The only issue is that pump if used as a primary, like the mechanical pump died, must have a return line to the tank with 3/16 hole in a "T" fitting at the car to keep it cool when stuck in stop and go traffic. See my old posts on the subject. You need the one way valve so when the electric is on it does not push back to the tank. James
  19. We have been using our 1947 Desoto as a daily driver since 2003. Now here in SF we only do about 3000 miles a year. We do not have any belts in it. Over the last few years however the number of close calls seems to have increased. Particularly on the freeways. When I start to go through the car next year, I plan on adding belts. The law in California is such that if yo install them you have to use them. I plan on using some steel plates welded to the underside of the body. A few holes with in and out spot type welds. Then 4 bolts in addition. This spreads out any forces to a larger area than a large washer. As to three point...the Desoto Suburban has a quite large post between the doors. I will weld in a plate with the appropriate threaded nut for a three way belt. One thing is the seats. They suck as far as the 1940's frame goes. They can hop out. The adjusters are just a bad design. In fact I have had to bailing wire the adjusters down to they will not move. I am thinking of using some turnbuckles with solid rods to set the front seat adjustment and remove the side handle making it more of longer term adjustment mechanism rather than a on demand one. I have no problem with people deciding to not use belts or riding a motorcycle without a helmet. As long as THEY are paying for medical insurance and long term care insurance so that the taxpayer is not on the hook for that decision. James
  20. Sounds like something is wrong with the ring wall seal. Someone may not have properly gaped the rings. I would pull all the pistons. Hone the walls to a proper cross hatch pattern. Place new rings in the bores. Gap them properly. Then place them on the pistons and put it all back together and see what you get. Just FOLLOW the ring makers recommendation for breaking in new rings. Fire the engine off and IMMEDIATELY bring it up to 1000 to 1500 RPM. Do not let it idle. Run it for at least 15 minutes or whatever the ring maker recommends. James
  21. The problem I would worry about is seepage. On the 1949 Desoto, go read the long threads I had on this, we had oil seeping from the gallery up through the floor of the water jacket. It was slow, took a couple of hundred miles. That oil would then float to the top of the head, act like a blanket, cause local hot spots and crack the head. Turns out that if you look at the photo I have attached that the distance from the gallery to the floor of the water jacket is very close. Any porosity in the block at that point from the original casting or rust over time and it can be a problem as I found out. It required swamping in a new engine for a new engine. I would plan on doing a full pressure test at 100 PSI of the oil distribution system to make sure that is not going to be a problem. Yes, this is a PITA as you have to press in a set of cam bearing blocking the holes then removing them. Not to mention all the other things that you have to plug. A friend who is big into drag racing suggested I get some of the stuff they pour into drag blocks to stiffen them up. A 1/4 mile is not long enough to cause a heat issue and they often fill the water jackets 1/2 up to stiffen them. He suggested after I clean my "bad" new engine that I pout like a 1/4 inch in to the floor of the block to seal any seep holes. He take is it could ave this rebuild engine. A thought. James
  22. I went and tried to order several of them on eBay. They would take the order then an hour or two later I would get an email saying that the unit was back ordered and they refunded the sale. Some 90% of the people selling om eBay and Amazon are just fronts. They have zero inventory. They just take the order and have the items drop shipped and taker a cut. The problem is that these same 90% of vendors do not use real time inventory from their suppliers so until they process the order they do not know if the units is really available. A buddy of mine found a place in the SF Bay Area that actually had a couple in stock, albeit at $75 each. The lesson of this particular episode is do not believe what you see until something is actually shipped or you actually talk with a supplier and they have the part in their hand while talking to you. The internet lies....
  23. yes, I mean the levers on the clutch pressure plate...
  24. The boot pump on my 47 died. I went to get a new one and airtex has them on back order (E8902) they also make another one (Airtex E8012S) but Amazon will not ship this unit to California ! What a pain in the ass! Anyone have a good part number for a 6 volt pass through inline fuel pump that is not airtex? Thanks, James
  25. Just send a core to Terrell Machine to rebuild it. Better pump that a new airtex.... James
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