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I purchased a 1948 Special Deluxe convertible from an estate in Kentucky. I wasn’t able to speak to anyone in the family but I did have a phone conversation with the neighbor. The gentleman that owned the car for 30 years was a retired Air Force officer and had several old cars. I had the car trailered to me in Texas. It’s in great shape and has 71,000 original miles. I’ve given it a tune up, replaced the plugs and wires, change the oil and gave her a good cleaning. I have to say the forum was a great reference. I installed NGK plugs and put in straight 30 oil. A hot rod shop that’s close to my house told me I need to put an additive (zinc) in the oil. Have any of you done this? He also said I need to add a lead additive to the gas. Thoughts?

Think of thread pitch as an inclined ramp, which it is, just wrapped around in a circle. The 'flatter' the ramp, the less force required to move a weight up. Or the more force can be developed with same input torque.

A quick video of the final thrash and initial shakedown run of the new lakester at El Mirage in November 2020. #MDB660

Now that COVID has ebbed and the new Bonneville lakester has completed it's new car shakedowns at El Mirage dry lake, it's time to dive into a few stagnant projects. First up is prototype #1 of my new "sleeper" head. This looks nothing like the end product, but is going on my '29 DeSoto roadster, Bonnie. I intentionally milled and polished it to inspect the quality of the casting, which I must say is simply outstanding. I then went a step further and gave it an old school hot rod prototype look. The real end product will look identical to a bone-stock 23" head, including provisions for the stock water neck, casting numbers, and provisions for the coil, linkages, and oil filter. Under the stock façade will be all of the benefits of my current EDGY aluminum heads - cast from pure ingot A-357 T6, and my Gen III "Bonneville proven" combustion chamber design. One exciting new feature is that the combustion chambers are going to be cast smaller than the current 74cc (about 9:1 CR), allowing for custom-order CNCed chambers of 8-10.2:1. They should be available in late-2021. Pricing will be about $1300. www.moparmontana.com

I finally got into the carb recently. I found a couple of things. The carb mounting nuts were loose. I would certainly have a vacuum leak there. Especially when cold, I noticed something wasn’t quite right. I could feel it. This is where experience and intuition can guide you. From memory my ‘38 Plymouth was running better, I knew it. Just had to keep digging to get it sorted. The float was set to 5/32. Supposed to be 5/64. Way rich. That explains a few things. I also installed a heat dam at the base of the carb for preventative measures. See photo. Careful with these. Ensure gasket and plate cutouts are in the correct place for vacuum orifices in the carb base. The gaskets are cut with odd openings for a reason. Also, not done yet but I will also install a heat shield plate over my mechanical fuel pump. Test drive coming up!

depending on what you are out to catch.....the difference in bait used......!!

Idk if the thread is the same but I just fixed my 47 truck shaft by making a crude split die. I bought a nut the right size and cut it on half(I also had to make it thinner but that depends on how much good thread you have). Then put the two haves back together and work your way backwards towards the damaged thread.

Lead additive is unneeded, the engine has hardened exhaust seats from the factory. Lead was used as a cheap way to boost octane and was also a lubricant to an extent. As for a zinc additive, my research has lead me to understand that the issue is valve spring pressure, the higher the pressure the more an anti-scuff and anti-wear additive is needed. We have virtually no spring pressure so I don't run it. That all said, can you run those additives, well they won't hurt but it's real old school thinking that shows a lack of knowledge (need for lead additive) and misconceptions (need for more zinc).

Ok, the oil gauge piping is done. I installed my spare block fitting without modification. Other than fluids all that's left before trying to start the engine is generator, starter and heat riser. I'll try and tackle those tasks over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Brad

Work has also started on the StudEbaker, a Tesla Model S Sport powered '49 2R5 EV shop truck, charged off the shop roof.

The last few times I went to a local bearing house to match up bearings I left frustrated. They made a lousy effort to try. They really were not interested in helping me. I do the work myself and get the results I need. I’m old enough to remember when a good partsperson was very valuable to someone who worked on automobiles. That person was able to earn a decent living too. Before computers dumbed down the partsperson trade. Do you get what you pay for? Today you may need to work a little harder to earn what you get in value. If you would rather just flop out $100 bills and buy parts with little effort you’ll get what you get. Might be good or could be bad junk. If you aren’t interested in doing any research, odds are you may not be able to identify a good value part. I guarantee Richard Desoto recognizes good quality parts. I do my research. I have purchased parts manuals. Multiple service manuals. $100 for a vintage Hollander Exchange. $100 for another decent service manual. $50 for a parts manual. Another $50 for another parts manual. Another $100 invested in 2 Motors Manuals. Dyke’s encyclopedia and more. I’ve seen good sized home technical libraries where people have invested considerably. Some of us spend countless hours reading old technical text books and visiting sites like this one. Researching, and also helping others. I personally have countless hours producing You Tube videos to help others. Karma is real. I help others in the hobby constantly. Free info and good advice comes my way too. Scanned data and old reference material also finds its way to me too, free. I share what I have too. I am rewarded when I am able to help those who also want to help themselves. People who roll up their sleeves and get greasy, I have no problem helping ouy. Every dollar I’ve spent on technical books or any other technical literature was spent for my sole personal benefit. If it can also helps others, great! It's a hobby. I like surrounding myself with like-minded hobbyists. I like to share what info I may have and know. I like it when others do the same. We all win when combined, we share our knowledge and some resources too. Within reason. I won’t be scanning my entire 1938 Parts or Service manuals. Lol.

So IPS (the forum software vendor) is releasing an update soon that will have a new capability called "Achievements". Basically the more active you are in the community you gain points that can result in rewards. Rewards could be different types of recognitions like badges on your profiles or posts. I'm thinking something a little more tangible, like additional free disk storage quota. Again rewards are based on different types of activity like posting threads, liking posts, responding to or following threads. Inquiring minds might be thinking "But doesn't additional storage cost you money?" Well yes, but increased site activity drives more page views which increases monthly revenue from Google, which in turn makes paying the bills easier. So I see a win/win for all. Become a more active member and get more storage so you can post more with more images which helps me pay for everything! Let me know what you think!

It is good to find issues when troubleshooting, nothing worse than looking at a thing and it being magically fixed. Because you never have confidence in the repair. Thanks for the follow up.

I looked at the '48, '49, '51 and '53, and verified in the parts manual, that there is no rubber hose on the oil pressure gauge line like there is on the flathead cars. The oil pressure line from the gauge through that firewall grommet is a tricky li'l bugger to duplicate since the original hugs the firewall contour, but it doesn't have to be that exact shape for functionality...I think all that does is get the upper line outta the way for engine removal. With the oil pressure port behind the oil filler pipe instead of the closest port to the firewall, I reckon this gives extra clearance for starter removal / installation.

All the way up to 1971, in 72 Dodge changed over to ifs.

In starting the rust repairs at rear of body, I ended up a bit out of my depth in part due to taking up mig welding for the first time, also despite not looking bad, there was very little usable metal left to hold things together. The pic below shows what I started with. The beaver panel was shot with both inner and outer 50% gone. Both rear corners were toast and the boot floor was full of holes and buckled from numerous rear enders. I managed to buy a replacement outer beaver panel which included corners on USA ePay. The centre panel was close to same profile as the Aussie body but the corners turned out to be too narrow. I also had a boot floor panel fabricated up with the original ribbing pattern - more about that later. Next we did a one day mig workshop with one of our experienced club members. Then I started on the left side and discovered that the rust extended thru 3 layers, including the edge of the boot floor. I cut out the rust and tacked in the layers one at a time, had to use guesswork with the boot floor section as it was badly dented and buckled. All ok so far, love the mig. Moved to the right side which looked in better shape, but found rust behind the inner re-inforcing that extended right up to the edge of the mudguard. The further I went the more rust I found. And then the mig went to SH#$%, and I was very unhappy with the result so I stopped to regroup. Took a 4 year break .. ??? Moved to kitchen renovation, then rust repairs on my 55 Plymouth (which went well, by the way), then 38 chassis and engine, before returning to tackle the body. Turned out the problem with the mig was the wire spool had come loose as a result of a missing clamp .. fixed with a cable tie. Not a pretty look, that right corner.

One more item off the engine start list. I'm assuming I have it installed correctly.

Use 30 wt non detergent oil for break-in. Switch to your favorite 30 wt /5w-30wt/10w-30 wt detergent oil after break-in. Non-detergent oil doesn't keep any "break-in trash"in suspension,but allows it to fall to the bottom of the oil pan so it can be drained away. A VERY minor worry,but why take the chance? This isn't a problem with modern cars because they have much more effecient oil and filter systems.

Nice looking car. Welcome. Here is a photo of an ad from the 1940s showing the different models of the Plymouth P15, including a yellow convertible. First---the entire pic, then closer in on the convert so you can read the comment. Of course, I'm kinda prejudiced towards yellow.....

Castrol 20w-50 is fine oil,but it is a high-detergent oil,and you can't just dump it in an old engine that has been using non-detergent oil and expect good things to happen. What WILL happen is it will break free the sludge the non-detergent oil has allowed to build up in the base ban,the lifter area,and anywhere else it can build layers,and your oil pressure will drop to zero,and your oil galleries will be clogged with sludge. If you run an oil filter,it will feel like it weighs 100 lbs when you go to pull it out. Yes,you CAN keep changine the oil and filter every day until you manage to flush away most of the sludge,but do you REALLY want all that trashy oil running through your bearings and oil pump? If you want to run modern oils,which are certainly much better than the old non-detergent oils,the way to do it is to drop your base pan and clean it out to the point it is squeaky clean,and spray something like carb cleaner up into the the block to flush away as much of the old crap as you can get to. It is a good idea to replace the front and rear oil seals while you have the oil pan off. Oftentimes,changing over to detergent oil will create front and rear main seal leaks. Once you have done this,buy a case of the cheapest 30 wt high detergent oil that you can find and at least a half-dozen GOOD,high-quality oil filters. You are then prepared to run your engine while parked with your eye on the oil pressure guage,and the instant your oil pressure starts to drop,change the oil and filter. Repeat as necessary until your oil remains clean on your dipstick and your oil pressure remains steady. This,of course,only applies to engines that haven't been rebuilt and switched to modern oils after the rebuild. The word "Detergent" really means something when refeering to detergent oils. You will wonder how the damn thing managed to stay together with all that crap that was in it by the time you are through. This all seems to apply x100 if your old engine used non-detergent Quaker State oil. I will physically hurt anyone I catch putting Quaker State oil in anything I own. I would rather have you spit in my face. I know this is irrational because the modern Quaker State detergent oils are PROBABLY ok even with all the wax in it,but don't care.

I wish I had been smart enough to "start out at the top". It just doesn't get any prettier than a convertible. "Yes", for the lead additive to the gasoline. Lead helps cool your valves.

It's going to be a while yet. And since I won't be making any more EDGYs, the resale market should be strong for them if you decide to swap out for a new one.

these old cars like a little loving on a regular basis. Thanks for following up and letting us know.

Okay fellas, I went with the super easy things first, all the while keeping in mind the things everyone was so kind to suggest. First, my carb was loose, I mean really loose. At the base, and where the adaptor meets the carb. I went far too long before checking it for sure. It was so loose one of the adapter bolts was missing the nut and washers. Then I removed each plug and cleaned them. They looked pretty good, not overly cruddy or anything. I was going to change the fuel filter and decided on looking into the distributor first. Well guess what? Number five spark plug wire at the cap had worked itself off. Problem solved. I will keep in mind all of the suggestions mentioned for future reference. Thanks everyone.

Bonnie, a 1929 DeSoto Model K roadster, parking in '51 with a cracked block and a broken front left leaf spring, is now fitted with a '50 23", EDGY cam, Shanefelt intake, vintage Fentons, Holley 48s, and will be the the recipient of the prototype head. Tranny is a S10 T5 case with '91 Camaro gears. Axles and wheels are '31 DeSoto in order to get away from the '29s six lug wheels and split rims. Dash is '31 Chrysler. #BonnieDeSoto

Something else to think on as well. Planned Obsolesence. When they used to make good quality products, no matter where, it was hard to sell after the first to second year due to no one needing a replacement. So a lot of companies starting in the late 70's set about making a product that didn't last as long so they could sell the next best thing and people would buy it knowing that what they had was on it's last legs or the new and improved model was better. I mean look at the I-Phone. Every model that came out since the original only had one or two improvements (usually the camera). The trouble with people now a days is all they see is the fun shiny object and they will wait in line for days just to get it. Same with cars. Most people used to buy them every 8-10 years now less than 5 years. Also with all the plastic used to make cars lighter, the sun and heat kill them rather quickly. The only household invention that was worth anything was the flat screen tv. I had a 36 inch sony tube tv for over 20 years. I had to take it to the shop once for a fix and that thing weighed a ton. After it went out again, bought a 40 inch flat screen that I could carry with one hand. There are very few companies that make a good product, mostly in Japan, A lot of American companies moved overseas mainly for the cost saving benefit, but the quality suffered even more after that. Buy any pair of shoes from a second or third world manufacturer and no 2 pair is really the same size. Last thing I'll mention is scientific advancement. Up until the development of the transistor, product development was at a sedate pace. With the transistor, products that were newly developed were obsolete in just a few years due to advancements in electronics then printed circuit boards, microchips, carbon fiber, the list goes on. We have developed more new things in the last 30 years than in the last 300. While scientific advancement is good, the number of new things is so overwhelming, you don't know what's good or bad until it's been out for a while and by then something new has come along. Back to the question of worth, usually the more expensive the better (for parts at least) depending on the the country of origin. America's manufacturing base is slowly coming back but so is the price tag that comes along with it. Between cost of living and the wages today is it any wonder people buy cheap and hope for the best. Joe Lee

additional information - Gallery Images Inserted Into Posts

So it looks like I found the feature I was looking for...instead of inserting the URL of the gallery picture, I insert an existing attachment... and from the next pop-up window, I can choose Post Attachments or Gallery Images... from either choice, the window populates with all attachments or images that I have saved to this site, and there is a search engine in this window to assist... I can now organize pictures in albums and use the search function in the pop-up window So it looks like I can move forward with getting away from photobucket and moving images onto this site ? The next challenge is dealing with memory space allocation...

Buy North American and avoid buying cheap crap made by the huge Orwellian garbage factory across the pond! If everyone stuck together and left the big garbage factory out in the cold, they may be more apt to becoming better global citizens and not feeding us shizzle and poorly constructed rocket parts that haphazardly fall back to earth! M

5-24: Out cruising with the kids. Filled up the tank. I'm averaging 7.6mpg. I thought it would be about 5, so bonus for me. Stopped for a quick photo on one of Winona's old brick streets. ?

few people possess the mechanical skills you do, Sniper.. simple to see. as for me I can wrench..Im no Mechanic.. but coming here and sharing the wealth of knowledge is awesome! Learning from some of the best, new and old. I know the newbies dig it. I sure do after 50 yrs of Flatties.Where else do you find this info? thanks for sharing, everyone

It is good to use the cork gasket. Seal one side. Let Dry. Use Grease on other side and not have to keep replacing it everytime you might have to go back in. Of Course an old gasket is just that, and would probably need replacing. Don't over tighten Thumb Screws (snug is enough)

I'm finding similar disappointments with one of the car clubs I'm in, in regarding to what Rich was just ranting about. For me I am a sponge for any new info on my car or any vintage car for that matter. I've been that way since I was around 10 years old. I used to love testing myself on identifying cars when we were out on the weekly "Sunday drives" I could barely see out the window of my dads car, but one glimpse at the grill or taillights and I pretty much had it nailed after awhile. I'm puzzled when I ask a club member if their car has matching numbers and they have no idea what I mean? Let alone what's even under the hood. However on the flip side I was just parking my 48 Chrysler just yesterday and a young girl came up to me and we started chatting. I was surprised when she asked if I would pop the hood. Turns out she is a mechanic in training. Not sure of her age, since up here in Canada we're all still wearing masks but I'd guess she was 20 ish. She wanted to see the flathead and had a ton of questions about it. So there is still hope.

Hey Scott, That looks great! I think a new thread would be good.

Never mind. I figured it out. Yup,that pretty much describes me.

This evening I asked my wife to go out on date. Picked her up in the garage. Took her to McD’s for some fries. She said “ Our dates out haven’t changed much since we were 16. Same color old Mopar, green. (It was a 76-ish Dodge Dart 2 door). We got older so did the cars.” In the parking lot a nice old man approached. He looked to be in about his mid 80’s. He Shuffled over. Skinny and flopping around in his pants. Lol. Poor sweet old bugger. We’re all headed there. He says “I just wanted to tell you that your car is one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen. “ I agree", I responded . "One of the most beautiful ever built". He said, "When I was kid, cars like your Chrysler were everywhere". Big grins. I thanked him and he shuffled back to his ‘92 Toyota Camry.

You might be right that there is some correlation - but YouTube demographics might also have to do with your specific videos, your presentation, your style, etc... You present in a way that attracts that specific audience. If you presented in a way to attract a larger audience you might also deter that group from watching. Just some armchair thoughts from a 39 year old considering making new regular videos because so many of my friends from across demographics have been pushing me to do it because of their own YT revenue. What is your YouTube link? I'll see if I can't help those numbers out some for you.

Neil Riddle used to have those battery case stickers ...made em and sold them.

I'm always cautious so I want to be sure. One other supplier had a very clear photo of the regulator. However there was a sticker on the cover identifying the terminals as to where they go. It is the style with all 3 terminals on the left side. The sticker was upside down, so it showed the BAT as being the top terminal and the ARM as being the bottom terminal. When I tried to get clarification on the phone I discovered that the automated reply that sends you on what seems to be a never ending button pushing exercise, bluntly said that they do not offer phone customer service. When I emailed them for an explanation I got a "form" type explanation, followed up by saying, I get what is in the picture. That's was their explanation.