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If my B3B had been in better shape when I bought it I might have kept it in a "patina" state of existence, but my truck was too far gone. It's been a five year rescue operation to be honest. The previous owner had painted it over with some gray stuff, the toe boards were missing, large holes were chopped in the rear fenders, the front fender brackets were rusted through (of course), original gauges were gone, brakes were totally non-functional, horn ring was gone, wiring was shot and needed total replacement, bed floor was trash, etc, etc. I had no choice but to take it back to factory original as much as possible. It's not 100% factory (none of them are I'm sure) as you can see from the tires. I also added turn signals. She's getting there...

Is it worth $500 to know you will never have a fuel tank problem that could result in a flatbed ride home? ? Disclaimer: My P15 has a new tank, sender, lines, filter, and electric pump. One flatbed ride was enough for me......

Hey guys, I am almost finished with my wiring project on my ‘48 Desoto! I have used Wiring Harnesses unlimited and it is pretty good, especially if you do it in a short time! In my case it has been7 years and did the dash out of the car first then prostate cancer, heart stents after one heart attack, followed by several stents then had open heart surgery after two heart attacks 10 days apart! Recovery and spent time with my wife and started back to finish about a year ago! Have it wired except for backup light, all wires to trunk after dropping headliner! Taillights not totally complete! Got brown connected to right signal and green to left signal with black to each taillight, red to stop light, black not connected And can’t remember color to license light(if important will check). I decided to bypass the backup switch that was supposed to go to a bracket on tranny which was missing, so I go to a push button switch under the dash to left of steering wheel. Not sure what every switch is, but a lever switch near the push button switch is supposedly wired to control instrument lights! I can take pictures of headlight connectors and wiring which does work! I have a 6v Optima battery in a normal battery sized plastic container I bought to make it look normal! Have connected it, but it has a positive cable wired and connector to both posts! I ordered and received the correct size and color! Engine turns over with 800 Starting Amps! I don’t know if this helps, but I will help any way I can! Roger

I bought a 1949 Coronet about 7 years ago and I'm finally getting around to put some time into it. As stated in the title it is a basket case with some major rot in the floors and rockers as well as the rear fenders and trunk pan. Frame is okay excluding the body mounts and some of the front end. The goal here is to document my process as I restore it to driving condition and document things I learn for other members as well as myself. I will be trying to do most everything from the welding and maintenance myself not only just to save money but to learn some new skills. I've already found a plethora of information on this forum and would just like to share my adventure and knowledge (or lack thereof) with all of you. The motor that came with it was a 230 flathead 6 and was in pieces. Thats going to be replaced with a running 52 truck 218. I have the original fluid drive bolted up to it right now and am just waiting on my clutch disk from Tennessee clutch in order to bolt the transmission on. While waiting I'm going to be focusing on getting the front radiator support fixed ( i had to melt some bolts out of it) and painted.

I was out cruising this afternoon and stopped at an acreage that is a bit shaded. I went up to the road and took this picture. Once I got home and looked at the picture more closely, I was struck by the contrast of greens varying from the lighter green of the car to the darker mature summer green of the trees, with other shades in between. After blue, green is my next favourite colour.

Well Carlise rescheduled their Spring event to this week June 17-21 but without the car auction. I got to the parking lots around 7:30 and basically I was the 30th car in the lot and that made me nervous. Ususally you have to pull into the shoulder lane of the PA turnpike because of the amount of cars getting off the turnpike. Today there was no waiting and I drove right into town without any traffic. I was told about a 50% amount of venders in attendance. But really there were between each venders at time over 10-20 open spaces. Not a lot of old parts. Mostly was new tools, Chinese tools, signs new reproductions lots of paper manuals. At one point there was talk that the state might even shut down the event because of having over 250 people at the event. The PA state Police came into the fair grounds and did a walk around. I left the fairgrounds around 5 PM. Some of the venders think the poor attendance was because of the rescheduling but some also fear the C19 issue. There is also talk of trying to have the fall carlise extended into a second week since the Hershey event that is held right after fall Carlise. The venders would like this to happen so they can take advantage of getting more people to Carlise instead of Hershey. even with the limited amount of venders they were still charging the full entrance amount of $12 per person at the gates. I found some small items for my 39 Desoto but basically it was a bust but the weather was great sunny and temp was in the mid 60's. Felt good to be outside and walking. The rest of the week is calling for some rain so who knows what is going to happen If they have a fall carlise lets all hope they have more venders. Did not see any of the major Mopar venders there this year. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

...do look a the parts breakdown as it will show you the basic construction. The manual will walk you through the repair...if you do not have a manual and wish to tackle this I will not say it cannot be done but you do need some specs to go by, personally I recommend the book and close adherence to the procedure. These unit have been out there in excess of 70 years for the most part....a testament to their construction.

About 2/3 the way down, half the price of the Ebay one https://www.oldmoparts.com/parts-body.aspx

This brings back some old memories of working on my first car, a 1950 Chrysler Windsor. I was working on the engine and resting my left hand of the heater box, when Wham! my hand broke through the box. I think I jury rigged it with cardboard and duct tape. Now of course they sell re-pops. I couldn't fin Andy Bernbaum's heater box, but I did find this one on Ebay. Not cheap. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Air-Duct-Chrysler-DeSoto-6cyl1949-1950-1951-1952-OrigStyle-install-ready/272832648001?hash=item3f8617d341:g:XZ0AAOxyNDxRYWvw

you are correct. sometimes the king pins have no wear and the bushings are trashed and sometimes the king pins have huge grooves and make good shop tools.

Sixty (60) years today.

I rebuilt mine on my 52 by coating it with fiberglass cloth and after a modest sanding painted it satin black. Although I believe I had more to work with than you do.

Got the speedometer programmed after about 6 tries. It kept shutting down about half way through the set up. Figgured it out. Every time it blinked off was when the electric fan spun up. Must have a heavy initial draw. I'll have to put it on a relay to keep if from spinning when I shut the motor off, should keep it from eating up the battery.Anyway, got it out on the road. 55 mph out bound. Max speed per the speedometer log was 63 mph on the way back. Rides great, loud as hell with 6 ft straight pipes coming out right by my ear at the B pillar. Ah well, ol man quite exhaust gets fabbed up on 6 July.The rough home alignment is much better and she tracks straight. On our rough country roads there is no noticeable bump steer. But, i think she's going to need a sway bar fabricated. I'll have to call the mfgr and see what they have.For now, I gotta go buy a new grease gun and get the front and rear suspension fully greased.Next week some time I should have the flooring and insulation for the floor. That'll start to help with the heat and noise.Coming together.I believe I'm going to have to ditch the Thunderbird and get either a real coupe or truck to keep Ol Bessy company.

Thanks to all for the compliments Yes the gauges are the originals I am running an Alternator - I used the conversion kit from Vintage Auto Garage Steve R

Many places sell new ones, Bernbaum's for instance.

I have seen pins that have shown wear as well as wear on the bushings........I suppose it depends on the amount of use, lack of grease and what conditions the car was used in.......andyd

I have alot to do such as fool with my lifters again and find a weird noise I have had from the beginning. Of course there is also the R10 to put back together and install. I have plenty of time to decide what to do with the 8 3/4. With the torque the hemi has, I rarely need to get it over 5k to have fun. I think 3.73's or 3.55's will be a good street light to street light and highway combo. I will decide once I get her back together and get a feel for the R10. Then I can decide if I need a higher freeway gear or not. My original rear with the 54 Plymouth 3.73s works well and is rebuilt. I like the idea of the 8 3/4 because it looks more factory than a 8.8 or D35. Secondly, a disc brake upgrade is cheap and easy to find versus making one for the tapered axle setup.

nice detail work in the engine compartment...what coating is on the manifolds?

All right, let's fix what you have right now and leave what you might do later for later. It's confusing the issue, at least for me, bringing up stuff that isn't part of the issue at hand. Now as far as fuel delivery goes, the only difference between idle and high idle is that at idle the mixture screw supplies the fuel, above that you start getting into the transfer slot, at least on most carbs. Exactly what make and model carb do you have?

Most likely by now the Flower Girl has been married 40 years.

Ran to the pharmacy tonight. I never made it 10 feet from my car before I was approached. The questions began. Then in the store a security guard and 2 more people asked me about my old car. I make them try and guess the year. They figured I should have stepped out with a Tommy gun. Lol. They love it. A great reminder why we love to maintain and drive these old cars.

Thanks not a lot of way to dress a Flathead 6 but a lot of people are seeing that kind of Engine for the first time

John......your cars engine bay works for me.............nice, clean, tidy and Mopar.........andyd

My wagon still running strong after 6 years. Love the looks on people’s faces when I open the hood

Bobb..........same here.........junk in the trunk..........battery in that box which is vent out under the rear fender, spare wheel with nuts to suit and tools in the neat carry box................must do something about the cheap & nasty plastic water bottles...........lol..............andyd

Sedan Delivery project - 5.2 EFI Mopar motor, 5 speed manual, air ride suspension , Dakota front clip, 4-bar rear suspension

rhelm1953,, I'm the new owner of a 50 Plymouth Special Deluxe 2dr,,, I'll save your suggestions and work on the upgrades this winter! I'll bug you for more detail then ?

Greg..........as Doc says the Shebby and Frod engines will fit however you'll probably get more brownie points from us Mopar Morons with a mopar engine in it...have you considered hopping up the side valve six?.......finned heads, exhaust headers, twin/triple carb intakes, cams and more are available.........this was the 230 cube engine I intended to stick in the 41 Plymouth I had, there are lots of things that you can do to the 6 and again all will gain brownie points from rodders and even restorers.....as for a V8 swap, as I mentioned the Poly is very wide and unless you really must have a Poly then the late A or LA series engines are fine and are actually about the same size as chec & frod engines..........but its your choice.........regards...andyd

Greg......I have had a 318 Poly & cast iron torqueflite in my 1940 Dodge since 1973..........I had to swap in a rack & pinion due to how I mounted the engine however any small block LA series 318/340/360 will fit however adapting to the original 3 speed would be a major effort and of doubtful use as the original gearbox would be a marginal proposition........essentially if you change the engine to a V8 you will probably have to mount the engine offset to the passenger side, engine mount kits should be available and I'd be using the later gearbox whether manual or auto that the engine comes with or fits........you'll have to swap in a later rear axle, connect up the rear axle parking brake and I'd strongly suggest disc brakes on the front...........a subframe swap is NOT the way to go.................have attached a pic of my cars engine bay, yep its RHD and the Poly V8 is MUCH wider than the late 318's so you will find its a better fit...........regards from Oz.............Andy Douglas

Ya a v-8 fits "fairly" easy. AS long a it is a Mopar LA type engine which were made is several Cubic inch models from 318-360. Other v-8 brands /models Do Not fit period! ? ? DJ

After much agony and experimentation, I was able to remedy a very rough light throttle no-load cruise surge and stagger problem with my own Pilothouse - after instaling the VPW pcv system - by driling out my main jet from the original 55 size down to a number 50 drill size. Now it cruises smooth as silk. Go figure . . . Guess the added air leak from the pcv leaned out the main metering circuit just a tad too much. Took me a long time to figure this out. Good Luck