keithb7

Consider performing a search for a local oil lab. Take an oil sample into them. Costs about $15. They can tell you if you have fuel dilution. Also the oil viscosity. Also if there is coolant, iron, tin, lead, chrome, copper, whatever, in your oil. Then you'll know whats getting into your crank case. Left alone, bearings and cylinder walls can be wiped out.

I doubt anyone here has data to prove that one battery this much better than any other. We generally speak from our own experience. I hear good and bad things about Optima batteries. I have no experience or proof of performance. I have not invested twice the price of a typical 6V tractor battery, to buy an Optima yet. I have seen data logging equipment used on large heavy earthmoving equipment that use flooded acid batteries. Battery voltages were recorded every day. Each time the large diesel engine was flashed up, of course the battery voltage would drop. Then the alternator would charge it right back up to the maximum voltage again. Over weeks and months, years, recorded voltage data was extrapolated into a graph. You could literally watch the maximum voltage that the battery could take, slowly drop. Over a long time, eventually the batteries would not charge up enough to crank over the big diesel engine. I am taking 2 years or so worth of recorded voltages. I suspect the reason for this is plate sulfation. I am no expert. The build up of lead sulphate occurs over time. A result of the chemical reaction going on in the battery. Sure sulfer releases off the battery cell plates when it gets re-charged. Most of it. Not all. Slowly it builds up. Slowly degrading the battery's ability to create maximum volts. Keep in mind 6.02V measured across a 6V battery, means its at 50% capacity. One of the quickest ways to ruin a battery, is to leave it sit during the off season. Letting its slowly drop its voltage. The plates sulfate bad, and it won't come off when you recharge it in the spring. You are left with a severely degraded battery. No matter if you recharge it, it flops on its face when the starter calls for maximum amperage from it. It may not happen in year one, but each year its quality is degraded. 3 winters later, junk. I keep a trickle charger on all my batteries all winter and summer. Year round, I keep them freshly charged. My $95 6V tractor battery is 5 years old now. No issues at all. My two 12V Costco batteries in my 1998 Ram diesel truck are screwed. They are not yet 3 years old. Why? I had a slow battery drain going on after the ignition switch was turned off. I don't drive the truck very often. It sat and slowly sulfated. Draining the battery all the time. I troubleshot the problem with my clamp-style ammeter. I stopped the amp drain. Too late. Those batteries won't take a real good charge any more. As soon as we hot -10, I guarantee it won't start. I see all kinds of off shore made batteries being sold around here. "Canadian Proof" batteries. "Polar Batteries". They like to name them after something cold is seems. To imply tough colder winter performance. Made in China. Do yourself a favour and buy a quality made in the USA or Made in Canada battery. Do your research. Pay extra for something decent. You'll have a better chance it will last, and keep your local battery company in business. Invest in a little trickle charger. Again, get a quality one. Keep your quality made battery fresh and you'll be fine. I found this in a google search: Car Battery Brands Most aftermarket car batteries sold in the U.S. are made by three companies that build them for retailers: Johnson Controls, which supplies more than half of the market; Stryten; and East Penn. They are sold under various names and built to the specifications of retailers, so performance can vary. Most stores will test, install, and match a battery to your car’s needs. All batteries will eventually wear out. AGM (absorbent glass mat) will take a good re-charge when they drain down very low. They resist sufation very well. Great for seasonal use. Seek out a made in USA 6V AGM battery maybe. That's a good investment!

Lots of good car use there Worden. Glad to see the old American getting driven often. You have the American, Plymouth Cranbrook, and Dodge truck still? I'd be struggling about where to put my time. Which car? I already do that now, with only 2 cars. I have big plans to put some solid time into reassembling my Plymouth engine tomorrow. I know what'll happen. 4 hours in, I'll be flashing up my Chrysler for a cruise. Gotta use up the last 4 weeks of snow free driving while I can. I can work in the garage on the engine reassembly all winter! Have fun today, work later! Lol.

$25K for a house, on land, that is habitable, to me is incomprehensible. Around here the lower priced detached homes, within city limits with a small piece of city sized property is in the $500,000 Canadian funds ($384,000 US Funds) range. I don't know how young people can get into the housing market here. My older son and his wife settled into a 3 bedroom condo. They bought it about a year ago. My younger son and his wife, we built a nice private suite downstairs here for them. So they can live independently, yet still save cash for their first mortgage some day. Between you and me...My wife and I enjoy them being here so much, we hope they'll just cohabitate with us indefinitely. Heck when they are ready to have a family, we could switch places. Wife and I could head down to the suite. They take over the rest of the house. Maintenance. Lawn mowing. Snow clearing. Everything. I'll build a detached garage with 2 hoists! Heck, a suite for me up top the new garage would be ideal! Wife could come live above the garage with me if she wanted, or stay in the suite in the house! Lol. The value of my home here today in this market is crazy . Yet it matters little. For if we sold it we'd have to spend all the proceeds to get something else half decent around here to live in. If I sold it and moved to a cheaper area, I would indeed be living alone. Momma would stay right here where our sons and their wives are. So maybe, just maybe, someday I'll man-up and build the 2 hoist shop I dream of, right here where we live today.

Wow that interior is fantastic. Great expertise @Dodgeb4ya. Thanks for keeping us all straightened out. Just last night I started preliminary steps to reassemble my engine. I chased all threads. Mounted flange on new camshaft. Scrubbed down the top deck. Started rounding up parts that I ordered all last winter & spring. Pleasantly surprised to find everything is new, and already here in my stash. Getting old is wonderful. We can rediscover things we forgot we did! Lol. I am learning about rebuilding flatheads as I go along too. I plan to post my progress on my You Tube channel, if anyone wants to follow along. Maybe I’ll start a thread here too. I’ll certainly have some questions. I’m not planning to share every step of my engine reassembly on YT. Others before me have done so, many times. I was thinking of discussing other interesting little technical details, and my own perspective along the way. My engine is a 25” length block. 3 1/4” stroke. We necked them down to 3 3/8” bore up here in Canada. Netting 228 ci. I had it bored over to 3 7/16”, standard bore. Now netting me a stock sized Desoto 237 ci engine. There are tons of helpful people here. You’ve got a silent army in waiting to answer your every question. No matter how trivial. I too will be asking many questions. Good luck no matter what you decide is the right path for your engine.

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing. Maybe someone could define small town. 5,000 and under people? My town of 100,000 could be considered small by someone who lives in a town of 1,000,000 +. Small town USA to me is quaint, favorable and attractive. I like visiting your small towns. It's seems its rarely far to drive from a small town to a larger one with all the big city luxuries. An ideal week for me might be driving in the USA. On back roads only. Jumping from one small town to another, while driving a vintage L6 Mopar. Sounds like trip in my future!

Not necessarily. Quicker and easier in my opinion to performa a dry, then wet compression test.

@SolgaYou are welcome. Not sure what I contributed to this thread though! Wait a sec, is that the engine I hooked you up with? Awesome! Glad to see it all worked out.

Same here. No experience with fluid drive. In regards to the bell housing, the area is often loaded up with road grime, grease and oil. If I recall, once de-greased and cleaned up I was able to see the dowel pins and easily punch them out. Then the bell housing was easily removed.

My take on it.

If I make it, I’ll be 67 when my Chrysler reaches 100. Maybe I’ll arrange a local Mopar gathering at that time to celebrate! If we can still get fuel. Lol.

Recently a member here reached out asking for my mailing address. 2 weeks later a gift showed up in the mail. A generous gift. A 1938 Detroit license plate. A sincere note of gratitude was attached. A 1918 Canadian coin was also included. Thank you. The coin will stay in the car for as long as I own it. A good luck charm. A token reminder of all the great Mopar people I have met here. Thank you My friend. We shall meet some day. ‘Till then I’m only a couple keyboard strokes away. Here we all help each other out, keeping our Mopars on the road. Supporting each other. I am proud and happy to be a member of the old Flathead Mopar community. This evening I am out driving. Showing off the new license plate. The leaves have already begun changing. Fall has arrived here in Canada. She’s another 1 year closer to 100. A personal goal of mine, to own a 100 year old car! Lol. Someday.

Indeed, a nice parts washer. I’d like one. However space is a real premium in my garage. I can’t make it work unless a car goes. I won’t be doing that any time soon.

My latest parts haul, I tore all the stuff apart. Ripped out the good spares that figure I can use. This pic is just the leftovers going to the scrap recycler this week. Tons of little giblets. 1 head temperature probe glad nut is $40 just for shipping to here get here. I got two this past haul! How about you have a leaky end-cover for a steering box? The one with the hole thru it for the horn wire. Two in this stash! Not to mention I scavenged gobs brake parts. Special hardware. Eccentric brake shoe adjust bolts. Brake line distribution blocks. I think I officially have 12 spare brake drums. Why would I ever upgrade to disc? Lol. Got an axle where a previous owner stripped threads at the nut? Threads not looking so great? 4 spare axles in my attic! All the piddly stuff that’ll drive ya nuts and keep the Fed-Ex executives in their $1000 a bottle scotch habit... Spare worm gear and sector shaft and much more. See how exciting this all is? Spare parts that nobody wants around this town. Just me. Lol. A Mopar geek that probably needs counseling, might acquire two of the exact same year cars. To maximize on spare part interchangeability. Maybe. Just sayin’.

Speaking of parts hoarding. Anyone know if 1938 Desoto sedan leaf springs are heavier, wider than same year Dodge sedan? I estimate these Desoto are beefier? As it has a larger engine and slightly longer body & wheel base. Side by side comparison seen here.

My spare parts collection is growing pretty big. I keep putting stuff up in the attic. I was wondering other day, should I pay mind a little about all the weight up there? Lol.

I obtained and store here, about 7 spare fuel pumps here of various designs. All are used on various Mopar flatheads. They all basically work under the same principle. Some cars used the bent lever, some the straight. I can't say why as my experience across many model Mopar cars is limited. Perhaps someone else here will chime in. Can a bent shaft pump seen above be used where a typical straight shaft is used?

Wonder if you are so far out of adjustment, if you could add some shims as seen here in this 1937 Sector Shaft? Turn your screw back out to reset your adjustment range. Assemble with shims on sector shaft. Then start adjusting again. Get it to the right spot. Seems to me there would have to be a lot of gear set wear if this worked. Just a guess. Sorry, a bit of a mix up I think I said with the shims at the end cover. Yes, I believe you take them out to tighten up end play on the worm gear on the steering shaft.

Here’s a worm gear & sector gear set up. Sector gear on left. It can be pulled in and pushed out off center of the worm gear to take up slack. You access a set screw on the side cover of the steering gear box. Loosen lock nut. Clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust off center line of worm gear. The worm gear is pressed onto the end of your steer wheel column shaft.

I am not 100%!sure what type of steering box your 47 Desoto has. If like my earlier Mopars: You add more shims at the end cover to tighten it up. That’s for end play. Tugging up and down at your steering wheel you may feel this end play. Sector gear may need adjustment to take up slop. Turning side to side.

Or this type...They work the same.

Spare parts lying around. I even found one with a glass bowl. As it lays.... If anyone needs a good 23” camshaft I have 2 that need a good home.

There can be resistance. Yes you may not have the arm sitting on the lobe properly. Easy fix. Loosen all 6 spark plugs. Turn fan blade 120 or so degrees. Try re-installing pump. Rinse and repeat. Easy peasy. If you are installing an electric fuel pump, you may need a regulator. A auto power off switch too if you want to be safe.

Does you pump have a lever sticking out of it? It might look like this. The lever rides on a camshaft lobe.

Cool photo of your car in the newspaper. I'm left yearning for more details of the car. If you have some more photos featuring it's big-butt rear end, by all means please post a couple here!