keithb7

When I lived 6 hours north of where I am now in Canada, 1 block heater was not enough. I had a 120V electric battery blanket around the starting battery. I had a silicone oil pan heater glued to the bottom flat part of the oil pan sump. I had a block heater too, in an expansion plug in the block. This is maybe why most of us up here call them "frost plugs". I'd leave my vehicle plugged in all day at work. All 3 heaters going. On cold days when it was snowing, I'd come out to the car and the engine hood had no snow on it. It was melted away. I got in, flashed her up and had heat very quickly in the cab. It was a comfortable drive home. I used to take a piece of tin, sort of like a baking cookie tray. Drill some holes in it. Not too many. Then wire to to the very front of the radiator. To restrict air flow. Otherwise going down the hi-way at cruising speed, you'd have little to no heat in the cab. Try stopping for fuel and maybe go in and grab a coffee at -40C. Come back out. Flash up the car and push in the clutch. The manual tranny gear shifter is quite stiff due to the gear oil cooling so quickly. Hard to shift. Take a deep breath through your nose and the hair inside your nose freezes up. Car windows fog up and ice over on the inside. Side door windows don't ever defrost. Just not enough heat in the cab to compete with -40 outside. I'd start pouring the methyl hydrate into the gas tank as soon as the weatherman said the first cold snap was coming. Otherwise, frozen fuel lines. And you thought vapor lock was a PITA. Its a dream compared to -40C and you break down due to no fuel. No this was not back in 1950. It's still reality today in Northern climates. How they did it in 1920 with an open touring car, I have no idea. I'm spoiled rotten today by comparison.

I’ve not been overly pleased with a some of my dealings, buying parts for my old Mopars. Some of these on-line guys are real shysters. I’m really not impressed with more than a couple transactions. Some personally. Some examples were relayed to me by my Mopar friends. Hoarding your own parts where possible seems to be the way to go. I’ll make room. Especially when I paid over $400 in shipping charges for 1 box from Mid-Central USA to Canada. Having 2 1938’s here it makes even more sense to me. Lots of shared parts. My attic is very under utilized! Yet very dark. ?

@SniperI just bought a brand new NOS Mopar cam on E/bay for $50 US. Proper part number cast right on it. Cheap! However the all-new required tappets? Ahem. Lets not talk details about what those little buggars set me back. I popped the tranny apart right away here. Good overall shape based on first impressions. Aside from the fact it had been hibernating for 50 years in a field I’m told. Great way to spend a little time on a Mopar Sunday.

I have a plan! Lol. Part it all out. Inventory list by part number. Store in pieces. Store by bin location. In my attic. I am already finding parts that are missing from my Plymouth! I wonder if the rear seal here leaks? ?

Made another new Mopar friend today. Typical of all the flat head mopar people I meet. Super friendly. Helpful. Welcomed me into his home and we swapped Mopar stories. He has a ‘38 Dodge and a ‘38 Desoto. Both sedans. He’s making one good car from both sorta thing. He had some good used parts to move out. In the pile are 2 complete axle assys. From sedans so I’d wager 4.11. All steering parts, gearbox, suspension. Couple of nice solid I-beam front axles with spindles etc. Steering wheel & shaft. I got a tranny. A couple drive shafts. 2 engine blocks if I want them. They are 23.5” blocks. No good to me. 218 and 230 sized. Thinking I’ll just strip them down and save all the parts. Fittings. Plugs. Oil pressure regulators etc. Then recycle the castings. I got all brakes, drums, backing plates etc. I will tear into the tranny and see what is reusable. All great spare stuff for my pair of 38’s. Been a boon of a summer!

The odd looking object at the block expansion plug at the left front upper area of the block, is actually a heater element. It's a block heater. The 120V AC power cord is missing. Up here in Canada we plug in a block heater so the block does not freeze, and it heats up sooner. -40 celsius is not fun. The more modern coil with both primary voltage connections on the front of the coil has been installed here. I was not done well, but easily fixable.

@Bob Riding My spare 4.30

Recently at a car show, I was tending my 1938 Chrysler. Someone approached me to ask a few questions. I was given a lead where a similar coupe was shacked up. Parked for many years. Local here in my town. My interest was peaked for several reasons. 1. How often do you see a 1937 Desoto Coupe? I have never seen one. Let alone right here in this town. 2. Very few Desoto coupes were made in Canada. How many are actually left? 3. I might get glimpse of some original parts. Interior, dash etc... 4. I hear tell of an alligator type hood opening system. Again, not personally see on an old Mopar of this era. 5. Maybe I can help re-invigorate the owner? Maybe I can help get it running and mobile again I was given a name an address. The owner had no idea I planned a cold call at his door. I showed up in my '38 Chrysler and rang the door bell. He appeared and I introduced myself. He was an older gentleman. Pre-"digital age"manners and demeanor. I like that. He saw my Chrysler behind me in his driveway and he lit up. He quickly welcomed me into his home and was more than happy to show me his vintage Desoto coupe. He allowed me to take whatever photos I wanted . We chatted about the car's history and previous owners. We had a very good visit. I then offered him a ride in my '38 Chrysler which he quickly accepted. We chatted and looked happy out on our little cruise. We agreed to meet again in later September. I offered to help him clear out the car and roll it out into his driveway. We have plans to make a You Tube video to showcase the car. He'd never heard of You Tube, but he was smiling and fine with the idea. I offered to help him get it running again if he wanted. The pictures may say 1 million words. It easily happens. We secure a car. We start to dig in. Life happens while we are busy making other plans. We get drawn away from our original plan for the old car. A new car comes along. We enjoy the new car. Then weddings happen. The family grows. Again with the more important things in life, distracting you. You start laying things in the car, against the car, on the car. Decades pass. You forget how quickly the years add up. You turn around and you're pushing 80. What the h e l l happened? Life happened I guess. I am looking forward to digging this Desoto out, and hopefully helping the gentleman. The car is not for sale. I won't be passing along any leads or info. I have no ulterior motives to secure the car for myself. I already have one basically, my '38 Chrysler coupe. Although if I were a rich man with a 6 bay garage, owning a '37 Desoto to append my '38 Plymouth and '38 Chyrsler would be appealing. Then all I'd need is a '37 or '38 Dodge. Lol. That's not happening. As the years pass here in my town, as I continue to network and sniff out leads, I am seeing a growing list of old flathead Mopars. They don't come out very often but they are here it seems. Locally I have located a 1947 Dodge coupe, a 1948 Plymouth Sedan, 1952 Chrysler Windsor, this 1937 Desoto Coupe, plus my 2 Mopars. Someday it would be fun to get us all out together. - Keith

@maokthat sounds right up my alley. If the 4.11 doesn't pan out I'll consider the 4.30. Would be a fantastic low RPM cruiser in town. Where 98% of my driving is done. I have OD for the hi-way on the rare occasion that I go on it. I'm not overly interested in going over 50 mph in a stock car from the 1930's. Sure my Chrysler will certainly go faster, it's just the sudden stop that I think about.

I may take you up on that offer. Pending a used parts scouting mission on Sunday. I've been trying to hook up with a guy who stripped down a 37 Dodge 4 dr sedan, to hot-rod it. It may have had a 4.11 rear set. That's likely in the sedan model. I hope to acquire it. In addition to a lot more spare parts. We'll see. We've been trying to hook up for the past 3 weeks. So far our schedules clash like first and reverse gear on the countershaft. Fingers crossed. If not, yes indeed I may pay the postage to ship your 4.11 set to me. A mighty kind offer from you. Thank you. The cool part is I have a spare 3rd member here with 4.30 or so gears if I recall. It came out of a '38 Royal Sedan. I could bang it apart, put a 4.11 set in it. I'd remove the 3rd member with the 3.90 set in my 38 Royal now. Then hot-swap in the rebuilt spare 3rd member with 4.11 gears and all new bearings! Plus I'd gain a ton of experience. I've yet to overhaul a diff and C&P. I know I'll enjoy that.

I’m looking to go backwards lol. Hoping to install a 4.11 rear end! Geared too tall at 3.90, plus mine has OD too. I just drive it as much as I can.

In the pics above I think I see parts of a piston pin. Maybe cast pieces of a piston. Part of a friction bearing. The only Mopar's I ever really work on are mine. So I am limited in offering tips to remove your 1950 tranny. With my older Mopars I am spoiled by the engineers who designed the car to make it easy to work on. As you may have seen, the floor comes right out in my 38 Plymouth. I loved it so much I bought another 38. My Chrysler. Lol. I am happy to hear my videos are inspiring people to do their own work. Know your limitations. If you need help lugging around heavy items, line up a friend. Do not put any part of your body under an unsecured load, like the transmission. I think I see your frame crossmember is permanently welded in place. I suspect you'll have you slide your tranny rear-ward then then down, once it clears the cross member.

I rarely take it on hi-way trips. It does have OD if wanted, so that helps at hi-way speeds. I drive upto an 11% grade hill up and down for about 3 miles whenever I take it out. In and out of 3rd & 2nd multiple times climbing hill home. Even 2nd with OD is not good up the hill. I think for my needs, my primary driving conditions 4.11 would be better for me.

Out tonight for a little cruise with my wife. She’s awesome and supports my knuckle skinning hobby. This week I tore into a weeping wheel cylinder. Cleaned it all up. Polished with a little emery cloth. New piston seals at the one wheel, bled the brakes. Still not good enough. Pulled out my brake adjustment tool and tackled it. Minor adjustment on the rears only Major adjustments on the fronts. That brought the pedal back up firm and high. Bleeding alone netted little improvement. Ya just gotta get these shoes close to the drum and concentric. Parts on order for the remaining wheel cylinders. I Polished up the cap/rotor while I had the emery cloth out. Dialed back the timing just a hint. I could tell by ear and feel it was just a tad too far advanced. Tonight’s test drive she drove like a dream. Good torque! Still, I gotta get a 4.11 rear end in there. Prospecting tomorrow for spare parts. We shall see.

OMG. Never! Not in my old flathead Mopars. No way will one get a v8 dumped in while under my care. My original headlights have the little 3W or so marker lights inside. Tucked up near the top behold the lens. I enjoy driving at dusk and only have the marker lamps on. Very dim jaundice light. More like an accent light. I think it looks very cool. The situation really gathers lots of interesting comments from unaware spectators. They think and often say derogatory comments about how dull my old headlights are. They think the old 6V system sucks and should be upgraded to 12V. Makes me chuckle to myself. Lol. The other night a guy said I’d be “better off if I turned on the LED light on my cell phone, and strapped it to the front bumper”. My warped mind snickers a little at these unaware folks. I still have low beams and high beams, not turned on yet. ? The stock 6V lights are totally adequate for the speeds the cars were designed to travel at.

The solution is a digital multi-meter. Check continuity. Check path to ground. Ohms thru the switch. Voltage at the source, voltage at the switch, and after the switch etc. On a related note I installed a small fuse panel in my ‘38 Ply. Separate circuits and relays for high and low beam. Each circuit with it’s own fuse. I will make it home long after dark! ?

“Isky Performance Cam” might also be a clue? What’s your valve clearance, cold?

There are instructions in my old Motors Manual about how to check valve timing. Depending on engine model size degrees of valve timing differs. A measuring device is inserted in #6 cylinder pipe plug. You also reference the valves to see when they begin to open and close. Maybe start thing about how to access the front cover to remove it. Fan out, rad out. Crank pulley off, support front of engine. Remove front mount. Take timing over off. Align to TDC.

My wife and I headed out to a local cruise tonight. It was a nice evening. My buddy has this ‘53 Plymouth Cranbrook. We look out for each other. A few pics of us out lately, representing the flathead Mopar era.

You probably known are taking chances with any used engine. Especially sight unseen. I’d probably feel better about buying a core, seized or whatever, and rebuilding it. Then you’d know exactly what you have.

Might be worthwhile poking around over at this site too. Ask similar questions there as well. https://forums.aaca.org/forum/48-desoto/

Is that the speedo numbered 0 through 9 to zero again? Must be. I’ve just never seen one labeled like that. How far up the speedo have you taken her? Has she seen the big 6 yet? That’s probably nearing my comfort zone in an old car such your American.

My understanding is a venturi speeds up air flow. I’m not sure it moves more volumes of air. Maybe. I’m no scientist. These engines don’t make a crazy high amount of heat. They have adequate cooling systems designed to keep them cool. When extra fans or shrouds are wanting to be added, something else is up. Often 60 or so years of scale and rust is what’s up. Deep in the block. Maybe a totally failed water distribution tube? Or a rad that is internally plugged with the same crap that’s settled in the bottom passages of the block. Or maybe the outside of the rad is full of sticky, dirty crud. Road grime. Oil. Dust. Bugs. Mud. Added up, they accumulate and do hamper air flow across the rad. Then the rad cannot cool the engine down. Oil gets as hot as the heat source around it. No matter if its detergent oil or not. I’d wager the oil will get as hot as the engine makes it. SAE30 won’t help anything run cooler. The heat source has to be addressed. That heat source is likely an inefficient cooling system in need of service and repairs. Many others have indeed put band-aids on a hot running cooling system. It may end up a being lesson in futility. Best to get it all sorted first. Then see what you’ve got to work with before modifying things.

Re wet areas around carb: Maybe leaking carb gaskets, or fuel line connections? Could it a be thin film of oil from a sweating or weeping oil bath filter housing? Fuel evaporates. Oil does not. Any comments on your wet carb areas related to this info? Burning coolant has a certain sweet smell. When coolant burns it deposits sodium in your crankcase, often found in oil lab analysis. How’s your exhaust smell when its steamy? Don’t inhale a big huff! How goes the oil on your dipstick look when you pull it? Oil color? Is the coolant level in your rad dropping? Like Sniper said...Could be a million things. Good Troubleshooting will determine the proper path to a repair. I like to start with a compression test. That’ll set the playing field early.

I can think of a couple things to blow a top ring. An engine sits for years and the rings start to oxidize. A stuck ring may not expand/compress during combustion. It breaks. Ring gap may be too tight upon engine assy. Ring cannot expand under heat. Ring breaks under combustion stress. Sooty, inefficient cold running engine in poor state of tune with valve lash issues. Cold engine with short distance trips. Too cold operating temps with no thermostat used. Rich Air/fuel mixulture. Low compression. Poor spark timing. Poor state of tune...I could go on. Leads to soot and carbon build up behind the top ring. It packs in the ring groove. Ring cannot compress and expand any more. Piston Ring is stressed during combustion and breaks. Someone uses “starting fluid” on stubborn engine. Boom. Compression Ring breaks. But hey, it flashed right up!