HotRodTractor

It boils down to the goals you have in mind for this vehicle. Do you want a perfect restoration, or just a fun and reliable driver, or something else all together? I'll echo the comments above - disc brakes up front, dual chamber master cylinder, maybe even go ahead and do an axle swap out back to get better gearing, better brakes (newer drums with readily available parts, or disc brakes).

It was for sale for quite a while, but I never got the chance to go look at it. I hope it treats you well.

That car looks familiar..... was it for sale in Ohio/Indiana? Celina sticks in my mind, but I wouldn't swear to it.

All good ideas. I already know that I am pulling the transmission this winter to update the speedo gears. I've been debating pulling the whole engine for some paint and detailing...... I might just fix this one for right now, and plan on pulling the engine and doing a closer inspection of everything this winter with the engine out of the car.

Absolutely! No complaints there! If one had to leak... that is a pretty good one.

Its been a while since I've updated anything. I've been driving the car when time allows and I have nearly 1500 miles on it now since I've owned it. Earlier this week I probably put close to 200 miles on it just driving it through the course of a "normal" day for me. It gets lots of looks, compliments, and discussions everywhere it goes. I noticed that it was getting a little moisture buildup on the floor of the garage where the car is normally parked - but I wasn't able to determine the source until today when I noticed quite a bit of water/coolant and started looking close at things. I'd say I get to play with freeze plugs in the near future. The thermal camera at work just came back from being repaired and calibrated - so I am hoping to do that test in the near future as well.

Dates? Hard to start planning when I don't know when it is.

While I have had great luck freeing engines using the grease gun method listed above - it seems like the important step of a soaking agent was missed for all the cylinders. I use a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone. The acetone thins the ATF down so it can soak in and get into more nooks and crannies - and then it evaporates leaving the ATF in its place. I always fill every cylinder with this mix - and then selectively use the grease gun technique to apply some force to get things moving - slowly. Be cautious. Too much oomph with a grease gun CAN and WILL break/bend something. I've freed dozens of engines using this method - but I've seen them destroyed by others that weren't cautious.

I also believe that at the camshaft is different at least in some application specific cases.

Well now I feel dumb. Your thread title clear tells me you have a B3D..... parking brake should be under the dash as per Merle in the post above.

I just installed a brand new set of parking brake cables on my 1948 Plymouth P15. I purchased everything from Lokar lumped into two basic "kits" - Lokar offered a "front kit" that specifically attached to the factory P15 parking brake (I have no idea how similar or dissimilar that setup is from your Desoto) and they had a "rear kit" that works with my Dodge Charger rear axle. It made setting it up and using it very straight forward. I had a minor hiccup with the clevis at the parking brake handle, but it was so minor, I've already forgotten what wasn't quite right or my solution for it.... lol My point being - its worth looking at the Lokar mechanical stuff - even if they don't have the exact setup you need for your parking brake handle, I'm sure they have something that can be made to work quickly and easily. They also are really good about posting the instructions for their kits online so you can read them and know what you are getting into before purchase.

That depends on the year (I don't recall what year your truck is). Earlier trucks had the brake on the floor, later trucks had the handle under the dash. I can look up the year of the switch when I get home, but 1950 sticks in my mind for the first year of the under dash hand brake.

Congrats on the home purchase! Like many on here - I know the home prices out there for that area are way higher than around where I call home. I still find it amazing/scary when I hear some of the prices. You could buy my home property twice over for what you paid and still have money left over..... and it includes a metal shop building the size of your lot. The disparity just blows my mind. I also really love the idea of the Jeep drivetrain swap. I have been talking to a friend about something similar with a car that he owns. He loves jeeps and has tons of parts.... and the car currently has a sad, poor running Chevy 305.

I purchased a P15 off of another forum member, mostly because it needed just some TLC to make it driveable and it more or less was similar to the Pilothouse pickup I am putting together in terms of drivetrain. What follows is not an exact recipe, but its what I have been driving (I did 300 miles round trip last Friday, biggest trip to date, but it took me most of the winter to get everything happy) A good compression engine - in this case its a 251 Desoto rebuilt in modern times Dual carbs and dual exhaust - not needed - but it adds some ponies for interstate driving - this car has modified factory manifolds to accomplish this (Full disclaimer - it also has dual points, camshaft, etc.... ) An overdrive transmission - good for interstate speeds - I can easily run 80mph down the interstate at roughly 2500rpms - T5 is in the P15, and also what I plan on for the Pilothouse A "modern" rear axle - cheap way of getting better gearing - its often cheaper to get a "modern" rear axle than to get the correct gears for your OEM axle - in the P15 its out of a Dodge Charger, my Pilothouse will have an 8.8 Ford with the added benefit of it having disc brakes out back. Radial tires - put a good set of radials on it. Disc brakes up front - I like the reduced stopping distance and readily available over the counter parts if needed on the road. Dual chamber master cylinder - having separate front and rear circuits add a bit of protection if you have an issue out on the road. The P15 also has an aluminum radiator - much more efficient than the old stock unit New wiring - a generic harness kit is cheap if you aren't looking for factory exact. Turn signals - I have LED turns front and rear - I will probably also wire in some daytime running lights as people just don't seem to see or pay attention to anything anymore and extra lighting can't hurt. 12V - using a common 1 wire GM alternator makes finding one on the shelf of a parts house while on the road an almost guarantee. Again - this isn't a recipe, just an outline of what I have been driving. I have nearly 800 miles on it total so far this year and will probably put 4 thousand or so miles on it before winter. I have a college class reunion coming up this summer in upstate New York that I am thinking of driving up to in the P15 - that will be an easy 1200 mile round trip before its said and done if my schedule works out. Good luck - there is lots to look at and consider.

Tamisha and I took off work Friday and cruised on up to Fort Wayne to meet up with the Hoosier Plymouth Club for lunch, then on up to the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum. Met some new friends, Tamisha fell in love with the Duesys, and had a great time overall. Just short of 300 miles round trip, roughly 14.5mpg. It was a great way to spend a Friday!

Well - I ran through the points again - fixed the dwell back out the 42* - double checked everything - didn't find anything that stood out to me..... I've been driving the car a fair amount the last few days off and on - and today I put roughly 120 some miles on it (drove it to work, went to lunch, left for home, stopped and got gas, stopped at the farm to fix a lawn mower, and finally back home). I didn't have any issues with it. I HIGHLY doubt that the short changed dwell I had was any cause for the issue.... perhaps I "fixed" something else or even had some bad gas or something..... in any case, it doesn't appear to have the heat soak issue I was having. And I drove it HARD today. When the thermal camera becomes available I will still take some pictures as I think it could be interesting anyway. Car runs down the interstate at 80mph like it was meant to do it. Nice and straight with plenty of power. I got the new headlights and front turn signals installed. Not sure if I like them, but they will be fine for now. Video HERE Still lots of clean up to do - but its cruise ready just in time for cruising weather.

Rotational mass doesn't equate to drag. There is a so much more to the design of the components that has a significant impact on drag. I could take a clutch drum and texture the outside of it for instance, or I could make a wiper area that "peeled" the fluid off the drum. I could make a drum smaller in diameter, yet longer for more clutch packs - both could hold the same torque and weigh similar, but drastically different drag. Perhaps to put it into different terms.... The BMW X5 weighs roughly the same as your Desoto. Using your weight analogy they would have roughly the same aerodynamic drag going down the road. Do you think that is true?

Knowing the reciprocating weight of the internal components won't tell you anything in regards to the parasitic loss of power through any particular transmission. There are so many other variables that are far more significant in terms of power loss. Pump design, clutch pack design, amount of pressure needed to maintain lockup, amount of pressure needed to maintain clutch pack engagement, amount of flow rate needed to maintain pressure in lockup, amount of flow rate needed to maintain clutch pack engagement, amount of slippage in a clutch pack, amount of friction in clutch packs not engaged, etc..... the list can go on. I don't have any research papers looked up, but its been my experience that the real loss of power through an automatic comes not from the rotational mass, but from power lost through the internal hydraulics in terms of power needed to flow X gpm at Y psi, and the associated heat loss that comes inherent in such a hydraulic system. I'll also say the idea that older automatics have less power loss than newer ones is a myth and nothing more. Particularly in the last 30 ish years the drive for more efficiency has been front and center in the automotive world. You don't do that by having a transmission that has more parasitic losses than the one produced from the 1950s through the 1970s.

I'll remember this as I am double fisting cans into a turbo large enough to suck in my head and wearing my "ETHER: ITS A SUMMER THING" t-shirt. lol

I do see a future in hot rodding with electric and hybrid variants. Its the natural order of things - hot rodders want to add the latest technology to their rides to achieve some sort of goals and electric can certainly check several of the boxes in achieving them. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have talked about going down a hybrid route of sorts. The rough concept that myself and some of my friends came up with would have been one that leaves the factory engine in place, uses a modern manual transmission and then a modified transfer case to act as a combiner to join the power of the IC engine with that of an electric motor. We roughed out the idea to the point that we knew it would add about 100hp to the vehicle and cost roughly $10-15K. The downside was that utilized a control system that wouldn't readily allow the use of regenerative battery charging. Ultimately I decided not to pursue this route for the near future - but I won't totally rule out never doing something similar to this. I'm fortunate enough that I have resources with experience - some with Sunny Race back in the hayday in the 90s and some more recently with the Buckeye Bullet program - everyone thought it would be viable and very doable.

The common denominator at the moment is that the gauge reading negative occurred at the same time as the windshield leaking - and I have not read that you have any other symptoms of an issue other than the gauge reading negative - correct? Is your battery draining and you need to jump it to start it? I would dry out the cab of the truck - open the doors, toss a fan in, maybe a bit of heat and just let it dry out. Come back to it dried out and a clean slate on troubleshooting it.

Most of the pictures in this thread are of aftermarket or modified stock intakes - they don't necessarily need a balance tube as they are already connected to balance out the pulses across the cylinders by the intake itself. Now the factory dual carb intake setup doesn't have the greatest transition area between the two carbs and actually has a factory balance tube to accomplish that.

It appears that I have definitely short changed my dwell. I set the initial advance at 2 degrees and now realize that I have neglected to ask Don what he was running it at. I figured that was a safe spot to start and get a feel for it.

I thought I did it correctly when I cleaned the points last fall - but its certainly worth a double check. I'll put that at the top of the list of things to do when I get back home. On Edit: That isn't how I set the dwell. I blocked the secondary and set the primary, then I simply adjusted the secondary to get the total dwell. 26 degrees of dwell on the primary set and I think I set it 34 degrees total.

I can't say. I don't know. I do know that I had it happen before the electric pump, but I shrugged it off at the time. The car takes a bit to start when cold, when just warmed up it will start no problem, when heat soaked... it takes a bit. Its not insurmountable, and I haven't been stuck anywhere with the hood popped waiting on it to cool down.