Art Bailey

The spring on my '48 DeSoto is the "second type", which is about 7" or so. I hunted around a bit, and settled on a double spring (spring in a spring, in case one breaks) for a Plymouth 440 Barracuda. Should give me about 15 extra horsepower.

You don't have to respond if you already tried this, but I managed to find the whole grill for my '48 on the Nat'l Desoto Club group on Facebook.

Hey, I think this thread has magical powers! 2 weeks after whining that I couldn't find the right side fender trim for my '48 DeSoto anywhere, the ebay gods smiled upon me... Now I have to replace the left side, this one's so nice, it makes the left side trim look sad...

That's a great idea, I may cook one of these up. My idea, which is far down the list of things to do, is to take a piece of aluminum bar stock, have a machine shop bore a hole at the end large enough for the spindle to fit snugly. Cut a slot perpendicular to the width at the top, with a bolt threaded through it, parallel to the sides, so I can clamp a small engineer's square in the slot. For measuring the drum, I already have a big a$$ vernier caliper that I found cheap on ebay. I do wish those Ammco units were cheaper...paying $600 for that thing with missing parts makes my eye twitch.

Another big issue is the press thing with the cone that creates the flare. On the two that I bought, the threaded part is nowhere near centered, and the finish on the underside of the feet (hope that's clear) is a mess, making it sit crooked. I got it to work by seating the cone in the die (or tubing, for the second pass) first, and then cranking on the bolt slowly, bringing the feet up to the underside of the clamp, all the while making sure the cone stays square in relation to the tubing. In one of the videos I watched, it was suggested that you put a chamfer on the tubing, and also use a reamer after cutting the tubing, so I do that, too.

There doesn't appear to be a breather tube on my '48 originally.

Nope, not yet. I really just gave it a once over, but it looks pretty darn identical, down to the angle of the filler tube, pinches in the seam where the straps go, and location of all the beads. By the way, my car is a '48 DeSoto, so not sure about the specifics for a '47 Plymouth---they're listed as fitting all Mopars 41-48. Sam Buchanan, glad to hear about not needing the ferrule. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-Chrysler-Dodge-Desoto-Plymouth-Gas-Fuel-Tank-NEW/401737879611 Treat yourself to a new sender while you're at it... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-Chrysler-Dodge-Desoto-Plymouth-Gas-Fuel-Tank-NEW/401737879611

The quality flare tool is the tricky part. I didn't want to spend several hundred dollars, so I found an Imperial Eastman flaring tool on ebay. Folks on the HAMB had said that it was good enough. The one I bought looked like it had been made by prison labor. The part that does the actual flaring had very poor finish, and it was tricky, but not impossible, to get a decent flare. I bought another made by Mac, same deal. If you go this route, let me know, and I'll take pics and tell you what I learned to make this crap tool work. Also, the NiCopp takes far less effort to squash into an inverted flare compared to steel, so you have to learn when to stop cranking on the tool. You'll be making a number of practice flares and learning what it takes to get a flare that looks like the originals that were in there.

5/16 NiCopp and all the fittings can be found at Summit Racing, and you can get 5/16 stainless steel spiral wrap on ebay. Get a flare tool, and a bender, you're in business.

I'd say they pretty much nailed it.

I just got a Vans galvanized tank, looks pretty OEM to me. It was cheaper on ebay than on the Vans site, for some reason. Art

That one I got, it said, "Thank you for reserving your seat. You will receive the Zoom meeting link via your registration email shortly before the presentation starts." The link never came. Anyhow, if the meeting was recorded, I'd love to see it...

Hi--I never received an email from Zoom, I assume that's what was supposed to happen? If anyone sees this in time, please message me...

Hey guys, thanks for pointing me in the right direction! The one from Bob's looks like the ticket. Maybe I can get a CV boot clamp at Napa. As far as the solenoid itself, it seems fine for now, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for a spare starter. Moparmall has just the solenoid innards, too. https://www.moparmall.com/MoPar-PN-861499-861500-Starter-Relay-p/823-074.htm As far as the missing clutch shift yoke pin, I guess I can probably replace it with something from McMaster Carr. -Art

Hey Folks, I pulled the starter on my '48 Desoto, an Autolite MAW-4025. No real problems with it, I'm just going to go through it, clean it, etc. There's the remains of a rubber boot on the square solenoid, which is apparently made of unobtainium ?... Hope no one's having dinner while looking at this photo. Check out the grandpa repair, the crappy bolt in place of a link pin and cotter pin, where the solenoid connects to the bendix--that would've definitely been a flatbed truck ride home somewhere in the future. Questions: -Does anyone have a pic or drawing of what a healthy boot should look like? That pic is missing from the exploded parts drawing in the shop manual. -Does an Autolite parts drawing exist, and where could I get one? -Any ideas on improvising a boot? Thanks, Art

No, didn't know about him, thanks! The bit in question is pot metal, though. All the stainless stuff is solid and very saveable, but DeSoto really cheaped out on the mirrors, grille and the fender trim.

The trim on the right fender of my '48 Desoto that some jamoke tried to pull off without removing all the backing nuts, leaving me with about 5" of a 3 foot piece. It's not that I haven't found any, but the ones I've found are cratered and pock-marked, and cost nearly as much as what I paid for the car. I'm toying with the idea of trying to fab a piece out of brass stock, and send it to the plater.

I know Greg already said it, but it's worth repeating. I can't imagine getting by without 1) the shop manual 2) a Motors manual that covers the year of my car and 3) the parts manual. Gotta have 'em. All pretty cheap, on ebay. The parts manual will tell you what the name of every bit on your car is, so you can ask questions, and is fantastic for the times you take something apart, walk away for 3 days, and then have no idea how it goes back together. It has highly detailed exploded illustrations of nearly everything. Later on, a Hollander's part interchange book is good to have, for ebay parts hunting. I don't know how young you are, but until I was 16 or so, I broke more stuff than I fixed. Looking at a car's insides was overwhelming, until I learned to break it down into systems, and learned what each system did. The chapter sections in Motors does that nicely---carburetion, ignition, generator, starter, distributor, etc. The very first chapter on tune-up will teach you plenty. These service bulletin pamphlets are fantastic, some even have a filmstrip (caveman era learning tool) you can watch http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/index.htm Skip the real specific ones, and go right to general topics like carburetion, distributor, electric systems, etc. Finally, you might get something out of watching any of the "Will It Run" videos on coldwarmotors youtube channel. Stoned Canadians take cars that have been sitting for 50 or 60 years, and make them run, dealing with many of the same issues you are right now. One of the videos is a '40-ish Plymouth.

Done. I went with the Four Seasons 74683 that Sniper suggested. The 90 deg. elbow was necessary, because the cable control was constricted too much for it to work well with it sticking straight up out of the head. The little clamp block I made for the throttle cable needs to be redesigned...the hole is too far away from the post, and it's binding, making it hard to open with the control inside the car. Big weekend ahead--all new hoses, water pump, stainless WDT, reinstall supposedly repaired radiator (don't ask), reinstall heater cores and cleaned-up distributor. Hoping to make it up the driveway, and not have to push it back to the garage ?. Thanks, everyone, for your help!

I swear I will never learn this lesson. If there's more than one way something can be reassembled, I will never notice until after the fact. At least I'm consistent! I don't know if the wear is so bad as to warrant looking for a better one, but so far, it's the most haggard piece on this car. It also gives away the fact that the engine wasn't really rebuilt, as the seller told me, but more likely just honed and re-ringed. It was so frozen to the engine with rust and crud, there's no way that that dizzy had ever been separated from the block in the last 70 years.

Hi Rich...my books don't mention different sized springs, but the 1947 tech bulletin does... However, no mention of which way the cam mounts. I'll see if I can guess how it was in there by the wear on the slots, though it's looking like it might not matter.

Stupid questions of the day follow. During the careful blowing apart of my '48 DeSoto's distributor for cleaning, I noticed (too late) that the cam can be oriented two ways on the shaft, when engaged with the flyweights. The plate for the flyweights on the shaft has an "R" on it, near the lighter spring. The cam has an "R" embossed in it on the underside, too. Are the letters supposed to help with orienting the cam? Or, does it even matter? There's also an "O" embossed on the opposite side of the cam. I'm also noticing wear on the lower rectangular hole on the cam, where the flyweight shaft must rub when the flyweight flings out...that could be a clue to how it was installed. Art

This is gold...this goes right into my ever growing DeSoto file. Thanks so much, James.

This is a great idea. I don't know if mine are OEM, but they're OLD, and since my car has been off the road the better part of 55 years, there's a good chance they're a closer match to what should be on there than anything currently available, and might even have some part numbers on them.

Hi James, why did you choose the KG5473 instead of the Monroe 31000?